Federalism and Party Interaction in West Germany, Switzerland, and Austria

The federalism established in the constitutions of the FederalRepublic of Germany, Switzerland, and Austria, in addition tothe common language of these countries, distinguishes them fromthe other West European countries, which lean toward centrallyorganized states. After examining the historical foundationand development of the federal systems in the three countries,the article analyzes the segmentation, federal-state interaction,and intraparty effects of political parties in them. While federalismis strengthened by the heterogeneity and regional solidarityof the political parties in Switzerland, federalism has becomea pure "party federalism" in the Federal Republic of Germanyand Austria.     

Troubling frames: Zapiro’s iconography on Oscar Pistorius as traumics

ABSTRACT

This study aims to examine the comics form in relation to its representation of perpetrator trauma. Specifically, the study considers a selection of Jonathan Shapiro’s iconography on Oscar Pistorius as biograph(y)ics, since the artist ‘commixes’ Pistorius’s life from his rise to athletic fame – through the court trials for his alleged murder of Reeva Steenkamp on 14 February 2013 – to his conviction followed by a thirteen-year jail sentence on 24th November 2017. In my reading of the panels, I draw on Hilary Chute’s notion of the ethics of testimony in illustrative art and Jacques Derrida’s theorising on hauntology and the revenant to argue that wrongdoers can also experience their crimes as trauma. This critical engagement enables me to read Shapiro’s panels as not merely reinforcing dominant interpretations of the fallen hero, but also as a means by which the cartoonist destabilises and reconfigures socially accepted notions of the villain.     

How an Authoritarian Regime in Burma Used Special Courts to Defeat Judicial Independence

Why do authoritarian rulers establish special courts? One view is that they do so to insulate the judiciary from politically oriented cases and allow it continued, albeit limited, independence. In this article I present a contrary case study of an authoritarian regime in Burma that used special courts not to insulate the judiciary but to defeat it. Through comparison to other Asian cases I suggest that the Burmese regime's composition and character better explain its strategy than does extant judicial authority or formal ideology. The regime consisted of war fighters for whom the courts were enemy territory. But absent popular support, the regime's leaders could not embark immediately on a radical project for legal change that might compromise their hold on power. Consequently, they used special courts and other strategies to defeat judicial independence incrementally, until they could displace the professional judiciary and bring the courts fully under executive control.     

‘period problems’ at the coalface

Menstruation leave for women workers brings into the public domain of mining ongoing debates around protective legislation for women. It brings into focus the presumed tensions between gender equity and gender difference with regard to women's economic citizenship. Large-scale mining in East Kalimantan in Indonesia has offered some opportunities to poor and unskilled rural women to find formal jobs in the mines as truck and heavy equipment operators. This paper presents a case study of women in mining occupations, considers the implications of current menstruation leave provisions on the employment of women in the mines and raises serious issues related to gender equity in the workplace. The involvement of women in a non-conventional workplace such as the mine pits, providing a novel site for contestation over the rights of women workers, illuminates a less-debated area in feminist studies, especially in view of the significant ongoing changes in the Indonesian framework for industrial relations.