| 1. |
- Bachmann, Sascha-Dominik, et al.
(författare)
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Terrorism and cyber attacks as hybrid threats : defining a comprehensive approach for countering 21st century threats to global peace and security
- 2014
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Ingår i: Journal on terrorism and security analysis. - Syracuse : Syracuse University. ; 9:1, s. 26-36
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Multimodal, low intensity, kinetic as well as non-kinetic threats to international peace and security including cyber war, low intensity asymmetric conflict scenarios, global terrorism, piracy, transnational organized crime, demographic challenges, resources security, retrenchment from globalization and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction were identified by NATO as so called "Hybrid Threats" (cf BI-SC Input for a New NATO Capstone Concept for The Military Contribution to Countering Hybrid Enclosure 1 to 1500/CPPCAM/FCR/10-270038 and 5000 FXX/0100/TT-0651/SER: NU0040, dated 25 August 2010). This submission aims to introduce the audience to this form of security threat with a particular focus on "cyber" terrorism and war. This new form of conflict in the fifth dimension has a truly hybrid risk potential and warrants a new holistic counter approach: from law enforcement, counter cyber strategies to kinetic responses. The authors will present the findings of an ongoing Hybrid Threat experiment, which is being undertaken at the Swedish Defence College, with a focus on the role of cyber attacks within the wider context of asymmetric conflict and how the existing legal framework governing the use of force and the law applicable to hostilities does not necessarily reflect on this new form of threat.
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| 2. |
- Bevelander, Pieter, et al.
(författare)
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Trespassing the threshold of relevance : Media exposure and opinion polls of the Sweden Democrats 2006-2010
- 2011
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Ingår i: Discussion Paper. - : IZA, University of Bonn. - 0308-5864. ; :6011
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Tidskriftsartikel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- In September 2010 the anti-immigration party, the Sweden Democrats (SD), crossed the electoral threshold to the Swedish parliament (Riksdagen) for the first time with 5.7 percent of the total votes. The aim of this article is to analyze the effect of the media exposure on fluctuations in opinion polls for political parties; i.e. the media effect. In particular to what extent this can explain the electoral fortunes of the SD. We correlate the number of articles published in the print media with the results of the SD opinion polls as well as the opinion poll results of all the other parliamentary parties during a 48 month period, from the month after the 2006 elections (October 2006) up to September 2010. Our results show that the media effect is more important for the SD compared to the other parliamentary parties, similar in size. The media effect also differs between the six newspapers put into scrutiny in this study, the leading daily Dagens Nyheter (DN) had a considerably stronger effect on the opinion fluctuations, compared to the other five newspapers. To conclude, media exposure sometimes matters, especially for 'new parties', but neither to the same degree everywhere nor at the same time. Ultimately, our findings show that the threshold of relevance does not perfectly match with the crossing of the electoral threshold to the national parliament, as suggested in the literature to explain the electoral fortunes of new anti-immigration parties prior to their entry into parliament.
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| 3. |
- Breckenfelder, Holger-Johannes
(författare)
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Competition between High-Frequency Traders, and Market Quality
- 2013
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Ingår i: SSRN Electronic Journal. - : Elsevier BV. - 1556-5068.
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Annan publikation (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This is the first empirical evidence on the competition between high-frequency traders (HFTs) and its influence on market quality. We exploit the first entries of international HFTs into the Swedish equity market in 2009 and conduct a difference-in-differences analysis using trade-by-trade data. To further identify the effect, we use the Federation of European Securities Exchanges (FESE) tick size harmonization as an exogenous event that caused HFTs to start trading in stocks. When HFTs compete for trades their liquidity consumption increases. As a result, liquidity deteriorates significantly and short-term volatility rises.
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| 4. |
- Brunzell, Tor, et al.
(författare)
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Capital Structure Policy Decisions in Nordic Listed Firms
- 2013
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Ingår i: Proceeedings. - : Eurofidai. ; , s. 1-27
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- In this paper we report the results from a survey among all publicly listed Nordic firms on their policy decisions concerning their capital structure. We find that more than 60 percent of the companies have rather or relatively flexible debt target, whereas a strict target or no target at all is approximately equally common. We also study the determinants for the strictness of the debt target, and find support for both firm characteristics as well as behavioral variables. We also study the link between capital structure policy and dividend policy, and find that dividend paying firms - firms with a definite dividend policy are more likely to have a stricter debt target. These results indicate that more research should be done on the joint setting of capital structure and dividend policies.
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| 5. |
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| 6. |
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| 7. |
- Dreber Almenberg, Anna, et al.
(författare)
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Arginine Vasopressin 1a Receptor (Avpr1a) Rs3 Repeat Polymorphism Associated with Entrepreneurship
- 2012
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Ingår i: SSRN Electronic Journal. - : Elsevier BV. - 1556-5068.
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Annan publikation (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Background: Entrepreneurship is crucial to the creation and development of every industry, and considerable work in economics, psychology, management, and other fields of social science has been devoted to analyzing characteristics of these individuals. Twin studies suggest that entrepreneurship has a genetic component, but so far no specific genes have been robustly identified.Methodology/Principal Findings: In a sample of 135 highly accomplished managers, we examine the frequencies of three genotypes: the long-repeat genotype of the RS3 microsatellite in the arginine vasopressin 1a receptor promoter region (AVPR1a), the 7-repeat genotype of the dopamine D4 receptor (DRD4), and the low-activity Monoamine Oxidase A (MAOA) genotype. We find that individuals who have founded more companies are significantly more likely to be homozygous for the long-repeat allele of AVPR1a. Furthermore, even among individuals who founded fewer companies, we find a higher frequency of the long-long genotype in our sample compared to data reported in outside studies not related to entrepreneurship. Conversely, no such relationship with entrepreneurship is observed for DRD4 or MAOA.Conclusions: The genetic associations (and lack thereof) reported here identify AVPR1a and not DRD4 or MAOA as a potential candidate for future research into the genetic underpinnings of entrepreneurship. However, our results should be interpreted with caution given the sample size and the prevalence of false positives in this literature.
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| 8. |
- Dreber Almenberg, Anna, et al.
(författare)
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Facial Masculinity Predicts Risk and Time Preferences in expert Chess Players
- 2012
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Ingår i: SSRN Electronic Journal. - : Elsevier BV. - 1556-5068.
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Annan publikation (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- In this study we examine the relationship between risk taking, impatience and facial masculinity in expert chess players. We combine a large panel-dataset from high-level chess games with measures of both risk taking and impatience in chess with facial masculinity, a proxy for testosterone exposure in puberty. We find that male players with high pubertal testosterone exposure are more impatient by playing shorter chess games. For female players, we find that facial masculinity is negatively correlated with risk taking.
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| 9. |
- Dreber Almenberg, Anna, et al.
(författare)
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Genetic Correlates of Economic and Social Risk Taking
- 2012
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Ingår i: SSRN Electronic Journal. - : Elsevier BV. - 1556-5068.
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Annan publikation (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Background: Economic risk taking is different from social risk taking. In experimental economics, the former is typically measured through an individual’s willingness to trade off variance for expected value, whereas the latter is typically measured by the trust game (TG) where one individual can send an amount of money that is multiplied to another individual who can choose to send something back. Twin studies suggest that both types of risk taking have a genetic component. Molecular genetics studies attempt to identify the specific genetic loci involved in this transmission.Methodology/Principal Findings: We test the association between economic risk taking, as measured by an investment game, and social risk taking, as measured by giving in the TG, with polymorphisms in three different genes: the 7-repeat genotype of the dopamine D4 receptor (DRD4), the long-repeat genotype of the RS3 microsatellite in the arginine vasopressin 1a receptor (AVPR1a RS3) and the low-activity version of Monoamine Oxidase A (MAOA). Our sample consists of 135 individuals that are owners, presidents and managers of large companies. After correcting for multiple testing we find only one significant result: the 7-repeat genotype of DRD4 is negatively related to social risk taking (i.e. trusting behavior). This result is contrary to our expectation.Conclusions: We are unable to replicate previous findings of relationships between economic risk taking and polymorphisms in DRD4 and MAOA, and find no relationship between AVPR1a RS3 and either economic or social risk taking. The novel negative association we find between DRD4 and social risk further emphasizes the difference between economic and social risk taking, although this genetic association should be interpreted with caution given that it is not consistent with our priors.
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| 10. |
- Faragó, Ádám, et al.
(författare)
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Volatility Downside Risk
- 2012
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Ingår i: SSRN Electronic Journal. - : Elsevier BV. - 1556-5068.
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Annan publikation (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Working paper. This paper derives and tests the cross-sectional predictions of an intertemporal equilibrium asset pricing model with generalized disappointment aversion and time-varying macroeconomic uncertainty. To the contrary of the existing literature, disappointment may result not only from a fall in the market index, but also from a rise in a volatility index. Theoretically, we show that besides the market return and changes in market volatility, three two-asset option-like payoffs, contingent to the disappointing event, are also priced factors: a long binary cash-or-nothing option, a short put on the market index and a long call on the volatility index. Implied measures of market and volatility downside risks similar to those considered in the literature explicitly express as linear combinations of exposures to these options and their underlying instruments. Empirically, we find that the cross-section of stock returns reflects a premium for bearing undesirable exposures to these options. The signs of the estimated risk premia are consistent with theory, their economic magnitudes show that a long/short strategy on exposure to each of these options pays on average more than 5% per annum, and these rewards are not explained by coskewness, size, value, and momentum factors.
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| 11. |
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| 12. |
- Hallingby, Hanne-Stine, et al.
(författare)
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Regulatory Policies in Relation to Metrics and Data Collection for Measuring the Emergent Internet
- 2013
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Ingår i: SSRN Electronic Journal. - : Elsevier BV. - 1556-5068.
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- The Internet is currently undergoing a major process of change and transformation. It is moving away from a basic model of layered architecture to a modular architecture with integrated provisioning of digital services and products to users (Garud, Kumaraswamy et al. 2003; Clark 2004; Fransman, 2010 and Yoo 2010). Furthermore traffic volumes and asymmetry of traffic information available for analysis makes it difficult to gain a full overview of and understand these changes (Hallingby et al, 2012 and Liebenau et al, 2012). Hence studying Internet as a whole is difficult, and there are many issues with data collection, with the academic and commercial literature providing plenty of references to such problems. The analysis is made even more complicated when trying to address medium and long-term sustainability of the telecom and Internet industries (Yoo, 2012).Value creation and capturing is a growing challenge to Internet ecosystem stakeholders, seeking to re-innovate a sustainable system. Hence the emergent Internet also changes the actions of national and regional regulators. Regulators are normative acting on behalf of consumers and ensuring adequate investments in society critical infrastructure (FCC, 2011). Their goals are to provide mediation using competition laws and rules as the recent French case Cogent vs. France Telecom shows (ARCEP, 2012b). This is particularly due to fast convergence of Internet and telecom. The transforming state of Internet has led many regulators around the world to make efforts to collect data for such regulatory purposes but with variable degree of success. Thus measuring Internet remains a huge challenge, and we will suggest some ways forward in this paper.Norway is a relatively small country “in the world of the emergent Internet” (Hallingby and Erdal, 2011). However the size and other aspects of the Nordic culture (e.g. openness to accountability, sense of community at all levels of society, etc.) have created an environment in which the national regulator (NPT) has multiple sources of data (NPT, 2012b), and also with correlated Internet data that are collected by diverse institutions. This has resulted in a clear and well explained ability to describe the Norwegian Internet (Hallingby and Erdal, 2011). There is also a culture of regulatory pro-active engagement with changes to the earliest emerging of issues e.g. CDNs legal forms (NPT, 2012a).This article discusses possible type of metrics required to explain the link between Internet network measures and Internet economic variables. First of all we are describing the emerging Internet in Norway, also indicating a more generic change supporting the modularity observed elsewhere. Second, and more important for the purpose of this article, we believe the metrics displayed are very valuable to companies, users, regulators and any other stakeholders. Specifically, we show the case of Norway as an example of the type of knowledge that may be developed, how these mappings can be performed, the scope and limitations of such methodology, and how it can be used by regulatory authorities to monitor but not obstruct the development of business activities. Finally, we also review the usefulness of this type of measurement in the context of a recent regulatory analysis of CDNs in Norway.
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| 13. |
- Kaufmann, Katja, et al.
(författare)
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Returns to Elite Higher Education in the Marriage Market : Evidence from Chile
- 2013
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Ingår i: SSRN Electronic Journal. - : Elsevier BV. - 1556-5068.
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Forskningsöversikt (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- In this paper we estimate the marriage market returns of attending a higher ranked (“elite”) university. We exploit a centrally administered allocation system based on admission test scores in Chile that enables a regression discontinuity design to identify causal effects. We combined this data on college placement with administrative records on family structure for the population of students that take the admission test. We find that attending a higher ranked university program has substantial returns in terms of partner quality for both sexes, but more pronounced for female students. Moreover, we analyze how the returns vary with students’ background and how they differ by types of universities-degree programs. We find that returns are highest for students in top programs, for men in programs with many women, and for students from higher socioeconomic backgrounds, measured by parental education and occupation. This evidence suggests the existence of returns to education quality and help explaining the high female enrollment rate despite the relative lower returns to education and labor force participation (the female enrollment puzzle).
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| 14. |
- Kumlin, Staffan
(författare)
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Informed Electoral Accountability and the Welfare State : A Conceptual Reorientation with Experimental and Real-World Findings
- 2010
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Ingår i: QOG Working Paper Series. - Göteborg : Elsevier BV. - 1653-8919. ; :5
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Retrospective electoral accountability was conceived as a mechanism that makes democracy work without highly informed citizens. However, recent theory suggests accountability in modern societies can be overwhelmingly complex. Using this controversy as a backdrop, I make one conceptual and one empirical contribution. Conceptually, I promote a notion of “informed electoral accountability” that challenges assumptions made in much democratic theory and empirical research on retrospective voting. Empirically, I examine some implications concerning citizens’ policy outcome evaluations in the welfare state domain. How much do they know about outcomes? Do outcome evaluations change when exposed to comprehensive performance information? Using a panel study conducted during the 2006 Swedish election campaign I gauge knowledge levels, as well as effects of survey-embedded information experiments and real-world TV election coverage. Knowledge is found to be initially modest but citizens can learn and evaluations change as a result of comprehensive performance information. As such information is often biased or lacking altogether, however, accountability is not necessarily enlightened and conducive to good representation.
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| 15. |
- Larsson, Karl, 1974-
(författare)
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An Equilibrium Model for Commodity Prices with Regime Switching Reserve Dynamics
- 2014
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Ingår i: SSRN Electronic Journal. - : SSRN. - 1556-5068.
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Rapport (populärvet., debatt m.m.)abstract
- We explore the implications for asset prices and implied volatilities in an equilibrium model of commodity production. Production of the commodity can be carried out in one of two regimes. In the first regime the reserves are set in constant decline while in the second regime new additions to the reserve base are made. The optimal production rule is to switch regime when the stochastic revenue process of the producer hits certain barrier values. As a consequence of the optimal production rule equilibrium spot prices also become regime switching. The shapes of forward curves and implied volatilities are strongly dependent on the level of the stochastic revenue process.
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| 16. |
- Larsson, Karl, 1974-
(författare)
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Approximative Valuation of Commodity Swaptions
- 2011
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Ingår i: SSRN Electronic Journal. - : Elsevier BV. - 1556-5068.
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- In this paper we study the pricing of commodity swaptions in a Heath-Jarrow-Morton framework based on stochastic spot prices, interest rates and convenience yields. We develop a complementary framework for deriving approximations of swaption prices. In the class of Gaussian models the method gives a closed form approximation via Black's formula. We provide an explicit formula for a two-factor Gaussian model and show how to extend the result to incorporate stochastic volatility. Numerical results show that the approximation produces small errors for a wide range of parameters and contract specifications. The approximation is very fast compared to Monte Carlo simulations.
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| 17. |
- Larsson, Karl, 1974-
(författare)
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Dynamic extensions and probabilistic expansions of the SABR model
- 2010
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Ingår i: SSRN Electronic Journal. - : SSRN. - 1556-5068.
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Rapport (populärvet., debatt m.m.)abstract
- In this paper we derive closed form approximations of European option prices in different versions of the SABR model of Hagan et al. (2002). Our approach is based on perturbing the model dynamics and approximations of call prices are obtained from a second order Taylor expansion. The method is applied to approximate prices in a dynamic and time consistent extensions of the original SABR model. In addition, a flexible approach for obtaining analytical expressions for implied volatilities is also developed. We find the results for a time consistent displaced diffusion version of the SABR model to be particularly useful.
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| 18. |
- Larsson, Karl, 1974-
(författare)
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Model Dynamics and Risk Premia in the Short Term Market for Crude Oil
- 2013
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Ingår i: SSRN Electronic Journal. - : SSRN. - 1556-5068.
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Rapport (populärvet., debatt m.m.)abstract
- This paper investigates model dynamics and risk premia in the short term market for crude oil futures. Stochastic volatility models, with and without jumps, are estimated using data on both futures and option prices. As an economic application we apply the estimated models to the pricing of crude oil variance swaps and an evaluation of the associated variance risk premium. The empirical results point to a positive return risk premium attached to diffusive stochastic volatility while there is not strong evidence of jump risk being priced in the market. Negative volatility and variance risk premia stand out as a robust and significant feature of the data. Jumps play a minor role for representing data and the jump risk component in both variance swaps and variance risk premia is small. Finally, a non-affine model that allows for level dependent volatility of volatility is found to have the best fit to data.
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| 19. |
- Larsson, Karl, 1974-
(författare)
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Reserve Lifetime and Depletion in Exhaustible Resource Extraction Under Uncertainty
- 2014
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Ingår i: SSRN Electronic Journal. - : SSRN. - 1556-5068.
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Rapport (populärvet., debatt m.m.)abstract
- This paper studies the implications for reserve lifetime and related quantities in a continuous time model of resource extraction under uncertainty. Both the resource price and the extracted amount are assumed to follow stochastic processes. Reserve lifetime is determined by the profit-maximizing firms optimal decision of when to close down production. We derive closed form expressions for the expected value and the probability distribution of reserve lifetime, the expected level of depletion, and the expected streams of discounted revenues and costs until closing.
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| 20. |
- Li, Chuan-Zhong, et al.
(författare)
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Growth, Pollution and Money-Metric Welfare in Imperfect Markets
- 2012
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Ingår i: SSRN Electronic Journal. - : Social Science Electronic Publishing, Inc. - 1556-5068.
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Rapport (refereegranskat)abstract
- This paper shows how utility-based welfare measures in dynamic general equilibrium under imperfect markets can be transferred into a money metrics. In order to do this, we need to price forward looking components measured in units of utility. The typical comprehensive (green or inclusive) quasi-static welfare measure contains a core that looks like a comprehensive NNP component, as well as additional consumer surplus terms for both consumption goods and the externality. In addition, it contains a forward looking component with the discounted value of the marginal externality as a function to be integrated over time. To accomplish this, we need a price index that is independent of the market basket, or to assume that the marginal utility of income is constant over time. With respect to local welfare measures it turns out that growth in traditional NNP will surprisingly work, provided that we condition on a positive average marginal rate of return of investment, and use an augmented genuine saving concept.
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| 21. |
- Lindblom, Ted, 1956, et al.
(författare)
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Individual Investors’ Portfolio Choice and Birthplace Bias
- 2012
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Ingår i: SSRN. - : Elsevier BV.
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- This paper examines whether the geographical proximity bias of individual investors stems from information asymmetry or behavioral factors. We introduce the concept of ‘Birthplace Bias’ and find that the proximity bias is strongest for investors that have never moved away from the area they were born. It is stronger the longer the investor has lived in the same geographical area. However, neither local bias nor birthplace bias appears to pay off in terms of abnormal portfolio return. This has policy implications for the confidence in financial markets as it suggests that Efficient Market Hypothesis holds.
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| 22. |
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| 23. |
- Lundåsen, Susanne
(författare)
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Voluntary Associations and Local Level Politics: Voluntary Associations as Sources of Political Capital?
- 2010
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Ingår i: SSRN Electronic Journal. - : American Political Science Association / Elsevier. - 1556-5068.
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- The paper investigates whether the local political context has an impact on the frequency of contacts between voluntary associations and local politicians. The study contains data from two different surveys, one directed towards the citizens of the four selected municipalities and the other directed towards local voluntary associations and it also contains qualitative interviews with local level politicians. One of the conclusions is that one aspect of political opportunities structures, the stability of the political majority, seems to matter for the perceived outcome of the contacts between voluntary associations and local politicians. With one dominating political party in the local government the local voluntary associations seem to find it more difficult to influence local level politicians.
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| 24. |
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| 25. |
- Teigland, Robin, et al.
(författare)
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Breaking Out of the Bank in Europe - Exploring Collective Emergent Institutional Entrepreneurship Through Bitcoin
- 2013
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Ingår i: SSRN Electronic journal. - : Elsevier BV. - 1556-5068.
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Tidskriftsartikel (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- In recent years, the Bitcoin community has collectively developed an open source platform that allows for the mining of the Bitcoin currency as well as instant global peer-to-peer payments and financial transactions using Bitcoins - without any central authority. With its theoretical roots in the Austrian School of Economics, the community can be seen as a potential threat to the mega financial institutions and governments in Europe and across the globe as the Bitcoin currency and its underlying principles challenge the long-standing fiat money system. Designed and implemented in only 2009, Bitcoin has rapidly grown from being an idea in the head of a “Japanese programmer” to becoming a legitimate currency as Bitcoin-Central was awarded an International Bank ID number and became a Payment Services Provider equal to organizations such as PayPal. However, perhaps due to its rapid growth during the past four years and the fact that the currency is primarily a virtual one, the Bitcoin community has been subject to external threats such as fraud, hacker attacks, and a lawsuit. Despite this, the community has shown significant resilience and has even shown continued exponential growth in recent months. As such, our research purpose is to investigate the process through which the Bitcoin community acts as an institutional entrepreneur. As a first step in fulfilling our research purpose, we conduct an exploratory analysis in this research-in-progress paper of the formal and informal “organizations” of Bitcoin as well as of the topical network structure of the Bitcoin community using secondary sources and the complete archive of 1.15 million English posts written by 21,903 members between 2009 and 2013. Some preliminary results and findings as well as future steps are discussed.
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| 26. |
- Tucker, Jason
(författare)
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Exploring Statelessness and Nationality in Iran : Gaps in the nationality law, populations of concern and areas for future research
- 2014
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Ingår i: SSRN Electronic Journal. - : Tilburg University. - 1556-5068.
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Iran has yet to be the subject of research looking into the gaps in the nationality law, which, could create and perpetuate statelessness. There were however, several pre-identified populations, some members of which are believed to be affected by statelessness, as well as gender discrimination in the nationality law - which causes and increases the risk of rendering children stateless. Therefore, based on this previous knowledge of potentially stateless populations, and the gaps/lack of certain safeguards against statelessness in the nationality law, this research provides a foundation for understanding nationality and statelessness in the country.
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| 27. |
- Tucker, Jason
(författare)
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The Humanitarian Side of Statelessness : Statelessness within the Framework of the Millennium Development Goals
- 2013
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Ingår i: SSRN Electronic Journal. - : Elsevier BV. - 1556-5068.
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Annan publikation (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The issue of statelessness has begun to receive attention from a legal perspective. While this work should be commended and continue this article argues that we should also remember that at its core statelessness is a human issue that deeply affects the lives of those who suffer from it. It causes and perpetuates, amongst other things, extreme poverty and human insecurity. Statelessness is still greatly under-examined and under-appreciated as a potentially significant barrier to progress in the humanitarian and development fields. This piece aims to begin to situate statelessness as an important issue within these fields. This is done by taking the framework of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and looking at how statelessness affects the realization of each and every goal. This approach shows that by overlooking statelessness development actors and agencies could be failing to meet the needs of the world’s poorest. While far from being a comprehensive analysis of all available literature on statelessness and its relationship to each goal, this article is as an exploratory piece with the aim of encouraging development actors and agencies to recognise the importance of statelessness in their current and future projects and work to gain a greater understanding of the relationship between statelessness, poverty and human insecurity.
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| 28. |
- Tucker, Jason
(författare)
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The Untold Dangers and Unfeasibility of a Global Registration of Stateless Persons : A Reply to Jay Milbrandt's ‘Stateless’
- 2013
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Ingår i: SSRN Electronic Journal. - : Elsevier BV. - 1556-5068.
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Annan publikation (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Milbrandt’s article highlights the need for increased debate surrounding the dire situation in which many stateless persons around the world find themselves.1 It provides a step in the right direction in that his article attempts to challenge the phenomena of statelessness and reduce its prevalence in the world. However, the idea put forward of global registration of stateless persons is critically flawed for several reasons. First it is based on a theoretically weak definition of statelessness that leaves many questions unanswered. Second pragmatic concerns with regard to how registration may not be possible within certain local socio-political context are drawn out. Third, Milbrandt fails to acknowledge the key dangers of global registration which can be clearly seen if historic and current examples of registering the stateless are considered.Essentially this article stresses that statelessness does not exist within a political vacuum. While it can sometimes be simply rectified through a techno-legal fix it also exists within a political space of discrimination. This political space created and perpetuates the current stateless situations we find across the world today. It is argued here that a one size fits all policy of registering all stateless persons is unfeasible, will not lead to the perceived outcomes and could in fact increase the vulnerability of some stateless populations. Instead more context sensitive methods of understanding and tackling statelessness are proposed.
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| 29. |
- Waltman, Max
(författare)
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Assessing evidence, arguments, and inequality in Bedford v. Canada
- 2014
-
Ingår i: Harvard Journal of Law and Gender. - : Elsevier BV. - 0270-1456. ; 37:2, s. 459-544
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Until recently, Canada criminalized anyone who lived "wholly or in part on the avails of prostitution of another person,” and anyone who kept, controlled, or knowingly permitted a “bawdy-house” for prostitution. The Supreme Court of Canada found that these laws prevented brothel management, escort agencies, bodyguards, or drivers from enhancing the safety and well-being of prostituted persons in indoor locations. This article assesses the evidence relied on by courts to strike down the laws, finding that evidence was misrepresented and misevaluated, thus did not support their decision. Empirical evidence shows that prostitution is an unequal practice of sexual and economic exploitation to which prostituted people generally lack real or acceptable alternatives. Pimps and brothel-owners in general make their situations worse, not better. The two invalidated provisions facilitate prosecution of pimps and other third party profiteers more effectively than existing trafficking laws. By invalidating these provisions, Canada will expose prostituted people to predators while protecting their exploiters. Their decisions overturn previous precedents that shielded prostituted people from abusive pimps, and violate Canada’s commitment to promote equality among historically disadvantaged people, such as those in prostitution. Charter principles of substantive equality call for retaining laws that put exploiters — pimps and brothel-owners — out of business, while invalidating any fines or criminal laws imposed on prostituted persons, measures that preclude their opportunities and exit. Civil damages actions on behalf of prostituted people and effective criminal laws against purchase of people for sex would also promote their substantive equality.
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| 30. |
- Wrange, Pål, 1957-
(författare)
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The Limitations of International Law Expertise – War Amongst Peacemakers : The Juba Peace Process as Battleground for International Lawyer's Biases
- 2013
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Ingår i: Europen Society of International Law. - : Elsevier BV.
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This paper reflects on the limitations of international law expertise, using examples from the Juba peace process on the civil war in Uganda. In peace negotiations (like in all situations), the international law expert must acknowledge the limitations of international law. International law is one-dimensional, and cannot take all relevant factors into account. Further, in any given situation, there will be some regimes and some rules of international law that are more effective than others, because they have powerful support or efficient mechanisms. This means that some norms, some claims and the interests of some stakeholders will be privileged. Many of the controversies associated with international interventions based on international law – like the ICC prosecutions in Uganda – have in fact been caused by too much emphasis on, for instance, international criminal justice and civil rights, and too little emphasis on reparations, economic and social rights and collective rights. Still, even if international law could be better used, there are limits to what can be accomplished even with creative international law expertise. There is a structural bias in international law, which privileges the state. International law, and its institutions, can do too little to refer matters from the government to other legitimate stakeholders, often leaving us with a choice between the (distant) supranational level and the (corrupt) national level. While international law does determine an international minimum standard for the state, it is still much better at empowering the government than at empowering people.
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