Gifts and government largess

He also serves as a Senior Fellow at the Hudson Institute. His books include Social Science Theory: Structure and Application, The Broken Apple: New York City in the 1980s,and Military Doctrine and the American Character: Reflections on Airland Battle,published by Transaction.     

Fatal outcome of Ecstasy overdose

Consumption of amphetamine derivatives has considerably increased in Germany since the early nineties. Again and again intoxications with lethal outcome have also been reported, especially after physical activities such as intensive dancing. The authors present a case of an obviously suicidal intoxication of a 21-year-old man who was found dead with marked cuts on the right forearm. Toxicological tests showed in particular 3, 4-methylene-dioxymethamphetamine (MDMA). The results of the hair analysis revealed chronic consumption, but no cellular liver damage could be demonstrated. When examining the body fluids and organs, the highest concentrations by far were measured in the lungs (36.6 mg/kg), the liver (29.7 mg/kg) and the brain (29.1 mg/kg). The concentration in heart blood amounted to 10.8 mg/kg and was thus markedly higher than in peripheral blood (7.2 mg/kg). In the muscles concentrations ranged between 14.3 mg/kg and 20.2 mg/kg. On the basis of these concentrations and the available pharmacokinetic data the amount of MDMA probably consumed is assessed. It is demonstrated that for this assessment the concentrations in the muscular system are of special importance, as redistribution of highly lipophilic substances from the surrounding tissue is possible also in peripheral blood.     

Abschied vom Interventionsstaat? Der Wandel staatlicher Subventionsausgaben in den OECD‐Ländern seit 1980

Der Aufsatz untersucht den Wandel der Subventionsausgaben der OECD‐Länder in den vergangenen 25 Jahren. Diese Ausgaben sind einerseits in fast allen Staaten der OECD‐Welt erheblich zurückgegangen, andererseits kam es zu einer starken Angleichung der Ausgabenniveaus. Die Analyse der Determinanten der nationalen Ausgabenniveaus und ihrer Veränderung zeigt einen Status quo‐Bias eines hohen institutionellen Pluralismus, während Parteien‐ und Interessengruppeneffekte seit den 1990er Jahren an Bedeutung verlieren. Sozioökonomische Problemlagen tragen ebenfalls nur in begrenztem Umfang zur Erklärung der internationalen Differenzen der Subventionsausgaben bei. Ebenso können die Europäische Integration und die Globalisierung für den Niedergang staatlicher Subventionsausgaben nicht unmittelbar verantwortlich gemacht werden.     

The Internal Politics of Parties: The Law of Curvilinear Disparity Revisited

One of the few efforts to link systemic and organizational determinants of party strategies is provided by what John May dubbed the 'law of curvilinear disparity'. According to this law, voters, party activists and leaders have necessarily divergent political ideologies. These systematic differences are attributable to the activists' motivations and the constraints of party competition. This paper argues that the law is empirically valid only under distinctive behavioural, organizational and institutional conditions, which are not specified in its general formulation. Thus, the law is only a special case in a broader theory reconstructing the interaction between constituencies, intra-party politics and party competition. This alternative theory is partially tested with survey data from party activists in the Belgian ecology parties Agalev and Ecolo.     

Children’s Exposure to Intimate Partner Violence and their Social,School, and Activities Competence: Latent Profiles and Correlates

This study examined patterns of intimate partner violence (IPV) exposure and three domains of competence among 288 children recruited from community-based domestic violence agencies. Latent profile analysis (LPA) was performed to identify subgroups of children who differed based on levels of social, academic, and extracurricular competence and exposure to IPV. Five distinct latent profiles were identified: Frequent IPV Exposure-Low Activity Competence (39 % of children), Frequent IPV Exposure-Average Global Competence (31 % of children), Frequent IPV Exposure-High Global Competence (13 % of children), Low IPV Exposure-Compromised School Competence (11 % of children), and Low IPV Exposure-Compromised Global Competence (6 % of children). Covariates distinguished between the profiles (e.g., yearly household income, maternal education, number of children in the household) and the groups were characterized by statistically significant mean differences in total behavior problems. Implications for future research and community-based preventive intervention efforts are discussed.     

The effect of incremental benefit levels on births to AFDC recipients

We examine the relationship between fertility and incremental AFDC benefits using the 1990 Panel of the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP). Estimating a logit equation for the probability of a higher-order birth among a sample of AFDC recipients, we find a positive coefficient (although statistically insignificant) on the incremental AFDC benefit level. However, we find a positive correlation between incremental benefits and fertility for several nonrecipient comparison groups which is larger than the positive correlation for AFDC recipients. This finding suggests that the previously estimated relationship between incremental benefits and fertility among AFDC recipients is largely the result of a spurious correlation. We find similar results among whites, blacks, and never-married women, but less consistent results among Hispanics and divorced or separated women. We infer from these results that family cap policies, which eliminate the incremental benefits entitled to AFDC recipients who have additional children, are not likely to result in a large reduction in the number of out-of-wedlock births to AFDC recipients.     

“人权的终结”六论

作为意识形态的人权成功波及全球,而作为实践的人权却面临着巨大灾难和困境,这形成了鲜明的悖论。尽管权利是自由主义的卓越产物,但自由主义政治哲学和法律哲学却未能充分理解权利的运作。因此,本文提出一种新的人权谱系和人权哲学对自由主义人权理论予以替代。作者主要从人权与自然法的革命性特征,人权与主权的内在联系,人权普世主义与文化相对主义的相互依赖,以及人权在追求人的解放和自我实现过程中对主体的分裂和重构等方面展开论述。