Crafting the Copenhagen Consensus: Some Reflections

The 2007 Bali Climate Conference launched a 'meta-negotiation' of unprecedented scale and complexity. Culminating in 2009, climate change delegates must now define the next round of targets for the Kyoto Protocol developed country parties, and comparable provisions for the USA. Most dauntingly, negotiators must also devise a new architecture for further 'action' by developing countries under the Convention. This paper reflects on the key challenges involved in crafting a consensus at the climate conference in 2009 in Copenhagen. In particular, it explores options for reaching agreement with the USA and developing countries, suggesting a transition phase up to 2020. For developing countries, the paper outlines a possible 'choose and no-lose' approach, along with options for increased financing. The paper concludes by looking beyond 2009, emphasizing that, given the complexity of the negotiations, a work programme post-Copenhagen will be needed.     

Are accurate witnesses more likely to make absolute judgments?

The present study tested the Two-Judgment Theory of Eyewitness Identification Accuracy. Specifically, the extent to which participants were able to engage in an absolute judgment strategy was manipulated by varying the time available to view a lineup. Providing a limited exposure to a lineup should “interrupt” decision making, whereby witnesses can only engage a relative strategy, thus leading to higher false positive responding given a target-absent lineup. Seventy-four adults viewed a 1-minute video that exposed them to an unknown target and subsequently viewed the lineup for a limited (2 s) or an unlimited amount of time. Although false positive rates were similar across conditions, accurate witnesses were more confident than inaccurate witnesses. Confidence was negatively correlated with response latency such that witnesses who took more time to make a decision were less confident in their decisions compared to witnesses who made more rapid decisions. Response latency did not differ for accurate and inaccurate witnesses. Limitations and suggestions for future research on the Two-Judgment Theory are discussed.     

Lessons from Cukurova

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below. Key points

• The recent decision of the High Court of the BritishVirgin Islands in Alfa v Cukurova has caused a stir among lawyersserving the international financial markets based in London.
• Thedecision concerns the meaning of ‘appropriation’.Appropriation is a new remedy for collateral takers introducedby the Financial Collateral Arrangements (No. 2) Regulations2003, which implement the Financial Collateral Directive.
• Thedecision holds that effective appropriation requires the collateraltaker to take over from the collateral giver the ability todeal with the collateral as its own.
• In Cukurova, where anequitable mortgage was taken over directly held shares, thisrequired that the collateral taker become the registered ownerof the shares.
• The decision was appealed to the BVI Court ofAppeal in late January 2008 and may go further. In the meantime,this article provides an overview of the decision and considersits wider significance.