Governance by Proxy: A Comparative Policy Analysis of the Mainstreaming of Immigrant Integration Governance

Abstract

This paper assesses mainstreaming as a governance strategy that potentially addresses the call for a more integral governance response to wicked policy problems. Our comparative qualitative policy analysis of the mainstreaming of immigrant integration governance contributes to the governance and mainstreaming literature by emphasizing the importance of strong horizontal and vertical coordination mechanisms and the distinction between universal and proxy targeting in mainstreaming. Although policy programmes indeed seem to broaden to a universal mainstreamed approach, in practice they often operate by “proxy”. Furthermore, horizontal coordination structures tend to be weak or not in place at all, again obstructing the embedding of immigrant integration as a mainstreamed cross-cutting governance issue.     

Revitalizing the Antique War Crime of Pillage: The Potential and Pitfalls of Using International Criminal Law to Address Illegal Resource Exploitation during Armed Conflict

This article explores the potential of international criminal law in addressing the problem of illegal exploitation of natural resources in conflict areas, with a specific focus on the war crime of pillage and the prospective role of the International Criminal Court (ICC). It discusses whether the war crime of pillage can adequately capture the phenomenon of illegal exploitation of natural resources during armed conflict, or whether alternative tools or crime definitions might be more useful to address this negative phenomenon. The article examines the practice of international courts in relation to pillage charges and explores their role in prosecuting the illegal exploitation of natural resources. It concludes with some thoughts on whether the revival of the crime of pillage should be perceived as the panacea to the problem of “resource conflicts” or whether it is rather an empty shell.     

Recent legal developments

Abstract

THE CASE of R (Pretty) v. Director of Public Prosecutions, gave the House of Lords the opportunity to comment on the issues surrounding the application of the European Convention on Human Rights to the crime of assisted suicide in the case of the terminally ill. A conservative approach was taken in relation to both this issue and indeed in relation to the possibilities of judicial control of the Law Officers of the Crown.     

死刑废止之路新发展的全球考察

本文的目的是将死刑废止的新发展置于国际背景之下并进行相关论述,证明一种新的对抗态势正在发挥作用,并已在过去20年间大幅增加了废除死刑国家的数量,而这样的国家目前在世界上占明显多数。各国废除死刑的途径、从保留死刑到废除死刑的速度、相关的政治进程以及用以替代死刑的刑罚都将予以讨论。     

Family breakdown in nineteenth- century Netherlands: Divorcing couples in The Hague

As in other European countries, divorce became a social issue in the Netherlands from the beginning of the 1880s on. At the same time, divorce rates rose considerably. To examine whether the public debates were reflected in the behavior of Dutch couples, an empirical study was conducted of divorce in the second half of the nineteenth century. Use was made of a case-control research design in which the social characteristics of all marriages which ended in divorce were compared with those of a random sample from the marriages which ended in widowhood. The author analyzed a group of 2,300 marriages contracted in The Hague from their inception until their dissolution by death of divorce. All migrants were followed to their new place of residence. Multivariate (proportional hazards) analysis showed that the highest probability of divorce was found among persons who had already gone through a divorce before. Other factors related to divorce were high mobility, low ages at marriage, and large age and religious differences between spouses. Higher social classes had relatively high divorce risks.     

The conflict in China

The Kashmir question is felt by many to be beyond resolution. As many again regard it as a situation wherein the status quo of on-going violence is now a ‘conflict industry’ with too much vested interest in play for any genuine avenues of negotiation to be pursued. The Kashmir Valley seems to have joined the long list of often forgotten Balkanised stories about unresolved hostilities written around the themes of geopolitics and jingoistic nationalism. The psychotherapist Justine Hardy looks at the question from another point of view, that of the psychological state of the people of Kashmir, the real stakeholders in any possible agreement between Pakistan and India over the disputed state of Jammu and Kashmir. She presents the case for adding another approach to those that appear to have stalled along the way.