Combating Organized Financial Fraud and Money Laundering in the European Union: Recent Developments and Perspectives

In 1999 the European Union will enter the third and final stage of monetary union. The very precise timetable of economic and financial integration requires the growing de-velopment of the legal and administrative structures at Union level to prevent, to control and to punish organized financial crime at transnational level and money laundering of the proceeds of such fraud.     

Improvement in Latent Fingerprint Detection on Thermal Paper Using a One‐Step Ninhydrin Treatment with Polyvinylpyrrolidones (PVP)

Abstract: Most thermosensitive surfaces of thermal paper turn black when they come into contact with polar organic solvents such as are used in ninhydrin petroleum benzin solution. This dark staining reduces the contrast between the developed fingerprint and the background to such an extent that the identification process becomes very difficult. Integrating polyvinylpyrrolidones (PVP) into a ninhydrin solution prevents the black staining, and the developed fingerprints appear in clear contrast to the background. The new ninhydrin solution containing PVP is successful compared to the two‐step ninhydrin–acetone washing method for thermal paper which is popular in Germany.     

Emergence of the battered woman syndrome: The impact upon the legal system

The purpose of this review article is to analyze the emergence of the battered woman syndrome and how it currently impacts the legal system. The battered woman syndrome is compared with other syndromes used in the courts and then unresolved issues surrounding the usage of the battered woman syndrome are discussed.     

Changing China

<正>Last summer,my wife and I returned to the small city of Huzhou in east China’s Zhejiang Province for the first time in three years.At the end of our stay,we visited a Buddhist temple atop a small hill near the col ege where I’d taught.As we stood on the temple’s veranda admiring the view of the sprawling city below us,an elderly nun came out of the courtyard and walked to one corner.Striking up a conversation with her,we learned that when the temple moved there about20 years ago,the same view was mostly all farmland,with only a small city center in the distance.I couldn’t imagine that.     

Die Selbstbehauptung und Selbstgefährdung des Friedens als Herrschaft des Rechts

Peace is conceivable only as a legal order. According to Hans Kelsen, a legal order is by its very nature a ‘coercive order’. Thus, peace and coercion are not mutually exclusive, but refer to each other in the concept of law. In this contribution, we elaborate and problematize the paradoxical relationship between coercion and peace in theoretical and historical perspective. For this, we differentiate between arbitrary force and legal enforcement in the context of world-order politics. While we argue in favor of peace through law enforcement, we also emphasize the element of arbitrariness in the concept and historical formation of law. This is to say that the stabilization of peace through legal coercion goes hand in hand with its simultaneous destabilization. The text unfolds this dilemma with reference to the evolution of the theory and practice of legitimizing the use of force from past to present. We argue that the dilemma cannot be overcome, but it can be mitigated through the creation of a rule of law, which allows for a reflexive treatment of the tension between peace and coercion.     

DVPW-Mitteilungen

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

Studies presented to the international commission for the history of representative and parliamentary institutions 1980 — 1985

SUMMARY

In this article Joseba Agirreazkuenaga continues his account of the development of the Basque political institutions to the period following the settlement of the first Carlist war by the Convention of Bergera in 1839. This laid down a process for incorporating the Basque foral institutions into the framework of the new liberal constitution of the Spanish monarchy. It required negotiations between the Spanish Cortes and Basque representatives, which produced the institution of the Basque Conferencias to speak for the three Basque provinces. Once established these developed into the main institutional voice for the developing Basque national movemebt. By the 1860s the Conferencias had virtually acquired the function of a Basque provincial government.     

Women students in the former GDR‐a research note

Drawing on longitudinal statistics on admissions, graduation, subject choices and studies in eastern European countries, the paper brings together further evidence about the unequal opportunities of women in higher education in the former GDR.