Specific Patterns of Canine Scavenging in Indoor Settings

Postmortem animal mutilations due to domestic dogs in isolated domestic deaths are taphonomic modifications regularly observed by forensic pathologists. They are rarely described in the literature; however, even though they present specific patterns. Through 41 cases, 10 at the forensic institute in Lille (France) and 31 at the New York City Office of Chief Medical Examiner (USA), plus 22 cases from the literature, specific locations and patterns of postmortem scavenging lesions are proposed. These lesions are mainly distributed in three locations: the face, especially the nose and the mouth (73.1%), the neck (43.1%), and the arm (shoulder/upper limb [29.2%], hand [26.8%]). We discuss the time span between death and scavenging, the consequences on identification, and comparison with outdoor settings. Outdoor scavenging lesions are mainly located on the trunk and limbs usually sparing the head, which strongly differs from indoor distribution and imply different animal motivations.     

The European Social Contract and the European Public Sphere

Abstract:  The possible existence of a European democracy does not depend on the prerequisite of a homogeneous public sphere but on the understanding of the relationship between the normative basis of a European democracy—here a social contract—the structure of the European public sphere and the corresponding institutions. The normative concept of democracy as expressed in social contract theory is neither bound to the city-state nor the nation-state, but can be transferred to the European level. To realise the normative aims of the social contract the democratic institutions have to be—and were in the city—and the nation state—adapted to the structure of the respective public sphere. Two institutional characteristics of the democratic European polity could correspond to the heterogeneous European public sphere: (1) a cooperation of institutions with clearly separated and limited competences—contrary to the ideal-type sovereign institutions with broad competences in the nation-state, and (2) the policy field-oriented structure—contrary to the more uniform and functional structure of democratic institutions in the nation states.     

Public Private Partnership als „Negotiated Order“ —

Der Beitrag versteht Public Private Partnership (PPP) als negotiated order — als Produkt kontextgebundener Aushandlungsprozesse zwischen Akteuren der öffentlichen und privaten Welt. Am Beispiel der vorvertraglichen Phase von drei Entwicklungspartnerschaften der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) werden auf Grundlage der Negotiated-Order-Theorie drei zentrale Thesen herausgestellt: PPP-Aushandlungsprozesse sind durch informelle Vorverständigungen gekennzeichnet, in denen Legitimationsanforderungen beider Welten frühzeitig auf spezifische Handlungskontexte abgestimmt werden. Diese Vorleistung wird von ?bridging agents“ erbracht, die als Vertreter öffentlicher und privater Organisationen und einer gemeinsamen Fachwelt Handlungskontexte interpretieren und damit Verhandlungsspielräume schaffen ?to get things done“ aber auch beschränken. Sie orientieren sich dabei an kontextbezogenen Praktiken der Zusammenarbeit, die den Charakter — die negotiated order — einer jeden PPP prägen. Bewähren sich diese Praktiken im Rahmen einer PPP, so gehen diese in die Vorstellungswelt der Akteure im Alltag über und geben eine Vorlage für zukünftige (PPP-)Kooperationen.     

Deficiencies in the Development of European Criminal Law

Criminal law is beginning to outgrow the shoes which were fitted to it by European law. It is seeking to come of age, to play the role in European law previously reserved to commercial law, private law, employment law, and public law in the broadest sense. Economic knowledge and legal-political organisational interests have long grouped around 'European criminal law'; a still vaguely determined object. A desire also exists to make criminal law justiciable in Europe. Thus, the ranks of the contributions to European criminal law are swelling, European associations of lawyers are developing, legal practitioners are launching appeals3 and winning influence within European institutions. These institutions themselves are beginning to accept and to use criminal law as a political option. This article aims to (I) reflect upon the contents of this development, (II) to clarify their tendencies, and (III) to examine the contents of these premised tendencies, in order to (IV) furnish a critical evaluation.     

Social security and intergenerational redistribution: A generational accounting perspective

This paper is concerned with the analysis of intergenerational redistribution in a pay-as-you-go financed social security scheme. Instead of annual fiscal indicators, we apply generational accounts to calculate the intertemporal effects arising from a projected aging process. As a case study, the institutional settings and the parameterization of our model refer to the conditions found in Germany in 1989. Additionally, the intergenerational impacts of the German 1992 Pension Reform Act are taken into account. Our findings suggest that the major reform measures affect the distribution of the demographic burden between future and presently living generations. However, the burden is shifted in favor of the generations currently alive, thereby contradicting the explicit political intentions and aggravating the situation for future generations.