Democratization,State-building and War: The Cases of Serbia and Croatia

The author explores the connection that exists between democratization, state-building and war in the cases of Serbia and Croatia in the 1990s. It is necessary to examine closely how these processes influence one another because state-building and democratization are not necessarily contradictory and even war might not be an obstacle for democracy. However, in Serbia and Croatia state-building and war influenced democratization negatively, but in different ways. In Serbia, the nationalist mobilization for a state-building programme prevented democratization, while in Croatia democratization was a precondition for state-building, which then impeded democratic consolidation. Further important differences are the lower level of institutionalization, incomplete state-building, and polarized party system in Serbia and a higher level of institutionalization, completed state-building, and moderate party pluralism in Croatia. The war also influenced Croatia directly, while Serbia was only indirectly affected by the wars in Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina before the NATO intervention in 1999.     

How can perception help us to understand the dynamic between EU member states? The state of the art

The paper reviews literature on perception within the international relations and the European Union (EU) studies in order to find out whether and how this concept can help us shed some light on the mutual relations between the EU member states. It examines the utilisation of perception as an analytical tool within the international relations where it was predominantly included into the foreign policy analysis approaches (image and role theory). Moreover, it was used for examining the views of the EU by other actors at not only bilateral but also multilateral level. Most studies analysed the perception of Asian countries, however, other areas, including Africa, were studied. Perception was utilised also at the EU level, when it was used for scrutinising different EU policies (foreign and security policies, enlargement), examining preference formation and influence of member states or investigating elite and public support for the European integration. The results show that perception is a valuable concept that can help us to analyse mutual relations between the EU member states in the enlarged and changed EU in several ways.     

Art 16 EMRK und die politische Integration Europas

Die Bestimmung des Art 16 EMRK wirkt wie ein Fremdkörper im System der Europäischen Menschenrechtskonvention. Sie ermöglicht den Mitgliedsstaaten des Europarates, die politische Tätigkeit von Ausländern hinsichtlich einiger Grundrechte zu beschränken. Der Wortlaut der Vorschrift lässt viele Fragen hinsichtlich ihrer Reichweite offen und führt dementsprechend zu dogmatischen Unsicherheiten. Es zeigt sich, dass den Mitgliedsstaaten bei der Beschränkung politischer Tätigkeiten von Ausländern weitgehende Gestaltungsfreiheit zukommt, jedoch willkürliche Eingriffe durch Art 16 EMRK nicht gedeckt sind. Weitaus enger als die Mitgliedsstaaten des Europarates sind die Mitglieder der Europäischen Union zusammengewachsen. Die gemeinschaftsrechtliche Integration geht mittlerweile weit über bloß wirtschaftliche Belange hinaus und ermöglicht den Unionsbürgern auch eine politische Mitwirkungsmöglichkeit in anderen EU-Staaten. Als letztes staatsbürgerliches "Reservat" ist hier noch das Wahlrecht zu den nationalen Vertretungskörpern auszumachen. In diesem Bereich hat bei dogmatischer Betrachtung auch die Bestimmung des Art 16 EMRK noch einen kleinen Anwendungsbereich.     

Death of a Female Prostitute Due to Intestinal Obstruction by an Unknown Substance

A young adult black female, known to be a prostitute and suspected of smuggling narcotics, was found dead in her apartment in a state of early decomposition. Oval‐shaped gray‐white masses of exogenous origin protruded from the anus. The autopsy showed dilatation of the folds of the large intestine, which were almost completely filled with these oval‐shaped gray‐white masses of foreign material. The uterus was enlarged with multiple large leiomyomas. Toxicological tests of blood and the foreign material revealed no toxicologically relevant substances. Kaolin was detected in a sample of the foreign material from the large intestine. The immediate cause of death was intestinal obstruction due to the formation of a kaolin bezoar with simultaneous compression of the large intestine by the enlarged myomatous uterus. Subsequent revelation of a habit the deceased had brought from her native country led to the conclusion that this exotic custom was responsible for her death.     

Fatal Ingestion of Chlumsky Disinfectant Solution

A 32‐year‐old pregnant woman in the 25th week of pregnancy underwent oral glucose tolerance screening at the diabetologist's. Later that day, she was found dead in her apartment possibly poisoned with Chlumsky disinfectant solution (solutio phenoli camphorata). An autopsy revealed chemical burns in the digestive system. The lungs and the brain showed signs of severe edema. The blood of the woman and fetus was analyzed using gas chromatography with mass spectrometry and revealed phenol, its metabolites (phenyl glucuronide and phenyl sulfate) and camphor. No ethanol was found in the blood samples. Both phenol and camphor are contained in Chlumsky disinfectant solution, which is used for disinfecting surgical equipment in healthcare facilities. Further investigation revealed that the deceased woman had been accidentally administered a disinfectant instead of a glucose solution by the nurse, which resulted in acute intoxication followed by the death of the pregnant woman and the fetus.     

Can holidays boost consumption? The case of Hong Kong

• Hong Kong's domestic economy has been through a roller coaster ride over the past decade. In early 2004, increasing the number of holidays as a strategy to boost domestic consumption was mooted. In this paper, we estimate the effect of holidays on private domestic consumption in Hong Kong. We do this by estimating both the long term and short‐term consumption functions. Our estimates suggest that an additional day holiday per quarter would increase private consumption expenditure (PCE) by HKD 213 on a per capita basis. Although an extra day holiday could add 0.34% to GDP, policy makers should also consider the possible costs (e.g. cost of unproductive) of such a policy.

Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

(The) Erasure – Mass Human Rights Violation and Denial of Responsibility: The Case of Independent Slovenia

The case of the erased residents of Slovenia – when approximately 18,000 people who were mostly of Serbian, Croatian and Bosnian ethnicity, were erased from the permanent residence registry of the Republic of Slovenia – represents one of the most severe cases of administrative ethnic/racial discrimination and human rights violations in the post-communist East and Central Europe outside the conflict area. The erasure caused “civil death” of the people who were affected by the measure, depriving them of civil, political, social, and economic rights. In 2007, 4 years after the 2003 Constitutional Court decision, declaring the 1992 erasure an unconstitutional act of the state and requiring the legislator to adopt measures to reinstate the statuses of the erased people, the problem remains unsolved and unaddressed both systemically and individually, and the situation of erasure persists. This article presents the case and analyses of the framework that made the erasure possible in terms of the preparation of the majority of Slovenes to accept and even support the violations and politicians to renounce their political responsibility to those who have lost the right to have rights. This article is based on the insights of the research project Contemporary Citizenship: Politics of Inclusion and Exclusion (2000–2003) led by Vlasta Jalušič. The analysis of the case of erased was published in Jasminka Dedić, Vlasta Jalušič, and Jelka Zorn (eds.), The Erased: Organized Innocence and the Politics of Exclusion, translated from Slovenian by Olga Vuković and Marjana Karer (Ljubljana: Peace Institute, 2003), at . The authors wish to thank the anonymous reviewer for the extensive and most helpful comments.

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