The 2006 Landtag Election in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania

The election of the fifth state parliament in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania was, for the first time since 1990, a ‘true’ state election because it did not take place on the same day as the federal election. The opportunity for thrusting this state's own political topics into the limelight was, however, not used by any of the parties. Both the SPD which had been part of a red-red coalition with the PDS since 1998 and the CDU left the coalition question open during the campaign. Partially because of this, there was no polarization among voters. The voter turnout was quit low. Despite great losses, the SPD emerged as the strongest party. The Linkspartei.PDS made only minimal advances and the CDU dropped to a record low of less than 30 per cent of the vote. In addition to the FDP which was able to re-enter parliament for the first time since 1990, the right-extremist NPD managed to overcome the five percent hurdle. Thus, the previous three party system ended. Due to the narrow majority, Prime Minister Harald Ringstorff (SPD) decided against a continuation of the red-red coalition and instead formed a grand coalition with the CDU.     

Youth culture and European integration in Germany: back to European basics?

Using data of a representative survey among young people in Germany, the present article detects significant shifts in attitudes towards European integration over a relatively short time-span. Surveying these changing attitudes, the article explores the idea that these changing attitudes could signal more than mere short-term reactions to singular political events, but rather point to a reorientation towards the initial conceptualization of European integration as a peace project. Gudrun Quenzel is Lecturer at the Institute for Sociology at the University of Duisburg-Essen. Mathias Albert is Professor of Political Science at Bielefeld University.     

THE PROHIBITION OF THE PROPOSED SPRINGER-PROSIEBENSAT.1 MERGER: HOW MUCH ECONOMICS IN GERMAN MERGER CONTROL?

We review the Bundeskartellamt (Federal Cartel Office Germany)decision on the proposed merger between Springer and ProSiebenSat.1from an economic point of view. In doing so, it is not our goalto analyze whether the controversial decision by the Bundeskartellamthas been correct or flawed from a legal point of view. Instead,we analyze whether the economic reasoning in the decision documentreflects state-of-the-art economic theory on conglomerate mergers.Regarding such types of mergers, anticompetitive effects eitherdo not occur regularly or are more often than not overcompensatedby efficiency gains, so that a standard welfare perspectivedemands reluctance concerning antitrust interventions. Thisis particularly true if two-sided markets, like media markets,are involved. However, anticompetitive conglomerate mergersare not impossible, in particular in neighboring markets wherethere is some relationship between the products of the mergingcompanies. In line with the more-economic approach in Europeanmerger control, a particular thorough line of argumentation,backed with particularly convincing economic evidence, is necessaryto justify a prohibition of a conglomerate merger from an economicpoint of view. Against this background, we do not find the reasoningof the Bundeskartellamt entirely convincing and sufficientlystrong to justify a prohibition of the proposed combinationfrom an economic perspective. The reasons are that (i) the Bundeskartellamtfails to continuously consider consumer and customer welfareas the relevant standards, (ii) positive efficiency and welfareeffects of cross-media strategies are neglected, (iii) in contrast,the competition agency sometimes appears to view profitabilityof post-merger strategy options to be per se anticompetitive(efficiency offence), (iv) the incontestability of the relevantmarkets is not sufficiently substantiated, (v) inconsistenciesoccur regarding the symmetry of the TV advertising market duopolyversus the unique role of the Bild-Zeitung and (vi) the employmentof modern economic instruments appears to be underdeveloped.Thus, we conclude that the Bundeskartellamt has not embracedthe European more-economic approach in the analyzed decision.However, one can discuss whether economic effects are overcompensatedin this case by concerns about a reduction in diversity of opinionand threats to free speech. Similar to the Bundeskartellamt,we do not consider these concerns in our analysis.     

Formal and informal pharmaceutical economies in Third World countries: Synergetic, symbiotic or parasitical?

Informal economy functions without any formal social control for lack of a supervisory authority. Within a regulated locality the same activities would have an illegal character, but in that deviating situation those informal activities can thrive because the authorities do not intervene. Globalization of our western mixed market economy implies that also the aspect of government control takes on a global character. The fact that formal economies settle in places where an informal market is the rule leads to a combined action which, eventually, creates new market relations. In the present contribution we study the effects of a meeting between a formal and an informal market on the basis of a concrete case. An analysis of the market of medical products in Third World countries gives an idea of the new relations that arise when an informal market of natural medicines is confronted with a formal market of western medicines. We study both the situation in which there are no regulations and the situation in which the formal market is supported by economic regulations. This text illustrates how those situations can give rise to new opportunities for one group and to exploitation for another.     

Steering and Monitoring Model of State-Owned Enterprises

The aim of this study is to systematize the heterogeneous field of stated-owned enterprises (SOEs) especially for steering and monitoring purposes. Based on the existent literature and the heterogeneous field of the Finnish state’s share portfolio, we create a model for steering and monitoring purposes. In our model, the SOEs are grouped into categories according to how much the state as an owner is concerned with the social service assignment principle, strategic interests, or purely shareholder value interests. Consistency in the basis, extent, and listing status of SOEs for steering and reporting creates good preconditions for ownership policy decision-making and ultimately improves the outcomes of ownership policy and steering.     

A study of ethyl glucuronide in post-mortem blood as a marker of ante-mortem ingestion of alcohol

The possibility of post-mortem production of ethanol makes correct interpretation of ethanol detection in forensic autopsy samples difficult. Even though the levels of ethanol formed post-mortem are generally low, this may be highly relevant in cases where intake of alcohol was forbidden, for instance for pilots, professional drivers and countries with low legal alcohol limits for driving. Different criteria are used to determine whether a finding of ethanol is of exogenous origin, but there is no marker for alcohol ingestion that has been studied in detail. In this study, we wanted to evaluate the sensitivity and specificity of ethyl glucuronide (EtG), a direct minor metabolite of ethanol, measured in blood, as a marker of ante-mortem alcohol ingestion. Forensic autopsy cases were divided into groups with and without ante-mortem alcohol ingestion, according to strict inclusion criteria. In 93 cases with information on ante-mortem alcohol ingestion, EtG was detected in blood in all cases, even when levels of ethanol were low. In another 53 cases where there were no indications of ante-mortem alcohol intake, EtG could not be detected in blood in a single case, also in 11 cases in which ethanol was detected and considered to be most probably formed post-mortem. In conclusion, blood EtG determination seems to be a reliable marker of ante-mortem ingestion of alcohol, and it could be considered in forensic autopsy cases when post-mortem formation of ethanol is questioned.     

A pharmacokinetic study of ethyl glucuronide in blood and urine: applications to forensic toxicology

This pharmacokinetic study investigated the kinetics of ethanol and its metabolite ethyl glucuronide (EtG) in blood and urine during the whole time course of absorption and elimination. There are few previous studies on the kinetics of EtG in blood, and we wanted to evaluate whether such knowledge could yield valuable information regarding the time of ethanol ingestion in forensic cases, such as, for instance, drunk driving. Ten male volunteers consumed ethanol at a fixed dose of 0.5 g/kg body weight in a fasted state. Blood samples were collected for 14 h and urine samples were collected for 45-50 h after the start of drinking. EtG reached its maximum concentration (C(max)) in blood after a median of 4 h (range 3.5-5), a median of 3 h (range 2-4.5) after C(max) for ethanol. The ethanol-to-EtG ratios in blood (ethanol in g/L, EtG in mg/L) were >1 only for the first median 3.5 h (range 2.5-3.5) after drinking. EtG elimination occurred with a median half-life of 2.2 h (range 1.7-3.1 h), and the renal clearance was 8.32 L/h (median, range 5.25-20.86). The concentrations of EtG were always much higher in urine than in blood. The total amount of EtG excreted in the urine was median 30 mg (range 21.5-39.7), representing 0.017% (median, range 0.013-0.022) of the ethanol given, on a molar basis. The information from the present study may be a valuable supplement to determine the time of ethanol ingestion. For this purpose, two subsequent increasing EtG values and a high ethanol-to-EtG ratio in blood would support information of recent drinking.     

Socioeconomic Inequality and Communal Conflict: A Disaggregated Analysis of Sub-Saharan Africa, 1990–2008

This article examines the role of economic inequality in influencing the risk of armed conflict between communal groups in Sub-Saharan Africa. We argue that socioeconomic inequality can generate intergroup grievances, which, due to the exclusionary legitimacy of the African state and elite incentives to engage in competitive mobilization of communal groups, precipitate violent communal conflict. To examine this argument, we rely on a series of household surveys to construct subnational inequality measures. For each region, we calculate measures of inequality in terms of household welfare and education between individuals (vertical inequality) and between ethnic groups (horizontal inequality). Combining the inequality data with new georeferenced data on communal conflict in Sub-Saharan Africa for the period 1990–2008, we find that regions with strong socioeconomic inequalities—both vertical and horizontal—are significantly more exposed to violent communal conflicts. More specifically, regions in which the largest ethnic group is severely disadvantaged compared to other groups are particularly prone to experience communal conflict.