Verminderte Anforderungen an die FFH-Verträglichkeisprüfung und die Prüfung artenschutzrechtlicher Verbotstatbestände, gesteigerte Darlegungslast für ein faktisches Vogelschutzgebiet nach dem Beschluss des BVerwG vom 13. März 2008

Zusammenfassung  Mit den Beschlüssen vom 13. M?rz 2008 zur BAB A 4 (“agdbergtunnel”) hat der 9. Senat des BVerwG die strengen Ma?st?be, die er mit dem Urteil zur “Westumfahrung Halle” für die Prüfung der FFH-Vertr?glichkeit und artenschutzrechtlicher Verbotstatbest?nde gesetzt hat, erheblich abgeschw?cht. Auf der andern Seite wurden die Anforderungen an die Darlegung eines faktischen Vogelschutzgebiets und der Verletzung artenschutzrechtlicher Verbotstatbest?nde für potentielle Kl?ger versch?rft.     

Global resource grabs,agribusiness concentration and the smallholder: two West African case studies

This paper places land grabbing within the context of developments within agribusiness within the last 30 years, tracing the various trajectories of increasing competition and concentration and pressures on commodity prices that have resulted in increasing dispossession of smallholders and a move in some agri-food chains towards large estate production. The paper explores the ways in which contemporary agricultural policies and neoliberal market reforms reflect these developments and examines recent framing of land policies in Africa in the context of the development of agrarian capital and agribusiness. Competitiveness results in dispossession of less successful smallholders from below by commercial smallholders, and from above by large estates vertically integrated into agribusiness marketing chains. This is illustrated with examples from the cocoa sector in Côte d'Ivoire and pineapples in Ghana.     

Zur Anwendung zwingenden Gemeinschaftsrechts in der aktuellen Rechtsprechung des BVerwG zum Artenschutz nach der “Kleinen Novelle” des Bundesnaturschutzgesetzes

Zusammenfassung  Nachdem die “Kleine Novelle” des Bundesnaturschutzgesetzes für Unsicherheit bei der Anwendung der neuen Reglungen gesorgt hat, enthalten die ersten Entscheidungen der h?chstrichterlichen Rechtsprechung eine hohe aktuelle Brisanz. Der Beitrag geht auf die aktuelle Rechtsprechung des BVerwG zum Artenschutz bei Infrastrukturvorhaben unter dem Aspekt des Gemeinschaftsrechts ein. Behandelt werden die Einschr?nkung des St?rungsverbots, “vorgezogene Ausgleichsma?nahmen”, die Prüfung des Ausnahmetatbestands nach vollendeten Tatsachen, die Zulassung von Ausnahmen bei ungünstigem Erhaltungszustand der Art, das Auseinanderfallen von Entscheidungs- und Beurteilungszeitpunkt sowie die Berücksichtigung von Kosten bei Alternativen.     

Revisiting the Income Tax Effects of Legalizing Same‐Sex Marriages

In this paper we estimate the impacts on income tax collections of legalizing same‐sex marriage. We utilize new individual‐level data sources to estimate the federal income tax consequences of legalizing same‐sex marriages. These data sources also allow us to estimate the impact of legalization on state income tax collections. We find that 23 states would realize a net fiscal benefit from legalization, while 21 states would experience a decline in revenue. The potential (annual) changes in state tax revenue range from negative $29 million in California to positive $16 million in New York. At the federal level, our estimates suggest an overall reduction in revenues, ranging from a potential loss of $187 million to $580 million. Overall, we find that the federal and state impacts are quite modest. We also find that our estimates are only marginally affected by alternative assumptions about how many same‐sex couples will choose to marry and which partner will claim any children for tax deduction purposes.     

The Normative Bases of the Global Territorial Order

This article analyses states' support for international norms relating to the location of international boundaries. The key norms relate to the legitimacy of the international use of force, the placement of boundaries relative to previous international boundary accords, the views of populations, and broadly accepted ethical standards. These norms have become stronger over recent centuries, but their relative strength has varied. In comparing the influence of these norms in territorial disputes, this study aims to contribute to the understanding of international territorial politics and of the evolution of state sovereignty. Of particular note is that self-determination and human rights have achieved some modest but historically significant gains since the end of the Cold War.     

Democracy and ‘punitive populism’: exploring the Supreme Court's role in El Salvador

El Salvador is characterized by the sad record of having one of the highest degrees of violence and crime in Latin America. Recent governments have tried to fight it with programmes called ‘mano dura’ or ‘super-mano dura’ with measures and practices that have often violated human rights and judicial guarantees. This paper aims to explore the Supreme Court's role in the application of these policies by the Salvadoran government. We discovered that the highest court in this country supports this kind of policies termed by some analysts ‘policies of punitive populism’. In this sense, the Constitutional Chamber acted in contrast to what is required by democratic theory. The paper proceeds as follows: in the first part we analyse the theoretical framework of public safety policies and frame the Salvadoran case. In the second part, we explore the Supreme Court cases that support (or not) these policies, examining the performance of the court in relation to these cases. The last part is a summary of our evidence.     

The Effectiveness of Inputs in Primary Education: Insights from Recent Student Surveys for Sub-Saharan Africa

With SACMEQ and PASEC there are now two large data bases available on student achievement, socio-economic background and school and teacher characteristics in both anglophone and francophone sub-Saharan Africa. A joint analysis of PASEC and SACMEQ in a common education production function framework allows us to estimate the impact of educational inputs on student achievement in 21 sub-Saharan African countries and to compare our results with those of earlier empirical studies for education systems in Africa and other world regions. In our analysis we focus on school equipment, teacher quality and class organisation. The issue of teacher and student incentives cannot be adequately addressed with the given data. Our results are based on a traditional retrospective analysis of student achievement in PASEC and SACMEQ countries. In contrast to the ‘nothing works’ result from most industrialized countries' studies we find robust positive correlations of achievement test scores and the possession of textbooks and negative correlations with teaching in shifts. The most striking result is the weak or even absent correlation of achievement test scores and teacher education and professional training. However, some differences between francophone and anglophone education systems can be observed in this context if differences in the sampling methodology are duly taken into account.     

Remittances and the Brain Drain: Evidence from Microdata for Sub-Saharan Africa

Based on unique microdata from five Sub-Saharan African countries that contain comprehensive information on both migrants and their households at the origin country, we investigate the effect of migrants’ education on their remittance behaviour. Our results reveal that migrants’ education has no impact on the likelihood of sending remittances, but a positive effect on the amount of money sent, conditional on remitting. The latter effect holds for internal migrants and migrants in non-OECD countries, while it vanishes for migrants in OECD destination countries once characteristics of the origin household are controlled for.     

WHAT SHAPES CITIZENS' EVALUATIONS OF THEIR PUBLIC OFFICIALS' ACCOUNTABILITY? EVIDENCE FROM LOCAL ETHIOPIA

In this article, we study which institutional factors shape citizens' views of the local accountability of their public officials. Our departing assumption is that evaluations of local accountability reflect not only citizens' poltical attitudes and beliefs but also whether local institutions contribute to an environment of mutual trust, accountability and ultimately democratic legitimacy. Combining public opinion data from a large‐N citizen survey (N = 10 651) with contextual information for 63 local governments in Ethiopia, we look at access to information, participatory planning and the publicness of basic services as potential predictors of citizens' evaluations of local public officials. Our findings suggest that local context matters. Jurisdictions that provide access to information on political decision making are perceived to have more accountable officials. Moreover, when local governments provide public fora that facilitate citizens' stakes in local planning processes, it positively affects citizens' evaluations of the accountability of their officials. Our study adds to the empirical literatrure by showing that establishing local institutions that can foster citizen–government relations at the local level through inclusive processes is crucial for improving public perceptions of accountability. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.