Public Figures and Stalking in the European Context

The paper presents a brief overview of the international scientific research regarding stalking, threats and attacks on public figures. A special focus lies on European research and its tradition. Particular attention is directed towards the concept of pathological fixations on public figures which covers different forms of harassment and aggressive behaviour. A closer look at the history of scientific research and relevant case examples in this area reveals that pathological fixation on public figures is a phenomenon which was described by psychiatrists as early as 150 years ago. As stalking can affect various kinds of public figures, the research presented here covers stalking of celebrities, politicians, corporate figures and royals who become the victim of harassment or violent attacks. Finally, the state of the art regarding the management of public figure stalking and harassment and the prevention of assassinations by fixated persons in Europe is reviewed.     

Shaping Political Preferences: Information Effects in Political-Administrative Systems

Information is at the heart of politics. However, since information is always sent by someone who is more or less powerful, it is difficult to disentangle the effect of information from the power of the sender. Drawing on a standard model of attitude formation, we argue that presenting information can affect preferences of politicians regardless of the power of the sender. We test this proposition in a survey experiment with 1205 Danish local politicians in which the experimental groups were presented with varying levels of cost information but where sender remained constant. The experiment shows that even in a setting where the information is not disclosed by a powerful sender, information may have a stronger impact on political preferences than other well-known determinants such as committee and party affiliation. Our findings speak to learning theories, knowledge perspectives and the literature on the determinants of politicians’ preferences.     

Dutch real estate search engine found to provide lawful deep linking to websites of realtors

In preliminary relief proceedings against the Dutch search enginezoekallehuizen.nl, the Dutch court turned down the claims ofthe Dutch association of real estate agents (NVM) that the provisionof deep links to its members' websites infringed the copyrightand database rights of those realtors, but found that the NVMinfringed competition law by asking its members to make it impossiblefor zoekallehuizen.nl to provide deep links to their websites.     

How to lend like mad and make a profit: A micro‐credit paradigm versus the start‐up fund in South Africa

In current debates about micro‐credit, joint‐liability schemes are often viewed as the only viable way to non‐collateralised lending, and are thus seen as almost synonymous with micro‐credit. This article reports about an alternative, non‐participatory approach to micro‐credit. Prompted by the apparent inability of group credit schemes to reign in lending costs, the article sets out the institutional requirements for cheap, ‘mass‐produced’ credit. It argues that such credit can be viable if mechanisms are in place enforcing the self‐selection of potential borrowers and self‐motivation of existing borrowers. The analysis of a ‘mass‐minimalist’ micro‐credit institution from South Africa supports the argument.     

Imprint of the ‘militant tendency’ on the labour party

Most assessments of the ‘Militant Tendency’ fail to appreciate its dual character: the way it combines revolutionary ideology and reformist practice. By over‐stressing one or the other, its real influence in the Labour Party cannot be established. Its role is best seen in its questioning ‐ in outlook and practice ‐ the ‘belief in legality’ of Labourism. It is the fact that the Tendency has chosen to follow one of the strategic possibilities inherent in the movement which has raised controversy about its role in the party and more generally in politics.     

Analysis of current account reversals via regime switching models

The analysis of sharp and persistent reductions of current account deficits, which can be characterized as the transition from an unsustainable to a more sustainable level of current account balance, relies often on ad hoc criteria for identification of reversal episodes. Within this paper, an empirical framework in terms of a regime switching approach is presented allowing simultaneous identification of current account reversal episodes and their determinants. Additionally, this approach is extended towards analysis of the impact of a reversal on the path of economic growth. Empirical investigation of a panel containing developing countries suggests a different timing of reversals compared to timing delivered by ad hoc criteria. However, several determinants of reversals discussed in the literature remain valid. Our estimates of costs implied by the occurrence of a current account reversal amount to a severe reduction of economic growth, where output costs are found to vary largely across countries.