Slouching Towards New ‘Just’ Wars: International Law and the Use of Force After September 11th

Netherlands International Law Review -     

PROGRAM COORDINATION IN THE EMPLOYMENT SERVICE: A STATE AND LOCAL POLICY PERSPECTIVE

This paper analyzes the role of coordination criteria in employment and training service delivery within the Job Training Partnership Act system. The evolution of coordination criteria is related to current initiatives in the Employment Service at the state and local levels. An operational set of program outcome measures for monitoring coordination efforts is discussed. This set of outcome measures is formulated in the broad context of stabilizing employment and averting the "structuralization" of unemployment impacts wrought by fundamental economic change in the labor market. The assessment and monitoring of such coordination efforts is discussed.     

Can epidemiological studies assist in the evaluation of community treatment orders? — The experience of Western Australia and Nova Scotia

Epidemiological studies using administrative databases have several advantages over other methodologies in studying the effectiveness of compulsory community treatment such as community treatment orders (CTOs). We compared patients placed on CTOs in Western Australia with controls drawn from both within the jurisdiction and from another without this measure (Nova Scotia). Although in different countries, the mental health services in both jurisdictions share common characteristics. Notably, we were able to control for forensic history in our comparison within Western Australia. We analysed predictors of admission and number of bed-days using multiple, logistic or Cox regression as appropriate. Of the 274 subjects placed on a CTO, we were able to find controls for up to 96% (n = 265). CTO placement was not associated with reduced admissions or mean bed-days, although there was a threshold effect with a reduced risk of inpatient stays exceeding 100 days. Outpatient contacts were significantly greater for the CTO group. However, we do not know whether the intensity of treatment, or its compulsory nature, effected outcome.     

Poetry in Review: Robert Lowell

Book reviewed in this article:
Robert Lowell (edited by Frank Bidart and David Gewanter), Collected Poems     

Institutional sustainability: at what price? UNDP and the new cost‐sharing model in Brazil

By the turn of the twenty‐first century, UNDP had embraced a new form of funding based on ‘cost sharing’, with this source accounting for 51 per cent of the organisation's total expenditure worldwide in 2000. Unlike the traditional donor–recipient relationship so common with development projects, the new cost‐sharing modality has created a situation whereby UNDP local offices become ‘subcontractors’ and agencies of the recipient countries become ‘clients’. This paper explores this transition in the context of Brazil, focusing on how the new modality may have compromised UNDP's ability to promote Sustainable Human Development, as established in its mandate. The great enthusiasm for this modality within the UN system and its potential application to other developing countries increase the importance of a systematic assessment of its impact and developmental consequences.     

The Tobin Tax: Another lost opportunity?

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has promoted the so-called `Tobin Tax' as a major mechanism for generating a substantial increase in global resources for tackling human-development priorities. Such a levy, on largely speculative and unproductive international transactions, may be capable of generating over US$300 billion per year: several times higher than existing levels of bilateral aid. However, given the muted dialogue at the 1995 World Summit for Social Development, and in order to secure the necessary support of leading developed countries and global financial institutions, it may be inevitable that the Tobin Tax, if adopted, would ultimately serve the interests of the wealthier economies. There is, therefore, an urgent need for the development sector to engage in debate about how, and how much of, such funds would be directed to priority human-development purposes.