The Impact of Institutions on Foreign Policy Think Tanks in France and Denmark

Even though France is an active player on the world stage, its foreign and security think tank milieu is smaller than that of similar powers, most notably the United Kingdom. Comparing French think tanks with those in Denmark illustrates how French institutional structures constrain think tank activities. France’s political tradition of centralisation, its non-academic civil service education, and separation of academia and administration create an environment in which think tanks are underfunded and walk a fine line between an over-controlling administration and a suspicious academia. Some French think tanks perform well in spite of these structures, which indicates that they could flourish and compete at the highest international level if given better structural conditions.     

Vulnerability without capabilities? Small state strategy and the international counter-piracy agenda

Today, small European states regularly need to go out of area and out of tried and tested institutional settings to defend their security interests. How do small European states meet this challenge most effectively? This analysis suggests that small states can influence multilateral decisions on international security by combining norm entrepreneurship with lobbying and taking on the role as an “honest broker”. However, economic capacity, an effective state administration, and interests compatible with the agendas of the great powers are key to success. Based on a comprehensive empirical material including 19 elite interviews as well as official documents and other written material, we process trace how one small European state, Denmark, influenced the development of international counter-piracy cooperation and the development of an international counter-piracy strategy for the Gulf of Aden and off the Horn of Africa and discuss which lessons the Danish case may hold for other small states.     

Studies of immigrant crime in Denmark

ABSTRACT

Do the results of research on the relationship between crime and immigration status differ depending on the type of data examined? This question is posed and answered affirmatively in a paper based on a systematic review of ten Danish studies published between 2008 and 2017. The current review is motivated by the seemingly widespread perception that immigrants/descendants are at greater risk for committing crime than others even after adjusting for systematic differences between these groups. Using five criteria of relevance, a systematic search resulted in the identification of ten pertinent studies. The ten studies are reviewed in the current paper and form the basis of the conclusion that research results differ markedly depending on the type of data examined. This implies that public perceptions about crime and immigration status may rest on shaky ground. Five potential explanations are suggested to explain the inconsistencies found in the studies reviewed. Finally, five recommendations for future research are suggested in order move research forward.     

Local News Media and Voter Turnout

A reasonably high turnout is a quality of a local democracy. In this article, we investigate whether media coverage of politics leads to increased or decreased voter turnout. Based on a unique data set, our analysis shows that local news media coverage has a positive effect on voter turnout, but only if the news media provide politically relevant information to the voters and only at local elections. Both findings are in accordance with the Information Model, which states that rising levels of political relevant information increases the probability of voting.     

What are the Local Political Costs of Centrally Determined Reforms of Local Government?

Taking advantage of a quasi-experimental setting and drawing upon analysis of electoral results and a survey of voters, this article explores the political costs of reform through the example of the 2009 local elections in Denmark. The article finds that the local parties of mayors were punished at the polls for implementing municipal amalgamations decided by the central government. However, the effect on the mayoral parties’ electoral result is more indirect than direct. Analyses of the electoral results demonstrates that the political parties holding the mayoralty in times of amalgamations tend to nominate very tenured mayors as candidates, thereby missing the positive first-term incumbency effect, which a new mayor could have acquired. And analyses of a survey of voters demonstrates higher levels of dissatisfaction with the municipal service in amalgamated municipalities, leading to a higher cost of ruling for mayoral parties which have led the implementation of an amalgamation.     

“Like Having New Batteries Installed!”: Problematizing the Category of the “40+ Mother” in Contemporary Danish Media

In recent years, the phenomenon of the “40+ mother” has generated much media attention in Denmark. Within these discussions, 40+ mothers are regularly labelled as ridiculous, bad, or irresponsible, their access to assisted reproductive technologies is restricted, and their right to them is questioned. This rhetoric is explored here within the particular context of the Danish welfare state, which commonly takes pride in being family-friendly and is often seen as liberal in terms of its gender policies. This paper analyses these debates and argues that the ideological category of the “old mother” is another formulation of sexist and ageist discourses that identify feminine ageing with decline and emptiness. Drawing on feminist age studies, these media representations are considered here as a manifestation of middle-ageism, in which 40+ mothers undergo a process of accelerated ageing as they fail to act their age. The analysis traces these emerging discourses and discusses some of the alternatives they raise. The paper is situated within social and feminist studies of time that aim to challenge normative reproductive temporalities and the ideology of ageing as decline, so that the category of 40+ mothers opens up new rhythmic options for reproductive time and for heteronormative life-course paradigms more generally.     

Going non-nuclear in the nuclear alliance: the Danish experience in NATO

Danish nuclear policy is at a crossroads. Looking back, Denmark's relationship to nuclear technology has been a difficult balancing act for successive governments, trying to soothe an anti-nuclear domestic sentiment on one side and the membership of a nuclear military alliance on the other. This history produced an enduring double approach to nuclear policy by Copenhagen throughout the cold war. Looking ahead, this history is of particular relevance as Denmark and Greenland are considering lifting their twenty-five-year ban on mining radioactive elements and allowing the production of Greenland's uranium. With Greenland's large reserves potentially catapulting this otherwise non-nuclear and non-mining kingdom into one of the world's top suppliers of uranium, the policy debate has to include a look back at Denmark's relationship to nuclear technology, for both peaceful and military purposes.     

丹麦警察对家庭暴力的干预

随着丹麦社会对妇女权益的关注 ,丹麦警察开始改变把家庭暴力作为家庭私事的做法 ,把防治家庭暴力作为重要的工作内容。他们除了遵循国际法的基本精神外 ,还制定了国内法及相关操作规章 ,表明不容忍家庭暴力和帮助受害人的明确立场。同时丹麦警察转变了执法指导思想 ,在多机构合作治理家庭暴力的工作中 ,注意关心、尊重并切实帮助受害妇女 ,开展了有效的法律实践。丹麦警察对家庭暴力的干预给我们的启示是 ,防治家庭暴力是一项社会工程 ;警察部门必须转变观念 ,研究工作方法 ,充分发挥应有的作用。     

Early epidermal changes in heat- and electrically injured pig skin. II. An electron microscopic study

In order to find methods applicable for disclosing electrical torture, pig skin was exposed to heat and electricity under controlled circumstances. Biopsies for electron microscopy were obtained immediately after exposure. In heat lesions the nuclei were slightly distorted, sometimes with broken nuclear membranes. The tonofilaments were clumped, intracellular oedema was present and cell membranes were ruptured between desmosomes. In electrical lesions the nuclei were usually enlarged with strongly condensed chromatin. Some nuclei were composed of fine, evenly dispersed granular material. The cytoplasm appeared homogeneous, in large magnification finely granular. Cell borders could sometimes be identified located in situ. In the stratum corneum, which appeared normal in heat lesions, single or several cells or large areas had an electron-dense appearance. The difference in ultrastructure of heat and electrical lesions makes it probable that electricity has a specific action on epidermal cells.     

Sudden death in mitral valve prolapse: Associated accessory atrioventricular pathways

Sudden death in patients with mitral valve prolapse is a rare complication with a possible arrhythmic mechanism. We made a detailed postmortem examination of the conduction system in three patients with MVP who died suddenly. One patient who died in cardiac failure had a normal conduction system. The two other patients with no cardiac symptoms prior to death had both accessory atrioventricular pathways.These findings suggest a higher incidence than hitherto known of accessory bypass tracts in patients with MVP who die suddenly, and support the presumption of an arrhythmic cause of death.