Book Reviews

Books reviewed:
The Law of Energy for Sustainable Development , edited by Adrian J. Bradbrook, Rosemary Lyster, Richard Ottinger and Wang Xi , published by Cambridge University Press, 2005, 630pp, £75.00, hardback.
Fresh Water and International Economic Law , edited by Edith Brown Weiss, Laurence Boisson de Chazournes and Nathalie Bernasconi-Osterwalder , published by Oxford University Press, 2005, 506pp, £70.00, hardback.
Handbook of Global Environmental Politics , edited by Peter Dauvergne , published by Edward Elgar, 2005, 560pp, £125.00, hardback.
Emerging Forces in Environmental Governance , edited by Norichika Kanie and Peter M. Haas , published by United Nations University Press, 2004, 320pp, US$36.00, paperback.
Economic Globalization and Compliance with International Environmental Agreements edited by Alexandre Kiss, Dinah Shelton and Kanami Ishibashi , published by Kluwer Law International, 2003, 352pp, £85.00, hardback.
German Environmental Law for Practitioners , edited by Horst Schlemminger and Claus-Peter Martens , 2nd edition, published by Kluwer Law International, 2004, 833pp, £119.25, hardback.
The International Climate Change Regime: A Guide to Rules, Institutions and Procedures , Farhana Yamin and Joanna Depledge , published by Cambridge University Press, 2004, 730pp, £40.00, paperback.     

EG-Umwelthaftungsrichtlinie und deutsches Recht – Struktur der Richtlinie und Hinweise für die Umsetzung –

Der Beitrag untersucht die Struktur der Umwelthaftungsrichtlinie 2004/35/EG (UHRL) und analysiert den Gesetzentwurf zu deren Umsetzung, den das Bundesumweltministerium (BMU) am 4.3.2005 vorgelegt hat. Er erg?nzt den Beitrag von Führ/Lewin/Roller NuR 2006, 67 ff., der den auf die Biodiversit?t bezogenen Aspekten der Richtlinie gewidmet war. Es werden die zentralen Regelungen der Richtlinie beleuchtet, namentlich die Definition des Umweltschadensbegriffs, die Vermeidungsund Sanierungsvorschriften und ihr Verh?ltnis zu der Kostentragungspflicht des Betreibers sowie die Ausnahmetatbest?nde des Art. 8 Abs. 3, 4. Vor dem Hintergrund dieser strukturellen Analyse wird der Gesetzentwurf des BMU untersucht. Der Beitrag kommt zu dem Ergebnis, dass der Gesetzentwurf grunds?tzlich geeignet ist, die Umwelthaftungsrichtlinie in deutsches Recht umzusetzen, regt aber Verbesserungen an und unterbreitet Empfehlungen für die erg?nzende Umsetzung durch die L?nder.     

THE DECLINE OF ELITE HOMICIDE

Criminological research consistently shows that interpersonal homicide is largely confined to low-status people. Yet, anthropological and historical materials reveal that in earlier and simpler societies homicide was found throughout the status hierarchy. Using theory developed by Donald Black, I argue that a critical factor in the decline of lethal conflict among social elites is the increased availability of legal means of handling conflict. An implication is that since a focus on modern societies and their developed legal systems yields a limited and even distorted empirical picture of lethal violence, criminologists should strive to formulate theories that are cross-cultural and historical in scope.     

Action oriented strategic planning: The concepts of infrastructure and functional domains

The problem is how to translate limited and uncertain knowledge about the future environment into operational strategic policy decisions. Because the strategic policy decisions must be made with a long time perspective in mind (10 to 10 years), planners tend to formulate strategies which are overly broad. A solution to the broad and uncertain approach is to employ a system that relys upon the use of the infrastructure. When the infrastructure is divided into permanent and complete societal functions, then specific opportunities can be presented to the organization. Examples of functional domains that may be relevant to strategic long-range planning are: industrial capabilities, pieces of legislation, regulation and training. Our knowledge about evolving world trends is usually available in functional terminology (i.e., the evolving “information society”, the “leisure society”, the “energy crisis”, and the “food crisis”, etc.) Knowledge about the future behavior of the Functional Domains may enable organizations such as governments and/or corporations, to create the required infrastructure for capitalizing on possible opportunities.