Perception of corruption by traffic police and taxi drivers in Bukavu DR Congo: the limits of moral analysis

ABSTRACT

This study explores how traffic police, taxi drivers and anticorruption agencies each perceive corruption in Bukavu in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Thirteen traffic police officers were interviewed, three focus groups of four to five taxi drivers were conducted, and two members of anti-corruption agencies were interviewed. Findings suggest that while western NGOs and anti-corruption agencies consider corruption immoral and a major barrier to development, both the traffic police and taxi drivers perceive it as a normal expression of solidarity and a sine qua non condition for survival. For them, corruption is a system that provides job security, greater access to food, accommodation, healthcare and education in the dysfunctional and failed Congolese State. This suggests that framing corruption in the transport sector of Bukavu solely as a moral issue and seeking to eliminate it without establishing a new system that effectively meets the needs of the population may result in more serious social problems than the corruption itself.     

An analytical and comparative study of male and female images in Qajar dynasty paintings during the reign of Fath-Ali Shah (1797–1834)

Qajar dynasty painting began in the reign of Fath-Ali Shah (1797–1834) and ended with the death of Naser al-Din Shah (1831–1896). In this period, art was influenced by the government; new rules assigned to art as to sociopolitical conditions and figurative paintings were exploited as a tool in governing the country. In the paintings ascribed to Fath-Ali Shah's period, women also appear alongside the images of men who were principally historical, political and religious key figures of their own time. The significant status of women was the most important factor in this. These images were not merely limited to eminent characters as musicians, dancers, servants, acrobats images were drawn as delicately and magnificently as male images and even enjoyed better radiance, vivacity, pep, variety and tonality than them. Male images were elegantly drawn in formal costumes, often with the same composition. The similarities and differences of male and female images in Qajar paintings can be assessed according to the criteria of composition, colour, positioning, and the number of figures, assimilation, the intricacies and the degree of characterization. This study also stresses the characteristics of men's and women's images in the paintings.     

State-backed discrimination against Shia Muslims in Malaysia

This article traces the origins of legalized discrimination, religious hatred, and systematic marginalization of a community of Malaysian Muslims – the Shias – perpetuated in the name of Islam. It demonstrates how a central government-derived fatwa (religious legal opinion) banning Shi’ism and the propagation of Shia teachings in the country since 1996 has been used to justify a range of human rights violations, not limited to the religious freedom of this minority group. Apart from Syariah legislation, the state has utilized this fatwa alongside other tools, including the religious bureaucracy and the media, to persecute Shia in Malaysia. Anti-Shia efforts are also supported and propagated by non-state Islamists who often work hand-in-hand with state actors.     

Reasoned elaboration of equitable maxims

Wechsler thought matters of established precepts must be decided by ‘neutral principles’, requiring judges to provide ‘reasoned elaboration’. The objective of this research is to examine critically the judicial elaboration of the maxims of equity. Have judicially stated maxims of equity tended to conceal the underlying universal principles by an absence of reasoned elaboration? Argument tests the proposition that the maxims’ underlying principles are veiled, by the necessity of having to analyse their judicial elaborations, in order to infer their inherent principle. Only three of the studied maxims were true maxims. Others could not be subject to reasoned elaboration.     

Egypt's multiproduct agricultural technology and agricultural policy

Based on the hypothesis that Egyptian farmers maximise economic profits, the multiproduct translog profit function is used to estimate input demand and output supply functions for corn, rice, and cotton crops grown in Egypt's Nile delta. Elasticity estimates indicate a generally high degree of price responsiveness. The estimates are used to evaluate Egyptian agricultural policies concerning labour, mechanisation, and output prices. The results show that Egypt's agricultural policies of taxing output and subsidising certain inputs have hada substantial negative impact on agricultural productivity.     

Export Response to Technical Barriers to Trade: Firm-Level Evidence from Pakistan

This study empirically examines the responses of trade margins to a battery of technical barriers to trade (TBT) and explores the mechanism, drivers and speed of adjustment. It uses a highly-disaggregated transaction-level dataset of mango-exporting firms from Pakistan and exploits a quasi-natural experiment in the identification strategy. It finds that, following the application of TBT measures, exports increased along the intensive margins. The process of adjustment took around four years, and larger quantities as well as higher prices drive this effect. Moreover, firms shrink their client base in destination markets but ship large quantities to a few big retailers.     

Post-appeal avenues to rectify miscarriages of justice in the Malaysian criminal justice process: reform options and the use of DNA evidence

Many jurisdictions have reformed their criminal justice process as a result of reported cases where convicted individuals who have exhausted their legal rights of appeal were exonerated using DNA evidence. Based on that backgrounds, this article critically examines the existing post-appeal avenues in Malaysia and highlights that they are ineffective to deal with claims of miscarriages justice. This article argues proper legal mechanisms need to be established to deal with this issue which can also allow convicted persons to request for DNA testing where relevant to prove their innocence.