Formal Rules Research Articles

Book Review: The Importance of Constitutional Rules and Property Rights. The German Economy in 1990–2015

The book titled The Importance of Constitutional Rules and Property Rights. The German Economy in 1990–2015 prepared by Damian Bębnowski, a researcher at the University of Lodz was published in 2022 by Peter Lang. This comprehensive 440-page monograph is devoted to an important event in recent German history, namely, the reunification and the period of building a social market economy order in the former GDR during the period indicated in the title.

Statistical variable selection and causality in the social and behavioral sciences

AbstractThe problem of “variable selection” is a fundamental one across the sciences. In its broadest terms, this problem would be at least part of the general issue of theory selection and comparison. However, there is a more circumscribed problem that concerns primarily the choice of variables for the best fitting model, given some set of data, usually observational in nature, and specific statistical techniques, typically multiple regression. There is a deep strand in econometrics and other applied social, behavioral, and biomedical science statistics to want formal decision rules or algorithms to pick out variables. The paper examines seven such formal procedures using a simulated data set with known causal relations. The conclusion is that seven often-used procedures make systematic causal errors. Some suggestions about better alternatives conclude.

Do religious values mitigate the effect of formal corporate governance rules on earnings management in Islamic countries? Evidence from Jordan

Purpose This study aims to assess the board of directors’ effectiveness in curbing earnings management (EM) in Jordan, a country where Islamic religious values strongly influence corporate practices. Design/methodology/approach Using a sample of 51 Amman Stock Exchange-listed firms from 2012 to 2022, generalised least squares regression is used to examine the association between board characteristics and EM. Findings Most board characteristics do not significantly affect EM. Interestingly, board activity is significantly and positively associated with EM, suggesting that the board’s monitoring function has been relegated to a secondary role. Research limitations/implications Formal corporate governance mechanisms may prove ineffective, as their effectiveness in limiting EM is undermined by informal rules. Practical implications Regulators should adapt corporate governance rules to the context in which they are embedded. Greater attention to religious dynamics could improve board oversight effectiveness. Originality/value This study provides a new perspective to analyse the relationship between corporate governance and EM. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is among the first studies to explore this issue within the context of Islamic countries.

Institutional analysis of water governance in the Colorado River Basin, 1922–2022

The 1922 Colorado River Compact started the long history of water governance in the Colorado River Basin. Over the last century, the institutional structure has shaped water governance in the basin. However, an understanding of the long-term evolution is lacking. This study examines how water management strategies have evolved at the basin scale by incorporating institutional, temporal, and network structure analysis methods to examine long-term changes. Content analysis was employed to systematically investigate encouraged and/or discouraged water management actions at different rule levels. The water governance network was examined at four points in time to map the institutional structure, actors, and governance level at which rules are issued and targeted. Using institutional analysis, we found constitutional, operational, and collective-choice level rules for water supply, storage, movement, and use have been altered via layering of new governance rules without major rule or responsibility alteration. The network analysis results indicate that key decision-making positions have remained and actors who issue and are targeted by the rules lack significant change. We found original positions of power have been maintained, potentially stagnating the space for problem-solving and management strategy renegotiation. Our results indicate that path dependency has shaped water governance and who is able to influence decision-making.

Causalities-multiplicity oriented joint interval-trend fuzzy information granulation for interval-valued time series multi-step forecasting

Interval-valued time series (ITSs) multi-step forecasting research is still in its infancy. Two cruces here lie in counterintuitive or conservative nature of semantic descriptors for ITSs, and disregard for multiplicity of causalities resulting from uncertainty in causalities between data or between trends within a set of interval-valued data. In this paper, we put forth a type of joint interval-trend fuzzy information granules, which takes non-loss of within-interval information as the main design criterion. A modified fuzzy information granulation method carries originality in portraying intuitive and accurate interval-trends, directly linked with inherent relational constraints such as lower bound data should not be greater than upper bound data. Furthermore, we formulate a legible format of multi-factor fuzzy IF-THEN rules, which exhibits interesting interpretations to causalities between interval-trends at a higher level of multiplicity. The forecasting process is fuzzy rules-based, resulting in wise results by calculating rule firing weights. Thus, we develop a well construct of accuracy and interpretability for multi-step forecasting of ITSs, manifested in: (a) reducing cumulative errors by operating at the granular level, and (b) perceiving interval-trends in an intelligible manner and emphasizing multiple causalities via transparent fuzzy logic inference. Experimental results convincingly confirm the validity of the model.

Legal Policy of Pretrial Arrangements in Criminal Procedure Law in Indonesia by the Constitutional Court

This research examines the legal policy direction of pretrial arrangements in Indonesia's criminal procedure law, focusing on Constitutional Court Decisions Number 21/PUU-XII/2014, 102/PUU-XIII/2015, and 66/PUU-XVI/2018. These decisions have significantly shaped the evolution of pretrial provisions, ensuring alignment with constitutional principles of justice, legal certainty, human rights protection, and simple, fast, low-cost justice. Through normative legal research employing statutory, conceptual, and case-based approaches, the study analyzes how the Constitutional Court's rulings address ambiguities in existing norms, enhance judicial oversight, and strengthen the protection of suspects' rights. Findings indicate that the Constitutional Court’s decisions aim to refine pretrial norms by expanding judicial authority, clarifying procedural ambiguities, and balancing human rights protection with efficient judicial processes. The research underscores the role of legal politics in harmonizing criminal procedural law with evolving societal and legal demands, offering insights for further reforms to uphold justice and human dignity. Future research could explore comparative analyses, implementation challenges, and the integration of digital technologies to enhance the efficiency and equity of pretrial systems.

Dare to share: information and intelligence sharing within the UK’s anti-money laundering regime

ABSTRACT The UK's approach to combating money laundering extends beyond traditional enforcement authorities, encompassing diverse regulated entities mandated to monitor and share intelligence on suspected laundering activities. This study examines the UK's Anti-Money Laundering (AML) nodal institutional architecture, focusing on the significance of information-sharing mechanisms and structures among law enforcement, public institutions, and private entities. Different types of information – ranging from raw data to strategic, tactical, and operational intelligence, as well as evidence – dictate the appropriate structures and mechanisms for their sharing. This study introduces a nuanced framework for analysing these structures, assessing the spectrum from highly structured to organic approaches in state intervention, alongside varying levels of formality, incorporating mandatory or voluntary elements. The analysis identifies four main factors shaping the dynamics of information sharing in the UK's AML efforts: strategic resource allocation involving technology and human resources, the establishment of formal rules and standardised interpretations, cultural shifts towards trust and reciprocity, and state coordination and leadership. The findings reveal the central role of the state not only in setting legal frameworks but also in steering coordination, managing resources, and fostering reciprocal relationships among public and private nodes to enhance information sharing, reflecting a ´state-anchored´ approach to AML governance.

Ethno-Design of Galicia at the Beginning of the 20th Century

The aim of the research is the factors and backgrounds formation of Galicia ethno-design at the beginning of XX century. The processes, which influenced the area of ethno-design development, have completely been spotlighted in the work. Its formation is being considered as the cultural event interrelated with the historic-economical, geographical, social-cultural changes in the region of the investigated period. Research methods: search-analytical (identification, literature analysis and origin foundation), historical (research of events and phenomena development), chronological (events consideration in the time consistency), logical-synthetic (factors, events and phenomena analysis), generalization and systematization results. Scientific novelty. In the research the backgrounds and features of regional manner-designed heritage formation have been revealed which are rooted in the unique folk art, folk art traditions, grand work of regional rules formation and stylization, ethno-pedagogics principles application in familial art upbringing, formation of private craft and art-industrial schools in the area, and so forth. Conclusions. As the result it has been concluded that the Galicia ethno-design at the beginning of the last century was characterized by the distinctive art and art-industrial traditions which influenced the unique Ukrainian style separation based on the West-European achievements. Different kinds of folk art, craft and homecraft played the important role in those processes. Through the nature forms and reasons stylization they gained their signs and colors semantics inherent of the area. The background of Galicia ethno-design development has become the esthetic tastes formation in family training of children and youth, ethno-pedagogical phenomenon of the regional art dynasties, foundation and performance of educational establishments with the national art-industrial culture of the area. It is highly important to use this experience in the professional training of Ukrainian designers.

Optimizing automated compliance checking with ontology-enhanced natural language processing: Case in the fire safety domain

The fire safety compliance checking (FSCC) plays a crucial role in ensuring the quality of fire engineering design and eliminating inherent fire hazards. It requires an objective and rational interpretation of fire regulations. However, the texts of fire regulations are filled with numerous rules related to spatial limitations, which pose a significant challenge in interpreting them. The current method of interpreting these rules mostly relies on manual translation, which is not efficient. To address this issue, this study proposes an innovative automated framework for interpreting rules by combining ontology technology with natural language processing (NLP). Through the utilization of pre-trained language models (PLMs), concepts and relationships are extracted from sentences, a domain-specific ontology is established, spatial knowledge is transformed into language-agnostic tree structures based on the ontology, and the semantic components of spatial relationships are extracted. The tree structure is then mapped to logical clauses based on semantic consistency, thereby improving the efficiency of interpretation. Experimental results demonstrate that the architecture achieves an F1 score of 86.27 for entity extraction and 81.81 for spatial relationship joint extraction tasks, with an accuracy of 96.26% in the formalization of logical rules, highlighting its proficiency in automatically interpreting fire spatial rules. This study offers technical support to enhance public understanding of fire safety management and fire prevention predictions, thereby promoting the intelligent management of the building safety environment.

HOW NOT TO DO EUROPEAN INTEGRATIONS: BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA AND LEGAL CHALLENGES IN ACCESSION PROCESS TO EUROPEAN UNION

Background: Bosnia and Herzegovina, with its complex constitutional and legal system, is facing many difficulties in its progress toward European Union membership. These challenges have been worsened by political instability, exacerbated by geopolitical shifts in Europe following Russian aggression on Ukraine. Legal complexities in the constitutional order of Bosnia and Herzegovina are often used to halt the country's progress and divert it from its European trajectory. This article analyses the specific instances of very unfavourable legal solutions that are hindering the EU accession process, as well as the recommendations put forth by the EU Commission aimed at removing these legal obstacles. There is an urgent need for reform of constitutional and legal rules to enable the country to effectively continue its EU accession path. The importance of the EU membership perspective for Bosnia and Herzegovina extends beyond simply joining a desirable club of prosperous countries; the reforms required during the EU accession process are needed to strengthen the efficiency of state institutions and secure lasting peace in the country and region. As such, the urgency and potential impact of these proposed legislative changes cannot be overstated. Methods: The research primarily employs a combination of analytical, normative, and comparative methods to examine the legal system and chronology of the integration process. The legal historical method is also used where appropriate. The research focuses on the content of constitutional norms, relevant legislative acts in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and legislative acts of the European Union and other countries. These legislative acts are compared with EU recommendations and legislation from other EU member states to identify the discrepancies. The article provides an overview of the legal framework governing EU integrations in Bosnia and Herzegovina, including norms of international law, constitutional law, national legislation, and EU law that are negatively impacting the EU accession process, and offers certain recommendations for their improvement. Results and conclusions: The research has identified certain norms of constitutional and legislative origin in the legal system of Bosnia and Herzegovina that are harming the country's ability to effectively engage in the EU accession process. Through a normative approach, the article gives recommendations for their improvement, which are in line with the standards set by the institutions of the EU. Amending these problematic legal frameworks would remove their use as political tools aimed at halting the country’s progress in the EU integrations.

A Formally Integrated Adaptive Speed Management for Proactive Traffic Safety

The emergence of connected autonomous vehicles (CAVs) represents a key development in the quest to enhance traffic safety. CAVs hold significant promise for improving traffic safety and have great potential to contribute to transportation sustainability. However, their safety depends on the accuracy of the programmed rules and algorithms that guide their decision-making process. This paper introduces an adaptive traffic management system that integrates a formal traffic safety rule defined by pre-established bounds for Traffic Conflict Techniques. This system enables dynamic speed adjustments for vehicles violating the traffic safety rule in order to prevent potential collisions. To evaluate the effectiveness of our approach, we study a traffic flow on the SR528 highway in Orlando, Florida, and analyze the behavior of each vehicle in traffic based on extracted traffic safety indicators such as time-to-collision and space headway. This analysis is performed by the traffic safety rule to identify violating vehicles, and the speed update is achieved through the integration of the computer algebra system Mathematica and a micro-simulation tool called SUMO. Our study aims to improve the safety and efficiency of the traffic flow by combining simulation, TCTs analysis, and semi-formal tools like Mathematica to aid in the decision-making process of vehicles during traffic events, particularly shockwaves. Preliminary results demonstrate the efficacy of our approach in mitigating the impact of shockwaves. After applying the speed update, we observe an increase in time-to-collision and space headway. This indicates improved safety and reduced likelihood of collisions. Our findings highlight the potential of adaptive traffic management systems to enhance transportation safety and efficiency.

The Roots of Direct Democracy in the United States: South Dakota’s 1898 Referendum Creating the First Statewide Initiative Process

Abstract We investigate voter preferences for changes in voting rules, focusing specifically on the creation of citizen-initiative processes that were originally adopted in South Dakota in 1898 and eventually enacted by half of the states. Various claims have been advanced about why the process was adopted and who supported or opposed it, but without presenting evidence from referenda where voters approved the creation of the process. We test these claims by examining county-level election returns from South Dakota’s 1898 referendum that created the first statewide initiative process in the United States. We find that support for the initiative process was generally higher among groups that are disadvantaged in various ways by existing representative institutions and perceive advantages in creating direct democratic institutions capable of bypassing representative processes. These findings stand in contrast to the notion that the adoption of constitutional rules will be relatively free from calculations rooted in self-interest and perceived advantage from the rules changes.

Freedom of Association in Mexico

Abstract Freedom of association has been constitutionally recognized in Mexico since the mid-19th century. But it has been in recent years that academic scholarship and case law have constructed its content and scope. It is a freedom right that requires the performance of a negative conduct on the part of the State. Its constitutionally protected scope comprises a positive, a negative, as well as a collective dimension. Additionally, it is an instrumental right through which other fundamental rights can be exercised and the constitutional and democratic Rule of Law is consolidated. The greatest academic scholarship and case law development in Mexico refers to two specific types of associations: political parties and labor unions.

Linking commoning with social forestry: An Indonesian case

Social forestry schemes aimed at both conservation and land redistribution for smallholders surrounding the Indonesian state forests. However, the results so far are mixed at best, with limited areas having been granted to the intended beneficiary groups. Several problems appear to be the causes. They range from the domination of administrative and managerial aspects of the scheme, lack of decision-making participation of the intended beneficiaries, to the program granting marginal land and/or located far from the smallholder villages. Consequently, smallholders are unenthusiastic about the schemes, conflict ensuing at the local level, and the marginalized groups are excluded from accessing the schemes. Focusing on a case from two smallholder groups granted with a Community Forestry scheme in a South Sulawesi village, we delve into the ways in which, and the extent to which, the smallholders are actually able to access the social forestry program. Exploring the case through the commoning perspective we examine the unique ways in which the local smallholder groups create specific social relations and governing institutions, through the practice of commoning, that enable them to effectively benefitting from the scheme. We found that through commoning the groups create their own collective local rules, as well as activating informal relations, they were able to develop effective collective management of their plots–that are treated as individual-holding in most other similar groups. These successes hinge on their ability to develop and maintain the commoning practice, utilizing deep local knowledge, and unique historical context around Indonesian social forestry. The case presents a unique way in which smallholders are muddling through the red tapes of formal rules in order to make a successful story that the state scheme intended to achieve.

Executive recruitment and the role of institutional factors: explaining profiles of regional presidents in Slovakia and the Czech Republic

ABSTRACT We employ a comparative analysis of heads of regional executives in two similar countries with different regional political subsystems. In Slovakia, governors operate under a system of separation of powers, are directly elected through a majoritarian electoral system and are not answerable to regional assemblies. In the Czech Republic, governors are elected by the regional assemblies (therefore indirectly) and can be removed from office by a no-confidence motion. Our results suggest that direct elections tend to produce fewer female governors and empower non-affiliated (non-party) outsiders; the share of regional governors without prior political experience is not affected by the formal institutional rules.

COMMUNICATION AND FORMALIZATION OF FAMILY FARMING ENTERPRISES, TRADITIONAL PEOPLES AND COMMUNITIES

The creation and implementation of the Communication and Formalization Tools Manual aimed at family farming enterprises, traditional peoples and communities of the Puranga Conquista Sustainable Development Reserve, in Manaus-AM, aims to train community members in the production and circulation of formal documents so that they can communicate formally with institutions of interest to them, using letters, emails, minutes, requests, complaints, requests and internal regulations. To this end, a bibliographical research was carried out, based on books, articles, reports and manuals available on academic platforms and digital repositories. The research steps included the selection and analysis of textual genres, development of production instructions for each tool and organization of these instructions in a practical manual. Among the results are the improvement in documentary production by the communities, the strengthening of their social organizations and the ability to articulate their demands more effectively with government agencies and partners. In addition, the formalization of internal rules through internal regulations contributes to a more efficient and harmonious management of community relations with natural resources. Furthermore, the research brings the community closer to public institutions, which need to communicate, as well as promoting technological inclusion and literacy in social writing practices, training community members in the use of formal communication tools. In short, this research meets the immediate needs of the communities of the Puranga Conquista RDS, strengthening autonomy, management capacity and participation in decision-making processes.

Democratic self-determination and the need for deliberation

I offer in this paper a new conception of democratic self-determination. My proposal defends Rafanelli's peaceful reform intervention from the concern that we should not promote justice abroad, because it would interfere with the self-determining choice of other people to select an authoritarian government. I challenge this influential view of authoritarian self-determination. I argue instead that self-determination should be democratic in its input, or the procedure deliberating and voting on the constitution. Self-determination should also be democratic in its output, or the constitution's rules. Democratic self-determination offers three important advantages: it joins self-determination indivisibly with other inalienable human rights, such as the human right to racial non-discrimination. Second, it guards against the problem of the false mandate, or authoritarians attempting to legitimate their autocratic rule using rigged referenda and suppressed debate. Third, democratic self-determination reduces the risk of ethnic conflict given the diversity of actual states. Democratic self-determination passes the a ctual deliberation test, since it has been vindicated by inclusive deliberation with people from diverse cultures.

Diagnostic reasoning and cognitive error in emergency medicine: Implications for teaching and learning.

Accurate diagnosis in emergency medicine (EM) is high stakes and challenging. Research into physicians' clinical reasoning has been ongoing since the late 1970s. The dual-process theory has established itself as a valid model, including in EM. It is based on the distinction between two information-processing systems. System 1 rapidly generates one or more diagnostic hypotheses almost instantaneously, driven by experiential knowledge, while System 2 proceeds more slowly and analytically, applying formal rules to arrive at a final diagnosis. We reviewed the literature on dual-process theory in the fields of cognitive science, medical education and emergency medicine. The literature reflects two prominent interpretations regarding the relationship between the fast and slow phases and these interpretations carry very different implications for the training of clinical learners. One interpretation, prominent in the EM community, presents it as a "check-and-balance" framework in which most diagnostic error is caused by cognitive biases originating within System 1. As a result, EM residents are frequently advised to deploy analytical (System 2) strategies to correct such biases. However, such teaching approaches are not supported by research into the nature of diagnostic reasoning. An alternative interpretation assumes a harmonious relationship between Systems 1 and 2 in which both fast and slow processes are driven by underlying knowledge that conditions performance and the occurrence of errors. Educational strategies corresponding to this alternative have not been explored in the EM literature. In this paper, we offer proposals for improving the teaching and learning of diagnostic reasoning by EM residents.

ЭТИКА И ДЕОНТОЛОГИЯ КАК БАЗОВЫЙ ПРИНЦИП РАБОТЫ МНОГОПРОФИЛЬНОГО РЕАБИЛИТАЦИОННОГО ЦЕНТРА, ПРИМЕНЯЮЩЕГО МЕТОДЫ НАУЧНОЙ МУЗЫКОТЕРАПИИ

This article presents literary data on the history of the formation of norms and rules of medical ethics. It substantiates the position on the need to comply with them in medical and preventive institutions not only by doctors or nurses, but also by employees of other specialties, such as psychologists, music therapists, etc. The advantages of combining medicine and art, innovative technologies in scientific music therapy, and the norms of medical ethics in practical activities are shown using the example of the multidisciplinary rehabilitation center «Doctor Music from Estonia». Compliance with these principles has ensured a reputation as an advanced organization, as well as respect and trust from the population. Such experience may be useful for other medical and preventive organizations.

The (Il)legitimacy of Constitutional Amendments in Africa and Democratic Backsliding

Abstract In many African countries with hegemonic-party or de facto one-party systems, political leaders have historically exploited ostensibly proper constitutional amendments to undermine constitutionalism, a practice raising questions about the legitimacy, or lack thereof, of such amendments. This article argues that amendment legitimacy is contingent on achieving ‘broad consensus’, a concept endorsed by the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance. Traditional amendment procedures, such as supermajorities and referendums, while crucial, have proven to be imperfect proxies for ensuring such broad consensus. To more effectively safeguard the core constitutional rules of democratic governance, this article contends that political parties must be recognised as key sites of power division and checks and balances. Accordingly, constitutional amendment procedures should require some level of cross-party approval for key amendments, thus preventing individual political groups, regardless of their dominance, from unilaterally altering fundamental rules of the game. This approach would not only enhance the legitimacy of amendments but also serve as a safeguard against contemporary forms of democratic backsliding, where incumbents exploit formal processes to undermine democratic competition. While this process might make constitutional changes more difficult, it would apply only to a narrow set of fundamental aspects of constitutional democracy. Moreover, it does not necessarily conflict with popular self-governance (and its majoritarian expression), but instead calls for an inclusive re-imagining of majoritarianism.