CONSTITUTIONAL JUSTICE IN AFRICA: An Examination of Constitutional Positivism, Fundamental Law and Rights in Ghana and Nigeria

This work explores the idea of constitutional justice in Africa with a focus on constitutional interpretation in Ghana and Nigeria. The objective is to develop a theory of constitutional interpretation based upon a conception of law that allows the existing constitutions of Ghana and Nigeria to be construed by the courts as law in a manner that best serves the collective wellbeing of the people. The project involves an examination of both legal theory and substantive constitutional law. The theoretical argument will be applied to show how a proper understanding of the ideals of the rule of law and constitutionalism in Ghana and Nigeria necessitate the conclusion that socio-economic rights in those countries are constitutionally protected and judicially enforceable. The thesis argues that this conclusion follows from a general claim that constitutions should represent a ‘fundamental law’ and must be construed as an aspirational moral ideal for the common good of the people. The argument is essentially about the inherent character of ‘legality’ or the ‘rule of law.’ It weaves together ideas developed by Lon Fuller, Ronald Dworkin, T.R.S. Allan and David Dyzenhaus, as well as the strand of common law constitutionalism associated with Sir Edward Coke, to develop a moral sense of ‘law’ that transcends the confines of positive or explicit law while remaining inherently ‘legal’ as opposed to purely moral or political. What emerges is an unwritten fundamental law of reason located between pure morality or natural law on the one hand and strict, explicit, or positive law on the other. It is argued that this fundamental law is, or should be, the basis of constitutional interpretation, especially in transitional democracies like Ghana and Nigeria, and that it grounds constitutional protection for socio-economic rights. Equipped with this theory of law, courts in developing African countries like Ghana and Nigeria will be in a better position to contribute towards developing a real sense of constitutional justice for Africa.

Micro-based evidence of EU competitiveness: The CompNet Database. National Bank of Belgium Working Paper No. 253, March 2014

Drawing from confidential firm-level balance sheets in 11 European countries, the paper presents a novel sectoral database of comparable productivity indicators built by members of the Competitiveness Research Network (CompNet) using a newly developed research infrastructure. Beyond aggregate information available from industry statistics of Eurostat or EU KLEMS, the paper provides information on the distribution of firms across several dimensions related to competitiveness, e.g. productivity and size. The database comprises so far 11 countries, with information for 58 sectors over the period 1995-2011. The paper documents the development of the new research infrastructure, the construction of the database, and shows some preliminary results. Among them, it shows that there is large heterogeneity in terms of firm productivity or size within narrowly defined industries in all countries. Productivity, and above all, size distribution are very skewed across countries, with a thick left-tail of low productive firms. Moreover, firms at both ends of the distribution show very different dynamics in terms of productivity and unit labour costs. Within-sector heterogeneity and productivity dispersion are positively correlated to aggregate productivity given the possibility of reallocating resources from less to more productive firms. To this extent, we show how allocative efficiency varies across countries, and more interestingly, over different periods of time. Finally, we apply the new database to illustrate the importance of productivity dispersion to explain aggregate trade results.

Morphology Change of C60 Islands on Organic Crystals Observed by Atomic Force Microscopy

Organic-organic heterojunctions are nowadays highly regarded materials for light-emitting diodes, field-effect transistors, and photovoltaic cells with the prospect of designing low-cost, flexible, and efficient electronic devices.1-3 However, the key parameter of optimized heterojunctions relies on the choice of the molecular compounds as well as on the morphology of the organic-organic interface,4 which thus requires fundamental studies. In this work, we investigated the deposition of C60 molecules at room temperature on an organic layer compound, the salt bis(benzylammonium)bis(oxalato)cupurate(II), by means of noncontact atomic force microscopy. Three-dimensional molecular islands of C60 having either triangular or hexagonal shapes are formed on the substrate following a "Volmer-Weber" type of growth. We demonstrate the dynamical reshaping of those C60 nanostructures under the local action of the AFM tip at room temperature. The dissipated energy is about 75 meV and can be interpreted as the activation energy required for this migration process.

Modelled spatial and seasonal distribution of Blue Whiting (Micromesistius poutassou) larvae in the North-East Atlantic (1951 to 2005)

Blue whiting (Micromesistius poutassou, http://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=126439) is a small mesopelagic planktivorous gadoid found throughout the North-East Atlantic. This data contains the results of a model-based analysis of larvae captured by the Continuous Plankton Recorder (CPR) during the period 1951-2005. The observations are analysed using Generalised Additive Models (GAMs) of the the spatial, seasonal and interannual variation in the occurrence of larvae. The best fitting model is chosen using the Aikaike Information Criteria (AIC). The probability of occurrence in the continous plankton recorder is then normalised and converted to a probability distribution function in space (UTM projection Zone 28) and season (day of year). The best fitting model splits the distribution into two separate spawning grounds north and south of a dividing line at 53 N. The probability distribution is therefore normalised in these two regions (ie the space-time integral over each of the two regions is 1). The modelled outputs are on a UTM Zone 28 grid: however, for convenience, the latitude ("lat") and longitude ("lon") of each of these grid points are also included as a variable in the NetCDF file. The assignment of each grid point to either the Northern or Southern component (defined here as north/south of 53 N), is also included as a further variable ("component"). Finally, the day of year ("doy") is stored as the number of days elapsed from and included January 1 (ie doy=1 on January 1) - the year is thereafter divided into 180 grid points.

Marie Antoinette and the end of the old régime;

Covers period 1781-October 1789. Continued by "Marie Antoinette at the Tuilleries" and "Marie Antoinette and the downfall of royalty".

The youth of the Duchess of Angoulême,

Mode of access: Internet.

Antoine Joubert, UM Men's Basketball 1986

[vs Illinois-Chicago]

University of Michigan Men's Basketball Team, 1984

Back Row: coach Bill Frieder, asst. coach Mike Boyd, asst. coach Steve Fisher, asst. coach Edwin VanDeWege, grad. asst. Ernie Sellers, grad. asst. Bill Mitchell, mngr. Mike Jaconette, mngr. Phil Giroux, mngr. Bill Fleming, equip. mngr. Bob Hurst, trainer Dan Minert,

Middle Row: Paul Jokisch, Roy Tarpley, Jon Antonides, Tim McCormick, Mark (Butch) Wade, Robert Henderson, Richard Rellford

Front Row: captain Eric Turner, Ron Gibas, Leslie Rockymore, Garde Thompson, Antoine Joubert, Quincy Turner, Dan Pelekoudas

University of Michigan Men's Basketball Team, 1985

Back Row: coach Bill Frieder, asst. coach Steve Fisher, asst. coach David Hammer, asst. coach Mike Boyd, Charles DeGlopper, Ron Gibas, Gary Grant, Garde Thompson, grad. asst. Bill Mitchell, mngr. Phil Giroux, equip. mngr. Bob Hurst, trainer Dan Minert

Front Row: Antoine Joubert, Gerard Rudy, Butch Wade, Robert Henderson, Roy Tarpley, Steve Stoyko, Richard Rellford, Leslie Rockymore

University of Michigan Men's Basketball Team, 1986

Back Row: equip. mngr. Bob Hurst, Asst. Coach Steve Fisher, mngr. Chris Schrol, mgr. Tom Alig, trainer Dan Minert, grad. asst.. Scott Tompkins, asst.. coach David Hammer, conditioning coach Gil Zimmermann

Middle Row: coach Bill Frieder, Loy Vaught, Billy Butts, Garde Thompson, Antoine Joubert, Ron Gibas, Gary Grant, Glen Rice, grad, asst.. Thad Garner, asst.. coach Mike Boyd

Front Row: J.P. Oosterbaan, Steve Stoyko, Richard Rellford, Butch Wade, Roy Tarpley, Robert Henderson. Mark Hughes, Mike Griffin.

University of Michigan Men's Basketball Team, 1987

Middle Row: coach Bill Frieder, asst. coach Steve Fisher, Ron Gibas. Chuck DeGlopper. Gary Grant, Antoine Joubert, Garde Thompson, Jack Kramer, asst. coach Mike Boyce, ass't coach David Hammer

Front Row: Loy Vaught, Charles Tait, Steve Stoyko, Glen Rice, Mark Hughes, Michael, Griffin, John Oosterbaan