Internationale Zuständigkeit für Klagen auf Zahlung rückständiger Bewirtschaftungskosten

Für Klagen nach § 27 Abs 2 WEG einer Eigentümergemeinschaft gegen einen Wohnungseigentümer auf Zahlung rückst?ndiger Bewirtschaftungskosten ist ohne Rücksicht auf den Wohnsitz des Bekl ausschlie?lich das ?sterr Gericht zust?ndig, in dem die unbewegliche Sache gelegen ist, wenn mit dieser Klage ein Antrag auf Klagsanmerkung verbunden ist.     

State‐Building and the European Union's Fight against Corruption in the Southern Caucasus: Why Legitimacy Matters

This article asks under which conditions the state‐building efforts of external actors in areas of limited statehood are likely to be effective. We argue that the legitimacy of the specific norms promoted by external actors among local actors is crucial for their success in strengthening state capacities. International efforts need to resonate with prevalent social norms. To substantiate this argument, we focus on the European Union's (EU) anticorruption programs and their implementation in one of the most corrupt regions in the world, the Southern Caucasus. We show that legitimacy can explain why the EU's fight against corruption helped reduce corruption in Georgia but not in Armenia. In both countries, political elites could selectively use anticorruption programs as an instrument against political opponents, using enhanced state capacities to stabilize the incumbent regime. Only in Georgia, however, was the fight against corruption facilitated by sustained domestic mobilization for anticorruption policies that added pressure on political elites “from below.”     

Changing Resource Profiles: Aspirations Among Orphans in Central Mozambique in the Context of an AIDS Mitigation Intervention

In this article the resource profile approach is used as a framework to explore wellbeing and future aspirations among orphans and vulnerable children in Central Mozambique who took part in an AIDS mitigation project aimed at shoring up rural livelihoods. It is shown that participation in the project has altered the resource profile of participants, not least in terms of shoring up cultural resources and enhancing the capacity to aspire. This has wider implications for individuals' resource profile dynamics more generally and strengthens the case for interventions into HIV/AIDS based on a holistic understanding of people's wellbeing.     

Constitutional Change and Contractual Revision: Principles and Procedures

This paper tackles the modes and procedures of institutional change, as well as those of constitutionalisation. The starting point for discussion is the current debate on the gradual/factual 'constitutionalisation' of the European Union: a constitutionalisation which seems, to a large degree, to derive from the rulings of the European Court. The decisive question, however, is one of whether such a mode of institutional/constitutional change might be considered to be 'adequate' within the current European setting. Following a brief explanation of the diverse notions of 'constitutions' and 'contracts,' the various modes of effecting 'constitutional' change—change by usage, by authoritative interpretation and by formal amendment—are contrasted with the primary method of 'contractual' revision; or, change through mutual consent. The various differences between the highlighted methods of change are investigated with reference to (1) the respective roles of the constituent and the constituted powers and (2) the respective relations between notions of 'exit' and 'voice'. This theoretical exercise is followed by illustrations which highlight German and Swiss practice. The conclusion is drawn that in a context of 'competing identities', heterogeneity and segmentation, as well as one of 'a polity in the making', the contractual mode of institutional revision must be the preferred option.     

Examination reports on survived strangulation cases

Clinical-forensic examination of strangulation victims is an increasing part of the routine of many forensic pathology institutes. The cases examined between 2004 and 2008 at the Institute of Legal Medicine of the Hanover Medical School were retrospectively analysed. In total, the study material comprised 218 victims (175 females and 43 males). In 80.7 %, the clinical-forensic examination was performed within 24 hours after the incident. In the overwhelming number of cases, the alleged perpetrator was no stranger. 128 victims (58.7 %) had strangulation marks, 32 victims (14.7 %) ligature marks and 65 victims (29.8 %) nail marks. Four victims showed injuries of the laryngeal and pharyngeal structures (reddening, hematomas, swelling and in one case a fracture of the cricoid cartilage on both sides). Extensive petechiae were predominantly seen in the conjunctivae, the buccal mucosa and the skin of the face in cases where the victims suffered a loss of consciousness. 87 cases (39.9% were classified as potentially life-threatening and 30 cases (13.8 %) as acute life-threatening events. This classification is of legal relevance for the penalty. In addition, 60 victims experienced sexual violence. These results suggest that early clinical-forensic examination is crucial for documenting forensic evidence in support of police investigations and may deliver significant details relevant in court.     

Europäisierung und innerstaatlicher Wandel. Zentralisierung und Entparlamentarisierung?

A number of studies suggest that European integration impacts upon the domestic institutions of the member states by changing the distribution of resources among domestic actors. This paper argues that resource dependency needs to be embedded in an institutionalist understanding of Europeanisation in order to explain when and how Europe affects the domestic institutions of the member states. First, domestic institutions determine the distribution of resources among the domestic actors in a given member-state. Second, the compatibility of European and domestic institutions determines the degree to which Europeanisation changes this distribution of resources and hence the degree of pressure for institutional adaptation. Third, the domestic institutional culture determines the dominant strategies of actors by which they respond to such a redistribution of resources facilitating or prohibiting institutional adaptation. This argument is empirically tested by comparing the impact of Europeanisation on the territorial institutions of the five most decentralized member states, with special reference to Germany and Spain as representatives of opposite institutional cultures. The study shows that the regions succeeded in balancing the territorial centralization caused by Europeanization. However, the compensation of regional losses of competencies through the intrastate participation of the regions in the formulation and representation of the national bargaining position in European affairs reinforces executive dominance in European decision-making contributing to the tendencies of deparlamentarization in the member states.     

The media,civil society and democracy in South Africa: State of the Nation Address 2015

This article reports on an investigation into the events surrounding the State of the Nation Address in 2015 (SONA2015), during which opposition party members interrupted proceedings to raise questions about the controversial R208-million security upgrade to South African President Jacob Zuma's personal homestead, Nkandla, in KwaZulu-Natal, using public funds. The event raised issues about the constitutionality of the use of police in the National Assembly; the use of cell phone blocking devices; and the fact that television broadcasters were not allowed to broadcast the events as they happened. The investigation drew on a quantitative content analysis of print media coverage of SONA2015, as well as qualitative interviews with members of the Right2Know (R2 K) campaign in Cape Town and Durban. It explored their activities to “take back Parliament” and calling for a “people's Parliament”. At the core of the investigation was the role of civil society in the media-politics nexus with regard to strengthening democracy and democratic participation in South Africa, through an exploration of the case study.     

Mehr Normativität wagen: Ein Plädoyer für eine reflexive Grundhaltung in der politikwissenschaftlichen Lehre

This article argues for a more conscious reference to normativity in political science education. A greater reference to normativity should find its expression in a self-reflexive attitude which includes a disclosure of own normative assumptions, an examination of given postulates and knowledge and a recognition of the complexity of social relations. By looking at students, teachers and learning relations, we show how such a reflexive attitude can be implemented and facilitated in order to educate students who think and act critically.     

Civil society in Mozambique: NGOs,religion, politics and witchcraft

Our aim is to problematise the dominant discourses and practices around civil society from a Southern perspective. We first examine critically, from a broadly Gramscian perspective, the way in which the concept of civil society has been deployed in development discourse. This highlights its highly normative and North-centric epistemology and perspectives. We also find it to be highly restrictive in a post-colonial Southern context insofar as it reads out much of the grassroots social interaction, deemed ‘uncivil’ and thus not part of duly recognised civil society. This is followed by a brief overview of some recent debates around civil society in Africa which emphasise the complexity of civil society and turn our attention to some of the broader issues surrounding state-society relations, democracy and representation in a Third World context, exemplified through our case study research in Mozambique, Inhassunge district (Zambézia Province). The privileging of Western-type Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) as drivers of democracy and participatory development in Mozambique have considerable implications for current debates around good governance, civil society strengthening and social accountability programmes and strategies.