The theme of governing anti-social behaviour and incivilities in the public space became more important on the policy and research agenda over the last twenty years. This article describes the law on incivilities in Belgium, namely the ‘administrative communal sanctions’ (GAS). This law is studied in a broader context of contemporary crime control and its organizing patterns. The development of the politics of behaviour can be explained by different characteristics of the period referred to as the late modernity. In the dissertation ‘A culture of control?’ (Devroe 2012) we studied the application and the concrete strategies behind the governance of incivilities on a national and on a city level. The incivility law broadened the competences of the Mayor and the city council especially in the completion of anti social behaviour and public disorder problems in his/her municipality. Instead of being dealt with on a traditional judicial way by the police magistrate, the Mayor can, by this law; himself lay on fines until maximum 250 euro. We mention ‘city republics’ as this punitive sanction became a locally assigned matter, which means that one municipality differs from another in their ‘incivility policy’. Due to the split up of competences of the Belgian state arrangements of 1988, each municipality finds itself framed in different political and organisational executive realities. In this view, Mayors can be called ‘presidents’ of their own municipality, keeping and controlling the process of tackling incivilities as their main responsibility and determining what behaviour had to be controlled and punished and what behaviour can be considered as normal decent behaviour in the public space. Problems of creating a ‘culture of control’, creating inequality for the poor, the beggars and the socially ‘unwanted’ can arise, especially in big cities.

The Dutch Social Support Act aims at a bigger role for the civil society in informal care. This appeal includes churches. In this article, the question is: do churches indeed want to participate more in social support? And what is subscribed to churches in the Social Support Act?
Formal documentation of all denominations formulate an active role of churches, both in society in general and more specifically in social support. In national legislation, the Social Support Act does not describe clearly what its expectations of churches are. This is partly so because the Law only gives a general frame for new policy, and local governments make their own policy based on their specific local situation. Local government show a wide variety of possible roles they expect from churches. These roles differ in some aspects from the roles churches describe themselves. Churches themselves do not clearly communicate to governments what they are willing and capable to do in the field of social support; maybe so because they do not realized yet how big the changes induced by the Social Support Act are.

Religion-related stress is the product of a predominantly secular society in which people are confronted with diverse religious practices. The phenomenon occurs where public meets private. How can employers ensure compliance with conflicting religious and other commitments in the workplace? The concept of respectful pluralism as formulated by Douglas Hicks in his book Religion and the Workplace, may go a long way to negotiating a solution to the debate between conformity and diversity.

This is the second part of an analysis of the use of the qualification of the state as ‘neutral and impartial organiser of religions’ by the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), the first part of which appeared in the previous issue of this Journal. This part sets off with a discussion of the use of the qualification of the state as ‘neutral and impartial organiser of religions’ in cases concerning the place of religion in education. Subsequently, a variety of cases is dealt with that challenge restrictions on religious liberty set by the state or restrictions by third parties tolerated by the state. Finally, this contribution offers an overarching reflection on the use by the ECtHR of the qualification of the state as ‘neutral and impartial organiser of religions’ in its case law. It concludes that this qualification, which has no explicit treaty basis, is an inadequate standard for use at the international level and that the ECtHR itself is hardly ‘neutral’ in its application of the standard.

By introducing the historical concept of timescapes, we will investigate the transformation of a security to a risk culture in Dutch post war history. We will test Ulrich Beck’s paradigm of the risk society with respect to the Dutch policy arena, and we will analyze what drove this postulated transformation in the Netherlands. In the Netherlands, not the 1970s/1980s, but the 1990s saw the onset of this change. Concrete trigger moments and the rise of a new populist movement around 1999 signalled the beginning of this new mode of risk governance that was consolidated after 2001. With this description, an attempt to historicize the development of an all encompassing national security culture is provided.

Aandeelhouders worden vaak over één kam geschoren als het gaat om de verantwoordelijkheid voor inzicht en toezicht bij (beursgenoteerde) ondernemingen. In dit artikel wordt een eenvoudige typologie van aandeelhouders ontwikkeld aan de hand van twee criteria. Uitgangspunt is verder dat een gezonde balans nodig is tussen de verschillende typen aandeelhouders. Een onderneming zal vooral behoefte hebben aan langetermijnaandeelhouders die betrokken zijn, de onderneming en haar management kennen en daardoor de monitoringrol adequaat kunnen invullen. Ook vanuit maatschappelijk oogpunt is een aanzienlijk percentage ‘loyaal-kritische aandeelhouders’ gewenst. Het gaat dan om aandeelhouders met geconcentreerde portefeuilles, een langetermijnhorizon en grote betrokkenheid bij de onderneming. Stimulering van deze vorm van aandeelhouderschap kan door financiële stimulering, regelgeving en samenwerking. De ‘Best practices voor betrokken aandeelhouderschap’ van Eumedion zijn een stap in de goede richting tot betere samenwerking tussen institutionele beleggers. Een aanzienlijk deel van de aandeelhouders van beursvennootschappen zal zich als loyale aandeelhouders moeten gedragen om het alternatief, inperking van aandeelhoudersrechten, te voorkomen. Dit zal inspanning vragen, maar dergelijk gedrag is essentieel voor een goede corporate democracy.

The chaplaincy in penitentiary institutions shows a peculiar co-operation between the state and the religious communities. The chaplains provide a safe opportunity for supporting the detainees. The growing religious individualisation as well as a political rethinking of the role of religions institutions ask for system adaptations. In particular, the denominational approach is subject to discussion.

Since 2001 the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) regularly applies the normative characterization of the state as a ‘neutral and impartial organiser of religions’ in its cases. This qualification has no explicit basis in the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). Where does it come from, how does the ECtHR understand this, in which type of cases does the ECtHR use it and with which result? This essay analyses the use of this qualification by the ECtHR and aims to provide an answer to these questions. It asserts that the qualification of the state as ‘neutral and impartial organiser of religions’ is an inadequate standard and examines wether it may harbor other normative dimensions that are important in the relation between state and religion. After introducing the first case in which the ECtHR used this qualification, the first part deals with cases concerning conflicts within and between churches, equal treatment of religious groups in multi-tiered church and state systems, and pupils in public schools wearing religious garb. The second part will appear in the next issue of this Journal and continues with an analysis of cases concerning the place of religion in education, and various alleged interferences of religious liberty. It concludes with a reflection on the use by the ECtHR of the qualification of the state as ‘neutral and impartial organizer of religious’.

Under Dutch law, convicted criminals have the opportunity to request a pardon to cancel, reduce or alter their punishment. Pardoning is an important institute to guarantee fair and reasonable execution of sentences. However, little is known about the everyday practice of pardoning in the Netherlands. The current study sets out the legal framework of the institute of pardoning, as well as changes in pardoning law and policy. We demonstrate that over the period 1990-2011 both the amount of pardoning requests and decisions have decreased dramatically, and that the period 1995-2004 is characterized by an upsurge of conditional pardons at the expense of both unconditional pardons and pardon denials. We try to explain these developments in the light of changes in pardoning law and policy, prison overcrowding, increases in life sentences and of royal celebrations. We conclude that we cannot fully explain the developments in the pardoning practice and that better registration of the pardoning requests and grants are needed for a better understanding of the pardoning practice.

In this article we address the question of whether former prisoners are excluded by insurance companies when they apply for insurance. We found that, in several cases, ex-prisoners had been denied insurance in the Netherlands. This so-called ‘actuarial justice’ is accompanied by a great deal of discretionary power in the hands of insurance companies. Moreover, the results emphasize that former prisoners are still in an extremely vulnerable position in society. The article concludes by emphasizing that this form of ‘selective exclusion’ happens to a variety of risk groups in society.