Multi-party competition: A computational model with abstention and memory

This paper analyses the properties of a computational model of multi-party competition in two policy dimensions. We find that, firstly, centrifugal incentives prevent rational parties from moving to the mean of voters' preference distributions. Secondly, the number of parties competing for votes and the inclination to abstain from voting are positively related to parties' optimum distance to the political centre. Thirdly, the number of parties in the political arena also increases both the distance between parties' location in the policy space and the volatility of their platforms. Finally, the more voters rely on past observations of partisan positioning behaviour in order to assess the credibility of parties, the more the distance between partisan platforms increases. At the same time, platform volatility declines.     

Kein Pflichtteilsergänzungsanspruch bei redlicher Verwendung des Geschenks zur Schuldentilgung

Der Beschenkte haftet dem verkürzten Noterben grunds?tzlich mit der geschenkten Sache, das hei?t mit der vorhandenen Bereicherung. Der Wille des Gesetzgebers geht dahin, nur denjenigen redlichen Beschenkten zu belangen, der noch "im Besitz" des Geschenks bzw der darum angeschafften Sachen steht. Dem Gesetzgeber kann jedoch nicht zugesonnen werden, die redliche Verwendung eines Geldgeschenks durch den Geschenknehmer zur Abdeckung von Schulden als konstant vorhanden bleibenden Verm?gensvorteil zu sehen. Der Wegfall von Schulden durch Tilgung mit dem erhaltenen Geschenk ist daher nicht dem Besitz der geschenkten Sache oder ihres Werts im Sinne des § 952 ABGB, sondern deren Verbrauch gleichzuhalten.     

Informal Politics, Formalised Law and the 'Social Deficit' of European Integration: Reflections after the Judgments of the ECJ in Viking and Laval

The judgments of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) of December 2008 in Viking and Laval on the compatibility of national collective labour law with European prerogatives have caused quite a heated critical debate. This article seeks to put this debate in constitutional perspectives. In its first part, it reconstructs in legal categories what Fritz W. Scharpf has characterised as a decoupling of economic integration from the various welfare traditions of the Member States. European constitutionalism, it is submitted, is bound to respond to this problématique. The second part develops a perspective within which such a response can be found. That perspective is a supranational European conflict of laws which seeks to realise what the draft Constitutional Treaty had called the 'motto of the union': unitas in pluralitate. Within that framework, the third part analyses two seemingly contradictory trends, namely, first, albeit very briefly, the turn to 'soft' modes of governance in the realm of social policy and then, in much greater detail, the ECJ's 'hard' interpretations of the supremacy of European freedoms and its strict interpretation of pertinent secondary legislation. The conflict-of-laws approach would suggest a greater respect for national autonomy, in particular, in view of the limited EU competences in the field of labour law.     

Just War Doctrine and the Invasion of Iraq

In this article we adopt the framework of Just War doctrine to assess whether the 2003 invasion of Iraq was just. The six criteria against which we assess the justice of going to war are Just Cause, Right Authority, Right Intention, Reasonable Prospect of Success, Proportionate Cause and War as Last Resort. We focus upon what was known and said by the US, British and Australian governments around the time they decided to invade and consider whether there was sufficient justification and authorisation for the Iraq War. The key pre-war issues discussed include alleged Iraqi possession of WMD and links to terrorist organisations, and the meaning of UN Security Council resolutions. We conclude that, as the Just War criteria were not satisfied, the invasion of Iraq was unjust.     

Woodrow Wilson’s Administrative Thought and German Political Theory

To what extent were Woodrow Wilson’s ideas about public administration informed by German organic political theory? Drawing on the writings of Wilson, Lorenz von Stein, and Johann K. Bluntschli on public administration, and comparing American and German primary sources, the author offers insights into Wilson’s general concept of public administration, as well as his understanding of the politics–administration dichotomy. With regard to current administrative research, this study underscores how the transfer of ideas profoundly contributes to advancing comparative public administration and helps clarify terminological difficulties and conflicting perspectives among diverse administrative science traditions.     

Model verification for population detection of counterfeits

The quality of counterfeit items has increased dramatically, with modern global manufacturing being able to duplicate the materials, construction, and visual features of items. Detection of fraudulent coinage can parallel authentication of food, beverages, and manufactured goods by studying product-inherent features. Counterfeit detection is performed by comparing an Example group with a Questioned group. A model is developed for both groups using standard tests on individual pieces. Coin weight is used here as an illustration. The model should also follow the natural science of the system. In this case, the manufacturing process variation is known and steady, and the underlying distribution is known or can be determined from authentic pieces. The proposed detection method uses testing of many individual pieces, then using reverse-quality-engineering methods to identify possible sources. This strategy looks at the variation between individual pieces to determine the process capability of a machine, assembly line, or plant to create product consistency for a manufacturer. Fraudulent items may be manufactured within specification, but demonstrate a manufacturing process capability different than that of the authentic manufacturer. In this report, we examine the model previously reported and use reconstruction techniques to re-create the evidence set to validate the model, increase model accuracy, and confirm the conclusion previously reached, showing that the Questioned set is likely over 37% non-conforming by weight. In this case, the decision outcome of the analysis was improved by using additional methods not included in the modeling software package originally used.     

Zu Inhalt und Konzeption eines revidierten Landwirtschaftsgesetzes

Natur und Recht - Der Verfasser hat in der vorliegenden Zeitschrift die “Leipziger Erklärung” des Deutschen Naturschutzrechtstages vom 25.4.2018 einer kritischen Analyse...     

Urgent issues and prospects in reforming interrogation practices in the United States and Canada

The current article presents a series of commentaries on urgent issues and prospects in reforming interrogation practices in Canada and the United States. Researchers and practitioners, who have devoted much of their careers to the field of police and intelligence interrogations, were asked to provide their insights on an area of interrogation research that they believe requires immediate attention. The submitted independent commentaries covered a variety of topics – from police recruitment, interrogation training, use of proper interrogation practices, and the treatment of confession evidence in court. Common concerns from the contributions pertained to the lag between scientific knowledge on interrogations and the application of such knowledge in the justice system, and the glaring disparity between the treatment of similar issues in the interrogation context versus other criminal justice contexts. A primary intent of this collection of commentaries is to serve as a resource pointing researchers in the direction of the fundamental areas that require immediate consideration and encouraging them to simultaneously pursue solutions to the overarching concerns that emerged from this project.