Franz Josef Strauß ‐ lasting legacy or transitory phenomenon?

Franz Josef Strauβ died in October 1988, exactly two years before German unity. He was undoubtedly one of Germany's most dynamic and controversial post‐war politicians, who aroused very strong emotions in the electorate, ranging from great support to condemnation. During his political career Strauβ had tremendous power and influence. As the tenth anniversay of his death approaches, this article sets out to assess his contribution to both Bavarian and German politics. Did he represent a transitory phenomenon or did he leave behind a lasting legacy?     

A Changing Public Sector: Developments at the Commonwealth Level

Over the last three decades the federal public sector has been the focus of government policies aimed at recasting federal public sector employment arrangements from a structure characterised by a considerable autonomy from government to a set of institutions more responsive to government direction; and more recently to a regime marked by considerable operational autonomy within a framework of substantive and substantial government control. These developments had the consequence of promoting a more explicitly managerial employment framework and a more individualised workforce. As part of this process the federal public sector was reorganised as a series of agencies. These 'managerial agents' of governments were authorised to secure more effective employee compliance with these changes. A key element in this process is the response of public sector unions to these developments and the way they have both contributed to, and been affected by, the construction of a more explicitly managerial public sector.     

Folgenlose Gesetzesnovellen? Vier Jahre Recht auf Licht und nach wie vor viel Schatten

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

From Victim to Offender: The Effects of Male Initiated Violence on Women Arrested for Using Intimate Partner Violence

A number of theorists posit that most women who are arrested for using violence against their intimate partners are in-fact victims of IPV themselves and should be treated as such. However, in this population of women IPV arrestees empirical investigation has yet to explore how physical and emotional victimization experiences are associated with arrest related factors, propensity to be abusive or attitude toward using relationship violence. The current study explores these factors finding no difference in arrest factors between women who (a) deny abuse, (b) report rare/occasional abuse and (c) report frequent/very frequent abuse. However, mixed results were found with regard to participants’ responses on scales measuring propensity to be abusive and attitudes about using violence in marriage. Theoretical and practical related issues are addressed.     

Do C&IT Facilitate the Wrong Things?

There is a simple view of the role of C&IT (computers and information technology) in the legal academy that states, 'C&IT is just a tool. Use it or abuse it as you will. It has no ideology. It can no more be a bad thing than can a car or a chisel'. It is an additional resource on top of whatever we had before. I want to link that claim to a set of analogous claims about the relationship between law and science and law and mathematics, and subject them to scrutiny. I shall call these claims (that science, mathematics and computers are 'just' tools) collectively the 'neutrality claim'. So far as concerns computers, I shall suggest that C&IT in law has a tendency either towards reaction or towards reductionism in how we understand law in the academy. I will finish by considering an area in which computers have been relatively more successful-chess-and trying to work through the similarities and distinctions.