Conceptualising State Capacity: Comparing Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan

Strengthening the state is central to the post-communist reform agenda. Here, state capacity combines organisational, material and social resources and is conceptualised along four dimensions: ideational, political, technical and implementational. This conceptualisation is applied to a comparative, survey-based analysis in 2002 of 125 medium-ranking officials in two post- communist Central Asian countries, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. The findings reveal that although Kazakhstan's controlled economic reform programme and natural resources have placed it in a stronger position to develop its state capacity, important ideational, political and implementational problems pose long-term obstacles for reform. In turn, Kyrgyzstan's early liberalisation in the absence of economic and social resources may be serving to undermine its state capacity.     

‘Successful African local government’: Some methodological and conceptual issues

Attempts to identify and explain successful African local governments are made in a special issue of Public Administration and Development (Vol. 12, No. 1, 1992). These attempts are critically assessed, specifically the choice of indicators, the analysis of structures and actors, aggregation, and the role of political factors. It is argued that methodological and conceptual improvements in these areas are needed to advance the comparative study of African local government performance. Future studies should also pay more attention to equity, to resource mobilization from poor and declining economic bases, and to the impact of political pluralism.     

Acute stress disorder as a predictor of post-traumatic stress disorder in physical assault victims

The authors' objective was to examine the ability of acute stress disorder (ASD) and other trauma-related factors in a group of physical assault victims in predicting post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) 6 months later. Subjects included 214 victims of violence who completed a questionnaire 1 to 2 weeks after the assault, with 128 participating in the follow-up. Measures included the Harvard Trauma Questionnaire, the Trauma Symptom Checklist, and the Crisis Support Scale. Twenty-two percent met the full PTSD diagnosis and 22% a subclinical PTSD diagnosis. Previous lifetime shock due to a traumatic event happening to someone close, threats during the assault, and dissociation explained 56% of PTSD variance. Inability to express feelings, hypervigilance, impairment, and hopelessness explained another 15% of PTSD variance. The dissociative, the reexperiencing, the avoidant, and the arousal criteria of the ASD diagnosis correctly classified 79% of the subsequent PTSD cases.     

The Danish parliamentary election of 1981

The parliamentary election of 8 December 1981 brought no solution to Denmark's perennial problem of unstable minority government. On the contrary, the election weakened the Social Democratic government without significantly strengthening the Liberal-Conservative opposition. Electoral victory went to two relatively small parties, the People's Socialists on the left and Centre Democrats to the right of the centre. The election was followed by a two weeks' government crisis, after which the Prime Minister Anker Jørgensen reassumed the office which he has occupied continuously since January 1975.     

Criminalizing environmental offences: when the prosecutor’s helping hand hurts

Recent policy initiatives by the European Commission envisage an increased criminalization of offences against the environment, bringing the deterrent power of criminal law to bear on environmental violators in order to increase environmental quality. This paper examines some of the implications of such initiatives from a law-and-economics perspective. We show that increased criminalization does not necessarily lead to higher environmental quality. Budget-constrained regulators mandated with minimizing environmental damages can lose their ability to incentivize violators to report their misconducts in the presence of criminal prosecution. Therefore, some of the damages that otherwise can be remediated go undetected. The mechanism results from the subtle interplay of the current regulatory structure and the incentives of the environmental criminal justice system.     

Coalitions in European Union Negotiations

Coalitions will probably become an increasingly important theme in European Union (EU) politics. The spread of decision making by majority voting promotes coalition‐building behaviour. The impending enlargement is predicted to differentiate and polarize policy standpoints within the EU. Increasing levels of policy conflict imply increased propensities for coalition building. Still, the role and nature of coalitions in EU negotiations are obscure. This article raises important research questions: What characterizes coalition building in the EU? How important are coalitions? What coalition patterns are discernible?Using data from a questionnaire to Swedish participants on EU committees, it is shown that coalitions are more frequent when majority voting occurs than when unanimity rules. Coalition behaviour is, however, important also under unanimity. The existence of consensus norms diminishes the propensity to form coalitions. As regards coalition patterns, there is a prevalence of coalitions based on policy interests and/or on cultural affinity. Contrary to conventional wisdom, consistent and durable coalition patterns seem to exist. The north–south divide is one such persistent pattern. The Swedish respondents thus reveal a close cooperation between the Nordic member states and Great Britain, whereas France and Spain are seldom approached for coalition‐building purposes. As to future research, evidence from other member states and from case studies is needed in order to learn more about the bases for coalition building in EU negotiations.     

Revisiting the Role of Negotiation and Trivialization in Environmental Law Enforcement

Using an empirical assessment of the use of enforcement undertakings by the Environment Agency and the engagement of the courts with the recently enacted sentencing guidelines for environmental offences, this article argues that the enforcement of environmental law is undergoing significant change. This change manifests itself in an increased reliance on written negotiated agreements in the form of enforcement undertakings by the Enivironment Agency and the willingness of the courts to hand down significant fines in cases against certain types of polluters. These new dynamics suggest that negotiation continues to play an important role in the enforcement of environmental law, albeit in a contractualized form. The application of the sentencing guidelines conversely suggests that environmental offences are no longer trivialized by the courts. Taken together, these emerging dynamics not only create specific incentives between agencies and offenders but also call into question established understandings and perceptions of regulatory enforcement.     

Elections and landmark policies in Tanzania and Uganda

Much of the relevant literature on Africa downplays the salience of elections for policy-making and implementation. Instead, the importance of factors such as clientelism, ethnicity, organized interest groups, and donor influence, is emphasized. We argue that, in addition, elections now motivate political elites to focus on policies they perceive to be able to gain votes. This is based on analyses of six landmark decisions made during the last 15 years in the social, productive, and public finance sectors in Tanzania and Uganda. Such policies share a number of key characteristics: they are clearly identifiable with the party in power; citizens are targeted countrywide; and policy implementation aims at immediate, visible results.     

Sharp Force Homicide in Denmark 1992–2016

Sharp force trauma is a common homicide method. The weapon is typically a knife, which is easily accessible and does not require special skills. We have analyzed all 471 sharp force homicides in Denmark during 1992–2016 with special focus on aspects that are relevant to forensic pathologists, including the distribution of wounds and organ injuries. Most homicides were committed inside with a kitchen knife. The front left thorax was the most common area to be affected by sharp force trauma. In 18.9% of the victims, there was only one sharp injury, the majority on the thorax. The most common trajectory for stab wounds was directly posterior with no deviation to the sides or up/down followed by directly anterior. The heart (including pericardium) and lungs (including hemo- and pneumothorax) had injuries in more than 75% of the victims. 67% of victims were males. Female victims had more sharp force injuries and defense wounds than male victims. Most females were killed in domestic homicides (73.7%), most commonly in partner killings (56.4%). In contrast, many male victims were killed in a setting of nightlife/intoxication (34.0%) most by a friend/acquaintance delivering a few stab wounds. The results clearly show strong sex differences in both victims and offenders. This could be useful for shaping policies and public opinion, and as a route for understanding the developments in interpersonal violence. In the narrow setting of death investigation, our results will provide an evidence-based approach to understanding the injury patterns in sharp force homicide.