Impact of accountability on the performance of police service: Palestinian police case study

In the Palestinian case, the police officers tried to provide some requirements and undertake some development initiatives. The issue of accountability was the most important part of them. Therefore, this research provides an assessment and analysis for the issue of accountability in the Palestinian police. It aims to identify the relationship and impact on the development of police performance. The researchers used a questionnaire for this purpose, which was distributed to a sample of 332 police personnel in the four largest police departments in the West Bank. The SPSS software was used to analyze the data. The results indicated that the elements of the Palestinian police system are subject to accountability through clear structures, mechanisms, procedures, and standards from inside and outside of the system. This system of accountability has a clear impact on the development and improvement of the performance of police elements.     

Rohingya Boat Refugees at Bay of Bengal and Obligations of the South East Asian States Under Soft Law

Liverpool Law Review - The 1951 Refugee Convention and the 1967 Protocol are the only binding international instruments under which the parties of the instruments agree to protect refugees....     

When Syria was in Egypt’s land: Egyptians cooperate with Syrians,but less with each other

Public Choice - With the number of people fleeing Syria since 2011 exceeding 5 million, and unclear prospects regarding the country’s future, Syrians currently residing outside their homeland...     

A future disarmament,demobilisation and reintegration process in Sudan: lessons learned from Ethiopia,Mozambique and Uganda

The conflict that broke out in Sudan on the eve of its independence from Britain in 1956 has devastated the country, retarded developmental progress, drained human resources and damaged the social fabric of the entire nation. However, the Protocol of Machakos which was signed by the Government of the Republic of the Sudan and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Sudan People's Liberation Army on 20 July 2002, states the commitment of the parties to a negotiated, peaceful and comprehensive resolution to the conflict within the unity of the country. With peace now in sight, the disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration (DDR) of former combatants is essential to avoid the mistakes made in 1972. It is crucial to build a new future for the generations that have suffered so much in five decades of war. This paper examines the challenges that might confront DDR in post-conflict Sudan. It draws on past experience following the 1972 Addis Ababa Agreement between the regime of President Gaffar Mohammed Nimeiri and the Anya-nya rebels, and on the experiences of countries that have gone through similar situations, such as Ethiopia, Mozambique and Uganda.     

Tuberculosis and sudden death in Baghdad

Tuberculosis deaths represent a recognizable proportion of all medicolegal statistics in and around Baghdad. Out of the total number of autopsies performed at the Medicolegal Institute at Baghdad, Iraq, in the years, 1948, 1953, 1958, 1963, 1968, 1973, and 1978, 168 sudden deaths were attributed to tuberculosis. Bilateral pulmonary tuberculosis was the principle lesion in the majority of the victims. Tuberculosis cavitation was the major finding in 126 cases, followed by advanced pulmonary TB without cavitation in 25. There was no gross abnormality, except for a histological basis of pulmonary TB associated with miliary TB involving hepatic, renal, meningeal, and mesenteric organs in the remaining 17 autopsies. The abrupt and suspicious deaths in older people, especially during cold months, is more likely due to TB. Autopsy should be performed in all cases of sudden and suspicious deaths. Histological study of different body organs, whether death is attributed by the investigative authority or not related to TB, should be required in all medicolegal autopsies, in order to obtain a true picture of TB as a natural cause of death.     

Public policy analysis in Washington and Ottawa

Policy analysis in the U.S. and Canada tends to follow the methods of systems analysis and takes into account variables relating to substantive matters as well as political and administrative constraints that governments face in pursuing different alternatives.Comparative analysis of the political effectiveness of the two governments in implementing the results of analysis indicates that Canada has built-in constitutional advantages. Comparative assessment of bureaucratic skills in policy analysis and policy implementation suggests that the American system is relatively weaker in terms of implementation, but relatively stronger in terms of policy analytical skills. This is followed by an assessment of the attempts made by the U.S. government to improve its policymaking structures through the setting up of the Domestic Council and the reorganized OMB, and the Canadian attempts to improve its policymaking capabilities through a reorganized Cabinet committee system and the strengthening of the Privy Council Office.The final section suggests that analysis of values and norms should be an integral part of policy analysis. The scope of policy analysis should be extended to include long-term economic and political analyses.     

Hand-held cow horn: resurgence of an old arm or a potential terrorist weapon

A 23 year old man presented with intestinal evisceration from stab injury to the left side of the abdomen with a hand-held cow horn at a local night party. He complained of severe abdominal pain and bleeding at the site of injury. He was hemodynamically stable. At emergency exploration, the eviscerated bowel was viable with no adjacent mesenteric tear. Other intra abdominal organs were normal. The eviscerated bowel was lavaged and reduced into the abdomen through the 7 cm anterior abdominal wall laceration. The laceration was repaired and abdomen closed in layers. Post operative recovery was uneventful. The hand-held cow horn can easily be concealed and may pass through security checks undetected. It should be added to the ever increasing list of weapons of small scale terror.     

Nonlinear convergence in Asian interest and inflation rates: evidence from Asian countries

We examine the dynamics of convergence in seven Asian countries for nominal and real interest rates, and inflation rates. We test for convergence relative to the U.S. and Japan, using quarterly data 1973:2–2011:3, employing nonlinear unit root tests. The linearity test shows evidence of nonlinearity in all the cases. In most cases, we find evidence of logistic smooth transition autoregression-type non-linearity. Moreover, nonlinear unit root tests reveal evidence of nonlinear stationary nominal and real interest rates and inflation differentials in all cases. We interpret these results as convergence in inflation rates and real and nominal interest rates.     

The evolution of the European Union’s failed approach to Afghanistan

ABSTRACT

This article provides a genealogical account of European actorness in Afghanistan. It argues that European agreement towards facilitating modernisation and development in Afghanistan was initiated with aid and trade, evolving into humanitarianism in the 1990s, and reconstruction and democratisation in the 2000s. The European Union has had a positive impact on Afghanistan, focusing on humanitarianism, but its multilateral and programme level approach to reconstruction and democratisation has failed to meet the EU’s stated objectives. By promoting the flawed “Bonn Model”, the EU is proportionally culpable for failed international attempts to reconstruct Afghanistan; even though the United States has been the primary international actor. Drawing a series of broader lessons, such as tensions between Atlantic solidarity and European integration, and the limitations of the European crisis management, the article demonstrates how European policy has been shaped by crises inside Afghanistan and the larger geopolitical crises these have generated. These have contemporary importance as history suggests that as the US withdraws its commitment to Afghanistan, the EU will have a very significant role in attempting to fill a humanitarian vacuum.