Are we collectively guilty of complacency? An update on the continued confusion over what is academic freedom and what may become a battle for academic freedom

Academic freedom has, since 2004, increasingly made the headlines of the higher education papers and journals in the United Kingdom. New legislation has added to the confusion in terms of what law applies and what might apply. This article provides an updated analysis of this confused area.     

Symposium zum 75. Geburtstag von Rechtsanwalt Prof. Dr. Werner Hoppe

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

Pretend It Doesn'T Work: The ‘Anti-Social’ Bias In The Maryland Scientific Methods Scale

The social constructs and methodological principles embodied in the Maryland Scientific Methods Scale (SMS), comprising part of the Campbell Collaboration in Crime and Justice assessment protocol, induce a series of biases in the evaluation of evidence of crime prevention policy interventions that focus on collective social phenomena, such as communities. Applying these principles leads to negative conclusions about effectiveness; yet their inherent ‘anti-social’ bias may induce Type II error with regard to the desirability of ‘social’ interventions to reduce crime. Policy-making is poorly served as a result. This point is illustrated, first, through a scrutiny of the social constructs used, including those that typify treatments, institutional settings and units of analysis. These are seen as being constructed in a way that is congenial to the underlying methodological issue of ‘control’ but that constitute nevertheless a distorted definition of the governance issues involved in crime reduction in community settings. A model more appropriate for evaluating voluntaristic action in civil society is needed. Second, it is suggested that this methodological bias arises particularly in policy interventions and change programmes that address issues concerning the ‘collective efficacy’ of local communities in reducing crime. An empirical exemplification of these arguments is presented with reference to a completed evaluation research study (Foster and Hope, 1993).     

CHILD RELOCATION: AN INTRACTABLE INTERNATIONAL FAMILY LAW PROBLEM

This article examines the current state of the law on child relocation across the major common law‐based jurisdictions, with particular emphasis on the contrasting approaches to the problem in Australia and the United Kingdom. It then goes on to suggest changes aimed at achieving more principled and predictable outcomes.     

A critique of design methodologies appropriate to private-sector activity in development

In the corporate world, design has received increasing attention over the last 50 years and is now firmly embedded within almost all aspects of corporate activity. This article explores the role of design in development. Design is widely used and understood within capitalist economies to denote a diverse set of tools, used to maximise market share, sales, and profits, and support market differentiation and brand identity of products. The progress of two convergent design-related threads is charted briefly: the growth, since 1950, of a view that design has a real contribution to make to social responsibility and sustainability; and the increasing evidence of design-like skills being used in development contexts. The article reviews several alternative models that are being developed and concludes with a number of short case studies, which illustrate these models and highlight the potential of their largely process-based methodologies for private-sector activity in a development context.