Administrative reform in modern Iran: an historical analysis

This article discusses administrative reforms in modern Iran in an historical context. Beginning in the mid-19th century, administrative reform became a concern of national policy-makers. A number of reforms have been attempted by the three political systems/regimes of Qajar, Pahlavi, and the Islamic Republic. Additionally, several administrative reforms were carried out, though short-lived, by certain revolutionary and popular governments in Iran. Efforts toward administrative reform are reviewed with an assessment of the positive and negative consequences or implications for the development of public administration in modern Iran. It is also argued that most of the dictated administrative reforms have failed in Iran, and that a culturally sensitive attempt at administrative reform has had a much greater chance to succeed than the traditional top-down approaches. Iran's revolutionary experiences tend to empirically support the validity of the former approach. Finally, further research is suggested on recent administrative reforms in post-revolutionary Iran.     

Analysing the application of Brussels I in regulating e-commerce jurisdiction in the European Union – Success,deficiencies and proposed changes

This article analyses the regulatory framework of e-commerce jurisdiction in the European Union (EU). Firstly, it discusses and analyses the current regime under the Brussels Regulation, highlighting its success in consumer protection and the deficiencies for e-commerce jurisdiction, which need to be addressed. Secondly, the article compares the EU regime with that of the United States (US). It is argued that the US courts follow uncertain and distinct approaches compared to the clear rules of the Brussels Regulation. Their present approach of minimum contacts analysis as followed in the Yahoo! case poses problems for a transnational EU litigant in similar cases. Thirdly, the article examines the recent proposals adopted by the European Commission to remedy the deficiencies in the Regulation. The most important change proposed is the inclusion of third-state defendants within its ambit. It is argued that the changes to be adopted by the European Parliament are insufficient, and the author therefore provides recommendations. Lastly, the article highlights the inability of the proposed changes to address the deficiencies identified by the discussion.     

Can computer forensic tools be trusted in digital investigations?

This paper investigates whether computer forensic tools (CFTs) can extract complete and credible digital evidence from digital crime scenes in the presence of file system anti-forensic (AF) attacks. The study uses a well-established six stage forensic tool testing methodology based on black-box testing principles to carry out experiments that evaluate four leading CFTs for their potential to combat eleven different file system AF attacks. Results suggest that only a few AF attacks are identified by all the evaluated CFTs, while as most of the attacks considered by the study go unnoticed. These AF attacks exploit basic file system features, can be executed using simple tools, and even attack CFTs to accomplish their task. These results imply that evidences collected by CFTs in digital investigations are not complete and credible in the presence of AF attacks. The study suggests that practitioners and academicians should not absolutely rely on CFTs for evidence extraction from a digital crime scene, highlights the implications of doing so, and makes many recommendations in this regard. The study also points towards immediate and aggressive research efforts that are required in the area of computer forensics to address the pitfalls of CFTs.     

Conflict Assessment in Energy Infrastructure Siting: Prospects for Consensus Building in the Northern Pass Transmission Line Project

As energy demand grows rapidly worldwide, power line infrastructure will continue to be a major development planning challenge. This study considers the environmental conflict that has arisen over a transnational transmission line project between Canada and the United States. A qualitative conflict assessment is presented to define the parameters for consensus that could prevent protracted litigation between stakeholders. Proactively designing a process to encourage consensus building during the early development phase remains the most critical determinant of compromise. In this article, we argue that in this case a consensus‐building effort could be feasible if certain design requirements were met, including gaining the participation of key stakeholders, paying attention to trust, and focusing on the issues specific to this transmission line rather than to a larger energy discussion. The research shows that despite potential pitfalls, reaching more widely accepted and ecologically sensitive solutions to environmental conflicts through participatory and collaborative approaches is possible and worth the effort.     

Filippo Boni,Sino-Pakistani Relations: Politics,Military and Regional Dynamics

Journal of Chinese Political Science -     

Democracy and Economic Growth: A Meta-Analysis

Despite a sizeable theoretical and empirical literature, no firm conclusions have been drawn regarding the impact of political democracy on economic growth. This article challenges the consensus of an inconclusive relationship through a quantitative assessment of the democracy-growth literature. It applies meta-regression analysis to the population of 483 estimates derived from 84 studies on democracy and growth. Using traditional meta-analysis estimators, the bootstrap, and Fixed and Random Effects meta-regression models, it derives several robust conclusions. Taking all the available published evidence together, it concludes that democracy does not have a direct impact on economic growth. However, democracy has robust, significant, and positive indirect effects through higher human capital, lower inflation, lower political instability, and higher levels of economic freedom. Democracies may also be associated with larger governments and less free international trade. There also appear to be country- and region-specific democracy-growth effects. Overall, democracy's net effect on the economy does not seem to be detrimental.