Le droit de recours en matière d’autopsies médico-légales

The decision to carry out forensic autopsies is frequently made to determine the reasons of the death, especially in cases of non-natural death. In Switzerland, the judge strictly controls the authorisation to conduct forensic autopsies and the possibility to appeal against such a decision remains limited. This article aims to analyse the legal framework that enables appeals against a decision to conduct a forensic autopsy, taking into account the jurisprudence from the High Court of Switzerland (Tribunal Fédéral) and the European Court of Human Rights.     

Depersonalization, vertigo and Ménière's disease

Ménière's disease is generally accepted to be a consequence of distention of the endolymphatic sac of the inner ear. Although the exact etiology is unclear, there is a body of research suggesting that Ménière's disease is of psychosomatic origin. While we do not intend to review the literature exhaustively, we briefly review several frequently cited studies. Even though this literature is so severely flawed that no solid conclusions may be drawn from it, certain questions about the psychological aspect of this disorder continue to surface. Our limited access to patients with vertigo has not allowed us to undertake a carefully designed study. However, in clinical practice we have noted that many persons who complain of vertigo (whether due to Ménière's disease or other causes) also report symptoms of depersonalization and derealization. In this paper we present the cases of two women with Ménière's disease who also experienced concurrent feelings of unreality. It appears likely that feelings of unreality may occur regularly in association with syndromes causing vertigo, presumably as a consequence of vestibular dysfunction. We argue that emotional disturbances previously identified as predisposing causes of Ménière's disease are more likely effects of the disease. Although the discussion of two uncontrolled cases can do little to help solve nagging questions about a psychosomatic component to this disorder, we believe it may suggest a different perspective from which to investigate these complex phenomena.     

The Ignorant Citizen: Mouffe,Rancière,and the Subject of Democratic Education

Much work in the field of education for democratic citizenship is based on the idea that it is possible to know what a good citizen is, so that the task of citizenship education becomes that of the production of the good citizen. In this paper I ask whether and to what extent we can and should understand democratic citizenship as a positive identity. I approach this question by means of an exploration of four dimensions of democratic politics—the political community, the borders of the political order, the dynamics of democratic processes and practices, and the status of the democratic subject—in order to explore whether and to what extent the ‘essence’ of democratic politics can and should be understood as a particular order. For this I engage with ideas from Chantal Mouffe and Jacques Rancière who both have raised fundamental questions about the extent to which the ‘essence’ of democratic politics can be captured as a particular order. In the paper I introduce the figure of the ignorant citizen in order to hint at a conception of citizenship that is not based on particular knowledge about what the good citizen is. I introduce a distinction between a socialisation conception of citizenship education and civic learning and a subjectification conception of citizenship education and civic learning in order to articulate what the educational implications of such an ‘anarchic’ understanding of democratic politics are. While the socialisation conception focuses on the question how ‘newcomers’ can be inserted into an existing political order, the subjectification conception focuses on the question how democratic subjectivity is engendered through engagement in always undetermined political processes. This is no longer a process driven by knowledge about what the citizen is or should become but one that depends on a desire for a particular mode of human togetherness or, in short, a desire for democracy.     

La dynamique du système capacitaire Identité, action et projet

This study aims at illustrating the interest of a methodology of exploration of identity dynamics, the IMIS(Zavalloni & Louis-Guerin, 1984), for the elaboration of the professional project. Psychosocial identity is a system of representations of oneself and the world animated by the paradox of being identical and distinct at the same time. This system justifies ways of thought and action, that are retrieved in identity strategies. Action is presented as a medium-term project, endowed with a function of regulation of identity and capability representations that it conveys and validates(Costalat-Founeau, 2008). The project therefore leans upon the cognitive substrate of experience. Action doesn’t follow the project, both are interwoven in a common perspective defined by intentional objectives(Young & Valach, 2006).     

La conciliation des rôles professionnels et parentaux,un facteur de stress professionnel : construction et première validation d'une échelle de mesure

The aim of this study was to validate a multi-dimensional tool for measuring work-related stress by introducing a factor “difficulty in combining professional and parental roles”. Data was collected from a sample of 234 working people (with an average age of 38 ±5,7) who had at least one school-age child (from 2 to 16 years old). The tool highlighted the existence of five factors: pressure of work load (a); exposure to danger (b); difficulty in combining parental and professional roles (c); job satisfaction (d); quality of internal professional relationships (e). Relatively independent, these work-related stress factors show individual differences according to gender and socio-professional status. The dimension “combining parental and professional roles” justifies its inclusion in the study of work-related stressors and its effects on people at work and on their families.