Engineering Democracy

This paper presents a critical assessment of current initiatives to deepen democracy and seeks to examine why they often fail. By analysing their various, and conflicting, conceptions of participation and associational life, it argues that many of the difficulties they encounter can be attributed to a usually unexamined set of organisational assumptions. These assumptions are then inspected in order to analyse the breakdown of communication that can occur between incumbent social engineers trying to institutionalize more democracy, and those more critical and grassroots initiatives which emanate from the periphery of power. With this distinction in view, a series of recurrent problems around the institutionalization of democratic processes are investigated. Finally, the paper explores the implications of the distinction for how we can aid and deepen democracy more effectively.     

Legal constraints for the protection of privacy and personal data in electronic evidence handling1

This paper describes the application of personal data protection rules in the process of e‐evidence handling. It focuses mainly on the application of Directive 95/46/EC rules to the digital environment. It also makes reference to the legal risks derived from the collection and processing of e‐evidence in violation of privacy and personal data protection law.     

Die Zulassung von Eingriffen trotz artenschutzrechtlicher Verbote

Die Eingriffsregelung benötigte nach ihrer gesetzlichen Einführung (1976) ihre Zeit, um in der Praxis der Zulassung betroffener Projekte wirksam zu werden. Die Entwicklung erfuhr eine gravierende Korrektur dadurch, dass das Investitionserleichterungs- und Wohnbaulandgesetz 1993 das Verhältnis der Eingriffsregelung zum Baurecht speziell regelte. Nicht nur auf nationaler, sondern auch—und dies vor allem—auf EG-Ebene prägte und prägt der Schutz von natürlichen Lebensräumen und Habitaten nach der Flora-Fauna-Habitat-Richtlinie (FFH-RL) und der Vogelschutz-Richtlinie (V-RL) die Projektzulassung nachhaltig . Insoweit geht es um einen besonders qualifizierten, gemeinschaftsrechtlich eingeforderten Gebietsschutz. Kaum dass sich die Rechtslage insoweit zu konsolidieren beginnt, sieht sich die Praxis der Projektzulassung zunehmend vor die Aufgabe gestellt, spezifisch artenschutzrechtlichen Anforderungen Rechnung zu tragen. Zur Bewältigung dieser Aufgabe will der nachstehende Artikel einen Beitrag leisten.

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Drug addiction in Poland and criminalistic traces

The authors describe the most popular drugs and their substitutes being used in Poland. The paper also presents the problem of developing and examining criminalistic traces in biological and some non-organic materials.     

Book Reviews

Andrea C. Bianculli and Andrea Ribeiro Hoffmann, eds., Regional Organizations and Social Policy in Europe and Latin America: A Space for Social Citizenship? New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2016. Abbreviations, figures, tables, bibliography, index, 317 pp.; hardcover $109, ebook $84.99. Barry Cannon, The Right in Latin America: Elite Power, Hegemony and the Struggle for the State. New York: Routledge, 2016. Tables, bibliography, index, 182 pp.; hardcover $127.50, paperback $44.59. Jordi Díez, The Politics of Gay Marriage in Latin America: Argentina, Chile, and Mexico. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2015. Bibliography, index, 301 pp.; hardcover $48.99, paperback $29.99, ebook $24. Julio Ríos‐Figueroa, Constitutional Courts as Mediators: Armed Conflict, Civil‐Military Relations, and the Rule of Law in Latin America. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2016. Illustrations, figures, tables, bibliography, index, 256 pp.; hardcover $110, paperback $34.99, ebook $88. María Soledad Segura and Silvio Waisbord, Media Movements: Civil Society and Media Policy Reform in Latin America. London: Zed Books, 2016. Bibliography, index, 224 pp.; hardcover $95, paperback $29.95, ebook $23.96. Lee J. Alston, Marcus André Melo, Bernardo Mueller, and Carlos Pereira, Brazil in Transition: Beliefs, Leadership, and Institutional Change. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2016. Illustrations, tables, abbreviations, bibliography, index, 280 pp.; hardcover $39.50, ebook. Sean W. Burges, Brazil in the World: The International Relations of a South American Giant. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2017. Figures, tables, bibliography, index, 296 pp.; hardcover $115, paperback $32.95, ebook. Alejandro Velasco, Barrio Rising: Urban Popular Politics and the Making of Modern Venezuela. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2015. Maps, figures, notes, bibliography, index, 321 pp.; paperback $29.95. Tiffany D. Barnes, Gendering Legislative Behavior: Institutional Constraints and Collaboration. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2016. Map, figures, tables, bibliography, index, 274 pp.; hardcover $99.99, paperback $34.99, ebook $28. Judith Teichman, The Politics of Inclusive Development: Policy, Sate Capacity, and Coalition Building. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2016. Figures, bibliography, index, 261 pp.; hardcover $109, ebook $84.99.     

Watchdogs in Our Midst: How Presidents Monitor Coalitions in Brazil's Multiparty Presidential Regime

When delegating governing tasks to a coalition partner, the president would like to give a minister ample administrative powers to be able to effectively accomplish the political mission. Due to information asymmetries, the president runs the risk that this discretion might be used to pursue policy outcomes that may harm the president's preferences. This trade‐off between delegation and control is key to understanding governance strategies the president chooses to minimize agency risks and coordinate public policies. With Brazil as a case study, this article demonstrates that presidents have strategically made frequent use of junior ministers as watchdogs of coalition partners, especially when coalition allies are ideologically distant from the president's preferences. Yet neither the portfolio salience nor the president's decision to share powers with coalition partners proportionally seems to interfere in such strategic decisions.     

Union Affiliation,Socialization, and Political Identities: The Case of Mexico

The literature on voting behavior has generally accepted that party identification largely determines voter choice. While many studies have found that party identification is largely transmitted through social learning, less studied are the processes of the construction of party identity by way of group membership. This study seeks to understand how group identity influences party identification among Mexican workers through an analysis of the effects of union affiliation on political behavior. It assesses the utility of corporatist legacies in explaining party identity in Mexico and provides a first assessment of party affinities among independent unionists. The evidence draws from original survey data collected during six demonstrations in Mexico City. The study finds that union membership does condition the party identity of corporatist workers but not that of independent unionists.     

Black is Beautiful: cuerpos negros en Triunfo

Spaniards and African-Americans share significant cultural memories forged by the profound impact that various artistic and historical events had on each other during the twentieth century. To contribute to an exploration and understanding of these shared memories – which have received relatively little scholarly attention – this essay focuses on the presence of Black America in the 1960s, that is, the period of Late Francoist Spain. More specifically, it intends to initiate the study of the impact of the Black Civil Rights and Black Power movements on Spain’s progressive press. Focusing on a selection of articles published in the iconic leftist magazine Triunfo, it examines how the traditional European fascination with blackness manifests itself during the 1960s. In Triunfo’s articles we encounter suffering, violent, and degraded bodies, as well as revolutionary, political, and eroticized bodies. This combination reveals the problematic coexistence of solidarity and inspiration with an ethnographic and voyeuristic gaze that perpetuates the spectacularity of black bodies for global consumption. While foregrounding the challenges posed by writing and representing the Other, this study is also an attempt to reconstruct more fully the 1960s cultural and intellectual history of Spain and to approach the black liberation struggle from a transnational perspective.