Initially suspected killing with a political background identified as accidental carbon monoxide poisoning

During a parish fair the police was called to a conflict between two rival right-wing youth groups in the early morning hours. Shortly afterwards a burning car was discovered near the marquee with a charred male body on the driver's seat. It was assumed that there was a connection between the two events. At autopsy no injuries were found that were not attributable to postmortem consumption by the fire. The BAC value was 1.76 per thousand, the CO-Hb concentration 78%. The body could be identified by comparing pre- and postmortem X-rays of the molars and premolars of the right upper jaw. Reconstruction of the course of events and classification as an accident was possible only after calling in technical experts: The victim had gone back to his car to take a nap and kept the engine running because of the cold temperature. The car had been fitted improperly with a sport exhaust pipe, which caused both the carbon monoxide poisoning and the fire.     

Soft Governance, Hard Consequences: The Ambiguous Status of Unofficial Guidelines

Soft governance is an approach to policy implementation in which the central government relies less on hierarchy than on information to steer local organizations. This allows for a combination of formal accountability and professional autonomy that improves the quality of public services in both the short and the long term. Guidelines of an advisory, unofficial status are one tool that central government can use for this purpose. However, an inherent problem with this approach is that even though guidelines have no official legal status, in practice, they can take on the character of formal regulation when local organizations suspect that they cannot choose alternative courses of action, however well reasoned, without being sanctioned. It is a situation that encourages conformist behavior and diminishes the long-term potential for innovation. This phenomenon is illustrated with an analysis of disaster management in the Netherlands.     

Anticoagulant-related iliopsoas muscle bleeding leading to fatal exsanguination: report of two autopsy cases

Two cases of massive iliopsoas muscle bleeding leading to fatal exsanguination are presented. Both patients (two women, 61 and 74 years old, respectively) received oral anticoagulation with phenprocoumon. The intramuscular bleeding occurred spontaneously in women of relatively good physical condition. Intriguingly, phenprocoumon concentrations were within the therapeutic range (1.55 microg/ml and 1.26 microg/ml, respectively) as detected by toxicologic analysis. These cases demonstrate that severe bleeding in the iliopsoas muscle has to be considered in all patients receiving anticoagulant medication, even in those who have coagulation parameters within the therapeutic range. Especially in older patients with a high degree of comorbidity or in patients receiving analgesic drugs, the potential of fatal outcome of iliopsoas muscle bleeding seems to be of clinicopathologic relevance.     

Public–private transformations. Institutional shifts, cultural changes and altering identities: two case studies

The central question of this article is which changes in cultural orientation arise during institutional transformation within public–private hybrid organizations. The article presents a theoretical review, using the Dutch interaction model, in which various models of institutional transformation and cultural change are brought up. We present two case studies which are part of an inter–university study of hybridization and processes of privatization.     

L‘évaluation du rendement des cadres supérieurs dans la fonction publique québécoise

Sommaire: Au moment où l'on parle de plus en plus de l'imputabilité des gestionnaires publics, il paraît important de s'interroger sur les mécanismes grâce auxquels les administrateurs sont anenés à rendre compte de leur gestion. Le présent article contribue àéclairer cette question en examinant le processus d'évaluation du reiidenient des cadres supérieurs de la fonction publique quéléoisr. Après avoir décrit l'origine et le conteiiu de la politique d'évaluation dn rendement des cadres, les auteurs inontrent que, jusqu' à maintenant, le processus d'évaluation du rendenient exerce en définitive un impact limité sur la gestion. L'analyse du eontenu de plus de 400 fiches d'évaluation du rendement réevèle par ailleurs que les gestionnaires supérieurs éprouvent des difficultés sérieuses dans la définition des attentes signifiées à leurs subordonnés et dans l'évaluation de leurs réalisations. Abstract: At a time when accountability is brought to the forefront in the public service, one has to wonder if the system provides the managers with adequate measurement tools, allowing them to render a satisfactory account of their management. in this article, the authors examine the managers' performance appraisal system in Quebec's Civil Science and draw conclusions on its usefulness as a management tool and its fairness as a compensation devise. After describing the origins and substance of the present policy, they demonstrate that results of the appraisal practice have indeed very little impact on management decisions. The analysis of as many as 400 appraisal forms reveals moreover that managers experience serious difficulties in defining the expectancies of their subordinates in the appraising of results. Le présent article est le résumé d'une étude publiée par le Centre d'études politiques et administratives du Québec: Marcel Proulx et Slichel Roy, L'évaluation du rendement des cadres supérieurs dans la fonction publique québécoise, coll. Bilans et Perspectives, no 1, Québec, École nationale d'administration publique, 1983, 152 p.     

Developmental Patterns in Adolescent Attachment to Mother,Father and Sibling

The aim of this study was to examine the development of quality of attachment of adolescents to their parents and siblings during adolescence and the role that gender differences play in this development, using latent growth curve analysis. In 288 families, adolescents reported on their attachment relationships with their parents and siblings. Quality of attachment changes during adolescence, and these changes are influenced by both gender of the adolescent and gender of the attachment figure. Results showed that change in mean level of quality of attachment to mother appeared to be nonlinear for boys, whereas mean level of attachment of adolescent girls to their mothers showed a linear decline. Results for attachment to father were opposite, with a linear decline in quality for boys, and a nonlinear development for girls. Quality of attachment to sibling showed differential development depending on gender composition of the sibling dyad.     

Extreme right-wing voting in Western Europe

Abstract. In this study we explain extreme right-wing voting behaviour in the countries of the European Union and Norway from a micro and macro perspective. Using a multidisciplinary multilevel approach, we take into account individual-level social background characteristics and public opinion alongside country characteristics and characteristics of extreme right-wing parties themselves. By making use of large-scale survey data (N = 49,801) together with country-level statistics and expert survey data, we are able to explain extreme right-wing voting behaviour from this multilevel perspective. Our results show that cross-national differences in support of extreme right-wing parties are particularly due to differences in public opinion on immigration and democracy, the number of non-Western residents in a country and, above all, to party characteristics of the extreme right-wing parties themselves.     

Freedom and Opportunity

The article discusses recent attempts in rational choice theory to take account of the opportunity aspect of freedom, i.e., the value of alternatives, in measuring freedom. It is argued that each of these approaches (in terms of fixed preferences, of possible future preferences and of the preferences of reasonable persons) fails to solve important conceptual problems. Furthermore, we argue that differences between measures of opportunity freedom reflect different moral standards for the quality of alternatives, not different conceptions of freedom as such. Hence, we propose to separate discussions about the meaning of the concept of freedom from the issue of determining the value of opportunity sets.     

Social heterogeneity and wasteful lobbying

Using a general equilibrium model with endogenous policy, we explore how heterogeneity affects wasteful lobbying by sectoral interest groups. With the help of a simulation approach, we first investigate the impact of information heterogeneity on how lobbies react to a shift from a soft to a strict government budget constraint. Next, we examine how lobbying is influenced by heterogenous perception of the general equilibrium implications of lobbying effort. Finally, we explore the consequences of heterogenous specialization in households' asset portfolios. We conclude that social heterogeneity in information, perceptions, and portfolio compositions increases incentives to lobby.     

Individual and contextual characteristics of the German extreme right-wing vote in the 1990s. A test of complementary theories

Abstract In this article we set out to improve our knowledge on voting for extreme right–wing parties, i.e. the Republikaner, by taking into account social, political and contextual characteristics. We test four theories that provide explanations as to why certain social categories are more likely to vote for the Republikaner. The hypotheses are tested with multilevel analyses, with data from a national sample (N = 4688). Multinomial analyses provide additional information on how theoretically derived political attitudes effect voting behaviour.