Transitioning policy: co-production of a new strategic framework for energy innovation policy in the Netherlands

This article describes policy–science interactions in a transition process in which we were involved as scientists. We describe the interactions that occurred in a project for the fourth National Environmental Policy Plan in the Netherlands. The project was successful in that it produced a new concept and set of principles for policy to deal with persistent problems such as global climate change, which were used in the national policy plan. The new concept was that of transition and the principles were: policy integration, long-term thinking for short-term action, keeping multiple options open and learning-by-doing and doing-by-learning. Retrospectively, we ask ourselves: what factors facilitated the acceptance of the first ideas about transition management? Reconstructing the events and drawing on interviews with key individuals involved, we have tried to find the key factors for the adoption of the ideas developed in the project. Finally, we reflect upon our role as scientists-advisors and the role of others in the development of a new story line and set of principles for policy. Our own assessment, 8 years later, is that we were engaged in boundary work.     

Trade mark protection: the art of styling intellectual property rights

This new commentary on the Austrian trade mark legislation,edited by Professor Guido Kucsko, is remarkable in many respects.First, it is a great achievement to gather together a team ofno less than 40 authors across all aspects of intellectual propertypractice and during a one year ‘tour de force’ puttogether an homogeneous work     

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.     

Anaximander's Rhythm and the Question of Justice

My essay examines the oldest fragment ofWestern philosophy, the saying of Anaximander,with respect to its elucidation of justice as arhythmic process consisting of both `law' and`care'. In doing so, I proceed by giving areading of the Anaximander fragment by itself,focusing on the question of its rhythmicstructure and its determination of therelationship between dike (law asjustice) and adikia (injustice). Thispart of the essay includes an excursus onAristotle's transformation of Anaximander'srhythm into a recognizable ethical science. Ina second part I engage the most profoundinterpretation of Anaximander, that by MartinHeidegger (1946). Concentrating on Heidegger'sconcept of Verwindung (a kind of`overcoming') as well as on his emphasis on theoccurrence of the notion of tisis (care)in the Anaximander fragment, I cull fromHeidegger the central idea that dikeand tisis exist in a necessaryrelationship. In the third and final part Iattempt a provisional examination of therelation between dike and tisis todemonstrate the shortcomings of justice-as-law,with a focus on the questions of restitutionand equity as central aspects of the law. Iconclude with an appeal to an integration of`care' into the conceptual thinking aboutjustice. An addendum addresses the question oftime with respect to the Anaximanderianrhythm.     

Finland

European Journal of Political Research -     

Assessing a moral panic relating to crime and drugs policy in the Netherlands: Towards a testable theory

Using criteria from recent work by Goode and Ben Yehuda, this article tests the hypothesis that a moral panic relating to (youth) crime has been going on in the Netherlands since 1990. Most of the criteria are met. There is concern about the problem of crime and a consensus on solutions. There are also indications that public disquiet grew out of proportion compared to trends in crime and victimization, and that the panic erupted fairly suddenly. It is not possible to identify a clearer scapegoat than a diffuse image of “the” criminal. It is unclear what caused this panic. It seems unlikely that the panic started as a reaction to public problems, but nor is it possible to state that elites started it or that it was caused by bureaucratic processes at an intermediate level. Several methodological problems connected with the testing of the criteria are discussed. It is recommended that one criterion be added: that of misdirection of reactions to a social problem. It is also recommended that future research should be comparative, either comparing several minor local panics, or comparing panics or non-panics related to equivalent social problems. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.