Treatment of International Human Rights Violations in the United States

In our day and age, the violation of human rights has become a matter of international concern. This article is focused on the sharing of those concerns by the United States, in particular as manifested by the treatment of human rights violations in the United States. Following introductory observations in Part I highlighting the special commitment of the United States to the protection of international human rights, the article will show, in Part II thereof, that in virtue of Article 6, Clause [2] of the American Constitution (the Supremacy Clause), human rights conventions are in principle self-executing in the United States.1 However, the United States invariably adds a reservation to its instruments of ratification of such conventions proclaiming that they will not be self-executing in the United States. Incorporating the provisions of human rights conventions ratified by the United States into the country’s municipal legal system therefore requires Congressional implementation legislation, which will be exemplified in Part III with reference to the Torture Convention Implementation Act of 1994. Part IV of the article is devoted to the exercise of universal jurisdiction by federal courts, in virtue of Article 1, Section (8), Clause [10] of the Constitution, to bring to justice those responsible for piracies and felonies on the High Seas and offences against the law of nations.2 In the United States, universal jurisdiction of federal courts is not confined to criminal prosecutions but has also been extended by the Alien Tort Statute to civil actions by foreign victims of a tort that constitutes a violation of the law of nations or of a treaty entered into by the United States.3 The treatment of human rights violations under the Alien Tort Statute and similar legislation is the subject-matter of Part V of this article. Some concluding observations to evaluate the above manifestations of the American commitment to human rights, notably in view of considerations based on the national interests of the United States and a perception of American exceptionalism, will bring the article to a close in Part VI thereof.http://dflsc.law.duke.edu/am201

Partnership quality in IT outsourcing: a mixed methods review of its measurement

[Abstract]: There is little doubt that how an IT outsourcing relationship is managed has a significant bearing on the overall success of an outsourcing venture. However, there has been a lack of empirical research with the view to developing a better understanding of the partnership type relationship between the client organisation and outsourcing vendor. This paper reports on the measurement and applicability of partnership quality using a mixed methods approach. The findings confirmed six dimensions of partnership quality which are important in evaluating the quality of a partnership type relationship in IT outsourcing. But findings also show that a partnership type relationship is more likely to exist for small to medium sized organisations

Higher education course content: paper-based, online or hybrid course delivery?

[Abstract]: The emergence of the Internet has made many institutions involved in the delivery of distance education programs re-evaluate the course delivery framework. A variety of models and techniques co-exist in an often uneasy alliance at many such institutions. These range from the traditional distance learning model, which remains paper-based, to the purely online model. Recently, hybrid models have emerged which apparently attempt to forge elements taken from several models into a unified whole. Many of these hybrid models seek to eliminate paper-based materials from the tuition process. While many arguments are put forward about the efficacy of purely electronic delivery mechanisms, cost containment is often the driving motivation. This study explores student perceptions of the various delivery mechanisms for distance learning materials. In particular, it seeks to determine what value students place on paper-based delivery mechanisms. The study surveys a group of undergraduate students and a group of graduate students enrolled in the Faculty of Business at a large regional Australian university

Abraham Kuyper en die reg op selfbeskikking van bevolkingsgroepe

Abraham Kuyper and the right to self-determination of peoples Sphere sovereignty as a principle that regulates the mutual relationships among different social institutions originated from the philosophy of John Althusius, and this idea is found again in one form or another in the theories of various German political and legal philosophers. However, the descriptive name of this principle derives from the Dutch politician, Guillaume Groen van Prinsterer, who under the influence of Julius Stahl, confined the principle to church-state relationships. The special contribution of Abraham Kuyper was to extend sphere sovereignty to relationships among other social institutions. However, Kuyper did not distinguish precisely between the kinds of “circles” which in principle qualify for sphere sovereignty, and in the process he also included social communities among those with sphere sovereignty. An accurate distinction among social institutions that do qualify for sphere sovereignty and (unstructured) social communities that do not, derived from the philosophy of the cosmonomic idea of Herman Dooyeweerd. Kuyper’s perception of sphere sovereignty of social communities does correspond with the right to self-determination of ethnic, religious and linguistic communities as currently defined in international law. This right, however, does not include the right to secession from an existing state, but affords to the communities concerned the right to promote their culture, to testify to and practise their religion and to speak and apply their language without state interference

The Overconfidence Effect and IT Professionals

Information Technology has become a core activity in most, if not all, corporations. Although IT managers continue to be under-represented in executive management, the very centrality of information technology to corporate success or failure suggests that this situation cannot endure. It has been suggested that information technology managers are too narrowly focused and technically oriented for strategic roles in the corporation. A key skill required of the executive relates to making decisions in situations imbued with uncertainty. This paper examines a cognitive process, the overconfidence effect, which has been shown to influence good decision making. An analysis is presented as to the susceptibility of IT professionals to the overconfidence effect when compared to accounting / finance and marketing professionals. The results suggest that information technology professionals are as good, if not better, at making complex decisions as professionals from the other two groups. Information technology professionals proved to be moderately overconfident, a situation which has some advantages as well is disadvantages. The study indicated that information technology professionals have the decision making skills to take their rightful place at the most senior levels in corporations

The unruly horse: Reflections on the rule of law

Critics often say that certain aspects of South African law or of the South African societal structure constitute infringements of the rule of law. One is left by these critics with a general notion that the rule of law is some sort of Sollensprinzip applying to positive law, i.e. a criterion for the evaluation of legal rules and systems, and that mainly those measures which are being employed in South Africa to substantiate the policy of separate development in the field of race relations and most of the provisions for safeguarding state security are in conflict with its principles. As such this mystical concept is being used to bring the basic structure of the South African way of living into disrepute; and the urgency of the situation necessitates all who are compelled to plan their future in our sub-continent to take careful note of its exact meaning, function and contents. A philosophical survey of contemporary society within the context of the South African situation will therefore be incomplete if it were to omit an analysis of the rule of law

Metallic links : for the integration of city to sea and people to city

Includes bibliographical references.This thesis has taken a on a site specific design approach that was initially conceived in the idea of barriers within our city. The barrier or barriers in this instance is the post industrial landscape of Culemborg that currently acts together with the N1 freeway as a barrier between Woodstock, Salt River and Observatory to the surrounding coastal areas as well as access to the site itself. This place is a lost space that needs to be integrated into the urban fabric. In this lies the opportunity or need for an architectural intervention that will begin to integrate or break down this barrier. The barriers discussed here are not isolated to Cape Town or South Africa but is a consequence of the post industrial city that is further explained in the theory component of the document. In general terms these barriers include highways, railroad and waterfronts where major gaps disrupt the overall continuity of the city form. Pedestrian links between important destinations are often broken (Tancik: 2)

Reg en plig insake onregmatigheid

Dit gaan hier oor die vraag wat die wese van onregmatigheid/wederregtelikheid in privaatregtelike sin is. In die breë kan gekonstateer word dat onregmatigheid ’n kwalifikasie van die juridiese handeling is; en verder dat die onregmatigheid van ’n handeling geleë is in die strydigheid van daardie handeling met ’n gebod of verbod van die positiewe reg. Daaroor bestaan betreklik eenstemmigheid. Maar aangaande die vraag wat in hoofsaak deur spesifiek die privaatreg gebied en verbied word, aan die hand waarvan onregmatigheid in privaatregtelike sin na sy inhoud nader omskryf moet word, loop verskillende opvattinge wyd uiteen