This book examines government ethics rules and their enforcement in China, as well as in three other jurisdictions for comparative insights. Empirical research methods (involving primarily semi-structured interviews) have been employed to explore the dynamics of actual enforcement policies and practices in China. This book forms an analytical framework through reviewing existing theories on government ethics regulation and general regulation literature and analyzing government ethics rules...

A portrait of Washington politics during one of the most turbulent eras in American history by the twentieth century's premier US government insider.During his three decades as a journalist and political pundit for the New York Herald Tribune and Newsweek magazine, Stewart Alsop covered many of the defining historical events of mid-to-late twentieth-century America, from the post–World War II boom and the Red Scare to the Bay of Pigs, the Cuban mi...

Among the most prominent and significant political and legal developments since the end of the Cold War is the proliferation of mechanisms for addressing the complex challenges of transition from authoritarian rule to human rights-based democratic constitutionalism, particularly with regards to the demands for accountability in relation to conflicts and abuses of the past. Whether one thinks of the Middle East, South Africa, the Balkans, Latin America, or Cambodia, an extraordinary amount ...

Grappling with ethical issues is a daily challenge for those working in organizations that deliver public services. Such services are delivered through an often bewildering range of agencies and amidst this constant change, there are fears that a public service ethos, a tradition of working in the public interest, becomes blurred.Using extensive vignettes and case studies, Ethics and Management in the Public Sector illuminates the practical decisions made by public officia...

Few tasks are as crucial for the future of democracy in Latin America—and, indeed, in other underdeveloped areas of the world—as strengthening the rule of law and reforming the system of taxation.In this book, Marcelo Bergman shows how success in getting citizens to pay their taxes is related intimately to the social norms that undergird the rule of law. The threat of legal sanctions is itself insufficient to motivate compliance, he argues. That kind of deterrence works best when c...

Even to the most casual observer, it is clear that America has seen better days. How did we get here? According to author Shawn Brodof it is due to apathy! He believes the nation's woes can be solved by applying critical thinking and common sense to the arena of politics and public policy.When it comes to holding our public officials responsible for their actions, Brodof theorizes that the American public consists of four groups, differentiated by their levels of engagement. The fi...

Despite the growth in international criminal courts and tribunals, the majority of cases concerning international criminal law are prosecuted at the domestic level. This means that both international and domestic courts have to contend with a plethora of relevant, but often contradictory, judgments by international institutions and by other domestic courts. This book provides a detailed investigation into the impact this pluralism has had on international criminal law and procedure, and ex...

This book constitutes the thoroughly refereed post-conference proceedings of the JSAI-isAI 2013 Workshops LENLS, JURISIN, MiMI, AAA, and DDS which tool place on October 2013, in Japan. The 28 contributions in this volume were carefully reviewed and selected from 48 submissions. LENLS (Logic and Engineering of Natural Language Semantics) is an annual international workshop on formal semantics and pragmatics. LENLS10 was the tenth event in the series, and it focused on the formal and theoret...

Turkey’s accession to the European Union is undoubtedly one of the Union’s most contested potential enlargements. The narrative that dominates the debate surrounding this issue primarily relates to problems such as a lack of respect for fundamental human rights in Turkey, the Kurdish question and the continuing stalemate concerning northern Cyprus.This book looks at these issues, but also proposes that a review of Turkey’s experience with the EU in its numerous incarnations suggest...

Given the unprecedented recent turmoil on financial markets we now face radically challenged, 'post-Lehmann' assumptions on protecting the vulnerable in financial transactions. This collection of essays explores conceptions of, and responses to, unconscionability and similar notions across Europe with specific reference to financial transactions. It presents a detailed analysis of concepts of unconscionability in Europe against a backdrop of Commission initiatives aimed, variously, at secu...

There has been much attention paid to the idea of Smart Cities as researchers have sought to define and characterize the main aspects of the concept, including the role of creative industries in urban growth, the importance of social capital in urban development, and the role of urban sustainability. This book develops a critical view of the Smart City concept, the incentives and role of governments in promoting the development of Smart Cities and the analysis of experiences of e-governmen...

This study offers an analysis of the UK's current economic policy options and a plan for improving life for ordinary citizens via a sensible and realistic understanding of governments' limited ability to manage economic performance. It provides a manifesto which political parties could immediately adopt to make life better for all.