Expert evidence: a practical guide

Legal context: expert witnesses now take part in many IP disputesand both experts and practitioners need to know the rules anddecisions affecting them. Key Points: we consider admissability of expert evidence, howto find an expert, appointment, how to change an expert, theexpert's duties, conflicts and the dangers of using an expert.It stresses the importance of finding an expert who knows thefield, will stick to it and communicates well. It is key notoversell or tempt the expert to oversell the evidence. Practitionersshould stay within the procedural rules, as mistakes can affectthe value of otherwise sound evidence. Practical significance: expert evidence is often decisive. Gettingit wrong can present a significant problem. English judges arenot slow to criticise any failure to meet the very high standardsthey expect of expert witnesses.     

Political culture,state elites and regional security in West Africa

This article analyses the dominant patterns of political culture among West Africa's state elites in an attempt to understand what standards, beliefs and principles they cherish. We suggest that although there are significant differences across the region's states, the dominant political culture can be characterised as neopatrimonial, that is, systems based on personalised structures of authority where patron–client relationships operate behind a façade of ostensibly rational state bureaucracy. In order to explore these issues the article proceeds in four parts. After providing a definition of political culture and why it is an important topic of analysis, we examine the central characteristics of the political culture held by state elites in the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) region. The section ‘The Nigerian factor’ briefly discusses some of the malign effects that this culture has had upon governance and political economy issues in the regional giant, Nigeria. The final section explores whether the region's elites are living up to their own claims that they are embarking upon a serious attempt to engage in state reconstruction or are instead simply searching for alternative ways to sell their more traditional concern with regime protection. We conclude that, without a fundamental recasting of the political culture guiding the region's elites, a security culture that prioritises democracy and human security is unlikely to emerge within ECOWAS.     

The ministerial system in Niue

A ministerial system of government has been developed in the tiny micro state of Niue, and in this article the pattern of ministerialization is compared with a typology derived from a study of the ministerial systems in other countries with ministries and ministerial departments. In Niue while the foundations of responsible government were being laid, and functions and powers transferred to an elected executive committee, no corresponding moves were made to reorganize established public service departments and there is, therefore, a mismatch between ministers and departments. Niue like New Zealand has a form of ministerialization that initially appears to conform to the least developed mode in the typology. Niue, however, has a unique arrangement in having a Secretary to Government who is the head of the public service and chief administrative officer with control over all departments, and with a right to attend Cabinet meetings and speak on any matter. Niue, as a consequence, has a ministerial system which overall does not conform with the typology and has interest as an attempt to develop a form appropriate to a micro state.     

Party government in 20 Democracies: an update (1990–1995)

Abstract. The country tables of the data collection 'Political Data 1945–1990. Party Government in 20 Democracies' (European Journal of Political Research, Vol. 24, No. 1 (July 1993), pp. 1–119) are updated and corrected to the end of 1995. Errors and omissions on the level of separate Ministers and/or Ministries have been corrected as well. These are listed as 'changes/corrections' in the corresponding tables in the original data collection.     

Governing through Governance: Education Policy Control under New Labour

Central to the debates on governance is the extent to which this process erodes state power. This article looks at the control of education policy since 1997. Education has not been immune from the developing process of governance. Moreover, Labour government education policies have accelerated this process: there has been greater fragmentation of policy-making, with a proliferation of cross-sectoral and multi-level participation. However, in this case, central government has not only retained control over policy-making but has been able to achieve its policy goals more effectively. Two case studies: 'New Labour and the Local Education Authorities' and 'New Labour and the Funding of Education', demonstrate the advantages for the centre in voluntarily governing through governance.     

Social Policy Under One Country, Two Systems: Institutional Dynamics in China and Hong Kong since 1997

Hong Kong's 1997 reversion to Chinese sovereignty brought two hitherto distinctive social policy systems into one country. As Hong Kong is gradually assimilated into China in the coming decades, the two social policy systems will need to identify elements of convergence. In this article, we argue those elements can be found in parallel efforts to curtail the reach of the state, extend the role of the market, enhance individual responsibility, and in the development of a productivist social policy orientation in both societies. The social policy systems of the two societies remain strikingly different in many ways, reflecting their diametrically opposed starting points. But their reform trajectories appear to be pointing in similar directions.     

Party,State and the Control of Information in the Lao People’s Democratic Republic: Secrecy,Falsification and Denial

ABSTRACT

Since taking control of Laos in 1975, the Lao People’s Revolutionary Party and the government of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR) have relied heavily on secrecy, denial and information management and control to govern. These tools have been used for presenting the Party and state as united in support of the country’s one-party communist political system and as being the only real political option. This article presents a number of examples of the particular ways the Party and state have done this. The following are discussed: the little-known rift between the “Red Prince” Chao Souphanouvong and Kaysone Phomvihane; conflict between the Lao PDR and Vietnam and China; the anti-Lao PDR insurgency; calls for political change via the “Social Democratic Club” in 1990; unsuccessful student protests for political change in 1999 and 2009; the forced disappearance of Sombath Somphone; and recent attempts to control social media to publicise anti-government viewpoints. Secrecy, falsification and information management and control have important implications, both with regard to conducting research about Laos and in relation to how outsiders tend to analytically frame the study of Party and state.