The Fight to Globalize Labor: Understanding the Role of Activists in the Spread of International Norms

International relations scholars have traditionally focused on state-centered accounts of international legal norm development between nations while sociolegal scholars have focused on Weberian notions of occupational authority. This study advances a constructivist sociolegal approach emphasizing activist action as playing a unique role in shaping international norms. Specifically, this study investigates labor activists' intervention in U.S. bilateral and multilateral free trade agreements (FTAs) to examine why labor activists chose to initiate FTA disputes as a social movement tactic and how strategic interaction with international legal systems has helped them institutionalize and proliferate the International Labor Organizations' core labor standards. Through semi-structured interviews with legal, union, and government officials, alongside a content analysis of cases filed under the U.S. FTA system, this study shows the role activists played in advancing “globalized” standards in international law. This study finds that activists spread norms through a gradual mechanism of accretion, which focuses on the creation of standards and international legal standing over the individual outcomes of any given case.     

Phantoms in the mortuary--DNA transfer during autopsies

DNA evidence frequently plays an important role in criminal investigations and in some cases may be the only means of convicting a suspect. The constant improvement of DNA analysis techniques affords the individualization of minute amounts of DNA, aggravating the risk of contamination artifacts. In our study, we investigated the prevalence of DNA contamination in the autopsy facilities of the Institutes of Legal Medicine in Essen and Kiel (Germany). Using DNA-free swabs, we took samples from instruments used during autopsy and autopsy tables. Surfaces and instruments were routinely cleaned before sampling. Swabs were subjected to different PCRs to quantify the total amount of DNA and to amplify individual specific STR-markers. In most samples, alleles that could be linked to bodies that had been autopsied before were found. Furthermore, we could show that a DNA transfer from the autopsy table to a body was detectable in four out of six cases investigated. The interpretation of DNA typing results may thus be severely complicated. To avoid DNA contamination, we tried out different cleaning methods, of which only a bleach containing cleaner showed sufficient results.     

Mehdi Hashemi and the Iran-Contra-Affair

In November 1986 a Lebanese newspaper revealed the secret arms-for-hostages deal between Tehran and Washington that subsequently became known as the Iran-Contra-Affair. The newspaper had been tipped off by friends of the Iranian radical Mehdi Hashemi who had been arrested shortly before in Iran. This article explores the link between the arrest of the ardent supporter of the then deputy leader Hossein-Ali Montazeri and the secret talks with the US government. The article will show that his arrest was not only an attempt of the then dominant faction around Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani to bring the future leader Montazeri under its control, but also an attempt to eliminate a rival actor opposing the rapprochement with the USA and threatening to disrupt the arms-for-hostages deal.     

How policies become contested: a spiral of imagination and evidence in a large infrastructure project

This article investigates how framing processes lead to polarization in the public debate on a large infrastructure project. Drawing on an analysis of newspaper articles about the “Oosterweel connection” in Antwerp (Belgium), it concludes that imaginative framing (appeals to emotions via symbolic language) and framing through evidence (appeals to rationality via factual language) mutually reinforce each other. Because of the mutual reinforcement, we talk of a spiralling motion. When evidence backs up appeals to the imagination, such as when facts back up metaphors, these appeals are endowed with authority and hence legitimacy. While this strengthens appeals that have been “proven” to be true, it also makes actors backing these appeals increasingly frustrated with other parties that still refuse to accept them. Because of their frustration, the former are spurred to launch new imaginative appeals conveying their anger and to seek new evidence to substantiate these new appeals. Going back and forth between imaginative appeals and appeals to evidence, all parties in a conflict develop their own vision of the contested issue and their own evidence base for the policy position. Over time, their tolerance for ambiguity decreases and the debate polarizes.     

Are Service Profiles Incubator-Specific? Results from an Empirical Investigation in Italy*

What are the core services of start-up incubators, and how can the be managed best? We use five incubator archetypes (university, regional business, company-internal, independent commercial, and virtual incubators) to identify key services and describe their implementation. Case-research was conducted on 10 incubators (from an estimated total of 50) in Italy. We concluded that differences in competitive scope (industry, geography, and segment focus) and differences in strategic objectives (profit versus non-for-profit) influence the nature, quality and implementation of incubation services and the way they are managed.     

Licences in OHIM practice

Legal context: Despite the commercial importance of licences, the Regulation40/94 contains relatively few provisions on licences. As faras these refer to licences granted to CTMs or their recordalat OHIM, they are beyond the scope of the article, which dealswith the case law emanating from OHIM in inter partes proceedings,where licences have played a role. Key points: This article considers the legal requirements licensees mustmeet when filing opposition and cancellation proceedings beforeOHIM. It reviews when use under licence is regarded as genuineuse, or valid for the purpose of establishing acquired distinctivenessor reputation. It also deals with OHIM decisions regarding licenseesfiling the licensors' trade marks in their own names. Practical significance: With respect to the standing of licensees as opponents or applicantsfor invalidity, this article explains the procedural requirements,mentioning also points to be considered when drafting trademark licences. The article also explains to what extent a licenceneed be proven where the opponent or cancellation applicanthas not used the earlier mark himself but wishes to rely onuse made by someone else. On the issue of a licensee filingthe licensed mark in his own name, the article gives an introductionto the criteria applied by OHIM and deals with his fiduciaryposition, resulting in a greater likelihood of his having actedin bad faith.     

Back‐pedalling in Iraq: lessons unlearned

This article analyses which of the major lessons learned from previous experiences in nation building have been applied or ignored in Iraq. It focuses on the first six months of the post‐combat period, a time frame generally recognised as being critical for laying the foundations for a stable and democratic future. A review of previous cases points to six lessons that, in fact, have been unlearned, and only two that have been realised in this initial phase in Iraq.