South Atlantic relations: from bilateral trade relations to multilateral coalition building

South Atlantic relations, under the leadership of Brazil and South Africa, have recently received a fresh breath of life. This article provides a general overview of developments and assesses aspects such as preferential trade agreements, multilateral coalition building and security cooperation in the context of South–South relations. The renewed impetus has resulted in improved influence and leverage from less developed Southern countries over the global political and economic agenda. New initiatives that have helped place the leaders of the South at the centre of the decision‐making process have emerged and are widely regarded as viable options for future progress in the developing world. These initiatives, which are driven by the growing strength of South Atlantic relations, are looked at in the broader context, from a practical perspective where tangible results are required over and above the ideals of solidarity to ensure sustainable socioeconomic development.     

The Theory and Practice of Group Representation: Reflections on the Governance of Race Equality in Birmingham

A number of political theorists have recently argued that group representation is essential to the achievement of social justice. However relatively little work exists on the institutional implications of such arguments beyond the analysis of electoral mechanisms to achieve greater representation within legislatures. This leaves unanswered one of the most difficult questions facing policy-makers – how to effectively engage the range of Black and minority ethnic (BME) communities in decision-making processes. Through a detailed analysis of the changing nature of the arrangements in place in Birmingham (UK) to engage BME communities, this paper is able to reflect on the theoretical and practical challenges of group representation in contemporary polities.     

海上恐怖主义和海盗威胁

在打击马六甲海峡沿岸的海盗中,区域各方力量已迈出了可喜的一步。在960万公里的海岸线上,沿岸国家印度尼西亚、马来西亚和新加坡为了海上安全,在首次提出“天空之眼”优先战略3个月后,便于2005年9月13日进行联合海上空中巡逻。事实上,“天空之眼”构想是在3个海岸国家共同制定     

Editorial

The changes to the UK tax rules on residence and domicile havebeen well publicized. Amongst other things, the new legislationremoves the shelter from capital gains tax which was previouslyprovided to UK non-domiciled individuals who benefited froman offshore trust. Some of the harsher (and more retrospective) aspects of thedraft legislation published in January have since been tempered.Offshore trusts will still have a role in planning for non-domiciliaries,not least because significant inheritance tax advantages remain.However, the way in which the process has been managed by theGovernment and HM Revenue & Customs leaves trustees andadvisers (still getting to grips with the 2006 changes to thetaxation of trusts) with little confidence that     

Myths of the Western Front

This paper is an exploratory essay into ways in which a mythology has developed from the experiences of those who fought on the Western Front in 1914–1918. Two principal myths are distinguished from the many folk tales and legends which also emerged from that time and place. Asserting that literature played, and continues to play, an important role in establishing, disseminating and perpetuating the myths, the paper defines three “waves” of literature inspired by the experience of the Western Front. Two processes are then identified through which myth can arise from experience. These derive from the work of the anthropologist Victor Turner and the historian and literary scholar René Girard. The paper then gives some examples of the way in which these processes of myth generation are represented in the three waves of literature.     

‘Ulster’s policing goes global’: The police reform process in Northern Ireland and the creation of a global brand

This paper engages with contemporary discussions in relation to the commodification of policing and security. It suggests that the existing literature regarding these trends has been geared primarily towards commercial security providers and has failed to address the processes by which public policing models are commodified and marketed both within, and through, the transnational policing community. Drawing upon evidence from the police change process in Northern Ireland, we argue that a Northern Irish Policing Model (NIPM) has emerged in the aftermath of the Independent Commission on Policing (ICP) reforms. This is increasingly branded and promoted on the global stage. Furthermore, we suggest that the NIPM is not monolithic, but segmented, and targeted towards a number of different ‘consumers’ both domestically and transnationally. Reflecting these diverse markets, the NIPM draws upon two seemingly incongruous constituent elements: the ‘best practice’ lessons of policing transition, as embodied in the ICP reforms; and, the legacy of counter-terrorism expertise drawn from the preceding decades of conflict. The discussion concludes by querying as to which of these components of the NIPM is in the ascendancy.