The man who envied women

Boredom is a permeating, trespassing force – an intensity not necessarily recognized as such. This essay approaches the aesthetics of political failure, and in particular, the cinematic intensities of boredom as affective expressions of post-traumatic malaise. Lou Ye’s Summer Palace (2006), one of only three Chinese narrative films to represent the 1989 Tiananmen Incident, draws upon an aesthetics of banality to dramatize the epistemological limits and resultant trauma of 6/4, a historical event subsequently repressed in mainland Chinese media. Refusing melodramatic catharsis, the film’s stalling and stupefying effects perform both the amnesiac circumstances surrounding 6/4, as well as the compassion fatigue that followed. Even more surprisingly, Lou’s overuse of sex, a dull instrument by the film’s end, constitutes Summer Palace’s privileged sight/site of boredom. Indeed, sex, rather than constituting the censored obscene act, stands in for something far more offensive. Summer Palace frenetically pivots around an open secret, the historical memory of Tiananmen, as nervous sensation is composed within and without the text, centering on women’s bodies. Drawing on close textual analyses, this essay contends that the excessive contours and shapes of the memorial wound in Summer Palace take on the particularly anxious forms of dull sex in a messy Square.     

Horizontal coordination in cooperative federalism: The purpose of ministerial conferences in Germany

ABSTRACT

Intergovernmental councils in Germany comprise 18 sectoral ministerial conferences and the prime ministerial conference as peak organization. They complement the Bundesrat as institutions of Intergovernmental Relations in the German system of cooperative federalism, dealing with matters of shared rule as well as self-rule. Based on expert interviews among ministerial bureaucrats, this contribution finds that contrary to conventional wisdom, vertical influence and autonomy protection are not their main purpose. Rather, they serve primarily information exchange and coordination. Still, the emphasis on either influence and autonomy protection or coordination and information as well as the directions of interaction vary across policy sectors. We further investigate constitutional allocation of power and party political composition as determinants on the specific purpose of ministerial conferences. The findings suggest that the allocation of power is more important than party political composition in explaining variation between sectoral ministerial conferences.     

Southeast Asian water conflicts—from a political geography perspective

This article analyzes water-related conflicts in Southeast Asia and draws the attention to controversial dam—and hydropower—schemes. It focuses on three dam projects in Thailand, Laos and Burma that are all interwoven by different characteristics of development assistance. But they also slightly differ in terms of the implementation stage, the geopolitical setting, the socio-economical frameworks and the actors involved. Against this analytical background, the approach unveils the complexity of internationalising conflicts that are created under the influence of the ongoing globalisation and by multiple actors involved, their networks, strategies and power relations. “Scarcity of resources—securing energy by development assistance” provides a brief introduction by drawing the main global configurations. “Energy supply and poverty alleviation—new dams in Southeast Asia” zooms in on the specific stage by mirroring dam disputes in Southeast Asia (SEA). Based on these fundamentals, in “Different dams—diverse actors and conflict potentials” the case studies are reconstructed to highlight the multiplicity of dam-projects and inherent controversies. “Conclusion—new conflict frameworks require new instruments of dispute resolution” offers an outlook on conceptual ideas on how to deal with future dam disputes under the auspices of development assistance.     

Clinical forensic examination findings in assault cases among adolescents

Child and youth criminality has risen markedly over the past 25 years and causes increasing concern to the general public. The clinical forensic examination cases of youth violence victims examined at the Institute of Legal Medicine of the Hanover Medical School and its Oldenburg Branch between 1999 and 2008 were retrospectively analyzed. In all, 55 adolescents (37 females, 18 males; median age 15.5 years) were examined. In most cases the suspect was a close (40.0%) or passing (23.6%) acquaintance. 16 assaults were committed by two or more adolescents jointly. Most of the juveniles were victims of sexual assaults (56.4%). In 15 victims of sexual offences (51.7%) diagnostic findings were obtained on the basis of anogenital injuries and/or the presence of sperm. In summary, the analysis shows that adolescents frequently become victims of sexual assault. In addition, youth violence is often committed in a group.     

Intimacy training in a forensic psychiatric setting: an experiment

This article is about intimacy training in two forensic psychiatric hospitals. This training is an experiment in which patients are trained in skills relating to intimacy and sexuality through real physical contact with a therapist. It is a way of treatment in those cases in which other, usually verbal methods, have failed to accomplish (sexual) behaviour change, and it can feed or revitalise verbal therapy. The purpose of the training is (a) to make the patient aware of the feelings intimate contact with a woman provokes and (b) to increase the patient's social and sociosexual skills so that he learns how to handle his intimate and sexual wishes, needs, and limits, and those of his partner. The training aims at diminishing the risk of new offences. The experiment is intended to provide answers to questions about the effectiveness of this kind of training in relationship to this aim.