Radical Reform in New Zealand: Crisis,Windows of Opportunity,and Rational Actors

This article uses three perspectives to explain the radical economic and state sector reforms undertaken in New Zealand starting in 1984. We interpret the reforms using a rational‐comprehensive perspective, a garbage can perspective and a modified garbage can perspective identified in the work of John Kingdon. With New Zealand as an illustrative case, we explore the conditions under which radical reform is possible, the factors governing the adoption of reforms, and the impact on the reform process of a country's historical and cultural traditions. Our analysis emphasizes the import of a package of ready‐made solutions, strong advocates (particularly a well‐placed policy entrepreneur) who attach the solutions to a problem, and the existence of a ‘window of opportunity’ for adoption of the reforms. We conclude with a discussion of the implications of adopting reforms that run counter to a nation's long‐established traditions.     

Addressing the accountability challenges of international policing in peace support operations

There is increasing concern over the behaviour and accountability of international personnel, including CIVPOL contingents, deployed in peace-keeping and peace-building missions throughout the world. From the point of view of local populations the ??internationals?? are typically perceived to be ??above the law??. This is directly related to the fact that under status of forces or mission agreements (SOFAs or SOMAs) they are exempt from local host state jurisdiction. There are also significant practical problems in gathering and presenting evidence for disciplinary or criminal proceedings in their home states. This paper will analyse these problems in detail, based on a study of some recent European Union and international missions and suggest how a more co-operative home and host state approach to monitoring, investigation and adjudication of alleged misconduct might achieve more effective accountability and thus contribute to the overall success of CIVPOL missions.     

The China Code

China is evolving—it is becoming modern and international—but its trajectory will never intersect with the West’s. Fortunes have waxed and waned over thousands of years, but Chinese civilization has remained apart. Enduring fundamentals—morality rooted in stability, anti-individualism and a micro-analytic, balance-obsessed worldview—both fuel contemporary growth and preclude China’s ascendance as a superpower capable of projecting values abroad. A unifying “Confucian Conflict” between trenchant ambition and diffused anxiety also explains the actions and attitudes of ordinary Chinese people. This “street level” article articulates an “insecure or safe” continuum of twelve quintessentially behavioral characteristics that are observed in all realms of contemporary life including diplomacy, business, consumer behavior and social structure. They are: Ritualistic Observation, Robotic Depersonalization, Hierarchical Regimentation, Anxious Self-protection, Trust Facilitation, Pragmatic Elasticity, Incremental Progression, Released Repression, Confidence Projection, Epic Ambition, Scaled Mobilization and Joyful Celebration.     

VACCINES FOR ALL

In a world beset by the novel disease(COVID-19),never has global cooperation been so urgent.The world needs cooperation not only to combat the virus through medical support and assistance,but also in terms of distributing vaccines.     

Interpreting the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear incident: some questions for corporate criminology

The serious nuclear incident at Fukushima Daiichi, triggered by the tsunami following the Tohuku earthquake on 11th March 2011, has prompted a flurry of investigations and debates of various kinds, within Japan and beyond. In common with many other such disasters, the causation of which brings together technologies, human behavior, organizational and regulatory cultures, and physical settings in complex configurations, serious questions have been asked about whether corporate crime was involved in creating this nuclear disaster. Of course the failure was prompted by an enormously powerful natural phenomenon, but should the operating company and government bodies have been better prepared? If so, who was to blame? Do attempts to explain the disaster in terms of cultural categories amount to a ‘cop out’; serving to excuse responsible individuals for acts both of commission and omission? In this paper, we examine these questions, focusing on the inherent ambiguity of such untoward events, and the difficult political and legal conundrums to which they can lead.     

Who was Responsible for the Dardanelles Naval Fiasco?*

In 1916 the Dardanelles Royal Commission was convened to investigate the circumstances surrounding the Dardanelles naval fiasco of the previous year. Lords Fisher and Kitchener, former heads of the Royal Navy and British Army respectively, were ultimately found to have been culpable, in having failed to adequately warn the Cabinet War Council of the dangers implicit within the naval operation. Winston Churchill, the political head of the Royal Navy was also admonished, though to a lesser degree. It is the contention of this paper that the findings of the Dardanelles Commission were seriously flawed and that Fisher and Kitchener were unjustly castigated, as convenient scapegoats. This proposition will be tested against all of the relevant evidence available, including hitherto‐neglected primary sources, in order to determine who in fact was responsible for that disaster.