The praise of ressentiment: or,how I learned to stop worrying and love Donald Trump

American political discourse in the era of Tea Parties, Donald Trump, and ‘#BlackLivesMatter’ is suffused with Nietzschean ressentiment. Left critical theorist Wendy Brown’s ‘wounded attachments’ characterize civil rights protesters, multiculturalists, anti-tax activists, and Christian conservatives alike: all are grounded in an identity thoroughly constituted by foundational wounding, which then provides a continuing impulse to fixate on perceived wrongs as the basis for political community. Rather than lamenting this, however, I defend ressentiment from the vantage point of a renewed Left in the United States. This paper explores a strategic reclamation of ressentiment ‘well-used,’ argues that its employment in past liberation struggles has been crucial to the successes of the Left, and proposes several specific tactics in political rhetoric and mobilization, including: (a) embracing victim/enemy narratives, (b) cultivating anger, and (c) deploying effective lies rather than ineffective truths.     

An Empire of Light?: II: Learning and Lawmaking in Germany Today

German law is commonly assumed to be strongly influenced bylegal scholarship. This was certainly true in the past, andthis article explores whether it is still the case today. Butwhat is actually meant by ‘influence’ in the contextof law? Who exerts it on whom, and how? These questions areanalysed in the first part of the article. It is then shown,by drawing on biographical material, legislative history andcase law, how legal scholarship contributes to both the legislativeand the judicial lawmaking process in Germany—and whereit does not. Finally it is asked how the specific relationshipbetween legal academics and lawmakers in the German legal systemcan be explained and whether this model can be transferred toother systems.     

Evaluation of a novel tagging and tissue preservation system for potential use in forensic sample collection

The authors describe a new, easy-to-use barcode-based tissue collection, preservation and body tracking system, which might prove instrumental in the containment of mass fatalities such as aircraft accidents, war related accidents, environmental disasters (e.g. earthquakes, hurricanes, and floods) terrorist bombings or mass murders.     

Sharp force injuries in clinical forensic medicine--findings in victims and perpetrators

The injury findings in 58 perpetrators and 158 victims surviving bodily injuries due to sharp force are presented here. Defence injuries were found in 45.9% of the victims without any significant differences between males and females. There was no clear predominance of defence injuries on the left forearm and hand, as is known from autopsy studies; the right and the left hands were affected with an almost identical frequency. Regarding other parts of the victims' bodies, the topographic distribution of injuries showed a marked concentration on the left side (63.7%). The thorax, head and neck were frequently affected (45.9%, 15.3% and 15.3%, respectively), and less often the abdomen (11.1%), the lumbar and gluteal region (6.3%) and the lower extremities (6.1%). In surviving victims with only one singular stab apart from the upper limbs, the incidence of additional defence injuries on the hands and/or forearms was significantly higher (28.3%) than in fatalities. When the perpetrators had unintentionally cut their own hands, the frequency of these injuries on the right and left hands was almost equal.     

Comparing British and American conservatisms through the prism of African development

Conservatism and conservative party politics in Britain and America is associated with neo-colonial attitudes, including pursuit of national interests ahead of post-colonial development. Based on interviews conducted in Washington and London with actors involved with African development, this article examines comparative shifts in conservatives’ engagements from the late Cold War era to the G. W. Bush and Cameron governments. Greater ideological heterogeneity and distinctiveness among American conservative interests groups, combined with a bureaucratic environment in the US allowing more direct channels for ideological input into policy, results in a more clearly conservative stamp on Africa policy in the US than in Britain where ideological lines on development have become more blurred since the 1997 New Labour election victory and the creation of the Department for International Development.     

Determinants of judicial efficiency: a survey

Court delay has been much lamented about the world over. Judicial efficiency is one important element in keeping it under control. This paper surveys the available evidence concerning the determinants of differences in judges’ output. It points out weaknesses in the literature and makes a number of proposals how these could be relieved.