Modality of Obligation as a Legal Phenomenon (in the Context of Regional Legislation)

This article discusses deontic modality in the context of legal documents and its divergence from the natural, conventional, interpretation. This work demonstrates that the meaning of the performative verb is not purely linguistic. A number of non-linguistic factors cause the variation of meanings of performatives, in this case, when expressing prohibition, permission, recommendation, advice, proposal or request. These factors include: status of the addressee, type of the relationship between the author and the addressee, type of the document, possibility of control and subsequent punishment for the breach of a norm, methodology of legal drafting, traditions of the Russian document processes. There is no direct association between the type of the legal norm (permissive, obligatory, prohibitive) and the meaning of the performative. To express its will, a regional law-maker, to a varying degree, uses orders, prohibition and permissions. These are dictated by the type of the document.     

An Unusual Suicide Inside a Grave with Two Gunshot Wounds to the Head—The Psychological Approach

Abstract: In this report, the authors present a case of suicide committed by a 66-year-old man, inside a grave at the local cemetery, with two gunshot wounds to the head. A multiple-paged, handwritten suicide note was found in an army type bag inside the victim’s car, while a second one was found in his house. Medicolegal examination of the body revealed two typical contact gunshot entrance wounds and one exit wound to the head. Toxicological analysis of the femoral blood was negative for alcohol and drugs. The history, scene and autopsy findings, along with further police investigation, indicated an obvious case of suicide. The literature is reviewed and discussed. We report this case as the place of suicide is extremely uncommon and as there is no mention of a gunshot suicide inside a grave in the current literature.     

Is Belarus a demagogical democracy?

The article analyses the meaning and the forms that contemporary democracy may take, especially in application to the new regimes in Eastern Europe. The evaluation of developing polities always poses a difficulty, as one never knows whether an existent form of government is the final one that a state aims to achieve, or whether it is simply an interim effort to survive transition. Furthermore, there may be as many forms of democracy as there are different states, and the currently prevailing liberal form of democracy may not necessarily be the only or the best means to form a sustainable government. From this perspective, contemporary Belarus provides an insightful study of a regime that may be labelled as 'authoritarian', but in this article is arguably viewed as a 'demagogical democracy' following Aristotle's conceptualisation of a democratic state. I wish to acknowledge the invaluable support of INTAS (99-00245) and the British Academy (SG-31102 and PDF/2001/174), without which the project on which my quotations are based would not have been possible.     

Retrospective Analysis of Hanging Deaths in Ontario

Hanging deaths from investigation standpoint are rarely problematic. Unusual circumstances can on occasion raise suspicion of foul play. Associated neck injuries are reported in the literature with variable frequency (from 0% to 76.8%). This study retrospectively analyzed 755 hanging deaths in Ontario (Canada) to evaluate the demographic features and circumstances of hanging fatalities, and the frequency of hanging‐related neck injuries. A number of cases showed unusual/special circumstances (e.g., complex, double suicides, restraints). Among 632 cases with complete autopsies, hyoid and larynx fractures were present in 46 cases (7.3%) with the most common being isolated hyoid fractures. The incidence of cricoid fractures was 0.5% and cervical spine injuries, 1.1%. A higher incidence of neck injuries occurred among males, long drop hangings, and in cases with complete suspension. There was a tendency for the number of fractures to increase with increasing age and weight of the deceased.     

The Performance of Nursery Schools in Italian Municipalities

In a neo-liberal approach, the need to increase levels of cost saving, effectiveness, and quality in producing local public services is correlated to awareness of the limited resources available and is an economic issue that has been much debated in recent decades. Ways of measuring and evaluating public services have stimulated academic interest for several years now. In this context, evaluating the levels of performance of public services provided by non-profit organizations (NPOs) as a consequence of contracting-out by public administration is an essential variable in rationalizing—both in terms of quantity and quality—public expenditure.

The aim of this article is to measure multi-dimensional aspects of nursery school services offered by Italian municipalities and to verify whether using different management models makes a difference in the results obtained. We examine data contained in final accounts of main Italian municipalities in order to evaluate effectiveness, cost saving, and quality aspects of the nursery school service supplied.

Regarding overall performance, the distinction between direct management and contracting-out has not brought out significant differences in terms of effectiveness and cost saving, even if the direct management solution is better than the externalized one. By contrast, as previous research showed, quality levels for externalized services are on average lower than for directly managed services.     

Impaling Dracula: How EU Accession Empowered Civil Society in Romania

Europeanisation scholars increasingly debate when and in what ways the European Union influences domestic politics. This article adopts a ‘bottom-up’ design and the process-tracing method to examine the influence of the EU enlargement context over the political power of the new social movements in Romania between 2000 and 2004 when the EU acquis was being negotiated. It finds that domestic civil society empowerment resulted from the nexus of three interacting causal pathways: the Executive's desire to accede to the EU; a transnational advocacy network, which included domestic NGOs, reinforcing the Executive's anticipatory self-constraint; and to a somewhat lesser extent, the Executive's self-identification with certain elements of the advocacy network, reinforced by a general concern for their external reputation.     

Russia's energy governance transitions and implications for enhanced cooperation with China,Japan, and South Korea

A Tokyo-based economist and a noted western economic geographer, both specializing in the hydrocarbon resources of Russia, apply the framework of governance studies in an effort to gain a deeper understanding of the recent changes in the country's energy policy-making. The authors argue that, unlike the international relations paradigm prevailing in studies of Russia's energy policy, the country's multiple roles in the international energy arena (as producer, consumer, exporter, importer, and transit state) warrant a more nuanced approach, reflecting Russian energy policy's flexibility over time and diversity across space. This paper endeavors, therefore, to apply a political economy and governance perspective to an understanding of the significant changes in Russia's energy policy-making regarding its dynamic energy relations with the Northeast Asia (NEA; China, Japan, and South Korea). In exploring the complex interactions between Russia's internal energy policy-making and its emerging energy relations in NEA, the authors addresses three key questions, namely: (1) how Russia's Asian energy policy corresponds to its domestic needs, (2) how much coherence in energy governance and cooperation exists between Russia and the Northeast Asian states at the institutional and organizational levels, and (3) the extent to which Russia's expectations for increased energy cooperation with the Northeast Asian states are likely to materialize.     

Self‐harm Risk Among Adolescents and the Phenomenon of the “Blue Whale Challenge”: Case Series and Review of the Literature

The “Blue Whale Challenge” is a dangerous Internet phenomenon. As per media reports, it involves a series of life‐threatening tasks imposed by a “curator” to “players,” who must fulfill the whole list, and it ends with the suicide of the player. The authors report the data of five suspected cases of “Blue Whales” managed from January 2016 to December 2017 by the staff of a unit (the “Bambi Unit” of the Pediatric Hospital “Regina Margherita” of Turin, Italy) that is dedicated to the evaluation of suspected abused children. Then, they analyzed this data in the light of the literature regarding self‐harm. This comparison highlights the role of the Internet in the spreading of self‐harm behavior among vulnerable adolescents who are characterized by epidemiological, psychological, psychiatric, social, and cultural risk factors. In conclusion, the authors suggest a multidisciplinary and specialized approach in the evaluation of adolescents who committed self‐harm activities.     

Urban infant mortality and religion at the end of the nineteenth and in the early twentieth century: the case of Ekaterinburg,Russia

Modern demographers analyse regional and other infant mortality differentials as important factors behind the current life expectancy of Russian citizens. Historically, however, the Russian Empire is simply displayed as one block with high infant mortality rates. Also with respect to cultural background factors, Russia is often perceived as religiously homogeneous with the Orthodox Church dominating the country. In reality, Russia has a long history of coexisting religious traditions. This includes both provinces with a majority of Catholics, Muslims, Buddhists or shamanistic populations as well as territories characterized by religious diversity and significant minority religions. Our project studies minority religious groups in the Urals, a province by the Ural Mountains stretching into Asia. While no territory can claim to be truly representative of this mega-country, we believe that this centrally located province is well suited to show some of the Russian variety, including differential infant mortality among the followers of minority religions, which is the topic of this article. We employ church record microdata to study Catholics, Jews and Old Believers in the main metal-producing city of Ekaterinburg.