The future of technological law: The machine state

Advances in technology will challenge and change the current manner in which legal regulation occurs. It has always been possible to describe governance and law as a form of technology in itself, but the growth of digital technologies provides a new means by which to regulate the population. This article posits the theory that the inherent characteristics of technology will become inherent within the digitisation of law. As law becomes an increasingly digital entity, it will become more concerned with perfect reproduction of law upon the person, and so more encompassing in its scope. In addition, the increasing use of digital technologies in augmented reality, in 3D and 4D printing both in solid and biological matter, poses a fundamental change in the regulatory relationship between the State and the individual – a challenge the State will need to address.     

The reasonable person standard: trading off static and dynamic efficiency

This paper compares the performance of a due care standard which is tailored to individual precaution costs to that of the reasonable person standard. This is done in a framework in which injurers can reduce their precaution costs via investment in progressing care technology. We show that the reasonable person standard may invoke better investment incentives, pointing to a potential trade-off between static and dynamic efficiency.     

Student academic appeals: a holistic assessment

The Government regards it as important that ... institutions should review their procedures for handling student complaints ... and intends to review, in two years’ time, whether sufficient progress has been made.

para. 9.8 Higher Education for the 21st Century (1998)

The imperative to review process is upon the universities, this clear statement by the Government supporting Recommendation 60 of the Dearing Report sets the timescale (whilst still not differentiating between Appeals and complaints).     

The use of serum protein analysis in the diagnosis of fatal envenomation via Crotalus horridus (timber rattlesnake)

Deaths occurring due to rattlesnake envenomization are extremely rare and must be thoroughly investigated in the same manner as any other type of death. Our research presents the case of an adult white male who suffered a fatal timber rattlesnake (Crotalus horridus) envenomation in northwest Florida in 2018. Blood samples were taken from the decedent's heart and vasculature of the chest and sent for serum proteomic analysis. Serum proteomic analysis was utilized in order to identify proteins from timber rattlesnake (C. horridus) found within the victim's blood. The confirmation of the presence of timber rattlesnake venom within the victim's blood allows the forensic pathologist to determine the cause of death most accurately and likewise, assists with the manner of death determination. Blood samples were separated into two groups: one with the abundant endogenous proteins depleted to facilitate detection of lower abundant proteins and one undepleted. In the depleted sample, a total of 712 proteins were identified, with 47 of the proteins (6.6%) occurring originating from timber rattlesnake (C. horridus). Likewise, a total of 742 proteins were identified in the undepleted sample, with 52 of the proteins (7.0%) occurring in timber rattlesnake (C. horridus). No timber rattlesnake (C. horridus) proteins were found in control human serum.     

Neoliberal Indigenous Policy: Settler Colonialism and the “Post‐Welfare” State

Neoliberal Indigenous Policy: Settler Colonialism and the “Post‐Welfare” State. By Elizabeth Strakosch (Houndsmills and New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015), pp. vii + 213, with index, £60.00 (cloth).     

Oil,Natural Gas,and Intrastate Conflict: Does Ownership Matter?

The impact of natural resources on intrastate violence has been increasingly analyzed in the peace and conflict literature. Surprisingly, little quantitative evidence has been gathered on the effects of the resource-ownership structure on internal violence. This article uses a novel data set on oil and natural gas property rights, covering 40 countries during the period 1989–2010. The results of regression analyses employing logit models reveal that the curvilinear effect between hydrocarbon production and civil conflict onset—often found in previous studies—only applies to countries in which oil and gas is extracted by state-owned companies. The findings suggest that only state-controlled hydrocarbon production might entail peace-buying mechanisms such as specific clientelistic practices, patronage networks, welfare policies, and/or coercion. At the same time, it seems that greed and grievance are more pronounced whenever resources lie in the hands of the state. Exploring the within-country variation, further analyses reveal that divergent welfare spending patterns are likely to be one causal channel driving the relationship between resource ownership and internal violence.     

The Muslim paranoia narrative in counter-radicalisation policy

With the rise of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), the issue of radicalisation has loomed large in Western policy debates. Recent summits on countering violent extremism have sought to highlight the importance of undermining extremist narratives, mobilising moderate Muslims who oppose ISIS and working to address drivers of radicalisation. This article explores the ideological underpinnings of this approach. It focuses on what I call the “Muslim paranoia narrative”, a recurring feature of Western radicalisation discourse that helpfully captures its ideological commitments and their contemporary significance. Analysing its manifestation in American political culture, I argue that the Muslim paranoia narrative indicates a powerful process of ideological reproduction that works against approaches to counter-radicalisation centred on engagement and collaboration with Muslim communities.