Verfahrensdauer,keine Rechtsverletzung

Mit der gem Art 131 Abs 1 Z 1 B-VG erhobenen Beschwerde k?nnen Rechtsverletzungen geltend gemacht werden, die in einer Rechtswidrigkeit des angefochtenen Bescheides begründet sind. Eine nach Auffassung des Beschwerdeführers unangemessen lange Verfahrensdauer stellt jedoch keine solche Rechtsverletzung dar.     

Reforming the equilibrium? Veto players and policy change in the European constitution-building process

The EU currently experiences a reform dilemma which is common to many international organizations composed of a large number of veto players who must adopt a change of the status quo. After the accession of ten countries in May 2004, the 25 governmental veto players adopted a modest reform text that proposes as many changes as it retains provisions of the Nice treaty. This ambivalent outcome raised much criticism and has been rejected by the French and Dutch voters who had to ratify the reform. This raises questions on the reasons for change and stability in organizations which attempt to reform their obsolete provisions under the constraint of many (types of) veto players. This study examines under which conditions the positions of the different types of veto players—governments, parliamentary ratification pivots, median voters and the supranational actors—are important to explain the outcome of the draft treaty. Our results suggest that the probability for reform is only determined by governmental gains when we control for parliamentary ratification pivots and median voters from status quo-prone member states. We also find that governments favoring the status quo retain their veto in case either parliaments or voters favor reform. This responsiveness is supported by the fact that median voters also matter when member states did not announce a referendum.     

Dolmetscher,faires Asylverfahren

Mit der Garantie eines fairen Asylverfahrens w?re es jedenfalls unvereinbar, wenn das zur Entscheidung berufene Mitglied der Berufungsbeh?rde bei der Befragung des Asylwerbers zur Sache auch die Funktion des Dolmetschers inne h?tte.     

Ethnic minorities,culture conflicts and crime

Since the mid-sixties debate among German criminologists has centered around the impact of cultural conflict on deviance and crime. Research in this area is restricted to individual level explanations of behavior. There is, however, another avenue provided by culture conflict theories. This paper describes the contemporary German situation and suggests that shared values and collective morals are no longer the nucleus of stability in modern industrial societies; they have been replaced by a material culture. When large proportions of the population are denied access to this material culture, the potential for a collective reaction increases. Violent behavior is then justified by the assertion that culture or national identities are being defended. Thus, collective reactions might lead to cultural conflicts between groups and go beyond individual violent acts or other types of deviance.