Seychelles: Democratising in the shadows of the past

This article is an assessment of the country's governance and the likelihood that the country can break free from the shadow of former President René and his one-party state. The paper examines eight key areas of democratic governance: the constitution and rule of law; the judiciary; the National Assembly; elections; civil society; the internal security forces; economic life; and the executive. Although it finds some changes for the better over the last few years, old habits remain of a politicised judiciary, a blurring of the boundaries between party and state, regime policing, partisan distribution of state benefits and a constrained National Assembly. It concludes with a discussion of the likely role of the former incumbent, given that he still retains the chair of the ruling party and shows little sign of allowing the new President to be his own man. The likelihood of further governance progress for Seychelles depends on the political courage of President Michel.     

An Overview of State Policy Problems

Concepts of federalism are briefly rmiewed with the intent of inquiring whether the states have become entrepreneurial as a result ofthe Reagan devolution. An overview of the contributions to the symposium suggests that support for a theory of cyclicality is not consistently evident in the states. Necessary resatrcesarenotalways present toallow thestates to bethe policyentrepreneurs in the United States.     

Foreign assistance and development in a small-island economy: The case of Fiji

In many works on comparative public administration and development management the arguments put forward are often presented within the framework of comparing developed and less-developed countries. However, within the latter category there are fairly substantial differences, usually categorized within the context of system of government, or degrees of per capita income. Rarely is the question of scale addressed head on. One dimension of this, for instance, is the nature and operation of public administration where the proliferation of traditional ministries, and the impartiality of the administration, become very problematic in terms of the extremely limited resources and the very personal nature of public life— especially in the microstates. In this paper the question of scale is addressed in the context of the relationship between one island state, Fiji, and its bilateral and multilateral partners. This is considered not just in terms of aid and loans, but in terms of such issues as the ‘critical mass’ of skilled professional people, and the problems of functioning in a system where the rules for such things as overheads seem to have been evolved in the context of the Third-World giants. It is shown that the scale variable is a very powerful one in both the effectiveness and efficiency of governments working in tandem with major external sources of capital assistance.     

Institutional innovation,development and environmental management: An ‘administrative trap’ revisited. Part I

In the first section of this two-part study the author considers the relationship between administrative structure and the persistence of broad ecological problems. This is set in the context of the issues leading to, and identified at, the Stockholm Conference on the Environment in 1972. It is evident that, despite all the interest and effort, the main parameters of environmental well-being show that the situation remains at least as bad. The case is made that there is a considerable dysfunction between the nature of ecological problems and the ‘problem-solving’ structures within the public arena. This dysfunction is here termed the ‘administrative trap’. This section concludes by reviewing three areas in which administrative innovation resulted very largely from the Stockholm initiative: Global Conferences and their attendant Global Institutions; Ministries of the Environment; and ‘reforms’ in the legislative apparatus.     

Newborn kidnapping by cesarean section

A study of 30 cases of violence from a total sample of 199 cases of infant abductions between the years 1983 and 2000 included a subsample of six (or 20%) where the kidnapping was by cesarean section. The six cases are classified by type of crime. Four cases were classified as personal cause homicide, subtype cesarean section homicide; one case classified as personal cause, subtype domestic homicide, and one case classified as a criminal enterprise homicide. The behavioral profiles of the abductors included a confidence style approach to the victim mother, deception, and planning of the cesarean section. The forensic psychodynamics suggest a dual motive to cement a failing partner relationship and to fulfill a childbearing and delivery fantasy. Cesarean section murder suggests a new category of personal cause homicide.     

Estimation of body exposure to explosion

An ordnance-disposal expert was killed while disposing of a cache of explosives. The likely position of the body was reconstructed by modeling the explosion as an omnidirectional emission of particles from a model of the explosion site and noting the distribution of particles on a model of a human. The applications and limitations of this method in reconstructing the events and correlation with the injuries noted at autopsy are discussed.     

Sovereign nations and global markets: modern British Conservatism and hyperglobalism

In this article we seek to trace through the major stands of British Euroscepticism and concentrate, in particular, on the importance of a powerful 'hyperglobalist' Eurosceptical strand within British Conservatism. We investigate the British Conservatives' recent divisions over European integration, against the background of the party's increasingly marginal status in British party politics. The piece also draws on findings from two recent surveys of the attitudes of British parliamentarians to European integration, carried out by the Members of Parliament Project for the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). We explore how Conservative divisions of opinion are related in part to particular understandings of globalisation and regionalisation and attempt to show how globalist ideology has unexpectedly re–emphasised and bolstered the traditional nationalism of the Tory party and caused an increasingly hostile attitude amongst many British Conservatives towards the European project as it is presently constituted. We also examine recent attempts to map British Conservative Euroscepticism on to continental varieties using a mixture of ideological positioning and party system (Taggart 1998), arguing that this ignores the extent to which British Eurosceptics advance unique (in EU member state terms) hyperglobalist (rather than isolationist or protectionist) arguments in objecting to further European integration.     

Identification of flurazepam (Dalmane) and a primary metabolite in urine by thin-layer chromatography.

A relatively simple, routine method has been described for the qualitative identification of flurazepam and its primary metabolite 7-chloro-1-(2-hydroxyethyl)-5-(2-fluorophenyl)-1,3-dihydro-2H-1,4-benzodiazepin-2-one in urine. We have described two extractions and several identification procedures by which flurazepam and its primary urinary metabolite can be identified by TLC.     

Fatal diphenhydramine intoxication in infants

Diphenhydramine is an antihistamine available in numerous over-the-counter preparations. Often used for its sedative effects in adults, it can cause paradoxical central nervous system stimulation in children, with effects ranging from excitation to seizures and death. Reports of fatal intoxications in young children are rare. We present five cases of fatal intoxication in infants 6, 8, 9, 12, and 12 weeks old. Postmortem blood diphenhydramine levels in the cases were 1.6, 1.5, 1.6, 1.1 and 1.1 mg/L, respectively. Anatomic findings in each case were normal. In one case the child's father admitted giving the infant diphenhydramine in an attempt to induce the infant to sleep; in another case, a daycare provider admitted putting diphenhydramine in a baby bottle. Two cases remain unsolved; one case remains under investigation. The postmortem drug levels in these cases are lower than seen in adult fatalities. We review the literature on diphenhydramine toxicity, particularly as it pertains to small children, and discuss the rationale for treating these cases as fatal intoxications.