Bin Laden’s targeted killing and emerging norms

This article illustrates how the well-known norm life cycle model has been under-utilised for understanding global political behaviour. The model has generally been applied to norms advancing human rights or prohibiting certain behaviour. This article uses the norm life cycle, modified to account for norm fluidity, to examine a practice which enables the state to pursue its security interests, at times by violating human rights. Specifically, this study explores variation in global responses to targeted killings, with Osama bin Laden’s death serving as a focal point. These reactions generally range from condemnation of targeted killings occurring before his death, to widespread acceptance of his death, to subsequent efforts to regulate the practice. This article concludes that this variation could be understood as consistent with the initial stages of the norm life cycle. Through this analysis, the article demonstrates how the norm life cycle model can helpfully shed light on very diverse political behaviour.     

Integrity and resilience in the face of multiple crises: commentary from Puerto Rico

Since 2010, the population of Puerto Rico has declined by 11.8％ and is currently 3.3 million people [1]. This worrisome trend is a result of a plethora of island-wide challenges spanning financial difficulties, natural disasters, and epidemics. Following over a decade of economic hardship and debt, incapacitating hurricanes, Irma and Maria, destroyed large swaths of the island in 2017. While still recovering from that disaster, a magnitude 6.4 earthquake centered about 5 miles off the southwestern coast on January 7, 2020, destroying buildings and roads in southwestern Puerto Rico. This event, and subsequent aftershocks that continue until today, further aggravate an already stressed population. In the mix, viral epidemics have brought further economic, social, and health-related suffering. Puerto Rico was the centre of the 2016–2017 Zika virus infections, representing over 85％ of the US infections in 2016 [2].     

“If you Build it with them,they will come”: What makes a supermarket intervention successful in a food desert?

Using 71 planned supermarket interventions in food deserts, this study assesses the interplay between regional geography, management models, policy drivers, financing, and timing. We find that community engagement and cooperative management models are important factors to opening and sustaining a new store, contributing to subsequent improvements in the foodscape, built environment, and diet‐related health. Findings show that none of the nonprofit or community‐driven stores have closed whereas nearly half of the commercial‐driven and one third of government‐driven cases resulted in canceled plans or closed stores. Our research suggests community engagement is a critical component of effective policies for healthy food access. Future studies may wish to include measurements of community engagement with their case studies to better situate explanatory findings.     

India's regional disparity and its policy responses

Regional disparities are an alarming issue in India, and it has been widening in spite of various policy initiatives by the government to develop backward areas. The fruit of high growth have not been distributed fairly across India's different regions and have given rise to the threat of regional inequality. Disparities in social and economic development, employment, and infrastructure amenities across the regions and within regions have been a major challenge to policy makers and economists. This paper is an attempt to understand the recent picture of regional imbalance in India across its states. The paper tries to analyze the existing regional disparity in India in terms of macroeconomic aggregates, social and economic infrastructure, and human development. The paper also examines the various policy initiatives taken by the government of India to achieve the regional balance in development.     

Predicting law enforcement confidence in going ‘hands-on’: the impact of martial arts training,use-of-force self-efficacy,motivation, and apprehensiveness

ABSTRACT

In law enforcement, there are situations allowing officers to gain control of suspects by going ‘hands-on,’ or physically placing someone in custody beyond simple handcuffing. While much empirical attention is placed on more lethal use-of-force (UOF) measures, little is known about going hands-on. This is concerning considering when force is used, it is almost always with the use of hands, fist or feet only. The purpose of this pilot study is to examine whether martial arts training (MAT) and UOF self-efficacy predict confidence in going hands-on, after accounting for perceived motivation and apprehensiveness. It draws from an online survey, and a non-random subsample of 1,064 un-ranked patrol duty officers in the USA. Results indicate that MAT and high perceived UOF self-efficacy safely predict confidence in going hands-on, even after accounting for perceived motivation and apprehensiveness. Nonetheless, apprehensiveness, but not motivation, remains a strong predictor of not being confident in going hands-on.     

Civilizing Space or Criminalizing Place: Using Routine Activities Theory to Better Understand How Legal Hybridity Spatially Regulates “Deviant Populations”

Critical Criminology - The combining of administrative, civil, and criminal law has broadened modern crime control mechanisms and greatly increased the legal authority and discretion of law...     

A Uniform, Internationally Oriented Legal Framework for the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards in Mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan?

The growth in commercial transactions with Mainland China, HongKong Special Administrative Region and the Taiwan region (Taiwan)as well as the economic integration in the entire area havelead to an increase in disputes. Considering the importanceof arbitration as a mechanism for resolving commercial disputesin the area, the paper discusses whether a substantial "clash"between their legal frameworks for the recognition and enforcementof foreign arbitral awards can be observed. After a criticalanalysis, the paper concludes that these frameworks are eithersubject to or modelled on the New York Convention. Yet, eachhas a distinct approach to the implementation, and dissimilaritiesarise. Furthermore, the specific legal framework for the recognitionand enforcement of Mainland China awards in Hong Kong and Taiwan,and vice versa, still raises some concerns and is not fullyreliable.     

Re-examining the evidence on the electoral impact of terrorist attacks: The Spanish election of 2004

This paper re-examines the electoral effect of the 11-M terrorist attacks in Madrid. Previous research has focused on post-electoral surveys to construct counterfactuals for the evaluation of the electoral impact of the attack. Bali (Electoral Studies, 2007) claims that the terrorists attacks had an important electoral impact while Lago and Montero (2005) claim the opposite. In this paper I propose to re-examine the evidence using a methodological approach based on actual votes instead of opinions revealed by surveys, and the difference-in-differences estimator. The calculations under the counterfactual of “no terrorist attack” support the forecasts of the polls taken prior to the terrorist attack and the results of Bali (2007). The incumbent (conservative) party would have won the election with between 42% and the 45% of the votes, while the socialist party would have obtained 37% of the votes.