Turmoil in Assam

Abstract

Thousands of Assamese have perished in ethnic, religious, and linguistic clashes. The native population has been outnumbered by Bengali‐speaking immigrant Hindus and Muslims, reducing the Assamese to a minority status in their home state. This human onslaught and the failure of the state and central governments to formulate a viable solution have given rise to an upheaval in the form of militant activities, largely headed by the United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA). Two military operations have been conducted in the last 18 months to rout the separatist Maoist militants. In December 1991, ULFA declared a unilateral indefinite ceasefire. Negotiations for a permanent solution to the turmoil are currently underway. This article traces the origin, nature, and content of these developments.     

Brunei's strategic dilemmas

Abstract

This paper compares health policy trends in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand with the purpose of drawing usable lessons in reform. The study finds that governments in the region are rapidly privatizing the provision of healthcare at the same time as they are expanding the government's role in financing. The paper argues that expansion of public financing at the same time as private provision is misconceived as the combination would aggravate instances and severity of market failures peculiar to the sector. The dysfunctional trend is particularly evident in Indonesia and the Philippines. In Thailand, in contrast, the expansion of public financing has occurred in the context of a health system dominated by public providers, which has had the effect of restraining healthcare costs. Malaysia occupies a mid position between Indonesia and the Philippines on the one hand and Thailand on the other. All four cases underline the value of state capacity in designing optimal policies and implementing them effectively.     

Challenging the ‘urban myth’ of psychopathy untreatability: the High-Risk Personality Programme

Psychopathy has long been framed as a special challenge in criminal justice contexts, in part due to the supposedly untreatable nature of psychopathic offenders. Indeed, previous failed attempts to ‘treat’ this particular group have resulted in a widespread pessimism about treatment efficacy amongst correctional professionals. This pessimism has focused on the inherent unchangeable nature of psychopathic traits, especially those associated with Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R) Factor 1 items and the challenge of developing an effective therapeutic alliance with hostile, manipulative offenders. It is argued that this negative stance is neither unanimous nor justified because of poor consistency of population definition and methodological problems with structural and functional attributes of traditional treatment approaches. This article describes an experimental intervention – the High-Risk Personality Programme (HRPP) – a New Zealand prison-based group intensive treatment programme designed to reduce violence with a psychopathic group, and create opportunities to devise rehabilitative solutions with a challenging group.