scholarly journals The Limitations of Comparative Institutional Analysis

AJIL Unbound ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 112 ◽  
pp. 255-260
Author(s):  
Sadie Blanchard
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Cognitive Processing ◽  
Foreign Investment ◽  
Simple Technique ◽  
Institutional Analysis ◽  
Law Reform ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Nation States ◽  
Comparative Institutional Analysis ◽  
Investment Law

Atul Gawande's Checklist Manifesto became a sensation in 2009 because it promised that a simple technique could powerfully discipline decision-making. Gawande had saved lives using hospital checklists, and he argued that checklists could improve outcomes in other complicated endeavors. Checklists, he explained, “provide a kind of cognitive net. They catch mental flaws.” Neil Komesar's method of comparative institutional analysis is by necessity messier than the checklist and does not claim to produce faultless policy-making. But Komesar similarly seeks to improve cognitive processing by imposing a disciplining framework on decision-making. Sergio Puig and Gregory Shaffer's effort to introduce Komesar's technique to the debate about foreign investment law reform is welcome. Their emphasis on tradeoffs among institutional alternatives helps us to appreciate the different contexts facing different nation states, the value of regime competition, and consequently, the importance of implementing reforms in ways that preserve a variety of options for states. If they persuade commentators and policy-makers to take stock of the tradeoffs among institutional alternatives, Puig and Shaffer will have made a meaningful contribution. Still, their analysis illustrates some of the weaknesses of comparative institutional analysis. In this essay, I identify those weaknesses and suggest that they also weigh in pluralism's favor.

scholarly journals Towards supported decision-making: Article 12 of the convention on the rights of persons with disabilities and guardianship law reform

2017 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 21-43
Author(s):  
Bruce Alston
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Law Reform ◽  
Major Focus ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Persons With Disabilities ◽  
Full Effect ◽  
Guardianship Law ◽  
The Will ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Equal Right

In 2014, a set of National Decision-Making Principles (the Principles) was recommended by theAustralian Law Reform Commission as a legal policy guide for reform of Commonwealth, State and Territory laws. The Principles were aimed to encourage supported decision-making; make the appointment of representatives only a last resort; and to ensure that the will, preferences and rights of individuals direct decisions affecting their lives. This article discusses the sources of the Principles and their relationship to Art 12 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The article then examines the steps that are needed to give the Principles full effect in Australian laws to regulate decision-making by individuals who require support. A major focus in implementing a paradigm shift towards supported decision-making is reform of State and Territory guardianship and administration laws. The article examines how guardianship laws should be reformed consistently with the Principles - to ensure that guardianship is invoked only as a last resort and after considering the availability of support to assist people in decision-making. Further, guardianship should be as confined in scope and duration as is reasonably possible; subject to accessible mechanisms for review; and decision-making should respect the will, preferences and rights of the individual. At Commonwealth level, the National Disability Insurance Scheme legislation incorporates some elements of supported decision-making. However, these should also be augmented by providing legal recognition for supporters, and associated safeguards. The author suggests that the Principles can be a catalyst for facilitating important law reform over following decades. The article examines how the Principles may be used by communities, policy-makers and governments to promote world-leading legal changes to ensure that individuals with disability have an equal right to make decisions for themselves.

scholarly journals Imperfect Alternatives: Institutional Choice and the Reform of Investment Law

2018 ◽  
Vol 112 (3) ◽  
pp. 361-409 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sergio Puig ◽  
Gregory Shaffer
Keyword(s):  
Rule Of Law ◽  
International Institutions ◽  
Institutional Analysis ◽  
Institutional Choice ◽  
The Rule Of Law ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Comparative Institutional Analysis ◽  
Investment Law ◽  
Institutional Choices

AbstractThis Article applies the theory of comparative institutional analysis to evaluate the trade-offs associated with alternative mechanisms for resolving investment disputes. We assess the trade-offs in light of the principle of accountability under the rule of law, which underpins the goals of fairness, efficiency, and peace that are attributed to investment law. The Article makes two recommendations: first, reforms should address complementarity between domestic and international institutions; second, institutional choices should respond to the different contexts that states face.

scholarly journals Incremental, Systemic, and Paradigmatic Reform of Investor-State Arbitration

2018 ◽  
Vol 112 (3) ◽  
pp. 410-432 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anthea Roberts
Keyword(s):  
Institutional Analysis ◽  
Institutional Choice ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Comparative Institutional Analysis ◽  
Investment Law ◽  
Alternative Processes

InImperfect Alternatives: Institutional Choice and the Reform of Investment Law, Sergio Puig and Gregory Shaffer introduce comparative institutional analysis to evaluate alternative processes for resolving investment disputes. The impetus for this article is clear: many states view investor-state arbitration as akin to a horse that has bolted from the barn. Wishing to close the stable door, a wide range of states are considering the merits of various reform proposals. Puig and Shaffer's comprehensive and balanced framework for assessing the tradeoffs involved in making different choices is thus a welcome and timely intervention in these (often highly polarized) debates.

Cognitive Processing of Miscommunication in Interactive Listening: An Evaluation of Listener Indecision and Cognitive Effort

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-17
Author(s):  
Jennifer M. Roche ◽  
Arkady Zgonnikov ◽  
Laura M. Morett
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Cognitive Processing ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Cognitive Effort ◽  
Mouse Tracking ◽  
Computer Mouse ◽  
Decision Making Processes ◽  
Computer Mouse Tracking ◽  
Listening Task ◽  
Processing Effort

Purpose The purpose of the current study was to evaluate the social and cognitive underpinnings of miscommunication during an interactive listening task. Method An eye and computer mouse–tracking visual-world paradigm was used to investigate how a listener's cognitive effort (local and global) and decision-making processes were affected by a speaker's use of ambiguity that led to a miscommunication. Results Experiments 1 and 2 found that an environmental cue that made a miscommunication more or less salient impacted listener language processing effort (eye-tracking). Experiment 2 also indicated that listeners may develop different processing heuristics dependent upon the speaker's use of ambiguity that led to a miscommunication, exerting a significant impact on cognition and decision making. We also found that perspective-taking effort and decision-making complexity metrics (computer mouse tracking) predict language processing effort, indicating that instances of miscommunication produced cognitive consequences of indecision, thinking, and cognitive pull. Conclusion Together, these results indicate that listeners behave both reciprocally and adaptively when miscommunications occur, but the way they respond is largely dependent upon the type of ambiguity and how often it is produced by the speaker.

KEBIJAKAN POLITIK KERUKUNAN ANTARAGAMA DI INDONESIA ERA REFORMASI

2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 407-424
Author(s):  
Jamaluddin Jamaluddin
Keyword(s):  
Transition Period ◽  
Religious Life ◽  
New Order ◽  
Reform Era ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Accommodation Space ◽  
Nation States ◽  
The Government ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Cultural Reality

Indonesian reformation era begins with the fall of President Suharto. Political transition and democratic transition impact in the religious life. Therefore, understandably, when the politic transition is not yet fully reflects the idealized conditions. In addition to the old paradigm that is still attached to the brain of policy makers, various policies to mirror the complexity of stuttering ruler to answer the challenges of religious life. This challenge cannot be separated from the hegemonic legacy of the past, including the politicization of SARA. Hegemony that took place during the New Order period, adversely affected the subsequent transition period. It seems among other things, with airings various conflicts nuances SARA previously muted, forced repressive. SARA issues arise as a result of the narrowing of the accommodation space of the nation state during the New Order regime. The New Order regime has reduced the definition of nation-states is only part of a group of people loyal to the government to deny the diversity of socio-cultural reality in it. To handle the inheritance, every regime in the reform era responds with a pattern and a different approach. It must be realized, that the post-reform era, Indonesia has had four changes of government. The leaders of every regime in the reform era have a different background and thus also have a vision that is different in treating the problem of racial intolerance, particularly against religious aspect. This treatment causes the accomplishment difference each different regimes of dealing with the diversity of race, religion and class that has become the hallmark of Indonesian society.

China's International Investment Strategy

2019 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Development Strategy ◽  
Foreign Investment ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Investment Strategy ◽  
International Investment ◽  
Bilateral Investment Treaties ◽  
Open Door Policy ◽  
Outward Fdi ◽  
Investment Law ◽  
Investment Treaties

The phenomenal story of China’s ‘unprecedented disposition to engage the international legal order’ has been primarily told and examined by political scientists and economists. Since China adopted its ‘open door’ policy in 1978, which altered its development strategy from self-sufficiency to active participation in the world market and aimed at attracting foreign investment to fuel its economic development, the underlying policy for mobilizing inward foreign direct investment (IFDI) remains unchanged to date. With the 1997 launch of the ‘Going Global’ policy, an outward focus regarding foreign investment has been added, to circumvent trade barriers and improve the competitiveness of Chinese firms, typically its state-owned enterprises (SOEs). In order to accommodate inward and outward FDI, China’s participation in the international investment regime has underpinned its efforts to join multi-lateral investment-related legal instruments and conclude international investment agreements (IIAs). China began by selectively concluding bilateral investment treaties (BITs) with developed countries (major capital exporting states to China at that time), signing its first BIT with Sweden in 1982. Despite being a latecomer, over time China’s experience and practice with the international investment regime have allowed it to evolve towards liberalizing its IIAs regime and balancing the duties and benefits associated with IIAs. The book spans a broad spectrum of China’s contemporary international investment law and policy: domestic foreign investment law and reforms, tax policy, bilateral investment treaties, free trade agreements, G20 initiatives, the ‘One Belt One Road’ initiative, international dispute resolution, and inter-regime coordination.

scholarly journals Health technology assessment in sub-Saharan Africa: a descriptive analysis and narrative synthesis

2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Samantha Hollingworth ◽  
Ama Pokuaa Fenny ◽  
Su-Yeon Yu ◽  
Francis Ruiz ◽  
Kalipso Chalkidou
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Health Technology Assessment ◽  
Technology Assessment ◽  
Technical Assistance ◽  
Health Technology ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Main Theme ◽  
Narrative Synthesis ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Sub Saharan

Abstract Background Countries in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) are moving towards universal health coverage. The process of Health Technology Assessment (HTA) can support decisions relating to benefit package design and service coverage. HTA involves institutional cooperation with agreed methods and procedural standards. We systematically reviewed the literature on policies and capacity building to support HTA institutionalisation in SSA. Methods We systematically reviewed the literature by searching major databases (PubMed, Embase, etc.) until June 2019 using terms considering three aspects: HTA; health policy, decision making; and SSA. We quantitatively extracted and descriptively analysed content and conducted a narrative synthesis eliciting themes from the selected literature, which varied in study type and apporach. Results Half of the 49 papers identified were primary research studies and mostly qualitative. Five countries were represented in six of ten studies; South Africa, Ghana, Uganda, Cameroon, and Ethiopia. Half of first authors were from SSA. Most informants were policy makers. Five themes emerged: (1) use of HTA; (2) decision-making in HTA; (3) values and criteria for setting priority areas in HTA; (4) involving stakeholders in HTA; and (5) specific examples of progress in HTA in SSA. The first one was the main theme where there was little use of evidence and research in making policy. The awareness of HTA and economic evaluation was low, with inadequate expertise and a lack of local data and tools. Conclusions Despite growing interest in HTA in SSA countries, awareness remains low and HTA-related activities are uncoordinated and often disconnected from policy. Further training and skills development are needed, firmly linked to a strategy focusing on strengthening within-country partnerships, particularly among researchers and policy makers. The international community has an important role here by supporting policy- relevant technical assistance, highlighting that sustainable financing demands evidence-based processes for effective resource allocation, and catalysing knowledge-sharing opportunities among countries facing similar challenges.

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