Crashing the Party? Elites,Outsiders, and Elections

We consider an election between two parties that nominate candidates for office. The parties are polarized along a traditional cleavage, but they are also internally divided along a second issue dimension. We introduce a threat of entry from Outsider candidates, who have the prominence and resources to bypass party elites. We consider when voters will turn to Outsiders, and identify the conditions under which Outsiders will enter the election through an established party's nomination process, as opposed to circumventing established parties via a third-party challenge. We further explore when the elites will fail to respond to the threat of Outsider candidates. Our framework highlights how established parties will be especially vulnerable to Outsider primary entry in periods of intense ideological polarization between the parties, and that this vulnerability is especially heightened for the majority party.     

Regulating Cannabis: A Comparative Exploration of Canadian Legalization

This article explores cannabis regulation in Canada and the United States and examines how recent legalization efforts have manifested differently in each country. Although some of these differences are explained by uncompromising constitutional structures, this comparative exercise examines each system's political choices. While emphasis is placed on the Canadian experience, this article seeks to inform and enhance policy and regulation in both countries in addition to highlighting inherent ethical issues.     

Policymaking with Multiple Agencies

Authority over related policy issues is often dispersed among multiple government agencies. In this article, I study when Congress should delegate to multiple agencies, and how shared regulatory space complicates agency decision making. To do so, I develop a formal model of decentralized policymaking with two agencies that incorporates information acquisition and information sharing, delineating situations where legislators should and should not prefer multiple agencies. Greater divergence between the agencies' ideal points distorts information sharing and policy choices, but it may increase the amount of information acquisition. Congress achieves better policy outcomes by delegating authority to both agencies if the agencies have strong policy disagreements. If the agencies have similar policy preferences, however, then Congress may want to consolidate authority within one agency because this approach mitigates free-riding and takes advantage of returns to scale.     

The Causal Mechanism Theory of Legal Causation

Theories of legal causation that identify the concept with probability-raising generate false positives where the defendant's conduct raises the probability of harm but brings about that harm in the wrong kind of way. Moreover, what the law seeks to deter is not conduct that raises the probability of harm, but rather conduct that is dangerous. A legal or proximate cause is one that harms the plaintiff through the causal mechanism that sustains the lawful generalization that the defendant's conduct was dangerous.     

The Commonwealth is Getting its Second Wind

This article looks forward to the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in London, April 2018, in light of reflection on the nature of the Commonwealth (‘club, church or beehive?’) and its legacy. Special attention is paid to the significant anniversaries of 2015—Magna Carta, United Nations, end of the Second World War, London Declaration and 50 years of the Commonwealth Secretariat. The author also considers the agendas for CHOGM and the implications for the Commonwealth of Britain’s exit from the European Union (Brexit).     

Progress in forensic anthropology: the 20th century

Anthropological contribution to forensic sciences has been multifaceted and the progress has been remarkable in the last quarter of this century. The field has brought together scientists from all around the world. The purpose of this paper is to present a special issue on forensic anthropological research. Some of the papers cover age estimation from the ankle and knee epiphyses (India), basioccipital synchondrosis (also India), sternal end rib metamorphosis in Turks, and histomorphometry of the Japanese. Sex determination from the South African cranium and Mongoloid humerus are the subject of two papers. Factors of individualization include a comparison of photographic images using neural network, bone trabecular radiography, determination of handedness from the humerus, time since death using 210Po to 210Pb ratio, and changes in the mineral content of bone after burial. From the papers in this special issue it can be concluded that there will be integration of many areas of forensic sciences to deal with anthropological issues in the 21st century. Estimation of time since death will be based on new and more precise techniques. Further research is needed to develop population specific osteological standards for populations of Africa, central and southeast Asia and Pacific region. In addition, there will be an increased interest in the study of living people.     

Age assessment by rib phase analysis in Turks

The I?can's phase method for the estimation of adult age at death from the sternal extremity of the fourth rib was introduced in 1983. Over the years, numerous tests have confirmed the reliability of this technique on varied samples. However, no large scale study has been conducted to test the application of this method on a modern white sample geographically, genetically, and culturally diverse from the American white database. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to apply rib phase standards to a Turkish sample to test if the progression of morphological changes follow the same age sequence. Using a sample of 150 males and 144 females of known age at death, each rib was phased using the standards developed by I?can and associates in 1984 and 1985. The phase estimations were then subject to an analysis of variance. The results of the study indicated that Turkish ribs show the same morphological characteristics that define the phases at nearly identical ages. Variation as measured by the standard deviation increased from phase 5 on in both sexes. In conclusion, this study demonstrated that the rib phase standards can be accurately applied to Turks. Investigations of this nature are vital because one cannot assume that a method developed from one group is applicable to a distant population, especially in medicolegal proceedings.