Europol and EU Counterterrorism: International Security Actorness in the External Dimension

This article offers an analysis of Europol's security actorness in the external dimension of EU counterterrorism. While Europol has attracted some scholarly attention, not so much work has focused on the meaning of its international agreements in counterterrorism. This article aims to investigate the international actorness of Europol at the international level in relation to the fight against international terrorism. It offers original conceptual insights based on empirical case studies of international agreements: Europol agreements with U.S. law enforcement, as well as Europol agreements with countries in the European Neighbourhood policy.     

Enlargement as a factor accelerating the transformation of the European community

Think tanks

Think tank traditions policy research and the Politics oj ideas / edited by Diane Stone and Andrew Denham. ‐ Manchester : Manchester University Press, c2004. ‐xiv, 322 p. ‐ ISBN 0–7190–6479–1 (pbk)

International finance

Democratizing Global Governance / edited by Esref Aksu and Joseph A. Camilleri. ‐Basingstoke : Palgrave Macmillan, c2002. ‐ xx, 306 p. ‐ ISBN 0–333–97123‐X (pbk)

Financial stability and growth in emerging economies : the role of the financial sector / edited by Jan Joost Teunissen and Mark Teunissen. ‐ The Hague : FON‐DAD, c2003. ‐ xvi, 281 p. ‐ ISBN 90–74208–21–5

Foreign direct investment in Central and Eastern Europe / edited by Svetla Trifonova Marinova, Marin Alexandrov Marinov.‐ Aldershot : Ashgate, c2003. ‐ xii, 339 p. ‐ (Transition and development). ‐ ISBN 0–7546–3026–9

Restructuring sovereign debt the case of ad hoc machinery / Lex Rieffel. ‐ Washington D.C. : Brookings Institutution Press, c2003

Sustaining global growth and development : G 7 and IMF governance / edited by Michele Fratianni, Paolo Savona, John J. Kirton. ‐ Aldershot : Ashgate, c2003. ‐ xxiv, 339 p. ‐ (Gobal finance series). ‐ ISBN 0–7546–3529–5

Turbulent waters : cross‐border finance and international governance / Ralph C. Bryant. ‐ Washington, D.C. : Brookings Institution Press, c2003. ‐xvi, 503 p. ‐ ISBN 0–8157–0071–7

European Union

L'Europa e il mondo : la politico estera, di sicurezza e di difesa europea / Marco Clementi. ‐ Bologna : il Mulino, c2004. ‐ 222 p. ‐ (Contemporanea ; 148). ‐ISBN 88–15–09620–5

L'Europe des commissaires : réflexions sur l'identité européenne des Traités de Rome au Traité d'Amsterdam / par Bertrand Rochard. ‐Bruxelles : Etablissements Emile Bruylant, 2003. ‐ xiv, 503 p. ‐(Organisation internationale et relations internationales ; 55 ).‐ ISBN 2–8027–1723–5

The European finality debate and its national dimensions / edited by Simon Serfaty. ‐Washington: The CSIS Press, c2003. ‐xiv, 297 p. ‐ (Significant issues series).‐ ISBN 0–89206–427–7

The European Union, Mercosul and the new world order / editors Helio Jaguaribe, Alvaro de Vasconcelos. ‐ London : Frank Cass, c2003. ‐ xx, 247 p. ‐ ISBN 0–7146–8338–8

Multi‐level governance and institutional change : the Europeanization of regional policy in Italy / Enrico Gualini. ‐ Aldershot : Ashgate, c2004. ‐ (Urban and regional planning and development). ‐ ISBN 0–7546–3626–7     

Tracking the War of Ideas: A Poll of Ottawa Muslims

A 2008 poll of 430 Ottawa Muslims found predominantly negative views of the U.S. war on terrorism, including the war in Iraq and the war in Afghanistan. This poll also assessed approval of Western powers (U.S., Canada, Israel, United Nations) and challengers of Western power (Al-Qaeda, Hamas, Hizballah, government of Iran). Surprisingly, attitudes of Ottawa Muslims toward militant Muslim groups were unrelated to their attitudes toward Western governments. Discussion suggests that this pattern, if confirmed in other Muslim polls, would mean that the war of ideas against radical Islam must address not one target but two: favorable opinions of militants and unfavorable opinions of the U.S. Muslims who come to like the West more may not like Muslim militants any less.     

A New Barometer for the Evolution of Multilateral Counterterrorism: Introduction to the Materials,Methods, and Results of the UN Security Council and Terrorism Dataset (UNSC-TDS)

There is a general tendency among analysts to treat the activity of the United Nations Security Council as a barometer for measuring the evolution of global security issues. However, despite the Council's central role in multilateral counterterrorism since 9/11, there exists no comprehensive and coherent empirical measurement of its activity on terrorism. This research gap has resulted in contradictory assessments concerning the beginning, the regularity, and the consistency of the Council's activity on terrorism. In an effort to introduce more academic rigor to terrorism studies, researchers need to systematically address this deficit. This article makes a fundamental contribution by introducing a new dataset, the UN Security Council and Terrorism Dataset. It outlines the problems of previously available data and specifies the materials and methods used for the creation of the dataset. It continues by presenting key results from this unprecedented data collection effort and illustrates general trends in the Council's activity on terrorism. Based on this extensive empirical research, it finds that the UN Security Council's activity on terrorism has evolved more regularly and consistently since 1946 than previously thought. This conclusion indicates new directions for future research.     

In search of reliable results: Socialist values and political trust in unified Germany – A comment on Campbell's analyses and conclusions

In a recently published article in this journal, Ross Campbell argues that adherence to socialist values establishes a hitherto neglected factor when it comes to the explanation of differences in East and West German citizens’ political trust. As the results of his study indicate, adherence to socialist values impacts negatively on citizens’ political trust, this effect is more pronounced and more stable over time for East German as compared to West German citizens and is sufficiently strong to eliminate aggregate‐level differences in political trust between East and West Germany. However, this research note suggests that Campbell's article contains several substantial inconsistencies and obscurities that question the reliability and validity of the empirical findings presented. It provides a re‐analysis of Campbell's main arguments and shows to what extent his initial conclusions can be upheld after the shortcomings have been remedied. The results of this re‐analysis suggest that socialist values indeed exhibit a negative impact on German citizens’ political trust, which is relatively stronger for East as compared to West German citizens. However, contrary to Campbell's initial results, the negative effect of socialist values on political trust is robust over time for both East and West German citizens. What is more, there is no empirical evidence confirming that differences in adherence to socialist values between East and West German citizens are sufficiently strong to account for aggregate‐level differences in political trust. In light of these findings, two of Campbell's three main conclusions are dubious and call for further examination.     

Post-mortem forensic neuroimaging: correlation of MSCT and MRI findings with autopsy results

Multislice-computed tomography (MSCT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) are increasingly used for forensic purposes. Based on broad experience in clinical neuroimaging, post-mortem MSCT and MRI were performed in 57 forensic cases with the goal to evaluate the radiological methods concerning their usability for forensic head and brain examination. An experienced clinical radiologist evaluated the imaging data. The results were compared to the autopsy findings that served as the gold standard with regard to common forensic neurotrauma findings such as skull fractures, soft tissue lesions of the scalp, various forms of intracranial hemorrhage or signs of increased brain pressure. The sensitivity of the imaging methods ranged from 100% (e.g., heat-induced alterations, intracranial gas) to zero (e.g., mediobasal impression marks as a sign of increased brain pressure, plaques jaunes). The agreement between MRI and CT was 69%. The radiological methods prevalently failed in the detection of lesions smaller than 3mm of size, whereas they were generally satisfactory concerning the evaluation of intracranial hemorrhage. Due to its advanced 2D and 3D post-processing possibilities, CT in particular possessed certain advantages in comparison with autopsy with regard to forensic reconstruction. MRI showed forensically relevant findings not seen during autopsy in several cases. The partly limited sensitivity of imaging that was observed in this retrospective study was based on several factors: besides general technical limitations it became apparent that clinical radiologists require a sound basic forensic background in order to detect specific signs. Focused teaching sessions will be essential to improve the outcome in future examinations. On the other hand, the autopsy protocols should be further standardized to allow an exact comparison of imaging and autopsy data. In consideration of these facts, MRI and CT have the power to play an important role in future forensic neuropathological examination.     

Use of multislice computed tomography in disaster victim identification--advantages and limitations

After a mass fatality incident (MFI), all victims have to be rapidly and accurately identified for juridical reasons as well as for the relatives' sake. Since MFIs are often international in scope, Interpol has proposed standard disaster victim identification (DVI) procedures, which have been widely adopted by authorities and forensic experts. This study investigates how postmortem multislice computed tomography (MSCT) can contribute to the DVI process as proposed by Interpol. The Interpol postmortem (PM) form has been analyzed, and a number of items in sections D and E thereof have been postulated to be suitable for documentation by CT data. CT scans have then been performed on forensic cases. Interpretation of the reconstructed images showed that indeed much of the postmortem information required for identification can be gathered from CT data. Further advantages of the proposed approach concern the observer independent documentation, the possibility to reconstruct a variety of images a long time after the event, the possibility to distribute the work by transmitting CT data digitally, and the reduction of time and specialists needed at the disaster site. We conclude that MSCT may be used as a valuable screening tool in DVI in the future.