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Geopolitics and economics overlap in studying the rise and decline of nations. One influential explanation of the rise of Europe and the West, of them overcoming mass poverty before other civilizations, contrasts the geopolitical fragmentation of Europe with civilizations unified under repressive rule elsewhere, and explains the rise of the West by its greater degree of economic freedom than elsewhere. After World War II, the dominant economy promoted economic freedom globally and thereby granted advantages of backwardness to less fortunate peoples. Although the global expansion of economic freedom lifted at least one billion people out of abject poverty, the same process undermined American economic dominance. The imminent power transition between America and China implies an increased risk of war. If a trade war between China and America ends the era of globalization, then the outlook becomes dark: less economic freedom, less prosperity, less political stability and higher risks of war.

This article attempts to evaluate five alternative explanations of the size distribution of income. It is based on a regression analysis of inequality data from 71 countries and different explanatory variables taken from various theoretical approaches. Also, the proper specification of the relationship between economic development and income inequality is used. The following tentative conclusions are reached: First, the most important correlate or determinant of inequality is the level of economic development; divergent conclusions in other studies are the result of improper specification. Second, communist countries have a more equal distribution of income than other societies. Third, high military participation ratios contribute to income equalization. Fourth, judgment about democratic performance has to be postponed because democracy seems to contribute to a more egalitarian distribution of income in one data set, but not in the others. Fifth, the three versions of dependency theory under consideration—Galtung's (1971), Rubinson's (1976), and Bornschier and Ballmer-Cao's (1979) have failed to contribute significantly to the explanation of income inequality.

Hans Albert habe ich im Wintersemester 1967 – 68 kennengelernt. Um seinen Einfluss auf mich zu wurdigen, lasst es sich nicht vermeiden, etwas uber mich zu sagen, weil ich schon vorher geistigen Einflussen ausgesetzt war. Von 1962 bis 1966 hatte ich in Hamburg Psychologie studiert und mit dem Diplom abgeschlossen.

The most general argument of this essay is that human fallibility necessitates limited government and economic freedom. This argument derives from the insights of the philosopher Karl Popper as well as the Austrian economists Ludwig von Mises and Friedrich August on Hayek. Where limited government and economic freedom prevail, economic growth contributes to rising prosperity. Unfortunately, the German government persistently expands the scope of government, in order to safe the global climate, in order to rescue the Euro, and in order to help refugees from countries who suffer from civil war or repressive government. Considerations of effectiveness and cost are usually neglected. It remains dubious whether German policies benefit the climate, whether German support for Greece and other Mediterranean countries is as beneficial for them as leaving the Euro-zone might be, whether the German open door policy for refugees is more effective in aiding poor people or in undermining the institutional stability of Germany. Here, it is argued that the ultimate effect of these policies has to be the decline of Germany.

In this article we attempt to replicate the hypothesis tested by Rummel and others that external and internal conflict are unrelated. We do this using data for 125 nations for the years 1966-1967. As did Rummel, we use exploratory factor analysis and regression analysis; in addition, we also employ confirmatory factor analysis. Results from confirmatory factor analysis contradict Rummel and reveal moderately strong correlations between internal and external conflict factors. Regression analysis and partial correlations, however, show that zero-order cross-country correlations between internal and external conflict are reduced to insignificance when a control variable, population size, is introduced in the analysis.

We present an interactive and diagnostic system for helping children with ADHD and reading weakness to improve their reading skills. The system is designed for educational centres and Namibian museums. It analyses captured eye movements. We present metrics for evaluating reading skills and for measuring relaxation and mental focus. The analysis is used to adapt the displayed information of the educational system. The derived criteria can distinguish skilled readers from ones with difficulties. Persons with reading disorder often have issues in following a line of text. Problems at line breaks are observed. More time for identifying words is needed. It is essential for young readers to learn how to fix their gaze at specific points and to decrease their eye movements. The system includes training phases for enhancing these skills. Fixation durations and skewness and velocity of eye movements are critical parameters for measuring mental focus and relaxation.

Zusammenfassung Hier werden Hayeks Vorstellungen vom Wissen als Kern seiner Gesellschaftstheorie aufgefasst. Dieser Zugang zu Hayeks Werk hat den Vorteil, dass man im Sinne der Popperschen Wissenschaftslehre die Frage nach den Falsifikationsmöglichkeiten der Hayekschen Theorie aufwerfen kann. Für Hayek ist Wissen ein breites Konzept. Es gibt theoretisches und praktisches Wissen, explizites und implizites Wissen, lokales und von Raum und Zeit unabhängiges Wissen. Für Hayek entscheidend ist die These, dass Wissen nicht zentralisierbar ist, dass nur individuelle Freiheit und dezentralisierte Entscheidungen die Nutzung und Mehrung von Wissen erlauben. Ähnlich seiner Unterscheidung von impliziten und explizitem Wissen, sieht Hayek das Verhältnis von Tradition und Recht. An der Tradition bzw. Präzedenzfällen orientierte Rechtsfindung wie beim common law hält er für fruchtbarer als Legislative, die allzu leicht die Staatstätigkeit endlos ausdehnt. Zugunsten von Hayeks Theorie lässt sich zeigen, dass Versuche der Wissens- und Entscheidungszentralisierung bzw. der Einschränkung der wirtschaftlichen Freiheit Wohlstand und Wachstum immer beeinträchtigt haben. Das gilt für den großen Sprung nach Vorn in China. Das zeigt die Analyse geteilter bzw. ehemals geteilter Länder. Auch ökonometrische Studien zu den Effekten der wirtschaftlichen Freiheit bestätigen deren Wert. Wie von Hayek erkannt, nützt wirtschaftliche Freiheit nicht nur den Freien, sondern auch denen, denen sie noch vorenthalten wird. Die ökonometrisch gut abgesicherten Vorteile der Rückständigkeit werden in diesem Sinne als externer Effekt der Freiheit im Westen interpretiert. Abschließend wird noch die Frage der Anomalien in Hayeks Theorie aufgeworfen.

At a former wood preservation plant severely contaminated with coal tar oil, in situ bulk attenuation and biodegradation rate constants for several monoaromatic (BTEX) and polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) were determined using (1) classical first order decay models, (2) Michaelis–Menten degradation kinetics (MM), and (3) stable carbon isotopes, for o-xylene and naphthalene. The first order bulk attenuation rate constant for o-xylene was calculated to be 0.0025 d−1 and a novel stable isotope-based first order model, which also accounted for the respective redox conditions, resulted in a slightly smaller biodegradation rate constant of 0.0019 d−1. Based on MM-kinetics, the o-xylene concentration decreased with a maximum rate of kmax=0.1 μg/L/d. The bulk attenuation rate constant of naphthalene retrieved from the classical first order decay model was 0.0038 d− 1. The stable isotope-based biodegradation rate constant of 0.0027 d−1 was smaller in the reduced zone, while residual naphthalene in the oxic part of the plume further downgradient was degraded at a higher rate of 0.0038 d−1. With MM-kinetics a maximum degradation rate of kmax=12 μg/L/d was determined. Although best fits were obtained by MM-kinetics, we consider the carbon stable isotope-based approach more appropriate as it is specific for biodegradation (not overall attenuation) and at the same time accounts for the dominant electron-accepting process. For o-xylene a field based isotope enrichment factor εfield of −1.4 could be determined using the Rayleigh model, which closely matched values from laboratory studies of o-xylene degradation under sulfate-reducing conditions.

Rudy Rummel consistently was a bold and innovative scholar. In the 1960s, the field of international relations was still in the grip of contemporary and diplomatic historians or international lawyers. This did not satisfy him. He looked for a more scientific approach modeled on the natural sciences.

On the one hand, the idea of a capitalist peace is a set of loosely integrated but testable propositions. On the other hand, it is part of a wider, libertarian philosophy of life. The wider conception aims at minimizing government. Although there has been a proliferation of variables assessing capitalism and economic interdependence—from economic freedom via contract intensity to the avoidance of state ownership or protectionism—the most frequently analyzed proposition about the capitalist peace says that trade makes military conflict and war less likely. By and large, the evidence supports this proposition in dyadic designs as well as in monadic designs. This cross-design validity of the proposition is important because it distinguishes the peace by trade proposition from the democratic peace proposition. Most researchers agree that war is extremely unlikely in dyads where both nations are democracies. But only a minority contends that democracies are less frequently involved in military conflict than other states. The dyadic and the monadic findings are compatible because military conflict looks even more likely between an autocracy and a democracy than between two autocracies. Whereas the democratic peace is limited in application, the pacifying impact of trade or economic interdependence is more general. Moreover, the democratic peace may be embedded in a wider economic or capitalist peace. There is strong evidence that democracy rests on a foundation of capitalism or economic freedom and the prosperity that has been gained only by capitalism or some degree of economic freedom. Moreover, economic freedom and prosperity contribute to the avoidance of civil war. Better still, not only does economic freedom promote economic growth and prosperity among those nations where people enjoy economic freedom, but the economic freedom of rich countries provides poor countries with the advantages of backwardness and catch-up opportunities. Capitalist peace theory evolves. It has been suggested that the pacifying impact of trade rests on the expectation that trade, or access to resources and markets, will continue. This suggestion requires a new look at economic sanctions, too. By interfering with trade, sanctions must undermine the expectation of future benefits of trade and globally interconnected markets. Given the rareness of evidence in favor of the effectiveness of economic sanctions in eliminating undesirable policies of other nations, a capitalist peace perspective implies the recommendation to use sanctions much less frequently than politicians do. They are likely to eliminate a pacifying factor when it is most urgently needed. The wider or visionary perspective on the capitalist peace is useful not only in connecting it with the issue of sanctions, but also in demonstrating the inherent limitations of capitalism as a tool to achieve peace. From a static perspective, capitalism, economic freedom, or trade may exert some pacifying impact, as argued previously. But capitalism is a dynamic economic order. It is about “creative destruction.” Capitalism is not egalitarian. Nations grow at different speeds. They rise and decline. Capitalism and unequal economic growth upset pecking orders and contribute to power transitions that are related to risks of war, especially great power war. Whether the contribution of capitalism to power transitions—or its pacifying impact—prevails cannot be judged with much confidence.

This paper addresses a question about music cognition: how do we derive polymetric structures. A preference rule system is presented which is implemented into a drum computer. The preference rule system allows inferring local polymetric structures, like two-over-three and three-over-two. By analyzing the micro-timing of West African percussion music a timing pattern consisting of six pulses was discovered. It integrates binary and ternary rhythmic feels. The presented drum computer integrates the discovered superimposed polymetric swing (timing and velocity) appropriate to the rhythmic sequence the user inputs. For binary sequences, the amount of binary swing is increased and for ternary sequences, the ternary swing is increased.

Research on children’s false memories of entire events has garnered considerable attention in recent years. Such research is propelled by the important role children’s reports can play in the legal system. A prime example stems from the crime of child sexual abuse. This serious offense poses a special challenge for the criminal justice system because it often leaves no physical trace. Other kinds of cases that frequently involve children, such as custody or domestic violence, can also hinge considerably on children’s reports. Ideally, such reports would always be both true and complete, but the specter of children’s false reports (children’s incorrect reporting that an event occurred when in fact it did not), and conversely, false denials (children’s incorrect denial that an event happened when it actually did occur) raises serious concerns. Fortunately, the legal system can tolerate false reports and false denials as long as fact finders correctly assess witness accuracy. However, if adults are unable to reliably identify children’s false reports and false denials, or if adults fail to give credence to children’s accurate reports and accurate denials, serious miscarriages of justice may result. In the present study, we evaluated adults’ abilities to discern 3- and 5-year-olds’ true and false memory reports. Specifically, we examined adults’ abilities to assess children’s accurate reports, false reports, accurate denials, and false denials. To our knowledge, the present study is the first to examine adults’ abilities to differentiate children’s true from false memory reports of entire incidents. There is longstanding concern that it can be difficult for adults to identify accurate reports made by child witnesses due to the limitations inherent in their cognitive and socio-emotional development. This concern is amplified by findings that young children can be led into making false reports of entire events (e.g., Ceci & Bruck, 1993; Goodman, 1984). However, children’s denials are also of critical importance (Lyon, 1999). False denials could occur in situations where, for example, children who were actually abused deny the abuse, and accurate denials could occur in cases where a third party suspects wrongdoing that did not in fact occur. For justice to prevail, adults cannot treat any of these four types of child statements with misplaced credence or unwarranted skepticism. For our study, adults evaluated interviews of children who were suggestively questioned about true and false events but not instructed to intentionally lie. Instead, we used a variant of a false memory paradigm (e.g., Loftus & Pickrell, 1995). In response to the interviews, children spontaneously answered with true reports, true denials, false reports, or false denials. Thus, the false reports and false denials used as stimuli did not necessarily reflect deliberate, premeditated deception, although that is one possibility. Children might falsely assent or falsely deny for a variety of reasons, including succumbing to demand characteristics during an interview (e.g., Bjorklund et al., 2000; Cassel, Roebers, & Bjorkland, 1996), using their imaginations (Reyna, Holliday, & Marche, 2002), being deficient in certain social cognitive realms (e.g., incomplete understanding of honesty, Bussey, 1992; limited theory of mind or inadequate inhibition, Talwar & Lee, 2008), having been coached or coerced into lying (e.g., Ackil & Zaragoza, 1998; Lyon, Malloy, Quas, & Talwar, 2008), trying to conform to social expectations of politeness (e.g., Talwar, Murphy, & Lee 2007), or acquiescing to persistent questioning (e.g., Schaaf, Alexander, & Goodman, 2008). Children who falsely deny an event might also do so to avoid talking about an unpleasant or embarrassing experience (Bruck, Ceci, & Hembrooke, 1998), evade punishment (e.g., Polak & Harris, 1999; Talwar, Gordon, & Lee, 2007), or reduce the chances of getting someone else in trouble (e.g., Goodman-Brown, Edelstein, Goodman, Jones, & Gordon, 2003). In the current study, adults evaluated true and false memory reports made by preschoolers. Young children were of special interest because they are particularly vulnerable to the aforementioned developmental limitations and social forces, including false memory reports. Despite such limitations, research reveals that children make great strides in cognitive and social development during the preschool years, in concert with increased resistance to suggestion (Harris, Goodman, Augusti, Chae, & Alley, 2009). Additionally, children’s social awareness and understanding of truth and lies improves substantially during this developmental period (e.g., Lee & Cameron, 2000). For such reasons, researchers have paid particular attention to the accuracy and suggestibility of preschoolers’ eyewitness memory (e.g., Goodman & Reed, 1986; Poole & Lindsay, 1998). Yet, there is surprisingly little research on adults’ abilities to discern children’s true memory from false memory accounts of entire events.

Zusammenfassung Nach der gegenwärtig die Klimaforschung dominierenden Auffassung wird die Menschheit durch den Klimawandel gefährdet. Weil es neben der dominanten auch noch andere und weniger beunruhigende Auffassungen zum Klimawandel und dem menschlichen Einfluss darauf gibt, weil auch bei Unterstellung der Richtigkeit der Befürchtungen der dominanten Auffassung die bisher ins Auge gefassten Gegenmaßnahmen ineffizient oder kostspielig sein könnten oder mit dem Grundwert der Freiheit in Konflikt geraten, wird hier zunächst der Stellenwert von Konsens in menschlichem Denken im Allgemeinen und in der Wissenschaft im Besonderen diskutiert. Dabei wird die Auffassung zurückgewiesen, dass Konsens der Fachleute jemals Gewissheit über den Besitz der Wahrheit vermitteln kann. Wissenschaftliche Erkenntnisse sind grundsätzlich vorläufig und müssen vielleicht revidiert werden. Eine allzu große Nähe von Wissenschaft und Politik ist eher eine Gefahr als eine Verheißung. Um dem entgegenzuwirken müssen bestimmte Normen beachtet und institutionelle Voraussetzungen zum Schutz der Autonomie der Wissenschaft aufgebaut werden. Wettbewerb ist nicht nur auf dem Markt, sondern auch in der Wissenschaft das beste Entdeckungsverfahren. Aufgabe der Wissenschaft kann nie der voreilige Konsens und die Unterdrückung von Zweifeln sein, sondern muss der organisierte Skeptizismus und das Aufdecken von Inkompatibilitäten unter politischen Zielsetzungen bleiben - auch wenn dadurch das Regieren erschwert wird.

Zusammenfassung Feng, Ljungwall und Guo haben gezeigt, wie die Ausweitung der wirtschaftlichen Freiheit in China zu beständigem und schnellen Wirtschaftswachstum beigetragen hat. Hier werden vier Punkte ergänzt. Erstens hatte die besonders konsequente Abschaffung der wirtschaftlichen Freiheit vor den Reformen, noch unter Mao beim „großen Sprung nach Vorn“, China in die Katastrophe geführt. Zweitens muss Chinas Entwicklung nicht nur durch interne, sondern auch durch externe Determinanten, wie die Vorteile der Rückständigkeit, die aus der wirtschaftlichen Freiheit im Westen resultieren, erklärt werden. Drittens bleibt Chinas Wirtschaftsentwicklung seit den Reformen trotz vielversprechender Erklärungsansätze ein Wunder, weil die chinesische Volkswirtschaft mit erstaunlich unsicheren Eigentumsrechten und viel Rechtsunsicherheit leben kann. Viertens kann man die Einkindpolitik als den letzten „Sieg“ der chinesischen Planwirtschaft betrachten und als Vorboten großer Probleme.

A new knowledge-based planning system is presented, that optimizes the positions of ports for the instruments and the endoscopic camera in manual and robot assisted laparoscopic surgery. For robot assisted interventions, the initial robot configuration of the da Vinci ® Surgical System is included in the optimization. Modeling of the patient, the intervention and the telemanipulator are described. The patient model is including the pneumoperitoneum. The intervention model is inferred from recorded trajectories of the surgical instruments. The optimization is performed with the Seed Throwing Optimization meta-heuristic. Criteria for optimization are reachability of target areas, collision avoidance and dexterity as well as ergonomic factors. These criteria are modeled as fuzzy sets. The optimized port positions are projected on the patient's abdomen with a new laser-based projection system. The error of the laser-based projection was measured. The advantages and disadvantages of the system are discussed and compared to an existing augmented reality system. First results show that the computed configuration leads to maximum access in the operation field in the narrow pelvis, maximum separation of the telemanipulator's arms and allows an ergonomic completion of the intervention.

SUMMARY This paper first analyzes the question why did Czarist Russia and Ottoman Turkey fall behind the West? It is argued that interstate rivalry forced West European rulers to respect the private property rights of producers and subjects earlier and to a greater degree than czars or sultans ruling over huge contiguous territories ever had to. Incentives to work were better in Europe than elsewhere. The mobilization of available knowledge for productive purposes was easier than elsewhere. Limited government implied less political obstacles to innovation. Comparatively secure private property ownership in the means of production made the establishment of scarcity prices and the rational allocation of resources easier than elsewhere. Whereas the Western past was feudal, the Russian or Turkish past was patrimonial or even sultanistic. Feudalism is a much better starting point for establishing the rule of law and safe property rights than patrimonialism. The second issue has been the question why Czarist Russia could outperform Ottoman Turkey. Here the political consequences of the Muslim tolerance of slavery and polygyny matter. Being slaves, many members of Ottoman ruling elites were at the mercy of their owner, the sultan. Therefore, they became tools of arbitrary rule. Moreover, the practice of polygyny generated downward social mobility and political instability and thereby added another obstacle to the establishment of safe property rights for producers or merchants. The final issue is the economic prospects of Russia or Turkey. Economic freedom is better in Turkey than in Russia. Moreover, Russia is graying, whereas Turkey may look forward to a growing labor force. Although a rich endowment in natural resources seems to favor Russia, the resource curse has prevented other resource rich countries from developing. Therefore, the Turkish prospect looks much brighter than the Russian one.

Important dimensions of emotional experiences include the level of arousal elicited and the source of that arousal, yet memory for events differing on these constructs is often compared within and across studies. One important factor for emotional memory is attachment security, which predicts how parents and children relate to each other and to the world around them. The present study investigated differences in 8- to 12-year olds’ recall of emotional stimuli varied in relevance to attachment themes of separation and reunion. Moreover, memory was examined as predicted by children's attachment security, parents’ attachment avoidance and anxiety, and parental elaboration during an interaction about the laboratory experience. Results revealed that recall was best for stimuli involving separation. Moreover, recall for separation stimuli was positively predicted by children's attachment security and parental avoidance, and negatively predicted by parental anxiety and elaborative interaction style. These findings highlight the importance of considering the effect of multiple dimensions of emotional events on children's memory and how contextual factors may differentially predict those memories.

We examined adults’ long-term autobiographical memory for a dramatic life event—participating as a child victim in a criminal prosecution because of alleged sexual abuse. The study is unique in several ways, including that we had extensive documentation concerning the sexual abuse allegations, the children's involvement in their legal case, and other factors known to affect long-term memory. Approximately 14 years after their legal involvement, 94 adolescents and young adults, aged 16–30 years, were interviewed about their childhood legal experiences. A subset of the victims had taken the stand in criminal court, and memory for testifying was examined. Results revealed that greater severity of the abuse, a closer relationship to the perpetrator, testifying more frequently, and greater distress were associated with more accurate memory. Findings suggest that both individual and sociocontextual factors must be considered in pursuing a scientific understanding of autobiographical memory for stressful childhood experiences.

Two or three centuries ago most of mankind was still very poor. When the West outgrew mass poverty, India was a British colony and suffered from stagnation. When East Asian economies exploited the advantages of backwardness and benefited from export-led growth, India remained inward-looking and poor. The ‘Hindu rate of growth’ preserved mass poverty. Since the reforms of the early 1990s India has exploited the advantages of backwardness and some global markets. In this article, the roots of India's failure to grow rapidly before the end of the twentieth century are analyzed. Stagnation is blamed on restrictions of economic freedom, whereas growth is explained by the expansion of economic freedom. Before the mid-twentieth century, the caste system and the legacy of sultanism curtailed economic freedom and contributed to economic stagnation. Thereafter, democratic socialism distorted incentives and generated ‘permit-license-quota raj’ or a rent-seeking society. When some obstacles to growth were di...

Historically, the rise and fall of great powers has been related to great wars. Both world wars of the twentieth century would not have been possible without the previous industrialization and rise...

Three hundred years ago China and Europe were about equally poor. Then the West forged ahead of Asian societies, thereby generating rising global income disparities until the end of the 20th century. Since 1979 the Chinese have raised per capita incomes sevenfold. This history of economic performance poses two explanatory challenges. Why did China fall behind Europe or the West? Why has China started to close the income gap recently? Here, a unitary explanatory framework is suggested for answering both questions. Because of weak property rights, lack of scarcity prices, and too little economic freedom, China grew much more slowly than the West. The West benefited from better institutions than China because of political fragmentation resulting in limited government and comparatively free markets. Similarly, China could start its attempt to catch-up with the West only after climbing out of the socialist trap by a de facto improvement of property rights and economic freedom, by “market-preserving federalism” and by vigorously joining the capitalist world economy. This account of Western and Chinese performance ultimately rests on geopolitics. Interstate rivalry between European states, kingdoms and principalities contributed to safe property rights and the European miracle. Competition between European states forced them to establish limited instead of absolutist government and therefore to provide space for the commercial and industrial revolutions in the West. Similarly, rivalry between the People's Republic of China on the Mainland and the Republic of China on Taiwan, the hostile competition between Communist China and the Soviet Union, the historical rivalry between China and Japan, and the geographical closeness of US troop deployments to China forced the People's Republic of China leadership in the late 1970s to consider the consequences of falling further and further behind the West, Japan, and Taiwan. Thus, geopolitical threat perception has been the midwife of Chinese economic reform policies. The current financial and economic crisis is likely to increase government interference with the economy and to reduce economic freedom in China as well as in the West.

Zusammenfassung Der Kapitalismus ist in Deutschland bzw. in Kontinentaleuropa schon lange unbeliebt. Zuerst haben der Wohlstand und der Sozialstaat, danach die Globalisierung und zuallerletzt die Finanzkrise dazu beigetragen. Vorübergehend profitiert der Staat mit einem Legitimitätszuwachs von der Krise der Finanzmärkte und der Volkswirtschaften, obwohl die Finanzkrise nicht in erster Linie auf Marktversagen, sondern in stärkerem Maße auf Staatsversagen zurückzuführen ist. Dabei spielten die Geldpolitik, falsche Anreize auf dem amerikanischen Immobilienmarkt und Regulierungsdefizite eine Rolle. Die Banken haben allerdings durch die Entwicklung neuer Kapitalmarktprodukte, die nur von wenigen Fachleuten und Bankern verstanden wurden, ebenfalls zur Krise beigetragen. Die Fehler von Politikern und Bankern müssen neutrale Beobachter an die Fallibilität von Menschen erinnern. Prinzipal-Agent-Probleme verstärken die Schwierigkeiten. Die Übertragung von immer mehr Aufgaben auf den Staat, die dabei implizierten Hoffnungen auf die Weisheit staatlicher Entscheidungen, den Altruismus und Paternalismus der Politiker müssen die Politik überfordern, zumal auch die Wissenschaft bei vielen wichtigen Fragen nur umstrittene Antworten bereit hält. Außerdem: Selbst wo die Wissenschaft mit einer Stimme eindeutigen Rat erteilt, fällt es Politikern schwer, sich danach zu richten.

Rationality is the attempt to cope with human fallibility. It presupposes individual freedom and responsibility where responsibility includes suffering from one’s errors. If humans are fallible, then one of the most important characteristics of a social order is whether or not it provides mechanisms for eliminating and correcting errors. It is easiest to institutionalize rationality in an economy. Contestable markets, competition and the threat of bankruptcy suffice. Within academia or science, rationality requires humans to give up the utopian quest for certainty, but nevertheless to continue to rely on logic and experience to make theories ever more consistent as well as compatible with observable facts. It is most difficult to achieve a minimum of rationality in the field of politics. In politics one always suffers from the errors of others rather than from one’s own errors.

Globalization may be defined by a worldwide division of labor and increasing trade between nations. This is inconceivable without expanding economic freedom across the world. Free trade and globalization increase competition, productivity, and economic growth rates. In spite of increasing inequality within many large economies – including the US, China, and Russia – inequality between human beings and households has been reduced. Since catch-up growth in big Asian economies contributes to Schumpeterian “creative destruction,” it necessitates rich economies to adapt, to become ever more entrepreneurial and innovative. This generates resentment and strengthens protectionist excesses which might serve some special interests. But protectionism harms the global economy, the prospects of the poor to grow out of poverty and, worse still, likely increases the risk of war.

Das vorherrschende Motiv der Migranten ist die Verbesserung der Lebensbedingungen. Es bleibt offen, ob Migration auch im Interesse der Ziellander, der Herkunftslander und der Menschheit ist. Diese Interessen konnten in Widerspruch zueinander stehen. Hier werden vor allem drei Argumente zugunsten von Zuwanderung aus armen Landern in reiche Lander diskutiert. Das Argument, wonach ergrauende Lander Zuwanderer brauchen, ist problematisch. Die Argumente, wonach Zuwanderung zu Produktivitatssteigerung und Wachstum der Weltwirtschaft beitragt, wonach offene Grenzen zu Freiheitsgewinnen beitragen, sind richtig. Die Angst in reichen Landern vor zunehmender Armut und Ungleichheit durch Zuwanderung von Unqualifizierten wird ubertrieben. Schwerwiegender sind die sozialen und kulturellen Ruckwirkungen der Zuwanderung von Unqualifizierten. Demokratien vertragen unerwunschte Zuwanderung schlecht. Die Integrationsprobleme werden verscharft durch Kettenzuwanderung, Herkunft vieler Zuwanderer aus einem Land und kultureller Distanz zwischen Herkunfts- und Zielland der Migranten.

Although Saddam Hussein was a bloody tyrant, and although deposing him served a noble purpose, one still may doubt the wisdom of the American war against Iraq. It is quite dubious whether the democratisation of Iraq can serve as a justification of the American war effort. Properly understood, the democratic peace proposition does not promise that poor, emerging, and illiberal democracies surrounded by autocracies are more peaceful than autocracies. By itself, the transition towards democracy is quite likely to imply some semi-democratic phase when the country is at risk of civil war. Moreover, the democratic peace proposition says nothing at all about the likelihood of success of democratisation in a poor, oil-rich, Arab and Muslim country where there is little common ground to unite the democracy-imposing occupier and the defeated country. Finally, defeating the insurgency in the Sunni triangle of Iraq might require means which a democracy cannot even wish to apply. Whereas the promotion of democracy by ...

Internationales Asienforum, Bd. 40 Nr. 1-2 (2009): Internationales Asienforum

Purpose. Though already proclaimed about 7 years ago, natural orifice transluminal endoscopic surgery (NOTES) is still in its early stages. A multidisciplinary working team tried to analyze the technical obstacles and identify potential solutions. Methods. After a comprehensive review of the literature, a group of 3 surgeons, 1 gastroenterologist, 10 engineers, and 1 representative of biomedical industry defined the most important deficiencies within the system and then compiled as well as evaluated innovative technologies that could be used to help overcome these problems. These technologies were classified with regard to the time needed for their implementation and associated hindrances, where priority is based on the level of impact and significance that it would make. Results. Both visualization and actuation require significant improvement. Advanced illumination, mist elimination, image stabilization, view extension, 3-dimensional stereoscopy, and augmented reality are feasible options and could optimize visual information. Advanced mechatronic platforms with miniaturized, powerful actuators, and intuitive human–machine interfaces could optimize dexterity, as long as enabling technologies are used. The latter include depth maps in real time, precise navigation, fast pattern recognition, partial autonomy, and cognition systems. Conclusion. The majority of functional deficiencies that still exist in NOTES platforms could be overcome by a broad range of already existing or emerging enabling technologies. To combine them in an optimal manner, a permanent dialogue between researchers and clinicians is mandatory.

Als je de landelijke cijfers van het CBS erop naslaat is de bijdrage van de ondergrond aan de energietransitie op dit moment betrekkelijk laag. Echter een duurzame energievoorziening wordt een steeds belangrijkere factor voor het vestigingsklimaat voor bewoners en een “license to operate” voor bedrijven. Dit vraagt om maatwerk en vooruitplannen. De provincie Overijssel liet haar huidige ruimtelijk beleid en energieprogramma tegen het licht houden en concludeerde dat de Omgevingsvisie de juiste handvatten biedt, maar dat voor specifieke toepassingen wel meer maatwerk nodig is.

Als je de landelijke cijfers van het CBS erop naslaat is de bijdrage van de ondergrond aan de energietransitie op dit moment betrekkelijk laag. Echter een duurzame energievoorziening wordt een steeds belangrijkere factor voor het vestigingsklimaat voor bewoners en eenlicense to operate voor bedrijven. Dit vraagt om maatwerk en vooruitplannen.

Als je de landelijke cijfers van het CBS erop naslaat is de bijdrage van de ondergrond aan de energietransitie op dit moment betrekkelijk laag. Echter een duurzame energievoorziening wordt een steeds belangrijkere factor voor het vestigingsklimaat voor bewoners en een “license to operate” voor bedrijven. Dit vraagt om maatwerk en vooruitplannen. De provincie Overijssel liet haar huidige ruimtelijk beleid en energieprogramma tegen het licht houden en concludeerde dat de Omgevingsvisie de juiste handvatten biedt, maar dat voor specifieke toepassingen wel meer maatwerk nodig is.

Zusammenfassung Wenn es am Anfang des 21. Jahrhunderts ein funktionales Äquivalent zu einer Weltregierung gibt, dann nehmen nicht die Vereinten Nationen oder deren Sicherheitsrat, auch nicht die Triade von Weltwährungsfond, Welthandelsorganisation und Weltbank, sondern die USA bzw. die amerikanische Regierung die Aufgaben einer Weltregierung war. Das ergibt sich aus dem weltwirtschaftlichen und mehr noch dem militärischen Übergewicht der USA. Wenn öffentliche Güter für die Welt überhaupt beschafft werden, wenn die politischen Rahmbedingungen für eine freie oder kapitalistische Weltwirtschaft gesichert werden, dann kann das auf absehbare Zeit nur unter amerikanischer Führung erfolgen. Sowohl der Versuch, mit militärischen Mitteln die Demokratie zu verbreiten, als auch der Versuch mit tendenziell planwirtschaftlichen Mitten, die Armut zu überwinden, gefährden diese nach dem zweiten Weltkrieg von den Amerikanern selbst geschaffene freiheitliche Weltordnung. Die Werte der wirtschaftlichen Freiheit und des Freihandels und deren Wohlstandfolgen sind attraktiv genug, dass ihre Verbreitung weder militärischer noch planwirtschaftlicher Mittel bedarf. Die Führungsrolle der USA in der Welt ist zwar nicht demokratisch legitimiert, aber sie läuft auf eine begrenzte Regierungstätigkeit und Standortwettbewerb hinaus und trägt damit zur Erhaltung freiheitlicher Gesellschaften und Volkswirtschaften bei.