The ASEAN Regional Forum and Preventive Diplomacy: Built to Fail?

Abstract

Various reasons purport to explain why the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Regional Forum (ARF) has failed to evolve from confidence building to preventive diplomacy (PD). These include the ARF's large membership, its strict adherence to sovereignty and noninterference principles that contradict any effective implementation of PD, and contrasting strategic perspectives among its participants. Although these factors have certainly hindered security cooperation, none are sufficient conditions by themselves to explain the forum's ambivalence toward PD. The authors argue that these factors do not tell the whole story, not least when they have not stood in the way of experiments in PD by other processes in the Asia-Pacific. The claim here is that the ARF has evolved into a highly inflexible forum, which in turn has led to the formalization of its approach to PD. This has severely inhibited the adoption of a PD agenda and actionable measures under the ARF framework.     

‘Overcoming the divide’ between comparative politics and international relations approaches to the EC: What role for ‘post‐decisional politics'? 1

Political scientists have normally considered the European Community (EC) from the standpoint either of international relations or comparative politics/public policy. Although the division between the two sub‐disciplines of political science is well known and deeply rooted, it is now commonly viewed as a barrier to greater understanding of the neo‐state structure of the EC. Using a case study of the implementation of EC coastal‐bathing water policy in Britain over the last 20 years, this article argues that closer investigation of the long‐term outcome of individual policies at the national and sub‐national level provides a sounder basis upon which to adjudicate between the two main theories of integration, namely inter‐governmentalism and neo‐functionalism, than studies of short‐term policy outputs emanating from the Council of Ministers or the grand ‘history‐making’ bargains hammered out in the European Council.     

Entrepreneurship during a pandemic

European Journal of Law and Economics - Commercial and social entrepreneurs are likely to help communities combat public health crises. Research on responses to pandemics has underappreciated the...     

Identifying subgroups at high risk of dropping out of domestic batterer treatment: the buffering effects of a high school education

This study identifies the subgroups of domestic batterers who are at a low or high risk of failing to complete domestic batterer cognitive behavioral treatment. The sample is composed of 355 domestic batterers ordered to complete treatment, with 31.8% not completing treatment. Three subgroups of batterers were identified as having at least a 60% chance of treatment failure: (a) unemployed generalized aggressors, (b) high school dropouts ordered into substance abuse treatment, and (c) unemployed offenders ordered into substance abuse treatment. Furthermore, a high school education, even when offenders are unemployed or living in poverty, buffers the negative effects of a substance abuse problem among court-mandated batterers required to participate in both domestic violence treatment and substance abuse treatment. Two thirds of substance-abusing high school graduates completed both domestic violence and substance abuse treatment, compared to only one third of the substance-abusing high school dropouts. Implications are discussed.     

Ontario's Integrated Justice Project: profile of a complex partnership agreement

Abstract: This article is a practitioner's perspective on the Integrated Justice Project and presents the underlying value premise for the creation of this public-private partnership to transform Ontario's justice system. It presents an insider's view of the negotiations to establish a “contractual alliance” between the public and private sectors in the emerging field of alternative service delivery. The issues of business arrangement and risk management faced by both sides in reaching a balanced agreement, wherein both parties undertake to share the risks and rewards, are highlighted. Sommaire: Cet article expose le point de vue des praticiens concernant le Projet de justice intégrée et présente les justificatifs ayant présidé a G la création de ce partenariat public-privé qui vise à transformer le système de justice de l'Ontario. II présente une perspective interne des négociations visant àétablir une ‘ alliance contractuelle ’ entre les secteurs public et privé dans le domaine naissant de la prestation de services par des moyens de rechange. On y met en évidence les questions d'entente et de gestion du risque auxquelles font face les deux interlocuteurs lorsqu'il s'agit de conclure un accord équilibré, permettant aux deux de partager à la fois les risques et les gains.     

The law of incidental findings in human subjects research: establishing researchers' duties

Research technologies can now produce so much information that there is significant potential for incidental findings (IFs). These are findings generated in research that are beyond the aims of the study. Current law and federal regulations offer no direct guidance on how to deal with IFs in research, nor is there adequate professional or institutional guidance. We advocate a defined set of researcher duties based on law and ethics and recommend a pathway to be followed in handling IFs in research. This article traces the underlying ethical and legal theories supporting researcher duties to manage IFs, including duties to develop a plan for management in the research protocol, to discuss the possibility of and management plan for IFs in the informed consent process, and to address, evaluate, and ultimately offer to disclose IFs of potential clinical or reproductive significance to research participants when they arise.