Tripartism: Regulatory Capture and Empowerment

The features of regulatory encounters that foster the evolution of cooperation often also encourage the evolution of capture and corruption. Solutions to the problems of capture and corruption—limiting discretion, multiple-industry rather than single-industry agency jurisdiction, and rotating personnel—inhibit the evolution of cooperation. Tripartism—empowering public interest groups—is advanced as a way to solve this policy dilemma. A game-theoretic analysis of capture and tripartism is juxtaposed against an empowerment theory of republican tripartism. Surprisingly, both formulations lead to the conclusion that some forms of capture are desirable. The strengths from converging the weaknesses of these two formulations show how certain forms of tripartism might prevent harmful capture, identify and encourage efficient capture, enhance the attainment of regulatory goals, and strengthen democracy. While the case we make for tripartism is purely theoretical and general in its application to all domains of business regulation, our conclusion is a call for praxis to fish out the contexts in which the theory is true or false.     

Community participation in local governance in Cambodia: learning from the village networks approach

Cambodia has embarked on a process of decentralisation and democratisation, including the establishment of elected Commune Councils in early 2002. Given the lack of a tradition of encouraging civic participation in public affairs, however, there was initially little general awareness of how to engage with these Councils. The authors describe a project supported by the Ministry of Rural Development and the German bilateral agency, GTZ, and undertaken with local non-government organisations, to identify and support active community groups and improve their capacity to interact with the Commune Councils, while at the same time seeking ways for the Commune Councils to support the different groups.     

Implications for DNA identification arising from an analysis of Australian forensic databases

Previous analyses of Australian samples have suggested that populations of the same broad racial group (Caucasian, Asian, Aboriginal) tend to be genetically similar across states. This suggests that a single national Australian database for each such group may be feasible, which would greatly facilitate casework. We have investigated samples drawn from each of these groups in different Australian states, and have quantified the genetic homogeneity across states within each racial group in terms of the "coancestry coefficient" F(ST). In accord with earlier results, we find that F(ST) values, as estimated from these data, are very small for Caucasians and Asians, usually <0.5%. We find that "declared" Aborigines (which includes many with partly Aboriginal genetic heritage) are also genetically similar across states, although they display some differentiation from a "pure" Aboriginal population (almost entirely of Aboriginal genetic heritage).     

Assessing Correlates of Onset, Escalation, Deescalation, and Desistance of Delinquent Behavior

This article evaluates the utility of social development model constructs toassess the correlates of onset, escalation, deescalation, and desistance ofdelinquent behavior, from age 12 to age 15, using a dynamic classificationapproach. Dynamic classification places individuals into categories basedon changes in levels of delinquent behavior over time. These analyses assessthe extent to which specific constructs are associated with changes in thedelinquency status of individuals. Constructs of the social developmentmodel (SDM), including opportunities for conventional involvement, skillsfor conventional involvement, rewards for conventional involvement,proactive family management, bonding to conventional society, opportunitiesfor antisocial involvement, antisocial interactions, perceived rewards forantisocial involvement, and norms against drug use, were significantlyassociated with change in delinquent behavior over time. Many of theconstructs were particularly salient in distinguishing between youths whoremained involved in delinquency and youths who deescalated or desisted fromdelinquent behavior during this period. Implications for preventiveinterventions and criminological theory are discussed.     

Calculating the exclusion probability and paternity index for X-chromosomal loci in the presence of substructure

There has been recent interest in the use of X-chromosomal loci for forensic and relatedness testing casework, with many authors developing new X-linked short tandem repeat (STR) loci suitable for forensic use. Here we present formulae for two key quantities in paternity testing, the average probability of exclusion and the paternity index, which are suitable for X-chromosomal loci in the presence of population substructure.     

Disconnected networks: notes toward a different approach to filling the South Asia expert gap

In the wake of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, public debate flourished in the United States regarding the dearth of experts with foreign language skills in “critical areas” working in fields such as diplomacy, national security, and law enforcement. One result of this debate was a major increase in federal funding for language and area studies programs, specifically those focused on South and Central Asia, the Middle East, and Russia/the former Soviet Union. Yet increasing funding in this way assumes that the expertise problem is one of quantity. With respect to the South Asian region, the author suggests that unless concerted attention is focused on the reasons these programs are not producing experts engaged with the policy world in the first place, increasing funding will not increase expertise in Washington. This essay argues that the problem is not one of quantity, but rather one of quality – specifically, the lack of existing networks to utilize South Asia experts – and offers some solutions to bridge the gap.