The Struggle Against Corruption: Progress at a Snail's Pace. Why?

In 2010 the author, in an article for this journal, questioned the methods put forward by the international donor community to overcome corruption in the transitional and developing countries of the world. Five years on, the progress against this scourge has been minimal. In this article the author explores some of the reasons why. Apart from the obvious reason, namely the failure of political will in the countries themselves, he outlines some of the policy and practical errors that continue to hinder the progress that could be made.

Most of these errors are laid at the door of the international donor community, which perpetuates the remedies it advocates in spite of the evidence of failure. They range from a national anticorruption strategy that addresses corruption only in the public sector, to a policy of pursuing “grand corruption” but not “petty corruption” to insisting on an asset declaration system aimed at catching the corrupt and deterring others instead of aiming the system at identifying conflict of interest.

These egregious errors, among others described in this article, are the direct cause of lack of progress against a problem internationally recognized as destructive of everything the affected countries are striving to build. In the author's view the errors can and should be corrected. The remedies are relatively simple.     

The evolution of Japan's role in ‘Lusophone’ Africa: From inertia to action

This article explores Japan's relations with Lusophone Africa over the past 60 years. It asks what factors have propelled Japan's shift from a foreign policy based on inertia to a more proactive one. Arguably, colonialism and postcolonialism linked to the Cold War politics had a negative impact on Japan's relations with the Portuguese-speaking African countries (PALOP) and Africa as a whole; this contrasts with Japan's process of ‘Africanisation’ after 1990, reflective of changing external and internal circumstances. The question arises as to whether Japan's relations with the specific PALOP states, and with the group as a whole, have been influenced by, or have had influence over, Japan's long-term approach to other African states. Lastly, what characterises Japan's approach to the PALOP? Findings show mutual gains beyond the simple exploitation of natural resources towards broad-based sustainable growth. Still, from the perspective of the poorest PALOP, development cooperation and trade benefits are unbalanced and insufficient.     

Populist polarization and the slow death of democracy in Ecuador

This article analyses how the interactions between a strong populist government in Ecuador and a weak, divided, and inefficient internal opposition in a context of weak liberal institutions could lead to what Guillermo O'Donnell termed “the slow death of democracy”. Rafael Correa was elected with a substantive project of democratization understood as economic redistribution and social justice. His administration got rid of neoliberal policies and decaying traditional political parties, while simultaneously co-opting social movements, regulating civil society, and colonizing the public sphere. Because the judiciary was subordinated to Correa, social movement activists, journalists, and media owners could not use the legal system to resist Correa's crack down of civil society and regulation of the privately owned media. They took their grievances to supranational organizations like the Organization of American States. When these organizations stepped in to challenge Correa, his government denounced imperialist intervention in his nation's internal affairs, and advocated for the creation of new supranational institutions without US presence.     

Is there a need to regulate mediation? The English and Welsh case study

The use of mediation in England and Wales is nowadays an accepted and common practice within the alternative dispute resolution industry. Credited professionals have been performing the duties of a mediator in different fields of legal disputes; however, despite the positive perception of mediation, this area remains unregulated. So far, the rules applying to mediation in England and Wales originate from case law and contract between the parties. Such a scenario is not shared by other countries in which mediation has been regulated through an Act covering either private or judicial mediation. This article examines the current mediation scenario in England and Wales to assess whether there is a need to give it a statutory character in a similar manner to other jurisdictions.     

Brazilian Parliament and digital engagement

ABSTRACT

This paper examines how new technologies are employed by the Brazilian Chamber of Deputies to stimulate experiences of digital engagement. It also evaluates how new technologies are put in practice by the institution, considering its potentialities and limitations in mediating the relationship between the parliament and the citizens. This analysis is anchored in concepts put forth by Polsby about arena parliaments and transformative parliaments, in order to evaluate which of these models of engagement tools have greater potential. The study concludes that the use of digital technologies by the Brazilian Parliament is very diverse, with a variety of tools that allow for the interaction and engagement of citizens, although these tools have the greatest potential for the arena parliament model.     

Citizens' Blame of Politicians for Public Service Failure: Experimental Evidence about Blame Reduction through Delegation and Contracting

Theories of blame suggest that contracting out public service delivery reduces citizens’ blame of politicians for service failure. The authors use an online experiment with 1,000 citizen participants to estimate the effects of information cues summarizing service delivery arrangements on citizens’ blame of English local government politicians for poor street maintenance. Participants were randomized to one of four cues: no information about service delivery arrangements, politicians’ involvement in managing delivery, delegation to a unit inside government managing delivery, and delegation through a contract with a private firm managing delivery. The politicians managing delivery cue raises blame compared to citizens having no information. However, the contract with a private firm cue does not reduce blame compared to either no information or the politicians managing delivery cue. Instead, the delegation to a unit inside government cue reduces blame compared to politicians managing delivery, suggesting that delegation to public managers, not contracting, reduces blame in this context.     

Populism and the politics of the extraordinary in Latin America

Building on past and current experiences of populism in Latin America, this article makes four arguments. First, whereas populist movements seeking power promise to democratize society by challenging the legitimacy of exclusionary institutions, populist governments often include the excluded at the cost of disfiguring democracy. Second, during populist events the meanings of the ambiguous term ‘the people’ are disputed. When social movements are weak, and when the institutions of liberal democracy are discredited, a populist leader could attempt to become the embodiment of the will of the people. Third, even though the concept of the people is central to populism, it could be constructed differently. It could be imagined as heterogeneous and plural, or as the people-as-one, as an entity that shares one identity and interest that could be embodied in a leader. Fourth, populism shares with fascism an imaginary construction of the people-as-one. Yet differently from fascism, which staged extraordinary politics as war against internal and external enemies, populists staged their extraordinariness as winning popular elections and did not establish dictatorships.     

Measuring the Rarity of Fingerprint Patterns in the Dutch Population Using an Extended Classification Set

Latent print examiners often use their experience and knowledge to reach a conclusion on the identity of the source. Their conclusion is primarily based on their personal opinion on the rarity of the matching fingerprint features. Fingerprint patterns, if present, can play a significant role in the final assessment of a match. The authors believe that statistical data on the rarity of fingerprint patterns strengthens the subjective evaluation of the corresponding information. In order to provide fingerprint examiners with additional numerical support, fingerprint patterns were manually classified in a set of 24,104 fingerprints. In this study the frequencies of occurrence of 35 different fingerprint patterns have been obtained. The frequency data presented in this study can be used in the ACE‐V process applied in forensic casework, allowing for the assessment of the evidential strength related to a specific fingerprint pattern type.     

The Forensic Confirmation Bias: A Comparison Between Experts and Novices

A large body of research has described the influence of context information on forensic decision‐making. In this study, we examined the effect of context information on the search for and selection of traces by students (N = 36) and crime scene investigators (N = 58). Participants investigated an ambiguous mock crime scene and received prior information indicating suicide, a violent death or no information. Participants described their impression of the scene and wrote down which traces they wanted to secure. Results showed that context information impacted first impression of the scene and crime scene behavior, namely number of traces secured. Participants in the murder condition secured most traces. Furthermore, the students secured more crime‐related traces. Students were more confident in their first impression. This study does not indicate that experts outperform novices. We therefore argue for proper training on cognitive processes as an integral part of all forensic education.