The evolution of the environmental industry in the post-NAFTA era in Mexico

The market for environmental goods and services in Mexico almost doubled in size between 1995 and 2005, amounting to $4.7 billion in 2005. But just how large a role did the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) play directly in this cycle? According to environmental industry participants in Mexico, while not meaningless, the NAFTA law and its implementation were not a major factor in directly driving environmental market growth. First, the environmental market grew only marginally higher than the gross domestic product (GDP) during 1995–2005. Second, it was largely two factors that paced the environmental market growth: an increase in certain domestic environmental programs that largely separate from NAFTA and an influx of foreign manufacturers into Mexico, some of which brought a higher standard of environmental operations with them. Drivers of environmental markets are both economic and regulatory, and in both instances, they are multifaceted, so that no one policy instrument or economic trend is solely responsible for major trends within the environmental industry. However, it is apparent that NAFTA has had some role in accelerating the evolution of environmental markets in Mexico, but arguably a lesser influence than it could have been. Notably, NAFTA had little impact on stimulating growth on the domestic environmental industry in Mexico as trade deficits increased during 1995–2005. The lesson for policymakers may be that trade agreements need some more active entity in assuring not just some uniformity in environmental standards and in the compliance with same, but also in the environmental industry capacity to meet those compliance objectives.     

Bureaucracy in the postmodern world: problems and solutions

This paper considers the problems presented by modern bureaucratic organizations within the framework of postmodern philosophy. Bureaucracy represents the logical outcome of the rational tradition in western philosophy. Because of their efficiency properties, individuals are both the beneficiaries and victims of bureaucratic behavior. We suggest that a solution to these problems will not be found by using existing philosophical frameworks. The French philosopher Jean-Francois Lyotard presents a model of postmodern relationships based on language games. We explore the concept of language games within bureaucratic settings.     

Legislative term limits in the United States

From 1990 to 1995 almost half of the American states adopted term limits for their congressional representatives and state legislatures. Although the US Supreme Court declared these laws unconstitutional as far as federal legislators are concerned, many states are proceeding to implement term limits for their own legislatures. This article examines the historical background to rotation in office, the political and constitutional issues involved, the term limits movement and its evolving strategies, congressional action on a proposed constitutional amendment and the impact on state legislatures. It concludes that the relative decline of the term limits movement since 1995 can be explained by a number of factors, including factionalism among its supporters and improving economic conditions in the country, but that it has made its own distinctive mark on American politics and its effects will be felt over the coming years.     

The legal role of medical professionals in decisions to withhold or withdraw life-sustaining treatment: Part 3 (Victoria)

This is the final article in a series of three that examines the legal role of medical professionals in decisions to withhold or withdraw life-sustaining treatment from adults who lack capacity. This article considers the position in Victoria. A review of the law in this State reveals that medical professionals play significant legal roles in these decisions. However, the law is problematic in a number of respects and this is likely to impede medical professionals' legal knowledge in this area. The article examines the level of training that medical professionals receive on issues such as refusal of treatment certificates and substitute decision-making, and the available empirical evidence as to the state of medical professionals' knowledge of the law at the end of life. It concludes that there are gaps in legal knowledge and that law reform is needed in Victoria. The article also draws together themes from the series as a whole, including conclusions about the need for more and better medical education and about law reform generally.     

Counterterrorism strategies in the lab

We conduct experiments to test the collective action dilemmas associated with defensive and proactive counterterror strategies. Defensive policies are associated with creating public ??bads' (e.g., a commons) whereas proactive policies are akin to the voluntary provision of public goods. When combined, the inefficiency of collective action is exacerbated, resulting in a situation known as a Prisoner??s Dilemma squared (PD²). Deterministic versus probabilistic equivalent versions of the associated externalities are compared within a laboratory setting. Experimental results reveal that the collective action problem associated with counterterror strategies is deepened in uncertain environments, and is indeed a robust regularity that is not easily overcome; as individuals gain more experience, they become even more self-interested.     

Depressive Symptoms in Young,Urban Schoolchildren: Environmental,Social, and Cognitive Risk

This study examined relations among stressors, perceived social competence, attributional style, and depressive symptoms in young urban schoolchildren. Data were collected from 85 5- to 11-year-olds, mostly African American, who attended a public elementary school in a low-income urban area. Social competence was examined as a potential mediator, and attributional style was examined as a potential moderator of the relation between stressful life events and depressive symptoms. Separate analyses were conducted by age and gender. For older children and girls, main effects were found for stressful life events as predictors of depressive symptoms. Mediational analyses indicated that perceived peer acceptance served as a mediator of the relation between stressful life events and depressive symptoms for girls. In addition, attributional style moderated the relation between stressors and depressive symptoms in the older children. Together, findings suggest that significant relations exist among stressful life events, social and cognitive processes, and depressive symptoms in young urban children and that these relations are influenced by gender and development.