The University of Buckingham Press Journals
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Covid Crisis & Patent Waiver – A Saga
Full text linkThe COVID-19 pandemic has undoubtedly been the biggest calamity in recent times. The pandemic put to test not only the global supply chain and infrastructure but also the national and international disaster-management capacities. These challenging times compelled the world to tackle the problem from a global perspective.
Ergo, with several joint efforts, the countries were able to collaborate, construct and finally implement an international decision with respect to intellectual property rights, which enabled the world to address the crisis as one.
In this article, the authors aim to discuss the proposals for intellectual property (IP) / patent waiver and the nuances of WTO’s Ministerial Decision. The authors also highlight the decision’s effectiveness in addressing the issue of the accessibility of resources to combat the dreadful pandemic
Behavioral Finance Approach to the Time-Varying Return-Volatility Relation: Global Evidence
No full textThis study investigates the asymmetric return-volatility relation for 21 major global market indices for the period 1998–2018, employing quantile regression methodology. The results show that the transmission of good news shocks and bad news shocks has contrasting implications for the tails of the return-volatility relation. During the periods of falling prices, the sentiment-driven noise traders increase the volatility levels. In contrast, during the periods of rising prices, the contrarian actions by the more informed traders reduce the volatility levels. Overall, the results support the affect, representativeness, and extrapolation bias heuristic theories of investor behavior
Assessing the Capacity to Build Rapport in Investigative Interviews with the Rapport-Based Inventory – Short Form (RBI-SF) Scale
Full text linkIntroduction: Investigative interviewer training has increasingly focused on enhancing interviewers’ ability to build rapport with subjects; however, trainers currently lack a consistent and efficient method to assess individuals’ competence in using rapport-based skills. To address this, we have developed a self-report scale – the Rapport Based Inventory (RBI), which is a scenario-based assessment intended to measure interviewers’ recognition of the correct use of rapport-based skills in interviewing contexts. The original scale consisted of four vignettes with 16 items requiring free text and multiple-choice responses in which core rapport concepts are tested. The current study aims to examine the scale’s psychometric properties, underlying factor structure and construct validity.Methods: To test the instrument’s psychometric properties, the RBI was administered online to 225 participants (140 practitioners and 85 university students). To assess convergent (construct) validity, additional data was collected from a subsample of 60 practitioners taking part in interview training to examine whether RBI scores were associated with practitioners’ interview performance during mock interviews. Performance was coded using the rapport skills scales from the Observing Rapport Based Techniques (ORBIT) coding framework (Alison & Alison, 2012).Results: The final short form version of the RBI scale (RBI-SF) contains eight items across four investigative interviewing vignettes, comprised of two factors – reflective listening (six items) and developing discrepancies (two items) with good internal reliability. One item relating to adaptability was also retained as a separate item that should be administered alongside the RBI due to its theoretical and statistical significance. Correlational analyses revealed that the scale demonstrated convergent validity with behavioural measures of rapport-based skill, with RBI scores positively correlated with interviewers’ effective use of rapport-based behaviours and negatively correlated with rapport-inconsistent behaviours during mock interviews.Conclusions: We conclude that the newly developed instrument appears to be a promising tool to support the identification of interviewers’ accurate comprehension of rapport-building skills in the context of law enforcement and intelligence interviewing
Why Does Sri Lanka Need Intelligence Reform?
Full text linkSri Lanka's history is marked by a protracted separatist war, which lasted nearly three decades, with a persistent struggle against terrorism. The nation's intelligence community has been instrumental in preserving national security during the three decades of separatist war. However, in the current post-war context, Sri Lanka grapples with complex geopolitical landscapes due to India's growing influence in the Indo-Pacific region and the resurgence of great power competition. Also, Sri Lanka is exposed to the growing influence of violent extremism, which was evident by the Easter Sunday Attacks on 21st April 2019. Within such a complex security situation in Sri Lanka, shifting from a reactive intelligence approach to adopting a proactive strategic intelligence framework is needed. Thus, this commentary focuses on Sri Lanka's need for intelligence reform, highlighting the shortcomings of the current intelligence system, the influence of political interference, the need for modernity, and the importance of preserving human rights and accountability
Fast-tracking Trust: Exploring the Relative Importance of Competence, Integrity, and Benevolence in Informant-Handler Interactions
Full text linkIntroduction: Demonstrating trustworthiness has been shown to increase trust and, in turn, information sharing in investigative interviews. However, the most effective ways to build trust in security contexts and the role of trust demonstrations in informant-handler relationships remain underexplored. This study tests the relative importance of competence, integrity, and benevolence demonstrations on initial trust development and willingness to cooperate in remote informant-handler encounters.Methods: Using a within-subject design, participants received background information on an organised crime scenario and listened to three simulated phone call recordings, where handlers demonstrated each of the three factors of trustworthiness during attempts to recruit an informant. After each recording, participants rated the handler’s trustworthiness and their own willingness to trust and cooperate and provided written feedback on each call. Participants also expressed their preferred trust-building strategy used by handlers and rated their trust propensity.Results: A repeated measures ANCOVA revealed no significant differences in willingness to trust based on the type of trustworthiness demonstration. However, trust propensity significantly impacted trust levels, so that more trusting individuals were more likely to trust the handler. Thematic analyses highlighted substantial individual differences in what participants liked and disliked about each approach.Conclusions: Findings suggest that no specific demonstration of trustworthiness is more effective in fostering initial trust, indicating that handlers should tailor trust-building strategies to individuals instead of adhering to general guidelines. Future research should employ idiographic approaches to further understand how individuals perceive and react to trust-building strategies
The Economic Perspective of the Law of International Institutions
Full text linkThis article reviews through an economic lense the law of international institutions,which through managing the relationship among states is gradually leading to the emergence of a global regime with imperial tendencies. Nations express their interest in belonging to international institutions for the purpose of gaining socio-economic and political benefits achievable under a harmonised system of mutual dependence. Although this article does not seek to analyse whether the developing nations are better off belonging to international institutions, it nonetheless reviews the rationale behind developing nations maintaining their membership of international institutions despite the widening gap between the rich and the poor nations. The strategic positioning of the international institutions sways favourably towards indirectly aiding developed countries to continue dominating the developing nations. Exercise of power by international institutions bring to the fore that states - the less developed states in particular - are gradually losing their sovereignty and inherent power to superintend their domestic affairs without external influence. This accentuates the notion that international institutions are gradually assuming an imperial status, which has successfully replaced colonialism with neo-colonialism, to be favoured on the global market. The international legal movement is thus reflected in and by economic consequences unfavourable to developing nations
A Role for Parliament in Independent Judicial Appointments: Insights from the Comptroller and Auditor General
Full text linkIn the UK, there is a debate as to whether Parliament should have a role in judicial appointments similar to the that of the US Senate. The minority in favour of this position argues that it would enhance the democratic legitimacy of the judiciary – who are currently selected by various independent commissions – and refers to the proposed reform’s coherence with the general practice of pre-appointment hearings in the UK (such as for the Chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission) and other parliamentary systems. However, the majority against this position argues that meaningful input into judicial appointments, by parliamentarians, would necessarily undermine the impartiality of the judiciary and outweigh the benefits of judicial democratisation. This paper seeks to add to the debate by establishing a detailed proposal for a parliamentary confirmation model for nominations to the UKSC and arguing that it would be both consistent with and enhancing to judicial independence. The research compares the constitutional foundations and historical origins of the Comptroller and Auditor General – an independent office co-nominated by the Government and Opposition, but confirmed by Parliament – and the UKSC, plus the American and Canadian Supreme Courts. This paper fundamentally argues three points: that there is a democratic deficit in the UKSC judicial appointment model; that the Comptroller and Auditor General is sufficiently equivalent to the UKSC so that its appointment model could be translated onto judicial appointments; and that said translation would remedy said democratic deficit, without compromising the non-partisanship of the UKSC
CASE NOTE – Freedom From Religion – American Legion, et al v American Humanist Association, et al 588 US (2019)
Full text linkThe case note, Freedom from Religion: American Legion, et al. v. American Humanist Association, et al. by Stephen Pitt-Walker, critiques the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2019 decision that upheld the presence of a Latin cross war memorial on public land, arguing it undermines the First Amendment’s establishment clause. The case revolved around whether the display of a religious symbol on government property violated the principle of government neutrality toward religion. The Court’s majority justified its decision through a “contextual historical justification,” framing the cross as a secular symbol of World War I remembrance rather than a Christian emblem.
Pitt-Walker contends that this reasoning abandons the long-established “neutrality principle,” which had guided previous court rulings to ensure governmental impartiality in religious matters. He argues that the decision unfairly favours the Christian (cultural) majority, discriminating against religious minorities and non-religious groups, ultimately eroding pluralistic values. The dissenting opinion by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is discussed extensively, as she criticized the Court’s departure from neutrality and warned of the discriminatory consequences.
The case note locates the case within broader legal and philosophical frameworks, particularly exploring the tensions between rights theory and utilitarianism. Pitt-Walker proposes that the decision represents a form of “tyranny of the majority,” where the rights of minority groups are overshadowed by majoritarian interests. He concludes that the ruling sets a troubling precedent for future interpretations of the establishment clause, weakening constitutional protections for religious freedom in the U.S
In the Money: An Analysis of Monetary Value of Chips and Player Outcomes in No Limit Texas Hold’em Poker Tournaments
No full textThis paper uses data from 25 World Series of Poker Circuit no-limit Texas Hold’em high-stakes multiday tournaments comprised of 17,852 entries to analyze changes in player rank outcomes based on chip stacks and prior-day rankings. High-stakes poker tournaments are comparatively expensive to enter and thus attract a higher percentage of skillful poker players. We find several interesting results. First, players that make it to the final table have 50% more chips than the average chip stack, after the first day of play. Players that finish in the money, but do not make it to the final table, have roughly the average chip stack and players that finish out of the money consistently have around half of day one’s average chip stack. We also found that for our sample, the players who made it to the final table were, on average, in the 70th percentile after day one. Only 48 out of 225 players (21.33%) came from the bottom half of the distribution after day one to the final nine players. We also evaluate the Independent Chip Model (ICM) and compare the results predicted by the model to the empirical results in our tournament data. We find that ICM does a fairly good job predicting overall results; however, players with the top 25% chip stacks on the final day of the tournament tend to moderately outperform their ICM expectations largely at the expense of the players with medium chip stacks. Shorter stacks, on the other hand, come closest to realizing their mathematical expectation