An Empirical Study on the Relation Between the Critical Angle for Bullet Ricochet and the Properties of Wood

The properties of a bullet, an object, and the incidence angle determine whether the bullet will penetrate, perforate, or ricochet. In this study, the critical angle for ricochet was established for .32 Auto and 9 mm Luger bullets on Abachi, Southern Yellow Pine, Beech, and Ipe wooden boards. Results show that the critical angle differs depending on caliber and wood type. The critical angle is higher for .32 Auto bullets than for 9 mm Luger bullets and increases with increasing wood density and Janka hardness. The established critical angles for ricochet on the lightest and softest wood (Abachi) are 10.4° and 10.3° for .32 Auto and 9 mm Luger, respectively. For the heaviest and hardest wood (Ipe), the angles were 45.0° and 33.4°, respectively. The combined results on the four tested woods show a strong linear relationship between both the density and the hardness and the critical angle for both calibers.     

Movement Litigation and Unilateral Disarmament: Abortion and the Right to Die

Detractors have long criticized the use of courts to achieve social change because judicial victories tend to provoke counterproductive political backlashes. Backlash arguments typically assert or imply that if movement litigators had relied on democratic rather than judicial politics, their policy victories would have been better insulated from opposition. We argue that these accounts wrongly assume that the unilateral decision by a group of movement advocates to eschew litigation will lead to a reduced role for courts in resolving the relevant policy and political conflicts. To the contrary, such decisions will often result in a policy field with judges every bit as active, but with the legal challenges initiated and framed by the advocates' opponents. We document this claim and explore its implications for constitutional politics via a counterfactual thought experiment rooted in historical case studies of litigation involving abortion and the right to die.     

Human (In)Security and Democracy in Central America

Human security has increasingly shifted attention to the individual, while the state has become guarantor (or violator) of security given its role in governing the domestic environment. This article examines how variations in regime forms influence security, pointing to the importance of political security in the wider human security framework. To illustrate, the article examines the nature of political security in Central America, a region with weakly democratized states and histories of political violence. The findings suggest a link between democracy and human security that is mediated by state capacity and the ability to control non-state violence against individuals.     

Fragmented or cohesive transnational private regulation of sustainability standards? A comparative study

Literature on private regulation recognizes the proliferation of competing regulatory organizations and approaches in various industries. Studies analyzing why fragmentation arises so far focus on single‐case studies, the exploration of single variables, or variation in types of fragmentation. This article analyzes why in certain industries and for certain issues regulatory organizations proliferate, while in others a single regulatory organization emerges which covers the entire industry. Through a comparative case study of private regulation of sustainability standards in the forestry, clothing, IT‐electronics, and chemicals industries, we show how a combination of low industrial concentration, civil society involvement in governance, and stringent standards of a first‐moving regulator offer the strongest explanation for a fragmented private regulatory field, while high industrial concentration, business‐driven governance, and lenient standards of a first‐moving regulator lead to cohesive regulation.     

Interim occupational activities of recalled police officers

The authors examine the interim occupational activities of a sample of police officers who were laid off from their department in 1980 due to budget considerations. Findings from the study indicate that: (1) laid off officers were anxious to return to their former positions; (2) a significant number of those employed during the layoff were in the field of private security; and (3) interest in law enforcement employment during the layoff was partly a function of the officers’ sex. Implications of these findings are examined and discussed. We wish to thank the Detroit Police Department, especially Chief William Hart for permission to undertake the study, Lieutenant Deborah Robinson for her invaluable assistance in collection of the data and the 94 recalled officers for their willingness to participate in the study. Analysis of the data and the conclusions drawn from it are solely the authors’ responsibility.     

Institutional development in practice: A case-study from the Tibetan refugee community

There is growing interest in organisational and institutional development, or capacity-building, but little understanding of what these involve in practice. This article provides a case-study of a successful long-term programme of institutional development, which built the capacities of the Tibetan refugee community in development planning. The primary focus is on key features for adaptation by development practitioners. The authors also clarify some of the confusions in the debate on organisational and institutional development.     

The Russian proto-parties and the national republics: Integrative organizations in a disintegrating world?

This article examines the nomination choices of the major Russian political parties for the single-member districts in the ethnic republics for the December 1993 and December 1995 State Duma elections. Using western-based theories on party behavior in multi-ethnic societies, this article tests several hypotheses relating to the factors which affect where parties were active and examines the different recruitment strategies of individual parties. In general, it was found that the Russian proto-parties tended to be most active in urban and predominantly Russian areas of the republics. However, there were differences between the parties, with notable parties more likely to recruit non-Russian elites to their banners as opposed to program parties. Moreover, when comparing across time, the party which most increased its recruitment of non-Russian elites from 1993 to 1995 was the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (CPRF).