Gotham unbound Dutch style

An inquiry committee of the Dutch parliament concluded that the capital Amsterdam – and especially the famous Red light district – is a centre of national and international organized crime. The city of Amsterdam set up a project to develop and implement an administrative approach to combat the organized crime problem: the Van Traa-project. This project is internationally recognized as a successful example of such an approach. Elaborating on an evaluation study this article critically analyses the policy theory and the effects of this project. This analysis shows that the assumptions that underlie the project are debatable, or proved hard to employ in practice. Despite the fact that in the policy plans the necessity of a multi-agency approach is stressed, external parties such as the police and the public prosecutors department take a rather passive stand, preventing the administrative approach of becoming a part of a truly integrative approach to organized crime. Furthermore, this article proves that it is hard to confirm this successfulness in a sound scientific manner. Many positive results can be observed, but it remains unclear to what extent these results have an impact on organized crime. Although some indications of a plausible impact of the measures taken in the Van Traa-project on organized crime were found, this article also refers to some indications of counterproductive effects.     

The United Nations Organization and Global Power Politics: The Antagonism between Power and Law and the Future of World Order

The dilemma faced by the United Nations Organization at thebeginning of the 21st century lies in its inability to reconcilethe structural realities of power politics in a unipolar worldwith the requirements of the international rule of law. Thepaper analyses the normative contradictions in the UN Charterthat result from the antagonism between power and law and reviewsthe prospects for a fundamental reform of the United NationsOrganization that would guarantee its survival under the radicallydifferent circumstances of the post-Cold War environment. Inthat regard, the paper emphasizes the need for a new paradigmof international organization that will do away with the ideaof special privileges accorded to the great powers of 1945,and emphasizes the need for a better regional balance in thedecision-making processes at the United Nations.     

Symbolische Grenzziehungen und nationale Herkunft. Eine explorative Studie über Distinktionsprozesse an einer multinationalen Schule in Brüssel

Despite processes of globalization and Europeanization, countries continue to differ not only in terms of their economic resources and political power, but also in terms of their reputation or “symbolic capital”. Drawing on the research literature on symbolic boundaries, the paper investigates to what extent the national origin of students at a multinational school shapes symbolic boundaries between them. The analysis is based on qualitative group interviews with students of a European School in Brussels, a uniquely Europeanized institution with the aim of educating the future citizens of Europe. It is shown that students draw symbolic boundaries in two steps. First, students classify their schoolmates in terms of categories specific to youth culture, including: (a) a specific youth lifestyle, (b) effortless academic achievement, (c) cosmopolitan values and (d) belonging to a dominant language group. In a second step, these primary categories are attributed to different national groups. As a consequence, a status hierarchy between countries emerges, primarily between Northwest-European and Eastern European countries. The results of this study point to the ongoing effects of national symbolic capital for processes of status differentiation, even within highly Europeanized contexts.     

Decolonisation and development in Burma

Over the last decade, economists have conducted numerous studies concerning trade barriers posed by national tariffs. In spite of this interest, few comprehensive analyses of transport barriers have been attempted. This seems surprising since transport costs, like tariffs, influence the magnitudes of trade flows, and types of goods exchanged internationally.

Recent changes in United States import statistics permit estimation of the incidence of international transport and insurance charges by product and by country. Using these records, this study shows that the overall ad valorem incidence of India's transport costs is approximately 14 per cent, or more than double current MFN tariffs. However, the spread between transport charges and tariffs is greater on some products of special export interest to India.

Analysis of the transport charges by processing stages shows that these costs escalate with increased fabrication. Thus, freight costs, like “tariffs, retard the growth of processing industries in India. This, plus the fact that India is at a sizeable cost disadvantage relative to its competitors, stresses the need for policies aimed at lowering the incidence of transport costs, or directing future export ventures, to areas where the shipping cost differential is less imposing.     

Enhancing the effectiveness of international development: a systems approach

Every day 25,000 people die of hunger and hunger-related causes. While it is recognised that the international development system is not as effective as it should be, years of endeavours to achieve greater harmonisation of international aid and to create an effective architecture pass by without adequate results. The article introduces a framework for enhancing the effectiveness of the international development system, based on fundamental concepts of Systems Thinking. It discusses the complex systemic challenges to development and suggests that more effective control is a key precondition for greater effectiveness in development as a whole.     

Violence as Obscenity: Offensiveness and the First Amendment

Many efforts have been made to restrict minors' access to violent media content basing the definition of the content to be restricted on the legal definition of obscenity, which requires the content to be offensive. Without exception, such restrictions have been found to violate the First Amendment, partly because the laws have defined the violence to be restricted with reference to its offensiveness, while the purpose of the laws has been to protect children from the harms believed to be caused by exposure to such content. This has created a problematic lack of fit between the content to be restricted and the purpose of restrictions. This article examines whether restricting minors' access to offensive violent media content to protect them from its offensiveness makes it any more likely such restrictions will survive First Amendment scrutiny.