“We two will never twin”: Fundamentalism and the politics of security

Tell me your enemy and I will tell you who you are. This article takes issue with the significant but often disavowed symbiotic relation between two contemporary enemies: fundamentalism and the politics of security. We start with a metaphorical twinning, showing how these two enemies create, provoke, mimic and ultimately support each other. Then, by way of a discourse analysis, we show the way religion functions in Bush's and Bin Laden's discourses. Our claim is not (only) that the discourse of security is as religious as Bin Laden's but that politics of security as such is the religion of our times. We conclude by arguing that the dyadic interdependence between the two fundamentalisms—Islamic and securiticised—is dissolving the democratic habitus in a post-political condition, a condition devoid of self-reflexivity.     

Public Services and the Internal Market: Building Blocks or Persistent Irritant?

Critics such as Fritz Scharpf maintain that in the EU, negative integration (abolishing national rules) by definition wins out over positive integration (adopting new EU rules). This claim is examined here regarding public services—both utilities and welfare services. In EU law, the (partly overlapping) relevant categories are as follows: (1) services of general interest (SGI) and (2) services of general economic interest (SGEI). The latter are provided by undertakings. SGI that are not also SGEI are subject only to non‐discrimination requirements: this covers most welfare services. SGEI must comply with the EU competition and state aid rules, which promotes liberalisation. However, a proportional exception is allowed in so far as necessary for SGEI to carry out their public tasks. Moreover, alongside liberalisation, EU regimes for public services have emerged that benefit citizens/consumers. In sum, public services can now arguably be seen as building blocks of the internal market.     

民法的法典化

法典编纂是法律文化和法学的最高贡献。法典编纂的动因是多方面的。在德国民法典产生至今的百余年中 ,它都因价值观和秩序观的变化而一直处于变化之中。这些变化在民法典的许多领域中体现出来。立法机关和法院对法律制度的继续发展使民法典具有了适应这些变化的能力     

Conflict Between Doctor and Patient

"The belief that doctors can act on behalf of patients denies the existence of inevitable conflict." Jay Katz¹