Re-spacing African drylands: territorialization,sedentarization and indigenous commodification in the Ethiopian pastoral frontier

This paper traces the re-spacing of pastoral drylands in Africa. We argue that rendering pastoral resources legible and profitable occurs both within and beyond the state. Through a multi-sited case study from Ethiopia's Somali region, we excavate different mechanisms of sedentarization, whereby processes of state territorialization and indigenous commodification become mutually entangled. Sedentarization is not imposed by the state or corporate capital, but by indigenous merchants who capture the frontier's potential resource dividend. Land appropriation in the drylands is co-produced by political claims to territory, capital investment and new technopolitics through which indigenous (pastoral, Somali) merchants and politicians become complicit with the state's project of territorialization and sedentarization in a self-governing fashion. The irony of this situation is that the (Ethiopian) state has failed to consolidate sedentarization through planned interventions. Instead, capital investment by local and transnational Somali merchants has opened up a neoliberal frontier that re-spaces drylands towards increasing sedentarization.     

Automated extraction of DNA and PCR setup using a Tecan Freedom EVO liquid handler

We have implemented and validated automated methods for DNA extraction and PCR setup developed for a Tecan Freedom EVO^® liquid handler mounted with a Te-MagS™ magnetic separation device. The DNA was extracted using the Qiagen MagAttract^® DNA Mini M48 kit. The DNA was amplified using AmpF?STR^® Identifiler^®, Y-filer^® (Applied Biosystems), GenePrint^® FFFL and PowerPlex^® Y (Promega). The methods were validated for fresh whole blood and blood from deceased according to EN/ISO 17025.     

Das Tierschutzverbandsklagerecht im Land Berlin

Natur und Recht - Das Tierschutzverbandsklagerecht ist ein wichtiges Instrument, um das Ungleichgewicht zwischen Tiernutzern, zuständigen Behörden und Tieren abzumildern. Zudem kann es...     

Foreign Acts of Torture and the Admissibility of Evidence: The Judgment of the House of Lords in A and Others v. Secretary of State for the Home Department (No. 2)

The author discusses, from the point of view of internationalhuman rights law, the judgment of the British House of Lordsin A and Others v. Secretary of State for the Home Department(No. 2), which held that statements obtained by torture couldnever be admissible in evidence. The judgment is concluded tobe fully consonant with international law and to provide anexcellent example for other courts faced with this highly topicalquestion.     

Sozialdemokratische Antworten auf integrierte Märkte

Der Beitrag untersucht die Frage, inwieweit sechs sozialdemokratische Regierungsparteien sowohl programmatisch als auch in der umgesetzten Politik einen gemeinsamen Weg beschreiten. Ausgangspunkt ist dabei die Feststellung, dass unter den Herausforderungen der global und europäisch integrierten Märkte die Sozialdemokratie ihre traditionellen Ziele in der Fiskal-, Sozial- und Arbeitsmarktpolitik nur noch erschwert verfolgen kann. Die Untersuchung der verfolgten Politik in den sechs Ländern ergibt, dass sozialdemokratische Parteien in unterschiedlichem Ausmaß eine Politik der Marktöffnung betrieben haben. Konvergenzen lassen sich Länder übergreifend bei der von Sozialdemokratien betriebenen Politik der Haushaltskonsolidierung und bei der Aktivierung der Arbeitsmarktpolitik erkennen, wohingegen in der Sozialpolitik die Divergenzen am größten sind. Auf den beiden erstgenannten Politikfeldern zeichnet sich ein gemeinsames sozialdemokratisches Politikmodell ab. Erklärungskräftig sowohl für die umgesetzte Politik als auch für die dabei verfolgte Strategie sind der nationale Handlungskontext, besonders der Parteienwettbewerb und das Verhältnis zwischen Gewerkschaften und Sozialdemokratie.     

The interaction of international institutions from a social network perspective

The literature increasingly acknowledges that international institutions do not exist in isolation, but regularly interact with each other. This interplay might induce influence, affecting institutions’ development and performance. The following research adds to this debate by systematically analyzing the quantitative evidence on how institutional interaction drives institutional design from a network perspective. Using dyadic cross-sectional data on international environmental agreements in 1952–2000, the authors find support for their theoretical argument that regimes’ similarity in design as captured by their degree of legalization strongly depends on institutions’ interaction. However, while “soft law” disseminates between regimes that are well connected through direct or indirect links, this does not apply to “hard law.” The authors explain this divergence with states’ concerns about binding-law commitments and sovereignty costs associated with the latter. This research may have important implications for studies of international institutions and of network analysis in general.