Legislative genesis and judicial death of a directive: The European Court of Justice invalidated the data retention directive (2006/24/EC) thereby creating a sustained period of legal uncertainty about the validity of national laws which enacted it

The Grand Chamber has ruled that the data retention directive was invalid ex tunc since it seriously interfered with the fundamental rights to respect for private life and protection of personal data and exceeded the limits of the principle of proportionality which are provided for in the Charter. The scope and temporal effects of this ruling should be clarified, especially its legal impacts on national laws of Member States which enacted the directive. In addition, the findings of the Grand Chamber on geographical safeguards have far-reaching implications on the retention and storage of personal data in the EU.     

Selling to Both Sides: The Effects of Major Conventional Weapons Transfers on Civil War Severity and Duration

Civil wars are primarily fought with small and light arms, but the availability of major conventional weapons to states and rebels can alter the nature of the war being fought. This study explores the impact of major conventional weapons transfers on civil war severity and duration. By using a recipient based approach to arms transfers, I find rebel acquisition of major conventional weapons from international sources leads to conflict escalation and deadlier conflicts. State importation of major conventional weapons is associated with longer conflicts. These findings provide researchers a means to account for rebel capabilities in civil war research and policy makers insight to limit the destructiveness of civil wars.     

Incentivizing self‐regulation: Federal vs. state‐level voluntary programs in US climate change policies

How does program sponsorship influence the design of voluntary programs? Why and how do voluntary programs on climate change sponsored by the state and federal governments in the United States vary in their institutional design? Scholars emphasize the signaling role of voluntary programs to outside stakeholders, and the excludable benefits that induce firms to take on non‐trivial costs of joining voluntary programs. Scholars have noted several types of benefits, particularly reputational benefits programs provide, but have not systematically studied why different programs emphasize different types of benefits. We suggest that excludable benefits are likely to take different forms depending on the institutional context in which program sponsors function. We hypothesize that federal programs are likely to emphasize less tangible reputational benefits while state programs are likely to emphasize more tangible benefits, such as access to technical knowledge and capital. Statistical analyses show the odds of a voluntary program emphasizing tangible benefits increases by several folds when the program is sponsored by the state as opposed to federal government.     

Parties and their Leaders. Does it matter how they match? The German General Elections 2009 in comparison

The ‘personalization of politics’ hypothesis assumes that personalization takes place in election campaigns, in the mass-media, and in the calculus of voting. We claim that the distinction between person/leader and organization implicitly assumed by the personalization hypothesis does not capture how voters observe politics. In contrast, our hypothesis is that evaluation criteria regarding parties and leaders are not in competition but reinforcing. This hypothesis is investigated by looking at the relevance of party and leader evaluations for vote choice in the German Federal Elections in 1998, 2002, 2005, and 2009. The results show that party evaluation matter more than leader evaluation and, more importantly, a match of parties and their leaders with regard to general evaluations determine vote choice as good as single evaluations together.     

转移支付在民族地区内部的财力均等化效应测量及其影响因素研究——基于19992004年县级数据的实证分析

分税制实行至今,国家不断加大对民族地区的财政转移支付规模。1999--2004年的分省（自治区）县级数据表明,转移支付后民族地区内部县际间的财力差异得到了有效控制。然而,转移支付在广西、宁夏两个自治区内部的县际间财力均等化效应并不理想。省级面板数据分析表明,转移支付的分配原则、分配规模是影响其地区内均等化效应发挥的关键性因素。民族地区应当通过采取“均等化导向”的转移支付分配原则．同时在转移支付的纵向分配上更多地向县级政府倾斜来进一步优化转移支付的地区内分配。此外,中央应特别加大对广西的转移支付力度,以避免对民族地区转移支付规模中出现“厚此薄彼”的现象。     

Stem families in rural northwestern Germany? Family systems,intergenerational relations and family contracts

The article investigates intergenerational social relations, distribution of power and mutual rights and obligations within rural families in nineteenth-century Westphalia. Following Frédéric Le Play and Wilhelm Heinrich Riehl, historiography assumes the predominance of a stem family system in northwestern Germany. However, the definition of ‘stem family’ is still not well determined to date. In particular, the question of paternal authority pertains to the core concept of stem families, but has received rather little attention in historical research. The article argues that there are good reasons to question the adequacy of the notion of ‘stem family’ for northwestern Germany. Using farm and house transfer contracts as qualitative sources, the strong position of farm heirs will be demonstrated. These contracts settled relationships between family members after intergenerational transition, especially for different types of family composition. Ageing parents were confronted with children having alternative options to make a living and had to make far-reaching concessions if they wanted a child to stay and work or respectively care for them. Even parents who still wanted to manage the farm on their own gave up the property rights in order to keep a son or a daughter as labour force and care-taker on the farm. This points to considerable bargaining power of adult children, and strongly diminished parental authority even in multiple households.     

Punishment in Indian Country: Ironies of Federal Punishment of Native Americans

Native Americans are US citizens, but they are also tribal nationals subject to complex and unique criminal jurisdiction arrangements over Indian lands. Tribal nations typically have tribal court jurisdiction over less serious crimes, but for serious crimes the federal justice system often supersedes tribal authority, exposing Native Americans to more severe punishments. In addition, recent federal programs have attempted to foster greater tribal/federal criminal justice coupling. Yet, examinations of criminal punishment of Native Americans are few, and most are outdated and/or of very limited generalizability. We examine the punishment of Native American defendants in federal court, focusing on 28 federal districts with substantial Indian presence. Using recent US Sentencing Commission data, as well as contextual data from the Bureau of Indian Affairs and tribal courts, we focus on differences in the federal sentencing of Native American defendants, and how these differences are conditioned by indicators of tribal-federal criminal justice coupling.     

The Characteristics of Countries with Generational Account Imbalances

This article empirically tests competing explanations for intergenerational policy differences using a cross section of generational accounts from Kotlikoff and Leibfritz (1999). Generational imbalance rises when a public transfer program is created that benefits living generations and harms future generations. Generational imbalance is greatest in countries with a large elderly population, high income growth rate, greater income inequality, and dispersed political parties. The results are consistent with successful rent seeking by the elderly and poor, and suggest that countries with a high income growth rate and coalition government are less able to resist intergenerational redistribution.     

重塑联邦政府与总统管理议题：美国的行政改革及启示

20世纪80年代以来,西方各国掀起了行政改革的浪潮,美国也不例外。透视美国的行政改革,对我国的政府改革有一定的启示。     

How do fiscally decentralized federations fare in times of crisis? Insights from Switzerland

This article examines federal dynamics during times of crisis in fiscally decentralized federations using Switzerland as an example. Based on qualitative research, we analyse how the relationship between the federal government and the cantons evolved during the recent ‘Great Recession’ and ensuing financial crisis. We contend that fiscally decentralized structures, as well as the consensus-oriented institutions of the political system, protect the federal balance of power. Our results show that Switzerland indeed adapted well to the crisis of the 2009 economic recession. However, the deficit crisis has revealed challenging coordination problems, notably in the areas of fiscal equalization and corporate taxation, which have the potential to put federal stability under stress. So far, the system has adapted well and safeguarded the federal order. Due to its combination of fiscally decentralized institutions and a strong consensus culture, Switzerland has proven to be a particularly robust federation.