Finance capital and peasants in Colonial West Africa: A comment on Cowen and Shenton

The presence of finance capital in colonial West Africa was predicated on the presence of imperial administration and merchant capital. From these it derived its profits. Cowen and Shenton suggested finance capital was seeking to diversify its sources of profit by engaging cocoa farmers in credit. While this may have been true for the period of cocoa boom before the First World War, it is argued in this piece that in 1938‐more than 20 years later ‐ the banks’ motivation was entirely defensive. No diversification was intended, and the action was directed at salvaging current business. This comment does not question Cowen and Shenton's ‘Fabianism’ thesis but substitutes merchant for finance capital as being in conflict with Colonial Office attitudes.     

Zur Abgrenzung von Verwaltung und Verf��gung �C eine dogmatische Frage von eminenter praktischer Bedeutung

Dass Verwaltungshandlungen von Verfügungsma?nahmen deutlich abzugrenzen sind, entspricht dem Grundverst?ndnis von Mit- und Wohnungseigentum. Dass sich die Notwendigkeit einer klaren Grenzziehung zwischen diesen Bereichen nicht zuletzt aus den gesetzlichen Vorgaben, wie insb den unterschiedlichen Konsenserfordernissen, ableitet, erscheint ebenso unzweifelhaft. Umso augenf?lliger sind Bemühungen in Rechtsprechung, Lehre und auch Gesetzgebung, den Bereich der Verwaltungsagenden zu Lasten der Verfügungen best?ndig zu erweitern. Der vorliegende Beitrag soll derartige Tendenzen vor dem Hintergrund der lex lata hinterfragen. Es sollen typische Fallkonstellationen an der Grenze zwischen Verwaltung und Verfügung n?her beleuchtet und der Versuch unternommen werden, die Grenzlinien pr?ziser abzustecken. Wo die geltende Rechtslage zu unbefriedigenden Ergebnissen führen muss, sollen zudem m?gliche Auswege aufgezeigt werden.     

19世纪末西方在华传教士的朝鲜观——以《教务杂志》为中心的考察

19世纪中叶以前的朝鲜，从未进入西方世俗世界的视野中。这种状况在19世纪60年代以后逐步改变。实际上，在整个19世纪后半叶，西方列强和崛起的日本都将侵略的矛头对准了朝鲜。伴随着列强侵略的进程，“隐士之国”朝鲜被揭开了神秘面纱。在向世人揭开朝鲜面纱时，西方传教士在中国创办的《教务杂志》（TheChineseRecorder）发挥了重要作用。由于西方传教士长久生活于朝鲜社会中，更少有功利性，因而反映的朝鲜面目更具有真实性和全面性。     

Mixing Habermas with Bayes: Methodological and Theoretical Advances in the Study of Deliberation

Two challenges stand out in the study of deliberation: the development of appropriate methodological tools and the development of more unified analytical frameworks. On the one hand, analysing deliberative processes is demanding and time‐consuming; hence we tend to have only few and non‐randomly selected cases at the group or context level. In addition, the real world of deliberation presents us with a complex matrix of nested, cross‐classified, and repeated speakers. This article shows that Bayesian multi‐level modelling provides an elegant way to tackle these methodological problems. On the other hand, we attempt to enrich comparative institutionalism with individual characteristics and psychologically relevant variables (such as group composition). Focusing on Swiss and German parliamentary debates we show that institutional factors ‐ in particular, consensus systems ‐, the gender composition of committees and plenary sessions, and age matter for the quality of deliberation. Furthermore, we also show that partisan affiliation ‐ government or opposition status of MPs ‐ affects deliberative quality and can refine institutional arguments. We conclude that a multi‐level approach to deliberation focusing on contextual and actor‐related characteristics and using Bayesian hierarchical modelling paves the way toward a more advanced understanding ‐ and methodological handling ‐ of deliberative processes.