Explaining the Vientiane Action Programme: ASEAN and the institutionalisation of human rights

Abstract

Existing explanations for the emergence of human rights on the political agenda in ASEAN focus either on the role of external pressure on ASEAN member states to ‘do something’, or on the way those states copied the form, but not the function, of other regional organisations such as the EU. Both approaches tacitly acknowledge that given the strong preference for intergovernmental governance displayed by ASEAN, regardless of interpretations, that it was states that drove the institutionalisation of rights forwards. Through examining in detail the causes and consequences of the Vientiane Action Programme this article disagrees with that assertion. At crucial moments before and after 2004 it was the Working Group for the Establishment of an ASEAN Human Rights Mechanism, a track III actor, which both inserted human rights into ASEAN discussions and forged the link between protecting those rights and the continuing success of ASEAN's security goals. Through understanding the role of the Working Group as a norm entrepreneur, assisting in the localisation of human rights standards, this article suggests that existing explanations of ASEAN institutionalisation need to be revised to include a wider range of political dynamics than previously were acknowledged.     

Economics and the ‘nonsense’ of law: the case of the Chicago antitrust revolution

Abstract

The Law and Economics movement that emerged in the University of Chicago through the 1940s and 1950s, around Ronald Coase's example, is a manifestation of the neo-liberal project of applying neo-classical economics to state sovereignty. In the 1970s and 1980s, Law and Economics ideas revolutionized the application of antitrust laws in the United States. However, this achievement came about not through a transformation in economic orthodoxy, but through persuading legal experts to recognize the inherent ‘nonsense’ at work in their own normative assumptions. The Chicago antitrust revolution is therefore symptomatic of trends that Foucault viewed as definitive of neo-liberalism more broadly.     

The Everyday Spaces of Global Politics: Work,Leisure, Family

Despite many innovative contributions to international relations theory over the past two decades, a "common sense" view of global politics continues to persist both in the field and in the arenas of public policy and opinion. This article investigates the origins of this persistence and offers an alternative framework for the analysis of global politics that considers international relations as social relations produced by a broad array of actors in multiple spheres. Drawing on the work of Henri Lefebvre, the article investigates the role of alienation in everyday life and the resulting mystifications of the realities of global politics and goes on to consider the social spaces of work, leisure and the family as important arenas where these mystifications can be overcome and international relations be reclaimed from the realm of experts and statesmen.     

The PLA and regionalism in Hong Kong

This article examines the linkages between changes in international capital movements and currency values on the one hand and Asian regionalism on the other. It argues that economic ties within Asia in the late 1980s and early 1990s can be traced primarily to the increasing values of currencies in Japan, Taiwan, South Korea and Hong Kong. Foreign-direct investments from companies in these countries increased throughout the Asian region. Intra-regional trade grew rapidly as well. Still, by the turn of the century, in contrast to regionalism in Europe, that in Asia remained deeply institutionalized and far less responsive to any central direction from potential leaders such as Japan.     

Another white elephant? Youth councils as democratic structures

UK society has probably never witnessed the kind of activism now emerging to tackle the roots of age-based discrimination and inequality. Everyone appears to be consulting and listening to children. The most favoured response by statutory and voluntary agencies for encouraging children and young people's participation has been the setting up of youth councils. This paper considers the extent to which youth councils enable participatory citizenship and democratic participation. In so doing, the commonplace suggestion that young people exhibit a lack of enthusiasm for involvement in ‘political’ matters and issues of local representation is challenged. The concept of active citizenship is mobilised to highlight particular ethical and methodo logical issues that need to be addressed at a local level if successful partner ship working that includes young people is to be achieved.     

The muslim experience in the Balkan states, 1919‐1991

This article analyzes the effects of nationalizing policies of the state, processes of democratization, and uneven socio-economic development on the rise of Kurdish ethno-mobilization led by the PKK terrorist organization since the 1980s in Turkey. Three features of the Turkish modernization context are identified as conducive for the rise and continuation of Kurdish ethno-mobilization: a) a nation-building autocratic state that resisted granting cultural rights and recognition for the Kurds; b) democratization with the exclusion of ethnic politics and rights; c) economic regional inequality that coincided with the regional distribution of the Kurdish population. It is argued that autocratic policies of the state during nation-building accompanied the development of an illiberal democracy and intolerance for cultural pluralism. These aspects of Turkish democracy seem to be incompatible with both the liberal and consociational models of democracy that accommodate ethnicity within multiculturalism.     

African diasporas,development and the politics of context

This article seeks to add to the debate on the role of diasporas in development outcomes in sub-Saharan Africa by considering why diasporas are not apparently as effective as development agents in an African setting as they have proven thus far in other regions. It argues that changing diasporic engagement and activities on the continent should be examined against the backdrop of the emergence of a ‘liberalisation from below’ which emphasises local ownership of development outcomes, the historical variety of African state forms and the continuities in the exercise of power and the nature of these states. In so doing, it brings into focus the ongoing transformation in state–society relations whereby the dependence—of elites and ordinary citizens alike—on external resources continues to deepen, and the importance of this context in drawing any conclusions about the role of diasporas as agents of transformation.     

Internal Morphological Analysis for Age Estimation of Blow Fly Pupae (Diptera: Calliphoridae) in Postmortem Interval Estimation*

Abstract: Larvae and pupae of blow fly species are frequently used in postmortem interval estimation, their age indicating minimum time since death. Most studies have considered age estimation of larvae, neglecting study of pupae. Relative development of external pupal features is useful, but there are also internal changes during metamorphosis that may be indicators of age, utilizing histological techniques. This study aimed to optimize preservation and histological analysis of blow fly pupae, specifically Calliphora vicina Robineau‐Desvoidy and Lucilia sericata (Meigen), and to examine internal features with potential for age estimation. Effect of hot‐water‐killing and different preservatives were examined. It was determined that blow fly pupae should be pierced through the three tagma, hot‐water‐killed, and preserved in 80% ethanol as the optimal preservation for subsequent analyses. Hematoxylin and eosin stained pupal sections revealed differences in brain and thoracic muscle development throughout the pupal stage with potential for age estimation.     

Small Screens and Big Streets: A Comparison of Women Police Officers on Primetime Crime Shows and in U.S. Police Departments, 1950 to 2008

This article utilizes a longitudinal approach to assess the visibility of women as police officers in primetime crime shows from 1950 to 2008 and compares these numbers for television to actual data on women who work as police officers in the United States. We find that as expected, annual labor force data and crime show data both indicate increases in the number of minorities and women working in the criminal justice system over time. Given the robust literature on the general underrepresentation of women on television, however, we did not expect to uncover that both White and minority women are overrepresented as police officers on television every year compared to the occupational reality. Implications of the findings are discussed.     

Evaluation of operation swordfish: a near-repeat target-hardening strategy

Objectives

This paper reports an evaluation of a police-led target-hardening crime prevention strategy inspired by research concerned with space–time patterns of burglary.

Methods

A total of 46 neighbourhoods in the West Midlands (UK) were randomly allocated to treatment and control conditions. Within treatment areas, resources were delivered to recent burglary victims and their close neighbours. Resources included inexpensive target-hardening measures as well as the delivery of dedicated police advice. The evaluation consisted of both a resident survey and a statistical outcome analysis.

Results

Results suggested that residents in treatment groups were slightly more satisfied with the police and more likely to have been contacted by the police concerning burglaries. Although they had more awareness of burglary, their fear of crime was not heightened. Statistical analysis suggested a very modest positive effect of intervention on crime and rates of re-victimisation. In particular, a survival analysis revealed that homes in low-crime treatment areas were less likely to be re-victimised than were those in similar control areas. Effects were more evident in low- than high-crime areas.

Conclusions

Results suggest that a low-intensity target-hardening intervention which adopted a near-repeat victimisation targeting strategy had a modest positive effect on residential burglary without increasing residents’ fear of crime.