Post-war Kosovo landscapes in Pristina: discrepancies between language policy and urban reality

This paper focuses on the complex nature of post-war multilingual landscapes in Pristina, the capital of Kosovo, as shaped by the country’s political shift after independence in 2008. We aim to contribute to this sociolinguistically underexplored territory through an examination of the relative predominance and visibility of the capital’s most dominant languages: Albanian, Serbian, and English. Our central aim is to empirically problematize the shared co-officialdom of the Albanian and Serb languages, as put forward in the “Ahtisaari Plan” in 2007 and subsequently adopted in the State Constitution in 2008 and Language Laws in 2006 and 2008. We posit that the multilingual language policies which paint an inclusive, multi-ethnic picture of Pristina do not coincide with its monolingual Albanian reality. In addition to these empirical findings, our second aim is to contribute to the theorization of authorship in the public sphere. With reference to the Pristina context, we problematize the analytical categorization conventionally made between top-down and bottom-up agency and distinguish a third category of semi-official authorship. This third category enables us to examine the dynamic nature of the discrepancy between Kosovo’s language policy and Pristina’s urban linguistic reality in more detail.     

(Non-)complexity through the eyes of MiFID

The European Commission recently published legislative proposals to reform the Markets In Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID). This note elaborates on the proposed shift in classification of “structured Undertakings for Collective Investment in Transferable Securities (UCITS)”. While MiFID I labeled all UCITS “non-complex”, MiFID II deems all structured UCITS “complex”. We propose a logical and consistent framework to refine this dichotomy and identify a limited number of product types amongst the various kinds of structured investments. The classification is traceable, comprehensible and is proposed as the basis of a “complexity indicator” that surpasses the current generalisation.     

Online voting: a legal perspective

Casting a vote for the European Parliament from a cybercafe in India, a cruise ship in the Atlantic Ocan, a weekend cottage in the Alps or plainly at home from your laptop computer? This article tackles this question from a legal point of view. It examines the basic principles surrounding online voting. Are the conditions for democratic elections – such as the freedom to vote without undue influence or coercion of any kind, the secrecy of the vote, the integrity, reliability and security of the ballot box, the verifiability and audit ability of the voting process and the principle of one person, one vote – sufficiently met or do we run into legal obstacles? Does the introduction of an electronic or even online voting process jeopardize the principles of non‐discriminatory access to the election process? And what about the anonymity? How can one guarantee that a vote over the Internet is cast by the legitimate voter, all the while guaranteeing his privacy? The last chapter of the article analyses the current state of affairs within the European Union. Is the introduction of online voting merely a science fictional feature or really within reach?     

The Effect of Family Violence on Sexual Victimization among Young Women

Young people who grow up in a violent family context are more vulnerable to become victims of sexual aggression outside the family context. The present study contributes to the understanding of the mechanisms that explain this link among young women by looking at the mediating role of sexual exposure behavior and target vulnerability. Data were used from an online survey among 237 young women aged 16 to 26 (M?=?21.0 years, SD?=?2.75). Experiencing violence from (one of) the parents and to a lesser extent witnessing interparental violence were related to an elevated risk for sexual victimization. Witnessing interparental violence was related to increased target vulnerability but this factor did not mediate the link with sexual victimization. Experiencing parental violence was related to both increased sexual exposure behavior and increased target vulnerability and these factors did mediate the link with sexual victimization.     

General and maladaptive traits and anger in a combined forensic psychiatric and general population sample

The present study examines the associations between anger and general and maladaptive traits in a combined forensic psychiatric and community sample of men. Thirty-four male forensic psychiatric patients and 219 men from the general population completed the Novaco Anger Scale (NAS; Novaco, 1994), the NEO-PI-R (Costa & McCrae, 1992), the ADP-IV (Schotte & De Doncker, 1994) and the VKP (Duijsens, Haringsma, & EurelingsBontekoe, 1999) at two measurement occasions with a one-year interval. The results of a series of multiple regression analyses showed that general and maladaptive traits accounted for a substantial amount of variance in anger scores. Neuroticism, Agreeableness and Externalizing traits were most prominent in the prediction of anger, while Conscientiousness was acting as a suppressor variable in the regression models. Strengths and limitations of the present study and implications for further research and clinical practice are discussed.     

Institutional isomorphism,negativity bias and performance information use by politicians: A survey experiment

New Public Management popularized performance measurement in public organizations. Underlying performance measurement's popularity is the assumption that it injects performance information (PI) into decision-making, thus rationalizing the ensuing decisions. Despite its popularity, performance measurement is criticized. In part, this criticism results from the limited knowledge of the conditions under which PI is purposefully used by politicians. We conducted a survey experiment based on real PI with 1,240 politicians. We hypothesized that PI has a positive impact on performance information use (PIU) when PI is benchmarked with coercive, mimetic or normative pressures. Moreover, due to negativity bias we expected this positive impact to be stronger when PI signals low performance. We found that normative pressures had a positive impact on actual PIU while coercive pressures positively affected intended PIU. Negativity bias is only relevant when linked to coercive pressures and intended PIU for analysing the organization's finances.     

Difficulties of cultural diversity. An exploratory study into forensic psychiatric reporting on serious juvenile offenders in the Netherlands

This paper discusses psychiatrists' assessments of the personalities of ethnic minority and ethnically Dutch juvenile offenders. Psychiatric reports and recommendations help courts determine the type and duration of sanctions. Psychiatrists are involved in almost all cases of serious juvenile crime, because under Dutch law, determining criminal responsibility is a matter for psychiatrists. The courts usually follow the recommendations of forensic psychiatrists when giving judgment and sentencing juvenile offenders.Far too little research has been conducted up to now on the difficulties encountered by forensic psychiatrists when making assessments. The present study discusses the nature and extent of these difficulties. It is based on an analysis of personality reports and sentence recommendations produced by psychiatrists attached to the juvenile courts in relation to youths subsequently sentenced to Placement in a Youth Custodial Institution (PIJ sanction) in the year 2000 (N = 164). A PIJ sanction is the most rigorous response available under the Dutch criminal law for juvenile offenders.The study shows, on the basis of the psychiatric reports, that arriving at a diagnosis is often more difficult when dealing with ethnic minority boys than in the case of their ethnically Dutch peers, since ethnic minority boys more frequently present themselves in a threatening and manipulative way, and tend to conceal their real selves. The reports indicate that the psychiatric assessment of personality is often difficult because forensic psychiatrists struggle with an inadequate knowledge and understanding of minority cultures, which seems to suggest that there is a need for a broader cross-cultural approach that would make it possible to conduct comprehensive personality assessments of serious juvenile offenders.This study was made possible by a grant from the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO), and was authorised by the Ministry of Justice.     

Why Does Citizens' Knowledge of New Policy Vary Between Municipalities? The Case of the Social Support Act

Providing information to citizens is an important first step in the implementation of new policy. In this study we explain differences in the knowledge of citizens between municipalities of a newly introduced law in the Netherlands, the Social Support Act, 10 months after it became into force. This law is especially important for older people that need support in their daily functioning and participation. We focused on two aspects of knowledge related to the act, i.e. having heard of the new act, and knowing how voice with regard to policy on support is organised in the place of residence. Given that socialist local governments focus more on social topics than liberal local governments, we expected citizens of municipalities with socialist councils to have more knowledge about the new Social Support Act. Contrary to our expectations, citizens from municipalities where a liberal party or a collaboration of liberal/socialist parties is the largest, have a better understanding of how voice is organised. On the other hand, citizens in municipalities with an alderman from a combination of liberal/socialist parties have a lower chance of having heard of the Social Support Act. We argue that in view of the Social Support Act, the ideology of a local government related to citizens' responsibilities (liberal view) may have more influence on citizens' knowledge than being a government that pays attention to social issues (socialist view). As far as individual differences between citizens are concerned, as expected, older people that are more educated but in poorer health status have more knowledge about the new act. A higher educational level and an excellent mental health status are related to more knowledge about voice. Educational level is the most powerful predictor for knowledge about the act.