Putting power into practice: Administrative and political capacity building in the European Parliament's Committee for International Trade

As the formal powers of the European Parliament have increased with successive treaty changes, its committees' administrations have seen a parallel growth. We argue that such administrative capacity is necessary but not sufficient for acting on formal treaty powers. Administrative capacity has to be combined with political capacity in order to muster policy impact in European Union decision‐making. By differentiating between intra‐institutional administrative and inter‐institutional political capacity, we offer a fine‐grained conceptualization of policy capacity while broadening the theoretical and empirical understanding of the European Parliament's administration as an organizational structure of formal and informal working practices, intra‐institutional coordination and inter‐institutional relations. Based on expert interviews, document analysis and participant observation, the case of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership illustrates how societal politicization of a specific policy issue triggered the European Parliament to exploit the latent potential of its post‐Lisbon administrative capacity by transforming it into a more readily deployable political capacity.     

Scheduling of new psychoactive substance the Swiss way: A review and critical analysis

Since the introduction of the European Early Warning System in 2005, >700 new psychoactive substances (NPS) have been listed. This review article presents for the first time the Swiss narcotic law in perspective of scheduling of NPS, and compares it to the regulations of the German speaking neighbours Austria and Germany.The Swiss way is a fast and effective way for scheduling NPS, with the purpose to restrict drug trafficking and for controlling the NPS drug market: the legal basis for scheduling substances of abuse is the “Law about narcotics and psychotropic substances” (BetmG, SR 812.121), which includes the “narcotic law directory (BetmVV-EDI, SR 812.121.11) suitable for listing all controlled substances. The BetmVV-EDI, SR 812.121.11 contains seven indices, with index e specifically designed for the fast scheduling of NPS. Newly appearing NPS can either be controlled under a structure analogues definition or by listing single substances. The list of single substances is updated at least once per year, and structure analogues definitions can be implemented, in order to keep track with new developments on the NPS market. The latest version from November 30th 2018 contains ten different structure analogue definitions and 207 single substances. Requirements to list NPS are their appearance on the NPS market, suspected psychotropic effects and their suggestions by Forensic professionals. As soon as substances are newly placed, on Schedule I of the 1961 Convention or Schedule II of the 1971 Convention by the Commission on Narcotic Drugs of the World Health Organization they can easily be transferred from index e to index a-d of the BetmVV-EDI, SR 812.121.11. The Austrian law uses a structure analogue and single substances approach (introduced in 2012, one update in 2016), whereas the German NPS law (established in 2016, no update yet) only lists two structure-analogue-definitions. All three legislations have defined which core structures, kinds and sites of substitutions are regulated.     

Making Sense of the Numbers: The Shift from Non‐consensual to Consensual Debt Relief and the Construction of the Consumer Debtor

This article analyses trends in the number of individual insolvency proceedings in England and Wales, particularly a shift from non‐consensual debt relief to consensual Individual Voluntary Arrangements (IVAs) and, connected to that, an increased privatization of the process. Seeking to conceptualize IVA users, it builds on American scholarship linking the development of bankruptcy rates to the construction of the consumer debtor. Based on this theory and empirical evidence, its findings broadly indicate that a majority of IVA users do not match the image of a strategic actor. Rather, they belong to the most vulnerable groups, whose decision in favour of IVAs is the result of external constraints and irrational biases, which commercial providers tend to exploit. Building on this characterization of IVA users, the article contributes to the critical discussion of aforementioned trends, arguing that reforms should be contemplated to partially reverse them.     

The Legitimacy Audience Shapes the Coalition: Lessons from Afghanistan, 2001

ABSTRACT

Legitimacy considerations profoundly affect coalition-building strategies for contemporary military interventions. However, the nature of this impact depends on which of three distinct legitimacy audiences intervening governments are most concerned about: their domestic publics, the international community or the host-country population. Intervening actors typically value all three audiences, but may be more confident of some audiences’ approval than of others’. Moreover, these audiences may raise divergent demands regarding coalition design, each entailing distinctive strategic, operational and/or political costs. Intervening actors therefore make strategic choices about how to adjust their coalition, including which legitimacy audience to prioritize. Juxtaposing the two Western-led coalitions deployed to Afghanistan in 2001 highlights how profoundly such choices affect coalition design – and what unintended longer-term consequences they can have.     

Satisfaction with and Success of Employee Training from a Public Service Motivation Perspective

New public management requires modernization processes, including modern human resource practices, to enhance public sector performance. According to human capital theory, well-qualified and highly motivated public sector employees improve institutional performance; this study investigates the extent to which employee training as human resource practice can enhance one component of employees’ public service motivation (PSM), namely public interest, and their competencies as employee outcome. We examine public interest as a mediator or a moderator of the relationship between satisfaction with employee training and the resulting competence gain. The findings indicate a positive direct effect of satisfaction with employee training on competence gains and a mediating effect of public interest.     

And What About Siblings? A Longitudinal Analysis of Sibling Effects on Youth’s Intergroup Attitudes

Within the process of political socialization, the family is of particular importance. Apart from parents, however, little is known about the role of other close family members. The present study examined if siblings affect each other’s intergroup attitudes (i.e., intolerance towards immigrants, social dominance orientation). Drawing on a sample of 362 sibling dyads (older siblings: M _age?=?17.77, 53.6% female; younger siblings: M _age?=?13.61, 61.3% female), the results showed that older siblings’ intergroup attitudes predicted younger siblings’ attitudes, but this effect was moderated by gender. Specifically, older siblings’ intolerance and social dominance orientation were only found to affect their younger sisters, yet not their younger brothers. Although younger siblings’ intergroup attitudes had no main effect on older siblings, a significant moderation by age indicated that younger siblings affected older siblings’ social dominance orientation with increasing age. These moderation effects of age and gender were not mediated by the quality of family relationships. The findings also remained the same when parental intergroup attitudes were taken into account. While siblings were generally identified as an important agent of political socialization in youth, the results also highlight the necessity to further examine the mechanism that either facilitate or hinder sibling effects.     

Utopia,Food Sovereignty,and Ethical Fashion: The Narrative Power of anti-GMO Campaigns

ABSTRACT

The idea of utopia has become pervasive in the age of everyday humanitarianism. Digital media communicate utopian ideas that allow people to “do good” for vulnerable others and the environment. At the same time, campaigns mobilize citizens by invoking apocalyptic images, such as genetically modified (GM) “monster” foods. This article looks at the construction of utopian and apocalyptic narratives in social movement campaigns and how they contribute to the construction of identities in the campaigns against GM food and Bt cotton, especially in India. Based on an analysis of campaign material, we show that “organic food” and “ethical cotton” products would be less successful without the concurrent use of apocalyptic narratives. Narratives that are more radical enabled the anti-GM food movement to mobilize large resistance. By contrast, a more inclusive narrative approach in the cotton/textile sector risks supporting interests that are detrimental to social justice and environmental protection.     

Die Luftreinhalteplanung im Bundes-Immissionsschutzgesetz

Die europarechtlich bedingte Luftreinhalteplanung wirft in ihrer praktischen Umsetzung insbesondere durch ihren planenden Ansatz und die Einbeziehung des Verkehrs eine Vielzahl von Fragestellungen auf, die mit dem gewohnten anlagenbezogenen Instrumentarium des Immissionsschutzrechts nur unzureichend beantwortet werden können. Der folgende Beitrag versucht diesen Fragestellungen nachzugehen und Lösungswege aufzuzeigen.     

Governing Stock Markets in Transition Economies: Lessons from China

Jump-starting stock markets in transition economies has proveddifficult. These countries lack effective legal governance structuresand face severe information problems. Yet not all financialmarkets failed because of adverse conditions. Using China’sinitial stock market development as a case study, this articlesuggests that administrative governance can substitute for formallegal governance. At the core of this governance structure wasthe quota system. It created incentives for regional competitionand decentralized information collection at the IPO stage. Itwas also used to punish regions and responsible officials whencompanies from their regions failed, as evidenced herein.