The Transformation of organic regulation: The ambiguous effects of publicization

The regulatory regime for organic products is different from other non‐state‐market driven (NSMD) regimes because it is the only one that evolved from a purely private into a regime where the establishment of minimum standards has become the monopoly of public powers. This article is the first to study the effects of the process of publicization, a term coined to characterize the transformation of private into public standards. The central hypothesis studied is that the process of publicization has empowerment and containment effects at the same time. To test the hypothesis the article analyses the effects of publicization on regulatory capabilities of private regulators as well as on the quality of the standards. The effects of publicization are further explored by comparing the legal and institutional architecture that shapes the coexistence of private and public regimes in the EU and the US, showing important differences between the two systems. The article offers a new perspective to look at the dynamic interaction between private and public regulation and its findings are of general relevance for the debate on the desirability of governmental intervention on private regulatory schemes.     

Quantity,quality, or both? Explaining investment test scores in federal community reinvestment act examinations

Abstract

Banks and thrifts are major actors in the affordable housing and community development arenas. They are often relied on to invest in low‐income housing tax credits and other projects as well as provide operating support. Banks and thrifts are explicitly encouraged to invest in such activities by the Community Reinvestment Act's (CRA's) Investment Test. Regulations require examiners to consider both quantitative and qualitative criteria in determining a large bank's Investment Test rating. The qualitative criteria are particularly important for organizations seeking investments for projects that are more innovative or complex or that offer less than stellar financial returns.

An analysis of CRA performance evaluations reveals that, of the two qualitative criteria, only responsiveness to needs has a significant impact on Investment Test scores. Moreover, controlling for investment activity leads to higher Investment Test scores for larger banks. Implications for CRA policy and implementation are discussed.     

Singapore Inc: A success story

The success of Singapore's government‐led and managed economy has allowed it to box above its weight in the international trade and financial arena for decades. However, globalisation and technology are forcing a policy shift.     

The use of technology and leadership in enhancing strategic cooperative policing within the SADC region

ABSTRACT

The globalisation processes driving development and the transnational nature of crime require the collaboration of police within regions using sophisticated technology to combat crime. This article examines the role of technology and leadership in enhancing cooperative policing. Following a successful safety strategy during the 2010 Federation of International Football Association (FIFA) Soccer World Cup (SWC) tournament in South Africa, the aim of the article is to demonstrate how technology and strategic leadership contributed to the success of this event. The research conducted consisted of an extensive review of existing research publications on the state of policing in southern Africa; and a conference presentation by Lieutenant-General Pruis about policing the SWC from which key policing lessons have been extracted. The literature survey revealed the challenges of police forces and policing in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) as being primarily resource constraints, and socio-political environments that are not always conducive to effective policing. Conclusions drawn are that some of the lessons from the SWC, such as planning, budgeting, strategic leadership, regional and international cooperation of security personnel, community involvement, an informed media strategy and the use of technology to support these processes, can be replicated in regional policing operations.     

Voting rights for nationals of the Southern African Development Community countries living in member states

ABSTRACT

The right to vote remains one of the most critical ways in which individuals influence government. However, the disenfranchisement of certain classes of people – notably non-citizen residents – is the norm in Africa, whereas many countries in Europe recognise the right of non-citizen residents to vote as a key element in the continent's political integration. In the Southern African Development Community (SADC), where the political integration of the region is recognised as an essential contributor to economic integration, the question of extra-national forms of regional citizenship and voting rights does not receive sufficient attention. This article looks at SADC and selected countries within SADC, to determine whether laws and treaties can be amended and developed to broaden the scope of citizenship and extend the right to vote to non-citizen residents.     

Strategic Culture,Representations of Nuclear (In)Securities,and the Government of India: A Critical Constructivist Perspective

In this article, I use Alastair Johnston's concept of strategic culture re-visited through a critical constructivist perspective to analyze the representations of India's strategic culture and nuclear policy choices. In doing so, I explore how the representational practices of (and the mutually-constitutive relation between) India's nationalist identity/Self and its strategic environment, facilitated via its political leaders’ ideological lenses, have produced shifting representations of India's strategic environment to justify the nation's nuclear policy choices. In exploring this representational linkage between India's strategic environment and its nuclear (in)securities, I am cognizant that anarchy is a challenge facing India's task of nation-making and thus realism serves as a partially valid explanation for understanding the logic proliferation. Yet, my study demonstrates how culturally guided interpretations of what constitutes the Indian Self have divergently re-interpreted India's strategic environment and (in)securities to define the nation's nuclear policy choices.     

Language,nation and citizenship: contrast,conflict and convergence in Estonia's debate with the international community

This paper investigates the clash of (language) ideologies in Estonia in the post-Communist period. In an analysis of changing Western recommendations and Estonian responses during the transition of Estonia from Soviet Socialist Republic to independent state, we trace the development of the discourses on language and citizenship rights. Different conceptions of the nation-state and of how citizenship is acquired, together with different approaches to human rights, led to disagreement between Estonian political elites and the political actors attached to international institutions. In particular, the Soviet demographic legacy posed problems.

We use a context-sensitive approach that takes account of human agency, political intervention, power, and authority in the formation of (national) language ideologies and policies. We find that the complexities of cultural and contextual differences were often ignored and misunderstood by both parties and that in their exchanges the two sides appeared to subscribe to ideal philosophical positions. In the following two decades both sides repositioned themselves and appeared to accommodate to the opposing view. In deconstructing the role of political intervention pressing for social and political inclusion and in documenting the profound feeling of victimhood that remained as a legacy from the Soviet period and the bargain that was struck, we hope to contribute to a deeper understanding of the language ideological debates surrounding the post-Communist nation-(re)building process.     

E-Governance to Cut Corruption in Public Service Delivery: A Case Study of Fiji

Experience in a number of developed and developing countries has shown that E-Governance initiatives can promote greater transparency with the goal of cutting corruption. This article examines perceptions of public service delivery in Fiji to explore the potential of E-Governance to cut corruption and improve governance. Based on a survey of community perceptions and a review of selected literature it suggests that service-delivery oriented IT initiatives can contribute to an effective, multi-pronged strategy to cut corruption in the Fiji public sector.     

Safety-Valve Elections and the Arab Spring: The Weakening (and Resurgence) of Morocco's Islamist Opposition Party

ABSTRACT

By strange coincidence, Greece's Revolutionary Organization 17 November (17 N) met its end almost exactly a year after Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda terrorists felled New York's twin towers, when the group's leader of operations, Dimitris Koufodinas, turned himself in to the police after months on the run, on September 5, 2002. The capture of Koufodinas and his group marked the demise of the last and most stubborn of a generation of ideological terrorists whose campaigns caused serious political and security problems in Western Europe for more than a quarter of a century. Drawing on the judicial investigation findings and the courtroom testimonies of the terrorists, this article attempts to tell the stories of the four most senior group members in order to understand what led them to act in the way they did and, more crucially, what kept them inside a terrorist organization with no prospects and community support for so long.     

The BALCO scandal: the social structure of a steroid distribution network

The current study revisits the notorious Bay Area Laboratory Cooperative (BALCO) scandal involving the production and distribution of an undetectable anabolic-androgenic steroid to professional athletes from late 1990s until 2003. Multiple sources are reviewed to re-create the social structure of BALCO and examine whether it formed a close-knit community or instead multiple communities defined around a specific sport or discipline. Results from a community fragmentation analysis suggest that six communities could be identified as distinct in the BALCO network of 97 individuals – three structured around athletic interests (baseball, football and boxing), one around BALCO's chemist, another around the eventual whistle-blower, and a ‘broker’ community, labelled the network's core. The network's core functioned as the best intermediate between communities because of the diversity of actors involved and the presence of BALCO's founder (Conte), who was brokering ties all over the network, though such a structure ultimately resulted in complete demise of the BALCO network.