Australian Economic Policy, 1961–1963 in light of the British approach to the EEC

… but the boy cried, wolf once too often, for when one day the wolf really did appear, the boy cried out but no one took any notice … and the wolf gobbled him up.     

Daubert and the Exclusionary Ethos: The Convergence of Corporate and Judicial Attitudes towards the Admissibility of Expert Evidence in Tort Litigation*

The article traces the way admissibility jurisprudence following Daubert has come to emphasize the importance of strict judicial gatekeeping; making it more difficult for plaintiffs to succeed in tort and product liability litigation. This exclusionary ethos appears to have been shaped by a range of values and interests which appear closely aligned to the perspectives promoted by corporate-sponsored proponents of tort and evidence reform. The effects of the exclusionary ethos are explored through an example of judicial gatekeeping in recent mobile telephone litigation and a review of judicial surveys of post- Daubert attitudes toward expert evidence. The role of corporate-sponsored amicus briefs in the influential Supreme Court Kumho Tire Co. Ltd. v Carmichael appeal, extra-legal mobilization by conservative think tanks in litigation around electric and magnetic fields (EMF), and a qualitative citation analysis of federal court judgments, are then used in a preliminary attempt to trace the influence of corporate lobbying and social problem rhetorics on judicial attitudes and practice.     

Decentralisation in France: new citizenship or restructuring hegemony?

Abstract. The recent decentralist reforms in France are generally regarded as a major change with important political consequences. This paper highlights some of the historical processes leading to the reforms, showing the competing political dynamisms of both the Left and the Right in France which helps us to understand the apparent ambiguity of the reforms. It continues with a discussion of the reforms in terms of the stakes in local politics, urban structures and class relations in France, and then reviews the changes which have taken place in local politics and policies, and concludes by assessing the impacts of the changes for local democracy.