An Algebraic Analysis of Normative Systems

In the present paper we study how subsystems of a normative system can be combined, and the role of such combinations for the understanding of hypothetical legal consequences. A combination of two subsystems is often accomplished by a normative correlation or an intermediate concept. To obtain a detailed analysis of such phenomena we use an algebraic framework. Normative systems are represented as algebraic structures over sets of conditions. This representation makes it possible to study normative systems using an extension of the theory of Boolean algebras, called the theory of Boolean quasi-orderings.     

The Investment-Promotion Machines: The Politics of Foreign Direct Investment Promotion in Central and Eastern Europe

A variety of foreign-led economies emerged in Central and Eastern Europe in the late 1990s. State economic strategies in the Visegrad Four region (V4) of the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia and Poland have converged towards a distinct model of competition states. This article investigates the politics of investment attraction and promotion of particular investors within the states and regions in Central and Eastern Europe. It analyses coalitions of social actors which form in the process of bidding for investors and promoting them in the regions. These coalitions, the investment-promotion machines, can be understood as power blocs underpinning the competition state at the regional level. The analysis draws primarily on case studies of attraction and promotion of foreign direct investment (FDI) in the Czech Republic and Slovakia.     

Practitioner-led research: experiences with Learning Platforms

This article describes Learning Platforms, a structured effort by the Dutch-based agency SNV to encourage its expert advisers to engage in reading and analysing academic research related to the context in which they work, and to undertake research of their own. Although the practitioners' ability to apply their research to their daily practice, and the organisation's ability to absorb the findings of the research as part of its ways of working, have been partial or limited, the approach has the potential to bring academic and practice-based endeavour together in ways that are mutually beneficial.     

A more sensitive modification of the zinc test for seminal traces suitable for stable test paper strips.

A more sensitive modification of the zinc test for semen has been developed, which can be used either as a solution or incorporated into test papers. The latter retain their sensitivity for at least 3 months.     

Social security and intergenerational redistribution: A generational accounting perspective

This paper is concerned with the analysis of intergenerational redistribution in a pay-as-you-go financed social security scheme. Instead of annual fiscal indicators, we apply generational accounts to calculate the intertemporal effects arising from a projected aging process. As a case study, the institutional settings and the parameterization of our model refer to the conditions found in Germany in 1989. Additionally, the intergenerational impacts of the German 1992 Pension Reform Act are taken into account. Our findings suggest that the major reform measures affect the distribution of the demographic burden between future and presently living generations. However, the burden is shifted in favor of the generations currently alive, thereby contradicting the explicit political intentions and aggravating the situation for future generations.