Conclusion: regional parliaments – a distinct role in the EU?

ABSTRACT

Regional parliaments can shape EU policy-making via a range of domestic and European channels. In the context of a renewed interest in the subnational level, this article aims to address three core questions: have regional parliaments really been empowered by the early warning system provisions? Which factors explain differences in strength and mobilisation? Finally, what kind of a role do regional parliaments play in EU policy-making today, now that they have had several years to react to the trend towards multilevel parliamentarism? The authors argue that regional parliaments do indeed have the potential to contribute a distinct perspective to EU policy-making, even if their current level of activity is still low. Their distinctive territorial focus sets them apart from national parliaments. Their level of activity still varies greatly between parliaments depending on a number of factors.     

Intimate partner homicide,immigration and citizenship: evidence from Norway 1990–2012

Intimate partner homicides (IPH) are fatal violent attacks perpetrated by intimate partners. Immigrants are overrepresented in the IPH statistics as both perpetrators and victims. If explanatory factors for this are not studied, immigrants may be stigmatized. The present study investigates whether IPHs committed by immigrant perpetrators have characteristics that differentiate them from IPHs committed by the native majority of IPH perpetrators. All IPHs in Norway from 1990 to 2012 (N = 177) were included. Quantitative data were extracted through structured investigation of court documents. Information concerning risk factors (previous intimate partner violence and sociodemographic, contextual and clinical factors) was drawn from three validated risk assessment instruments. Univariate analysis and multivariate logistic regression analyses were conducted. When adjusted for other group differences, very few differences remained in the multivariate models. IPHs perpetrated by immigrants differed from cases with native perpetrators on modus operandi and ascribed motives and resulted in longer sentences than IPHs with native perpetrators. This study indicates considerable similarities in IPHs perpetrated by immigrants and natives. Findings indicating that IPHs by immigrants were perceived differently in the justice system need further investigation.     

Risk for Revictimization of Intimate Partner Violence by Multiple Partners: a Systematic Review

Are victims of intimate partner violence (IPV) by multiple partners (MP) different from victims of IPV by one partner? Are there different victim-related risk factors for IPV by MP? This systematic literature review identified seven empirical studies that related to these issues. The review findings indicated that (1) empirical research on IPV by MP appears to be scarce, with only limited recent development; (2) there were significant differences between women who had been subjected to IPV in a single relationship and women with IPV by MP; (3) IPV by MP was significantly associated with childhood domestic trauma, drug abuse, IPV characteristics, and attachment style; (4) regarding PTSD and personality disorders, the results were mixed and inconclusive; and (5) depression did not appear as a salient risk factor for IPV by MP. Interpretations must be made cautiously because of the wide diversity in measurement approaches. It is important that service personnel and researchers attend with increased awareness to women with IPV by MP.     

Public policy for academic entrepreneurship initiatives: a review and critical discussion

This article provides a critical review and discussion of current literature on technology transfer, incubators, and academic entrepreneurship. Drawing upon the notion of robustness in social systems and public choice theory, we review, code, and taxonomize 166 studies to assess the likelihood that these initiatives will generate innovation and economic growth. We find that academic entrepreneurship initiatives are characterized by conflicting goals, weak incentive structures for universities and academics, and are contextually dependent upon factors such as university strength. Our results suggest that there are critical boundary conditions that are unlikely to be fulfilled when universities and policymakers enact policies to support academic entrepreneurship initiatives. Policymakers therefore need to be cautious in the potential design of such initiatives. We discuss how technology transfer from universities might be better achieved through alternative mechanisms such as contract research, licensing, consulting and increased labor mobility among researchers.     

Epilogue: International Norms for Nationality: An Elusive Goal?

Netherlands International Law Review -     

Countries start to explain how their climate contributions are fair: more rigour needed

In the lead-up to the Paris Agreement, every country was invited to submit an intended nationally determined contribution (INDC), and indicate how it is fair. We analyse how countries have explained the equity of mitigation and adaptation in 163 INDCs, providing a bottom-up analysis of equity to complement a literature that has focused on top-down allocations. While no single indicator of equity was used by all INDCs, a menu of quantified indicators or tiered approaches could provide bounded flexibility across different national circumstances. The most common equity indicator used in mitigation INDCs is the country’s ‘small share’ of global emissions, followed by per capita emissions. The emissions of individual ‘small share’ INDCs add up to 24% of annual global emissions when using a consistent data set. Per capita emissions are used across a range of countries with low (0.5) to high (25 t CO₂–eq per capita) values for that indicator. Adaptation is included in 89% of INDCs, of which more than half quantify impacts in some manner, and two-thirds use vulnerability as an equity argument. Broadly, we find that most claims to equity are either unsubstantiated or drawn from analysis by in-country experts. Only two INDCs refer to independent evidence, and none consider the consequences of their approach when applied to all countries. Given that the aggregate effect of INDCs will not be sufficient to keep global temperature increase well below 2 °C, and even less to keep temperature below a 1.5 °C rise, the INDCs have distributional implications. More rigorous information is needed to assess relative fair shares, which could be provided officially in future nationally determined contributions (NDCs). Absent improved information, it is likely that researchers and civil society will continue to assess informally what could be considered fair. A hybrid approach to equity—combining bottom-up assessment and top-down allocation—would be consistent with the hybrid architecture of the Paris Agreement, which comprises bottom-up elements such as NDCs and top-down elements such as global goals. Improved information on equity in NDCs will be an important input to the global stocktake ‘in the light of equity’.     

Evidence comes by replication,but needs differentiation: the reproducibility issue in science and its relevance for criminology

Recent publications in Nature, Science, and other journals raised concerns about the reproducibility of empirical findings in psychology and other scientific disciplines. This article summarizes some of these arguments and results that led to discussions about a “replication crisis” in research. In criminology, there is not yet a similar discussion, although the need for more replications has been emphasized in the past. The present article addresses this topic with special consideration of program evaluations in early developmental crime prevention and offender treatment. In both fields, there has been substantial progress in research and practice. Most systematic reviews showed mean positive effects; however, nearly all of them demonstrated very heterogeneous findings that could not be attributed to the content of programs. This does not allow simple recommendations of “what works” for policy-making and practice. In addition, there is a serious lack of long-term follow-ups and independent evaluations. The article shows remarkable similarity of the findings and problems in both fields of intervention. Problems of reproducibility prove to be highly relevant for criminology, although there is no need for using the term “crisis”. The article proposes various strategies that can enhance the reproducibility of findings, i.e., more systematic investigation of those differentiated conditions under which interventions are most effective. An integrative model of relevant characteristics is briefly presented. It refers to factors of the programs, contexts, participants, and evaluation methods. Confirmatory meta-analyses can play an important role on the path toward more differentiated and replicated knowledge