Strengthening the citizens' role in international organizations

Today's international organizations are characterized by a fundamental deficit in democracy. We therefore propose institutional measures to increase the direct participation possibilities of the citizens in international organizations. In order to reduce the number of citizens involved in decision-making to a manageable size, a representative sample of trustees is selected using a random mechanism. The trustees are given the right to launch initiatives and to vote in referendums on issues related to an international organization's constitution. They can also recall executives when they are dissatisfied with their behavior. No specific changes to the organization of these entities, especially their executive function, are proposed. Rather, the executives of international organizations must obey the constitutional changes adopted by the trustees. The proposal gives international organizations democratic legitimacy. Moreover, the executives are subjected to the control of the citizens of the member states, which induces better responsiveness to the preferences of the people, as well as higher organizational efficiency. JEL codes D72 · 019     

Development of Forensic Assay Signatures for Ebolaviruses

Ebolaviruses are a diverse group of RNA viruses comprising five different species, four of which cause fatal hemorrhagic fever in humans. Because of their high infectivity and lethality, ebolaviruses are considered major biothreat agents. Although detection assays exist, no forensic assays are currently available. Here, we report the development of forensic assays that differentiate ebolaviruses. We performed phylogenetic analyses and identified canonical SNPs for all species, major clades and isolates. TaqMan‐MGB allelic discrimination assays based on these SNPs were designed, screened against synthetic RNA templates, and validated against ebolavirus genomic RNAs. A total of 45 assays were validated to provide 100% coverage of the species and variants with additional resolution at the isolate level. These assays enabled accurate forensic analysis on 4 “unknown” ebolaviruses. Unknowns were correctly classified to species and variant. A goal of providing resolution below the isolate level was not successful. These high‐resolution forensic assays allow rapid and accurate genotyping of ebolaviruses for forensic investigations.     

Institutions and contracts: Franchising

This paper investigates a new dataset of franchise networks in nine countries in order to assess whether and to what extent do institutions influence the practice of franchising. Our regressions relate the structure of franchise networks (the rate of franchised units as opposed to corporate units) to individual parameters supposed to reflect the extent of moral hazards on the franchisor's and franchisee's sides and, more specifically, to various institutional parameters of the franchisor's country, namely, the legal tradition, the level of procedural formalism, the constraints imposed by labour regulation and the effectiveness of trademark protection. While agency theory parameters seem to perform rather badly in this international setting, institutions such as trademark protection and labour regulation have more explanatory power: greater trademark protection encourages franchising and the impact of labour regulation is mostly positive, depending on the type of labour regulation that is being considered. The effect of legal tradition and formalism seems negligible once these parameters are taken in. JEL Classification D23 · F23 · K12     

Well-informed? Well Represented? Well Nigh Powerless? Victims and Prosecutorial Decision-making

This article provides a brief overview of the ways in which prosecutors must engage with victims in the course of their work in criminal proceedings and what formal roles victims can assume in criminal proceedings. Besides exploring what rights victims have per se in criminal proceedings, analysis is provided as to what it means to be an additional prosecutor or a private prosecutor in several European criminal justice systems. A brief analysis of the effects these rights and the use of prosecutorial discretion has on victims is provided.     

Automated headspace solid-phase microextraction and capillary gas chromatography analysis of ethanol in postmortem specimens

Solid-phase microextraction (SPME) is a relatively new solventless sample preparation technique that allows simultaneous sampling, extraction, pre-concentration, and introduction of analytes from a sample matrix in a single procedure. This methodology has been used for the analysis of several drugs of forensic toxicology interest including volatile compounds. This paper describes a methodology for analysis of ethanol and other volatile compounds using automatic headspace solid-phase microextraction (HS-SPME) and capillary gas chromatography in postmortem specimens. The methodology was initially developed using standard solutions of acetaldehyde, acetone, methanol, and ethanol. Isobutanol was used as internal standard. Postmortem samples of blood, urine, and vitreous humor were obtained during medico-legal autopsies. To date, there are no published paper regarding alcohol analysis in vitreous humor specimens using HS-SPME and limited literature analyzing blood and urine samples. HS-SPME analysis showed that, under optimized conditions, ethanol and isobutanol (internal standard) were well-separated from other volatile compounds such as acetaldehyde, acetone, and methanol considered to be potential interferents in ethanol analysis. The calibration curves for each volatile compound demonstrated good linearity throughout the concentration range from 0.001 to 1.0 g/dl and the detection limit of ethanol in the studied specimens was approximately 0.0001 g/dl.     

The good,the bad and the ugly: narrating social bonds and boundaries in contemporary Lebanon

Abstract

The study of political leadership in Lebanon has most often revolved around the questions of the attributes and networks of leaders commonly considered within the frame of patron–client relations. In this empirical article, I propose to shift the focus towards the dynamics of identification at the centre of the nexus between leaders and followers. Focusing on the case of the recently elected president of the Republic, Michel Aoun, I draw on testimonies collected among his supporters to expose how his character instigates acts of affective memorialization. Voicing manifold social inspirations, both private and collective, these memory practices anchor the attachment to the leader into multiple temporalities and emphasize contrasts with alternate repulsive figures to perform social bonds and boundaries. The stories composed around this cast of characters illuminates the historical as well as emotional processes at the heart of political identification in Lebanon.     

IAI annual report, 1971

Despite the belief of some that British Prime Minister Brown's attitudes towards the European Union could not be predicted, much in his period as Chancellor of the Exchequer suggested that Britain's role within the European Union would not be a high priority of his premiership. Early indications bear out this expectation. There will probably not be a British referendum on the Reform Treaty, but the rhetoric employed by Brown's government to describe the Treaty will be negative and minimalist. Although no significant body of British opinion favours withdrawal from the European Union, British popular resentment towards the Union is unlikely to disappear under Brown's leadership.