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AbstractTaxi cabs are a key feature of daily life in Madrid, which is one of the most important European cities. An exploratory study was undertaken in order to evaluate the quality of Madrid's taxi cab industry.This paper analyses the current situation by using the Taxi Cab Management Model (TCMM) which identifies the key processes for managing and operating a taxi cab service in any international city. The model provides a benchmark for measuring performance against other capital cities in developed nations. By comparing the results of this analysis with similar case studies of London, New York and Paris, areas of best practice are identified, as well as possible operational improvements.The study concludes that the Madrid taxi cab industry is ahead of cities like London, New York and Paris in terms of IT integration within the industry, but that some key issues need to be reviewed e.g. the potential for a more centralised fleet management system. One of the best features of the Madrid taxi cab industry was found to be the test for candidate drivers. It is well designed in terms of its user interface (candidates do not need to be computer literate), it has a large bank of questions (up to 6000) that are used randomly to generate examinations, and it offers a highly efficient way to assess candidates. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Prospect theory deviates from expected-utility theory by positing that how people frame a problem around a reference point has a critical influence on their choices and that people tend to overweight losses with respect to comparable gains, to be risk-averse with respect to gains and risk-acceptant with respect to losses, and to respond to probabilities in a non-linear manner. This study examines these and related observed anomalies in expected-utility theory, summarizes how prospect theory integrates these anomalies into an alternative theory of risky choice, and explores some of the implications of prospect theory for international conflict and for bargaining and coercion in particular. One hypothesis is that political leaders of adversarial states behave differently when they are bargaining over gains than when they are bargaining over losses. Another is that crisis behavior may be more destabilizing than commonly predicted by rational choice theories because leaders are less willing to make concessions and more willing to risk large losses in the hope of eliminating small losses altogether.

Analysis of the transformation of international systems involves a determination of what type of systems change and how much change is necessary and sufficient to justify calling a change a transformation. The theoretical discussion covers (1) modes, the political sub stance of change; (2) mechanisms, the manner and rate at which change is expressed; (3) endogenous processes including interdependence, dependence, codependence, autarky, and integration; (4) exogenous processes such as the emergence of new actors and the technological development of weaponry; and (5) the identification of historical turning points where changes in the structure of the system have coincided with fundamental changes in the rules of statecraft and of political order. Complementarity and competitive ness are discussed as examples of complex mechanisms of systems transformation. Several types of counterintuitive mechanisms are also examined, including an extension of the Richardson model to incorporate inversion-of-expectation transformation processes. In short, the challenge in theoretical terms lies in the dynamics of systems transformation.

"Peace and justice has been a preferred couple in theoretical writings - but what do we know about their empirical relationship? Will it pay off to deepen research into this relationship at all? Insights from other disciplines should serve as a mighty incentive in a field like international relations which has always looked intensely at other faculties for stimulus: Neuroscientists have located the parts of the brain responsible for averse reactions against violation of claims for justice. Evolutionary biologists have identified rules of distribution and retribution not only in early human societies but among other socially living species as well. Psychologists have watched the emergence of a sense of justice in very early childhood, while behavioral economists have identified behavior of average persons in experiments that deviated significantly from the model of 'economic man' and could only be explained by a sense of justice. The paper discusses these findings and what we should take from them for our own work on interstate and intrastate war and peace." (author's abstract)

International economic law is a branch of public international law. Its sub-fields, however, have taken on the appearance of disconnected specialist subjects over the years; not least in the world of international legal practice with its Gattologists, Bitologists and sovereign debt workout specialists. In recent decades, the international law on foreign investment especially risked becoming unmoored from sovereign legal relations. Sornarajah, however, always took the classic view of a subject rooted deeply in the sources and systems of public international law.

This article is an attempt to indicate how diffusion approaches, based on the concepts of linkage and interdependence, can be of help in our thinking about the spread of democracy. The analyses address the existence or absence of diffusion effects in regard to changes in the degree of freedom in the world's governments, and whether or not there has been a more specific global movement towards democracy. The dependent variable is the set of "governmental transitions," based on yearly Freedom House data. Diffusion analyses are at the global, regional, and neighbor-state levels (1974-1987). Thus analysis is limited to cues or prototypes from the external environment of states. Although neighbor effects are less than those found with the diffusion of war, all three levels support the proposition that there has been a diffusion of governmental transitions, including a movement towards democracy that provided a context for the dramatic events of 1988 and 1989.