NGOs as intermediaries in post-disaster rural reconstruction: findings from research in India

Drawing upon research conducted in Gujarat, India, this article identifies the potential and limitations for NGOs to serve as intermediaries (between beneficiaries, governments, and international relief/development organisations) on post-disaster rural reconstruction projects. Findings reveal that NGOs can play important roles in facilitating the design and construction of high-quality, culturally appropriate housing; revitalising and diversifying livelihoods; and reducing physical and social vulnerability to future disasters. NGOs should have clearly defined roles, responsibilities, and accountability measures in post-disaster reconstruction projects, but they also need a certain amount of autonomy to protect their organisational philosophies and flexibility to make day-to-day decisions.     

Cognitive‐Behavioral Methods in High‐Conflict Divorce: Systematic Desensitization Adapted to Parent–Child Reunification Interventions

Children who are triangulated into their parents' conflicts can become polarized, aligning with one parent and rejecting the other. In response, courts often order families to engage mental health professionals to provide reunification interventions. This article adapts empirically established systematic desensitization and flooding procedures most commonly used to treat phobic children as possible components of a larger family systems invention designed to help the polarized child develop a healthy relationship with both parents. Strengths and weaknesses of these procedures are discussed and illustrated with case material.

Key Points for the Family Court Community
• Family law and psychology agree that children should have the opportunity to enjoy a healthy relationship with both parents
• Adult conflict can polarize a child's relationships, including rejection of one parent
• Existing clinical and forensic “reunification” strategies often prove inadequate
• Reliable and valid cognitive behavioral methods can be adopted to facilitate this process
• A cognitive‐behavioral “exposure‐based” reunification protocol is discussed

     

Unbundled Services to Enhance Peacemaking for Divorcing Families

Unbundling, also known as limited‐scope representation, has been adopted by judges, the organized legal profession, and divorcing parties. Unbundling is a legal access approach to better and more affordably serve unrepresented divorce litigants as well as to assist overburdened and underfunded courts. This article will focus on another critical benefit of unbundling: the ability of divorcing professionals to provide information and support to divorcing families to help reduce family conflicts. This article shall discuss four unbundled peacemaking roles that lawyers can play: (1) Collaborative Lawyer; (2) Lawyer Coach for Self‐Represented Litigants; (3) Lawyer for Mediation Participants; and (4) Preventive Legal Health Care Provider.

Key Points for the Family Court Community:
• Overview of limited‐scope lawyering roles
• Impact of unbundled representation on peacemaking
• Best practices of noncourt lawyering

     

Families in Circle Process: Restorative Justice in Family Law

This article explores the use of “circle process”—a form of restorative justice—in family law and places this effort within a larger movement within the law toward law as a healing profession, or the “comprehensive law movement.” It explores the features and underpinnings of circle process and its relationship to original forms of dispute resolution such as those used in African‐style mediation and indigenous people's dispute resolution in North America. Values expressed by these forms of dispute resolution are argued to be particularly relevant in family law. Finally, it focuses on an innovative and exciting court‐sponsored program begun in Chicago in 2008, using circle process with families in conflict, in the Cook County Parentage and Child Support Court. This program's results suggest potential benefits and cautions of using circle process in family law.

Key Points for the Family Court Community:
• Restorative justice, in particular, circle process, can be used to resolve family law cases.
• Circle process widens the group of participants in alternative dispute resolution of family law matters.
• Circle process brings more voices to the table, namely, extended family, friends, and supporters, thus enhancing the group's decisionmaking.
• Judges will want to be sure the families in question are appropriate for circle process before referring them to this method of resolving disputes.
• Circle processes can result in improved communication and relations among families in conflict.
• Circle process reflects the values of “original dispute resolution,” which often in turn reflects ubuntu, the idea that all humankind is interconnected.
• Circle process is part of a greater movement towards law as a healing profession/the comprehensive law movement, which includes therapeutic jurisprudence.

     

Getting ahead of the next disaster: recent preparedness efforts in Indonesia

While there is often a heavy emphasis on disaster response, disaster preparedness and mitigation are, rightfully, receiving more attention. In examining the state of preparedness in Indonesia, this article is divided into three sections. First, it reviews the hazards present in the country, such as conflict, earthquakes, and tsunamis. Second, it considers some of the current efforts underway by the government and international community. Finally, the article contends that the disaster-preparedness process is not yet complete. The main challenges remain: improving co-ordination between different organisations, creating a culture of disaster-risk management, implementing appropriate methods, and maintaining momentum on this issue in the future.     

关于行政主体理论的实践冲突

行政主体被学界界定为享有与实施国家行政权力权能的行政法人组织。作为行政法人 ,现有的行政主体理论不能完全适用于我国行政活动的实践。笔者从行政主体的法人结构形态及其责任能力的角度出发 ,认为行政主体具体担负组织的结构形态呈多样性 ,它们不能与行政主体的行政法人结构形态保持完全一致 ;行政主体实施国家的行政权而产生的责任 ,在现实理论的导引下将其性质界定为“自身责任”等等因素 ,都限制了行政主体的主体能力在行政管理实践中无法得到完全的实现。     

对一项民间习惯规则的边际收益分析

一个习惯法规则的产生一定是为了适应生活生产中的某种需要，并会经历一个较长时期的历史演化。但是，规则一旦定型，其局限性又会随之暴露出来，从而与规则生成的初衷产生价值悖离。原因是规则生成的初始的约束条件发生了变化。因此，随着新一轮的价值衡量的出现，规则的重新调适势在必行。     

环境保护中利益补偿法律机制的研究——权利救济公法化的经济学分析

权利的配置不仅左右收益或成本的转移 ,而且决定收益或成本的高低。因此 ,通过权利配置实现环境资源的价值最大化应是环境保护追求的目标。然而环境资源的公共物品属性 ,决定了其权利的初始配置应是一种社会化的权利。这种社会化的权利极易诱发私人权利采取“搭便车”行为对其进行侵蚀 ,因此 ,要实现环境资源价值最大化 ,就必须对遭受侵蚀的社会环境权利进行救济。但在此救济过程中 ,由于侵权人和社会环境权利的代理人 (国家 )之间存在着“信息不对称” ,如遵循传统私法救济方式 ,容易导致私法救济的“虚位” ,因此 ,需要突破传统权利救济的私法化局限 ,实现权利救济的公法化。     

面对概念冲突的行政行为

囿于传统行政行为理论的限制 ,以及传统行政行为运作背景政治、经济、文化的束缚 ,导致行政行为概念缺乏统一内涵 ,并与现实行政活动发生冲突和矛盾。分析传统行政行为之概念冲突 ,重新选择和界定行政行为的概念 ,有助于确立市场经济和法治社会环境下行政行为的全新内涵     

刑事司法的国际性准则与国情特殊性之冲突

我国有义务实施《公民权利和政治权利国际公约》等国际文件中包含的刑事司法准则,但这些准则与我国国情的特殊性存在冲突。为着及时、全面、有效地实施这些准则,我们需要协调刑事司法国际准则与我国国情特殊性之间的冲突。