Credible Commitment in Non-Independent Regulatory Agencies: A Comparative Analysis of the European Agencies for Pharmaceuticals and Foodstuffs

Abstract: The creation of more and more supranational regulatory agencies has been one of the most significant institutional developments in the European Union during the last decade. Usually, these agencies evolve from EU committees and take over most of their structures. Accordingly, like most EU committees and the Commission, regulatory agencies are not independent, but act under the control of the member states. The question is, how far do they indicate a credible commitment of the Member States to long-term policy goals like health and consumer protection. This article compares the institutional structures and decision-making rules of the European Agency for the Evaluation of Medicinal Products and of the newly established European Food Safety Authority, in order to clarify the extent of credible commitment that the Member States show through the setting-up of these agencies. It concludes that the commitment of the Member States in the foodstuff sector is not as deep as in the pharmaceutical sector, and that the creation of the European Food Safety Authority will not lead to a success story similar to that of the European Agency for the Evaluation of Medicinal Products.     

Different Approaches,Different Results in Small State Studies: Complementary Views on the Monarchy and Traditional Governance in Liechtenstein

The research note comments on W. Veenendaal's article “A Big Prince in a Tiny Realm: Smallness, Monarchy, and Political Legitimacy in the Principality of Liechtenstein”. It is argued, inter alia, that the phenomenon of “princely self‐restraint” should not be underestimated in Liechtenstein's constitutional reality. The character of the microstate's actual political system strongly depends on the individual personality of the Reigning Prince . A strong monarch who acts as a political actor with his own agenda should not be conceptualized as a neutral traditional leader. From the perspective of many citizens of Liechtenstein, the principality's political system is legitimate since it combines traditional authority and legal‐rational authority in a unique way. Largely due to the powerful role of the government, the microstate is characterized by consensus‐oriented hierarchical governance. Elite surveys can be seen as a useful instrument to overcome some of the methodological pitfalls of the elite interview approach.     

Volatile Emission of Decomposing Pig Carcasses (Sus scrofa domesticus L.) as an Indicator for the Postmortem Interval

This study aimed at correlating selected carcass borne volatile organic compounds (VOCs) with the postmortem interval (PMI). Selected volatiles should 1st be reliably emitted during vertebrate decay, 2nd be emitted at high concentrations, and 3rd show a reproducible quantitative dynamic during the decaying process. Four pigs (Sus scrofa domesticus L.) were placed in a deciduous forest in different seasons and volatiles emitted during the decaying process were sampled. Seventeen compounds were identified and quantified by GC-MS. Electrophysiological experiments on the antenna of female Calliphora vicina and additional data of Dermestes maculans were used as an evolutionary tuned information filter to evaluate the 1st criterion. The relative quantitative emission of hexanal, nonanal, dimethyl disulfide, dimethyl trisulfide, 1-butanol, and phenol were correlated with the PMI, and the observed stages of decay and the limitations of this model were discussed.     

Spatial variation in non-marital fertility across Europe in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries: recent trends,persistence of the past,and potential future pathways

This article investigates spatiotemporal variation in non-marital fertility across Europe over the last 100 years. In the first 50 years of this period, non-marital fertility was generally declining, reaching very low levels in the mid-twentieth century. But starting in the 1960s, non-marital fertility increased strongly. The main aim of this paper is to investigate to what degree the persistence of the past might be relevant for understanding spatial aspects of the recent rise. A secondary aim is to explore how spatial non-marital fertility variation is likely to develop in the future, both between and within countries. The outcomes support the view that historical patterns are relevant for understanding current non-marital fertility variation in most parts of Europe. However, the persistence of the past varies spatially, and seems to fade over time. The analysis of current trends in spatial variation between countries suggests that an east–west dichotomy is currently emerging: i.e., countries that are not in the European Union and that have Orthodox Christian or Muslim traditions exhibit higher propensities to remain at or to revert to comparatively low levels of non-marital fertility. Within Northwestern Europe, suburban belts around big cities appear to be the last strongholds of marital fertility.