Out of tune or well tempered? How competition agencies direct the orchestrating state

This article analyzes the impact competition agencies have on the orchestrating role of states in domestic private regulation. I argue that these agencies can significantly affect interactions in the governance triangle through the way they apply a “logic of the market” to evaluate agreements between firms. The regulatory framework of European Union competition law has increasingly constrained the ability of firms to take into account broader interests when making agreements to foster social objectives. This logic of the market clashes with the ever‐increasing emphasis governments place on enabling firms to enter into such agreements. I analyze this tension through a case study of a pact of Dutch retailers to collectively introduce higher animal welfare standards for poultry. Using regulatory network analysis I trace the governance interactions between the governance triangle on the one hand (government, non‐governmental organizations, and firms), and the Dutch competition authority, Autoriteit Consument en Markt (ACM) and the European Commission on the other hand. Attempts by the Dutch government to instruct the ACM to be more lenient toward private regulation were blocked twice by the European Commission. As a result, the Dutch government abandoned private regulation as the preferred mode and proposed a bottom‐up process that would generate public regulation as a way to avoid conflict with competition policy. I argue that paradoxically enough the intervention of these non‐majoritarian competition agencies against the “will” of the governance triangle has potentially increased the effectiveness and legitimacy of orchestration processes.     

Reconstruction of Deformed Bite Marks Using Affine Transformations

Abstract: Bite marks inflicted on animate and inanimate objects will undergo a certain degree of deformation. This fact remains one of the biggest stumbling blocks when analyzing evidence for court presentation. It has been demonstrated that the reliability of pattern association analysis will not be affected by minimal degrees of warping, shrinkage, and distortion. In this study, affine transformations were applied to bite marks to establish if minimal distortions would affect the mathematically determined relationships of the defined features. In a real case study, it was then tested whether the distorted bite mark matched the dentition of the perpetrator by applying an affine transformation. This was confirmed to be the case. Affine transformations will thus not affect the relationships of the individual features found in bite marks. The numerical calculations validate the reliability of pattern association analysis in the presence of minimal amounts of warping, shrinkage, and distortion.     

Free Market Experiments in the Laboratory of Democracy: The Long Decade of Policy Reform in New Zealand those risks

Books reviewd in this essay:
Christine Cheyne, Mike O'Brien and Michael Belgrave, Social Policy in Aotearoa New Zealand: A Critical Introduction
Brian Easton, The Commercialisation of New Zealand
Paul Dalziel and Ralph Lattimore, The New Zealand Macroeconomy: A Briefing on the Reforms
RC Mascarenhas, Government and the Economy in New Zealand
Raymond Miller (ed.), New Zealand Politics in Transition
Geoffrey Palmer and Michael Palmer, Bridled Power: New Zealand Government Under MMP     

Antipodean dilemmas

Nicky Hager, Secret Power: New Zealand's Role in the International Spy Network (Nelson, New Zealand: Craig Potten, 1996). Pp.299, index. NP. ISBN 908802–35–8.     

Genetic citizenship: DNA testing and the Israeli Law of Return

The Israeli State recently announced that it may begin to use genetic tests to determine whether potential immigrants are Jewish or not. This development would demand a rethinking of Israeli law on the issue of the definition of Jewishness. In this article, we discuss the historical and legal context of secular and religious definitions of Jewishness and rights to immigration in the State of Israel. We give a brief overview of different ways in which genes have been regarded as Jewish, and we discuss the relationship between this new use of genetics and the society with which it is co-produced. In conclusion, we raise several questions about future potential impacts of Jewish genetics on Israeli law and society.     

Dependency or Institutions? Economic Geography, Causal Mechanisms, and Logic in the Understanding of Development

What explains the global distribution of growth and economic activity? Proponents of unit-level explanations dismiss systems-level arguments like dependency and world systems theory for logically incorrect reasons. They argue that these system-level arguments lack the precise mechanisms that various unit-level arguments provide. But the absence of precise system-level causal mechanisms in some system-level theories does not logically imply that all system-level theories are wrong. Economic geography provides system-level theories with precise mechanisms that comport with most of the economic predictions offered by dependency theories. This does not mean that unit-level theories are either wrong or useless, but rather that unit-level explanations must (1) claim that the new economic geography is totally wrong, or (2) show how system and unit-level mechanisms interact causally, or (3) argue that unit-level mechanisms are independent of system-level causal mechanisms.     

China's expanding influence in Africa: projection,perception and prospects in Southern African countries

China's multi-faceted endeavour to expand its influence in Africa has attracted worldwide scholarly and media attention. This article examines the different moments of China's soft power endeavour, from projection through its state media to representation and lived experiences in South Africa and Zimbabwe, two African countries which receive a significant level of attention in China's policymaking. Through interdisciplinary methodologies such as content analysis, online questionnaires and in-depth interviews conducted in China, South Africa and Zimbabwe, the authors found that China's state-engineered soft power initiatives have resulted in partial success in the two countries. The conclusions indicate that China faces many challenges in fully accomplishing its intended goal. The findings provide new insight into China's political impact in Africa within the context of Beijing's growing influence on Africa's political and economic future.     

“Dynamite bombs of New York manufacture”: the terrorist perspective in the Stevensons,Greer and James

This article examines the first three literary reactions to Fenian terrorism: Robert Louis Stevenson and Fanny van de Grift Stevenson’s co-written novel, The Dynamiter (1885); Tom Greer’s A Modern Daedalus (1885) and Henry James’ The Princess Casamassima (1886). Although these works approach terrorism from different angles, they set the pattern for subsequent treatments that will “give primary voice to the perspective of the terrorist”. “Zero”, the hapless bomb-makers in The Dynamiter, is a surprisingly urbane, sympathetic figure; Greer illustrates both the necessity and the moral quandaries of terrorism and James shows considerable sympathy for anarchism’s causes, even though terrorism threatens high art and culture. I also hope to show that fiction can provide excellent source material for studying the cultural imaginary of terrorism and, by extension, make a bid for the inclusion of literature scholars under the umbrella of Critical Terrorism Studies.