Application of DNA Forensic Techniques for Identifying Poached Guanacos (Lama guanicoe) in Chilean Patagonia*

Abstract: Guanaco (Lama guanicoe) is a protected and widely distributed ungulate in South America. A poacher, after killing guanacos in Valle Chacabuco, Chilean Patagonia, transported and stored the meat. Samples were retrieved by local police but the suspect argued that the meat was from a horse. Mitochondrial cytochrome b gene (774 pb), 15 loci microsatellites, and SRY gene were used to identify the species, number of animals and their population origin, and the sex of the animals, respectively. Analysis revealed that the samples came from a female (absence of SRY gene) Patagonian guanaco (assignment probability between 0.0075 and 0.0282), and clearly distinguishing it from sympatric ungulates (E‐value = 0). Based on the evidence obtained in the field in addition to forensic data, the suspect was convicted of poaching and illegally carrying fire arms. This is the first report of molecular tools being used in forensic investigations of Chilean wildlife indicating its promising future application in guanaco management and conservation.     

Internet of things – Need for a new legal environment?

The Internet of Things as an emerging global, Internet-based information service architecture facilitating the exchange of goods in global supply chain networks is developing on the technical basis of the present Domain Name System; drivers are private actors. Learning from the experiences with the “traditional” Internet governance it is important to tackle the relevant issues of a regulatory framework from the beginning; in particular, the implementation of an independently managed decentralized multiple-root system and the establishment of basic governance principles (such as transparency and accountability, legitimacy of institutional bodies, inclusion of civil society) are to be envisaged.     

论任意雇佣原则在美国劳动法中的衰落

从19世纪末开始,美国普通法上形成的任意雇佣原则授予雇主任意解雇员工的权力而不要求其承担任何法律责任,对劳动者权利保护甚为不利。考虑到绝对任意雇佣原则所带来的种种消极影响,在许多方面已经不适应现代劳资关系的发展,美国立法机关和各州法院已经形成该原则的多项普通法例外,任意雇佣原则逐步走向衰落。由于任意雇佣原则在美国社会长期实行,拥有深厚的社会基础,动用立法权和司法权等国家权力也并非以废止该原则为目标,因此迄今为止其仍然是调整美国雇佣关系的重要规则。     

美国仇恨犯罪论纲

仇恨犯罪是指全部或部分因对他人的种族、宗教、残疾、性倾向有强烈歧视而推动的侵害人身、财产、社会的刑事恶行。剖析美国仇恨犯罪能够为我国犯罪学去粗求精、提高理论敏感性、有针对性地攻克理论难关提供思路。仇恨犯罪人在确证自己所信奉的文化观念后采取非法手段,实现自己创造的象征性价值。野蛮的宣泄歧视情绪的亚文化能够在潜在的犯罪人群中得到认同,这是仇恨犯罪形成的重要原因。     

后现代精神与后现代思想家的风骨——从敢于向霸权说“不”的格里芬谈起

后现代是对现代性的反思和超越。而现代性的一个典型态度是唯我独尊,是“霸道”。因此,向霸道,霸权说“不”就成为后现代精神的精髓,成为一切后现代思想家的共同特征。本文通过世界著名建设性后现代思想家大卫•格里芬对美帝国的抵抗和批判,揭示了建设性后现代思想家的理论取向和道德风骨: 他们不仅勇敢地抵抗形形色色的霸权, 为弱小仗义执言,而且致力于人类的平等和人与自然的共同福祉, 关爱一切生命。主张“尊重他者,倾听他人”。它并非一味解构,而是致力于为我们这个时代寻找“可能的精神家园”。     

破产法:美国的经验与启示

美国破产法经过长期的发展,于1978年确立了现行的制度架构。美国《破产法》关于公司破产的内容,主要体现在第7章和第11章中,也就是其中有关清算程序和重组程序的规定中。分析的结果显示,破产法面临内在的矛盾或冲突,不能同时消除"存伪"和"去真"两种错误,也不能同时实现事前效率和正确的投资与申请破产决策。从破产法的实际操作来看,无论清算还是重组,都会造成一定的价值损失。中国还处在从计划经济向市场经济转轨的过程中,为了解决预算软约束问题,需要严格的破产法。这样的破产法将是债权人导向的或者说对债权人友好的,将更多地运用清算程序。     

Interviewing serious offenders: Ms. Egghead meets Mr. Gumshoe

Organised crime, due to its intricate nature, is a very challenging as well as less accessible research field. Although difficult to conduct a methodical research on this topic, organised crime, nevertheless, offers a unique opportunity to utilise an interdisciplinary research methodology. This paper describes (multiple) triangulation as an appropriate method for researching the role of culture in the advancement of ethnic Albanian organised crime groups in Europe. Triangulation, for the purpose of the described project, has been used to obtain confirmation of findings through convergence of different perspectives. Interviewing offenders is one of the research methods more thoroughly explained in this paper. The paper too explores some advantages of snowball technique used for interviewing less accessible research subjects. It also discusses various dilemmas, security-related or not, researchers are faced with when intending to interview serious offenders.

Trust,regulation, and redistribution why some governments overregulate and under-redistribute

For many social scientists, government intervention is linked to low levels of social trust and corruption, while others associate it with high trust and low corruption. We aim to reconcile these contrasting views by distinguishing the opposing effects of trust on two alternative types of government intervention: regulation and redistribution. We argue that distrusting individuals demand more governmental regulation (H1) but less government redistribution (H2), and this could be one of the mechanisms explaining why countries with low levels of trust tend to both overregulate and under-redistribute. And the effects of trust on policy preferences are conditional on the quality of institutions. The higher the level of quality of government in a particular region, the more high-trusting individuals will like government redistribution and dislike government regulation that restricts the operations of free markets (H3). We test these hypotheses with data from the latest round of the European Quality of Government Index (EQI) survey, which covers 77,000 individuals from 185 regions of 21 EU member states.     

Is experimentalist governance self-limiting or self-reinforcing? Strategic uncertainty and recursive rulemaking in European Union electricity regulation

Is experimentalist governance (XG) self-limiting or self-reinforcing by virtue of its relationship to strategic uncertainty as an essential scope condition? This article tackles this important but understudied question by elaborating a series of idealtypical pathways for the temporal evolution of XG in specific policy domains, ranging from reversion to hierarchical governance through endogenous reduction of strategic uncertainty at one extreme to institutionalization of experimentalism as a multipurpose governance architecture at the other. It then goes on to test the empirical validity of these contrasting theoretical expectations about the long-term relationship between XG and strategic uncertainty through a process-tracing analysis of electricity regulation in the European Union over a series of policy cycles since the 1990s. Building on and extending previous research in this domain, this article's findings strengthen empirical confidence in the theoretical expectation that XG is self-reinforcing, while diminishing confidence in the claim that it is self-limiting.     

Magnetic law: Designing environmental enforcement laws to encourage us to go further

The European Union has some of the world's most ambitious and highly developed environmental laws on its books, but their effectiveness is severely compromised by non-compliance. With the UNECE Aarhus Convention (1998), Europe launched an innovative legal experiment, democratizing environmental enforcement by conferring third party citizens and environmental non-governmental organizations (ENGOs) with legal rights of access to environmental information, public participation, and access to justice in environmental matters. Based on some 2000 surveys and over 150 interviews with stakeholders from three Member States – France, Ireland, and the Netherlands – we adopt a holistic, 360° perspective, capturing the views of regulated parties, NGOs, and the general public on this private governance experiment. Our data provide important new insights into the practical effectiveness of Europe's laws enabling private environmental enforcement, its (intended and unintended) effects on farmers' compliance decisions in the vital area of nature conservation, and how law might be used to stimulate pro-environmental predispositions.