The Senate from an extra-institutional point of view

Chapter 8 studies how conversations and meetings impacted political deliberation and deal-making in the Senate, thus fusing extra-institutional and institutional politics. How did senators look for support and probe each other regarding specific issues? How did preparatory conversations work? It is a fact of life, in ancient Rome as nowadays, that the written text of a decision does not fully reflect the previous groundwork, negotiations, and discussions that led to it. The study of Atticus allows us to consider the role and influence of non-senatorial actors. The aim of this chapter is not to claim that a certain measure was enacted because A and B had a conversation during a dinner or because someone secured the support of C and D during a quick chat in the Forum or in a corner of the Senate house (although such actions are described). Going beyond the micro-scale and specific instances, the interest of this study is to analyse how these actions illuminate our understanding of how the Roman political system worked in practice. This chapterargues that the role of conversations and meetings did not mean that all was decided beforehand; a senator could gather support for a draft of a law or a policy through previous conversations, but he still had to defend it and fight for it in public institutions (the Senate, contiones, and assemblies), without always being able to guarantee success beforehand.

The Great War and Social Change, 1900–1919

In 1914, nationalism was the political “ism” that seemed the motive choice, but ironically that is when “globalization” defined as “extending to other or all parts of the world” became clearly evident. The Great War tied the globe together: colonies participated in the fighting, and thousands of the colonized were sent to Europe to serve in labor or military units. This was not the first sign of a world coming together. The late nineteenth century witnessed globalization’s advance: 52 million Europeans migrated to the Americas, adopting a new culture. Similarly, industrialization globalized, bringing increased commerce on the world scene. At war’s end, the Spanish flu brought the globe together against the pandemic. The war did not change the world’s views on nationalism as the national intrigue and deal making at the Versailles Conference underscores.

Examining the Australian Digital Platforms Inquiry and theorizing ‘accidental policy’

‘Accidental policy’ is a term often used to disparage unplanned or under-deliberated policy, but it can also be used as a concept to define and theorize policy development and its effects more broadly. This article does the latter by applying the accidental policy lens to the case of the Australian Digital Platforms Inquiry – the first of its kind worldwide – and then uses elements from the development and effects of the inquiry to theorize the concept for application in other policy studies. This article examines the factors – including existing media, communications, technology developments and policies and political manoeuvring – that led Australia to confront large multinational platforms and become a world leader in digital platforms policy. Rather than the continuation of a long-term, consistent policy regime, the inquiry resulted from political expediency and behind-the-scenes parliamentary deal making. This article provides an analysis of a situation in which a deliberative policy process did not occur but a significant policy impetus was still developed. This study adds to the understanding of accidental policy making in which a rapid response to external pressures, as well as more complex factors including political negotiation and deal making, is at play.

The EPPO and the pitfalls of actuarial justice

The article offers a critique of the current structure of the EPPO from a victim rights perspective. It observes that the creation of the EPPO revolutionizes the institutional set-up of EU criminal justice by creating a supranational body to address the enforcement gaps identified in the protection of the financial interests of the EU. Unsurprisingly, this breakthrough has met with resistance from the Member States, which have directed their scepticism into the structural, procedural and substantive provisions for this new office. By consequently tying the EPPO to national law in a plethora of instances, they have created a body which primarily addresses serious financial crimes within the framework of domestic criminal justice systems. However, these approaches are, in turn, heavily marked by a pragmatic concept of actuarial justice, with negotiation and plea-bargaining as the dominant practices across Europe. Article 40 of the EPPO Regulation ensures that there is scope for such practice to be adopted for cases falling within the EPPO’s competence. Highlighting the problems associated with prosecutorial deal-making, the article reflects upon the appropriateness of adopting such practice for the EPPO. It tentatively argues that a more honest recognition of the supranational nature of the EPPO (also reflected in its procedural rules) and of the type of victimization it seeks to address, might have instigated a productive dialogue ensuring the EPPO’s work is framed with reference to serving a community and securing victim protection. Above all, this would have constituted a significant step towards ensuring that the EPPO’s work is legitimate and perceived as such by the EU citizens it seeks to serve and protect from victimization.

Deal Mediation: The Future of Alternative Dispute Resolution

Während Mediation als eine exzellente Methode zur Beilegung bereits bestehender Streitigkeiten hinreichend bekannt ist, kann sie sich gerade als Mittel der Konfliktvermeidung als zumindest genauso nützlich erweisen. Obwohl Mediation in dieser Weise noch nicht breitenwirksam eingesetzt wird, sprechen starke Argumente dafür, Mediation nicht nur als Alternative zu etablierten Streitbeilegungsmethoden einzusetzen, sondern sie gezielt als frühes und vorbeugendes Mittel im Bereich des Deal Making zu nutzen. Dieser Beitrag zielt darauf ab, die Vorteile von Mediation in nicht-konventionellen Bereichen und gerade im Zusammenhang mit Deal Making und Deal Management hervorzueheben, und damit ihre weiterreichende Nutzung und Weiterentwicklung zu fördern.

Deal-Making Capacity of a Citizen: Criteria for Forensic Psychological Assessment

A psychological examination of 88 men and 42 women aged between 26 and 88 (116 of them had mental disorders, and 14 were mentally healthy) has been carried out while they were undergoing the complex forensic psychological and psychiatric examination for purposes of assessment a person's deal-making ability at the time of the transaction and diminished capacity. In respect of 46 persons, forensic experts took the decision that the persons ‘were unable to understand the meaning of their actions, regulate and control them at the time of the transaction’; 48 persons were found to be ‘able to understand the meaning of their actions, regulate and control them at the time of the transaction’; and 26 persons were found to be ‘able to understand the meaning of their actions, regulate and control them only if assisted by others’. In respect of 10 persons, the questions posed to forensic experts failed to be definitively resolved. 57 indicators, reflecting the disturbances of cognitive processes, individual psychological peculiarities, and data on socialization had been diagnosed for each of the examinees. Factor analysis made it possible to identify the pathopsychological symptom complexes that are relatively specific for persons who either have or lack the deal-making ability at the time of the transaction (Article 177 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation), as well as for persons with diminished capacity due to mental disorder (Para. 2 of Article 30 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation).

Middle East outlook is poised on US election outcome

Significance The two candidates differ on the timing, scope and scale of US regional engagement. Biden was a strong critic of the policy changes Trump introduced regarding the 2015 Iran nuclear deal and the legality of Israeli West Bank settlements. Impacts The legal process of waiving Trump’s many-layered sanctions on Iran could present a logistical challenge for a Biden administration. Even if the Democrats regain Senate control, they would not have the two-thirds majority needed to ratify a possible Iran treaty. Trump would empower regional partners like Israel and Abu Dhabi to manage regional challenges, which could boost instability. Trump’s unwillingness to engage with regional complexities would likely hinder his deal-making efforts.

Unsolicited urbanism: development monopolies, regulatory-technical fixes and planning-as-deal-making

This article identifies the evolution of, and critiques, unsolicited urbanism—a project of city-shaping favouring powerful market actors but inconsistent with the neoliberal tenet of competition. Marked by predetermined outcomes, unsolicited urbanism legitimates secretive monopolies over specific sites and the normalization of planning-as-deal-making. Such features are not uncommon globally, as circuits of capital seek rent opportunities latent in urban land, and as market actors increasingly exercise power over development decision-making. But following casino-led mega-development in Melbourne (Southbank/Docklands) and Sydney (Barangaroo), Australia, unsolicited urbanism has coalesced as a clearly-identifiable project, inflected by relationships forged in the Asia-Pacific. The project, promoted by coalitions of developers, global capital, state government, and real estate, engineering and financing consultants, targets not just new sites for development, but the planning system itself. At its heart is a novel urban planning instrument, Unsolicited Proposals, that codifies and legitimizes bold and secretive bids for sites and assets over which governments and communities have not signalled intent or need for change. Unsolicited Proposal guidelines solicit premeditated, commercial-in-confidence bids to redevelop key urban assets without outside competition. Originating in two high-profile waterfront sites in Australia, the formalized Unsolicited Proposal planning process has spread elsewhere as a ‘fix’ to ‘unlock’ urban spaces for casino development, infrastructure financing and quasi-privatizations, with foreboding signs of its rapid mobility. The project of unsolicited urbanism connects money and power in new ways to reshape cities, and this analysis shows how a suite of regulatory-technical processes has been reconfigured to make this possible.