La vie à l'assemblée,angle mort de la science politique française

Legislative studies are an important branch of political science in the United States and most European countries, but French scholars, during the past twenty years, have somewhat neglected the analysis of parliamentary behaviour. This research note argues that this low interest in the life of national and local assemblies can be explained by the conjunction of two factors: on the one hand, the weakness of parliamentary intervention in France, which results from the increasing importance of the executive branch, at the expenses of assemblies, in the formulation of public policy; on the other, the emancipation of political science from law as well as its openness to the sociological approach during the 1980s and 1990s.     

Quand la famille se déchire: analyse des sections divergentes cantonales lors des votations populaires 2003‐2011

The appearance of divergent cantonal sections during popular votes is a recurring phenomenon in Switzerland. However, despite the importance of its analysis to evaluate the internal cohesion of political parties, this has been neglected in the recent literature. We fill the gap by analyzing both quantitatively and qualitatively the divergent sections during popular votes in the last two legislatures (2003‐2007 and 2007‐2011). The quantitative analysis shows stability or even a slight decline of the phenomenon. The qualitative analysis (case studies) relativizes its impact on party cohesion: Its more important occurrences are confined to specific policy areas and caused by particular or specific causes.     

Réformes électorales et changements institutionnels dans un contexte de démocratisation. Le choix du scrutin uninominal sous la Troisième République en France

The article focus on the choice of the single member district voting system under the Third Republic based on an analysis of the parliamentary debates about three electoral laws (1875, 1889 and 1927). The aim is to study the interaction between the electoral interests of political actors, the stakes of democratization and the evolution of the political regime. We use the researches on democratization and electoral studies to question the consideration of context as a variable of analysis in electoral reforms. We demonstrate that the presence and the interweaving of the determinants of electoral reform depend on the context, which is preponderant in explaining the electoral system choice.     

Die drei Welten der sozialen Ungleichheit: Belohnungen,Prestige und Citizenship

Talcott Parsons’s contribution to an analysis of social inequality seems to have had a strange destiny: it was either neglected as if Parsons had not contributed to the problem at all; or it was rejected as an allegedly useless kind of functional analysis of social stratification of modern societies. However, I argue, there is no single theory of functional stratification. Rather, there are at least three versions that have to be seen as separate approaches: First, the theory of rewards as it was developed by Parsons and, more important, by Kingsley Davis and Wilbert E. Moore; second, the theory of moral respect, that Parsons presented in two different versions; third, the theory of a balance of equality and inequality in modern societies that Parsons developed following T.H. Marshall’s theory of citizenship. The article presents a historic and systematic analysis of these three strands of Parsons’s contribution to the debate on social inequality. While the theory of functional stratification failed as a whole, I show that Parsons nevertheless anticipated crucial aspects of recent sociological debates, like the importance of the vagueness and fluidity of social stratification, or the crucial significance of education being the most important resource for a realization of individual life chances in modern societies.     

Urban Design as Technology of (Counter‐) Democratic Security Politics

How does architecture operate as a security technology? This contribution sets out how reflexive security research and urban studies approach built environments as political inclusion and exclusion instruments. It first presents how this role is understood to operate in the respective scholarly fields, and then illustrates its ambivalent operation with two mini‐case studies centering on Bogotá and Zürich. In doing so, the contribution seeks to familiarize readers with architecture‐oriented reflexive political analysis, and to draw out main lines of further investigation.     

L'impact du mode de scrutin sur l'élection des femmes à l'Assemblée fédérale Suisse (1995‐2003)

Cet article analyse l'impact du système électoral sur l'élection des femmes à l'Assemblée fédérale (1995‐2003). La littérature a souvent mis l'accent sur l'importance du système proportionnel en vue de l'amélioration de la représentation des femmes au Parlement en se concentrant souvent uniquement sur le taux de femmes élues. Dans cet article, nous argumentons qu'il est nécessaire d'étudier les trajectoires des candidats et de prendre en compte à la fois les candidats hommes et femmes. Nous montrons que l'effet women‐friendly du système proportionnel au Conseil national semble davantage jouer au niveau de la stratégie de désignation des candidats et des candidates que lors de leur élection, et ce particulièrement pour les partis politiques du centre et de droite.     

To P or not to P? The Usefulness of P‐values in Quantitative Political Science Research

This contribution gives a short overview over the mechanics of significance testing in inferential statistics, in particular linear models, and tries to put the discussion about the usefulness of p‐values into a broader perspective of scientific practise. This discussion needs to be embedded into the larger debate about the credibility crises faced by empirical social science research. In particular, it seems of utmost importance to discuss what the profession as a whole, journals, publishers, as well as editors can do to encourage better research practise that generates reliable and useful empirical findings.     

Croyances et coopération : analyse du réseau des acteurs de la Politique de sécurité et de défense commune de l'UE

This article analyses the European Union's Common Security and Defence Policy in a sociological perspective. Although nationalities still influence ESDP actors' preference in matters of European defence, they are not linked to their cooperation relations in a policy field that has been transgovernmentalized in a decade only. using Social Networks Analysis and an original database, we compare the cooperation relations of a sample of key ESDP actors with their beliefs on some issues of this policy field. In accordance with our theoretical framework, the Advocacy Coalition Framework, we find that the increasing number of cooperation relations between our actors is linked with the convergence of some categories of beliefs about European defence.     

From Missionary to Ministerial Adviser: Constance Duncan and Australia‐Japan Relations 1922‐1947

The contribution of A. Constance Duncan (1896‐1970) to Australia‐Japan relations has been overlooked in mainstream historiography. This article examines her role in the development of these relations from 1922 to 1947. She was one of the few women to be accepted into the elite inner‐circle of intellectuals influencing Australian foreign policy during this period. In 1922 she embarked on a career in Japan as a missionary, or “foreign secretary”, for the Young Women's Christian Association. She returned to Australia in 1933 and took up a position with the Bureau of Social and International Affairs. Her familiarity with Japanese culture and society, together with an abiding interest in promoting world peace, led naturally to her participation in the world of international relations at a time of heightened interest in the Asia‐Pacific region and Japan in particular. She was part of an intellectual movement that considered an educated Australian public to be of paramount importance in future Australia‐Japan relations and international relations generally. This article traces her activities and examines her influence in the educational field and on Australian foreign policy‐making.     

L'effet des rapports financiers sur la dynamique fédérale: la qualité médiative du fédéralisme suisse

The article examines the horizontal and vertical fiscal relations as explanatory factors of the interaction dynamics between levels of government in Switzerland. It presents the intergovernmental financial relations in Switzerland, comparing them to those in other federal countries and outlining the current reforms of the equalization system and the distribution of tasks. The author analyzes the effect the fiscal relations have on the intergovernmental interaction dynamics and discusses the potential implications of the current reforms for Swiss federalism. She demonstrates that the interaction dynamics that result from the financial relations are characterized by compensation, multilevel coordination and more rarely by unilateralism. The transformation of the financial relations that result from the current reforms, in particular the weakening of existing coordination structures, may lead to increased unilateralism and thus reduce the mediative capacity of Swiss federalism. Yet, the reform process also shows how durable the complex coordination structures are, which should be eliminated by the reforms.     

La Communauté Européenne,Entre Etat FéDéral et FéDération D'Etats

Du traité de Rome au traité d'Amsterdam, la construction européenne a élaboré sa Constitution politique latente. Entre Etat fédéral et Fédération d'Etats, il s'agit de la quête d'un concept. Deux paradigmes juridiques sont mis à l'épreuve: l'idée d'un droit des citoyens du monde qui se voit aujourd'hui réactualisée dans la perspective d'une démocratie cosmopolitique supposant un véritable Etat (Habermas, Held), et le droit des peuples, réinvesti dans la perspective constructiviste d'une "société politique des nations bien ordonnés" (Rawls). Paradigme "supranational" des droits de l'homme, ou paradigme "international" du droit des gens. La Constitution implicite de l'Union européenne ne se réduit pas à celle d'une Société des nations. Son originalité consisterait plutôt à consacrer, sur le plan d'un droit des gens, les valeurs transposées des droits de l'homme, ceci sur un spectre large qui comprendra sans doute les droits d'intégrité (ou droits civils fondamentaux), de par-ticipation (droits civiques fondamentaux), de solidarité (droits sociaux fondamentaux), de personnalité (droits moraux fondamentaux).     

Ethnische Ressourcen: Das Beispiel der Bilingualität

Taking bilingualism as an example, this contribution addresses the hypothesis that ethnic resources play an important role for the integration of migrants. This assumption is particularly prevalent in more recent concepts of the sociology of migration like, for example, in the concept of “segmented assimilation”. We will address four different questions: the importance of mother tongue skills for school achievement, the effects of mother tongue education programs on school achievement, the impact of mother tongue skills on labour market success in general and then particularly in Canada as a frequently cited example for a country pursuing an “adequate” language and integration policy. The evidence suggests that mother tongue skills (as well as inner-ethnic relations) virtually never display empirically provable effects on educational and labour market success. At least regarding processes of language acquisition and its consequences, the concept of intergenerational absorption through (linguistic) acculturation is still valid, which also holds for Canada.     

Swiss Federalism from a Comparative Perspective –Dealing with Reform Obstacles

Swiss Federalism from a Comparative Perspective ‐ Dealing with Reform Obstacles In the first part of this introductory contribution, the authors present the content of this special edition as well as the individual articles and their main findings. The contributions are organized along three main comparative themes: the international and inter‐temporal comparison of Swiss federalism, the comparison of the constituent units from an institutional point of view, and the comparative analysis of their functioning in specific policy areas. In the second part of this article, the authors develop three theses concerning reform obstacles and opportunities of Swiss federalism related to polity, politics, and policy. They argue that federalism reforms are difficult to undertake given the conjunction of both centrifugal and centripetal dynamics. However, reforms are facilitated in Switzerland because institutions of federalism hardly ever turn into a politically contended issue and because federal conflicts and reform obstacles can be avoided by means of informal coordination.     

Marcel Mauss — <Emphasis Type="Italic">Durkheimien</Emphasis> oder eigenständiger Klassiker der französischen Soziologie?

Since the mid-1990s, the question of an independent contribution of Marcel Mauss to social theory has been intensly debated in France. This paper shows that Mauss can be seen as a classic of a symbolic, non-structuralist, interactionist and anti-utilitarian sociology if he is more clearly set apart from Durkheim and untangled from the influences of structuralism and structuralist utilitarianism. Mauss’ contribution to French sociology is similar to Mead’s and Simmel’s contributions to American and German sociology respectively: these classical thinkers represent a third paradigm which goes beyond the dichotomy of instrumental rationality and normative action. According to Mauss, particularly the logic of the gift establishes an independent interaction order and the act of giving has to be recognised as an intrinsic symbolic as well as a social fact. Following Mauss, the gift represents and embodies symbolic interaction.     

Ursachen des Rechtsextremismus. Eine Programmatik für die sozialwissenschaftliche Forschung in der Schweiz

This essay wants to indicate elements of a possible approach in forthcoming Swiss social research that could be useful to analyze xenophobic right wing violence and may well be of assistance in the further civilizing and democratization process of modern societies. Working with a limited concept of right wing extremism, different current research approaches in social sciences are taken into attention. Especially those research questions have to be underscored which gave a relevant contribution to the understanding and possibly to the solution of right wing extremism as a social phenomenon.     

Entre cohérence et efficacité: la Suisse dans les négociations bilatérales avec l'Union Européenne

Comment conduire la politique extérieure suisse? Cet article s'intéresse aux négociations bilatérales entre la Suisse et l'Union européenne et cherche à évaluer la “cohérence” et “l'efficacité” des choix stratégiques du gouvernement suisse. A l'aide d'un cadre d'analyse incorporant des outils de la théorie des jeux, nous examinons les options et stratégies mises en oeuvre par le Conseil fédéral afin de concilier contraintes internes et contraintes internationales – ce que nous nommons la “cohérence” – ainsi que les liens entre cette recherche de cohérence et la capacité du Conseil fédéral à conclure un accord avec l'UE – ce que nous nommons “l'efficacité”. Nous nous concentrons sur les deux volets les plus sensibles des négociations bilatérales: les transports terrestres et la libre‐circulation des personnes. Dans le cadre des contraintes internes existantes, la difficulté première du Conseil fédéral a consisté à trouver une cohérence d'action basée sur des perceptions réalistes de la situation externe. Face à cette difficulté, le Conseil fédéral a globalement fait preuve d'habileté stratégique, en particulier dans le cas des transports terrestres. Dans ce cas, sa redéfinition de l'espace de négociation a permis de surmonter le dilemme existant entre cohérence et efficacité.     

Mais Médicos: Cuba's Medical Internationalism Programme in Brazil

In 2014, at the request of the Brazilian government and under the sponsorship of PAHO, the Cuban government sent 11,400 doctors to work in underserved areas. This article examines the origins and development of this programme, Mais Médicos. The significance of this programme is explored, as well as what it illustrates about south‐south cooperation as a whole.     

No Need for Modesty Here: Enhancing Japan's Public (Intellectual) Diplomacy

Japan is well known as a highly literate nation and ranks high in the actual as well as relative number of books published annually. A significant number of these books include translations of foreign works as well. However, Japanese works translated into foreign languages, especially English, are far less common. While interest in Japan is high, this does not mean Japan has influence. This article argues that Japan's failure to see more of its writers' works, some of which are world class or cutting-edge, published abroad limits not only its public diplomacy and soft power appeal, but also prevents Japan from making a greater contribution internationally. In order to improve this situation, this article introduces a detailed recommendation for a translation/publishing project in which important works of universal importance written by Japanese authors would be identified, translated, and published rapidly to contribute to the intellectual debate on a wide range of subjects in all fields.     

Noel Pearson's Role in the Northern Territory Intervention: Radical Centrist or Polarising Partisan?

Noel Pearson is one of Australia's most prominent and influential Aboriginal intellectuals. This article examines a major idea in his writing: the “quest for a radical centre”. Through the concept of the radical centre, Pearson articulates both his desire to transcend existing policy paradigms and an ethics of partisanship which emphasizes the importance of listening to and negotiating with one's political adversaries. Pearson's development of this concept is explored in light of the role Pearson has played as leading advocate for Indigenous welfare reform, and especially his pivotal contribution to the public debate over the introduction of the Northern Territory Emergency Response Intervention by the Howard government in 2007.     

An Impeditive Administrative Culture? The Legacy of Australia's First Auditor‐General on the Australian Audit Office

This historical study provides an account of the Australian Audit Office from its formation in 1901 until the end of the term of Australia's first Auditor-General in 1925. The Audit Office was created to assist the Commonwealth Government in discharging and reporting on its accountability for the economical use of resources. The philosophy upon which the Audit Office was created was one based on small government where a minimalist role for the audit function was envisaged. Accordingly, the initial Audit Act dictated a detailed audit methodology. However, the expansion of Commonwealth activities due to the outbreak of the First World War, the realities of a decentralised Commonwealth administration and the more commercial activities of government created numerous problems for both the Office and government. The Auditor-General was unable, or unwilling, to adapt his audit methodologies to suit the changing circumstances of Australian public administration and the workload of the Audit Office periodically fell into backlog. Relations with the executive became strained over these matters prompting intervention by subsequent governments. This early period is important historically as it provides a window through which to view the development of the public sector audit function and its contribution to an efficient public sector. In addition, the events of this period illustrate the importance of relations between the Audit Office and the government, and the role of the Auditor-General in contributing to an efficient public administration.