Partial Reform Research Articles

Institutional quality and US FDI outflows: Do political regimes matter?

To what extent are the locational decisions for US FDI outflows affected by the nature of the political regimes along with the quality of institutions in the host countries? Using property rights protection as an indicator of institutional quality, this study analyses how sensitive US FDI outflows are to institutional factors and to the nature of the hosting countries’ political regimes. In other words, whether a democratic or an autocratic regime makes any difference in terms of attracting US FDI. A joint effect between democracy and the protection of property rights on US FDI flows is examined using a panel data fixed effect technique for forty-one countries during the period 1984–2021. The instrumental variable method is used to check the endogeneity concerns. The results predict that the protection of property rights can have a positive impact in attracting US FDI, provided the countries in question become more democratic in nature. The findings suggest that partial reform to enhance the institutional quality or unconsolidated democratization are insufficient to attract US FDI rather than complementing each other in bringing FDI. The implication of the findings reveals that a democratic country such as India can be a good location for US investment if its protection of property rights becomes stronger. Moreover, some highly democratic countries with strong institutions should be more market oriented and improve their quality of infrastructure to receive the maximum benefit. Our results are robust to alternate measures of institutional quality/democracy and endogeneity concerns.

Sun from Behind the Clouds: the Appeals Board of the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts

Abstract One of the lesser-known regional international organizations in Europe is the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF). It has a mandate to undertake tasks such as the production of weather forecasts, conduct scientific research to improve meteorological projections, maintain extensive datasets, and to better coordinate European meteorological infrastructure. The Centre has three sites across three European states where it has over 400 staff, and given it is immune from suit, its staff members only have an internal justice mechanism to resort to in the event of employment/pensions disputes. Little is known about the ECMWF Appeals Board given its untransparent nature. As uncovered in this article, it has undergone partial reform, and simultaneously, there has been an uptick in the number of cases. This article analyses these developments and highlights that more must be done to align the ECMWF Appeals Boards with the features of other international administrative tribunals.

Roadmaps to managed competition: to what extent does South Africa meet the preconditions for equity and efficiency?

South Africa offers universal health coverage through large public and private systems. The private system is characterised by a regulated market for health insurance, referred to domestically as medical schemes. From 2000, the private system was undergoing a reform process consistent with theoretical approaches for regulated competition for health insurance. However, from 2008, the reform process was interrupted, leaving in place a partial framework which included open enrolment, community rating and regulated minimum benefits but excluded, inter alia, risk equalisation. The incomplete reform, however, provides an opportunity to examine the system outcomes that result from a partial approach. This paper therefore reviews the system outcomes of the partial reform using a descriptive data analysis. The findings then inform an evaluation of the extent to which the preconditions for regulated competition have been met as indicated by the theory of regulated competition in healthcare. The paper therefore highlights the areas where regulatory interventions need to be prioritised in South Africa to achieve the objectives of regulatory competition that are able to achieve access, fairness and efficiency. The analysis points to significant failures at the level of health insurance competition in South Africa with resulting outcomes consistent with the theory of regulated competition.

MEDIOS DE VIDA RURALES, POBREZA Y PROTECCIÓN SOCIAL EN UN ANTIGUO PAÍS SOVIÉTICO, KIRGUISTÁN

In Kyrgyzstan, many rural families have tried to escape poverty by migrating to urban centres within the country or abroad. Although the poverty rate has tended to decline over the course of this century, it has recently increased significantly, mainly due to the COVID pandemic and its aftermath. A few years after independence from the USSR (1991), the national government reintroduced a model of social protection, albeit less generous than that of the Soviet era. With some partial reforms, this model has been maintained until today. Its effectiveness seems insufficient, especially the noncontributory component, which supports poor rural and urban families. The situation of the latter is aggravated by the limited scope and coverage of free public health services. Despite tight national budget margins, fiscal space could be created to refinance some national priorities. These include the social protection system. However, this system should also be redesigned to become more progressive and poverty-oriented.

Criminal policy and sanctions in the 2020s and onwards: Determinants of penal culture in Finland during the last 150 years

This article provides a fragmentary overview of the developments of criminal law and criminal policy in Finland during the last 150 years. It reflects the author’s experiences as a criminal scientist and an expert in drafting criminal legislation over 50 years. This review uses the conclusions from Cesare Beccaria’s classic, centuries-old book as its starting point: a punishment may not be an act of violence, but should be public, immediate, necessary, as minimal as the case allows, proportional to the crime, and determined by law. The Finnish Penal Code of 1889 was originally thoroughly permeated by both the principles and the spirit of the classical school of penal law, wherein punishment was primarily regarded as retribution for an offence and the penal system was therefore tolerably harmonious with the demands of general deterrence. More weight was given to individual prevention when the Code was first drafted. Later on, the influence of the sociological school of penal law, which focused on the offender and individualized criminal sanctions, led to partial reforms of the penal system, such as the enactment of the Conditional Sentences Act of 1918, the Dangerous Recidivists Act of 1932, and the Young Offenders Act of 1940. The day fine system of 1921 and the fluctuations in the ideology regarding indeterminate penal sanctions are analyzed. The total reform of the Penal Code between 1972 and 2003 aimed to create a more rational penal system – one designed for efficient, just, and humane criminal justice. An ambitious attempt was made in as uniform and systematic a way as possible to assess the goals, interests, and values that the new Criminal Code should promote and protect. The existence of the criminal justice system was justified on utilitarian grounds. The structure and operation of a penal system, however, cannot be founded solely on the basis of utility; the criteria of justice and humaneness must also be applied. The penal system must be rational in regard to both its goals (utility) and its values (justice and humaneness). The developments since the 1990s have been characterized by the influence of human rights and basic rights on both criminal and procedural law, as well as by the effects of internationalizing and Europeanizing the criminal justice system. The latter tendencies have resulted in the diversification of criminal law.

Social policy of Ukraine under the conditions of martial state: level of support by EU states

Aim. The aim of this research is to highlight the influence of European integration on the optimization of the legal fundamentals of social policy in Ukraine. Methodology. The research is based on the comparative legal method used for comparison of EU social law with the social law of Ukraine. The method of dialectic enables to establish contradictions in the legal norms that regulate the social system of Ukraine and determine its social policy. The systemic and functional method was used to study the system of regulation of the sphere of social relations in Ukraine, systems of social policy measures as well as functional interrelationships between them. The method of generalization was used for the systematization and interpretation of the results obtained during the study. Results. The research showed that the main ways of improving social policy in Ukraine and legal regulation in the social sphere include: ratification of the European Social Charter and its implementation plan in Ukraine; creation of a coherent strategy in the field of provision of social services; the accession of Ukraine to the European Code of Social Security; partial reform of the legal regulation of labor and employment of the population; improvement of legal regulation and social policy in the field of social protection, labor and employment of internally displaced persons from temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine. Scientific novelty. During the research, it was established that on the way to the EU, Ukraine has faced the following problems with its social policy and law: problems with the Ukrainian legislation on social security; problems with regulating the labor market, employment and poverty reduction; problems with improvement of the legislation on labor protection; problems with stimulating entrepreneurship as the basis for ensuring social standards and employment of the population; problems with adaptation of socially vulnerable groups of the population. Practical significance. The results of the research can be used in international law.

Judicial ethics in Ibero America- towards a perspective of gender and modernity

Some of the great challenges facing judicial ethics are directed towards technological advances and inequalities faced by the administration of justice and that must be addressed from Judicial Ethics to strengthen the efficiency, effectiveness and legitimacy of justice institutions and renew the foundations of organizational culture, therefore, these issues are addressed from a deductive methodology and with a gender perspective, also taking up for this analysis, the Twenty-third opinion, of February 21 of this year, of the Ibero-American Ethics Commission Court on the proposal for a partial reform of the Ibero-American Code of Judicial Ethics. Speakers: Maria Thereza Rocha de Asisis Moura, Octavio A. Tejeiro Duque and David Odóñez Solís (CIEJ, Opinions nd).

From creating to confronting racial hierarchies: The evolving role of the US state in land policy

AbstractFrom systemically dispossessing Indigenous people of their territory for Euro‐American settlement to routinely denying African American farmers operating loans in the 20th century, the US government's complicity in creating racial hierarchies in terms of land access is well documented. Less understood is how land policies oriented towards racial equity, namely, the Justice for Black Farmers Act (JBFA), and other initiatives that deal with land access as well as addressing racism more broadly, emerged during recent decades. In this article, we argue that such initiatives resulted from Black‐led organizations and other farmer advocacy allies responding to neoliberal policy reforms. Concretely, even as these reforms destabilized farm economies, they also led to a decentralization of agricultural policy administration, which, in turn, created opportunities for community‐based organizations to influence land governance. We make this argument after presenting a three‐part periodization of the evolution of US land policy, starting with the emergence of racial hierarchies, then the period of partial reforms that began during the New Deal and, finally, the era of neoliberal reform.

Constitutional reform of 2020 reducing the number of members of Parliament in Italy: towards the rationalization of the parliamentary system?

The article aims to analize the nature and systemic implications of the constitutional reform carried out in the Italian Republic in 2020, which reduced the number of members of the chambers of parliament. It was the first revision of the Italian constitution since 2001 that was approved in a nationwide referendum, which was the condition for the entry into force of the amendment (two other constitutional revisions: from 2005 and 2016, were rejected in a referendum vote). The concept of rationalization of parliamentarism has been adopted as the leading theoretical reference in this text. The initial research question focused on to what extend the postulate of rationalization of the Italian parliamentarism was achieved by the way of undertaken initiatives to revise the constitutional order. The analyzes carried out allowed to formulate a proposal to explain the potential of rationalization of parliamentarism within the so-called partial reform in the face of failures in implementing comprehensive reforms.

Desigualdad de derechos laborales y su relación con el servicio civil meritocrático en el sector público del Perú

The purpose of the investigation is to explain the relationship between the labor rights of administrative personnel and the meritocratic civil service in the public sector of the Department of La Libertad. The methodology used corresponds to a cross-sectional, descriptive and relational study. The sample was determined in 114 participants applying the formula for finite populations, the inclusion criterion was belonging to a labor regime under appointment or contracting. The information gathering technique corresponds to thesurvey and the standardized questionnaire was the data collection instrument. The results made it possible to fundamentally establish the SCM as the only form of employment to limit inequalities in rights; As meritocratic preferences, merit, evaluation, training, job performance and transparency are highlighted; In order to secure due distributive justice, public tenders, incentives and benefits, and quality of life are considered the most relevant DL. The study concludes by endorsing a civil service as a comprehensive and not partial reform as established by law, to transition to a real meritocracy and enjoyment of rights at the departmental level.

The urgency of law reforms on economic crimes in Indonesia

The Indonesia’s economy has experienced rapid and massive development. Even after its contraction due to the pandemic in 2020, the economic growth of Indonesia is still highly significant. Digital transactions play an important role in the economic development. However, the economic growth may potentially lead to considerable number of economic crimes. To deal with them, the penal policy on economic crimes has not been developed according to the growth. The disparity among criminal provisions in economic sectors results in legal uncertainty in the enforcement of economic crimes. This research aims to shed a light on the current penal policy on economic crimes and the urgency of the reform on the economic criminal law. It is concluded that the Economic Crimes Law 1955 is no longer relevant to eradicate economic crimes in Indonesia. Furthermore, Indonesia Penal Code is far left behind by the current economic development. Therefore, a far-reaching reform is necessary. The partial reform of economic criminal law through various legislations has resulted in the legal uncertainty. For instance, they embrace different corporate criminal liability and sentencing principles. Hence, it is important to formulate a law on the principles of economic criminal law applying to all economic crimes.

“Wanting a Supplement”: Milton and the Partial Reformation of His First Folio

ABSTRACT The response to the identification of John Milton’s Shakespeare in 2019 was deservedly enthusiastic, but the excitement has perhaps resulted in some overstatement of what it tells us about Milton as a reader of Shakespeare or Milton as a textual critic. The marked-up First Folio is an unusual and noteworthy record of a reader’s engagement with the plays, but it does not tell us quite what we want it to, especially now that we know the reader was Milton. Ultimately it tells us less about his understanding of Shakespeare and his texts than about Milton’s understanding of textuality itself.

Legal fundamentals of the social policy in Ukraine: influence of European integration

Purpose. The aim of this research is to highlight the influence of European integration on the optimization of the legal fundamentals of social policy in Ukraine. Methodology. The research is based on the comparative legal method used for comparison of EU social law with the social law of Ukraine. The method of dialectic enables to establish contradictions in the legal norms that regulate the social system of Ukraine and determine its social policy. The systemic and functional method was used to study the system of regulation of the sphere of social relations in Ukraine, systems of social policy measures as well as functional interrelationships between them. The method of generalization was used for the systematization and interpretation of the results obtained during the study. Results. The research showed that the main ways of improving social policy in Ukraine and legal regulation in the social sphere include: ratification of the European Social Charter and its implementation plan in Ukraine; creation of a coherent strategy in the field of provision of social services; the accession of Ukraine to the European Code of Social Security; partial reform of the legal regulation of labor and employment of the population; improvement of legal regulation and social policy in the field of social protection, labor and employment of internally displaced persons from temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine. Scientific novelty. During the research, it was established that on the way to the EU, Ukraine has faced the following problems with its social policy and law: problems with the Ukrainian legislation on social security; problems with regulating the labor market, employment and poverty reduction; problems with improvement of the legislation on labor protection; problems with stimulating entrepreneurship as the basis for ensuring social standards and employment of the population; problems with adaptation of socially vulnerable groups of the population. Practical significance. The results of the research can be used in international law.

İSVİÇRE’DE SİGORTA SÖZLEŞMESİ HAKKINDA FEDERAL KANUN’DA YAPILAN (KISMİ) REFORM ÜZERİNE BİR İNCELEME

İsviçre’de sigorta hukukuna ilişkin kurallar iki temel kanunla düzenlenmiştir. Sigorta şirketlerinin kuruluşları, faaliyetleri ve denetimleri hakkındaki kurallar 2004 tarihli Sigorta Şirketlerinin Denetimine İlişkin Federal Kanun (İsvSDK) ile düzenlenmiştir. Sigorta sözleşmelerine ilişkin genel kurallar ise Sigorta Sözleşmesi Hakkında Federal Kanun’da (İsvSSK) yer almaktadır. 1908 tarihli İsvSSK, 1910 yılında yürürlüğe girmesinden bu yana birçok kez değişikliğe uğramasına rağmen varlığını bir asırdan beri sürdürmektedir. Kanun’un günümüz koşullarına uygun olmadığı değişik zamanlarda birçok yazar tarafından vurgulanmıştır. Son yıllarda Kanun’un değiştirilmesine yönelik birçok reform çalışması yapılmıştır. Bu çalışmalar sonucunda hazırlanan İsvSSK’da kısmı bir reform yapılmasına yönelik tasarı 19.07.2020’de yasalaşmış ve 01.01.2022 tarihinde yürürlüğe girmiştir. Bu çalışmada söz konusu kısmi reform incelenmesi amaçlanmıştır.

Why democratic police reform mostly fails and sometimes succeeds: police reform and low state capacity, authoritarianism and neo-patrimonial politics (in the former Soviet Union)

ABSTRACT Democratic police reform models dominate discussions on police reform in non-Western contexts. Researchers and practitioners often attribute reform failings to personnel and institutional failure within police organisations, the weakness of formal external institutions of control and accountability, lack of inclusion of, or customisation to, hybrid forms of governance or a failure to address social injustice more broadly. Drawing on analysis of political and police transformation in Georgia, Kyrgyzstan and Russia this paper suggests low state capacity and authoritarian and neo-patrimonial politics present more prominent barriers to DPR. In low capacity states police pay is insufficient and bureaucratic control weak. Formal reforms have little influence over the police who are influenced by organised crime and corrupt police leaders and politicians. Authoritarian and neo-patrimonial elites often stymie reform initiatives which undermine their political and economic interests. Full DPR is thus unlikely without increasing state capacity and political elite will and capacity to democratise control of the police. But contrary to democratisation being key to successful reform the relationship between regime type and reform outcomes is more nuanced. Partial reform is possible where a partially authoritarian/neo-patrimonial regime has the ability to improve police effectiveness and clampdown on corruption and prioritises these.

National oil companies and fossil fuel subsidy regimes in transition: The case of Indonesia

It has long been recognised that national oil companies (NOCs) offer the means for funding and delivering fuel subsidies as a politically valuable good. But what happens when the oil begins to run out? Fiscal pressures will clearly increase, but there is also evidence that net importers with NOCs are still more likely to have subsidies than those without. A key question about countries moving through this transition is therefore whether and how the role of NOCs in the subsidy regime changes as the classic logic erodes. We examine these issues in a detailed case study of Indonesia, which became a net oil importer in the early 2000s. A series of partial reforms of FFS has followed, but subsidies remain and the NOC still plays a central role in their delivery. We find that certain functions of the NOC, such as obfuscating the fiscal cost of subsidies, have eroded. But increasing fiscal pressure has not so far overcome the political lock-in of subsidies and institutional inertia in the role of the NOC. Fundamental reform remains unlikely in the short term, but separating the upstream and downstream businesses of the NOC and changing its governance could help support that reform.

Proportional Representation and Right-Wing Populism: Evidence from Electoral System Change in Europe

AbstractHow much do electoral institutions matter for the rise of populist parties? Evidence on this question is mixed, with some scholars arguing that the role of electoral rules is small. We provide new evidence for the impact of electoral system change. The UK's adoption of a proportional electoral system for European elections in 1999 provides a unique opportunity to study the link between electoral rules and the ascendancy of right-wing populist parties. Employing both synthetic control and difference-in-difference methods, we estimate that the electoral reform increased the vote share of right-wing populists by about 12 to 13.5 percentage points on average. During a time when populism was rising across Europe, the reform abruptly shifted populist votes in the UK above the European trend and above more plausible comparison cases. Our results also imply that caution is needed when empirical results based on partial reforms are extrapolated to electoral system change.

The importance of institutional quality: Reviewing the relevance of Indonesia’s Omnibus Law on national competitiveness

Institutional quality is significantly relevant in determining national competitiveness when reflected in economic growth and successful development. Quality institutions manifest in robust ‘rules of the game’ reflected by sound governance and policymaking in at least four streams: social, economic, administrative, and political. Policy reforms intended to improve national competitiveness should aim to strengthen the streams simultaneously, whereas partial reforms could instead lead to poorer outcomes. Through the lens of institutional quality analysis, this paper critically reviews the relevance of Indonesia’s Job Creation Law, colloquially known as the Omnibus Law, to improve the country’s national competitiveness as conceptually intended. Declared as an overarching regulatory framework, the Law postulates Indonesia as prospecting for increased foreign investments. However, the Law is a partial policy reform as it overlooks the pivotal aspects necessary to improve institutional quality in Indonesia, such as inter-community relations, intellectual property regime certainty, quality vocational education, and meritocratic political recruitment. Thus, regardless of the opportunities, the Law may bring about, it may weaken national competitiveness instead. The Law is currently ruled conditionally unconstitutional by Indonesia’s Constitutional Court. If it is to be defended by the government, however, further multi-sectoral collaboration is necessary for the future implementation of the Law to enhance Indonesia’s institutional quality. In a more global context, this review indicates how developing nations should be mindful of various non-economic aspects (e.g., cultural and educational levels of the population) when undertaking policy reforms especially to enhance their national competitiveness. There may be future downsides to these implications and as it is too early to critically assess them, there is an opportunity through time and future research to do so.

Poreske olakšice za zapošljavanje novonastanjenih lica

The paper analyzes the tax relief for employment of new residents. In the first two parts, there is a legal analysis of Art. 15c of the Law on Personal Income Tax and Art. 15a of the Law on Contributions for Mandatory Social Insurance. Then, this tax relief will be examined in the context of the principles of tax law and public finance, especially the principle of tax fairness, the principle of tax efficiency and the principle of the stability of the tax system. The conclusion is that the problem of the outflow of highly skilled workers could not be solved by partial reforms of tax laws. A systematic solution implies a radical reform of the personal income tax, which would be firmly based on the principles of tax law and tax science.

Structural Distortions: Re-examining State Capture and Apprising its Persistence and Effects

Moldova is a textbook-plus case of a captured state, a condition synonymous with a number of post-Soviet countries. Moldova’s state capture resulted from its post-1991 partial reform path which enabled the emergence of oligarchs able to seize core state functions and distort business environments to the detriment of the public good. Moldova is significant because of the extremity of its state capture with a single oligarchic network shaping the rules of the game in political, economic, social and to a degree foreign policy terms. This situation created a vicious circle, which hindered Moldova’s development, reinforced poverty and the hollowing out of the state through mass migration. 2021 offers a vantage point to consider whether Moldova can shed its capture via the anti-corruption reform programme set out by president Maia Sandu or whether prospects for change are more likely to be impeded by persistent vested interests keen to keep the status quo. Future remedies for Moldova hinge on there being palpable socio-economic improvements to people’s lives, twinned with successful prosecutions of those responsible for large-scale acts of corruption and embezzlement. Aside from this, reforms need to hone in on improving the business environment, the weaving in of women’s empowerment and providing solutions to stem outwards migration.