In search for rules that secure gains from cooperation: the heuristic value of social dilemmas for normative institutional economics

We ask how normative statements are possible within an economic theory framework that recognises the importance of institutional arrangements. Instead of applying established outcome-oriented criteria of social welfare, we examine whether the rules of economic interaction allow the acquisition of gains from cooperation. We suggest to reconstruct any interaction as an existing or repealed social dilemma. This approach helps to identify common rule interests which create room for improvement of all parties involved, and to suggest desirable institutional reforms. Our policy applications include the unemployment problem and rural credit markets.      

Separated Children: A Comparison of the Treatment of Separated Child Refugees Entering Australia and Canada

Separated children are in a uniquely vulnerable situation. Notonly are they in fear of persecution but they have been separatedfrom their families. They are seeking multifaceted protections.Such children need a country to protect them from further persecution,a caregiver to nurture them and fulfil the family role and asociety that will foster their social and intellectual growth.This article analyses the treatment of separated child refugeesin the context of international human rights law as it relatesto children and from the viewpoint of domestic immigration law.The article bases this analysis on a comparison of the treatmentof separated child refugees in Australia and Canada. The fundamentalprinciple of the International Convention on the Rights of theChild is that member states should act in the child's best interests.This principle has two important aspects, firstly, that detentionof children should only be used as a last resort and, secondly,that child refugees should enjoy the right to seek asylum. Thearticle examines the domestic law of both Australia and Canadawith a view to determining how these two aspects are appliedto unaccompanied children.     

The Wrong Prescription for the Congo

In October 2006, the Democratic Republic of Congo, which experienced possibly the world's deadliest humanitarian catastrophe, held the second of two rounds of the first free presidential elections in 46 years. The culmination of a transitional process funded, designed, and overseen by the West, the elections were supposed to bring stability, accountability, and democracy to a land long devastated by war, poor administration, and authoritarianism. Sadly, this brighter future is unlikely to be reached any time soon, for the transitional process is fatally flawed. A bold approach is needed to reform the DRC's governmental apparatus, the collapse of which not only affects its citizens, but also destabilizes states throughout the continent and provides a haven for terrorists, arms traffickers, and criminal networks.     

法律全球化

提到法律全球化,我们可能联想到整个世界生活在单一法律规则下的程度。基于全球合意或者由于全球所有组成部分的平行发展而形成,这种单一法律规则可能由单一的强制执行角色付诸实施。尽管两极世界和冷战的结束带来些许欣慰,但我们并没有过多移近国际法体制,无论是通过确立单一全球法律提供者和实施者,还是通过坚强有力的民族国家协商一致。如果我们已经有的话,我们会说国际法,而不是法律全球化。我们甚至也不能信心十足地说,法律已经全球化或普遍化,具体表现是不管他/她走到地球的什么地方,人际关系均被一定的法、即使不是各处都相同的法律…     

The American Way of Going to War: Mexico (1846) to Iraq (2003)

Prior to the Iraq War, there had been a long series of American wars in which U.S. leaders often maneuvered the other side into “firing the first shot.” This strategy of “passive defense” amounts to an American way of going to war, and it dates back at least to the U.S.-Mexican War. The United States thus retained the moral and legal legitimacy, an asset which is especially important in a democratic political system. The Iraq War represents a fundamental departure from this American way. It might be the worst crisis since Vietnam. but that war was just another entry in the U.S. playbook for how to go to war. The Iraq War not only contradicts longstanding practices in American foreign policy, but it has the potential to issue in far greater international disorder than the Vietnam War. This catastrophe may make future presidents more heedful of John Quincy Adams’ prophetic words: go not abroad in search of monsters to destroy.     

Artenschutzrecht im Wandel

In Reaktion auf die im Januar 2006 erfolgte Verurteilung der Bundesrepublik Deutschland durch den Europ?ischen Gerichtshof (EuGH) legte das Bundesministerium für Umwelt, Naturschutz und Reaktorsicherheit (BMU) am 22.12.2006 einen Entwurf zur ?nderung des Bundesnaturschutzgesetzes (BNatSchG) vor, mit dem den Beanstandungen des EuGH entsprochen werden soll. Der Beitrag analysiert die artenschutzrechtlichen Regelungsvorschl?ge und zeigt namentlich die aus EG-rechtlicher Perspektive bestehenden M?ngel des Entwurfs auf.