Navigating the Representative-Politics–Liberal-Rights Dilemma: Social Policy Designs for Nonremoved Migrants

Abstract

Although nonremoved rejected asylum seekers (NRASes) are declared unwanted, the liberal state is obliged to provide them with basic social protections. We argue that various social policy designs can mediate the representative-politics–liberal-rights dilemma and allow for (limited) access to differentiated, conditioned benefits. Drawing on migration control and welfare-state literature, the findings stem from expert interviews with stakeholders and document analysis in Austria, Sweden, and the Netherlands. Welfare-enabling approaches are context specific, varying from path dependencies in Sweden to change-resistant forms of policymaking in Austria. In the Netherlands, exclusionary measures are explained by early general welfare retrenchments.     

Poisonings with diphenhydramine--a survey of 68 clinical and 55 death cases

The antihistaminic drug diphenhydramine (DPH) is mainly used as a sedative, hypnotic and antiemetic. In many countries it is over-the-counter available, very common, and generally regarded as a harmless drug. Sixty-eight non-fatal and 55 fatal poisonings with DPH alone or in combination with other drugs were investigated in the Institute of Legal Medicine of the University Hospital Charité between 1992 and 2004. The analytical investigations were performed by HPLC with photodiode array detector (HPLC-DAD). The DPH concentrations ranged from 0.5 to 8.9 microg/mL in the non-fatal cases and from 0.3 to 119 microg/mL in fatal cases. The intoxication symptoms stated during emergency admission were inconsistent, with somnolence, sedation and retardation on one hand and tachycardia, anticholinergic syndrome, agitation, hallucinations, confusion, tremor, convulsions, delirium and coma on the other. In three cases rhabdomyolysis occurred. A concentration above 5 microg/mL can be regarded as potentially lethal. In many of the survivors the time course of the concentrations of DPH and the metabolites desmethyldiphenhydramine (DM-DPH) and diphenylmethoxyacetic acid (DPMA) were investigated. Whereas DM-DPH is present in blood from the very beginning because of the high first pass metabolism, DPMA is slowly formed over several metabolic steps. For this reason, the concentration ratio DPMA/DPH can be used for an approximate estimation of the time between drug intake and sampling in clinical cases or of the survival time after drug ingestion in death cases. In some of the deaths the concentrations in heart blood were much higher than in venous blood. This is explained mainly by agonal aspiration of the vomited gastric content. Besides the majority of suicidal cases also a case of child maltreatment and a case, in which the drug was forcibly administrated in a drug facilitated crime, were investigated. From the results it follows that diphenhydramine is not less poisonous than other prescribed hypnotics. However, despite the hallucinogenic effects, an abuse for recreational purposes was not observed until now.     

Governance through government networks: The G8 and international organizations

As an informal grouping without headquarters, permanent staff or legal powers, the world’s major industrialized countries must rely on other actors, in particular international organizations, to manage global problems. This article examines how the Group of Eight contributes to global governance by cooperating with international organizations in the cases of debt relief and the fight against terrorist finance. It shows that the G8 draws on international institutions with the aid of government networks and argues that this cooperation is stronger, the greater the Group’s concentration of relevant power and the more important it considers the institutions’ resources.     

A sudden death with lung embolism after inadvertent infusion of zinc oxide shake lotion

A 74-year old woman in postoperative treatment after a colonic surgery died immediately after perfusion of about 1.5 mL of a white emulsion which was believed to contain 1% propofol via cardiac catheter into the right atrium. It was strongly suspected that a syringe with a zinc oxide shake lotion (consisting of 20% ZnO, 20% talc, 25% glycerol and 35% water) which was intended for external treatment had been mistaken for the propofol syringe. During autopsy, an anatomic cause of death could not be found. In order to exclude an intoxication and to determine the significance of the perfusion fluid in this context, toxicological and histological investigations were performed. Propofol and other drugs applied to the patient were found in therapeutic or sub-therapeutic range. However, in comparison to a control case, the zinc concentrations determined by AAS were about 200 times higher in lung tissue, 10 times higher in heart blood and 3–4 times higher in kidney and liver tissue. No increase was seen in venous blood. Histology showed a strong embolism of the lung tissue with birefingent sharp-edged crystals, which were identified as the talcum, and an amorphous component (ZnO). The same embolism was seen to a medium extent also in the brain sections and to a low extent in heart, liver, pancreas and kidney. Pulmonary embolism by talcum and zinc oxide was established as the cause of death which occurred by syringe swap due to insufficient security precautions in the drug administration. The results are discussed in context of pulmonary microembolism cases frequently described for drug addicts after injection of crashed talcum containing tablets.     

General unknown screening in hair by liquid chromatography-hybrid quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (LC-QTOF-MS)

The retrospective investigation of the exposure to toxic substances by general unknown screening of hair is still a difficult task because of the large number of possible poisons, the low sample amount and the difficult sample matrix. In this study the use of liquid chromatography-hybrid quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (LC-QTOF-MS) was tested as a promising technique for this purpose. In the optimized procedure, 20mg hair were decontaminated with water and acetone and two times extracted by 18h incubation with 0.5ml of a mixture of methanol/acetonitrile/H(2)O/ammonium formate at 37°C. A mixture of deuterated standards from different drug groups was added for quantification and method control. The united extracts were evaporated to a residue of 0.5ml and 5μl were injected without clean-up for LC-QTOF-MS measurement (instrument Agilent 6530) with positive electrospray ionization and in data dependent acquisition mode. For peak identification the accurate mass data base and spectral library of the authors was used which contains accurate mass CID spectra of more than 2500 and theoretically calculated accurate mass data of more than 7500 toxicologically relevant substances. Validation at the example of 24 illegal drugs, their metabolites and benzodiazepines resulted in limits of detection of 0.003-0.015ng/mg, and limits of quantification of 0.006-0.021ng/mg with good accuracy and intra- and interday reproducibility. The matrix effect by ion suppression/enhancement was 72-107% for basic drugs and 42-75% for benzodiazepines. Yields of the hair extraction above 90% were determined for 59 drugs or metabolites. The method was applied to hair samples from 30 drug fatalities and from 60 death cases with known therapeutic drug intake at life time. Altogether 212 substances were identified with a frequency per drug of 1-40 (mean 4.2) and per case of 2-33 (mean 10.2), between them 35 illegal drug related substances and 154 therapeutic drugs. Comparison with the data known from case histories and from the analysis of blood, urine and gastric content showed only a low agreement, with many unexpected drugs detected and many reported drugs not detected in hair. Basic drugs and metabolites such as opioides, cocaine, amphetamines, several groups of antidepressants, neuroleptics, beta-blockers or the metamizole metabolite noramidopyrine were found with high frequency whereas acidic and several neutral drugs such as cannabinoids, salicylic acid, furosemide, barbiturates, phenprocoumone or cardiac glycosides could not be detected with sufficient sensitivity, mainly because of the low ion yield of positive ESI for these compounds. The advantage of a comprehensive acquisition of all substances is paid by a lower sensitivity in comparison to targeted screening LC-MS/MS procedures. In conclusion, the procedure of sample preparation and LC-QTOF-MS analysis proved to be a robust and sensitive routine method in which the qualitative screening for a wide variety of toxic substances in hair is combined with the quantitative determination of selected illegal drugs.     

Challenging the boundaries of democratic inclusion? Young people's attitudes about the distribution of voting rights

In theoretical debates about the quality of democratic rule, the core question concerns membership, and the adequate constitution of the demos: who is entitled to participate in choosing political representatives? This article enhances the predominantly normative debates on democratic inclusion and boundary making by taking an empirical perspective and analysing attitudes of 16–18-year-old teenagers regarding preconditions for the distribution of voting rights. Based on data stemming from 13 focus groups conducted in three Austrian cities in spring 2010, our findings show that principles related to both competence (autonomy, knowledge) and community (showing concern, being subjected to the law) matter when it comes to democratic boundary making. Furthermore, the study reveals that, in trying to explain the formation of juvenile attitudes about boundary issues, institutions are relevant when related to the conjunctive experiences manifested in the group-specific habitus: while young immigrants argue more inclusionarily than natives in terms of community-related preconditions, especially as far as the roles of language and citizenship are concerned, students argue more exclusionarily than apprentices when it comes to competence-related preconditions, especially civic education. Boundary making affects social groups independent of national origin or citizenship and can therefore be considered a permanent process beyond international migration.     

Phenibut screening and quantification with liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry and its application to driving cases

An analytical strategy for identification by an LC–MS/MS multitarget screening method and a suitable LC–MS/MS based quantification were developed for the psychotropic drug phenibut. The samples analyzed were collected during traffic control and were associated with driving under the influence of drugs. A positive sample for phenibut was identified in a single case of driving under the influence. The quantification revealed a drug concentration of 1.9 μg/mL. An interaction with blood alcohol (BAC = 0.10%) was discussed as the explanation of the way of driving and deficit manifestations observed (swaying, nystagmus, quivering of the eyelid, and reddened eyes). According to the available information, the quantified phenibut concentration could be explained by an intake of four tablets (self-reported) during the day containing 250 mg of the drug. Chromatography was performed with a Luna 5 μm C18 (2) 100 A, 150 mm × 2 mm analytical column, and a buffer system consisted of 10 mM ammonium acetate and 0.1% acetic acid (v/v) included in mobile phases marked as A (H₂O/methanol = 95/5, v/v) and B (H₂O/methanol = 3/97, v/v). An effective limit of detection (LOD = 0.002 μg/mL) could be achieved for the multitarget screening method. The quantification of phenibut was performed on a second LC–MS/MS system with LOD/LOQ values of 0.22/0.40 μg/mL. Since phenibut quantification data are rare, the presented information can be used with caution for evaluation of positive cases in the future.