Regional Inequality of Firms’ Export Opportunity in China: Geographical Location and Economic Openness

China has a large land area and uneven regional development. There are significant disparities between the three belts (eastern, central, and western China), with the eastern region being the most developed and the western region the least developed. Considering that export is regarded as one of the troikas for China’s economic growth and firms are the basic entities engaged in trade activities, we examine whether there exists inequality of firms’ export opportunity between the three regions. We find that the critical productivity level of firms’ export in developed eastern China is significantly lower than that of western and central regions. Our results indicate that firms in eastern China are more likely to export and there is an obvious inequality of firms’ exporting opportunities.

Intersections of Inequality with Correctional Staff

Chapter 6 expands on the consequences of the obvious inequality between correctional worker and prisoner. Much of this inequality is routinely expressed in disrespectful and derogatory comments made by staff about women prisoners. Narrative and survey data is used to describe how staff sexual harassment, misconduct, and physical violence are relatively rare, but are a serious concern to most members of the women’s prison community. The problem of staff sexual misconduct is not one of magnitude. Rather, the fact that any number of staff employed to provide care and custody of women prisoners harm women through sexually-based actions should be troubling to all of us.

Individuals in Advisory Proceedings Before the International Court of Justice: Equality of the Parties and the Court’s Discretionary Authority

The recent IFAD Advisory Opinion of the ICJ has resuscitated the long-standing question of the access of individuals to the Court in advisory proceedings when the Court is acting as a ‘review’ body for judgements rendered by administrative tribunals of international organizations. Under such circumstance, the ICJ is confronted with the existence of an actual underlying dispute between two parties, although only one of the parties to the original dispute may appear before the Court, thus creating an obvious inequality before the Court. This article examines the review procedure before the ICJ, and the position of the individuals before the ICJ in such proceedings. In particular, this article discusses the different inequalities resulting from such procedures, and how the ICJ has remedied these in order not to use its discretion to not reply to the request for an advisory opinion.