The Emperor’s new clothes? Perceptions of the EU’s strategic partnerships in Asia

Asia Europe Journal - In order to adapt to a changing global order, the European Union (EU) has established an important mechanism for cooperating with some of the world’s most influential...     

Reforming the Conventions Regarding Parliamentary Scrutiny of Ministerial Actions

Parliamentary scrutiny of government ministers is limited by the convention that one house of parliament cannot compel a member of the other house to appear before it. This convention limits the Senate's capacity to examine ministers who are members of the House of Representatives. It has its origins in UK parliamentary practice, and is given alleged legal force in Australia by virtue of section 49 of Australia's constitution. That section effectively says that Australia's current parliamentary powers, privileges and immunities are those of the UK House of Commons in 1901.
However analysis of UK practice prior to the twentieth century reveals a surprising picture. Far from protecting members of one house from the other house's inquiries, it would seem that invitations issued by one chamber to a member of the other were never refused, an element of 'custom and practice' now conveniently overlooked. Furthermore, the purpose of the powers had nothing to do with protecting ministers. On the contrary, their origins He in a desire to ensure the strength of parliamentary accountability. If modern Australian practice is to be true to historical House of Commons practice, consideration should be given to ensuring that each chamber does have guaranteed access to ministers of the other house.     

Competing Interpretations of Buddhism's Revival in the Russian Republic of Kalmykia

This article uses a multiple methods framework to interrogate notions of religious revival among Buddhists in the Russian republic of Kalmykia. Survey results indicate high levels of self-identification among Kalmyks as Buddhists, as well as general support for the notion that the religion has re-established its place in the public sphere in the post-Soviet period. This straightforward interpretation of religious revival is contested, however, in interviews with religious elites and focus group conversations. Interlocutors in these forums were more critical and more nuanced in their understanding of Buddhism's role in contemporary Kalmykia.     

A comparative modeling of tax reform before and after the legislative process

This research modeled the extent to which the normative goals of equity and efficiency are embodied in three seminal tax reform proposals (Bradley-Gephardt, Kemp-Kasten, and the Treasury Department proposals) relative to the extant regime. The Tax Reform Act of 1986 (TRA86) is also modeled in the same manner. The objective of this study is to compare the equity and efficiency of the initial proposals with that of the final tax reform law. This before and after analysis is designed to ascertain the degree to which the legislative process undermined the normative goals of the tax reform movement. The National Tax Model was applied to model each regime and to measure the distributional and redistributional effects on tax burdens and wage efficiency costs associated with each system across ten income classes. The reform models, including TRA86, are shown as superior to the pre-reform system with respect to the normative criteria. The legislative process did not substantially compromise the goals as reflected in the seminal reform proposals in the development of a more politically acceptable tax reform law. This exercise demonstrates that it is possible for sound legislation to survive a political process that frequently permits the sacrificing of normative goals in favor of special interests.Financial support provided by the Arthur Young Foundation Tax Research Grant Program and The Ralph E. Kent Fund. The helpful suggestions of Jim Curtis were sincerely appreciated.     

A validation study for the extraction and analysis of DNA from human nail material and its application to forensic casework.

A validation study was conducted to demonstrate that deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) could be successfully extracted from human nail material and analyzed using short tandem repeat (STR) profiling and/or mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) sequencing. This study involved the development of a DNA extraction protocol that includes a cleaning procedure designed to remove external contaminants (e.g., biological, chemical). This protocol was used to test human nail material that had been soaked in whole blood from a second donor and coated with gold-palladium to simulate scanning electron microscopic analysis. The results showed no indication of a mixture and were consistent with that of the nail donor. Fresh human nail material usually yielded both STR profiles and mtDNA sequence information; however, aged human nail material (approximately eight years old) yielded only mtDNA sequence information. Upon completion of the validation study, the extraction protocol was used for the analysis of a torn fingernail fragment recovered from the scene of a violent homicide in 1983. A partial STR profile and mtDNA sequence information indicated that the fingernail fragment was excluded as originating from the suspect and was, in fact, consistent with originating from one of the victims.