The 1999 ecological tax reform law

On 26 November 1999, the second stage of the German government's ecological tax reform law was passed by the Bundesrat. For a coalition that has been under increasing pressure, this law marks a significant political achievement, especially in the context of the poor recent run of Lander election results. This article briefly examines the background to the new law, before outlining the details of its first and second stages, focusing on the compromises made in finalising the second stage. It then discusses some of the reactions to the law and argues that it can be seen as a success for both partners in a coalition government that is struggling in relation to both internal cohesion and electoral success.     

Disappearing Without a Moral Trace? Rights and Compensation During Times of Emergency*

Scholars are divided over whether a victim’s rights persist when an agent permissibly responds to an emergency. According to the prevailing view the moral force of rights is not extinguished by moral permissibility and the agent, therefore, has a duty to compensate the victim. According to another influential view permissibility does erase the moral force of rights and the agent, therefore, can only have a duty to compensate for reasons other than the fact that they committed a rights transgression. I argue that liability does not follow even if we grant that the victim’s rights persevere. A non-pecuniary remedy such as a formal apology provides an adequate way of vindicating the victim’s rights and of recognizing the agent’s causal role. Thus, the answer to the question of what remedy the permissible transgressor owes the victim does not provide us with an answer to the question of who should bear the burden.     

The TVA dream: david lilienthal in latin america

This essay offers a critical analysis of the efforts of David E. Lilienthal to bring the message of international development to Latin America. Lilienthal, an original founder of the Tennessee Valley Authority, labored more than 20 years in Latin America and other parts of the globe after his public career with TVA and the Atomic Energy Commission. His story was bitter- sweet for while he loved his work, his efforts seemed to fail more often than they succeeded, and near the end of his life all his dreams came tumbling down when the Iranian revolution swept his small international development corporation into oblivion. In many respects, Lilienthal's story and experience parallels that of his nation--at least with regard to international development experiences. Too much emphasis on big projects, too little sensitivity to local social, economic, and political realities, too rigid a vision of what could be transplanted: all these factors and others were instrumental in frustrating the well-intentioned efforts of a very special American.     

The Effects of Polymer Pigmentation on Fingermark Development Techniques

The effectiveness of latent fingerprint development techniques is heavily influenced by the physical and chemical properties of the deposition surface. The use of powder suspensions is increasing for development of prints on a range of surfaces. We demonstrate that carbon powder suspension development on polymers is detrimentally affected by the presence of common white pigment, titanium dioxide. Scanning electron microscopy demonstrates that patches of the compound are clearly associated with increased levels of powder adhesion. Substrates with nonlocalized titanium dioxide content also exhibit increased levels of carbon powder staining on a surface‐wide basis. Secondary ion mass spectrometry and complementary techniques demonstrate the importance of levels of the pigment within the top 30 nm. The association is independent of fingermark deposition and may be related to surface energy variation. The detrimental effect of the pigment is not observed with small‐particle reagent (MoS₂ SPR) or cyanoacrylate (superglue) fuming techniques that exploit different development mechanisms.