Die Nationalisierung politischer Parteien und Parteiensysteme in asiatischen Neo-Demokratien

This article analyzes the nationalization of political parties and party systems in seven young Asian democracies in national, regional and interregional comparison. The article shows that the degree of territorial homogenization differs among these nations, but is predominantly low compared to other non-Asian party systems. Building on these findings, the article discusses potential explanations for the characteristics of the party systems described here. The empirical evidence suggests that the variance of nationalization among Asian party systems predominantly reflects the importance of territorial and non-territorial cleavage structures as well as of institutional and agency-related factors.     

An Overview of Zoonotic Disease Outbreaks and its Forensic Management Over Time

Most emerging or re‐emerging infections are vector‐borne or zoonotic and can be disseminated worldwide by infected humans or animals. They are a major public health problem and cause a great impact on economy. Zoonotic outbreaks began to be characterized in the 90s, after the creation of Europol and the FBI. Such investigations are carried by forensic pathologists and other specialists to determine whether an outbreak is natural or deliberate. This review will discuss ten zoonotic outbreaks nonrelated to wars focusing on forensic management. In conclusion, some points should be highlighted in the management of a zoonotic outbreak: (i) its diagnosis and detection by forensic pathologists and the coordination of efforts between other specialists are key factors; (ii) communication guidelines and an efficient healthcare system are crucial for any emergency response; (iii) biosafety of all specialists involved must be guaranteed.     

Harnessing the Power of Data to Improve Family Justice: A New Nuffield Family Justice Observatory For England and Wales

A pilot Family Justice Observatory for England and Wales is being launched in Spring 2019. Its overarching aim is to address concerns about the limited and uncertain place of empirical evidence in the family justice system. The Observatory will focus on providing intelligence about how the system is working, especially through the accelerated use of electronic population level data on family justice cases. Drawing on collaborative relationships between data providers and users, as well as policy and practice colleagues, the Observatory will improve collective understanding of the needs of children and families and how they are met by the family justice system.     

A Grounded Theory Study of Collaboration in Multidisciplinary Teams

The multidisciplinary team response to child abuse emerged during the 1980s as increasing numbers of reports brought recognition that one agency alone lacked the expertise and resources to effectively deal with this complex issue. Using constructivist grounded theory, we interviewed a diverse sample of frontline team members about how they perceived collaboration and working with representatives from different agencies responsible for child abuse investigations. The study revealed how team members rely upon relationships built over time through shared experiences to facilitate communication and information sharing. Findings suggest multidisciplinary team members face challenges and collaborative relationships may mitigate these circumstances.     

Leadership in multiple perpetrator stranger rape

Sexual offences by multiple perpetrators are more violent and involve more severe forms of sexual violation than those perpetrated by a lone offender. Often a clear leader exists within these groups. Questions have been raised as to the relative risk of reoffending and the potentially differing criminogenic needs of leaders and followers. However, a recent study comparing leaders and followers in juvenile multiple perpetrator rapes (t'Hart-Kerkhoffs et al., 2011) failed to find some of the expected differences. It was proposed that this might be due, in part, to the way leaders and followers were classified in the study. Before work can progress in this area, it is important to devise reliable and valid means of identifying leaders and followers in multiple perpetrator rape. This article reports on a study which investigated the utility of two different methods of identifying leadership. The Scale of Influence (Porter & Alison, 2001) was applied to a sample of 256 offenders responsible for 95 multiple perpetrator rapes from the United Kingdom. Following this, the relative number of directives uttered by offenders was used to designate leadership. In 66% of the offences sampled, a leader was designated using the number of directives uttered compared with 80% when using the Scale of Influence. When combining both measures to form a composite measure of leadership, this percentage increased to 89%. Classifications of offenders as leaders, followers, and neither, according to the Scale of Influence, the count of directives, and the composite measure, were compared with classifications made by a practitioner to assess their concordance. The composite measure showed the greatest agreement with practitioner opinion. These findings suggest that the Scale of Influence could be developed to take account of other ways that leadership is displayed during multiple perpetrator rapes.     

Negotiating North–South dynamics and the Philippine experience in the WTO

This paper elucidates how domestic and external factors have shaped the negotiating policy of the Philippines in bringing about incremental gains not only for its benefit but also for other developing countries during the World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement on Agriculture Doha Development Round (DDR). The internal factors include the following: (1) executive monopoly of the WTO negotiations; (2) issue-based fragmentation and dispersal of authority; (3) the autonomy and flexibility of the Philippine WTO negotiator; (4) the involvement of civil society in the WTO negotiations, and (4) the central role of the Department of Agriculture as the lead agency in the WTO negotiations. A major reason for this is attributed to an external factor which is the centrality of agriculture as a major WTO issue among developing countries. Other external factors, on the other hand, include the following: (1) the strong solidarity among developing countries and (2) the confinement to particular issues with regards to coalition-building. These factors helped to strengthen the bargaining leverage of the Philippines, a seemingly ‘weak’ country, vis-à-vis the developed countries in the WTO.     

Die Umsetzung der Aarhus-Konvention beim direkten Vollzug von Unionsrecht

Im vorliegenden Beitrag wird untersucht, inwiefern die Ausgestaltung des Rechtsschutzes beim direkten Vollzug von EU-Recht mit der Aarhus-Konvention vereinbar ist. Anlass für diese Darstellung gibt eine Entscheidung des Aarhus Convention Compliance Committees, welches die Einhaltung der Konvention durch die Vertragsparteien überprüft. Zu diesem Zweck werden die ma?geblichen Bestimmungen der Aarhus-Konvention, insb Art 9, dargestellt. An diesen Vorgaben werden in weiterer Folge die sekund?rrechtliche Umsetzung dieser Bestimmung durch die VO 1367/2006/EG sowie die entsprechenden prim?rrechtlichen Rechtsschutzm?glichkeiten (Art 263 AEUV) gemessen. Im Ergebnis bestehen in Spezialbereichen des europ?ischen Umweltrechts wohl noch Umsetzungsdefizite, die aber m?glicherweise durch mitgliedsstaatliche Rechtsbehelfe ausgeglichen werden k?nnen. Rechtsquellen: übereinkommen von Aarhus über den Zugang zu Informationen, die ?ffentlichkeitsbeteiligung an Entscheidungsverfahren und den Zugang zu Gerichten in Umweltangelegenheiten (Aarhus-Konvention), BGBl III 88/2005     

A hand up,not a hand out: Lessons for public policy

For many in our society owning a home is not possible without the help of grass-roots organizations such as Habitat for Humanity. The study of the response of public institutions to personal problems can provide policy makers with valuable information about changing or creating new programs and policies to assist those having difficulty finding decent, affordable housing to own. This paper presents the findings of a study of the relationship between those whose dream did become reality and those who helped them. In addition, this paper presents a model of the process that policy students can use to examine the public responses to private troubles.