Compromising the public good? Civil society as beneficiary of gambling revenue

Profits from legal gambling are often channelled to good causes. This system embeds the predicament of whether citizens’ potentially problematic gambling activities should be a source of funding for the public good. In this article, this dilemma is unfolded by the receivers of public grants that stem from gambling revenues. A total of twenty-three representatives of Civil Society Organizations were interviewed as beneficiaries of the Finnish state-owned gambling monopolies. The article illustrates explicit dependencies and hidden ethical dilemmas, suggesting that CSOs may have limited possibilities of making ethically consistent decisions in view of the origin of their funding.     

Retrospective Voting on the Party Level: An Icelandic Test

This research note adds to the emerging body of literature arguing that retrospective voting works on the level of political parties – for government and opposition parties alike – by investigating the generalisability of previous research findings. Furthermore, it tests whether there is a knowledge gap in retrospective voting on the party level. Using the data of the Icelandic National Election Study (ICENES), support is found for the argument that mechanisms of electoral accountability work both for incumbent and opposition parties. Second, while previous research raised doubts on the electorate’s ability to hold governments accountable, there is no evidence of a knowledge gap in retrospective voting on the party level.     

Zur Europäisierung politischer Mobilisierung

Die Politik der EU gewinnt gegenüber nationalen Regierungen und Parlamenten zunehmend an Gewicht. Kommt es entsprechend auch zu einer Europäisierung der politischen Mobilisierung durch Parteien, Verbände und soziale Bewegungen? Dieser Frage wird anhand von illustrativen und systematischen Befunden nachgegangen. Im Bereich der Parteipolitik und namentlich des Wahlverhaltens gibt es keine deutlichen Anzeichen dafür, dass das Gewicht europäischer Fragen gestiegen ist. Mit Blick auf die Interessenverbände zeichnet sich eine kräftige Zunahme des EU-Lobbying ab, wobei nach wie vor große strukturelle Ungleichheiten bestehen zwischen den ressourcenstarken europäischen Dachverbänden in den Bereichen Industrie, Handel und Landwirtschaft einerseits und den Organisationen und Netzwerken von Arbeitnehmern, Frauen, Umweltschützern, Verbrauchern sowie Menschen- und Bürgerrechtlern andererseits. Im Feld der Protestpolitik ist die Datenlage zur Europäisierung nicht eindeutig. Auf Basis von in ihrer Qualität noch schwer einschätzbaren Daten scheint die Zahl EU-bezogener Proteste insgesamt, aber nicht in allen einzelnen EU-Ländern zuzunehmen. Auf der Grundlage detaillierter und verlässlicher Längsschnittdaten zum gesamten Protestgeschehen der vergangenen Jahrzehnte in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland sowie speziellerer Untersuchungen zu Umweltprotesten von 1988 bis 1997 ergibt sich ein Negativbefund. Von einer Europäisierung des Protests in der Bundesrepublik kann keine Rede sein. Dieses unerwartete Ergebnis sowie das weitgehende Fehlen von Protestaktionen in Brüssel wird abschließend anhand von vier Faktorenbündeln zu erklären versucht.     

Literatur

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

Evaluation of the Photodegradation of Crystal Violet upon Light Exposure by Mass Spectrometric and Spectroscopic Methods

Abstract: Crystal violet is a very common dye in ballpoint ink. Recent research suggests that the degradation of triarylmethane dyes gives an indication of the age of a ballpoint pen entry on a document. The main problem for the quantitative evaluation of the degradation is that it is highly dependent on the exposure to light. Moreover additional factors, such as additives and substrate play an important role in this process. The aim of this work is to compare the degradation pathways of the pure dye in water and ethanol upon exposure to xenon light by UV/VIS spectrophotometry and laser desorption ionization. Significant differences have been observed in the products and the kinetics of the degradation. N-demethylation, an expected decomposition process, was found to take place only in aqueous solution and kinetics calculations showed that the degradation occurred 2.5 times faster in ethanol compared to water. The degradation of crystal violet in inks from four ballpoint pens on paper was also studied for entries made over 2–3 years. It was observed that degradation reactions were quenched by the presence of another dye due to competitive absorption. It was also observed that the thickness of a stroke (concentration of ink) influenced the degradation process. In the absence of light only one ballpoint pen showed slight degradation. A better understanding of the influence of the paper, ink composition, and storage conditions is necessary to interpret correctly the age of an ink based on the degradation of dyes.     

European Law and International Regimes: The Features of Law Beyond the Nation State

Different forms of law are perceived of as possessing differing degrees of legal quality. A quality continuum suggests itself, running from 'high quality' national law, through to 'lesser quality' European law and to 'low quality' international law. This article seeks to explain the perceived differences in the quality of these laws with reference to legal theoretical perceptions of what it is that constitutes the law's quality. It argues that only a theory of law which identifies the core of the law's integrity as lying in its ability to act as a fulcrum between spheres of social and public discourse and the exercise of power can fully explain the divergence in legal quality between national, European and international law. With specific regard to the quality of European law, it concludes by arguing that it is weakened by its relative lack of social internalisation—in comparison with a higher degree of legal and political internalisation—within the European public.     

Bureaucracy, “domesticated” elites, and the abolition of capital punishment. Processes of state-formation and the number of executions in England and Habsburg Austria between 1700 and 1914

The paper argues that the introduction of bureaucracy civilized death penalty and brutal punishment. The study bases on a quantitative analysis of the numbers of death sentences and executions in England and Habsburg Austria from 1700 to 1914 and on a qualitative analysis of historical literature about the death penalty in both countries. The paper shows that professional law enforcement specialists, bureaucrats, civil servants, and detached juridical stuff formed a new class of “domesticated middlemen elites”. In strong states, this new class becomes the dominating group. In weak states, however, old elites that combine economic and political power preserve their privileged positions. For them capital punishment is the most proper mean to deter criminals because old elites fear the alternative: the introduction of strong-state institutions. Beside obvious power struggles between central and local elites—which effects penal policy pro and con capital punishment—there is a civilizing process going beneath the surface of rationality and political interests. In strong states, the formation of a “habitus” averse to brutal punishment is initiated amongst “domesticated middlemen elites” who are acting in peaceful living- and working conditions.