Administrative Agencies and the Collaborative Game: An Analysis of the Influence of Government Agencies in Collaborative Policy Implementation

Over the past decades, most countries have witnessed an increase in collaborative arrangements for engaging stakeholders in collective decision‐making processes. Despite the fact that the role of the state in the collaborative structures has been one of the highly debated issues, there is still a need for a more comprehensive understanding of how governmental agencies affect the performance of collaborative actions. This article develops a framework for systematic analyses of collaborative effects on policy performance. Using PROCESS OLS regression, the authors apply the framework to project‐level Cohesion Policy implementation in Finland – that is, to collaborative arrangements embedded in a rather fragmented and complex administrative context. The typical state characteristics of a Nordic country make Finland an interesting case for studying the interaction in collaborative arrangements between the administration and external agencies in a modern welfare state. The results presented in this article show that government agencies have a considerable moderating impact on the relationships between collaborative qualities and performance. The impact is, however, dependent on the responsiveness of the external agent to the bureaucratic rationale. The results underline the importance of more holistic approaches for analyzing complex collaborative constellations, focusing particularly on interaction effects between potential explanatory factors.     

Any Publicity or Good Publicity? A Competitive Test of Visibility- and Tonality-Based Media Effects on Voting Behavior

When examining media effects on voting intentions, scholars of political communication have either focused on visibility- or tonality-based effects. Our study compares these effect models, asking whether the explanations are complementary or competitive; it goes beyond previous studies by considering interactions between media cues and voters’ attitudes. We draw on panel survey data from the German Longitudinal Election Study (GLES) that is combined with content analysis data of the main evening news broadcast in Germany. Findings show that visibility- and tonality-based effects are similar in potency, but tone-based effects are more contingent on attitudes toward parties and candidates. Both types of cues can backfire: higher visibility and more positive tonality can have negative effects on some attitude groups, which is in part moderated by the expectations about government coalitions. We find that visibility and tonality are rather complementary cues that both influence voting behavior. Implications are discussed.     

Recall in Germany: explaining the use of a local democratic innovation

While recall recently has gained slightly more attention from academia, the use of recall has hardly been under systematic scrutiny. Our study tackles this research gap and seeks to answer the following question: What combinations of conditions facilitate or constrain the use of local recall (in Germany)? It provides a qualitative comparative analysis of conditions of recall use in 11 German federal states. Building on theories of democratic innovations and previous studies on recall, we develop an analytic framework systematizing the conditions we include in our empirical analysis along three dimensions: institutional design, attitudinal context, and political context. While our article focuses on Germany, our analytic framework can be applied to study recall in other countries and on other levels, allowing for more systematic comparative research. Applying fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis, our article provides a comprehensive picture explaining the use of recall. It shows that political and attitudinal conditions serve as an equally important explanation for recall use as the institutional design of recall does. Our article gives new insights considering the conditions for the use of direct democratic instruments.     

Ideas and interests in global financial governance: comparing German and US preference formation

Financial crises underline the necessity for more effective global governance. Despite the creation of the Basel II Accord, no agreement has been reached on the reform of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Why do governments only selectively agree to reform global governance? I argue that convergence and divergence of governmental positions cannot be explained solely by the logic of the international system, institutions or globalization. Instead, they strongly reflect domestic ideas and interests. Furthermore, the ability of governments to compromise internationally is influenced by the different impact of domestic ideas and interests. With regard to their prevalence in domestic preference formation, ideas prevail when governance affects lobby groups diffusely and poses fundamental questions on the role of politics in governing the economy. Interests prevail when lobby groups are affected directly and new governance concerns a specific distribution of costs. These arguments are tested on the preference formation of the United States and German governments on the IMF and Basel II.     

Patterned imprint mark due to the folded shoulder stock: A possible finding in contact shots from submachine guns

The muzzle imprint (barrel mark) is a pressure abrasion typically associated with contact shots. Apart from the contours of the actual muzzle profile, other constructional parts such as the front sight and/or the recoil spring guide of semiautomatic pistols may be imprinted next to the bullet entrance wound. In some types of submachine guns the shoulder stock can be folded forward so that its end partly encircles the muzzle. If such a weapon was in contact with the skin at the instant of discharge, a corresponding contusion mark is to be expected. The imprint configuration may point to the type of weapon and to the way in which the gun had been held when firing the shot. The paper presents the injury pattern in a 36-year-old man who committed suicide with a Scorpion SA Vz 61 submachine gun cal. 7.65 mm Browning from former Czechoslovakia.     

Secrecy and Seclusion: Developments in Privacy Insurance Law

Privacy has become big news. Our society has an epidemic of identity theft, loss of personal data, blast faxing, and data mining. The wave of new privacy litigation has led to a wave of privacy insurance litigation, particularly with respect to coverage for blast faxes—unsolicited and unwanted facsimiles which bombard businesses and individuals. The main debate results from the fact that while the advertising injury section of the general liability policy provides some coverage for invasion of privacy, the new privacy causes of action do not necessarily fit the insurance policy's coverage. For example, while blast faxes invade the recipient's privacy or seclusion, insurers assert that the faxes do not involve the publication of secret material. To meet this problem, insurers are writing new tech or cyber policies that provide far more expansive coverage for privacy.     

Personality disorders in a sample of paraphilic and nonparaphilic child molesters: a comparative study

This article renders the results of research that investigated personality disorders in a sample of paraphilic and nonparaphilic child molesters. The sample contained 36 paraphilic child molesters and a matched comparison group of 34 nonparaphilic child molesters. The analyses of the research results show that four personality disorders discriminate between both groups. Only the obsessive-compulsive personality disorder contributes significantly to the explanation of paraphilic child molestation. This result also contributes to the development and differentiation of the treatment of paraphilia-related disorders. For several child molesters, psychological approaches to the treatment of sexual offending (e.g., cognitive-behavioral treatment, psychotherapy in general) are limited and cannot be expected to immediately reduce risk. Interest has been expressed in medical approaches to reduce recidivism, in combination with psychotherapy.     

The economic effects of judicial accountability: cross-country evidence

Judicial independence is not only a necessary condition for the impartiality of judges, it can also endanger it: judges that are independent could have incentives to remain uninformed, become lazy or even corrupt. It is therefore often argued that judicial independence and judicial accountability are competing ends. In this paper, it is hypothesized that they can be complementary means towards achieving impartiality and, in turn, the rule of law. It is further argued that judicial accountability can increase per capita income through various channels one of which is the reduction of corruption. First tests concerning the economic effects of JA are carried out and on the basis of 75 countries, these proxies are highly significant for explaining differences in per capita income drawing both on OLS as well as TSLS.