Politically minded: the case of Aussiedler as an ideologically defined category

Das Bürgerschaftsgesetz der Bundesrepublik Deutschland gilt als veraltet und ethnisch determiniert. Tatsächlich aber sieht die rechtliche Regelung der Zuerkennung vor, dass ein oder beide Elternteile die deutsche Staatsbürgerschaft besitzen müssen. Demnach stellt die Ethnizität weder einen exklusiven noch inklusiven Faktor dar. Die Aussiedler als eine Kategorie der deutschen Bürger erhalten jedoch ihre Staatsbürgerschaft teilweise aufgrund der Ethnizität. Vor diesem Hintergrund betrachtet die Autorin in ihrer Untersuchung die Gruppe der Aussiedler stattdessen als eine ideologisch definierte Gruppe, deren Bestimmung aus der Phase des Kalten Krieges resultiert. Somit beruht die Inklusion der Aussiedler nicht auf einem jahrhundertealten Verweis auf die Ethnizität, sondern vielmehr auf ideologischen Gründen. Dem gemäß gliedern sich die Ausführungen in drei Abschnitte: In einem historischen Überblick wird zunächst die Politik der Staatsbürgerschaft in Deutschland von 1842 bis heute beschrieben. Thematisiert werden in diesem Zusammenhang (1) das Gesetz über den Erwerb und den Verlust der Bundes- und Staatsangehörigkeit von 1870, (2) das Reichs- und Staatsangehörigkeitsgesetz von 1913 sowie (3) das Bundesvertriebenen- und Flüchtlingsgesetz (BVFG) von 1953. In einem zweiten Schritt gilt das Hauptaugenmerk der Aussiedlerpolitik in Deutschland von 1954 bis 2000. In einem dritten Schritt erfolgt die Erörterung der Deethnisierung der deutschen Staatsbürgerschaft nach dem Kalten Krieg. Die Darstellung des (rechtlichen) Umgangs mit der deutschen Staatsangehörigkeit macht deutlich, dass im Rahmen der Staatsangehörigkeitspolitik nach dem Zweiten Weltkrieg die ideologische Komponente stärker ausgeprägt ist als die ethnische Komponente. Die Gesetze, die auf eine Privilegierung der Aussiedler nach dem Zweiten Weltkrieg ausgerichtet sind, helfen nur Aussiedlern in kommunistischen Ländern, nicht aber beispielsweise jenen in Nord- oder Südamerika. Es zeigt sich, dass die deutsche Akzeptanz gegenüber ethnischen Deutschen sich entsprechend der Politik in Osteuropa verändert. So hat die Periode nach dem Ende des Kalten Krieges unter anderem für eine Neuausrichtung der Politik nach dem Zweiten Weltkrieg gesorgt. (ICG2

Federal Structure and Party Politics as Simultaneous Opportunity and Constraint: Transnational Political Engagement of overseas Americans

This chapter examines the differential inclusion of overseas Americans in the American polity; overseas Americans are included, and vote, as individual citizens in all primary and general elections but are recognized as a distinct overseas constituency only in the Democrats Abroad Global Primary. Constitutional, federal and state law shapes this differential American inclusion. The right to vote was extended on the basis of a constitutional right to electoral equality. On the other hand, an overseas constituency in which US citizens voted for dedicated representatives would be possible only with a constitutional amendment. In a state with a strong sense of itself as an immigration country, and not as a state with a diaspora identity, such an amendment is unlikely. The contestation of the profile of the overseas American population feeds into this discussion. Party-led inclusion is the strongest way in which overseas US citizens can be included as a distinct constituency

The influence of soil communities on the temperature sensitivity of soil respiration

Soil respiration represents a major carbon flux between terrestrial ecosystems and the atmosphere, and is expected to accelerate under climate warming. Despite its importance in climate change forecasts, however, our understanding of the effects of temperature on soil respiration (RS) is incomplete. Using a metabolic ecology approach we link soil biota metabolism, community composition and heterotrophic activity, to predict RS rates across five biomes. We find that accounting for the ecological mechanisms underpinning decomposition processes predicts climatological RS variations observed in an independent dataset (n = 312). The importance of community composition is evident because without it RS is substantially underestimated. With increasing temperature, we predict a latitudinal increase in RS temperature sensitivity, with Q10 values ranging between 2.33 ±0.01 in tropical forests to 2.72 ±0.03 in tundra. This global trend has been widely observed, but has not previously been linked to soil communities

The geoaccumulation index and enrichment factor of mercury in mangrove sediment of Port Klang, Selangor, Malaysia.

Mangrove areas are important to the ecosystem. One of its crucial functions is as a sink of pollutants, especially metal ions. However, the accumulation of metals in mangrove sediment can generate negative impacts on plant growth, microbial activity, and soil fertility. Apart from that, the severity of the impact is highly influenced by the type of metal found in the sediment and the quality of sediment itself. One of the metals that have adverse effects on the environment is mercury. The objectives of this study are to determine the concentration and distribution of mercury and to assess the enrichment of mercury in Port Klang mangrove sediment by using geoaccumulation index and enrichment factor. Sediment samples were collected from 30 sampling points that cover Langat River and Klang River estuaries, Lumut Straits, Pulau Klang, and Pulau Indah. During sampling, water parameters such as pH, salinity, electrical conductivity, and total dissolved solids were measured in situ, whereas the total mercury in sediment samples was determined at the laboratory using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. In this study, mercury was found to be concentrated along Lumut Strait especially in the mixing zone near the confluence of Langat River and at the jetty to Pulau Ketam. The geoaccumulation index and enrichment factor (calculated using logarithmized data of the reference element) found that three stations were enriched with mercury. In addition, geoaccumulation index was also observed to be more objective compared to enrichment factor whose results were influenced by the concentration of reference element used

The Disinterested State: Negative Diasporic Policy as an Expression of State Inclusion and National Exclusion

This article engages with the understudied phenomenon of the “disinterested, denouncing” (Levitt and Glick Schiller 2004) or “indifferent” (Ragazzi 2009) diaspora state. Focusing on US citizens abroad, the article argues that there is negative diasporic outreach on the part of the state—“disinterested” from the state’s perspective, but “denouncing” from that of the diaspora. Negative diasporic outreach is exemplified by the 2010 FATCA legislation, which sought to root out tax evaders resident in the US, but has, instead, affected millions of American emigrants through increased financial control and the repercussions of those policies, and has resulted in sharply higher citizenship renunciation figures. Impact on an American diaspora was not considered in the law’s proposal, debate and passage into law. Second, the article argues that this negative diasporic outreach, in combination with the continued facilitation of the right to vote, is a reflection of the inclusion of these American emigrants in the American state, but their simultaneous exclusion from the American nation

First evidence of mutualism between ancient plant lineages (Haplomitriopsida liverworts) and Mucoromycotina fungi and its response to simulated Palaeozoic changes in atmospheric CO2

© 2014 The Authors. New Phytologist © 2014 New Phytologist Trust. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. The attached file is the published version of the article

Diaspora Policies, Consular Services and Social Protection for German Citizens Abroad

This chapter presents an overview of German policies vis-à-vis German nationals living abroad. For the most part, the German Government does not reach out to or encourage engagement from or with German nationals living abroad. This is in contrast to a concerted cultural outreach to ethno-national German minorities in Central and Eastern Europe. Rights in Germany are largely residence-based, and access to rights is thus associated with (legal) residence in Germany, rather than with holding German citizenship. There are two clear exceptions: one is a robust system that enables voting from abroad for German citizens, and the other is facilitated access from abroad to pensions for years worked in Germany. With respect to other measures of social protections, no clear policy can be said to exist. Access to other forms of social protection is on the basis of exception, with consular officials exercising discretion in such cases

Varieties of living things: Life at the intersection of lineage and metabolism

publication-status: Publishedtypes: Articl