Compulsive Buying: Literature Review and Suggestions for Future Research

Compulsive buying is a serious, but under researched, aspect of consumer buying behaviour. Setting the review in a historical context, the review begins by addressing the earliest works on the subject and seminal papers by leading researchers in the field of compulsive buying. The review addresses the fact that Emil Kraepelin first identified compulsive buying in his 1915 textbook, before the subject faced an almost complete hiatus in terms of research until the late 1980s where the issue was addressed by a number of leading consumer behaviour researchers. The review will then proceed chronologically and thematically, addressing each issue and theme that has emerged from the literature. Previous directions of the research will be discussed, whilst guiding readers towards the current landscape of the research, and a suggestion of the next logical direction of the research.

Statelessness as a Human Rights Issue: A Concept Whose Time Has Come?

The protection of stateless persons has long been understood as a challenge for the international community, yet for many of the past sixty years a prioritised focus on refugees has dominated, indeed arguably eclipsed, the plight and protection needs of stateless persons. Guy Goodwin-Gill has long argued for a refocus of international attention and effort on the plight, predicament and protection needs of stateless persons. In a seminal contribution over two decades ago he observed that at that time, statelessness was perceived by many as a mere ‘technical problem,’ yet ‘statelessness is indeed a broad human rights issue, even as it retains a distinct technical dimension.’ In this contribution, we examine the challenge set by Goodwin-Gill for the international community, namely, the need for greater recognition and protection of stateless persons, in light of developments over the more than two decades that have passed since his incisive analysis. We celebrate the positive developments and identify areas of ongoing challenge. We focus on the key initiatives he identified as requiring attention, and assess progress that has been made in relation to each, while concentrating predominantly on the need for closer attention to the relevance of developments in human rights law.