危机中的俄罗斯:一个超级能源大国的终结

叶利钦时期俄罗斯的掠夺式资本主义导致了后苏联时期俄罗斯经济转型的灾难性后果。普京当政后对这一政策进行了大幅修正,转而奉行传统俄罗斯式的反市场经济模式。强力部门人士进入权力核心,国家控制取代市场运营成为主要战略。重组能源部门并借此巩固新的政治权力基础,进而恢复俄罗斯超级大国地位,构成了普京当局的优先政策。俄罗斯经济在普京作为俄罗斯总统任内的强势复苏似乎标志着俄构建能源超级大国的战略进展顺利,但金融危机的冲击暴露了现存俄罗斯制度的危险性。俄已经错过了调整经济结构的宝贵机会,克里姆林宫将能源同时作为财富增长和外交杠杆的时代已经结束。在这一背景下,梅普共治体制的改革以及经济政策的调整也许将成为可能。但历史的惯性和重负经常使俄在经历混乱失序后回归原点。俄罗斯市场经济的转型必将是一个漫长的过程。     

Das Parlament in der Mediengesellschaft — Verschränkungen zwischen parlamentarischer und massenmedialer Arena

The assumed decline of parliaments’ power in the political decision making process is blamed on a complex social and political transformation. Among others, changes in the structures of the public space, especially the emergence of mass communication, represent a crucial challenge for parliamentary representation. Parliaments depend on a functioning external communication, since their relations to the public are a central source of parliamentary legitimacy and power. In two fields one can observe an evident overlapping between the systems of parliament and mass media: in parliament’s management of communication and in parliament’s procedures of opinion forming and decision making. In a case study of the German Bundestag, processes of adaptation to the structures of the mass media system can be found in these areas. Adaptation comes to its limits where it collides with the necessity to provide space for bargaining processes. Furthermore, the processes of adaptation illustrate how political actors realize and structurally actualize the ambigious relationship between publicity and power.     

The UN Global Compact and the Global Governance of Corporate Social Responsibility: Complex Multilateralism for a More Human Globalisation?

In recent years, questions of corporate social responsibility (CSR) have developed into a global policy issue. Multinational corporations, as high-profile representatives of economic transnationalisation and globalisation, have come under ever closer scrutiny in regard to their actual development impact, especially in Third World countries. The UN Global Compact as an example for evolving “complex multilateralism on a global level” aims at solving two problems at once, namely the implementation of minimum standards of “good corporate conduct” and socio-economic development, especially of poor countries. In a paradigmatic policy shift, the United Nations has fostered close partnerships with global business to promote CSR and socio-economic development, thereby opening the UN system to private business interests. This shift has been criticised by many civil society actors. Despite its remarkable achievements, the Global Compact reveals many problems of contemporary global governance related to its understanding of globalisation, the implementation and control of its core norms and rules as well as in regard to issues of transparency and democratic legitimacy. Finally, the Global Compact serves to illustrate how international institutions try to adapt to the growing complexity of development and economic governance issues and the larger influence of non-state actors in the global political economy.     

Democracy out of Reason? Comment on Rainer Forst's “The Rule of Reasons”

In my paper, I comment on Rainer Forst's paper in this issue. I raise doubts as to whether the justification of democracy emerges from a fundamental moral right to reciprocal and general justification, as Forst claims. His basic argument appears questionable because democracy is different from a "hypothetical-consent-conception" of moral legitimacy, which limits as well as enables democratic legitimacy. The former cannot, however, justify the latter through an argument centered on self-government: Such an argument relies heavily on the possibility of consensus, thus neglecting the crucial phenomenon of disagreement or dissent. As a result of not adequately dealing with this phenomenon, the argument is unable to account for the basic democratic principle of majority rule as the remedy at hand.     

Naturschutzrecht im Zeichen des Klimawandels

Zusammenfassung  Der Aufsatz er?rtert naturschutzrechtliche Problembereiche, die im Hinblick auf die Adaption an den Klimawandel von besonderer Bedeutung sind. Hierzu z?hlen die Anpassung und Dynamisierung der Schutzgebietskonzepte und des Schutzes von Natur in der Fl?che, die Realisierung von Biotopverbünden als Infrastrukturen zur Anpassung wie auch der Umgang mit gebietsfremden Arten. Um den Anpassungsbedarf des Naturschutzrechts besser absch?tzen zu k?nnen, stellt der Aufsatz einleitend die m?glichen klimatischen Folgen für Natur und Landschaft dar.     

The Contentious American Debate: The First Amendment and Internet-based Hate Speech

This essay reviews the debate over what constitutes hate speech and whether or not such speech is protected by the American First Amendment. First, the concept of white racialism and white supremacy is defined and illustrated. Then after a brief discussion of the legal debate, the nature and problematic definition(s) of hate speech is presented. The unique speech environment of the internet is reviewed alongside attempts to limit and censor topics available on the internet. The arguments for and against restricting first amendment protection are discussed, with a focus on Michael Israel's five criteria for withdrawing first amendment protections. The work concludes with a discussion of the difficulty in constraining discourse on the internet.     

“Kind of Natural,Kind of Wrong”: Young People's Beliefs about the Morality,Legality, and Normalcy of Sexual Aggression in Public Drinking Settings

Unwelcome touching, groping, and kissing are illegal, but widely tolerated in public drinking settings. This contingency in the law's response means that patrons routinely negotiate the moral boundaries of nonconsensual sexual contact. We use 197 interviews with college‐age individuals to examine the discursive strategies young people employ when negotiating those boundaries. We find that most interviewees have experiences with sexual aggression, do not categorize it as aggression, but advocate for stronger legal punishments against offenders. In accounting for this paradox, they draw on contradictory legal and cultural narratives that both normalize and condemn men's sexual aggression. We build on legal consciousness theories and gender theories by highlighting the complex ways that gender stereotypes enshrined in law are implicated in the construction of a social problem. We also contribute to the sociology of culture by explicating the often unconscious link between culture and action revealed in young people's narratives about sexual aggression.     

Injury potential of soft-air pistols

Report on a case in which an 8-year-old girl was injured on the left anterior thoracic wall by two shots fired by her 14-year-old cousin from a soft-air pistol (replica of mod. 17 make Glock, cal. 6 mm, solid plastic bullets); the projectiles caused two skin lesions, both reaching into the subcutis. The results of our own shooting tests with 2 different soft-air pistols and the injuries seen in our case confirm that soft-air pistols may cause penetrating soft-tissue injuries when fired from a short distance.     

A century of the The German Society of Forensic Medicine or Legal Medicine

On 20 September 1904 the Section of Forensic Medicine of the former Society of German Natural Scientists and Physicians decided in Breslau to found an independent "German Society of Forensic Medicine". The constituent assembly was held in Meran on 25 September 1905, with Fritz Strassmann from Berlin being elected as the first president. According to section 1 of the first statutes the object of the association was to "offer a platform for joint scientific work". Later the name of the association was changed several times; the last change (to "German Society of Legal Medicine") was made in 1968. The close relationship between legal medicine and criminalistics is demonstrated on the background of the historical development.