End of an Era? The Landtagswahl in Bavaria,September 2008

The biotechnology and venture capital sectors have flourished in Germany during the 1990s, a surprising development that finds its roots in the policies of the federal government. Years before the private sector became engaged, the federal government had identified biotechnology and venture capital as important for job creation and Germany's world‐wide status as a technological leader. Its success in leading a renaissance in these sectors sits uneasily with dominant understandings of the German state as ‘semi‐sovereign’ (Katzenstein) or ‘enabling’ (Streeck) ‐ as institutionally incapable of defining policy against or without the active participation of societal actors. This article uses a history of the biotechnology and venture capital sectors since the 1970s to re‐examine the relationship between the central state and lower governments as well as organised interests in Germany. The evidence demonstrates the federal government's autonomy in formulating policy priorities as well as its ability to enhance the capabilities of lower level governments and private sector actors to achieve the objectives it defined.     

Assessing the Democratic Debate: How the News Media Frame Elite Policy Discourse

This article examines the way in which the news media frame public policy issues and the extent to which other political players (e.g., interest groups, politicians) influence this issue framing process. Our analysis focuses on the issue of gun control, comparing the rhetoric generated by interest groups and public officials on the Brady Bill and Assault Weapons Ban with actual network news coverage of this legislation from 1988 to 1996. Results indicate that both sets of political players employed several interpretative issue frames and worked hard to put their preferred themes on the agenda. However, at times, the media intervened in the framing process, especially as the debate matured. Specifically, the news media (a) structured the overall tone of the gun control debate, (b) adopted a distribution of framing perspectives different from that of politicians and interest groups, and (c) packaged policy discourse more often than not in terms of the "culture of violence" theme. These findings point toward previously ignored media effects and attest to the potential role the media play in shaping public policy debates.     

Prevalence and blood concentrations of benzodiazepines and opioids in opioid-positive death investigations in Ontario,Canada, from 2017 to 2021

The aim of this study was to investigate the incidence of benzodiazepines in opioid-positive death investigations, including trends in frequency and combination of drugs, as well as demographic data and blood concentrations, where available. Additionally, naloxone concentrations in polysubstance compared to opioid-only cases were analyzed. This was a retrospective study that consisted of all post-mortem toxicology cases in Ontario, Canada, from January 01, 2017, to December 31, 2021, with an opioid finding in any analyzed autopsy specimen. There were 11,033 death investigations identified. The overall rate of benzodiazepine co-involvement was 54.5%. Males accounted for the majority of cases (71%), and the most affected age group was 30- to 39-year-olds. The most frequently detected opioid was fentanyl and the most frequently detected benzodiazepine was etizolam, which was also the most frequently observed opioid/benzodiazepine combination. Findings related to differences in concentrations of opioids when naloxone was also present were mostly non-significant, except for methadone. The rate of benzodiazepine detection with opioids grew faster than opioid detections overall, potentially due to the increasingly toxic drug supply. Detection of novel psychoactive drugs fluctuated more unpredictably than opioids and benzodiazepines associated with clinical use. These findings can help inform policy decisions by public health agencies in exploring harm reduction efforts, for example, education and drug-checking services.     

You gotta move: advancing the debate on the record of dispersal

This paper summarizes the social science research on the record of housing dispersal programs since 1995. The research shows a consistently disappointing record of benefits to low-income households. Households moved out of high-poverty neighborhoods, voluntarily and involuntarily, show few or no beneficial effects in terms of economic self-sufficiency, health benefits, or social integration. The benefits of dispersal are confined to feelings of greater safety and satisfaction with neighborhood environmental conditions. We offer a framework for understanding the disappointing record of dispersal, highlighting its translation from social science diagnosis to policy, problems in the policy's implementation, its underlying theory of poverty, and the political context within which dispersal has been applied.     

Participation in a residential mobility program from the client's perspective: Findings from Gautreaux Two

Abstract

In 2002, the Gautreaux Two housing mobility program provided low‐income families living in Chicago public housing with the opportunity to move to more affluent, less racially isolated communities. This article presents findings on their complex search and moving process. Only about one‐third of enrolled families actually moved through the program ("leased‐up"). In‐depth interviews with a randomly chosen sample of 71 families and an additional 20 “likely mover” families showed that movers fell into four groups distinguished by personal characteristics that made it easier for them to move or by residence on Chicago's North Side.

Nonmovers faced a variety of obstacles, both external (a tight rental market, discrimination, and bureaucratic delays) and internal (limited experience and program comprehension, large household size, and health problems). Also, some nonmovers were too busy with work or school to engage in what proved to be an onerous process of identifying a suitable unit and moving.     

American Civil Law Origins: Implications for State Constitutions

We examine the effect of initial legal traditions on constitutionalstability in the American states. Ten states were initiallysettled by France, Spain, or Mexico and had developed civillaw legal systems at the time of American acquisition. AlthoughLouisiana retained civil law, the remaining nine adopted commonlaw. Controlling for contemporaneous and initial conditions,civil law states have substantially higher levels of constitutionalinstability at the end of the twentieth century. We speculatethat this effect is attributable to instability in propertyrights caused by the change in national governments and to thelegacy of the civil law system.     

Executions and Apologies: The U.S., International Law and Right to Consular Notification

Following the execution of two German nationals in the United States in 2001, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) found the U.S. in violation of international law stating that foreign nationals must be notified of their right to contact their embassy. When they learned of this right ten years after their arrest, they were barred from raising the claim; and after exhausting available avenues in American courts, the German consulate took the case to the International Court of Justice. The U.S. executed the two men while the case was still before the ICJ, in spite of its request to stay the execution and German objections that “violations of Article 36 followed by death sentences and executions cannot be remedied by apologies or the distribution of leaflets”. This paper discusses the importance of consular notification to the fairness of prosecutions. Cases reviewed indicate the U.S. still frequently does not provide notification and is at times oblivious to the ICJ's ruling. The paper discusses reasons the U.S. should honor notification, including reciprocity for Americans traveling abroad and the larger development of international law. A final section provides several mechanisms for bringing U.S. practices into compliance that could be easily implemented. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.