Path Dependencies in European Integration: A Constructive Response to German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer

There is no doubt about the political necessity of the Eastern enlargement of the European Union and corresponding reforms of its political institutions. By contrast, the shape and content of these reforms is a subject that is highly contested between the member states. In this context, when the German Foreign Minister, Joschka Fischer, presented his vision of future development for Europe his ideas were refreshingly welcome. However, Fischer's ideas imply, in many respects, a turning away from hitherto accepted paths to European integration. The main claim we want to make in this paper is that, against the backdrop of this breach with the present European-level institutional system, the chance that the Fischer initiatives could come to political fruition must be viewed with scepticism. On the basis of this finding, which rests essentially upon a historical-institutionalist analysis, we develop an alternative concept for a European constitution.     

Das informell-kooperative Verwaltungshandeln im Umweltrecht

Zusammenfassung  Informelles Verwaltungshandeln geh?rt zum umweltrechtlichen Alltag. Die technische Entwicklung und die zunehmende Komplexit?t umweltrelevanter Sachverhalte veranlassen den Staat dazu, jenseits der hergebrachten Handlungsformen des ?ffentlichen Rechts in den wirtschaftlichen Bereich einzuwirken und das ursprünglich subordinative Staat-Bürger-Verh?ltnis in eine auf Konsens zielende Kooperation umzustrukturieren. Der vorliegende Beitrag befasst sich mit der noch nicht abschlie?end gekl?rten rechtlichen Bew?ltigung informeller staatlicher T?tigkeit. Der Schwerpunkt liegt dabei auf dem sog. normvollziehenden Verwaltungshandeln. Besondere Berücksichtigung findet die Teilformalisierung informeller Verhaltensweisen de lege lata und im Referentenentwurf zum UGB.     

Schiffe als Abfall?

Zusammenfassung In dem Beitrag geht es um die Frage, ob Seeschiffe in hiesigen H?fen, die demn?chst im Ausland abgewrackt werden sollen, unter das Ausfuhrverbot des Basler übereinkommens und der EG-Abfallverbringungsverordnung fallen. Diese Auffassung wird in Industriel?ndern aufgrund der oftmals hohen Kontamination alter Schiffe mit Giftstoffen und angesichts unzureichender Umweltund Arbeitsschutzbestimmungen in abwrackenden Entwicklungsl?ndern verschiedentlich vertreten. Die Autoren zeigen, dass das geltende Recht Auslaufverbote für solche Schiffe nicht zul?sst und weisen auf die Bemühungen der Internationalen Seeschifffahrts-Organisation um ein Schiffsrecyclingübereinkommen hin.     

Why Right‐Leaning Populism has Grown in the Most Advanced Liberal Democracies of Europe

Immigration and new class divisions, combined with a growing anti‐elitism and political correctness, are often used as explanations for the strong gains for right‐leaning populist parties in national elections across Europe in recent years. But contrary to what we might assume, such parties have been very successful in the most developed and comprehensive welfare states, in nations—such as the Nordic countries—with the best scores on economic equality and social inclusion and long established political and judicial institutions enjoying a high degree of popular legitimacy. As argued in this article, this seems to happen because a duopoly of the centre‐left and centre‐right political establishment has kept issues such as immigration and new class divisions off the public agenda and hence paved the way for right‐leaning ‘disruptor’ populist parties with an anti‐immigration agenda in times of increasing immigration.     

Implementation Between Tradition and Management: Structuration and Styles of Implementation

This article presents a diachronic perspective for implementation research. It analyzes implementation practices in relation to their changing institutional context. Therefore, a comparison is made between different styles of implementation.
The relationship between implementation practices and institutional context is analyzed as a structuration process, following Giddens's theory. Four styles of policy implementation are distinguished: a traditional, bureaucratic, professional, and managerial style. These four styles are connected with different phases in the development of the welfare state. This developmental model is illustrated with an analysis of policy implementation in Dutch public assistance between 1950 and the early 1990s.     

Cultural and economic prerequisites of democracy: Reassessing recent evidence

The purpose of this article is to reassess two influential theories of democratic development: the theory of democratic culture and the theory of economic development. The leading predecessors in each domain—Ronald Inglehart and Adam Przeworski—are the prime targets of analysis. We take issue with recent evidence presented by these authors on three grounds: the evidence (1) confuses “basic” criteria of democracy with possible “quality” criteria (Inglehart); (2) conceptualizes democracy in dichotomous rather than continuous terms (Przeworski); and (3) fails to account for endogeneity and contingent effects (Inglehart). In correcting for these shortcomings, we present striking results. In the case of democratic culture, the theory lacks support; neither overt support for democracy nor “self-expression values” affect democratic development. In the case of economic development, earlier findings must be refined. Although the largest impact of modernization is found among more democratized countries, we also find an effect among “semi-democracies.” Axel Hadenius is professor of political science at Uppsala University in Sweden. He is the author ofDemocracy and Development (Cambridge University Press, 1992) andInstitutions and Democratic Citizenship (Oxford University Press, 2001). Jan Teorell is associated professor of political science at Uppsala University. His articles on intra-party democracy, social capital, and political participation appear in international journals.     

The relevance of the detection of troponins to the forensic diagnosis of cardiac contusion

The forensic diagnosis of cardiac contusion has hitherto been based mainly on anamnesis, concomitant thoracic injuries and the detection of macroscopic changes to the heart. Parallel histological and serological investigations of the heart-specific troponins have been conducted with varying results. This paper aims to show whether heart-specific troponins are suitable as a means of securing the diagnosis in proven cases of cardiac contusion and of determining which of the three heart-specific troponins cTnT, cTnI and cTnC are most significant in serology and histology for postmortem diagnosis.In the study, 25 cases of known cardiac contusion and 11 controls without vital myocardial trauma taken from autopsy material were prospectively investigated. Investigation of the venous serum revealed significant differences in the concentrations of the case and control groups for troponin T (mean value 5.5056 versus 0.4982; p = 0.014), for troponin C (mean value 263.9280 versus 68.5640; p = 0.001) and for troponin I (mean value 1404.0560 versus 36.1650; p = 0.003). In histology there are also significantly different depletions between the groups investigated (cTnT: p = 0.002; cTnC: p = 0.003; cTnI: p < 0.001) taking into account the autolysis time.