Similarities and Differences in Victimization Risk Factors for Nonoffending and Offending Substance Users

In this cross-sectional study of substance users in Norway, the authors describe the patterns of victimization and investigate the factors associated with victimization, for nonoffenders and offenders separately. Recent victimization was reported by 59%, and the victimization rate was higher among offenders compared with nonoffenders (69% and 43%, p < .001). Women, regardless of offender status, experienced more victimization. Unstable housing was associated with victimization among nonoffenders, whereas markers for more severe substance use and indicators for poor mental health were associated with victimization in both groups. Addressing these factors may be important in reducing victimization and its negative outcomes among substance users.     

The congress for cultural freedom in Denmark

The Danish section of the Congress for Cultural Freedom (CCF) was established in 1953 by Arne Sejr, a former wartime resistance leader. The Society for Freedom and Culture was formed as a part of Sejr's private anti-communist intelligence network, called the Firm. But Sejr did not understand the methods or goals of the CCF's work, since he was more concerned with political propaganda and information rather than cultural issues. During its early years the special circumstances of the Danish branch were ignored by the Congress HQ, but in 1957 Jorgen Schleimann, a Danish employee at the Congress office in Paris, set out to reform the Danish Society's work. Denmark's experience with the CCF provides a good example of the tension that could exist between the universal agenda of the Congress and particular national conditions. It also demonstrates the limitations of the CCF's purpose and therefore also the ‘boundaries’ to Cold War cultural manipulation in the West.     

Decentralisation of regional development policies in the Netherlands ‐ A new type of state intervention?

During the past decade, regional development policies in the Netherlands have been dismantled. At the same time, economic development policies have been decentralised to regional and local government level. This has given rise to ‘local initiatives’ for implementing market‐oriented and market‐related development strategies. In the long run, decentralisation of economic policies results in a new type of regulation. It is not through administrative measures and public control that the state intervenes in economic development, but through indirect mechanisms to improve economic growth and innovation. The Keynesian model of regulation, based on far‐reaching intervention, is gradually being transformed into a more ‘modem’ model, characterised by flexible, fragmented, indirect and ‘invisible’ measures. The result is a fundamental change in the relationship between state and economy.     

Analoge Anwendung des § 107 Abs 4 StPO auf erfolgreiche Beschwerden nach § 87 StPO

Die Pflicht, nach einem erfolgreichen Einspruch oder einer erfolgreichen Beschwerde gegen eine Hausdurchsuchung den "entsprechenden Rechtszustand" herzustellen (§ 107 Abs 4 StPO), beinhaltet nicht, die sichergestellten Gegenst?nde wieder herauszugeben. Diese dürfen jedoch nicht dazu verwendet werden, Haftentscheidungen oder die Anklage zu begründen.     

Political leadership in times of crisis: the Commission presidency of Jean-Claude Juncker

Abstract

This article explores the leadership of Jean-Claude Juncker as Commission president, addressing two questions: to what extent did Juncker exercise political leadership and in what ways did his leadership qualify as explicitly political? Drawing on leadership theory and recent insights into political leadership in the EU, the article first conceptualises the Commission president’s potential for acting as a leader – particularly a political leader. The empirical section analyses Juncker’s provision of agenda-setting and mediative-institutional leadership in two phases: the first marked by an extraordinary activism and an assertive attitude in agenda-setting, but with limited successes in achieving binding decisions; the second characterised by launching proposals for deliberation and debate, embedded in longer-term visions. The article concludes that around the mid-term of his incumbency, Juncker adapted to the constraining institutional and situational context by engaging in mediative-institutional leadership and carving out a new, more political role for the Commission president.     

Towards a European educational area

When negotiating the new educational programmes the Council and the Commission of the EC had to deal with a profound controversy as to whether or not the programmes should aim for the creation of a European educational area. This reflects the question of whether the Community can work towards some sort of unification of the different educational systems of the Member States. As the Treaty of the European Community prohibits any harmonisation in this field the European institutions can only work towards a growing closer of the different systems by encouraging the Member States and the educational and training institutions to go this way. Such an outcome can be fostered by the legal framework protecting the individual rights of non discrimination and of free movement of workers and of services as well as of establishment on the one side and by indirectly effective and not binding measures on the other side. This influence can be achieved by the European education programmes, the common efforts to face the challenges of the knowledge society and the global competition, the incentives to ameliorate the quality of education and training and to improve the individual employability. However, harmonisation will mean losing the richness of European diversity. Instead of unifying the systems transparency and mutual recognition of individual qualifications could lead to the desired European dimension without endangering the cultural backgrounds and the responsibility of the Member States for education and training. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.