Fiscal Distress in Local Authorities in Israel: the Convened Committee as a Method and a Solution

This study addresses fiscal distress in local authorities in Israel and around the world, and provides an in-depth analysis of the city of Bnei Brak from 1994 to 2003. When the city of Bnei Brak grappled unsuccessfully with fiscal distress, the Ministry of the Interior appointed a Convened Committee (CC; Va'adah Kruah) to handle the crisis. This study explores the methods and solution used by the government to extricate the authority from bankruptcy, while examining the sources and repercussions of this decision. The findings show that the CC solution was borne of necessity, due to the gravity of the financial crisis and the fact that the government had no other way of bailing out the city. However, the situation in Bnei Brak did not improve even after the CC was appointed, which challenges the very efficacy of the solution. This forms the basis for a discussion of the complexities of resolving the fiscal distress of localities in Israel.     

The Assassination of King Abdallah: The First Political Assassination in Jordan: Did It Truly Threaten the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan?

King Abdallah was assassinated as a result of his relationship with Arab leaders. The opposition included three leaders: the Mufti Hajj Amin al-Huseini, King Faruq and Ibn Saud. Jordanian intelligence knew about the conspiracy and warned King Abdallah, but he decided to visit Jerusalem as originally planned and there he was assassinated. After the assassination on 20 July 1951, the Jordanian government was faced with two dangers that threatened the Hashemite regime in Jordan. The first, a Palestinian rebellion the purpose of which was the replacement of the Hashemite regime with a Palestinian one; the second an invasion of Jordan by either Syria or Saudi Arabia or both countries together, and their possible control of it. However, the dangers turned out to be neither tangible nor serious and the Hashemite regime remained in power.     

The Heralds of Opposition to Perestroyka

A review and analysis is presented of substantive material published in the journals Nash sovremennik and Mohdaya gvardiya from Gorbachev's advent to power through roughly October 1989. The size of the journals' circulations is noted to assess the influence of writers who are in the vanguard of opposition to perestroyka. The article includes a section devoted to the tradition of Russian “thick journals.” It concludes by examining the popularity and power of Russian nationalism in relation to peresiroyka and the nature of the opposition to it as reflected in both journals. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Number: 052.     

The late trading and market-timing scandal of mutual funds

The first decade of the 21^st century witnessed several major financial scandals. One of the less studied of these by criminologists is the late trading and market-timing scandal that involved several major mutual funds, hedge funds, money managers and brokerage firms. Until this scandal was revealed in 2003, the mutual fund industry was considered a “clean” industry in which people with modest means could make long term investments with relatively low risk. The late trading/market-timing scandal changed this situation by harming these long-term investors.     

<Emphasis Type="Italic">The Lesser Evil Dilemma for</Emphasis> Sparing Civilians

The rule I call ‘Civilian Immunity’ – the rule that prohibits targeting civilians in war – is the heart of the accepted jus in bello code. It prohibits targeting (viz., intentionally killing) civilians in a wide variety of war circumstances. Seth Lazar's brilliant book, Sparing Civilians, attempts to defend Civilian Immunity. In this essay I show, first, that his ‘Risky-Killing based argument’ fails to provide civilians with the robust protection Sparing Civilians promises. I argue, secondly, that the moral framework that Sparing Civilians employs, a moral framework that centralizes the Deontological Clause (stating that one's intentional killing is worse than enabling others to kill), leaves the immunity of civilians against Leaders unexplained.     

The corporate context of private prisons

This article deals with the growing interest in the privatization of correctional institutions. It focuses on the corporate context of this trend because modern privatization is being done by corporations which have been formed specifically for this purpose or are specialized subsidiaries of large conglomerates. The article reviews the theoretial, legal, political, regulatory, economic, management, and labor issues involved in corporate privatization, taking into consideration the aspects of organizational climate and corporate deviance. Finally, the article points out that corporate involvement in the private management of correctional facilities should be analyzed carefully and taken into consideration in the privatization debate.     

“Scholarly influence” and white-collar crime scholarship

This article explores many of the factors that play a role in the relative lack of scholarly influence of criminology and criminal justice professionals who focus on studying white-collar and corporate crime. The latest studies of “scholarly influence” in criminology and criminal justice journals and textbooks based on citation analyses confirm the absence of scholars who study white-collar and corporate crime. The sparse inclusion of white-collar and corporate crime topics in criminology and criminal justice curriculum in academic programs also indicate that the area is considered by many as a subfield rather than a mainstream component of academic criminology. Whether or not this status will change remains to be seen, but, on a positive note, there are a few encouraging signs that scholarly influence in the field will include more white-collar criminologists in the future.