Montesquieu and judicial review of proportionality in administrative law : rethinking the separation of powers in the neoliberal era

The present era has seen an unprecedented fragmentation of the public sphere, a breakup of public imperium into separate pieces, not only left in the hands of supranational or subnational authorities, but also entrusted to private actors. With the abandonment of previously undisputed notions of strict legal verticality and the undivided general interest, the separation of powers doctrine as applied in most European systems of administrative law is in need of serious rethinking. Current debates on the judicial control of governmental discretion are still hampered by a discursive language and a legal grammar that tend to draw sharp lines between law and policy, awarding each of the three branches of government its own well-defined domain. Contrary to widespread belief, the trias politica as an ideology of disjointed powers and separate spheres cannot be traced back to Montesquieu's theory of law, but only from its philosophical rebuttal and inaccurate reception in subsequent times. Ironically, a proper analysis of Montesquieu's theory may indicate a viable way forward for a system of review of government actions that attunes to its modern social and institutional context

Use of functional neuroimaging and optogenetics to explore deep brain stimulation targets for the treatment of Parkinson's disease and epilepsy

Deep brain stimulation (DBS) is a neurosurgical therapy for Parkinson’s disease and epilepsy. In DBS, an electrode is stereotactically implanted in a specific region of the brain and electrical pulses are delivered using a subcutaneous pacemaker-like stimulator. DBS-therapy has proven to effectively suppress tremor or seizures in pharmaco-resistant Parkinson’s disease and epilepsy patients respectively. It is most commonly applied in the subthalamic nucleus for Parkinson’s disease, or in the anterior thalamic nucleus for epilepsy. Despite the rapidly growing use of DBS at these classic brain structures, there are still non-responders to the treatment. This creates a need to explore other brain structures as potential DBS-targets. However, research in patients is restricted mainly because of ethical reasons. Therefore, in order to search for potential new DBS targets, animal research is indispensable. Previous animal studies of DBS-relevant circuitry largely relied on electrophysiological recordings at predefined brain areas with assumed relevance to DBS therapy. Due to their inherent regional biases, such experimental techniques prevent the identification of less recognized brain structures that might be suitable DBS targets. Therefore, functional neuroimaging techniques, such as functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Positron Emission Tomography, were used in this thesis because they allow to visualize and to analyze the whole brain during DBS. Additionally, optogenetics, a new technique that uses light instead of electricity, was employed to manipulate brain cells with unprecedented selectivity

Syrian Kurdish Political Activism: A Social Movement Theory Perspective

Syrian Kurdish politics is complex. While the political parties appear rather similar in terms of their goals, fierce inter-party rivalry exists, nonetheless. Shedding some light on Syrian Kurdish politics using Social Movement Theory as a theoretical framework, this article deals with how and why Syrian Kurds choose a specific political party. Interviews with Syrian Kurdish political activists in Iraqi Kurdistan provide the data. The interviews point out that a striking cleavage exists: Respondents sympathizing with the dominant political party preferred social equality, while interviewees belonging to other parties have a preference for non-violence

Neurosurgical interventions at the cochlear nerve & nucleus for treatment of tinnitus

Tinnitus is the perception of sound or noise in the absence of a physical sound source. For some patients, tinnitus has a significant impact on their quality of life and conventional treatment options can be insufficient. In this thesis, we evaluated and investigated several neurosurgical treatment options for patients with severe, intractable tinnitus. Tinnitus can be the result of compression of the cochlear nerve with a blood vessel (neurovascular conflict). In this thesis, we showed that a decompression surgery for this conflict has a low success percentage and a relatively high surgical complication rate. However, when patients experience both tinnitus and vertigo, the success percentage is considerably higher. A neurovascular conflict may be diagnosed with MR-imaging, however they do not always relate to ipsilateral symptoms. Our research showed that the type of compression, e.g. causing a dimple in the nerve, is not a good indicator for a symptomatic neurovascular conflict.In order to reduce tinnitus, neurostimulation can be performed. The effect of direct stimulation of the cochlear nerve with a ring electrode was evaluated, but appeared to be not a viable treatment option as damage of the nerve lead to increase in hearing loss in the majority of patients. Another novel option is neurostimulation of the cochlear nucleus in the brainstem with an auditory brainstem implant (ABI). We described a pilot study studying the effect of the ABI on tinnitus. Preliminary results (one year follow-up) in two patients show a stable tinnitus reduction. Also, hearing ability was undamaged after implantation