Political Succession in the Middle East

The following briefs were presented in a workshop on "Political Succession in the Middle East" at the annual meeting of the American Political Science Association, September 1, 2001, in San Francisco. Louis J. Cantori, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, and Augustus Richard Norton, Boston University, were the conveners of the Conference Group on the Middle East, which issued this report.     

Nietzsche, Historiography and Yugoslav Nationalism

In The Use and Abuse of History Friedrich Nietzsche warned of the dangers of separating history from the irrationality of nature and establishing it as a science. Increasingly individualised, spiritually adrift and soulless, Man, he suggests, will become a prisoner of an excess of history imposed upon, and external to, life itself. This article will argue that contained within Nietzsche's polemic, particularly his elaboration of an alternative effective methodology, is a useful framework for the analysis of historiography's construction of the past. The development of nationalist mythologies within the politics of the former Yugoslavia is then discussed in light of this interpretation of Nietzsche's position.     

Empirical Banzhaf indices

This paper considers a generalization of the Banzhaf index which is used to quantify voting power in constituent bodies. The generalization allows unequal probabilities in voting outcomes and relies on historical voting data to highlight natural coalitions that exist between various constituent bodies. The approach is based on Bayesian modelling where estimates of voting probabilities are given by the posterior means of Dirichlet distributions. An example is provided concerning the voting power of provinces according to the amending formula to Canada's Constitution.     

Perceptions of the existence and causes of structural violence in Ogoni communities,Nigeria

This article explores the perceptions of Ogoni people about the existence and causes of structural violence in their communities. It relies heavily on qualitative data collected from five oil-rich and three oil-poor Ogoni communities, between February and May 2014, during which 200 open-ended survey questionnaires were administered and 189 were returned. Three focus group discussions and 69 key informant interviews were also conducted. The findings of the article are that structural violence can be found in Ogoniland; it is manifested in both visible and invisible forms; it is blamed by elites on exogenous factors, but by the disadvantaged on both exogenous and endogenous factors; and it will only be eliminated by reducing inequality and increasing democratisation.     

The Teaching and Higher Education Act 1998—impact on the student contract

The relationship that exists in law between a student and the Higher Education Institution at which they first wish to study and then do study has been looked at in the past in terms of both private law (contract or contracts) and public law (member of the corporation etc.). The Teaching and Higher Education Act introduces a new component into the equation for the vast majority of students (the undergraduates) by requiring, subject to ‘means testing’, a direct contribution to fees. What effect might this have? The largest effect is that it will confirm the move to a student/HEI contract that is a consumer contract. The possible new admissions cycle will also play a part in the alteration of communications and formation of the contract. This shift will also impact upon how disputes might be resolved in the future and the level, clarity and timing of information that the HEI must provide.     

Setting euthanasia on the level

Summary The House of Lords recently set up a Select Committee on Medical Ethics to consider euthanasia and related medical decisions at the end of life. This followed widespread publicity surrounding recent cases, particular the trial and conviction of a doctor for the attempted murder of a consenting terminally ill patient, and the House of Lords' ruling that it is not unlawful to withdraw life-sustaining treatment from a patient in a persistent vegetative state. This paper suggests a perspective on some of the moral issues and conflicts which the House of Lords will no doubt consider. A legal structure in which medical euthanasia could be both permitted and controlled is then proposed involving two complementary mechanisms, a formal Euthanasia Notification procedure and a system of Euthanasia Tribunals.Senior Registrar in the Psychiatry of Old Age to the United Medical and Dental Schools and the South East Thames Regional Health Authority.     

Private antitrust enforcement and the role of harmed parties in public enforcement

It is commonly believed that the possibility to sue privately for antitrust damages increases the probability that anticompetitive actions are prosecuted at the cost of an increased probability that procompetitive actions are prosecuted. We extend the analysis by taking into account that private parties often submit evidence during public investigation. Such parties consider private suit as a partial substitute for public prosecution. The trial option might induce these parties to be less willing to contribute evidence to public cases. Private trials crowd out public prosecution. In effect, the probability of prosecution of anticompetitive actions might decrease, while the earlier result that the probability of prosecuted actions being prosecuted is confirmed. In general, while the attractiveness of trials weakly decreases by considering a reporting possibility, they can remain an enforcement efficacy increasing institution.     

Charter High Schools’ Effects on Long‐Term Attainment and Earnings

Since their inception in 1992, the number of charter schools has grown to more than 6,800 nationally, serving nearly three million students. Various studies have examined charter schools’ impacts on test scores, and a few have begun to examine longer‐term outcomes including graduation and college attendance. This paper is the first to estimate charter schools’ effects on earnings in adulthood, alongside effects on educational attainment. Using data from Florida, we first confirm previous research (Booker et al., 2011 ) that students attending charter high schools are more likely to graduate from high school and enroll in college. We then examine two longer‐term outcomes not previously studied in research on charter schools—college persistence and earnings. We find that students attending charter high schools are more likely to persist in college, and that in their mid‐20s they experience higher earnings.