Disobedience and Criticism. The Ethos of Ombudsman's Institution and the "East-European Revolution of Human Rights"

The commissioners of human rights in the Parliament aim at ensuring the protection and formation as well as the development of the culture of human rights with their activities in Hungary and all over the world. What else could be done by the citizens practising their disobedience during the non-violent revolutions in 1989 after Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King and the American Henry David Thoreau? At a first glance, it perhaps seems to be strange to put the following question: what is the connecting link between the role of political law of a public state and the citizens breaking the rules in order to protect the constitutional rights? What will be the result of this comparison? I think, the result is that we can recognize the role of both functions more thoroughly in operating the constitutional state suitably in order to protect the culture of constitutional rights (reactive role) and to develop them (proactive role).     

阿拉斯加的辅导倡议:通过公民参与促进领导力的成长

本文对公民参与和青年领导力形成的关系进行了详细阐述,并介绍了安克雷奇大学与社区合作加强大学生公民参与的研究,提出在青年反社会行为上的"辅导空白",倡议进行阿拉斯加辅导项目,让大学生意识到公民参与的价值,并开始扮演其领导角色.     

Note – Walking on Solid Ground: A Replication Study of ‘Housing Health and Happiness’

This note summarises our replication study ‘Housing, Health, and Happiness’, henceforth HHH2009, which constitutes an important paper in the literature of housing and slum upgrading. The original authors conduct a quasi-experimental impact evaluation of ‘Piso Firme’, an intervention that replaced in-house dirt floors with cement in Mexico. We conduct a Pure Replication (PR), a Measurement and Estimation Analysis (MEA), and a Theory of Change Analysis (TCA). In our PR, we did not find any major discrepancy with the original study. In the MEA, we generally find the results to be strongly robust to different types of alternative analysis. Finally, in TCA we explore a dimension that was not reported on the published version of the study and found that households with high initial levels of cement-floor coverage benefitted significantly less from Piso Firme’s intervention. These findings are discussed in greater detail on International Initiative for Impact Evaluation’s (3ie) working paper version.     

Age estimation from sternal ends of ribs by phase analysis in South African Blacks

The sternal ends of ribs are used in age determination of unknown adult remains. Standards for American populations have been described and tested. The method described by I?can et al. is reviewed and compared with other age markers of the human skeleton. Three hundred and thirty-nine (265 male, 74 female) sternal ends of right fourth ribs, belonging to black individuals deceased in the Gauteng Province of South Africa, were collected during 1994, 1995, and 1996. Three South African investigators applied the existing method and found the repeatability among them acceptable, although the method was less accurate to predict age in this population. New phases with adjusted criteria and age ranges were developed specifically for the South African black population. A tendency toward delayed maturation was found, as well as a diversion of the appearance of female ribs perimenopausally. Future studies involving more individuals in the older age ranges, and females of all ages, could broaden the representativeness of these phases.     

A New Tax on Income from Capital in the Netherlands

The Dutch income tax is until now based on the source theory. As a consequence capital gains are not taxed; this principle forms the basis of many schemes for tax avoidance. To cope with this problem the Government proposes an analytic income tax at a rate of 30% assuming a fixed annual yield of 4%. According to critics the proposal will lead to a modest taxation on capital gains but also to various forms of tax arbitration and a tax justice deficiency.     

A. Reviews: general

i. The Arab Economy: Past Performance and Future Prospects. by Yusif A.Sayigh. Oxford University Press, 1982. pp. 175.

ii. The Arab Predicament: Arab Politics and Practice since 1967. By Fouad Ajami. Cambridge University Press, 1982. pp. 220. £4.95 (paperback of hardback edn., 1981).

iii. The Arabic Documents in the Archives of the British Political Agency Kuwait, 1904–1949 (IOR: R/15/5) ([ British Academy]Oriental Documents V). By Julia Ashtiany. London, India Office Library and Records (published under the auspices of the British Academy Oriental Documents Committee), 1982. pp.xxxi, 373, P1.4.

iv. Traditional Crafts of Saudi Arabia. By John Topham and others. London, Stacey International Publishers, 1982. pp.192, 275 illustrations (colour), 6 (black and white), 2 maps. £22.50.

v. Yemen: Political History, Social Structure and Legal System. By Isam Ghanem. London, Arthur Probsthain, pp.26. £4.00.

vi. Sidi Ameur: a Tunisian Village. By Nadia Abu Zahra. London, Ithaca Press, 1982. pp.238, 2 tables, 3 maps, 4 diagrams, 7 appendices. £11.50.

vii. Tchad/Lybie: La querelle des frontières. By Bernard Lanne. Paris, Editions Karthala, 1982. pp.251, 2 maps. FF 68.

viii. Women in Islam: Tradition and Transition in the Middle East. By Naila Minai. London, John Murray, 1981. pp.283. £8.95.

ix. Faith and Power: The Politics of Islam. By Edward Mortimer. London, Faber and Faber, 1982. pp.431. £10.50 (paperback £5.95).

xi. Pan‐Turkism in Turkey: A Study of Irredentism. By Jacob M.Landau. London, C.Hurst & Co., 1981. pp.219. £11.50.

xii. The Modernization of Turkey: From Atatürk to the Present Day. By Walter F. Weiker. New York & London, Holmes and Meier, 1981. pp.303.