This paper compares three internationally representative regulatory frameworks for pesticides. We look first at the USA, which shifted regulatory powers from the US Department of Agriculture to the Environmental Protection Agency in the early 1970s, during a historical transition from a...

With social network sites (SNS) becoming a pervasive phenomenon, already existing conflicts with privacy are further intensified. As shown in this paper, online and (once) offline contexts increasingly conflate, thereby posing new challenges to the protection of the private sphere. SNS quickly...

This paper suggests a new theoretical approach to studying intermediary institutions, particularly intermediary institutions at the science--policy nexus. Intermediary institutions that mediate between science and politics have often been approached from the perspective of 'boundary...

Climate change is often related to various adverse effects, among those endangering food security and raising the risk of conflict. But empirical evidence is rather inconclusive so far, particularly about its relationship to (mass) violence. In this letter, we provide a brief review of studies...

This study presents a novel approach to crisis prevention based on data on premonitory political and religious events and the international media coverage of publicly sensitive circumstances. We implement our method to the Israel-Palestine conflict. First we identify two main political scenarios...

While piracy has been an old plague, its economic costs have increased enough in the Horn of Africa since the end of 1990s to push major countries to look for specific actions, either at national level or through coordinated missions. Maritime insecurity can then be analyzed as an...

The paper examines the educational level of the part of the public in 16 Middle Eastern, Asian and African countries who justify suicide bombing and dislike regional/world powers, and its relationship with the occurrence of terrorism originating from the former countries and directed against the...

The CDCM project explores whether and how constitutional reform could reduce political instability and violence in Africa, by addressing the question in three steps. First, case studies of seven African countries identify how at key turning points the domestic political institutions either...

In literature on civil war resolution, several factors have been identified that may influence the peace process. In this paper, based on a combination of different datasets and additional information, we explore reasons for the initiation of negotiations and for the shortening of conflict...