Self‐Determination in the Constitutional Future of the EU

This article analyses three prominent proposals for the functional and political transformation of the EU from a constitutional perspective. It argues that existing EU reform proposals, to varying degrees, entrench rather than reverse the challenges to individual and political self‐determination brought about by the EU's response to its Euro crisis. As the article will conclude, challenging ‘authoritarian liberalism' in an EU context may require the development of a constitutional structure for the Union able to contest, rather than set in stone, the EU's existing economic and political goals.     

Suspect Communities—Targeting Violent Extremism at the Local Level: Policies of Engagement in Amsterdam,Berlin, and London

Throughout Europe, authorities have set up new policy measures and programs to curb homegrown violent extremists. This article describes local policy responses to violent Islamic extremism—and/or the mere threat of it—in the neighborhoods Oost in Amsterdam, Moabit and Soldiner Kiez in Berlin, and Tower Hamlets in London. Based on locally conducted fieldwork, the study compares and contrasts these neighborhoods’ approaches and aims to make a first assessment of their effects. A major finding for all three cities is that authorities target the entire local Muslim community rather than a few select individuals. This can lead to the construction of suspect communities, an approach with possible paradoxical effects on targeting actual violent extremists. Suspect communities subsequently create stigmatization, exclusion, and possibly marginalization, which not only has negative consequences for involved groups, but may well produce a breeding ground for future violence. However, the author did not find that engagement with Islamic organizations or individuals was used to directly change the nature of local Muslim communities. Orthodox and non-violent extremist organizations and individuals in all three cities were potential partners for engagement, which probably lowers the chance of stigmatizing the suspect communities.     

From Balance to Conflict: A New Constitution for the EU

As the crisis (and the Union's response to it) further develops, one thing appears clear: the European Union post‐crisis will be a very different animal from the pre‐crisis EU. This article offers an alternative model for the EU's constitutional future. Its objective is to invert the Union's current path‐dependency: changes to the way in which the Union works should serve to question, rather than entrench, its future objectives and trajectory. The paper argues that the post‐crisis EU requires a quite different normative, institutional and juridical framework. Such a framework must focus on reproducing the social and political cleavages that underlie authority on the national level and that allow divisive political choices to be legitimised. This reform project implies reshaping the prerogatives of the European institutions. Rather than seeking to prevent or bracket political conflict, the division of institutional competences and tasks should be rethought in order to allow the EU institutions to internalise within their decision‐making process the conflicts reproduced by social and political cleavages. Finally, a reformed legal order must play an active role as a facilitator and container of conflict over the ends of the integration project.     

Renewal of local government in Scandinavia: Effects for local politicians

During the last decade, numerous local government reforms influenced by New Public Management (NPM) ideology have taken place throughout Scandinavia. Based on case studies in three Scandinavian municipalities, the article discusses the effects of introducing strategic political management on the role of councillors. We observe a conflict between NPM‐inspired management ideas and a deeply institutionalised, traditional view of councillors as representatives of the citizens, advocating peoples’ interest, defining needs, setting priorities and controlling implementation. Across national and local contexts, councillors find that the reforms challenge their traditional role and have strengthened administrative influence. Historical institutionalism seems to be a fruitful concept to understand resistance towards taking on new role models.     

Domestically and generally violent forensic psychiatric outpatients: personality traits and behavior

A group of 63 domestically violent patients and a group of 103 generally violent patients at a Dutch forensic psychiatric outpatient clinic are examined with regard to personality traits and problem behaviors to develop treatment programs for domestically violent patients. The domestically violent patients are more unstable from a psychological viewpoint but not more inclined to anger than the average Dutch male. They report less anxiety in situations in which criticism can be given but more anxiety in situations in which someone can be given a compliment. When comparing domestically violent patients with generally violent patients, domestically violent patients score lower on anger as disposition and on aggressive behavior than the generally violent patients do. However, both groups do not differ from each other in their score on the dimension of psychopathy.     

High‐tech Start‐ups in Europe: The Effect of Regulatory Competition on the Emergence of New Business Forms

This paper will examine the theoretical arguments for and against the importance of new business forms for the growth of start‐ups. Part I briefly reviews the recent history of business organisational law and reform within Europe. Our review of extant European business forms reveals that the absence of new business entities (and structural reforms) may be due to status quo bias and other network effects. Turning to the importance of new business forms, Part II addresses the question which organisational and legal structures are favourable for the growth of start‐ups. It is suggested that the introduction of an efficient organisational form for start‐ups is crucial to further stimulate the development of a successful venture capital market in Europe. In Part III we give consideration to the possibility of developing new business forms, based on US mechanisms, which could lead to an increase in the level of high‐tech start‐ups. The prospect for the emergence of new business forms depends in part on the removal of legal and non‐legal barriers. The final section evaluates whether we can project a pattern of regulatory competition in the business organisation context that could prompt lawmakers to innovate by introducing new legal entities.