A note on the timing of investments in litigation contests

Allowing the plaintiff and defendant to choose the order in which they invest effort into trial, we show that the timing of litigation efforts is critically dependent on the level of defendant fault. For a high (low) level of defendant fault, the plaintiff invests after (before) the defendant’s investment choice. The equilibrium order of litigation efforts in turn is decisive for (a) the level of total litigation effort, (b) justice achieved by the litigation contest, and (c) plaintiffs’ incentives to bring suit. As a result, the endogenous timing bears vital implications for policy makers.     

Book reviews and responses

Books Reviewed:

Cleft countries: regional political divisions and cultures in post-Soviet Ukraine and Moldova by Ivan Katchanovski

Reviving Greater Russia?: the future of Russia's borders with Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Moldova and Ukraine by Herman Pirchner, Jr

Turkey and the EU: an awkward candidate for EU membership? by Harun Arikan

The EU and Turkey: a glittering prize or a millstone? by Michael Lake (ed)

Divided Korea: toward a culture of reconciliation by Roland Bleiker

US-China relations in the 21^st Century: power transition and peace by Zhiqun Zhu     

Challenging the boundaries of democratic inclusion? Young people's attitudes about the distribution of voting rights

In theoretical debates about the quality of democratic rule, the core question concerns membership, and the adequate constitution of the demos: who is entitled to participate in choosing political representatives? This article enhances the predominantly normative debates on democratic inclusion and boundary making by taking an empirical perspective and analysing attitudes of 16–18-year-old teenagers regarding preconditions for the distribution of voting rights. Based on data stemming from 13 focus groups conducted in three Austrian cities in spring 2010, our findings show that principles related to both competence (autonomy, knowledge) and community (showing concern, being subjected to the law) matter when it comes to democratic boundary making. Furthermore, the study reveals that, in trying to explain the formation of juvenile attitudes about boundary issues, institutions are relevant when related to the conjunctive experiences manifested in the group-specific habitus: while young immigrants argue more inclusionarily than natives in terms of community-related preconditions, especially as far as the roles of language and citizenship are concerned, students argue more exclusionarily than apprentices when it comes to competence-related preconditions, especially civic education. Boundary making affects social groups independent of national origin or citizenship and can therefore be considered a permanent process beyond international migration.     

“Europäisierung” der Bundesstaatsreform? Zur Übertragung des EU-Konventsmodells in Deutschland und Österreich

While the European Convention was working on the Draft Treaty, similar bodies for reforming the national state organisation were installed in Germany and Austria. The paper analyses this new form of “Europeanisation” by answering two questions: Why was the Convention considered an attractive model only in these member states of the European Union? And how can obvious differences between the relevant reform procedures be explained? Challenging the well-known thesis that a “misfit” between the national and EU levels poses a necessary condition for “Europeanisation”, it is argued that the isomorphic contexts of the EU and Germany as well as Austria explain the domestic attractiveness of the Convention model; the different ways of its translation are caused by case-specific factors.     

The Ambiguity of Things: Souvenirs from Afghanistan

ABSTRACT

Souvenirs can help illustrate the world-view towards a country under intervention. Following the work of Lisa Smirl, this article analyses a particular set of souvenirs from Afghanistan in order to establish how the intervention there is shaping the imaginary of conflict professionals working in Kabul in the final years of the International Security Assistance Forces (ISAF). Souvenirs are analysed as consistent with established tropes, in the case of Afghanistan dating back to colonial encounters beginning in the early nineteenth century; much of the ‘Othering' knowledge produced is actualized in souvenirs. In a focused analysis of a Scorpion glass, representing a particular type of souvenir, the articles concludes by showing how what souvenirs transmit is ambiguous and depends on different interpretations and meanings attached to them by different audiences. For conflict professionals who buy these items, they are a way to bridge the gap of their home experience and their life in intervention context. Souvenirs can help mitigate the ‘liminal’ existence that many security professionals, aid workers or embassy staff experience during missions in intervened countries. At the same time, they reify the tropes and narratives about the intervened countries and peoples and thus shape the way interventions are understood, conducted and practised.