Recent books on the East

The following paper was discovered by Laurence Evans, Professor of History at the State University of New York at Binghamton, during the course of research in the files of the Department of State (to which Department the paper had been made available in 1918 for use as background information by the American Delegation at the Peace Conference), and Professor Evans has kindly communicated it to the Society. Its contents are not included in the book on Mecca which Snouk published in German, and it is not among the scattered articles in Verspreide Geschriften (1923–27). That collection does, however, include another essay about Ahmad Dahlan, in Dutch, entitled “Een rector der Mekkaansche universiteit”, originally contributed to a learned journal and reprinted in vol. 111, pp. 65–122. [We are printing this paper in good faith believing it to be previously unpublished. Ed.]     

Reformfähigkeit messen? Konzeptionelle Überlegungen zu einem Reformfähigkeitsindex für OECD-Staaten

In the present article, I propose to determine reform capacity based upon policy outcomes and the governing performance of executives. Both components shall be measured through expert assessments and quantitative data for the 30 OECD member states in order to construct an index of reform capacity. The concepts underpinning the index are explained and compared with existing approaches of performance and governance measurement. Criteria are developed to assess the strategic capacity of governments and the accountability-generating functions of political actors surrounding the government. The envisaged measurement and aggregation methods are described and the potential of the proposed approach is discussed.     

Volatile Organic Compounds,Spectral Characterization and Morphology of Ammonium Nitrate Fuel Oil (ANFO) Samples

Ammonium nitrate fuel oil is an explosive mixture found in most antipersonnel landmines (APL) buried throughout the Colombian territory. During more than 50 years of internal conflict, the Colombian government has found that trained dogs are the most effective method to detect APL. However, the olfactive signature in ANFO is unknown and also if there are differences in detection related to the explosive manufacturing origin. Therefore, this work begins with the analytical validation of the method used to determine ammonia, in its derivatized form as carbamate, released by home-made ANFO using HS-SPME-GC-FID. Once validated, the method was used to identify ammonia and other organic volatile compounds present in ANFO, under laboratory and simulated field conditions. The validation process includes the evaluation of the optimum conditions for the derivation and extraction of butylcarbamate, the determination of the working ranges with linear response in FID, the limits of detection and quantification, the sensitivity, and the precision. The results of the validation established linearity and sensitivity in a concentration between 20 and 120 mg/L, as well as low limits of detection and quantification of 6.4 and 21.4 mg/L, respectively. Also, an intermediate precision of 11% for butylcarbamate with a repeatability of 8%. The validated method showed in real samples of home-made ANFO besides ammonia, the presence of low molecular methylamines, and also exhibited differences in volatile compositions according to the origin. The objective of this work is to offer a reliable analytical methodology for the extraction and analysis of volatile compounds from ANFO.     

Die elementaren (Fremd-)Erfahrungen der Gabe

What holds society together? In his famous essay The Gift (1925) Marcel Mauss answers this question. However, as this paper shows, he does so not by formulating something like a theory of reciprocity as was often assumed after Claude Lévi-Strauss’ brought forward his structuralist interpretation of Mauss. Instead, the reason why gift practices create obligatory, cohesive social bonds lies in experiences of ?being-possessed“ and self-transcendence. This assumption is proven by means of a new and detailed reading of Mauss’ Essai sur le don as well as by the anti-utilitarian reception of Mauss’ work by the Collège de Sociologie (Georges Bataille, Roger Caillois, Michel Leiris). Overall, Mauss’ theory of the gift features important elements of a theory of posession and self-transcendence which focuses on the dimensions of experience and action. This is why one can discern a certain similarity between Mauss’ and the pragmatist theory of action. Only against that backdrop the social binding force of gift practices can be explained.     

Die Konstruktion der soziologischen Realität durch Forschungsrating

The article subjects the research rating of sociology, published in 2008 and carried out by an evaluation group on behalf of the German Science Council, to a secondary analysis. It is shown that the research rating constructs a reality of sociology which does justice neither to the variety of sociological knowledge production nor to its own claim of multidimensionality. Unwillingly, the peer reviewed article has imposed itself as the dominant criterion for assessing the research quality of research units against other types of publication and other activities such as externally funded research, knowledge transfer for practical problem-solving and knowledge diffusion in the public sphere. This preference also affected the assessment of entire research institutions with regard to their impact and efficiency as well as the devaluation of knowledge transfer and diffusion. In this way, sociology is limited to the type of professional sociology, while critical, public and policy-oriented sociology are displaced.     

Emile Durkheims Moralpolitik des Individualismus

Emile Durkheim was neither a political scientist nor a political sociologist. His oeuvre though exhibits a political dimension which is not easy to grasp. This article makes the attempt to reconstruct his project of a moral politics of individualism. How is it possible to institutionalize successfully what Durkheim calls moral individualism? Durkheim’s project rests upon two pillars: the scientific and scholarly pillar which aims at the establishment of sociology as a scientific discipline at universities. The political pillar which sets out to analyze the socio-structural, institutional, cultural conditions, forms and effects of individualism and the successful socialization of its values which allows to take seriously the rhetoric of the freedom and dignity of human beings in modernity. Durkheim’s project is confronted with the traditional images of politics and the social order to delineate the differentia specifica of his moral politics of individualism.