Measuring the quality of election administration

How do we distinguish between a ‘genuine’, ‘free and fair’, or ‘legitimate’ election and an election that is something less? In this article, we offer an answer to this vexing question: the Election Administration Systems Index (EASI). EASI is a practical, transparent, and sustainable tool for measuring the quality of elections in the developing world. The following pages describe the current limitations in measuring election quality, detail the EASI approach, and provide a comparative analysis of the results of its pilot implementation. EASI scores are drawn from a survey of experts on elections in the target country following a recent nationwide election. The analytical framework is comprised of three electoral dimensions: participation, competition, and integrity of the process. We also divide these dimensions temporally according to the electoral cycle: either pre-election, during the election, or post-election. The final product is a set of six primary scores displayed across dimension and time. By aggregating the survey data in this fashion, we provide for a nuanced assessment of an election by each dimension and across the cycle. As our pilot results demonstrate, EASI is a diagnostic tool for identifying electoral strengths and weaknesses and serves well for comparative assessments.     

Mortgaging the future

STUDENT WORKBOOK AS LAW: SOURCES OF LAW AND LAW MAKING By Chris Turner and Leon Riley [Philip Allan, 2006, 52 pp., £3.50 (paperback)]

A LEVEL LAW REVIEW [Philip Allan, Vol. 1, Nos. 1–3, 2005–6, £19.95 for 3 issues]

THE ENGLISH LEGAL SYSTEM By Jacqueline Martin [Key Facts series, Hodder Arnold, 2005, 2nd edn., 132 pp., £5.99 (paperback)]

TORT By Chris Turner [Key Facts series, Hodder Arnold, 2005, 2nd edn., 140 pp., £5.99 (paperback)]

CONTRACT LAW By Chris Turner [Key Facts series, Hodder Arnold, 2005, 2nd edn., 131 pp., £5.99 (paperback)]

CONTRACT LAW By Robert Duxbury [Nutshells, Sweet &; Maxwell, 2006, 7th edn., 162 pp., £7.00 (paperback)]

AS LAW By Catherine Elliott and Frances Quinn [Pearson, 2006, 3rd edn., xxviii + 642 pp., £21.99 (paperback)]

CHILDREN: THE MODERN LAW By Andrew Bainham [Jordan Publishing Ltd, 2005, 3rd edn., 811 pp., £30.00 (paperback)]

HUMAN RIGHTS LAW By Merris Amos [Hart Publishing, 2006, 1st edn., 503 pp., £22.00 (paperback)]

CRIME AND JUSTICE: 1750–1950 By Barry Godfrey and Paul Lawrence [Willan Publishing, 2005, xi + 208 pp., £40.00 (hardback) £17.99 (paperback)]

CRIMINAL JUSTICE: AN INTRODUCTION TO THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM IN ENGLAND AND WALES By M. Davies, H Croall and J. Tyrer [Pearson Education Ltd, 2005, 3rd edn., 477 pp., £25.99 (paperback)]

A FAIR HEARING? ETHNIC MINORITIES IN THE CRIMINAL COURTS By Stephen Shute, Roger Hood and Florence Seemungal (eds.) [Willan Publishing, 2005, 160 pp., £35.00 (hardback)]

PRISON READINGS: A CRITICAL INTRODUCTION TO PRISONS AND IMPRISONMENT By Yvonne Jewkes and Helen Johnston [Willan Publishing, 2006, xi + 305 pp., £50 (hardback); £24 (paperback)]

CAPTURED BY THE MEDIA: PRISON DISCOURSE IN POPULAR CULTURE EDITED By Paul Mason [Willan Publishing, 2006, 240 pp., £40.00 (hardback) £18.99 (paperback)]

TRANSFORMING INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL JUSTICE, RETRIBUTIVE AND RESTORATIVE JUSTICE IN THE TRIAL PROCESS By Mark Findlay and Ralph Henham [Willan Publishing, 2005, 391 pp., £40.00 (hardback)]

WARRANTIES IN MARINE INSURANCE By Baris Soyer [Cavendish Publishing Limited, 2nd edn., 2005, 312 pp., £90.00 (hardback)]

A PRACTICAL GUIDE TO CIVIL LITIGATION By Robert Hill, Helen Wood and Suzanne Fine [Jordans, 2005, 2nd edn., 591 pp., £45 (paperback)]

TRUSTS AND EQUITY By Gary Watt [Oxford University Press, 2006, 2nd edn., 559 pp., £27.99 (paperback)]

TRUSTS TEXTBOOK By Gary Watt [Oxford University Press, 2006, 2nd edn., 459 pp., £26.99 (paperback)]

PRINCIPLES OF CORPORATE INSOLVENCY LAW By Roy Goode [Sweet &; Maxwell, 2005, 3rd edn., 673 pp., £40.00 (paperback)]

LAND LAW By Diane Chappelle [Pearson Longman, 2006, 7th edn., 505 pp., £30.99 (paperback)]

MODERN LAND LAW By Martin Dixon [Cavendish Publishing, 2005, 5th edn., 456 pp., £27.95 (paperback)]

ENVIRONMENTAL LAW By S. Bell &; D. McGillivray [Oxford University Press, 2006, 6th edn., 978 pp., £27.99 (paperback)]

SPORTS LAW By Simon Gardiner et al. [Cavendish Publishing, 2006, 3rd edn., 724 pp., £39.00 (paperback)]     

Public Value Accounting: Establishing the Philosophical Basis

Questions of how best to define the ends, justify the means, and measure the performance of governments have preoccupied political economists for centuries. Recently, the concept of public value—defined in terms of the many dimensions of value that a democratic public might want to see produced by and reflected in the performance of government—has been proposed as an alternative approach. This article develops three philosophical claims central to the practice of public value accounting: (1) when the collectively owned assets of government are being deployed, the appropriate arbiter of public value is the collectively defined values of a “public” called into existence and made articulate through the quite imperfect processes of democratic governance; (2) the collectively owned assets include not only government money but also the authority of the state; (3) the normative framework for assessing the value of government production relies on both utilitarian and deontological philosophical frameworks.     

Winning Peace Frames: Intra-Ethnic Outbidding in Northern Ireland and Cyprus

Ethnic outbidding in divided societies can have dire political consequences, ranging from the derailment of peace processes to inter-ethnic warfare. This article investigates the conditions contributing to successful outbidding within the framework of protracted peace negotiations by using the contrasting cases of Northern Ireland and Cyprus. Evidence demonstrates that successful outbidders are able to exploit the fears of their communities with respect to inter-ethnic compromise while identifying appropriate strategies and opportunities for redressing these grievances. The article demonstrates that the degree of outbidding success over the long term derives from combining diagnostic and prognostic frames linked to credible political and constitutional strategies.     

Assessment of the acuteness of heroin deaths from the analysis of multiple blood specimens.

Data was compiled from 126 morphine-involved cases investigated by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, State of Maryland, USA. An investigation was conducted into whether comparison of morphine concentrations from a central and peripheral site could be used to determine whether a morphine death was acute or delayed. Fifty cases were identified as 'acute' because the urine free morphine concentration by radioimmunoassay (RIA) was less than 25 ng/mL; 76 cases were classified as 'random' because they had a urine morphine concentration greater than 25 ng/mL by RIA. The average heart blood to peripheral blood morphine concentration ratio in the acute deaths was 1.40. The average heart blood to peripheral blood morphine concentration ratio in the random deaths was 1.18. Because there was considerable overlap between the two groups of data, the authors conclude that it was not possible to predict 'acute' opiate intoxication deaths versus 'delayed' deaths when the only information available is heart and peripheral blood free morphine concentrations.     

Developments in electronic money regulation – the Electronic Money Directive: A better deal for e-money issuers?

The recent adoption of the new E-Money Directive by the Council of the European Union has introduced key changes to European e-money legislation. The adoption of the new directive follows the European Commission's review of the original e-money directive and the market that it was intended to facilitate, which found that e-money has yet to deliver the benefits that were anticipated.     

The Impact of the Work Environment on Prison Staff: The Issue of Consideration, Structure, Job Variety, and Training

Correctional staff are instrumental in ensuring the success of any correctional institution; therefore, investigating how the work environment impacts correctional workers is essential. To determine the effects of supervisory consideration, supervisory structure, job variety, and perceptions of training on correctional staff job stress, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment, data from a survey of staff at a Midwestern private correctional facility were examined. The Ordinary Least Squares regression results indicate that each of the work environment factors had a significant impact on one or more of the three outcomes. Specifically, supervisory consideration and perceptions of training decreased job stress. Supervisory consideration, job variety, and perceptions of training had positive effects on job satisfaction. Finally, supervisory consideration, supervisory structure, job variety, and perceptions of training had positive relationships with organizational commitment.     

How Can We Help Witnesses to Remember More? It’s an (Eyes) Open and Shut Case

Five experiments tested the idea that instructing a witness to close their eyes during retrieval might increase retrieval success. In Experiment 1 participants watched a video, before a cued-recall test for which they were either instructed to close their eyes, or received no-instructions. Eye-closure led to an increase in correct cued-recall, with no increase in incorrect responses. Experiments 2-5 sought to test the generality of this effect over variations in study material (video or live interaction), test format (cued- or free-recall) and information modality (visual or auditory details recalled). Overall, eye-closure increased recall of both visual detail and auditory details, with no accompanying increase in recall of false details. Collectively, these data convincingly demonstrate the benefits of eye-closure as an aid to retrieval, and offer insight into why hypnosis, which usually involves eye-closure, may facilitate eyewitness recall.