The Transitional Justice and Foreign Policy Nexus: The Inefficient Causation of State Ontological Security-Seeking

How does an approach towards transitional justice produce preconditions for a country’s international action, enabling certain policies and practices in the immediate neighborhood and international society at large? This article unpacks ontological security-seeking as a generic social mechanism in international politics which allows to productively conceptualize the connection between a state’s transitional justice and foreign policies. Going beyond the dichotomy of transitional justice compliance and non-compliance by gauging the role of states’ subjective sense of self in driving their behavior, I develop an analytical framework to explain how state ontological security-seeking relates to major transitions and consequent state identity disjuncture, the ensuing politics of truth and justice-seeking, and its international resonance in framing and executing particular foreign policies. I offer a typology of the international consequences of states’ transitional justice politics, distinguishing between reflective and mnemonical security-oriented approaches, spawning cooperative and conflictual foreign policy behavior, respectively. The empirical purchase of the purported nexus is illustrated with the example of post-Soviet Russia’s limited politics of accountability towards the repressions of its antecedent regime and its increasingly self-assertive and confrontational stance in contemporary international politics

Gleichstellung in der Krise – Eine vergleichende Analyse der Auswirkungen der Corona-Pandemie auf die Gleichstellung der Geschlechter in Deutschland und Schweden

In Deutschland sind Frauen pandemiebedingt stärker von Kurzarbeit und Arbeitslosigkeit sowie von Problemen der Vereinbarkeit von Familie und Beruf betroffen als Männer. Gleichzeitig arbeiten sie aufgrund der geschlechtersegregierten Arbeitswelt häufiger in schlechter bezahlten systemrelevanten Berufen. Staatliche Hilfs- und Unterstützungsangebote zur Krisenbewältigung umfassen primär finanzielle Leistungen und Beratungsmöglichkeiten. In entscheidenden wissenschaftlichen und politischen Beratergremien sind Frauen unterrepräsentiert. Der Vergleich mit Schweden verdeutlicht, dass dort die Geschlechtergleichstellung in Normalzeiten stark institutionell verankert wurde. Gender Mainstreaming, Gender Budgeting und Gender Monitoring sind daher auch in Krisenzeiten fester Bestandteil der Strategien. Das schwedische Beispiel zeigt wichtige alternative Herangehensweisen und Denkanstöße für die Debatte um eine geschlechtergerechte Krisenpolitik in Deutschland. Abstract: Gender Equality in Times of Crisis – A Comparative Analysis of the Impact of COVID-19 on Gender Equality in Germany and Sweden Women suffer more from short-term work arrangements, unemployment and the challenge of balancing work and family life in Germany as a consequence of the COVID-19-pandemic. Moreover, in a gender-segregated labour market women are overrepresented in essential but low paid positions. State support to overcome the crisis is mainly given in forms of financial assistance and counselling. Furthermore, women are underrepresented in the most influential scientific and political advisory bodies. In comparison to Germany, Sweden has institutional integration of gender equality. Gender mainstreaming, gender budgeting and gender monitoring are an integral part of the Swedish strategy in normal times, and remain so, even in times of crisis. The Swedish example provides an alternative approach crucial for the debate on how to achieve a more gender equal crisis response in Germany

Data from: Herbivores sculpt leaf traits differently in grasslands depending on life form and land-use histories

Vertebrate and invertebrate herbivores alter plant communities directly by selectively consuming plant species; and indirectly by inducing morphological and physiological changes to plant traits that provide competitive or survivorship advantages to some life forms over others. Progressively excluding aboveground herbivore communities (ungulates, medium and small sized mammals, invertebrates) over five growing seasons, we explored how leaf morphology (specific leaf area or SLA) and nutrition (nitrogen, carbon, phosphorous, potassium, sodium, and calcium) of different plant life forms (forbs, legumes, grasses, sedges) correlated with their dominance. We experimented in two subalpine grassland types with different land-use histories: (1) heavily grazed, nutrient-rich, short-grass vegetation and (2) lightly grazed, lower nutrient tall-grass vegetation. We found differences in leaf traits between treatments where either all herbivores were excluded or all herbivores were present, showing the importance of considering the impacts of both vertebrates and invertebrates on the leaf traits of plant species. Life forms responses to the progressive exclusion of herbivores were captured by six possible combinations: (1) increased leaf size and resource use efficiency (leaf area/nutrients) where lower nutrient levels are invested in leaf construction, but a reduction in the number of leaves, for example, forbs in both vegetation types, (2) increased leaf size and resource use efficiency, for example, legumes in short grass, (3) increased leaf size but a reduction in the number of leaves, for example, legumes in the tall grass, (4) increased number of leaves produced and increased resource use efficiency, for example, grasses in the short grass, (5) increased resource use efficiency of leaves only, for example, grasses and sedges in the tall grass, and (6) no response in terms of leaf construction or dominance, for example, sedges in the short grass. Although we found multiple possible responses by life forms to progressive exclusion of herbivores, we also found some important generalities. Changes in leaf traits of legumes and grasses correlated with their increasing dominance in the short-grass vegetation and plants were more efficient at constructing photosynthetic tissue when herbivores are present with few exceptions. These results demonstrate that vertebrate and invertebrate herbivores are essential to maintain plant species richness and resource-use efficiency