Theory Meets Practice: Some Current Human Rights Challenges in Canada

The article examines three recent situations in which human rights issues have been in the forefront of public policy debates in Canada. In the first, freedom of expression may have been compromised as a result of foreign policy considerations. The second case involves the sometimes contentious issue of equal pay for work of equal value. Thirdly, a current initiative aimed at resolving a longstanding claim by Aboriginal Canadians is examined in the context of principles of equality.     

Experimental design for acquiring relevant data to address the issue of comparing consecutively manufactured tools and firearms

The comparison of consecutively manufactured tools and firearms has provided much, but not all, of the basis for the profession of firearm and toolmark examination. The authors accept the fundamental soundness of this approach but appeal to the experimental community to close two minor gaps in the experimental procedure. We suggest that “blinding” and attention to appropriateness of other experimental conditions that would consolidate the foundations of our profession. We do not suggest that previous work is unsound.     

The role of certain sections of the central nervous system in the genesis of sudden death]

Hypothalamic and hippocampal lipid composition in sudden death from coronary heart disease is studied. Thin-layer chromatography was the main method of biochemical analysis. Disorders in the lipid component of hippocampal cytostructures involved mainly the cholesterol fractions. Metabolic disorders in the hypothalamus involved the phospholipid metabolism. The above-mentioned biochemical changes were paralleled by ultrastructural abnormalities. Analysis of the data demonstrates a probable metabolic basis of a central mechanism of sudden cardiac death.     

Sir Ernest Satow and the 1907 Second Hague Peace Conference

Based on Satow's own account of the conference in his diaries, this article examines the role played by Sir Ernest Satow as the second plenipotentiary on the British delegation at the Second Hague Peace Conference in 1907. His previous experience at the post-Boxer conference at Peking in 1900-1901 stood Satow in good stead during the preparations for the conference as well as once the actual negotiations commenced. His main contribution to the proceedings at The Hague, however, was the preparatory work for the London Naval Conference of 1909. Satow's stance towards the negotiations of 1907 marks him out as a predecessor of twentieth-century internationalists.     

FORENSIC ECONOMICS: AN INTRODUCTION WITH SPECIAL EMPHASIS ON PRICE FIXING

This paper aims at explaining accepted methods of forensic analysisand how forensic economics is used in the context of competition-lawenforcement. Illustrations are drawn from ancient and modernantitrust cases involving price-fixing allegations. The statedgoal of antitrust laws of most nations is deterrence. Optimaldeterrence requires that cartel penalties be based on multiplesof economic injuries. Yet, antitrust authorities are typicallyreluctant to calculate fines on the basis of damages becauseof perceived analytical challenges or because the fact-finderslack needed economic education. However, reasonable estimatesof damages can often be quickly prepared using simpler methodsthan econometric modeling. More often than not, alternativeestimates of cartel overcharges tend to be mutually supportive.The reluctance of antitrust authorities to base fines on damagesseems to indicate an abundance of caution.     

Decolonising Europe? The Colonial Boomerang

The hidden secret at the core of Michael Haneke's remarkable film of that name is Georges Laurent's denunciation of a young Algerian boy who found refuge on his relatives’ farm after his own parents had perished in the infamous 1961 Paris massacre. In a bizarre return of the repressed, the memory of this betrayal invades and destroys his affluent bourgeois existence forty years later. In this article, I attempt to link this return to the “colonial boomerang” of the suburban revolts of 2005 (and 2007) and the “official” occlusion of past crimes against humanity most clearly shown in the case of Maurice Papon, in which the betrayal of France's Jews and the massacre of Algerian demonstrators merge on the grounds of the Veld'Hiv.     

When Do Ideologies Produce Alliances?

Recent research suggests a conditional relationship between states' domestic regimes or ideologies and their alliances. I argue that the likelihood that alliances will form along ideological lines increases with the fear among at least two governments of ideology I that they are threatened by transnational rival ideology J . Understanding the power of demonstration effects—that when J advances in one country it gains credibility in others— I -governments will have an incentive to enter an international agreement to oppose J domestically. Such domestic-security agreements will exacerbate the security dilemma, raising fears among J -governments that I -governments are forming a bloc directed at J and J -governments. J -governments will tend to respond by increasing cooperation among themselves, inducing corresponding fears among I -governments; the coalescing I - and J -blocs will tend to spiral into alliances. I - or J -governments wishing to avoid ideologically based alliances may signal an absence of rollback intentions through various means. I demonstrate this process of alliance formation with a lengthy case study of alliance formation in the Holy Roman Empire in the sixteenth century.     

Supreme Court Ruling Creates More Standing Room in the Already Heated Global Greenhouse Gas Movement

This article reviews the recent April 2, 2007 Supreme Court decision in the Massachusetts v. EPA, a highly important case regarding greenhouse gases. The case centered on the Court's review of EPA's denial of a petition to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from new motor vehicles. The Court required EPA to reconsider its denial. The Court found that. 1) the petitioners have standing to challenge EPA's denial of their petition; 2) the Court has the authority to review the denial of the petition; and 3) the Clean Air Act authorizes EPA to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from new motor vehicles. This article looks specifically at the Court's analysis of standing and jurisdiction by Justice Stevens, who wrote the Court's majority opinion, and two dissenting opinions by Justices Roberts and Scalia. Most interesting is how the closely divided Justices (5 to 4 decision) viewed, very differently, the issues regarding standing, the evidence that emissions from new motor vehicles are causing global warming and harm to Massachusetts, and the agency's judgment in denying the petition. Lastly, the article speculates on the impact of the decision and the current activities taking place at the state and regulated community level involving future regulation, litigation, and opportunities by various companies and coalitions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The article then presents five broad areas where companies that emit greenhouse gases should need to maintain or increase awareness to better position themselves in the global greenhouse gas movement.