Facilitating and Controlling Civil Society in International Environmental Law

Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are typically viewed as one of the essential actors in sustainable development, at both the domestic and international levels. However, despite generally warm international support for NGOs, and pledges to support their inclusion, their involvement is governed by seven considerations, which actively enhance or retard their participation. These considerations relate to (1) whether participation of both international and domestically based NGOs is allowed; (2) NGO qualifications that are required; (3) the level of NGO participation fees; (4) the accreditation vetting process; (5) NGO access to subsidiary bodies; and (6) whether NGO oral contributions and (7) written contributions are permitted. This article seeks to elaborate on these seven considerations and analyse how they are utilized to facilitate and control civil society in international environmental processes.     

Pre-Settlement Settlement (PreSS): A Simple Technique for Initiating Complex Negotiations

Pre-setttement settlement, or PreSS, is a negotiation technique that precedes and potentially facilitates a final settlement. A PreSS is distinguished by three characteristics. It is: formal (being a binding agreement), initial (being the first step of a longer process), and partial (covering only a subset of issues). PreSS provides a conceptual umbrella for several existing concepts in the negotiation literature. The what, when, and why of PreSS are delineated and examples of pre-settlement settlement are provided.     

Parasitic Integration: Win-Win Agreements Containing Losers

Parasitic integration involves agreements that are Pareto-superior for two or more of the negotiating parties, while being inferior for one or more of the remaining negotiating parties. The contrast between parasitic integration and integrative bargaining is highlighted. A taxonomy and examples of parasitic integration are provided, as well as linkages to specific areas in the negotiation literature.     

Hemolyzed blood and serum levels of delta 9-THC: effects on the performance of roadside sobriety tests

A pilot study was conducted to ascertain the range of induced hemolyzed blood/serum delta 9-tetrahydrocannabinol (delta 9-THC) concentrations in 58 human subjects. Subjects were tested within 5 min of smoking a delta 9-THC cigarette and then at half-hour intervals to 150 min. The subjects initially demonstrated a broad range of delta 9-THC hemolyzed blood levels, which settled within an hour to levels comparable to those measured in California drivers who had been stopped for impaired driving, arrested, and tested for delta 9-THC. Serum levels, when correlated with performance or roadside sobriety tests, demonstrated a broad range (5 to 183 ng/mL) of delta 9-THC levels and an "adaptation" effect in the subjects' perception of their own impairment. Although this preliminary study was not a double-blind placebo experiment, the overall performance of human subjects demonstrated the "adaptation" effect, which may be a significant factor in making judgments while performing such complex tasks as driving. Also, the effects of the drug extended beyond the period of elevated delta 9-THC blood levels, perhaps because of THC metabolites that may contribute to impairment or the persistence of THC in the central nervous system. This pilot study will lay the groundwork for a program designed to determine the epidemiology and behavior correlates of marijuana use in motorists.     

Exploring the Limits of the Judicialization of Urban Land Disputes in Vietnam

Economic and legal reforms have triggered waves of conflict over property rights and access to urban land in Vietnam. In this article I develop four epistemic case studies to explore the main precepts and practices that courts must negotiate to extend their authority over land disputes. Courts face a dilemma: Do they apply state laws that disregard community regulatory practices and risk losing social relevance, or apply community notions of situational justice that undermine rule formalism? I conclude that reforms designed to increase rule formalism in the courts may have the unintended consequence of reducing the capacity for judges to find lasting solutions to land disputes.     

Lessons from Analogical Reasoning in the Teaching of Negotiation

After two decades of spectacular growth in negotiation research, teaching,and application, it is appropriate to pause and consider how negotiatorslearn, a strikingly fundamental but infrequently examined issue. In thisreport, we present some initial and on-going research and thinking onlearning about negotiation skills, providing one view of the relationshipbetween negotiation pedagogy and negotiation practice.     

Market Demand for Civic Affairs News

This paper uses time series methods to test the relationship between civic affairs content and audience share for the ABC, CBS, and NBC evening news in the mid-1990s. Because these programs competed in the same market, but varied the amount of their civic affairs coverage, they present an excellent opportunity to analyze this relationship. The study uses hand-coded news abstracts and O.J. Simpson murder trial coverage as separate measures of news content. The study finds that lower levels of civic affairs content and higher levels of O.J. news are associated with greater audience share.     

Caution ahead: teachers,vetting and the law

At the beginning of 2006 the media reported instances where people who had been convicted of sexual offences against children were permitted to work in schools. A list of unsuitable people (known as ‘List 99’) has existed for over 80 years and yet the system appears to have broken down. In this article I seek to examine some of the issues involved in the operation of List 99, including the suggestion that those who are cautioned for committing offences against children should equally be unable to work with children. A second article will then critically analyse the changes proposed by the government to the operation of List 99 and the vetting of those who wish to work with children.     

Preventing Secondary Victimisation Through Anonymity

This note examines the decision of the Court of Appeal in R (Gazette Media Company Ltd) v Teesside Crown Court ¹ where the Court was asked to rule on the legality of an order under s.39, Children and Young Persons Act 1933 purporting to ban the identity of the victim and defendants in a prosecution. The facts of the prosecution are set out below but the interesting issues that arise from this decision come not so much from the facts and decision (which was, to an extent, inevitable) but rather from the fact that the current law does not, in our opinion, adequately protect children from secondary victimisation and that the courts have erred in their current understanding of the legal position.