Can Contested Primaries and Turnout in Primaries Reduce Corruption and Rent-Seeking?

Rent-seeking and corruption involving elected officials represent a betrayal of citizen trust, and many scholars believe these acts have detrimental impacts on economic growth. This makes the study of rent-seeking and corruption an important topic. The research question presented here is whether contested primary elections and primary election turnout can help reduce rent-seeking and corruption. The reasons this might be true can be seen through connections in the scholarly literature regarding the function of political parties and organized interests, the importance of citizen engagement in holding elected officials accountable, and the increase in safe seats among legislative bodies. With more legislative seats being safe for a particular political party, the primary election may be increasing in importance relative to the general election, in terms of selecting the candidates and holding them accountable. Uncontested primaries and low turnout in primaries might possibly be fostering corruption. Data from U.S. state legislatures will be analyzed in an attempt to determine whether greater levels of contested primaries and contested primary turnout are associated with less corruption. While not conclusive, the results presented here provide some initial support for the contested primary and turnout hypothesis of corruption

The Press as a Pawn: An In-Depth Study of the Impact of the 2011 Arab Uprisings on Press Freedom Restrictions in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan

This study researches and documents the impact of the 2011 Arab Uprisings on press freedom restrictions in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. Since inception, the Kingdom has vacillated between liberalization and deliberalization, which is seen, most evidently, in its relationship with the press. It is imperative to look at the history of the relationship between the government and the media in Jordan in order to understand the political, social, cultural, and economic conditions under which the media may or may not have developed in the Kingdom. In Jordan, there is a direct correlation between the sharp curtailment of press freedoms and national crises. The media has, and continues to be, infected by governmental control and, therefore, becomes an unwitting ally in the regime’s quest to protect the existing state of affairs

Reforming Copyright or Toward Another Science? A More Human Rights-Oriented Approach Under the REBSPA in Constructing a Right to Research for Scholarly Publishing

This article identifies copyright impediments existing in the sphere of science, to then make (tentative) suggestions as to how these may be overcome. It focuses on scholarly publishing only, and here primarily on digital content, specifically asking whether expensive commercial scholarly publishers continue to “add value” to research in the digital era. The deficits of copyright law and potential solutions thereto are assessed in the light of the right of everyone “to enjoy the benefits of scientific progress and its applications” (REBSPA) as laid down in Article 15(1)(b) of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) of 1966. A substantial part of the discussion examines whether and, if so, in what ways, the REBSPA gives rise to a “right to research,” also in an extraterritorial sense that would require the right to be respected beyond borders, and what the normative implications of such a right would be for copyright and science. It is submitted that current interpretations of the REBSPA reveal flaws and gaps. The REBSPA is accordingly reinterpreted in accordance with what is called a more human rights-oriented approach here, its guiding concept being that of “adequacy for science.” The article finds that, while existing copyright law needs certain reforms in the interim to accommodate the needs of science, in the longer term, entire institutionalized science may have to be reconceived. Genuinely open science and the creation of a “true” scholarly knowledge commons require far-reaching changes in the way copyright applies in the sphere of science. The continued role of commercial scholarly publishing needs to be questioned. Potentially, it will be necessary to “move beyond” the applicability of copyright in the field of science

Not the African Copyright Pirate Is Perverse, But the Situation in Which (S)he Lives-Textbooks for Education, Extraterritorial Human Rights Obligations, and Constitutionalization From Below in IP Law

Printed textbooks remain crucial for education, particularly in developing countries. However, in many of these countries, textbooks are unavailable, too expensive, or not accessible in learners’ native tongues. Digital content, for many reasons, does not prove a wondrous solution. Cheaply (translating and) reproducing textbooks would be a strategy. However, reprography is highly regulated under copyright law. Copyright also adds to the cost of textbooks. The availability, accessibility, and acceptability of learning materials constitute essential elements of the right to education under international human rights law. Intellectual property (IP) law has so far refrained from endorsing the concept of extraterritorial state obligations (ETOs) under international human rights law (IHRL), that is, of states, in appropriate circumstances, bearing human rights obligations toward those living beyond their own territory. This reluctance is regrettable if it is borne in mind that most IP, including copyright law originates at the international level, where each state plays a role in designing rules that may affect the lives of those in other countries. ETOs could assume a key function in “civilizing”—as it were, “constitutionalizing”—IP law. This Article will demonstrate the significance of ETOs for IP law by focusing on the issue of how the right to education under IHRL prescribes requirements that international copyright law must comply with to facilitate access to textbooks in schools and universities. Drawing on the expert Maastricht Principles on Extraterritorial Obligations of States in the Area of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights of 2011, and applying the well-known tripartite typology of state obligations to respect, protect, and fulfill human rights, the ETOs concept will be introduced and twenty typical ETOs under the right to education in the international copyright context that safeguard access to printed textbooks will be identified. A final central aim of the Article will be to explain how exactly, within international law as a unified system, ETOs can lead to a “constitutionalization” of IP law. Although the discussion relates to issues of accessibility in developing countries more generally, the dire situation of access to textbooks in education in Africa strongly motivated this research

Amplitude analysis of B0 decays to J/ψπ−K+ and ψ(2S)π−K+

Amplitude analyses of B0 → J/ψ(1S)π−K+ and B0 → ψ(2S)π−K+ decays are presented.The data correspond to the full LHCb Run 1 and Run 2 samples, which are much larger than previously analyzed by the Belle and LHCb experiments in similar analyses. Many more exotic ψ(nS)π− states are required for a good description of the data than disclosed by the previous amplitude analyses. For the first time, significant contributions from exotic ψ(nS)K+ states are observed. The JP = 1+ Z(4200)− state, previously established only in the J/ψ(1S)π− mode, is confirmed and observed with the consistent mass and width in the ψ(2S)π− mode. However, there are also a number of inconsistencies between the exotic states required by the two data sets which point to theoretical limitations of modelling these decays as a collection of resonances decaying only to K+π−, ψ(nS)π− or ψ(nS)K+. Possible future directions in amplitude analyses of these decays are discussed

An SIR Approach to Modeling Business Interactions in a Marketplace

As interest in online coupons from distributors like Groupon and Living Social have grown, eBay has proposed and built a marketplace. This marketplace is called eBay Local. It is a place where local merchants can post coupons that distributors can bid on the right to publish. Based on some initial data, we have built a model to t and predict the growth of this marketplace. The influence of salesmen and organic growth convert potential merchants into active members of the marketplace posting their goods and services. We have modeled the recruitment and retention of businesses within the marketplace, based on interactions with businesses and monetary incentives. Our model has a structure similar to epidemiological models. Parameters are estimated based on initial data sets provided by eBay and numerical results are obtained using a fourth-order Runge-Kutta method coded in MATLAB specifically for this thesis. By adjusting the model and the parameters within reasonable values, the system displayed an accurate representation of the marketplace. Using the model we have found realistic conditions under which the system is optimized, creating a stable population of active businesses inexpensively

Copyright Infringement and the Eleventh Amendment: A Doctrine of Unfair Use?

The federal courts recently have renewed the debate concerning whether a person can sue a state government or its instrumentalities for copyright infringement. The question presents a clash of fundamental constitutional principles between the copyright and patent clause,\u27 whose purpose is to promote the free flow of ideas by rewarding creativity,\u27 and the eleventh amendment,whose primary purpose is to protect the federal form of government by insulating states from suit in federal court. The Copyright Act of 1976 (the 1976 Act) and its predecessor, the Copyright Act of 1909 (the 1909 Act), grant copyright proprietors exclusive rights in their works. While 28 U.S.C. § 1338(a) grants federal courts exclusive subject matter jurisdiction to entertain actions concerning copyright infringement, the eleventh amendment generally prohibits suits in federal court against state governments. Thus, absent a waiver or other abrogation of eleventh amendment immunity, a proprietor\u27s rights in a work apparently are not always exclusive; in effect, the owner is required to share his copyright if the infringer is a state government or its instrumentality. The resolution of this question necessarily requires an examination of two constitutional issues. The first issue is the extent to which a state impliedly waives its eleventh amendment immunity from suit in federal court by engaging in a federally regulated activity. The United States Supreme Court first enunciated the implied waiver doctrine in Parden v. Terminal Railway. Federal courts traditionally have interpreted Parden to mean that Congress may condition a state\u27s participation in certain federally regulated activities, such as the operation of an interstate railroad,\u27upon the state\u27s waiver of immunity to potential private suits in federal court. In a copyright infringement suit, however, it is unclear whether the state\u27s use of copyrighted material constitutes consent to suit in federal court. Thus, the question of whether the implied waiver doctrine articulated in Parden applies in a copyright infringement suit against a state remains unanswered

Not the African Copyright Pirate is Perverse, But the Situation in which (S)He Lives—Textbooks for Education, Extraterritorial Human Rights Obligations, and Constitutionalization From Below in IP Law

Printed textbooks remain crucial for education, particularly in developing countries. However, in many of these countries, textbooks are unavailable, too expensive, or not accessible in learners\u27 native tongues. Digital content, for many reasons, does not prove a wondrous solution. Cheaply (translating and) reproducing textbooks would be a strategy. However, reprography is highly regulated under copyright law. Copyright also adds to the cost of textbooks. The availability, accessibility, and acceptability of learning materials constitute essential elements of the right to education under international human rights law. Intellectual property (IP) law has so far refrained from endorsing the concept of extraterritorial state obligations (ETOs) under international human rights law (IHRL), that is, of states, in appropriate circumstances, bearing human rights obligations toward those living beyond their own territory. This reluctance is regrettable if it is borne in mind that most IP, including copyright law originates at the international level, where each state plays a role in designing rules that may affect the lives of those in other countries. ETOs could assume a key function in civilizing -as it were, constitutionalizing -IP law. This Article will demonstrate the significance of ETOs for IP law by focusing on the issue of how the right to education under IHRL prescribes requirements that international copyright law must comply with to facilitate access to textbooks in schools and universities. Drawing on the expert Maastricht Principles on Extraterritorial Obligations of States in the Area of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights of 2011, and applying the well-known tripartite typology of state obligations to respect, protect, and fulfill human rights, the ETOs concept will be introduced and twenty typical ETOs under the right to education in the international copyright context that safeguard access to printed textbooks will be identified. A final central aim of the Article will be to explain how exactly, within international law as a unified system, ETOs can lead to a constitutionalization of IP law. Although the discussion relates to issues of accessibility in developing countries more generally, the dire situation of access to textbooks in education in Africa strongly motivated this research

The Holocaust to Darfur: A Recipe for Genocide

All too often, social studies teachers present the cruelty of the Holocaust as an isolated event. These units focus on Hitler, gas chambers, and war crimes and end with a defiant and honorable “Never Again!” While covering mass murder in this way is laudable, it ultimately might not go as far as it could. For as teaches if we really want to empower our students to prevent genocide, we must look beyond the facts alone to the larger lessons these horrific events can teach us. It is with this background in mind that we wrote this chapter; that in order to teach our students to be good, we have the obligation to help them develop their own understandings of where and why society has fallen off the tracks. The idea of a recipe provided us with a way to help students understand the early warning signs of mass murder such that they would be better equipped to prevent them in the future. Doing so would hopefully inspire them not to bystanders to any similar cruelty, both in the world and in their daily lives. After all, Rwandan President Paul Kagame notes, “people can be made to be bad, and they can also taught to be good.