Group selection theories are now more sophisticated, but are they more predictive?

Human beings are unique among species in their ability to cooperate in large groups of genetically unrelated individuals, and in this book, Samuel Bowles and Herbert Gintis attempt to account for the origins of this ability. The authors specialize in the use of formal models and agent-based simulations in order to precisely specify their theories of cooperation, and they often draw on studies conducted in hunter gatherer societies and in experimental economic laboratories for evidence that they find relevant to evaluating these theories. The book is a valuable review of these anthropological and economic literatures, and a thorough showcase of the authors’ expert formal theorizing about how cooperation may have evolved. However, I often found myself disagreeing with the authors’ focus on group selection as an explanation for human cooperation, and with their views on how well the empirical findings provide support for group selectionist theories

Drawing the boundaries of mens rea in the jurisprudence of the international criminal tribunal for the former Yugoslavia

Even though more than a decade has passed since the creation of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, the law of the most fundamental concept in international criminal law – mens rea - remains unsettled. Through its jurisprudence, the Yugoslavia Tribunal has made enormous efforts to assign different degrees of mens rea for different categories of crimes under its Statute. The present study is an attempt to clarify several issues with regard to the law of mens rea as developed in the case law of the Yugoslavia Tribunal. Among these issues are the following: what precisely is to be understood by the terms “specific intent”, “special intent”, “dolus specialis”, or “surplus intent”? Similarly, what are the precise meanings of the terms “deliberately”, “intention”, “intent”, “intentionally”, “wilful or wilfully”, “knowledge”, and “wanton” as provided for in the ICTY Statute or as employed by the Chambers within its judgments

Policing football in Scotland: the forgotten team

Définition de l'équipe basée sur celle d'Erving Goffman. Cette équipe opère en plusieurs petites équipes indépendantes qui réagissent au public de façons différentes. L'auteur suggère l'adoption d'une attitude plus unifiée

Genocide at the safe area of srebrenica: A search for a new strategy for protecting civilians in contemporary armed conflict

Copyright @ 2001 HeinOnlin

Development Needs of Volunteers in the Children’s Workforce

Although estimates of the number of volunteers engaged in the children’s workforce vary, it is clear that large number of people (in excess of five million) give of their time to provide support to children, young people and families in a range of settings across the country. These volunteers are engaged by VCS and statutory and private sector organisations in a multitude of roles, either working alongside or independent from paid staff and professionals. While significant resources have been invested in restructuring the children’s workforce, and in providing training and development opportunities for paid workers, the needs of volunteers have not – as yet – received substantial targetted investment. This paper reports on a research project undertaken on behalf of the Children’s Workforce Development Council to investigate the core training needs of volunteers in the children’s workforce. The project started with a review of the literature on volunteers’ training needs and the selection of two case study areas, Derbyshire and Rotherham, where the involvement of representatives from the Children’s Trust and third sector infrastructure organisations was sought. In each case study area, interviews were carried out with staff involved in identifying and responding to volunteers’ training needs, along with a number of volunteers in the children’s workforce; additional interviews were conducted with representatives of national VCS organisations. These interviews were used to secure a range of views on the way in which volunteers in the children’s workforce are perceived / perceive their role, and to explore the ways in which their training needs are identified and addressed. As the paper reports, the research concluded that local agencies are engaged in a range of activities to provide targetted support to volunteers in the children’s workforce; and a number of examples of ways in which volunteers have been supported in identifying and accessing opportunities for learning and development were identified. Nevertheless, it appears that Children’s Trusts remain unclear about the full extent of volunteering in this part of the workforce, and have only limited appreciation of the nature and extent of volunteers’ learning and development needs. The paper includes recommendations about ways in which these needs might be identified and addressed more effectively in future

Achieving information fulfilment in the networked society: part 1: introducing new concepts

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to introduce the idea of information fulfilment. The networked society provides many opportunities for information flow. However, information professionals readily accept that, although one is surrounded by information of many sorts, in many formats, what is important is whether users consider that they ever achieve what is known as “Information Fulfilment”. i.e. occurrences when there has been information which is accurate, timely, current and presented in an appropriate and useful format to allow (work) tasks to be completed. Design/methodology/approach – This first paper contains a literature review which informed the study. The study (which will be reported in detail in a later paper) was interpretive and used ethnography (through participant observation) as the research tool. The research deals with issues surrounding organisation structures and examines levels of information fulfilment in micro substantive settings. Findings – The paper serves to introduce background and cultural information from a small section of a larger European research project which involved five countries and was partially funded by TEMPUS and Leonardo da Vinci Socrates grants. Research limitations/implications – The paper introduces ideas concerning information fulfilment and addresses initial issues concerning a small section of results from a larger project. Phase 2 is now under way and more studies are planned. It is noted that organisation structures are only one variable that affects levels of information fulfilment and there are plans in the future to further extend the study. Originality/value – The research attempts to link the levels of information fulfilment with types of organisation structures. This paper introduces the concept and gives the rationale for the project

Making choices: research paradigms and information management: practical applications of philosophy in IM research

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine a variety of research approaches which information managers may find useful to meet the needs of working in the networked, digitized age. Design/methodology/approach – This is achieved by a discussion of the research paradigms inherent within both information theory and social theory. Findings – The findings work towards a final justification for an interpretist approach as the most appropriate context in which to work, in order to meet the emerging trends and current challenges of information technology management. Practical implications – The central theme of this paper is that research which deals primarily with people and information in a world of change, competition, and fluid communications technology should take into account and allow for an understanding of human behaviour. This understanding helps to highlight different contexts, backgrounds, and cultures and therefore provides assistance in making appropriate choices concerning research paradigms and information management, which in turn will ensure thoughtful methodology and justifiable research results. Originality/value – This paper examined questions regarding the choices of research paradigms and the practical application of philosophy to the life of professional information managers

'Just convict everyone!' Joint perpetration: From tadic to stakic and back again

On 22 March 2006, the Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) rendered its Judgment in the Stakić case. One of the issues which the Appeals Chamber addressed propio motu was the mode of liability attributed to the Appellant by the Trial Chamber. In examining the criminal responsibility of Dr. Milomir Stakić for the crimes alleged, the Trial Chamber applied a mode of liability which it termed ‘co-perpetratorship’ (committing ‘jointly with another person’), in lieu of ‘joint criminal enterprise’ (JCE). In so doing, the Stakić Trial Chamber avoided “the misleading impression that a new crime [membership in a criminal organization] not foreseen in the Statute of this Tribunal has been introduced through the backdoor.” However, “[t]he introduction of new modes of liability [co-perpetratorship] into the jurisprudence of the Tribunal”, the Appeals Chamber stressed, “may generate uncertainty, if not confusion, in the determination of the law by parties to cases before the Tribunal as well as in the application of the law by Trial Chambers.” Most notably, some ICTY judges have welcomed and fully approved the JCE doctrine “as an effective tool for overcoming the problems of ascribing individual criminal responsibility for international crimes.” Others hold the opinion that the concept of ‘joint criminal enterprise’, since its foundation and integration into the jurisprudence of the ICTY by the Tadić Appeals Chamber, “has caused confusion and a waste of time” and has been considered as a doctrine “of no benefit to the work of the Tribunal or the development of international criminal law.” This note will examine, therefore, both modes of liability (‘joint criminal enterprise’ and ‘co-perpetratorship’) in light of the Stakić Appeals and Trial Judgments

Mens rea - Mistake of law & mistake of fact in German criminal law: A survey for international criminal tribunals

More than a decade has passed since the establishment of the two ad hoc Tribunals, however, the jurisprudence of both Tribunals evidence the inconsistency regarding the requisite mens rea standards for serious violations of international humanitarian law. Hence, a survey of the attitude taken towards the definition of the major facets of mens rea by the world major legal systems is of great significance with regard to the establishment of a unified concept for mens rea in international criminal law. Section I of this study examines some of the major judgments of the two ad hoc Tribunals where both Tribunals refers to national jurisdictions in order to clarify the mens rea required for the imposition of criminal responsibility for serious violations of international humanitarian law. Section II is a brief outline of the structure of the criminal offence in German criminal law. This is necessary since German criminal law does not follow the “offence analysis” scheme known in common law countries, but is based upon a three stage structure of the criminal offence. In Section III, the concept of intention (Vorsatz) in German criminal law is thoroughly discussed and analysed. This includes the discussion of dolus directus (first and second degree) as well as of dolus eventualis. Emphasis is put on the differentiation between dolus eventualis and negligence, since it reflects a highly debated issue in German criminal law. The concept of negligence will be outlined in Section IV. Given the fact that the German criminal law recognizes that mistake of law and mistake of fact (Tatbestandsirrtum, Verbotsirrtum) is not a separate doctrine, but part and parcel of the basic analysis of mens rea, these two basic types of mistake will be addressed in Section V. This includes the discussion of error in persona vel obiecto and aberratio ictus. Finally, the conclusion will be supported by some remarks and recommendations regarding the German law of intent and its influence on the development of international criminal law