Neonaticides in Hamburg, Germany, from 1998 to 2008

In the analyzed period from 1998 to 2008, the autopsies performed at the Hamburg Institute of Legal Medicine included 13 cases in which an investigation for neonaticide had been initiated by the public prosecutor. The killed neonates showed a nearly equal distribution between both sexes. The most common method of neonaticide was suffocation. Most of the perpetrators were young, unmarried primipara with an average educational background. Almost all of them were suffering under psychological stress and had negated their pregnancy. In most cases, birth and neonaticide happened alone in their flat, and there was no medical attendance in any case. In the cases brought to court the women were charged with manslaughter (Section 212 German Criminal Code) and those found guilty were always granted a mitigated sentence pursuant to Section 213 Criminal Code.     

Business 2.0: Kyrgyz middlemen in Guangzhou

ABSTRACT

Among the many ‘businesspeople’ whom the promise of commercial success has drawn to southern China in recent years one can find a small number of Kyrgyz middlemen. Working mostly with Russian-speaking clients, their job is to organize buying trips, coordinate with local manufacturers, translate, and oversee cargo shipments. Based on ethnographic fieldwork since 2013, this article examines in detail the careers, work routines and business model adopted by Kyrgyz middlemen in Guangzhou. I argue that in contrast to the early bazaar or shuttle traders, who have been operating across Eurasia since the 1990s, these Kyrgyz middlemen constitute a next kind of economic actor within more diversified, service-oriented and formalized value chains across post-Socialist Eurasia (referred to here as Business 2.0). One of these middlemen’s most salient contributions is to translate between the informal and formal domains of national economies as well as within cross-border economic transactions.     

Haptoglobin subtypes in Berlin, GDR. A simple procedure for haptoglobin purification and subtyping

Sera were obtained from 1,275 blood donors in Berlin, probands involved in paternity tests, and from 119 families with 235 children; the sera were subtyped by isoelectric focusing, following preparation and reductive molecular cleavage of haptoglobin. In this paper, an uninvolved preparation technique is described for routine testing. Allelic frequencies are: Hp *1F = 0.1471; *1S = 0.2502; *2FF = 0.0020; *2FS = 0.5753; *2SS = 0.0251. Only one deviation from autosomal codominant inheritance was recorded in the family examinations, with illegitimacy considered possible. In the region of Berlin, the changes of ruling out uninvolved individuals in paternity suits have gone up from 18% (conventional technique recording two frequent alleles) to 33% (subtyping).     

Tierschutzrecht in der Diskussion

Das politische Ringen um rechtlichen Tierschutz findet in der Bundesrepublik seit über 35 Jahren statt. Dabei weist die Debatte einen klaren Dreh- und Angelpunkt auf: Tierschutz im Grundgesetz. Ging es früher um die Forderung, Tierschutz ausdrücklich in der Verfassung zu verankern, ist seit Aufnahme des Staatsziels Tierschutz im Jahre 2002 dessen Stellenwert im Vergleich mit anderen grundgesetzlichen Werten in den Mittelpunkt getreten. Diese Entwicklung wird von einer ethischen Debatte um Tierschutz und Tierrechte begleitet, deren Forderungen jedoch kaum Eingang in die aktuelle Tagespolitik finden. Es sollen zun?chst kurz die Entwicklungen nachgezeichnet werden, die zur Aufnahme des Staatsziels Tierschutz geführt haben (I). Sodann werden die rechtsethischen Hintergründe der Tierschutzdebatte mit besonderem Blick auf Tierrechte skizziert (II). Schlie?lich sollen einige Schwerpunkte der aktuellen rechtspolitischen Diskussion vorgestellt werden (III).     

Insider Privatisation and Restructuring Incentives

In the literature on privatisation and restructuring it is a generally held belief that manager owned firms will be restructured more rigorously than worker owned companies. This gives the clear recommendation that property rights and control rights should be allocated to managers in the process of (insider-) privatisation. One of the implied arguments is, that managers' career concerns will make them eager to prove their ability by improving company efficiency. The present model shows that in the transition context managers' career concerns might result in the opposite effect. If the bulk of job opportunities are in worker controlled firms, the managers of the few manager controlled firms will want to appear soft on excess labour capacity – hence, restructure less harshly – in order to improve their career opportunities.     

Tierschutzrecht in der Diskussion

Das politische Ringen um rechtlichen Tierschutz findet in der Bundesrepublik seit über 35 Jahren statt. Dabei weist die Debatte einen klaren Dreh- und Angelpunkt auf: Tierschutz im Grundgesetz. Ging es früher um die Forderung, Tierschutz ausdrücklich in der Verfassung zu verankern, ist seit Aufnahme des Staatsziels Tierschutz im Jahre 2002 dessen Stellenwert im Vergleich mit anderen grundgesetzlichen Werten in den Mittelpunkt getreten. Diese Entwicklung wird von einer ethischen Debatte um Tierschutz und Tierrechte begleitet, deren Forderungen jedoch kaum Eingang in die aktuelle Tagespolitik finden. Es sollen zun?chst kurz die Entwicklungen nachgezeichnet werden, die zur Aufnahme des Staatsziels Tierschutz geführt haben (I). Sodann werden die rechtsethischen Hintergründe der Tierschutzdebatte mit besonderem Blick auf Tierrechte skizziert (II). Schlie?lich sollen einige Schwerpunkte der aktuellen rechtspolitischen Diskussion vorgestellt werden (III).     

EU accession and the hardening of soft budget constraints: some macro evidence

The hardening of soft budget constraints (SBCs) is a central element in transforming the economies of Central and Eastern Europe into market economies. This paper presents macro evidence on budget hardening of transition economies comparing the performance of EU accession countries relative to non-accession countries. We estimate SBC hardening for 21 transition economies in a partial adjustment model by measuring the reaction of employment to output changes over a 10-year period. The paper finds that accession candidates have reduced excess labour demand substantially relative to non-accession countries.

Lessons Learned? German Security Policy and the War in Afghanistan

The mission in Afghanistan revealed fundamental shortcomings, inconsistencies and contradictions of core elements of German security policy. In an effort to contribute to the debate about the factors that account for the idiosyncrasies of German security policy, the purpose of this study is to assess how far Germany learned lessons from its policy failures in Afghanistan. The study introduces a typology of learning, which is mainly based on the Advocacy Coalition Framework (ACF); delineates the German security policy belief system; and explores two prominent cases of policy failure: the deployment of the Bundeswehr and leadership of the international police training mission. Utilising different sources of data, the study confirms assumptions of the ACF about the stability of core beliefs and shows that the lack of precise policy objectives was a significant barrier to learning. Instead of clarifying Germany's strategic viewpoint, Afghanistan has further enhanced its disorientation in security policy.