In the twilight of democracy: public affairs consultants in Switzerland

• Modernization processes within different fields of political communication rise new challenges. Public affairs consultants are said to meet these challenges in both an effective and efficient way. Nevertheless, the rise of public affairs consultants also poses the question of their accordance with basic principles of modern democracy. Do public affairs consultants foster or impede the democratic process with respect to participation and representation? This question is answered on the basis of empirical data on public affairs consultants in Switzerland. The analysis points out three distinguishable fields of service: lobbying, political public relations and campaigning. Whereas campaigning has the strongest public‐orientation and emphasizes direct democratic institutions, the other two fields tend to be more in the backstage of the public. Results regarding public affairs services suggest a structural discrepancy between public and non‐public forms of communication, which according to normative democracy theory has to be judged critically. With view to clients, policy fields and party affiliations, the results show strong imbalances in interest representation, which seem to have mainly structural and economic reasons. In the conclusion, these results are discussed with view to the necessity of more transparency and a further professionalization.

Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

东欧二十年转型风暴:从集权主义到全球化

在欧地区共产主义政权突然垮台的原因是由于共产党领导人忽视了政治和经济现实。苏联及其二战后成立的那些卫星国家的共产党不像中国共产党那样勇于变革，在全球竞争的背景下，他们既未能找到阻止经济崩溃和解决技术落后的方案，也没有考虑到本国公民对自由的渴望。20年前，东欧国家以惊人的速度决定摆脱旧有体制的统治，重新规划未来。     

The forensic analysis of soils and sediment taken from the cast of a footprint

The routine production of a cast of a shoe-print taken in soil provides information other than shoe size and gait. Material adhering to the surface of the cast represents the preservation of the moment of footprint impression. The analysis of the interface between the cast and soil is therefore a potentially lucrative source of information for forensic reconstruction. These principles are demonstrated with reference to a murder case which took place in the English Midlands. The cast of a footprint provided evidence of a two-way transfer of material between the sole of a boot and the soil of a recently ploughed field. Lumps of soil, which had dried on a boot, were deposited on the field as the footprints were made. Pollen analysis of these lumps of soil indicated that the perpetrator of the imprint had been standing recently in a nearby stream. Fibre analysis together with physical and chemical characteristics of the soil suggested a provenance for contamination of this mud prior to deposition of the footprint. Carbon/nitrogen ratios of the water taken from the cast showed that distilled water had been used thus excluding the possibility of contamination of the boot-soil interface. It was possible to reconstruct three phases of previous activity of the wearer of the boot prior to leaving the footprint in the field after the murder had taken place. This analysis shows the power of integrating different independent techniques in the analysis of hitherto unrecognised forensic materials.     

A ‘Right to Passions’? Compassion’s Sexed Asymmetry and a Minor Comedy of Errors

This paper reflects on the experience of presenting a limit test case based on passion/provocation cases against a proposed ??right to passions?? suggested by proponents of a sentimental jurisprudence. The limit case, presented at the 2010 CLC held in Utrecht, invited the audience to reflect on the human (read: male) right to a provocation defence, a right enshrined in the criminal law as a concession to ??human frailty?? in ??crimes of passion?? for centuries.