Assessing the Application of the Principles of Non-discrimination and Gender Equality in Relation to Devolution of Land upon Death in Nigeria

Liverpool Law Review - The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended), guarantees the right to freedom from discrimination. Similarly, the Land Use Act 2004, which is the...     

The Demand for Protectionism: Democracy,Import Elasticity,and Trade Barriers

Numerous studies suggest that democracies employ lower trade barriers than nondemocracies. In this article, we examine the conditioning role that the elasticity of import demand at the commodity level plays on the relationship between democracy and import barriers. Beginning with the assumption that democracies are more responsive than nondemocracies to the preferences of mass publics, we demonstrate that the value of free trade as a public good depends on the elasticity of import demand. When import demand for a given commodity is inelastic, trade barriers are more harmful to consumers; as such, democracies will employ lower trade barriers than nondemocracies. However, as import demand becomes more elastic, publics find it easier to adjust to higher prices; as a result, the difference in imposed trade barriers by regime type decreases. We find support for this argument in statistical analyses of crosssectional data covering 4,656 commodities imported by 73 countries Furthermore, we find that democracies raise higher trade barriers than nondemocracies on commodities for which import demand is very elastic.     

The New Transport Charging Powers: The (Real) Issues for Business – Credibility,Fairness and Red Tape?

Business communities have major concerns with the implementation of road user and workplace parking charges, and this contribution will help to overcome the paucity of research in this area. Close dialogue interviews in Nottingham revealed that fears regarding economic impact are based on scepticism and lack of confidence in the ability of government to spend revenues wisely. Business may also be as much concerned with fairness and equity issues associated with charging, and with its expected administrative irritations and aggravations, as with the potential for economic displacement. These findings suggest that successful implementation of schemes may depend on clearer articulation of how red-tape will be avoided, and how charging increases the ability to deliver improved transport infrastructure.     

Keeping Friends Close and Enemies Closer: Classical Realist Statecraft and Economic Exchange in U.S. Interwar Strategy

This article addresses the relationship between economic exchange and grand strategy and explains why rival states exchange with each other. The theoretical debate among realists is defined, while a novel, yet classical, realist exchange theory is proffered and evaluated against the record of U.S.-Japanese exchange, 1918–41. In this particular case, the origins of Japan's oil dependency on the United States are detailed for the first time as is the U.S. policy toward Britain and the Netherlands that created this dependency. The article finds U.S. strategic coordination of Japan's economic vulnerabilities and their use advanced U.S. grand strategy leading into WWII. The article concludes that the July 1941 U.S. oil embargo against Japan was purposeful and the product of a larger policy arc from the early post-WWI period.     

Geographical access to treatment for sex offenders under community supervision in Kentucky

Abstract

As sex offenders are probated or paroled into the community, sex offender treatment and monitoring is often a condition of their release. In Kentucky, sex offenders are required to participate in community-based treatment for two years or more. However, some sex offenders are disadvantaged in accessing mandated treatment. This is a result of decisions concerning the placement of treatment programmes, the sex offenders' preference to return to communities where they can rely on family and other indigenous support networks, and some statutes (e.g. sex offender registration and residency restriction laws). This study utilises spatial methodologies, including an origin–destination (OD) matrix, to determine the time, in minutes, that sex offenders travel to sex offender treatment providers and non-spatial ordinary least squares (OLS) regression techniques to determine the association between family, neighbourhood and community characteristics on sex offenders’ travel time to treatment. Findings suggest that there is substantial disadvantage in treatment access, measured by travel time, for sex offenders who live in impoverished rural communities.     

On the use of auctions as a disposition strategy for RTC real estate assets: A policy perspective

Abstract

A sound strategy for real estate asset disposition is of paramount importance to the Resolution Trust Corporation (RTC) in its efforts to maximize costs resulting from the savings and loan bailout. A popular current approach to this problem is to employ expeditious sales structures such as auctions. Although auctions clearly speed up the disposition process, it is unclear whether they maximize net revenues. This paper analyzes the potential of auction structures to maximize sales revenue when such structures are applied to RTC commercial and residential real estate assets.

Absent political constraints, we conclude that auctions are usually inferior to traditional listing and broker sales channels. For the commercial real estate sector, this conclusion is based on the prominence of information‐acquisition costs, on market thinness on the buyer side, and on continued uncertainty regarding local economic recovery. Our conclusion for the residential real estate sector is based on the degree of property concentrations and the apparent inferiority of auctions for residential properties in weak markets. A recognition of short‐term political reality bolsters the case for auction approaches; however, the RTC should clearly stop promoting an image that it wishes to “sell, sell, sell.”     

Abkhazia: Patronage and Power in the Stalin Era

Abkhazia during the Stalin era was at the same time a subtropical haven where the great leader and his lieutenants built grand dachas and took extended holidays away from Moscow, and also a key piece in the continuing chess match of Soviet politics. This paper will examine how and why this small, sunny autonomous republic on the Black Sea, and the political networks that developed there, played a prominent role in the politics of the south Caucasus region and in Soviet politics as a whole during the Stalin period.