Origin Myths,Contracts, and the Hunt for Pari Passu

We use interviews with corporate lawyers and a data set of contracts to explore an elite area of legal practice: sovereign bond lending. Sovereign debt lawyers work at prestigious global law firms, yet the contracts they produce include some terms that defy explanation. Lawyers often account for the existence of these terms through origin myths. Focusing on one contract term, the pari passu clause, we explore two puzzling aspects of these myths. First, we demonstrate that the myths are inaccurate as to both the clause's origin and the role of lawyers in contract drafting. Second, the myths often are unflattering, inaccurately portraying lawyers as engaged in little more than rote copying. We probe this disjuncture between the myths and lawyers' actual practices and explore why contracts origin myths might hold such appeal for this elite segment of the bar.     

Trade Liberalisation,the Peso,and Mexico's Commodity Trade Flows with the United States

We assess the effects of real peso devaluations, as well as the effects of GATT and NAFTA, on Mexico's in-payments and out-payments with the United States for 102 industries. We find that relatively few trade flows are sensitive to changes in the real exchange rate, probably due to production-sharing and intra-industry trade, but devaluations affect Mexican imports more than exports. Trade liberalisation has had a larger impact, particularly on imports of intermediate goods and exports of certain manufactures. Many affected export industries are ones that have previously been shown to have economies of scale.     

Counties and land-use regionalism: Models of growth governance

This article examines the contrasting roles of county government in state and regional growth management programs in the United States, and focuses on the potential utility of citizen-inspired land-use regionalism in stimulating county home-rule and modernization efforts. Two types of county involvement in intergovernmental growth management programs are discussed--a subordinated implementation function in “top-down” state growth programs, and an empowered role in “bottom-up” regionalism wherein county governments are key participants and mediators in the formulation of regional growth policy. A case study of grassroots regionalism in Cape Cod, Massachusetts between 1988-1991 spotlights how growth concerns can provide a compelling need for county government modernization and restructuring of land use control. The article concludes by discussing the benefits and costs of citizen-inspired regionalism, and recommends that states should do more to encourage locally-formulated regional solutions.     

International perspectives on public sector management and productivity: an introductory synthesis

The last ten years have seen the adoption of many significant public sector productivity initiatives globally. This special edition grew out of the first World Congress of the International Productivity Network, held in Canberra, Australia, in July 1992. Four themes are explored.     

Sino-Indian Security Predicaments for the Twenty-First Century

Abstract

This article considers various security predicaments affecting relations between India and China. These Sino-Indian security predicaments include their territorial dispute, their nuclear arms race, their encirclement and alignment scenarios, their trade and energy issues, and their future prospects. International relations (IR) theory is deployed around these varied security predicaments, with power and perception particularly evident in IR realism, geopolitics, constructivism, and security dilemma dynamics. Balance-of-power theory is complemented by balance-of-threat considerations. India's hedging strategy towards China and China's own strategy of transition point to each country looking to their own respective rise for the mid century.     

A Failure of Imagination (Intelligence,WMDs, and “Virtual Jihad”)

Intelligence estimates based on models keyed to frequency and recency of past occurrences make people less secure even if they predict most harmful events. The U.S. presidential commission on WMDs, the 9/11 commission, and Spain's comisión 11-M have condemned the status quo mentality of the intelligence community, which they see as being preoccupied with today's “current operations” and tactical requirements, and inattentive to tomorrow's far-ranging problems and strategic solutions. But the overriding emphasis in these commissions' recommendations is on further vertically integrating intelligence collection, analysis, and operations. Such proposals to further centralize intelligence and unify command and control are not promising given recent transformations in Jihadist networks to a somewhat “leaderless resistance” in the wake of Al Qaeda's operational demise. To defeat terrorist networks requires grasping novel relations between an englobing messianic moral framework, the rootless intellectual and physical mobility of immigrant and diaspora communities, and the overarching conceptual, emotional, and logistical affordances of the Internet. Britain's WWII experience provides salutary lessons for thinking creatively with decentralized expertise and partially autonomous approaches.     

Are old witnesses always poorer witnesses? Identification accuracy,context reinstatement,own-age bias

Abstract

Anecdotal evidence suggests that it is unwise for a criminal defense lawyer to allow a law enforcement officer, former law enforcement officer, or relative/close friend of an officer to serve as a juror. This project examined the decisions of 2853 jurors of whom 235 reported being or having been a law enforcement officer and 1348 reported knowing a close friend or relative who is or was an officer. Participants watched a videotape of a trial of a burglary of a habitation and were asked to give individual verdicts. Results indicated that the average conviction rate was 57.6%. Past and present officers did not differ in their conviction rate from non-officer jurors. Jurors who indicated knowing a past or present law enforcement officer did not convict the defendant more than those who did not know anyone in law enforcement. Implications for this research are discussed.     

Perceptions and personal experiences of unwanted attention among Portuguese male students

The present study investigated male perceptions and personal experiences of ‘unwanted attention’ (UA), as well as possible associations between perceptions and personal experiences of UA. Ninety-one male college students, from five Portuguese universities, were asked to indicate which of a continuum of 47 behaviours represented UA. Although UA, stalking and harassment are rarely addressed in Portugal, male college students shared a clear understanding of what behaviours constituted UA, with the identification of four main categories of UA behaviours: ‘aggressive’, ‘threatening’, ‘classic’ and ‘dysfunctional attachment’. Almost all participants (96%) reported personal experiences of at least one UA behaviour. There was a minimal relationship between perceptions and personal experiences of the individual behaviours. The findings highlight the widespread risk of male victimisation and the need to legitimise male complaints.     

Low self-control,gender, race,and offending in late life

Self-control theory has been one of the most scrutinized general frameworks of crime for over 20 years. A majority of evidence pertaining to the theory, however, is derived from samples of teenagers and young adults. Relatively little information exists regarding whether self-control explains offending among people in late adulthood. As such, the generality of the framework has yet to be fully examined. This study uses a representative sample of people aged 60 years and older from interviews conducted in Arizona and Florida. The current study tests two key propositions regarding the generality of the theory: (1) the extent to which self-control accounts for the relationship between demographic variables and criminal offending, and (2) the invariance thesis which stipulates that self-control will have a uniform effect on offending across social groups. The analyses reveal two findings regarding theoretical generality: (1) low self-control explains late-life criminal behavior but does not account for the relationship between offending and gender, and (2) low self-control has an invariant effect on offending across gender and race when measured behaviorally. Taken together, the analyses address important elements of the supposed generality of self-control theory and extend the framework's scope to the explanation of offending in late life.