Securing the German Domestic Front in the Second World War: Prosecution of Subversion before the People's Court

Article Five of the Special Wartime Penal Code served as the basis for the prosecution of the crime of Wehrkraftzersetzung (“subversion”) in the Third Reich. Using a sample of sixty‐six cases dealing with defeatist statements tried before the People's Court, this article argues that these subversion cases clearly demonstrate the politicisation of the judicial process under the Nazi regime. The application of an extraordinarily broad interpretation of the term “public”— virtually obliterating any notion of a private sphere — as well as a draconian use of the death penalty (two‐thirds of defendants were sentenced to death and executed) both provide evidence that the prosecution of subversion can be understood as one component of a broader effort by the Hitler regime to achieve total control over society in pursuit of total war.     

Does E‐Government Promote Accountability? A Comparative Analysis of Website Openness and Government Accountability

Under the global pressure of information technology, the adoption of web-based technologies in public administration has created a new government-and-citizen interface. However, whether e-government will unambiguously lead to a more transparent, interactive, open and hence, accountable, government remains a central question. Applying a framework of global pressure effects on bureaucratic change, this paper conducts an empirical study on website openness and accountability in fourteen countries. Even when overall accountability levels rise, the accountability gap between different national bureaucracies often remains intact as web-based technologies typically maintain or reinforce the existing practices. The question of whether e-government promotes accountability depends on what kind of bureaucracy one is referring to in the first place. In the current debate about global convergence and national divergence on the effect of globalization on public bureaucracies, the spread of e-government provides a case of convergence in practice rather than in results.     

Advances in Critical Cultural Criminology: An Analysis of Reactions to Avant-Garde Flag Art

As a popular motif in American art, images ofthe United States flag remind citizens of the importanceof culture in promoting patriotism. Still, theprevailing aesthetic commands a dignifiedrepresentation of the Stars and Stripes,shunning political criticism and disrespect forthe nation's most cherished emblem. Amid thecontroversy over flag burning in 1989, artistDread Scott unveiled his work What is theProper Way to Display the U.S. Flag? at theSchool of the Art Institute of Chicago. In thatpiece, the U.S. flag was placed on the floor ofthe gallery, inciting enormous public outrage.As a form of interactive art, Scott invitedvisitors to record their thoughts about theflag in a ledger book furnished at the exhibit.More than 1,600 messages were transcribed inthe ledger book, thus becoming an intriguingsource of unobtrusive data. This researchexplores societal reaction to Scott's artworkthrough a content analysis of the entriescontained in the ledger book. Whileinterpreting prominent themes framing theconflict over flag desecration, this workcontributes to a critical cultural criminology.In particular, the analysis brings to theforefront the significance of power,hierarchies, and social inequality drivingcriminalization campaigns aimed at controllingavant-garde flag art and political dissent.     

Recovery of human DNA profiles from poached deer remains: A feasibility study

Poaching is a crime that occurs worldwide and can be extremely difficult to investigate and prosecute due to the nature of the evidence available. If a species is protected by international legislation such as the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora then simply possessing any part of that species is illegal. Previous studies have focused on the identification of endangered species in cases of potential poaching. Difficulties arise if the poached animal is not endangered. Species such as deer have hunting seasons whereby they can legally be hunted however poaching is the illegal take of deer, irrespective of season. Therefore, identification of deer alone has little probative value as samples could have originated from legal hunting activities in season. After a deer is hunted it is usual to remove the innards, head and lower limbs. The limbs are removed through manual force and represent a potential source of human touch DNA.We investigate the potential to recover and profile human autosomal DNA from poached deer remains. Samples from the legs of ten culled deer were obtained (40 in total) using minitapes. DNA from samples was extracted, quantified and amplified to determine if it would be possible to recover human STR profiles.Low quantification data led to the use of an extended PCR cycling protocol of 34 cycles. Samples from seven deer amplified, however some samples were excluded from further analysis due to ‘drop in’ alleles or the low level of successfully amplified loci. Samples from five deer could be further analysed and gave match probabilities ranging from 6.37 × 10^{− 3} to 9.53 × 10^{− 11}.This study demonstrates the potential of recovering human touch DNA from poached animal remains. There is the potential for this test to be used in relation to other species of poached remains or other types of wildlife crimes. This is the first time, to our knowledge, that human STR profiling has been successfully applied to touch DNA in regards to simulated wildlife crime.     

Economic man and diffused sovereignty: a critique of Australia’s asylum regime

Governing asylum, especially in Western migration zones, is correctly understood as an expression of centralized state power, or sovereignty. Still, there is much to learn about asylum regimes by turning critical attention to how sovereignty is de-centralized. This critique focuses on Australia where sovereign power is diffused into privatized detention, outsourced decision-making, and offshore processing. The reliance on diffused sovereignty, the article contends, is a maneuver by the state as it attempts to evade legal obligations enshrined in refugee law and human rights. As discussed throughout, economic mentalities figure prominently in the Australian asylum system. In particular, the notion of economic man continues to shape the government’s perception of asylum seekers as being highly rational and responsible, thus manageable by way of deterrence and prolonged detention. Special attention is given to recent disputes between the High Court and the then Gillard government with respect to the processing of refugees.     

HMO enrollment: a study of market forces and regulations

This paper investigates the influence of market forces and state regulations on enrollment in prepaid group practices (PGPs)--the dominant form of HMO. Using data at the metropolitan-area level, the paper estimates a lagged-adjustment model in two stages. The first stage estimates the determinants of the existence of a PGP of viable size. Using a technique appropriate for censored samples, the second stage estimates the determinants of enrollment given viability. The result of greatest relevance for policymakers is that restrictions on corporate employment of physicians hinder the growth of PGPs.     

Flag desecration in American culture: Offenses against civil religion and a consecrated symbol of nationalism

Adoration for the United States flag is emblematic of American nationalism and patriotism. Moreover, in extreme forms, its rigid orthodoxy also reflects civil religion — a non-sectarian faith in which secular objects are transformed into sacred icons. Ostensibly, elements of civil religion imbue reverence for the flag, and although the recent flag protection campaign has caught the attention of intellectuals from various academic disciplines, sociologists are conspicuously absent from such discourse. In light of its relevance to civil religion, the dearth of sociological analysis on flag desecration is especially disconcerting. This article offers several theoretical explanations for the social construction of flag desecration and its sociological significance to civil religion.     

Reviews

Archie Brown ed., Political Culture and Communist Studies. London: Macmillan, 1984, xii + 211 pp. £25.00 h/b, £8.95 p/b.

J. Arch Getty, Origins of the Great Purges. The Soviet Communist Party Reconsidered, 1933–1938. Cambridge, New York, London, Cambridge University Press, 1985, viii + 269 pp. £25.00.

Ronald Tiersky, Ordinary Stalinism: Democratic Centralism and the Question of Communist Political Development, Boston, Mass: George Allen and Unwin, 1985, xiii + 209 pp. £15.00.

Michael Ellman, Collectivisation, Convergence and Capitalism. Political Economy in a Divided World. Academic Press, London, 1984, xii + 332 pp. £35.00, $55.00.

Sarah Meiklejohn Terry ed., Soviet Policy in Eastern Europe, a Council of Foreign Relations Book, New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1984, xiv + 375 pp. £27.50.

Kristian Gerner, The Soviet Union and Central Europe in the Post‐War Era. Aldershot: Gower, 1985, xi + 228 pp. £16.50.

Boris Z. Rumer, Investment and Reindustrialization in the Soviet Economy, Boulder and London, Westview Press, 1984, xvi + 145 pp. £14.50.

David A. Dyker, The Future of the Soviet Planning System, London and Sydney: Croom Helm, 1985, ix + 172 pp. £17.95 h/b.

Andrew Freris: The Soviet Industrial Enterprise; Theory and Practice; London and Sidney: Croom Helm, 1984, 170 pp. £14.95.

Susan J. Linz, ed., The Impact of World War II on the Soviet Union. Totowa, N. J.: Rowman & Allanheld, 1985, ix + 300 pp., $28.50.

Philippe Frémeaux and Christine Durand, Comprendre l'économie soviétique, Syros, Paris, 1985, pp. 139. 39 FF.

Jacques Sapir, Travail et travailleurs en URSS, Editions La Decouverte, Paris, 1984, 127 pp. 31 FF.

Peter Kneen, Soviet Scientists and the State: An Examination of the Social and Political Aspects of Science in the USSR, London: Macmillan, 1984. x + 138 pp. £25.00.

John N. Hazard, William E. Butler, Peter B. Maggs, The Soviet Legal System: The Law in the 1980's. Oceana Publications, Inc., Dobbs Ferry, New York, 1984. xiv + 439 pp. $45.00.

William B. Simons and Stephen White eds., The Party Statutes of the Communist World, The Hague, Martinus Nijhoff, 1984, viii + 545 pp. £58.50, Dfl. 230.00.

Nicholas V. Riasanovsky, The Image of Peter the Great in Russian History and Thought. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1985, ix + 331 pp., £29.50.

Marianna Tax Choldin, A Fence around the Empire. Russian Censorship of Western Ideas under the Tsars. Durham, Duke University Press, 1985, xii + 281 pp. $42.50.

Tadeusz Swietochowski, Russian Azerbaijan, 1905–1920: The Shaping of National Identity in a Muslim Community. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, London, New York, New Rochelle, Melbourne, Sydney. 1985. xiii + 256 pp. £25.00.

Bohdan Krawchenko, Social Change and National Consciousness in Twentieth‐Century Ukraine. Basingstoke and London: Macmillan Press, 1985, xix + 333 pp, £30.00.

Jan Adam, Employment and Wage Policies in Poland, Czechoslovakia and Hungary Since 1950. London and Basingstoke, Macmillan, 1984, xix + 251 pp. £25.00.

Nigel Swain, Collective Farms which work? Cambridge UP Soviet and East European Studies, Cambridge, New York, London 1985, 235 pp. £25.00.

C. M. Hann, A Village Without Solidarity: Polish peasants in years of crisis. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1985, ix + 208 pp., £12.00.