Zwischen Kultur und Kalkül? Vertrauen und Sozialkapital im Kontext der neoinstitutionalistischen Wende

Trust and social capital work in social networks as informal institutions, favouring cooperation between the participants of such social interaction. However, the increasing use of both terms has been accompanied by vanishing conceptual and theoretical precision. In order to counterbalance this development this article tries to clarify some of the major puzzles connected with both terms. First, we embed trust and social capital within the institutionalist turn in political science. Second however, we demonstrate that trust and social capital have been modelled from at least two perspectives: sociological institutionalism and economic institutionalism. Furthermore, attempts of combining those approaches have lead to decreasing theoretical consistency. Finally, we propose that economic institutionalism is theoretically and empirically more fruitful to explain the creation and destruction of social capital.     

Does Federalism Matter for Biopolicies? Switzerland in Comparative Perspective

This article analyses how federalism matters for the policy‐designing process and the resulting policies in the field of Assisted Reproductive Technology through the comparison of four countries, Switzerland, Germany, Belgium and Canada. It reconstructs from an actor‐centred perspective how federalism interacts with other country and policy‐field specific characteristics and empirically assesses how this interaction influenced the final policies. By focusing on Assisted Reproductive Technology, the article examines the potential influence of federalism on public policies beyond the standard discussion of the comparative political economy of federalism.     

Mapping the production of political communications: a model to assist in understanding the relationships between the production and consumption of political messages

High public interest today in political communications such as ‘spin’ and in political participation such as electoral turnout suggests that there may be value in exploring the processes by which political messages are produced and consumed, and their inter‐relationship with participation. It may be that what citizen‐voters think of message production influences how they consume political news and publicity (through observing and evaluating), and that the propensity to political participation is subsequently affected. This paper offers a model which traces the production of political communications, starting at their origins in the political class, and flowing via traditional political journalism or controlled media and new media to citizen‐voters who both observe and evaluate them (ie consume them) before, during and after making any political choices. It is hypothesised that the observation and evaluation of message production and content by political consumers influences both their types and levels of participation. Research of this nature into political organisations is relatively rare. Similarly, there is little evidence of investigations into other aspects highlighted in the model: attitudes of the political class towards political communications, the production of political communications before they reach the media and how they are received by the media, and their consumption by citizen‐voters in relation to the propensity to participate in politics. Copyright © 2003 Henry Stewart Publications     

Social networks and non‐market strategy

To date, the field of non‐market strategy has little to offer in the way of an integrated perspective on the simultaneous management of strategic issues and corporate stakeholders. This paper employs social network analysis to make a number of theoretically grounded conjectures about the delicate relationships between stakeholder behaviour and issue evolution. It is found that social network analysis has the potential to enrich and integrate theoretical perspectives in the field of non‐market strategy, offering solutions to a set of previously unresolved puzzles. Copyright © 2004 Henry Stewart Publications     

Of change,training and public affairs in Europe

European public affairs practitioners need to be increasingly professional in their reactions to an EU undergoing transformational change. The paper offers a comprehensive summary of the subtleties of institutional change in Commission, Parliament and Council in 2004. In particular, the author argues that expansion from 15 member states to 25 has fundamentally changed the nature of the Union's politics and the skills required to influence it. This new EU requires more of practitioners than experience and amateur instinct: to achieve results and avoid restrictive regulation, the public affairs community must adopt effective training strategies, challenging competence targets and regular self‐assessment of its performance and ethics. Copyright © 2004 Henry Stewart Publications     

毒品案件证据特点分析

证明案件真实情况的一切事实,都是证据.证据是案件的生命,是案件的灵魂,证据是办案永恒的主题,证据的收集与运用才是司法机关在打击犯罪活动中的核心任务.毒品案件的特点是没有特定的报案人,没有明确的犯罪现场,无特定的侵害人和被害人,侦查方式具有特殊性.毒品案件证据的特点包括证据的相对单一性,证据的即时性,证据的易毁坏性,证据推定力的虚弱性.     

论刑事诉讼中的不良品格证据规则

不良品格证据由于与案件的争议事实无关联,因而,除了一些特定的例外情形,原则上法律将被告人的不良品格证据排除于法庭之外。但是,近些年国际上关于该规则的内容已有所变化。为了完善我国刑事证据立法和解决司法实践中的问题,我国亟待构建科学的不良品格证据规则。     

刑讯逼供的证明机制

对刑讯逼供存在与否的证明属于程序性事项的证明,其证明同时涉及一般的证明标准和程序性裁判中的证明机制问题。刑讯逼供的事实具有特殊性,这种特殊性使对这种事实的证明在实践中很难完成,因此应当明确:刑事实体法追诉中的刑讯逼供证明的证明责任由新的公诉机关承担,证明标准也应于普通案件中的证明标准有所不同,同时,法官不应承担证明责任。     

移送审查起诉的证明标准探析──以证伪思维为视角

证伪思维具有科学性和批判性。我国现行的移送审查起诉的证明标准,即"案件事实清楚,证据确实充分"是运用证实思维,忽视了排除案件疑点,应予以完善。移送审查起诉应确立"排除合理怀疑"的证明标准,该标准符合证伪思维的要求以及认识的模糊性原理和证明标准的层次性。为了保障"排除合理怀疑"证明标准的实施,在贯彻全面取证原则的前提下,应实行侦查部门与预审部门分立,在一定条件下,在侦查阶段扩大律师提前介入的范围。