Breaking Silos of Legal and Regulatory Risks to Outperform Traditional Compliance Approaches

European Journal on Criminal Policy and Research - The ever-evolving legal and regulatory landscape and resulting pressure on organizations to adapt and comply is just one of many factors that have...     

<Emphasis Type="Italic">Sheldon S. Wolin:</Emphasis> Tocqueville between two worlds: The making of a political and theoretical life

Ohne Zusammenfassung

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Sheldon S. Wolin: Tocqueville between two worlds: The making of a political and theoretical life Princeton/Oxford: Princeton University Press 2001, 650 S., $ 24,95

     

Victims and new wars

Interpretations of ‘new wars’ are contradictory. While some stress the asymmetry of intentions, strategies, and capabilities of antagonists, others emphasize the identity of warring parties in sharing the same space of political violence. Introducing elements of a political anthropology of victimhood, this paper suggests that the polarity in new wars is driven by self-representations of collective victimhood. Modes of total warfare in the twentieth century shifted the moral centre of gravity towards representations of humanity as a transcendent victim. The universalist sacred of protecting humanity as a victim, however, masks the polarity between antagonists who legitimize aggression by defensive propositions in the name of suffered victimhood. On the one hand, moral justifications of revenge for victimhood support claims for the asymmetry of polarity. On the other hand, this asymmetry of proliferating victims conceals an ongoing symmetry of rivalry. Ultimately, the focus on political agency and on moral justifications maintains the illusion that the other is the aggressor. A new moral economy requires acknowledging the deep interdependence of rivals. The aggressor has always been aggressed. If the moral core of warfare is in the de-humanization of the enemy, possible paths of reconciliation require the moral recognition of the enemy's same humanity.     

Die Deutschen und die Türkeifrage: eine Analyse der Einstellungen zum Antrag der Türkei auf Mitgliedschaft in der Europäischen Union

In this paper, I examine the sources of support for Turkey’s EU-entry in the German public. I propose several models and explore their respective empirical validity using survey data gathered in May and June 2005. The analysis shows that neither trust in the federal government nor evaluations of the EU institutions play a role in attitudes toward Turkey’s bid for membership. By contrast, attitudes towards this issue are considerably affected by preferences about EU enlargement and, more strongly, by beliefs about whether Turkey at least partly belongs to Europe. Likewise, when forming attitudes towards Turkey’s bid for EU membership, Germans appear to consider the presumed consequences of including Turkey in the EU. Both East and West Germans are particularly likely to take consequences for regional security into account. The paper concludes with a discussion of several implications for German public opinion on this EU issue.     

Overlooking Feigning Behavior May Result in Potential Harmful Treatment Interventions: Two Case Reports of Undetected Malingering

Clinicians tend to overestimate their ability to recognize feigning behavior in psychiatric patients, especially if it concerns patients who have been admitted for observation. Feigning can be either externally motivated (e.g., for financial compensation, known as malingering) or internally motivated (e.g., to assume the “sick role,” known as factitious disorder). Persistent presentation of severe symptoms is usually associated with the factitious disorder. We present two patients with strong external incentives who consistently and convincingly feigned severe psychiatric symptoms during a protracted period of inpatient observation in a specialized center; both were engaged in a procedure for medical asylum. The first case presented with the clinical picture of a psychotic depression with severe motor symptoms, and the second case showed symptoms of a chronic post-traumatic stress disorder with secondary psychotic symptoms. Both cases were thoroughly investigated but feigning was overlooked, and unnecessary and harmful treatment interventions were given. To prevent iatrogenic damage, we recommend a critical attitude that takes malingering as an option into account in settings where patients are often involved in high stake legal procedures. A clinical sign that might indicate feigning is therapy-resistant symptoms. To rule out feigning a comprehensive, multimethod approach is required, but an active stance toward collateral information is essential. Specialized psychological tests may be useful for preliminary screening, but for their use in culturally diverse populations as in refugee mental health more research is needed.     

Isoliert oder gut vernetzt? Eine vergleichende Exploration der Publikationspraxis in der PVS

Citations and co-publications are one important indicator of scientific communication and collaboration. By studying patterns of citation and co-publication in four major European Political Science journals (BJPS, PS, PVS and ÖZP), we demonstrate that compared to the conduits of communication in the natural sciences, these networks are rather sparse. British Political Science, however, is clearly less fragmented than its German speaking counterpart.     

Beeinflusst Angst politische Einstellungen? Eine Analyse der öffentlichen Meinung während des Golfkriegs 1991

This article examines the effects of anxiety aroused by the Gulf War in 1991 on political attitudes among German citizens. Building on several strands of previous research, I argue that anxiety affects attitudes toward policies concerning the war at the Gulf. I also hypothesize that anxiety conditions the impact of war-related attitudes on more general attitudes toward political actors. The empirical analysis shows that anxiety decreases support for the US-led military intervention at the Gulf, sending German troops to Turkey and the German government’s conduct during the Gulf crisis. At the same time, anxiety increases the impact of these war-related attitudes on general evaluations of political actors, thereby rendering the latter more responsive to political events.