Germany

Summary European welfare states have been subject to significant restructuring including a general trend towards downsizing the role of the state, and to a greater extent engaging other actors in social policy and social services. While comparative welfare research often overlooks the distinction between for-profit and non-profit actors, third sector research emphasizes the different logics underlying these two types of non-state actors. The purpose of this article was to analyse Nordic and Italian social workers' attitudes towards a greater involvement of for-profit and non-profit actors in social work. The empirical base for the study is nation-wide surveys among social workers in four Nordic countries and in Italy answered by a total of 8,272 social workers. Findings In general, social workers perceived privatization in terms of for-profit organizations more critically than privatization through voluntary sector actors. Their attitudes towards privatization were only partly connected to which welfare model they worked within. Age and working sector of the respondents were other factors of significance. An important finding was that there are different explanatory factors behind positive attitudes towards for-profit and non-profit privatization, which indicate that social workers do not interpret the role of for-profit and non-profit organizations in the same way. Application The article shows that reforms involving subsidiarization, privatization and marketization of social welfare services should take account of the different logics underlying for-profit and non-profit actors and the different levels of trust that these actors enjoy among practitioners.

The article is devoted to the issue of cooperation between the institutions of the European Union in the process of adopting legal acts within the framework of a special legislative procedure. Authors analyzed the scope of application of special legislative procedure and ordinary legislative procedure in the EU. It was revealed that the adoption of acts in accordance with one or another type of legislative procedure reflects the dual nature of the European Union, which contains both supranational and interstate principles of legal regulation of various spheres of public relations. The main types of special legislative procedure (consultation, approval) are considered, within the framework of which, in practice, there is intense inter-institutional interaction in the process of developing the final text of the draft act, including through informal consultations and other procedures not directly enshrined in the EU primary law. Although the Council continues to dominate in most cases of the use of special legislative procedure, Parliament nevertheless has relatively wide opportunities to influence the position of the Council. De facto, the expansion of the Parliaments powers within the framework of a special legislative procedure is facilitated by both the position of the EU Court, expressed in a number of decisions on specific cases, and the increased degree of Parliaments influence on the activities of the Commission (which, as a general rule, has the right to initiate legislation), enshrined in the provisions of the constituent agreements.

Social entrepreneurship and social innovation are attracting increasing attention from policy makers, practitioners, as well as academics. They represent different ways of thinking and addressing social issues often overlooked by public/private organizations and also provide a viable means of responding to multiple social, economic and environmental crises. With this in mind, this chapter leads to a better understanding of social entrepreneurship and social innovation in the non-profit sector, using one specific case followed by a more generalized discussion. The case of “Banca Prossima” illustrates engagement in social problems and trying to find and apply new solutions that simultaneously meet a social need while also leading to new or improved capabilities and relationships and a better use of assets and resources.

From Power to Government. Canon Law as Standard in the Empire ofLouis IV. The origin of the European ,state' is still not fully understood at least in the perspective of legal history. It is suggested here that from the 13t h century onward elements from Canon law were taken over to create legal bonds beyond personal commitments as in feudal law. They helped to strengthen a central secular power, which either usurped ecclesiastical rights such as tithes or copied from the canon law model, e.g. in the field of legal procedure. The upcoming term of ius administrationis, however, points at a developing legal field of administration beyond jurisdiction. Here again, examples like the vicar as viceroy indicate the influence of Canon law not just in special cases, but as a new model for government. Thus Canon law set e new standard for authority, from which the European states could evolve. For Emperor Louis IV, our main field of investigaron, this legal transfer in special fields helped to solve his conflicts with fewer difficulties.

PurposeResearch in entrepreneurial cognition has called for a better understanding of interactions between contextual variables and cognitive processes. Based on previous work done on organizational learning and social networks, the purpose of this paper is to propose a formal model in which information acquisition, distribution and interpretation are tested as a function of cognition-based trust, perceived expertise and tie strength between organizational members in two different corporate entrepreneurship (CE) types.Design/methodology/approachThe authors conduct a quantitative analysis based on network data in two companies located in India. Special procedures known as quadratic assignment procedure and multiple regression quadratic assignment procedure were used to run the correlations and multiple regressions, respectively. The authors complement this analysis with interviews and qualitative information to build a rich description in each of these cases.FindingsThe results indicate moderate support for the model. The evidence suggests that between both types of CE types, domain redefinition requires higher levels of tie strength, trust and perceived expertise. Sustained regeneration shows moderate significant results in tie strength, and cognition-based trust.Originality/valueThe authors combined insights on social network and organizational cognitive processes to analyze interactions between context and cognition. The authors were also able to compare two different companies. The authors found consistent results regarding tie strength, but the authors also found differences between both companies, which suggest that different CE types tend to require different dynamics between context and cognitive processes.

Within 40 years, J. D. Bernal’s radical commentary on ‘the social function of science’ has become the conventional wisdom of public science policy. It is now commonplace that science should be organized and financed on a large scale, and directed towards societal goals. This policy also includes basic research, which needs financial support for expensive apparatus. Science is thus being transformed from an individualistic community into a homogeneous collective enterprise, which now covers all types of research from the academic to the technological. The modern ‘R & D system’ is undoubtedly beneficial to society, and to the advancement of knowledge. But collectivization has not only changed the societal function of science; it has also changed its internal sociology. Personal discretion in the choice of research problems is now severely limited, even in the university sector, because most projects are now funded by outside agencies. Tension between the individualist norms of the academic tradition and managerial principles derived from the industrial tradition has made research an ambivalent profession. Should scientists be regarded as members of a transnational community devoted to ‘the search for truth’, or are they simply typical employees of governmental and commercial organizations with very worldly aims? This ambivalence is evident in controversies over scientific freedom and responsibility, and in the ethical problems of military research.

Free Speech, Terrorism, and European Security: Defining and Defending the Political Community

Background: The principle ne bis in idem is a traditional principle relevant to criminal proceedings in European states. While in the past, crime had a primarily national dimension, these days, it has an international dimension as well. The Europeanisation of law also occurred in criminal law, including criminal proceedings. Thus, an understanding of ne bis in idem as a modern guarantee involving the international dimension is needed. Methods: The basic sources used for the elaboration of the paper are scholarly sources (monographs, textbooks, studies, and scientific papers, etc.), legislative instruments (international agreements, etc.), and case-law (of the European Court of Human Rights and the Court of Justice of the European Union). The materials used here also include the available explanatory memorandums. The author uses traditional methods of legal scientific (jurisprudential) research – general scientific methods as well as special methods of legal science (jurisprudence). The general scientific methods used in the paper are predominantly logical methods, namely, the method of analysis, the method of synthesis, and the method of analogy, as well as the descriptive method. The descriptive method has been used to familiarise the reader with the current legal regulation of ne bis in idem. The method of analysis has been used as regards relevant provisions and case-law. The method of synthesis has also been used, as has the method of analogy. The special methods of legal science used here predominantly include methods belonging to a group of interpretative methods, namely, the teleological method, the systematic method, the historical method, and the comparative method. The teleological method has been used as regards the explanation of the purpose of legislative instruments. The systematic method has been used in the classification of the principle of ne bis in idem. The historical method has been used as regards the genesis and historical aspects of ne bis in idem. The comparative method has been used to examine the relationship between legislative instruments. Results and Conclusions: The principle of ne bis in idem is one of the oldest norms in western civilisation. Since the Europeanisation of law also occurred in criminal law, including criminal proceedings, the principle of ne bis in idem became a part of international legal documents. The Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, as amended by Protocol No. 7, introduced a new right – the ‘right not to be tried or punished twice’. In addition, the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, which is the first bill of rights developed explicitly for the EU, also introduced the principle of ne bis in idem as the ‘right not to be tried or punished twice in criminal proceedings for the same criminal offence’. However, its understanding in the Charter has no additional significance. In principle, it is the same. Despite the fact the primary purpose of the Convention implementing the Schengen Agreement is to facilitate the free movement of persons between member states of the EU by removing internal border controls, several measures have been introduced which focus on police and judicial co-operation, including the principle of ne bis in idem, in the provision entitled ‘Application of the ne bis in idem principle’. This provision is considered the most developed expression of an internationally applicable ne bis in idem. Ne bis in idem also occurs in extradition proceedings and surrender proceedings. Its operation under the European Convention on Extradition prevents the double prosecution of the same person for the same offence in different jurisdictions. As regards the new procedural system introduced by the Framework Decision 2002/584/JHA on the European arrest warrant, based on the surrender proceedings as a special kind of criminal proceedings, there is no absolute obligation to execute the European arrest warrant. The Framework Decision, in its core text, includes grounds for non-execution of the arrest warrant in the executing state – and one of them is the principle of ne bis in idem

In order to achieve fundamental results in punishing corruption crime, we should adhere to the legal anti-corruption pattern, advance with the Rule of Law, and make anti-corruption standardized and institutionalized. The bottom line is that we should reform and improve the criminal procedure for corruption crime in China. Problems in the current procedure for corruption crime mainly include: the presumption rules for corruption crime have not been established, the absence of stigma witness exemption system, the witness protection system, the investigation jurisdiction are not perfect, the supervision of investigation is weak, the lack of absentee trial system for corrupt crime, the non-institutionalization of off-site trial, technical investigation measures may be abused, and difficulties in person sought for corruption and asset recovery. To reform and improve the procedure for corruption crime in China, it is suggested that special procedures for corruption crime be set up as appropriate, relevant contents of the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) should be reasonably absorbed, and efforts should be made to promote the institutionalization of the reform achievements in criminal procedure of corruption crime.

This chapter highlights decision-making in the European Union which leads to the adoption of legislative acts. The Lisbon Treaty introduced a clear distinction between legislative and other acts of the Union with the aim of making decision-making at Union level more democratic and transparent. The Treaties now unambiguously use the term 'legislative act' for acts based on a provision of the Treaties and adopted pursuant to a legislative procedure, i.e. under the 'ordinary legislative procedure' or, in specific cases, under a 'special legislative procedure'. The qualification of acts to be adopted as 'legislative acts' has direct consequences for the operation of the institutions, the scrutiny exercised by national parliaments of respect for the principle of subsidiarity, the possibility of delegating powers to the Commission, and judicial review. The EU Constitution had proposed to go one step further and distinguish between legal instruments to be used for legislative acts and non-legislative acts respectively: legislative acts would take the form of a 'European law', or a 'European framework law'. For non-legislative action, institutions were to use a 'European regulation' or a 'European decision'.

Dexamethasone and remdesivir: finding method in the COVID-19 madness

Cooperative breeding often involves reproductive dominance hierarchies. Such hierarchies have been proposed to form and to be maintained through an equitable skew in reproduction for both dominants and subordinates. The general form of skew models also predicts that cooperation can be stable only if cooperation greatly increases group reproductive success or subordinates are greatly constrained in their reproductive prospects relative to dominants. Neither, however, seems to be generally present in the colony initiation phase of temperate polistine wasps, although the behaviors of individuals within such groups are often consistent with skew model predictions. This apparent contradiction can be resolved in the context of a special case of the skew models that incorporate mother-offspring conflicts over sex ratios. Data suggest that all the needed preconditions are present for cooperating foundresses to gain an added benefit through producing male-biased investment ratios. Therefore, the special case model predicts that cooperation can evolve in Hymenoptera with both the observed high skews and reduced per capita group productivity. Further predictions of the special case model (e.g., mixed populations of single and multifoundresses) are also supported. Because the special case model is applicable only to haplodiploids, this may explain why cooperation in vertebrates rarely occurs without significant ecological or physiological constraints. Finally, comparisons to other social Hymenoptera taxa suggest that factors stabilizing cooperation between colony-initiating females may simultaneously constrain the evolution of morphologically specialized worker castes.

Telehealth Opportunities in the Digital Age

In this paper, we employ behaviour-driven cellular automata as a simplified agent-based modelling approach to test the seminal Coase theorem, with a policy focus on the land value betterment effect of urban infrastructure provision. Four prototypical development regimes are identified from international practice: (1) the private developer-oriented Metroland model dating back to the suburbanisation of London in the nineteenth century England; (2) the private household-led special district model, which can be observed in many contemporary US suburbs; (3) the public planning-regulated model, as featured in most post-war European welfare state countries, including the present-day UK; (4) the public state-as-developer model, which characterises what has been taking place in China. A repeated analysis of variance (ANOVA) based on the results of a large number of cellular automata simulations suggests no significant difference between models I and II in terms of their welfare outcomes measured by aggregate utility. However, models III and IV are both found to generate significantly less welfare than models I and II, under strict assumptions of zero transaction costs, perfect information, perfect capital markets and perfect competition.

Where are we at with integration in the context of increasing world market interdepend- ence? How does integration already affect national welfare states? How does the asynchronic realization of the four market freedoms in building the Single Market affect the developmental potential for a vision of welfare? Is Europe a special case in world market integration? Does the Western case offer unique chances for defending its welfare state cultures—if not any more at the national, then now at the level? Are these chances special compared with other integration efforts such as NAFTA? Questions such as these are confronted in this essay. The author sees the twenty-first century as a special window of opportun- ity for re-embedding the post-World War II welfare state compact at the level, though this will not take the form of a deja vu, of a European welfare state. Rather it may take the form of a mixture of re-insurance of basic welfare elements, integrated welfare state reform efforts EC-wide and sectoral buffer insurance ( for example for Monetary Union in the area of unemployment). Such steps require a constitutional move towards a full economic and fiscal union. Compared with the USA Europe will otherwise never be able to get its act together. An EFTA will not do in Europe, on such saturated welfare state terrain.