The balance of ecumenism and sectarianism: rethinking religion and foreign policy in Iran*

Foreign policy development in the Islamic Republic is often conceived through secularizing homologies of ideology and pragmatism and radicalism and moderation. Policy practice, however, has often welded their crossed terms together religiously. This article seeks to resolve some contradictions in extant models by reconceiving of Iran’s foreign policy since 1979 as a religious system that differentiates contending values hierarchically. It explores policy in three periods representing particular balances of ecumenism and sectarianism: the revolutionary decade (1979–1989), the reformist interlude (1989–2005) and the era of radical reassertion (2005–2013). Rather than being perceived as fundamentally opposed orientations, ecumenism and sectarianism are presented as integrated tendencies of Shiite Islamism.     

Police,policy and politics in Brussels: scenarios for the shift from sovereignty to solidarity

This article analyses the evolution of European Union (EU) police cooperation on the basis of structural processes in the form of agencification, regulation and standardization, as well as substantive processes in the form of information-sharing and multi-disciplinary cooperation. The Lisbon Treaty holds some key conditions for further integration. The level of integration of police cooperation in the EU is measured by analysing institutional power, the regulatory framework and transnational professionalism. Despite a positive score on each of these levels, member states remain caught between national sovereignty and solidarity. As a consequence, they face an implementation gap and have not embedded European police cooperation in their domestic systems. Building on the pro-integrative moves that have been introduced by virtue of the Lisbon Treaty, improved governance and deeper integration can be achieved by means of more active parliamentary involvement, independent police oversight (both at European and at the national level), the mainstreaming of cooperation mechanisms and a systematic Europe-wide cultivation of police professionalism. Within the realm of internal security cooperation in the EU, a concerted effort is required which demands close consultation between relevant institutional actors and the professional actors in the member states.     

Discovering Directions for Change in Higher Education Through the Experiences of Senior Women Faculty

The Women in Science and Engineering Leadership Institute (WISELI) at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, an NSF-funded ADVANCE Institutional Transformation project, employed the “discovery interviews” method to characterize the experiences of senior women faculty in science and engineering on campus. This method allowed WISELI to reach its aims of (1) gaining information from senior women that would inform the programs developed by WISELI, and (2) building relationships among the senior women and WISELI. The discovery interview process also had some unintended consequences, including creation of an expectation of advocacy that exceeded the original intent of the project. This method was well-matched to the needs of WISELI as a change agent at the UW-Madison, and has contributed a great deal to its Institutional Transformation efforts, primarily by changing WISELI’s perceptions of what leadership means to senior women faculty.     

Dutch real estate search engine found to provide lawful deep linking to websites of realtors

In preliminary relief proceedings against the Dutch search enginezoekallehuizen.nl, the Dutch court turned down the claims ofthe Dutch association of real estate agents (NVM) that the provisionof deep links to its members' websites infringed the copyrightand database rights of those realtors, but found that the NVMinfringed competition law by asking its members to make it impossiblefor zoekallehuizen.nl to provide deep links to their websites.     

Revitalizing the Antique War Crime of Pillage: The Potential and Pitfalls of Using International Criminal Law to Address Illegal Resource Exploitation during Armed Conflict

This article explores the potential of international criminal law in addressing the problem of illegal exploitation of natural resources in conflict areas, with a specific focus on the war crime of pillage and the prospective role of the International Criminal Court (ICC). It discusses whether the war crime of pillage can adequately capture the phenomenon of illegal exploitation of natural resources during armed conflict, or whether alternative tools or crime definitions might be more useful to address this negative phenomenon. The article examines the practice of international courts in relation to pillage charges and explores their role in prosecuting the illegal exploitation of natural resources. It concludes with some thoughts on whether the revival of the crime of pillage should be perceived as the panacea to the problem of “resource conflicts” or whether it is rather an empty shell.