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.     

STRATEGIES AND NEED FOR SYSTEMS CHANGE

Chief Judge Judith S. Kaye of New York delivered the following address to the Millennium Conference of the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges in Washington, D.C., on November 15, 1999. In it, she describes the development of the philosophy of the family court in the past century. Judge Kaye describes the family court's transition from reliance on social science to the incorporation of procedural due process guarantees in the Gault decision. She suggests that a further transformation is required to meet the needs of children and families in the 21st century. Judge Kaye proposes that in the next millennium the family court abandon the "remote adjudicator" judge who evolved after Gault to a "problem-solving model of judging… a judge who looks at the issues that are driving the caseload, who looks at the results that are being achieved, and who uses a hands-on style to figure out how we might do better both in individual cases and on a systemic level."
The New York Times described Chief Justice Kaye as, "A dedicated and effective reformer of the state's sprawling court system. Each of her hard won changes has had a positive impact." Chief Judge Kaye recently received the National Center for State Courts' William H. Rhenquist Award for Judicial Excellence in November 1999. On the occasion of the award, Roger K. Warren, president of the National Center, observed about her,"There are many who are working hard to better process the many cases that come before the state courts, but there are few working an harder or more successfully to better serve the people who use the state courts."     

Notes on Contributors

'Constitutional environmentalism' has not been a prominent topic of political study, but in practice the phenomenon has been developing apace. It has become appropriate to ask, in a UK and European context, as elsewhere, whether constitutional environmental rights are valid, necessary, practicable or desirable. Accordingly, after clarifying the scope of a potentially feasible environmental right I assess the case for it in the light of four critical questions: whether environment protection can be considered a genuinely fundamental right; whether a new right is necessary for achieving that end; whether the right is practicable; and whether pursuing environmental ends by means of rights is democratically legitimate. While presenting arguments for an affirmative answer on each score, I also show that the strength of the case ultimately depends on a number of contextual issues. In the concluding section, I indicate issues which warrant further research by political scientists and theorists.