Community legal centres in Australia under a new public management regime

During the 1990s and into the new millennium the public sector in Australia has gone through a process of so-called modernisation. This has been underpinned by the New Public Management (NPM), and the financial, regulatory and administrative reforms it encompasses. An assumption that the public and private sectors are not inherently dissimilar, and can therefore be managed in much the same way including having their efficiency and effectiveness measured against the same performance criteria, is central to the NPM. This article examines the role of comunity legal centres (CLCs) in Australian society against the background of adoption by all governments in Australia of an NPM policy agenda. It then goes on to discuss the implications of this agenda for the viability of CLCs and their relationship with government and clients. The article will also consider the implications for relationships between government and citizenry.     

Choice of law and the home-court advantage: evidence

This paper tests three separate hypotheses about inherent biasesin the application of modern choice of law rules: (1) Brilmayer's1980 hypothesis that such rules camouflage 'pro-resident, pro-forum-law,pro-recovery' biases, (2) Borchers's 1992 hypothesis that courtsdo not consistently apply the principles of the choice of lawrule they claim to be applying, and (3) an economic hypothesis,presented in the paper, that only a 'pro-forum-law' bias isunambiguously consistent with economic efficiency, simply becauseit conserves the resources of the court and bar in the forumstate. I find relatively strong support for the 'pro-recovery'bias of courts, weaker support for 'pro-forum-law' bias, andreject the 'pro-resident' bias. If anything, states retainingthe rigid choice of law rules are more likely to favor theirresidents. Moreover, I reject Borchers's claim that courts donot take the modern approaches seriously. Indeed, in general,they follow Borchers's own predictions.     

‘The Right to Live with Dignity’: Politicising Experiences of Precarity through ‘Popular Economy’ in Argentina

This article takes an ethnographic perspective to analyse the ways in which social movements in Buenos Aires, Argentina, politicise experiences of precarity through the creation of popular economy initiatives. I argue that we cannot understand these organising processes exclusively in relation to the pursuit of ‘formalisation’ or the improvement of working conditions. In the context of new forms of State intervention, the notions of ‘rights’—to labour and to the city—that these movements put forward, express ways of envisioning full inclusion in society that encompass notions of worthiness and ‘dignified life’, forged over the course of grassroots political action.     

Rethinking retirement-age policy in the United States and Canada

More than legislation, the recent amendments to the Age Discrimination in Employment Act also symbolize a growing interest in the older working population, both in the United States and Canada, particularly the question of their "failing" job skills and the effects of retirement age on the economy. Sociologist Rix examines this issue in terms of demographic, economic and biomedical factors, discussing their implications for management, employee counselors, insurance and pension planners, the tax payers and employees of all ages.