Is the allocation of voting power among EU states fair?

It has often been claimed that the current allocation of votes among EU states is not fair. In this paper we verify this assertion by carrying out an evaluation of the distribution of power among the member states. The results show that the current distribution of votes for the qualified majority does not lead to a fair distribution of power whatever definition of the EU is considered. It can not be claimed however that the current voting process has a systematic bias in favor of certain states. We also present a simple method to derive voting weights which lead to a fair allocation of power.     

A novel multiplex PCR system consisting of Y-STRs DYS441, DYS442, DYS443, DYS444, and DYS445

We have developed a new sensitive multiplex PCR system consisting of five male-specific and polymorphic tetranucleotide STRs--DYS441 (GDB: 10013873), DYS442 (GDB: 10030304), DYS443 (GDB: 10807127), DYS444 (GDB: 10807128), and DYS445 (GDB: 10807129) on the Y chromosome. Fifty pg DNA per 10 microL reaction volume was required for the correct typing of five STRs. Using this system, the five Y-STRs were correctly typed from blood and semen stains that had been stored for several years at room temperature.     

The Art of Being Ethical and Responsible: Print Media Debate on Final Disposal of Spent Nuclear Fuel in Finland and Sweden

Social Justice Research - After decades of preparation, the final disposal of spent nuclear fuel has reached the construction stage in Finland, and the neighboring Sweden is likely to soon follow...     

Editor's Note

An evaluation approach that is collaborative and elicitive may well serve as a catalyst for transforming relationships of power, standing in stark contrast to more conventional and staid evaluation practices that are technical in nature and actuarial in intent. Election of an orientation is the most decisive and strategic choice that is made in approaching evaluation and articulating value imperatives in fieldwork, coloring as it surely does the pragmatic stages of evaluation and good practice for the peacebuilder.     

Agile small state agency: heuristic plays and flexible national identity markers in Finnish foreign policy

Studies of small state foreign policy tend to draw relatively bleak conclusions when it comes to small state agency. However, I will examine alternative and more positive modalities of small state agency. One such modality is agility, the strategic maneuverability to take advantage of a chancy environment. Besides leading to dangerous rigidities and biases, particular types of foreign policy imageries and heuristics may also facilitate experimental and agile agency. In studying this possibility, Finland is chosen as an illustrative case because historically Finland has faced a particularly constraining geopolitical context and because it has managed to adapt to multiple upheavals and to different geopolitical contexts. The emphasis is on the heuristic dynamics inherent in Finnish foreign policy culture that have allowed it to actively meet the emerging challenges. Instead of taking a detailed historical approach, I seek to understand the role of the relatively flexible and combinable embodied cultural models, i.e. thick images. They allow for agency-related experimentation that may bring added value that allows Finland to exceed the constraints of the brute geopolitical position. After reviewing multiple embodied foreign policy images, I will use them to analyse New Year's speeches by the Finnish Presidents Ahtisaari and Halonen in order to see how the fickle present is made to resonate innovatively with the known, commonplace, and mythical.     

British Foreign Policy,the Financial Elite,and the Nationalisation of the Constantinople Quays Company, 1934–1945

The analysis examines the role of British financial institutions, namely the Bank of England and the Corporation of Foreign Bondholders [CFB], in the making of British policy towards Turkey. The nationalisation of the Constantinople Quays Company, a port operator purchased in 1907 by the British and French governments, serves as a case study through which business–state relations, the role of finance in the conduct of international relations, and the impact of perceptions on policy decisions are explored. In this case, the financial elite’s role was minimal during most of the period considered, becoming more important in the final war years in a framework of the Anglo–Turkish debt restructuring negotiations of 1944. Significantly, the CFB, rather than the Bank, represented the British government in the negotiations. There exists an abundance of evidence of the divergent views between Whitehall and the financial elite about Turkey’s trustworthiness as a debtor and a signatory to treaties. The British government’s perceptions were much more positive than those of the financial elite. This difference stemmed from the different interests involved: Whitehall sought to secure Turkey’s collaboration in the increasingly unstable global security environment while the Bank and the CFB were more concerned with investor and bondholder interests and attempted to avoid further financial losses.     

Finnish professional criminals and their organisations in the 1990SA

This article concentrates on Finnish professional criminals and their organisations in Finland and in cross-border crime operations. It is based on qualitative empirical material. It focus on 14 different Finnish groups active in the 1990s in smuggling (alcohol, tobacco and drugs), and/or procuring prostitutes, and/or handling stolen goods. The objective of the study was twofold: 1) to gather collective information about the world of the Finnish professional criminals by studying the personal characteristics of the group members, the crimes they commit, and the structures of the criminal groups, 2) to compare differences and similarities of professional criminals and organised crime groups in Finland and abroad. The study clearly shows, that Finnish professional criminal groups are loosely structured networks that based on trade relations between the participants. The operational time of the groups is short and laundering of profits is not planned beforehand. The comparison of studied groups and internationally well known organised crime groups shows, that the Finns are a long way behind in all matters related on organised crime and its criminality. Finnish groups are loosely structured networks working on ad hog basis, at the moment and a certain time. International groups are monopolistic business enterprises that corrupt and threats state authorities and surrounding society to leave them in peace, promote its own business matters and reputation of top men.

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Professional crime across the Finnish-Estonian border

Activities of Finnish professional criminals across theFinnish-Estonian border in the 1990s are studied in the light of two typesof data: non-public intelligence records of Finnish police and customs, andexpert interviews with Finnish and Estonian crime investigators and liaisonofficers. For practical purposes, professional crime is defined here asoffences that are planned, involve considerable material values, and aresanctioned with imprisonment. The volume of crime taking place in thecross-border scene is assessed to be much larger than reported in publicsources based on police-reported crimes and court verdicts. The largestgroups of crimes involved have to do with the import of narcotics, alcohol,and cigarettes from Estonia to Finland, price differentials being the centraldriving force. The total profile of professional crime in this scene, however,involves a much broader scope of criminal activities, including evenlarge-scale frauds where Finnish fraudsters have taken advantage of the goodfaith of Estonian banks and businessmen. The lifetime of the operationsdescribed mostly remains below one year. Many of the persons involved,however, do represent long and persistent careers. Their criminal operationsare usually organised according to a project model rather than a stableorganisation model. The authors recommend national police, customs andtax authorities to join forces and share intelligence for a fuller overallpicture of the situation and for improved efficiency of control andprevention. Further, co-operation between Finnish and Estonian lawenforcement agencies is judged to be in serious need of improvement, if the authorities sincerely wish to get to grips with the voluminous operationsof professional offenders in this scene.