Finding a role for institutions of democracy

This paper looks at the role that can be played by parliaments in the New Partnership for Africa's Development.     

Ameyuki-San No Uta: Yamada Waka No Satsuki Naru Shōgai

Abstract

Yamada Waka was a leader in Japan's feminist movement during the 1920s and 1930s. The wife of a well-known professor, she had access to the most progressive social and intellectual circles in Tokyo at the time . While Japan moved through the post–World War I decades with an upsurge of democratic thought and then a slow march toward the militarism that was to result in World War II, Yamada labored to raise the consciousness of Japanese women about their potential to contribute to the building of a better world and about the narrow roles society had decreed for them. She published a number of books, lectured widely in Japan and the United States, and opened a half-way house for the rehabilitation of prostitutes.     

The Bonding Effects of Directors' Statutory Wage Liability: An Interactive Corporate Governance Explanation

Canadian corporate directors are personally liable to the corporation's employees for unpaid wages. The dominant rationale is the protection of vulnerable employees. A proposal under consideration to exonerate directors from this liability responds to claims that directors of financially troubled corporations resign prematurely, lessening the realized value potential of the firm. Scholars have also argued that a "liability chill" causes directors to make inefficient, risk‐averse investment decisions while the corporation is solvent. Paradoxically, exoneration may actually decrease the value of the firm because directors' liability for employees' wages increases efficiency in corporate governance by reducing agency costs. It serves as a bond by directors to corporate stakeholders that they will diligently restrain harmful managerial behavior.     

Race relations in police operations: A legal and ethical perspective for officers

This presentation looks beyond the contemporary controversy over the use of race in drug courier profiling and examines the broad spectrum of rare relations affecting police operations. Racial controversy is not new to law enforcement, nor is it a recent phenomenon in American society. American police do not get enough credit for the enormous amount of positive daily interaction within minority communities. Police are pervasively present within minority communities around the clock successfully solving disputes, responding to calls for service, and addressing community concerns. It is against this backdrop that many in law enforcement are becoming increasingly frustrated by the perception, if not the reality of deteriorating race relations between police and minorities. One thing is certain: police cannot withdraw from racial conflict. Police will continue to operate within minority communities, regardless of the racial composition of either the community or the law enforcement agency. Therefore, officer and supervisory training should not only focus on how to avoid racial conflict, but also on how to ethically and legally perform in an environment where treatment of minorities is critically examined.     

Using laboratory experiments for policymaking: An example from the Georgia irrigation reduction auction

In recent years, interest has been growing in policy applications of different auction systems. This paper reports a series of experiments that were used to design and implement an auction in a unique policymaking environment. In April 2000, the Georgia legislature passed a law that mandated that the state hold an auction in drought years to pay some farmers to suspend irrigation. This paper reports the results of laboratory experiments state policymakers used to determine the auction institution that would be used to fulfill the requirements of this new law. Experimental results are compared with farmers' bidding behavior in the state‐run irrigation auction used to reduce water usage in Georgia. © 2004 by the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management.