Overestimating the Shift from Government to Governance: Evidence from Swiss Metropolitan Areas

There is an oft‐stated claim in political science research that public sector reforms in Western democracies are consistent with a shift from government to governance. This article challenges that claim. Based on a comparative analysis of governance reforms in Swiss metropolitan areas, the article reveals that what seems to be a shift to governance may turn out to be a path to government, however, including a change either from the local to the metropolitan level or from general‐purpose authorities to task‐specific jurisdictions. Further, the article analyzes the political dynamics behind governance reforms. It shows that exogenous pressures put existing governance schemes under strain. Its impact, however, is mediated by the initial institutional setting and the narratives responding to case‐specific political dilemmas.     

Drug intelligence based on MDMA tablets data: 2. Physical characteristics profiling

One of the tasks of the European project entitled “Collaborative Harmonisation of Methods for Profiling of Amphetamine Type Stimulants” (CHAMP) funded by the sixth framework programme of the European Commission was to develop a harmonised methodology for MDMA profiling and the creation of a common database in a drug intelligence perspective. Part I was dedicated to the analysis of organic impurities formed during synthesis in order to investigate traffic tendencies and highlight potential links between samples, whereas this part focuses on physical characteristics of the MDMA tablets. Diameter, thickness, weight and score were demonstrated to be reliable and relevant features in this drug intelligence perspective. Distributions of samples coming from the same post-tabletting batch (post-TB) and samples coming from different post-TB were very well discriminated by using the squared Euclidean or the Manhattan distance on standardised data. Our findings demonstrated the possibility to discriminate between MDMA samples issued from different post-TB and to find out links between samples coming from a same post-TB. Furthermore, the hypothesis that most of the MDMA samples found on the international market come from the same countries was supported.     

The Rule of Reasons. Three Models of Deliberative Democracy

In this paper, the author contrasts three models of deliberative democracy: a liberal one, a communitarian one, and an alternative to both. Rather than understanding deliberative democracy as the rule of principles of justice or of communal values, the third model conceives of it as the "rule of reasons." On the basis of a discussion of seven components of an "ethos of democracy" (the cognitive capacities of citizens, political virtues, the cultural, institutional and material conditions of democracy, political legitimacy, and the "ground" of democracy), the third view, which is based on a theory of moral and political justification, emerges as superior.     

Ties, stories and events. Pl?doyer für eine prozessuale Netzwerktheorie

Networks and processes??two sociological concepts that stand in a relationship of tension to each other. While networks are mostly conceived as synchronic relations between ??ties??, processes??as diachronic phenomena??are represented in the form of ??stories??. More recently, attempts have been made from within the ranks of network theory or relational sociology to combine these ??ties?? and ??stories??. In this respect, the conceptions of Harrison C. White and Charles Tilly need to be mentioned in particular. The present paper offers an analysis of both approaches and points out that their missing time-theoretical foundation is a problematic issue concerning both conceptions.     

Creating Demand for Global Governance: The Making of a Global Money-laundering Problem*

In most studies on global governance, problems are treated as exogenous factors. Even constructivist global governance approaches normally concentrate on persuasion about global norms and rules, but take the existence of global problems as given. This ignores the fact that it may be necessary to persuade rule addressees of the existence of a problem in the first place. States comply with global rules voluntarily only if they agree that there is a problem. Hence international rule makers have to “problematise” the issue they attempt to regulate, i.e. to construct the issue as a global problem that requires global rules in order to be solved. This article inquires into the why and how of “problematisation” by international regulators. To this end it reconstructs how the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has turned the issue of money-laundering, which was not considered a problem until the late 1980s, into a global problem requiring a global solution.     

Weltkulturv?lkerrecht und nationalstaatliche Umsetzung

Die Turbulenzen, die der geplante Bau der sog. “Waldschl?sschenbrücke” in Dresden ausgel?st hat, haben inzwischen auch das lange Zeit als harmonisch betrachtete Verh?ltnis zwischen v?lkerrechtlichen übereinkommen zum Schutz von Kulturgütern und ihrem Schutz durch nationales Recht erreicht. Ihre Verbindlichkeit für die Praxis der beh?rdlichen Zulassungsentscheidungen steht dabei ebenso in Frage, wie Regelungstauglichkeit des deutschen Rechts. Im Folgenden wird der Gegenstandsbereich des Weltkulturv?lkerrechts umrissen (I.). Dabei wird auf die Welterbekonvention besonders eingegangen (II.). Ihre Umsetzung in Deutschland wird dargestellt (III.) und nach ihren Defiziten gefragt (IV.). Abschlie?end werden einige Schlussfolgerung zum ?nderungsbedarf entwickelt (V.).     

University-industry consortium agreements Center for Process Analytical Chemistry: A case study

There is a surfeit of articles, books, and conferences on the subject of university-industry collaboration, but few of them address specific, pragmatic issues related to the development of an operable sponsorship agreement. This article focuses on the terms of the agreement negotiated with industry sponsors of the National Science Foundation (NSF) Industry-University Collaborative Research Center (IUCRC), established at the University of Washington in 1984 as the Center for Process Analytical Chemistry (CPAC). Over the past 11 years, CPAC has grown dramatically and achieved important successes, but some of the terms in the initial agreement have proven to be problematic, particularly those dealing with intellectual property rights. This article reviews the nature of the problems and explains the solutions negotiated by participants as part of a revised agreement implemented in 1992.