Search Results

How American Corporate and Securities Law Drives Business Offshore

Stephen M. Bainbridce

in The American Illness: Essays on the Rule of Law

The Bloomberg–Schumer Report, the Paulson Committee Interim Report, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Report were three major studies that evaluated the decline of capital markets in the United ... More

The Bloomberg–Schumer Report, the Paulson Committee Interim Report, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Report were three major studies that evaluated the decline of capital markets in the United States. This chapter discusses the evidence gathered in these studies, which confirms that there is a growing deterioration of competitiveness of capital markets.Less

Preparing for the Treaty negotiations

Simon J. Nuttall

in European Foreign Policy

This chapter discusses the preparation for the negotiations on Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) in Europe. The preparations included the authorization of preparatory work in 1988, the production of ... More

This chapter discusses the preparation for the negotiations on Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) in Europe. The preparations included the authorization of preparatory work in 1988, the production of the Delors Committee Report in 1989, the approval of the Report at Madrid, and the finalization of the agreement for an Intergovernmental Conference (IGC). Various events, including the Gulf War and the German Unification, affected the EMU negotiations. This made the Common Foreign and Security Policy a more important issue in the IGC.Less

Computers and the Politics of Systematics

Christine Hine

in Systematics as Cyberscience: Computers, Change, and Continuity in Science

This chapter can be regarded as the continuation of the preceding chapter; in this section, the author extends his views in the field of systematics in a detailed way. The chapter explores the role ... More

This chapter can be regarded as the continuation of the preceding chapter; in this section, the author extends his views in the field of systematics in a detailed way. The chapter explores the role of ICTs in systematics as a case study through the analysis of high-profile and public commentary. Politicization issues, the relationship between material and virtual cultures, and the historical specificity of systematics are briefly covered in the next parts of the chapter. The chapter also investigates the role of new and existing digital computer technologies and the Select Committee Report in the field of systematics. The data for this case study, drawn from the 2002 policy report, was produced by the United Kingdom's House of Lords Select Committee on Science and Technology. The conclusion of the chapter explains that further exploration is needed on the study results.Less

Three Dimensions of Argument Cogency—A Contextualist Case Study

William Rehg

in Cogent Science in Context: The Science Wars, Argumentation Theory, and Habermas

In this chapter, the critical-contextualist approach is applied to a case study in which the findings of three expert committee reports on the possible links between diet and health are analyzed. ... More

In this chapter, the critical-contextualist approach is applied to a case study in which the findings of three expert committee reports on the possible links between diet and health are analyzed. Such committee reports sponsored by the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) are helpful in explaining the cogency of scientific argumentation. This case analysis, by using different source materials and argumentation-theoretic tools, highlights three directions of normative concern on the part of participants. These directions include the content of the reports, the quality of the committee transactions, and the public merits of the reports. The chapter concludes with the discussion of tensions in the rhetorical use of process ideals that are identified after examining the debates surrounding the reports and NAS procedures.Less

July 2008: Speaking Up for Children

Kenneth McK Norrie

in Professor Norrie's Commentaries on Family Law

The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child requires state parties to submit a report every five years on how they are fulfilling their obligations, and the UK Children's Commissioners jointly ... More

The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child requires state parties to submit a report every five years on how they are fulfilling their obligations, and the UK Children's Commissioners jointly produced a separate report to the UN Committee explaining how, in their view, the UK still fails in its obligations. This commentary discusses that report from 2008, drawing attention in particular to the continued low age of criminal responsibility, the minimal protections against discrimination afforded children, and the continued legality of corporal punishment of children.Less

Rapporteur Selection and Internal Advancement

William T. Daniel

in Career Behaviour and the European Parliament: All Roads Lead Through Brussels?

This chapter tests the remaining three hypotheses considered by the book: that MEPs with higher levels of education and experience within the European Parliament will be selected to write more ... More

This chapter tests the remaining three hypotheses considered by the book: that MEPs with higher levels of education and experience within the European Parliament will be selected to write more legislative committee reports and that these relationships will be amplified by the initiation of co-decision with the Council of Ministers. The chapter presents the theory that committee reports are of significant value for MEPs to obtain, as they steer the preferences of the broader legislature. Negative binomial regression analysis, using background data on all elected MEPs, reveals that reports are routinely assigned to senior MEPs with the educational background needed to handle the complex subject matter taken up by EU legislation. This is particularly true since the increases in the EP’s relative power under co-decision.Less

To Follow the Argument where it Leads: An Antiquarian View of the Aim of Academic Freedom at the University of Chicago

Richard A. Shweder

in Who's Afraid of Academic Freedom?

This chapter examines academic freedom at the University of Chicago, which proudly thinks of itself as a Socratic, free-thinking, and contentious institution. More specifically, it considers the ... More

This chapter examines academic freedom at the University of Chicago, which proudly thinks of itself as a Socratic, free-thinking, and contentious institution. More specifically, it considers the antiquarian view of academic freedom associated with two constitutional conservatives, both of them famous for their advocacy of judicial restraint: Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter and his former law clerk Alexander Bickel. The chapter explores the ancient Socratic ideal of freedom of thought and the application of the methods of critical reason as the ultimate ends of academic life. It also discusses the University of Chicago's conception of academic freedom as articulated in the Kalven committee report and whether faculty and administrative governance is a threat to academic freedom. It suggests that what makes a great university great is its commitment and willingness to nurture and protect the ardor and fearlessness of autonomous minds to follow the argument where it leads regardless of moral, political, or commercial interests or popular opinion.Less

Indian Muslims and the Politics of Affirmative Action

Maidul Islam

in Indian Muslim(s) After Liberalization

Chapter 3 assesses the underlying political logic of community-based affirmative action and reservation that is promoted as the new ameliorative policy, addressing the deprivation of Indian Muslims ... More

Chapter 3 assesses the underlying political logic of community-based affirmative action and reservation that is promoted as the new ameliorative policy, addressing the deprivation of Indian Muslims under conditions of economic reforms. It does so by engaging with the findings and policy prescriptions of the Sachar Committee Report, the Ranganath Misra Commission Report, and the post-Sachar Evaluation Committee Report. Besides, the chapter points out the missing links of the Sachar Committee Report and presents a host of other suggestions that the committee did not recommend for the socio-economic development of Indian Muslims. While evaluating the merits of the Sachar and Misra Commission reports along with defending the ethical grounds for the affirmative action for Muslims in India, this chapter also tries to unearth the limitations of the approach of the government towards Muslim minorities in the context of neoliberal dispensation.Less

Apocalyptic Warnings

in Better Safe Than Sorry: The Ironies of Living with the Bomb

Fear became established in the minds of the people of the United States during n the “war on terror.” Warnings from the White House and its critics reinforced each other, creating an echo chamber of ... More

Fear became established in the minds of the people of the United States during n the “war on terror.” Warnings from the White House and its critics reinforced each other, creating an echo chamber of public fears. Nuclear anxieties after 9/11 motivated the Bush administration to be clearer with the truth. These anxieties were justified, but they caused the distraction of many Americans. It is noted that exceptional leadership and dogged persistence were important to the possible decrease of nuclear dangers during the Cold War. Five particularly horrific years of living dangerously in the nuclear age are observed: 1945, 1949–1950, 1962, 1983, and 2001. NSC 68 and the Gaither Committee report provide two of the significant clarion calls of nuclear danger. The strategic concept of George W. Bush for preventing new nuclear dangers primarily depended on U.S. military dominance. Cohesion among major powers was one of the casualties of the second U.S. war against Saddam Hussein.Less

What is Academic Freedom For?

Robert J. Zimmer

in Who's Afraid of Academic Freedom?

This chapter examines some of the history and context of academic freedom and its meaning, with particular emphasis on the uses of that history at the University of Chicago. Academic freedom is a ... More

This chapter examines some of the history and context of academic freedom and its meaning, with particular emphasis on the uses of that history at the University of Chicago. Academic freedom is a particular feature of universities and colleges, and the chapter begins with an overview of the purpose and value of universities. It then considers the nature and role of the Kalven committee report, which reflects long-standing views within the University of Chicago on the subject of academic freedom and the critical role that the report played in the implementation of this value. It contextualizes the Kalven report within institutional culture and summarizes its principles, such as the statement that “the focus on rigorous, intense, and open inquiry carried out by the faculty and students of the University must be accompanied by the greatest possible intellectual freedom.” The chapter also discusses the report's emphasis on the University's responsibility “to protect the academic freedom of faculty and students both by its own neutrality and the protection from internal and external forces that would seek to dampen it”.Less

Academic Freedom Under Fire

Jonathan R. Cole

in Who's Afraid of Academic Freedom?

This chapter examines the logic and limits of academic freedom using the ideals and logic of the University of Chicago's Kalven committee report as a point of departure. It discusses the nature of ... More

This chapter examines the logic and limits of academic freedom using the ideals and logic of the University of Chicago's Kalven committee report as a point of departure. It discusses the nature of the threats against academic freedom and the roles that the university and its faculty ought to play in responding to them, arguing that great universities cannot be created or continue to exist without a vigilant defense of this value. It supports the Kalven committee report's declaration that the best of our universities are by design meant to be unsettling—to be critical of our society's weaknesses, as a source for new, even radical ideas (in all disciplines) that must also meet the test of extreme methodological rigor. The chapter asserts that whenever academic freedom is under fire, we must rise to its defense with courage—and without compromise. We should remember that the proper goal of higher education is enlightenment—not some abstract ideal of “balance”.Less

Unequal Citizenship: Secular State, Religious Community, and Gender

Natasha Behl

in Gendered Citizenship: Understanding Gendered Violence in Democratic India

Chapter 3 focuses attention on women’s unequal experience of the Indian state through an examination of the debates surrounding the 2012 gang rape. Chapter 3 examines both the progressive political ... More

Chapter 3 focuses attention on women’s unequal experience of the Indian state through an examination of the debates surrounding the 2012 gang rape. Chapter 3 examines both the progressive political opening and the retrenchment of patriarchal norms following Jyoti Singh’s murder, and argues that this opening and retrenchment are emblematic of the Indian state’s radical promise of equality and its horrific failure to achieve this equality. An analysis of politicians’ responses demonstrates how gendered norms operate to exclude women in the name of inclusion. This analysis highlights the difficulty of eradicating gendered violence through legal reform, demonstrates the unpredictability of the political process, and shows how gendered norms operate in the public sphere to undermine and frustrate progressive change. The chapter outlines the difficulty of turning to the law as a liberatory strategy in a liberal democracy and shifts attention to other spheres of life as potential sources for more egalitarian social relations.Less