The irresistible decline of the medical profession? an empirical investigation of its autonomy and economic situation in the changing German welfare state

The aim of this paper is to examine various theses of loss of autonomy in the medical profession by means of an empirical investigation of changes in physicians' economic opportunities and technical autonomy in Germany since the mid-1970s. The paper shows that transitions in the organisational structure of the health care system, government policies aimed mainly at the economisation of health care, and the changing situation of the profession in the labour market, have together been responsible for the changes investigated. It is argued that technical autonomy has been retained in out-patient care, while in hospitals there has been some loss of technical autonomy. Moreover, the economic situation of physicians has in general deteriorated as a result of central state intervention.     

Practical developments in law science and policy: efforts to protect the traditional group knowledge and practices of the Shuar, an indigenous people of the Ecuadorian Amazon

The purpose of this article is to broadly outline a problem in the context of relatively recent activity in the Amazon Basin. My colleagues and I found the Policy Sciences framework to be a useful blueprint for comprehensive issue analysis. The five intellectual tasks of the policy-oriented approach to solving problems helped us to clarify the apparent goals of the primary actors involved; identify certain trends associated with the problem, including estimations of their magnitude and implications; understand several conditioning factors which could impact (or have already had an impact on) the achievement of the goals identified; recognize several projections anticipated from a normative standpoint in light of the trends examined; and make some observations, including possible strategies and their alternatives, which might enable the Shuar to maximize benefits and minimize costs.     

Never a dull moment: Pim Fortuyn and the Dutch parliamentary election of 2002

The 2002 parliamentary election in the Netherlands will always be associated with the name of Pim Fortuyn. His murder only nine days before the election was the first political assassination in the Netherlands in more than 300 years. The sudden success of the new party he had founded, coupled with the major losses for the Labour and Liberal parties, made this an historic election. This article attempts to understand the motivations of the voters at this election, in particular the voters of the List Pim Fortuyn (LPF). It is first shown that the conventional wisdom, which assumes voting based on religion and social class, and voting along ideological issue lines, has lost its ability to explain voter behaviour in the Netherlands. An explanation based on retrospective economic voting is also rejected. The success of the LPF is accounted for by the popularity of Fortuyn and his appeal among those who had cynical attitudes towards government or who were dissatisfied with the performance of the incumbent government. The popularity of Fortuyn is shown to have been related to political issues, in particular those relating to asylum seekers and the integration of foreigners in the country.     

Police Bribery: Is Corruption Fostering Dissatisfaction with the Political System?

The increasing salience of security concerns after democratization processes in the developing world has put scholars to explore the effects of police corruption as a key issue impeding the consolidation of the rule of law. Using data taken from surveys conducted in Mexico, Peru, and Bolivia, this article contributes to such literature by questioning whether cases of police corruption have an effect on the trust in the political system. The research finds that citizens can support the democratic order even if they have experienced bribery. The article unveils, however, that another type of police corruption—police protecting criminals—is a robust and statistically significant theory of variance in the confidence in the political system.