Institutionalizing Legal Consciousness: Regulation and the Embedding of Market Participants in the Securities Industry in Ghana and Fiji

How do differences in the implementation of regulation impact market behavior? I propose a theoretical framework to understand this impact as part of the process of embedding market participants through the institutionalization of legal consciousness within a field of action. I use this framework to understand the impact of the difference in the implementation of securities regulation in Ghana and Fiji. In Fiji, where the regulatory agency is more present and process‐oriented, brokers operate with a greater orientation toward formal rules. In Ghana, where the regulatory agency is distant and auditing, brokers rely on explicit enforcement of floor‐based norms. Conceiving of legal consciousness as an emergent feature of a field of social action advances the understanding of how legality is institutionalized, since the emergent structure shapes the orientations, behavior, and relations of actors within the field.     

Main Achievements of the ICTR

Since trials began in 1997, the International Criminal Tribunalfor Rwanda (ICTR) has conducted cases involving 50 accused,involving a prime minister and several ministers, prefects,bourgmestres and other leaders, who would otherwise not havebeen brought to justice. Judgments have been rendered in respectof 25 accused, with three acquittals. During the first mandate(1995–1999), the Tribunal delivered ground-breaking judgmentsconcerning genocide, such as Akayesu and Kambanda. In the secondmandate (1999–2003), the judicial output doubled and includedthe Media judgment. Halfway into the third mandate (2003–2007),trials involving 25 accused are ongoing. The ICTR is an efficientjudicial institution which has conducted fair trials, createdimportant jurisprudence, and made a significant contributionto the development of international criminal justice.     

First report from the Swedish National Forensic Psychiatric Register (SNFPR)

To the best of our knowledge, the present register is the only nationwide forensic psychiatric patient register in the world. The aim of this article is to describe the content of the Swedish National Forensic Psychiatric Register (SNFPR) for Swedish forensic patients for the year 2010. The subjects are individuals who, in connection with prosecution due to criminal acts, have been sentenced to compulsory forensic psychiatric treatment in Sweden. The results show that in 2010, 1476 Swedish forensic patients were assessed in the SNFPR; 1251 (85%) were males and 225 (15%) were females. Almost 60% of the patients had a diagnosis of schizophrenia, with a significantly higher frequency among males than females. As many as 70% of the patients had a previous history of outpatient psychiatric treatment before becoming a forensic psychiatric patient, with a mean age at first contact with psychiatric care of about 20 years old for both sexes. More than 63% of the patients had a history of addiction, with a higher proportion of males than females. Furthermore, as many as 38% of all patients committed crimes while under the influence of alcohol and/or illicit drugs. This was more often the case for men than for women. Both male and female patients were primarily sentenced for crimes related to life and death (e.g., murder, assault). However, there were more females than males in treatment for general dangerous crimes (e.g., arson), whereas men were more often prosecuted for crimes related to sex. In 2010, as many as 70% of all forensic patients in Sweden had a prior sentence for a criminal act, and males were prosecuted significantly more often than females. The most commonly prescribed pharmaceuticals for both genders were antipsychotics, although more women than men were prescribed other pharmaceuticals, such as antidepressants, antiepileptics, and anxiolytics. The result from the present study might give clinicians an opportunity to reflect upon and challenge their traditional treatment methods.     

Non-Traditional Security Dilemmas: Can Military Operations other than War Intensify Security Competition in Asia?

Can seemingly benign deployments of armed forces on military operations other than war (MOOTW) – such as humanitarian relief and anti-piracy missions – exacerbate security dilemmas? The security dilemma holds a central role in international relations theory, but existing analyses overlook whether non-traditional security operations drive security competition if perceived as threatening. Despite increased MOOTW participation throughout Asia, scant attention has been paid to the broader strategic implications of these operations. This article proposes a hypothesis in which MOOTW participation exacerbates security competition by revealing military capabilities and providing states with skills that make offensive action easier. The article tests this hypothesis by process tracing events surrounding Japan’s post-3/11 earthquake response. The findings suggest that MOOTW participation intensifies long-term security competition, especially when rising powers are involved.     

Who Inherits the State? Colonial Rule and Postcolonial Conflict

Postulating grievance‐based mechanisms, several recent studies show that politically excluded ethnic groups are more likely to experience civil conflict. However, critics argue that endogeneity may undermine this finding since governments' decisions to include or exclude could be motivated by the anticipation of conflict. We counter this threat to inference by articulating a causal pathway that explains ethnic groups' access to power independently of conflict. Focusing on postcolonial states, we exploit differences in colonial empires' strategies of rule to model which ethnic groups were represented in government at the time of independence. This identification strategy allows estimating the exogenous effect of inclusiveness on conflict. We find that previous studies have tended to understate the conflict‐dampening impact of political inclusion. This finding suggests that grievances have been prematurely dismissed from conventional explanations of conflict, and that policy makers should consider conflict resolution methods based on power sharing and group rights.     

Political actors,preferences and election rule re-design in Russia and Ukraine

Institutional designers, international organizations and post-Soviet political actors have directed considerable attention to the design and conduct of elections in postcommunist states. This article explores the nature of electoral system re-design by investigating the motives and interactions of legislators, parties and presidents. Following the veto players literature, the analysis focuses on the determinants of policy stability and change. The process of institutional re-design is evaluated in two cases: the successful introduction of the Law on Political Parties in Russia and unsuccessful attempts at major election reform in Ukraine. The article shows that the outcomes of policy reform processes in these 'superpresidential' systems were not solely determined by presidential preferences. Rather, to fully understand election system re-design, it is critical to evaluate the preferences of all relevant veto players.