Unity, Diversity and the Fragmentation of International Law: How Much Does the Multiplication of International Organizations Really Matter?

It seems to be presumed by many that the simple multiplicationof international organizations (IOs) weakens the unity and integrityof international law. There is, in reality, nothing obviousin this assumption. First, there needs to be evidence of duplicationor overlaps in the various competences of IOs. Second, it needsto be proven that, in the instances in which the activitiesof IOs do overlap, such overlap translates into competition,divergence or conflict. Last, and most importantly, rival orcompeting activities must be of normative significance. Thisessay proposes to address the preliminary question which, infact, precedes and underpins all the others as regards the multiplicationof IOs and international legal unity: how do IOs matter in themaking of international law? IOs, we argue, are more shapersthan makers of international law and their multiplication istherefore not a source of increased chaos in the internationalnormative puzzle.     

Radicalization as a reaction to failure: An economic model of Islamic extremism

This paper views Islamist radicals as self-interested political revolutionaries and builds on a general model of political extremism developed in a previous paper (Ferrero, 2002). Extremism is modelled as a production factor whose effect on expected revenue is initially positive and then turns negative, and whose level is optimally chosen by a revolutionary organization. The organization is bound by a free-access constraint and hence uses the degree of extremism as a means of indirectly controlling its level of membership with the aim of maximizing expected per capita income of its members, like a producer co-operative. The gist of the argument is that radicalization may be an optimal reaction to perceived failure (a widespread perception in the Muslim world) when political activists are, at the margin, relatively strongly averse to effort but not so averse to extremism. This configuration is at odds with secular, Western-style revolutionary politics but seems to capture well the essence of Islamic revolutionary politics, embedded as it is in a doctrinal framework.     

A Direct Aqueous Derivatization GSMS Method for Determining Benzoylecgonine Concentrations in Human Urine

A sensitive and reliable method for extraction and quantification of benzoylecgonine (BZE) and cocaine (COC) in urine is presented. Propyl‐chloroformate was used as derivatizing agent, and it was directly added to the urine sample: the propyl derivative and COC were then recovered by liquid–liquid extraction procedure. Gas chromatography–mass spectrometry was used to detect the analytes in selected ion monitoring mode. The method proved to be precise for BZE and COC both in term of intraday and interday analysis, with a coefficient of variation (CV) <6%. Limits of detection (LOD) were 2.7 ng/mL for BZE and 1.4 ng/mL for COC. The calibration curve showed a linear relationship for BZE and COC (r² >0.999 and >0.997, respectively) within the range investigated. The method, applied to thirty authentic samples, showed to be very simple, fast, and reliable, so it can be easily applied in routine analysis for the quantification of BZE and COC in urine samples.     

Constructing new environments versus attitude adjustment: contrasting the substance of democracy in UN and EU democracy promotion discourses

In contrasting UN with EU democracy promotion discourses, the article contributes to the debate on the substance of EU democracy promotion by approaching the question of ‘democratic substance’ from the vantage point of sovereignty. For its analytical framing, it draws on relevant aspects of Foucault's work on power. The article suggests that, due to their diverging obligations to sovereignty, the substance of democracy promotion in UN discourses revolves around an institutional-centric understanding, whereas in EU discourses we see a significant reconceptualization of democracy as a norms-based concept. The latter does not aim at the government of society but the ethical self-governance of socially embedded individuals. It is argued that, with the decreasing purchase of democracy as a universal political project and the growing concern with local contexts, the EU's norms-based conception emerges as better equipped to adapt to contemporary challenges of governing. The article concludes with raising some doubts about the democratic promise and potential of the democratic rationality underpinning EU discourses. Democracy, participation and political change are no longer conceived in terms of shaping and influencing public agenda but refer to socially shaping and influencing subjective perceptions and behaviours.     

Mandibular fracture caused by absolute close-range gunshot with a blank cartridge fright weapon]

Bony injuries caused by starter's pistols were repeatedly observed in the form of fractures of the temporal squama and other thin osseous lamellae; in experiments rib fractures could also be produced. In the presented case a contact shot from a blank cartridge pistol caused a fracture of the lower jaw (transverse fracture with a bone fragment split off in reg. 46). The friend of the 17-year-old victim had fired a shot to the right mandibular region during an argument. In the depth of the gunshot entrance wound, which communicated with the oral cavity, intense soot deposits were found as signs of the contact shot.     

Roentgenologic heart volume determination for the diagnosis of fatal heart failure

In order to investigate the connection between the cardiac volume and the cardiac shadow plane, 385 anterior-posterior radiographs of the thorax have been selected comparing their cardiac shadow plane with the corresponding cardiac volumes determined by the autopsy of the cadavers. The comparison showed a connection of both magnitudes by means of the formula Hvol = 0.49 x Fa x square root of Fa (Hvol = cardiac volume in cm3, Fa = cardiac shadow plane of the anterior-posterior radiograph in cm2, corrections were made from the radiation divergence). A verification of the formula showed a very high correlation (r = 0.984) in 25 cadavers to be dissected. The comparing volume of the cardiac shadow plane has been investigated by means of the water displacement method, in which the cardiac vessels were ligated and the heart taken out of the cadaver. The cardiac volume, evaluated from the cardiac shadow plane showed a significant correlation at the cardiac death by internal natural cause. The comparison of the mathematical evaluated cardiac blood volumes of the symptoms causing death showed that the cardiac blood volumes in the group of poisonings and the group of drowning, suffocations and hanging with 231 ml and 211 ml in the men collective were at the same level as the cardiac death (246 ml). About the same applied to the women collective.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)