The Crimes of the Last Dictatorship in Argentina and its Qualification as Genocide: A Historicization

The last military dictatorship in Argentina was characterized by gross and systematic human rights violations. After the restoration of democracy in 1983, President Raúl Alfonsín put the military juntas on trial. Criminal prosecution of the abuses was later halted through laws and decrees. In 2003, under the Néstor Kirchner administration, the trials were resumed and some of the sentences incorporated the idea that the crimes had been committed in the framework of genocide. This article reconstructs the history of the uses and re-significations, furthered by local and transnational actors, of the category of genocide and the ways in which it was incorporated to characterize the crimes committed by the Argentine dictatorship. I argue that the use of this category shows the long presence of the Shoah paradigm in the country and the adoption of the international framework of human rights by actors involved in pro-accountability and memorialization processes.     

Rent seeking and the welfare cost of trade barriers

This paper estimates the potential social cost of trade barriers using the Harberger and the Tullock/Posner approaches for a sample of U.S. food and tobacco manufacturing industries. In addition, it tests the relationship between the computed welfare losses and special-interest political activity (PAC contributions). If all rents were dissipated through rent seeking, the social cost of trade barriers would be about 12.5 percent of domestic consumption and would be particularly large for sugar and milk products where quotas are the main instrument of protection. Furthermore, the results indicate that welfare losses are positively associated with industry lobbying but the strength of such association is strongly dependent on industry concentration.     

Comparison of two methods for isolating DNA from human skeletal remains for STR analysis

Abstract: The quality and efficiency of a standard organic DNA isolation method and a silica‐based method using the QIAGEN Blood Maxi Kit were compared to obtain human DNA and short tandem repeats (STRs) profiles from 39 exhumed bone samples for paternity testing. DNA samples were quantified by real‐time PCR, and STR profiles were obtained using the AmpFlSTR^® Identifiler^® PCR amplification kit. Overall, the silica‐based method recovered less DNA ranging from 0 to 147.7 ng/g (average 7.57 ng/g, median = 1.3 ng/g) than did the organic method ranging from 0 to 605 ng/g (average 44.27 ng/g, median = 5.8 ng/g). Complete profiles (16/16 loci tested) were obtained from 37/39 samples (95%) using the organic method and from 9/39 samples (23%) with the silica‐based method. Compared with a standard organic DNA isolation method, our results indicate that the published silica‐based method does not improve neither the quality nor the quantity of DNA for STR profiling.     

About the Impossibility of Absolute State Sovereignty

State sovereignty is often thought to be absolute, unlimited. This paper argues that there is no such a thing as absolute State sovereignty. Indeed, absolute sovereignty is impossible because all sovereignty is necessarily underpinned by its conditions of possibility—i.e. limited sovereignty is the norm, though the nature of the limitations varies. The article consists of two main sections: (a) the concept of sovereignty: this section is focused on some of the limitations the concept of sovereignty itself presents; and (b) a historical account of the notion of sovereignty as it was used in the Ancient Times. The particular focus on early notions of a modern concept such as sovereignty has to do with the fact that this early notion has been anthropomorphised with societal evolution. Therein, the current concept of State sovereignty embraces the same limitations it had in its ancient form as a non-fully developed conceptual idea. The implications of understanding State sovereignty as limited rather than absolute are several, both directly and indirectly. A main immediate consequence is that sovereign States can cooperate together, limit their sovereignty and still be considered sovereign.     

Forensic Approach to an Archaeological Casework of “Vampire” Skeletal Remains in Venice: Odontological and Anthropological Prospectus*

Abstract: During the years 2006–2007, the Archeological Superintendent of Veneto (Italy) promoted a research project on mass graves located on Nuovo Lazzaretto in Venice, where the corpses of plague deaths were buried during the 16th and 17th centuries. The burials were of different stages and are believed to be the remains of plague victims from the numerous outbreaks of pestilence, which occurred between the 15th and 17th centuries. Among the fragmented and commingled human bones, an unusual burial was found. The body was laid supine, with the top half of the thorax intact, arms parallel to the rachis axis, the articulations were anatomically unaltered. Both the skull morphology and the dimensions of the caput omeris suggest the body was a woman. A brick of moderate size was found inside the oral cavity, keeping the mandible wide open. The data collected by the anthropologist were used to generate a taphonomic profile, which precluded the positioning of the brick being accidental. Likewise, the probability of the brick having come from the surrounding burial sediment was rejected, as the only other inclusions found were bone fragments from previous burials in the same area. The data collected by the odontologist were employed for age estimation and radiological dental assessment. The forensic profile was based conceptually on the “circumstances of death” and concluded that the positioning of the brick was intentional, and attributed to a symbolic burial ritual. This ritual confirms the intimate belief held at those times, between the plague and the mythological character of the vampire.     

Orthodontic surgery and professional liability: the homozygote twin case

A professional liability lawsuit of an orthodontic case is presented through its medico-legal assessment. The patient underwent an orthodontic treatment combined with several maxillo-facial surgical interventions. Several temporomandibular joint complications followed, plus he was unhappy with aesthetic results and modifications to his facial features. He wanted to verify from a medico-legal point of view the treatment received as he believed something was not done lege artis. The result of the orthodontic assessment was that there were no indications for such surgical interventions, along with other professional negligence: no psychological support given and no indications as to the aesthetic results postsurgery. It was decided to carry out an orthodontic assessment also on his homozygote twin brother, who was discovered to have the same malocclusion. His medico-legal assessment did not substitute the evidence obtained from the deceased, but gave added weight to the final technical conclusion.