The Treatment Engagement Rating scale (TER) for forensic outpatient treatment: Description,psychometric properties,and norms

Abstract

The Treatment Engagement Rating scale (TER) is a Dutch therapist rating instrument for treatment engagement (TE) of forensic outpatients. It yields scores for nine components of TE, which are aggregated in a total score. Following an analysis of the concept of TE, the TER is described, and various psychometric analyses of data from a forensic outpatient sample are reported. The nine component scores were found to constitute a homogeneous scale with good internal consistency (α=0.93, n=328) and adequate inter-rater reliability (intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC)=0.76, n=99). The validity of the TER is supported by correlations of 0.47, 0.66, and 0.91 (n=328) with measures for the motivation to engage in treatment. Applications for the TER in clinical practice and research are suggested.     

Superficial,not Substantial: The Ambiguity of Public Support for Europe's Security and Defence Policy

Abstract

Surveys such as the European Commission's Eurobarometer regularly reveal high levels of public support for European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP). This paper argues, however, that public support for ESDP is only superficial, not substantial. First, there is no homogeneous ‘European’ public support for ESDP. Second, security and defence, as covered by ESDP with its focus on global crisis-management, rank very low among Europeans’ priorities. Third, Europeans are very sceptical about the appropriateness of military means, and hence a core element of ESDP, as a legitimate instrument in international affairs. These reservations are likely to have constraining effects on ESDP's future development. At the same time, there are compelling reasons for the further development of ESDP. Therefore, Europe's political elites should initiate a public diplomacy campaign inside the EU in which the case for Europe's further evolution as a strategic security and defence actor is made. ESDP operations are the most promising starting points as they illustrate both the normative and the ‘realist’ necessities of European engagement in global security affairs.     

Governance as a Path to Government

During the 1970s, analyses of state and government in Western Europe were preoccupied with crises of governability and legitimacy. The early 1980s witnessed sharply differing responses to these crises, exemplified by the socialist experiment in France and Thatcherism in the UK. By the end of the 1980s, ‘governance’– in both national and European arenas – began to be regarded as the dominant institutional response to problems of governability. Considered from the perspective of comparative European government, the oft-claimed shift from government to governance appears overstated. Governance is less widespread and consequential both at national and European levels than its proponents suggest, as a survey of the propellants, conditions and national and European constellations of governance shows. Viewed historically, governance does not so much indicate a shift from government as towards government, as the core institutions of the state build up capacity to deal authoritatively and hierarchically with new governing challenges.     

The Rare Event of Choice: Party Primaries in German Land Parties

The selection of party leaders in Germany has traditionally been characterised by elite agreement behind closed doors. Most often, only one single candidate was presented to the conference delegates. Yet things have changed to some degree since the 1990s. First, most parties have introduced statutory reforms at the national level allowing for intra-party plebiscites. At the national level, this has basically remained paperwork. Second, and more interesting for the purposes of this paper, similar reforms have been introduced at the Land level. In an increasing number of cases, Land parties have chosen their party leader or top candidate for Land elections via grassroots participation. What have been the motives for opening up selection procedures and giving members a say? The article points to electoral images and elite stalemates as main drivers of this development. It shows that party primaries contain elements of uncertainty about outcomes which make party elites hesitant to make more extensive use of membership ballots.     

A Question of Time: Responsive and Responsible Democratic Politics

Since 2008, European crisis politics have thrown the importance of time in democracy into sharp relief. The need for rapid action by national authorities, the EU and international organisations conflicts with the time-consuming nature of democratic deliberation; short-term political firefighting has given little consideration to the long-term sustainability and time consistency of policies; and decentralised decisions threaten effective synchronisation within multi-level governance systems. This article suggests that democratic politics requires a balance between the temporal characteristics of responsive and responsible politics. The timeframe for responsive politics is shaped by electoral cycles that encourage speedy action; short-term lags between political choices and their effects; and temporal discretion of decision-makers. The timeframe for responsible politics is characterised by time-consuming procedures; solutions that take time to unfold and are sustainable in the longer term; and the purposive synchronisation amongst actors and across policy domains and levels of policy-making. The finely balanced temporal constitution of democracy has been challenged in two fundamental ways. First, as the ability of decision-makers to work within the time limits of their mandates and to respond to the temporal expectations of the electorate decreases, the temporal ties that ensure the responsiveness of political authority to the electorate weaken. Second, the distinct temporal qualities of majoritarian and non-majoritarian institutions that encourage responsibility are called into question. Consequently, political time in Europe runs the risk of becoming both less responsive and less responsible.     

Die systematische Verankerung des Artenschutzrechts im Ordnungsrecht

Zusammenfassung  Die europarechtlichen Normen des sog. individuenbezogenen Artenschutzes (insbesondere Art. 5 lit. a Vogelschutz- und Art. 12 Abs. 1 lit. a FFH-Richtlinie) sowie die innerstaatlichen Umsetzungsnormen in § 42 Abs. 1 BNatSchG sind entgegen einer weit verbreiteten Tendenz als Verbote bestimmter gezielt auf individuelle Exemplare der geschützten Arten gerichtete Zugriffshandlungen ernst zu nehmen. Der Beitrag zeigt auf, wie auf dieser Basis der ausufernden Anwendung der genannten Normen vorgebaut werden kann. Die abgestufte Handlungsverantwortlichkeit von Verkehrsteilnehmern, Beh?rden zur ordnungsbeh?rdlichen Regelung des Verkehrsgeschehens sowie zur Zulassung von Verkehrsanlagen und -wegen wird verdeutlicht, zugleich ein praktikabler Weg zum ma?vollen und differenzierten Umgang mit dem besonderen Artenschutzrecht aufgezeigt.