The Military,the media and the invasion of Grenada

The article begins by discussing trends in official U.S. information policies before the invasion of Grenada (1983), describing the tendency towards secrecy and limited disclosure. The immediate political background to the invasion is outlined, including an examination of attempts to produce a plausible justification for military intervention. The management of the media both immediately before and after the invasion is detailed and the article concludes by assessing the lessons and aftermaths of the information war fought during the Grenada episode.The Grenada ban is not an isolated incident, but part of a pattern ... (Time, 7 November 1983)     

Governing the multicultural city‐region

Abstract: This article reports on a study that identified the challenges posed by large immigrant populations for the governments of eleven Greater Toronto Area municipalities and the way those challenges were being addressed by municipal agencies that provided nine local services: government‐assisted housing, land‐use planning, policing, public education, public health, public libraries, public recreation, public transit, and social services. Many of the agencies were trying to accommodate their multicultural clienteles in a variety of ways. There were large differences in agency responses, however, not only among municipalities but also among agencies providing different services within the same municipality, and even among district offices of the same municipal agencies. Moreover, municipal agencies often found it difficult or impossible to adapt to new clienteles, even when they were seriously committed to doing so, in the face of provincial government indifference, cuts in provincial and local funding, and community ambivalence or antagonism. The study concluded that municipal agencies are unlikely to devote many resources to helping the immigrant settlement process without financial and legislative support from central governments. Sommaire: Le présent article porte sur une étude qui a cerné les défis que posent d'importantes populations d'immigrants aux gouvemements de ome municipalités de la Région du Grand Toronto, et sur la manière dont ces défis ont été relevés par des organismes municipaux assurant neuf services locaux: logement subventionné par le gouvernement, aménagement du territoire, services de police, enseignement public, santé publique, bibliothèques publiques, loisirs publics, transport en com‐mun et services sociaux. Un grand nombre de ces organismes ont essayé de répondre aux besoins de leurs clientèles multiculturelles par différents moyens. Cependant, les écarts étaient grands dans la manière d'y parvenir, non seulement parmi les municipalités mais également parmi les organismes foumissant différents services au sein de la même municipalité, et même parmi les bureaux de districts des mêmes organimes municipaux. En outre, les organismes municipaux trouvent souvent qu'il est difficile, voire même impossible, de s'adapter à de nouvelles clientèles, même lorsqu'ils se sont sérieusement engagés à le faire, face à l'indifférence du gouvemement provincial, aux compressions budgétaires à I'échelle provinciale et locale, et face à I'ambivalence ou à I'antagonisme de la colledivité. L'étude a conclu qu'il y avait de fortes chances que les organismes municipaux ne consacrent pas d'énormes ressources à I'aide au processus d'établissement des immigrants s'ils ne reçoivent pas un appui financier et législatif des gouvernements centraux.     

Cooking the books: Bureaucratic politicization and policy knowledge

Accurate knowledge about societal conditions and public policies is an important public good in any polity, yet governments across the world differ dramatically in the extent to which they collect and publish such knowledge. This article develops and tests the argument that this variation to some extent can be traced to the degree of bureaucratic politicization in a polity. A politicized bureaucracy offers politicians greater opportunities to demand from bureaucrats—and raises incentives for bureaucrats to supply—public policy knowledge that is strategically biased or suppressed in a manner that benefits incumbents reputationally. Due to electoral competition, we suggest that the link between bureaucratic politicization and politicized policy knowledge will be stronger in democracies than in autocracies. A case analysis of Argentina's statistical agency lends credence to the underlying causal mechanism. Time‐series cross‐sectional analyses confirm the broader validity of the expectations and show that the relationship is present only in democracies.     

SEM/EDS analysis and characterization of gunshot residues from Brazilian lead-free ammunition

The exposition to heavy metal-rich airborne due to fire practicing has forced to the development of heavy metal-free environmental ammunition primers all over the world. Here we characterize the GSR elements present in the Brazilian lead-free ammunition produced by Companhia Brasileira de Cartuchos (CBC) and commercialized by MagTech in the U.S. and Europe under the name CleanRange centerfire cartridges. Both first and second generations of CleanRange in calibers 9 mm Luger, .40 S&W, .380 AUTO and .38 SPL were analyzed and compared to regular Brazilian CBC ammunition by scanning electron microscopy/energy dispersive spectroscopy. Differences in composition and morphology of GSR particles from the two generations of CleanRange were observed. The first generation ammunition (found in Europe) presented spherical particles, being strontium the only unique element detected. The second generation (found in the U.S.) produced irregular particles composed mostly by potassium, aluminum, silicon and calcium. We can conclude that identification of GSR derived from CBC second generation lead-free ammunition in suspects' hands may be impossible without the addition of a distinct metallic taggant in the primer composition by the manufacturer.     

The impact of human rights principles on extradition from Canada and the United States: The role of national courts

Conclusion Throughout this article, the primary emphasis has been on how the courts in Canada and the United States have decided to apply international human rights standards, many of which have been incorporated into national constitutions, in extradition cases. The emphasis on national courts reflects the particular North American experience, where only limited jurisdiction in these matters exists in the relevant international forum, the UN Human Rights Committee. Accordingly, resort must be made to domestic constitutional rights.In order to give practical effect to international human rights obligations in Canada and the United States, courts can play a useful role, in addition to the role exercised by the executive branch of government. The ambit of this role depends upon the point at which judicial interference is viewed as necessary to protect fundamental rights and override considerations of international cooperation. In Canada the point has been located where there is a risk of treatment that is simply unacceptable178 or that would shock the conscience. In the United States, courts have in the past demonstrated a degree of willingness to probe into potential violations that would be expected if extradition were to be granted and that would offend a federal court's sense of decency.¹⁸⁰ However, there is dispute about the propriety of this encroachment on the rule of noninquiry. Recently, the pendulum has begun to swing toward applying the rule of noninquiry more stringently and, at present, U.S. courts play a very limited role in examining the motives behind an extradition request and the procedures or punishment that likely await an individual upon return to the requesting state.While there are many differences between the constitutional regimes of protection in Canada and the United States as compared with the multilateral treaty protection of the European Convention, there appear to be a number of parallels in interpretation and application. Continued scrutiny of the jurisprudence from both sides of the Atlantic could benefit each jurisdiction.This article was originally prepared for an international workshop on Principles and Procedures for a New Transnational Criminal Law, organized jointly by the Society for the Reform of Criminal Law and the Max Planck Institute for Foreign and International Criminal Law, Freiburg, Germany, May 21–25, 1991. The views expressed herein are those of the authors themselves and do not necessarily reflect the position of the Canadian Department of Justice.B.A., University of Winnipeg 1975; LL.B., University of Manitoba 1978; LL.M., University of Toronto 1980.LL.B., University of Manitoba 1980; B.A., University of Manitoba 1986; Dip. Soc. Sci., University of Stockholm 1988; M.A., University of Toronto 1989.