Einschleusung von Migranten

In jüngster Vergangenheit hat sich die Einschleusung von Migranten zu einem neuen Massenphänomen weltweiter Wanderung entwickelt. Trotz seiner international steigenden Bedeutung wird der Menschenschmuggel von der Migrationssoziologie bislang kaum beachtet. Vor diesem Hintergrund gibt der vorliegende Beitrag zum einen — vorwiegend aus deutschem Blickwinkel — grundlegende Informationen über die Einschleusung von Migranten, zum anderen nähert er sich seinem Gegenstand aus soziologischer Perspektive. Menschenschmuggel lässt sich als sozialer Prozess verstehen, der durch ein Tauschgeschäft zwischen Migranten und Schleusern in Gang kommt und immer organisierter abläuft. Die starke Expansion der Einschleusung kann vor allem durch Globalisierungsprozesse und schleusungsbedingte Eigendynamiken erklärt werden. Wie die abschließende Evaluation bisheriger staatlicher Gegenmaßnahmen zeigt, können westliche Gesellschaften auch in nächster Zukunft nicht auf eine verstärkte Grenzsicherung verzichten.     

The Vocabulary of Progress in Interwar International Law: An Intellectual Portrait of Stelios Seferiades

The intellectual portrait of Stelios Seferiades sketched outin this article performs a dual function. While paying tributeto the work of a neglected, but fascinating, scholar, it servesas a heuristic device which allows us to examine the ‘vocabularyof progress’ in international law – the discursivestrategies used in legal argument to legitimize the transformationof the discipline. Crucial to the construction of such a vocabularyof progress in the international law writings of Seferiadesis the opposition between the notions of absolutism and democracy.The article situates this opposition in the political milieuof the interwar period and the life trajectory of Seferiades.Ultimately, it points to the closely-knit relationship between‘universalist’ vocabularies of progress, such asthe opposition between absolutism and democracy, and the personal-ideologicalpursuits of public international lawyers.     

Old master paintings,export veto and price formation: an empirical study

In this paper, we focus on the institutional setting where Old Masters’Paintings (OMP) markets transactions are carried. We develop a preliminary attempt to embody legal provisions in econometric, hedonic pricing models. We consider a particular regulation applicable only in Italy, the “export veto” for art objects that are particularly relevant for the national cultural patrimony. We proxy such legal provision in order to include it in the statistical analysis and to check whether it affects the OMP price differentials between pre-auction estimated price and post-auction hammer price. Preliminary results show that the price differential is affected by the legal variable, therefore suggesting that the country’s institutional framework plays an important role in price dynamics.     

Distributed Generation of Electricity: The Role of Academic Research and Advice in California’s “Clean DG” Policy Network

Deregulation and the combined threats of energy crises and global warming concern nations around the world, yet these issues continue to be addressed more directly by domestic regulatory systems than by international institutions. The present analyses of the integration of distributed sources of power generation (DG) into California’s electric utility system suggests that domestic environmental dilemmas with international repercussions provide an obvious entrée for global environmental policy specialists into the practice of environmental policy-making and law. Here I review current scholarship on policy networks that illuminates the contributions that technical and policy experts can make to such networks surrounding environmental issues. I then introduce the key members of California’s “clean DG” policy network that emphasizes the role of academic experts in this influential political system, and discuss how my own research has impacted the development of the state’s DG policy. I conclude that scholars are well positioned to observe and engage domestic and international environmental policy networks, and thereby also to influence environmental politics and law.     

Does Intimate Partner Violence Epidemiology Differ Between Homes With and Without Children? A Population-Based Study of Annual Prevalence and Associated Risk Factors

We sought to determine whether intimate partner violence (IPV) risk factors differed depending upon the presence of children in the home, and to estimate the annual prevalence of IPV first in the general population and then in homes with and without children. We analyzed data from a cross-sectional random sample of 6,836 women in southeastern Pennsylvania interviewed by telephone in 2004. The magnitude of association between IPV and risk factors varied between homes with and without children for women’s alcohol problems (with children, odds ratio (OR) 7.7; 95% confidence interval (CI) 2.9, 20.9; without children, OR 2.4; 95% CI 0.9, 6.0), and mental health problems (with children, OR 4.0; 95% CI 1.8, 8.9; without children, OR 3.0; 95% CI 1.6, 5.7). Poverty was significantly associated with IPV only in homes without children (OR 3.6; 95% CI 1.9, 7.2). Annual IPV prevalence was 1.2% overall, 1.4% in homes with children, and 1.1% in homes without children. One in 63 children lived in a home with IPV. Differences in IPV risk factors in homes with and without children suggest distinct underlying IPV mechanisms or consequences in these contexts.