Barriers Inhibiting Industry from Partnering with Universities: Evidence from the Advanced Technology Program

This paper describes a small, unique set of project data that was assembled as part of a larger study on universities as research partners. Herein, we summarize, to the extent possible, our interpretation of what the project data reveal about barriers, intellectual property (IP) concerns in particular, inhibiting industry from partnering with universities.     

‘Gone are the Days’: Bisexual Perspectives on Lesbian/Feminist Literary Theory

In this article I offer a map of recent UK and US lesbian feminist literary theory which highlights the shifting and often paradoxical interpretations of lesbian sexuality as both real and as metaphorical. I focus on two key texts which offer overviews and analysis of the field from different sides of the Atlantic, which are both accessible, in the sense of being written from the perspective of ‘ordinary’ lesbians, rather than structuring lesbian feminist literary criticism around traditional critical concepts, and which also, unusually, offer some (small) comment on bisexuality. These two works are Bonnie Zimmerman's Safe Sea of Women (1992), and Palmer's Contemporary Lesbian Writing (1993). I argue that lesbian/feminist literary theory offers particular constructions of sexuality which, while challenging many of the assumptions of heterosexual feminist literary theory, largely ignores the bisexual content of much lesbian fiction, and consequently glosses over some of the tricky areas of gender and sexuality difference. Through this ‘les/bi’ reading I hope to encourage the figure of the bisexual woman to question both constructions and deconstructions of lesbian sexuality.     

Loose cannons: Covert commerce and underground finance in the modern arms black market

The 1990s have already witnessed an explosion of social and political violence, with the threat of much more on the way. Many explanations have been offered — the stripping of the constraints formerly imposed by the Cold War alliance system; the delegitimization of states and the resurgence of ethno-religious identification; the end of the post-War social consensus that promised (though often did not deliver) a modicum of distributive justice.The paper stresses another, more mundane explanation — namely, the triumph over efforts at control of a free market in the instruments for effecting social and political change by violent means. It explains the contradiction between the amount of human, social and political damage weapons do and the ease with which they are acquired by exploring structural changes in the world arms black market since the 1980s.First, it argues that existing data showing a sharp decrease in international arms transfers can be reinterpreted in a much more pessimistic way, in part because of the operation of the modern black market.Second, a definition is offered of a black market transaction, differentiating it from otherwise legitimate deals that are criminalized on either the supply or demand sides.Third, it notes dramatic changes in the nature of the demand for weapons that drives more buyers into the black market.Fourth, it examines changes on the supply side that have made it so easy for a black market participant to acquire weapons, whether for direct end-use or for resale.Fifth, broad structural changes in the machinery of black marketeering in general, and their applications to the arms market in particular, are outlined.Sixth, a profile of the modern, as distinct from the traditional, gun running profession is offered, stressing the ambiguous role of the intelligence services in the traffic.Seventh, a black market arms deal is traced in its various stages through the machinery of covert commerce, while exploring at each stage the implications for pricing.Eight, the return flow of money is analyzed, from the point of view both of the form in which payment is made and the role of the formal banking system in handling and laundering the flow.Ninth, the financial problems facing non-state buyers and the consequent role of unconventional currencies is examined.Finally, some observations are offered about the implications of recent developments in the arms market for issues of arms control and international security.     

The underworld of ivory

This paper examines the emergence and operation of the illegal market for ivory, paying particular attention to the institutional structure and criminogenic characteristics of the industry. It notes that many of the problems associated with modern regulation have deep historical roots. While much anti-animal trade rhetoric emphasizes the alleged participation of “organized crime” in the clandestine traffic, the reality is that, not just with ivory, but with all wildlife trade, the illegal market is run (and always has been run) by the same actors who operate the legal one, and with the same infrastructure. On the other hand, while much free-market rhetoric insists that regulations, along with taxes and prohibitions, simply lead to underground activity which frustrates the objectives of the policy, in reality the causes of the growth of the illegal market are much more complex. Certainly some illegal trade in ivory dates back to the very start of conservation regulations, but it was not sufficient to pose a threat to the survival of the affected species. Rapid growth of the illegal market really dates from the 1970s. It emerged in response, not to regulatory changes, but to inflated demand due to exogenous financial changes on one side and the interaction between increased human pressure on habitat and a shifting international geo-strategic context on the other. The ivory trade was associated with civil strife long before “blood diamonds” or “conflict timber” came into vogue. Pressure on the herds, which had reached apparently crisis proportions by the late 1980s, led to a shift from a regulatory to a prohibitory regime. Although that shift was presented as essential to save the species, the experience with supply-side controls in general calls such optimism into question. Legal initiatives originally evolved to affect market behavior in advanced industrial countries may be of dubious merit when applied to the radically different problem of policing “crimes against nature,” particularly in places where competition for resources is acute, administrative structures are weak, and governments may lack in legitimacy in the eyes of significant portions of their populations.     

The 'Bad Mother' in Media and Legal Texts

Mothers who kill or injure their children highlight crucial disjunctions between the status ‘mother’ and the practices and expectations of mothering. Failures of ‘mothering’ reconstruct the meaning of the maternal, while being themselves given meaning by it. Violent mothers may be pathologised and excused, demonised and condemned, but the explanatory narratives that are used draw centrally on notions of the maternal and, more broadly, the feminine. These discourses are reproduced in legal proceedings and sentences, and in the media reports of these proceedings. This paper will analyse the construction of the bad mother in legal proceedings in one prominent recent Victorian case, and in the print media reports of this case.     

Wash-out: A critique of follow-the-money methods in crime control policy

Over the last 15 years there has been a quiet revolution in law enforcement. Instead of simply closing rackets that generate illegal income, the central objective has become to attack criminal profits after they have been earned. The underlying theory is that this will eliminate both the motive and the capital for further crimes. The principal legal instruments take the form of tougher regulations to hamper the infiltration of criminal money into the legitimate economy, and of sweeping asset-seizure laws to help take away from criminals the profits of their crimes. This paper examines the origins of the policy, finding its roots in myth and misunderstanding about the nature and operation of the criminal marketplace. It critically scrutinizes the rationalizations by which the policy is justified. It raises questions about how illicit profits can be measured, and how their presumed damage to the legitimate economy can actually be assessed. It dissects the methods through which a follow-the-money policy is implemented, attempting to determine criteria by which success of such a policy could possibly be judged. It looks at the incidental costs of the proceeds-of-crime approach, for example the skewing of law enforcement priorities, egregious violations of civil rights and potentially serious damage to the integrity of the tax system. Finally it suggests an alternative approach, well grounded in history and proven in experience, that would achieve the fundamental objective of taking away from criminals the profits of crime without the dangers attendant on the current follow-the-money fad. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.