A judges' revolution? Political corruption and the judiciary in Italy

Abstract. During the investigations into political corruption in Italy, judges emerged in the eyes of the public as the 'heroes' of a peaceful revolution against the 'villainous' politicians. The established explanation for the active role of the judiciary against corruption stresses the unusual degree of independence of Italian judges. Without denying the importance of this institutional variable, analysis of the interactions between politicians and judges in the history of the Italian Republic allows one to discuss the role of other two important variables: the informal networking between politicians and judges, and the professional culture of the magistracy. The three sets of variables are in fact used to explain two different strategies adopted by Italian judges in their interaction with the political system: a strategy of 'role substitution', acccording to which some judges act as a surrogate power for the protection of the citizens against corrupt politicians, and a 'collusive strategy', consisting of various levels of hidden exchanges between judges and politicians. This article is based on an examination of judicial documents relating to 40 episodes of political corruption, in–depth interviews with experts, reports of relevant Parliamentary Inquiry Commissions, requests for indictment of Members of Parliament, official statistics and the daily and weekly press.     

True and false memories in middle childhood: the relationship with cognitive functioning

This study was designed to investigate developmental changes in true and false memories and to detect links among them in middle childhood. Participants were 372 Italian children (from 6 to 11 years, 174 males) divided into two age groups. After hearing a story, children provided a free-recall and their true and false retrieved information was measured. Then children were repeatedly asked some true and misleading questions about the story and their cued-recall and interrogative suggestibility were measured. Finally, children again recalled the story to assess the post-event misinformation effect of the suggested information. Individual differences in fluid intelligence, working memory and executive functions were also assessed to investigate their relationships with true and false memories. Typical age effects were found in memory recall and interrogative suggestibility. Interesting links among true, spontaneous and suggested false memories were found. Finally, analyses did not reveal the existence of a relationship between suggestibility and cognitive functioning.     

The resources of corruption: Some reflections from the Italian Case

This article focuses on the resources used in corrupt exchanges and the complex network of actors involved. The empirical analysis is drawn from research into the Italian case, and is based on judicial investigations, a newspaper-based data bank, and interviews. Defining corruption as a market for political rent, the analysis focuses on the “commodities” which flow from the public to the private sectors (in particular, influence over political decisions and information) and those which flow in the opposite direction (such as bribes, influence on the mass media etc.). Resources which corrupt agents use to reduce the costs of “producing” corrupt services are also explored as well as the risks involved in hidden exchange. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Śubhagupta on the Cognitive Process

In his *Bāhyārthasiddhikārikā (BASK), “Verses on the Establishment of the External Object”—extant only in Tibetan translation—?ubhagupta (720–780 CE), a philosopher connected with the logical-epistemological school of Buddhism, argues the reality of external objects of cognitions. In this article, I shall provide an account of ?ubhagupta's theory of the cognitive process, as expressed in BASK 35–44, particularly in light of his view that the images (ākāra) of those objects do not appear in cognition. BASK is part of an internal Buddhist debate over the reality of external supports of perceptions, wherein ?ubhagupta disproves the views of thinkers like Di?nāga and Vasubandhu. On the other hand, he is one of the main opponents addressed in the Bahirarthaparīk?ā (BAP) of the Tattvasa?graha (TS) by ?āntarak?ita (725–788 CE) and the Tattvasa?grahapañjikā (TSP) by Kamala?īla (740–795 CE). Therein, the two authors, while demonstrating the absence of the characteristics of apprehended (grāhya) and apprehender (grāhaka) with regard to cognition, keenly refute his ideas and quote selected Sanskrit verses that can be identified as the original Sanskrit of stanzas in BASK. Accordingly, I shall examine ?ubhagupta’s theory of the cognitive process in two steps: (i) analyzing the arguments that ?āntarak?ita and Kamala?īla advance against him based on their interpretation of ?ubhagupta’s views; and (ii) analyzing the arguments that he brings forward against his opponents (namely, Di?nāga and Vasubandhu), by means of the investigation of BASK 35–44 in their original context.     

Insurance models and European climate change policies: an assessment

The paper outlines the role of insurance as an economic policy tool that can be used to address the issue of climate change. The magnitude of potential loss, the adverse social and economic consequences for millions of people and considerable fiscal strain imposed on government budgets by extreme weather events all indicate that governments can benefit significantly from the use of an insurance instrument capable not only of covering damage but also of providing an incentive for risk reduction behaviours. By examining the diverse insurance systems that exist in European countries and grouping them into five stylised models, natural hazards insurance is examined in terms of private and public involvement. The paper analyses the performance of different insurance models in relation to information imperfections (i.e. adverse selection and moral hazard) and market imperfections (i.e. charity hazard and transaction costs). In addition, the different models are examined in terms of the extent to which they incentivise mechanisms that facilitate the mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions, adaptation to the inevitable impacts of climate change and the development of climate risk finance management. Some concluding remarks are offered regarding the possible future development of a European insurance model as a means of developing an economically effective response to natural hazards caused by climate change.