Recovery and identification of the victims of the Ehime Maru/USS Greeneville collision at sea

This paper describes the recovery and identification of crew members lost during a collision at sea. On 9 February 2001, south of Honolulu, Hawaii, the Japanese fishing training boat, Ehime Maru was struck by the USS Greeneville (SSN 772), a Los Angeles-class fast attack submarine. Witnesses estimate that the vessel sank within 5-10 min after the collision. Nine of the 35 crew members remained unaccounted for after rescue procedures were completed. The U.S. Navy attempted the unprecedented procedure of moving the boat from a depth of 610 m (2000 ft) into shallower waters so that the missing could be located and recovered. Eight of the nine crew members were recovered and identified by their dental records.     

How Neopatrimonialism Affects Tax Administration: a comparative study of three world regions

Neopatrimonialism is a concept that has predominately been applied to describe governance in sub-Saharan Africa. Recently, however, it has also been used to describe governance in states from other world regions. However, scholars have rarely attempted systematically to compare neopatrimonial rule in different regional settings. This paper aims to narrow this gap by examining the effect of neopatrimonialism on the tax administration as a core state function in six countries from three different world regions: Argentina, Venezuela, Indonesia, the Philippines, Kenya and Zambia. We conclude that neopatrimonialism is a valuable concept for comparative area studies with the potential to foster dialogue on the ‘state in operation’ across the regional divide. Nevertheless, several indicators are more valid for some world regions than for others. We find that there is no systematic relationship between neopatrimonial trajectories and the strength of tax administration. Individual actor decisions influence the outcomes of neopatrimonialism substantially.     

Reconciling China with international order

Abstract

The debate about Western policies towards China ('containment’ versus ‘engagement') is intellectually and politically misleading. At issue is not so much the policy blueprint but the ability of Western countries to design and implement coherent and consistent policies towards China, and to coordinate those policies between themselves. This ability has been affected by a trend towards the ‘domestication’ of foreign policies — a trend which is particularly marked in the case of the United States, but clearly visible in France, the UK and Germany as well. If the capacity to design, implement and coordinate effective China policies is to be regained, the problems will have to be recognized and addressed.     

Prison Populations as Political Constructs: the Case of Finland,Holland and Sweden

Countries such as Finland, Holland and Sweden have witnessed similar economic and social developments and have been affected by similar crime trends. However, over the past 50 years, the daily prison populations in these three Northern European countries have developed very differently. An attempt is made here to discuss these diverse developments in the light of a perspective that treats daily prison populations as political constructs.1 ¹I am grateful to my translator, David Shannon, and two anonymous referees for their helpful comments.