‘Only and Exclusively in this Case’. Pleas for the Release of Former Collaborators after the Second World War in the Netherlands After the Second World War ended in the Netherlands, more than 100.000 people suspected of collaborating were arrested. It was long argued that during and after the war the (former) national socialist families who were ‘in the wrong’ stood isolated against the ‘good’ Dutchmen. This article examines the mentality of the population by making use of the letters of support which were written by family, friends or neighbours to the police and judicial bodies in defense of those who were accused of collaboration. No political arguments were given in the letters, the social-psychological elements of collaboration were put first. The guilt was reduced by for example pointing at the restoration of the family, a poor education, bad social and economic circumstances and poor intellectual development. In this way, the suspects were individualized and disconnected from the group that was seen as being ‘in the wrong’.
This article questions the assumption that Cuba’s reform process must eventually make concessions to, and perhaps eventually join, the wider global world system dominated by neo-liberal economics and democracy as defined by the advocates of this world order. To undertake this task it is necessary to explain globalization and distinguish it from the preceding post-war period and then seek to understand the consequences of its ascendency, especially its failure to produce a sustainable model of development. In this context Cuba’s socialist experiment will be considered as an alternative, both in the form of its performance in social provision and its ideology of community above that of the individual. While these strengths may be attractive to those forces in the world that wish to resist globalization and build something new, Cuba as a single country example is not viable. Consequently these achievements can only become part of a transformative force if they are integrated with already existing popular resistance to the current neo-liberal order. Finally, it is argued this symbiosis is taking place in Latin America where Cuba is deeply involved with new social movements and progressive governments. Resumen: La globalizacion y la revolucion cubana en el siglo XXI En este articulo se cuestiona la asercion de que el proceso de reformas en Cuba debe hacer concesiones, y quizas, finalmente, incorporarse al sistema global dominado por la economia neoliberal y la democracia tal como son definidas por los defensores de este orden mundial. Para emprender esta labor, es necesario explicar la globalizacion y distinguirla del periodo precedente de posguerra y luego tratar de entender las consecuencias de su influencia, especialmente en su incapacidad de producir un modelo de desarrollo sustentable. En este contexto, el experimento socialista de Cuba sera considerado como una alternativa, tanto en cuanto a sus resultados en cuanto a la prevision social como en cuanto a su ideologia que pone a la comunidad por sobre el individuo. Aunque estos desarrollos pueden ser atractivos para esos grupos en el mundo que tratan de oponerse a la globalizacion para construir algo nuevo, el ejemplo de Cuba como un solo pais no es viable. Consecuentemente, esos logros solo se pueden alcanzar como parte de la fuerza transformadora que integra la resistencia popular existente al actual orden neoliberal. Finalmente, se sostiene que esta simbiosis esta ocurriendo en America Latina, donde Cuba participa profundamente en los nuevos movimientos sociales y gobiernos progresistas.
The aim of the general report is to conduct a comparative analysis of the national reports in order to trace transformation processes in domestic criminal justice systems, in particular criminal process, as special procedural measures are introduced to deal with terrorism and organised crime, and to map whether this has led countries to depart from their own fundamental rules, procedures, principles and applicable human rights standards. Starting from the premise that the integrated system of criminal law has three dimensions – the protection of individuals (the shield dimension), the provision of instruments of law enforcement (the sword dimension), and of checks and balances/trias politica (the constitutional dimension) – the report provides a comprehensive overview of interrelated transformations, mostly in the pre-trial setting, that have affected all three in three waves of ‘war’ (on drugs, organised crime and terrorism). In many countries, procedural guarantees and principles that protect against the infringement of fair trial rights are considered a burden to the efficiency of serious crime enforcement. These reforms have resulted in a clear expansion of the punitive state and a blurring of classic distinctions, and do not favour the rule of law. The focus on public security and preventive coercive investigation undermines the criminal justice system. With the criminal justice system increasingly used as an instrument to regulate the present and/or the future rather than to punish past behaviour, and a criminal process in which pre-trial investigation is not about truth-finding related to committed crime, but about the construction and de-construction of social dangerousness, the interests of national security may be said to be prevailing over justice and to be threatening due process and the protection of human rights – notwithstanding that general principles of criminal procedure seem to have become more important in the reporting countries, also where organized crime and terrorism are concerned, and are designed to conform with constitutional and human rights standards.
Security nowadays is a theme of great importance, both in the international politics and in the domestic agendas. In this sense, security as a concept has permeated the different spheres of society. Since its re-characterization after the end of the Cold War, security as a concept has gone to include a diversity of subjects, objects of threats, as well as a great variety of these. The different theories of international relations have been present to explain not only the own dynamics of the international system, but have also supported the evolution of a traditional concept of security supported in the political realism, to a new concept based on complex interdependency.