The Cartoon Controversy: Offence, Identity, Oppression?

If the publication of twelve drawings of the Prophet Mohammad in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten , which sparked the 'cartoon controversy', was wrong, why might this be the case? The article considers four arguments advanced in relation to the quite similar Rushdie affair for judging such publications to be wrong, and asks whether they provide plausible moral reasons against such publications, and whether they justify legal restrictions on freedom of speech. The arguments concern: (a) the consistent extension of group defamation legislation to cover Muslims; (b) offence to religious sensibilities; (c) issues of identity; and (d) oppression. The article also considers whether such arguments can be acknowledged within a liberal model of toleration. It is argued that versions of several of the arguments may in fact be thus accommodated, but that they nevertheless do not provide strong reasons for judging the kind of publications under consideration to be morally wrong or suitable objects for legal restrictions. The argument from oppression is different, however, in pointing to different kinds of factors, but its applicability is limited both by a number of conditions for when oppression provides the right kind of reasons, and by empirical constraints. The suggested conclusion is that the publication of the Mohammad cartoons was not wrong, at least not all things considered, for any of the noted reasons, but that there might be other kinds of factors that are not captured by traditional liberal models of toleration, which might provide reasons for moral criticism of this and similar publications.     

When Syria was in Egypt’s land: Egyptians cooperate with Syrians,but less with each other

Public Choice - With the number of people fleeing Syria since 2011 exceeding 5 million, and unclear prospects regarding the country’s future, Syrians currently residing outside their homeland...     

The Effects of Competition Policy on Development – Cross-Country Evidence Using Four New Indicators

Over the last two decades, many developing countries have introduced competition policies. This paper introduces four new indicators on various aspects of competition laws and competition agencies to make competition policies comparable. These indicators are used to estimate the effects of competition policies and all four contribute at least marginally to explaining differences in total factor productivity. This is also true if developing countries are analysed separately. In addition to the direct effects of competition policy on total factor productivity, an indirect effect is identified: countries scoring high with regard to competition policy suffer less from corruption.     

Explaining constitutional garrulity

Constitutions differ dramatically in length although they serve very similar functions everywhere. This paper tries to identify some determinants of constitutional length. It contains a new dataset spelling out the length of 135 constitutions in words. It turns out that a common law legal origin significantly increases the length of the constitution, whereas countries in the Middle East and North Africa have significantly shorter constitutions. Further, having been a British or Spanish colony is correlated with longer constitutions, a higher share of Protestants with shorter constitutions.     

Accommodating toleration: on Balint’s classical liberal response to the multiculturalism challenge

ABSTRACT

Peter Balint identifies three challenges to toleration, one of which is the multiculturalism challenge. This is the charge that liberal toleration fails to accommodate minorities adequately, which requires positive recognition rather than negative toleration. I discuss his response to the multiculturalism challenge and its connection to a classical liberal view of toleration. This involves Balint’s claim that liberal neutrality should be understood as reflective and ‘difference-sensitive’, which should be realised by the state being ‘hands-off’ in the sense of withdrawing support for privileged ways of life. I argue that Balint’s classical liberal view that the state needs to be ‘hands-off’ is in need of specification and that it does not fit well with his claim that neutrality needs to be reflective and difference-sensitive.     

Exploiting the common pool or looking to the future? A study of free-riding leading up to the 2007 municipal amalgamations in Denmark

ABSTRACT

Municipal amalgamations can create incentives for opportunistic behaviour. Several fairly recent studies have examined this on amalgamations in Denmark and Sweden using the so-called law of 1 over n. However, they have yielded inconclusive results and I argue that one plausible explanation is a theoretical deficiency in the law, as it does not account for how future political representation can mitigate the incentive to free-ride. I examine this using large-scale amalgamations in Denmark in 2007. This case is quite unique as the amalgamations were implemented in such a manner that they constitute a quasi-experiment, and because an extra fiscal year was added to the election period where the composition of the new councils was known with certainty, while the municipalities retained some decision-making power. The study’s findings are consistent with the argument that the incentive to free-ride depends on the decision makers’ future political stake in the new, amalgamated municipality.     

Clinical forensic examination findings and legal outcome in cases of suspected sexual child abuse

The clinical forensic examinations conducted at the Institute of Legal Medicine of the Hanover Medical School between 1999 and 2008 in cases of suspected sexual abuse of children were evaluated retrospectively and analysed with regard to their legal outcome. In total, the study included 223 children (172 girls, 51 boys) with a median age of 8.6 years. In 34 children (15.2%), forensically relevant diagnostic findings due to anogenital injury and/or detection of semen were recorded. Perpetrators were convicted more often when they were not a member of the victim's family. In cases with victims aged seven years or older, conviction was more common. The study shows that medical findings can best be preserved by an immediate clinical forensic examination. Suspected sexual child abuse can often not be proved by medical examination results, but in some cases diagnostic findings are not mandatory for conviction.