Psychiatric Morbidity Differences in Male and Female Adolescent Inpatients With Alcohol Use Disorders

Objective: To examine gender differences in demography, cooccurrence of Diagnostic Statistical Manual (third edition, revised; DSM-III-R) axis I disorders and axis II personality disorders, and self-reported psychological distress in adolescent psychiatric inpatients with alcohol use disorders. Method: A consecutive series of 61 adolescent inpatients (36 boys and 25 girls) with either alcohol abuse or dependence were reliably assessed with structured diagnostic interviews for DSM-III-R Axis I and Axis II personality disorders. Results: Boys and girls did not differ in age, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, global functioning, age at first psychiatric contact, or number of hospitalizations. Girls were more likely to meet criteria for oppositional defiant disorder, eating disorders, and additional drug use disorders. Girls were also more likely than boys to meet criteria for at least one personality disorder and borderline personality Contrary to gender patterns in the general population, the proportion of girls and boys with affective disorders and conduct disorders did not differ significantly. Conclusions: Relatively few gender differences were found in adolescent inpatient alcohol abusers even where they would be expected, based on non substance-abuse general population gender patterns. When observed, gender differences were in the direction of greater psychiatric disturbance among girls. Some of the gender patterns observed among alcohol abusing adolescents are at odds with gender differences observed in non substance-abuse samples.     

AGAINST THE SPIRIT OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT: THE MAKING OF TASMANIAN TOWN AND COUNTRY PLANNING LEGISLATION

Abstract: Town planning as part of a wider program of postwar reconstruction gained support in Tasmania in the 1940s. This support resulted in the passage of the Town and Country Planning Act 1944, the first major major piece of town planning legislation in Tasmania. This article examines the background to this statute, focusing on the deliberations of a joint committee of parliament appointed to hear the views of interested parties on town planning. Particular attention is devoted to the dispute over whether municipal councils or a town planning board with wide powers should regulate town planning. The land use planning reforms introduced in 1993 are also assessed.     

The Optional European Code on the Basis of the Acquis Communautaire—Starting Point and Trends

Abstract:  The idea of creating a European Code for contract law, though recent, has gathered pace. Although most work towards this goal has so far assumed that the principles should be constructed through critical comparative law studies of the existing contract laws of Member States, it is argued here that the acquis communautaire provides a modern and democratically endorsed collection of principles, which can be quite well systematised, that should provide the starting-point for scholarly endeavours towards the construction of a code of contract law.     

Der Umweltbericht in der Strategischen Umweltprüfung nach dem neuen UVPG

Das neue Gesetz über die Umweltvertr?glichkeitsprüfung (UVPG) setzt die Anforderungen der Richtlinie über die Umweltprüfung von Pl?nen oder Programmen (Plan-UP-RL) mit etwa einem Jahr Versp?tung in bundesdeutsches Recht um. Für die Strategische Umweltprüfung (SUP) besteht damit nun zumindest auf Bundesebene ein einheitlicher gesetzlicher Rahmen. Die Inhalte der Strategischen Umweltprüfung sind in einem sog. Umweltbericht zu dokumentieren. Der Beitrag gibt einen überblick über die Anforderungen, die an einen solchen Umweltbericht vor dem Hintergrund des neuen § 14g UVPG zu stellen sind.     

Proportionality and balancing in WTO law: a comparative perspective

This article discusses the concepts of proportionality, necessity and balancing in the World Trade Organization (WTO) legal framework. These concepts are increasingly important in the context of services and establishment regulated by the General Agreement on Trade in Services. The role and meaning of proportionality, necessity and balancing are not clear. The emerging WTO case law is analysed in this article, which adopts a comparative approach, drawing upon proportionality and balancing tests in different national and international legal orders. It discusses how these tests could influence the interpretation and application of WTO law. A main argument is that trade-offs among competing norms and values are unavoidable in WTO dispute settlement, and that the proportionality analysis could contribute to making this process more transparent, rational and predictable.     

Soziale Herkunft, politische Sozialisation und Wählen im Lebensverlauf

In this paper the influence of social origin as well as both the political communication and the religious education in the family on the voting behaviour in the life course have been investigated. Furthermore, we investigate the intergenerational transmission of parental party identification and the duration of its impact on the children’s voting patterns. For the empirical analyses, retrospective longitudinal data are employed. The empirical results confirm the significant impact of the social origin, the religious education, and the parental party identification on voting. However, their impact decreases in the later stages of the life cycle. Furthermore, the intergenerational reproduction of parental party identification has decreased significantly over consecutive generations.     

The GATS and internet-based services: between market access and domestic regulation

The General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) has attracted much attention in public and academic debate. The aim of this article is to analyse the application of the GATS to internet-based services, thus providing a lens through which important issues concerning the GATS can be highlighted. This article reviews the far-reaching implications of the recent US—Gambling dispute for the regulation of (internet-based) services. It argues that World Trade Organization Members need to make a greater effort to delineate the key GATS obligations (market access, national treatment, and disciplines on domestic regulation) in order to provide national law- and policy-makers and trade negotiators with more legal certainty and predictability in the application of the GATS.