Discovery of decomposed and mummified corpses in the domestic setting--a marker of social isolation?

Mass media reports attribute the occurrence of decomposed or mummified corpses in a domestic setting mainly to an increasing social isolation of elderly people. Not much is known about the demographic and medical conditions under which individuals are found months or even years after death in their homes. For this study, autopsy reports of individuals found dead and mummified or decomposed between 1993 and 1997 with those from 1963 to 1967 were retrospectively analyzed. Between 1993 and 1997, a total number of 320 individuals were found decomposed at home compared to 412 such cases between 1963 and 1967. The proportion of individuals older than 64 years was significantly higher during the 1990s study period. Furthermore, the proportion of deaths attributable to natural causes was significantly lower during the 1990s, whereas the rate of suicides was nearly three times higher.     

Policing the Bargain: Coalition Government and Parliamentary Scrutiny

Policymaking by coalition governments creates a classic principal‐agent problem. Coalitions are comprised of parties with divergent preferences who are forced to delegate important policymaking powers to individual cabinet ministers, thus raising the possibility that ministers will attempt to pursue policies favored by their own party at the expense of their coalition partners. What is going to keep ministers from attempting to move policy in directions they favor rather than sticking to the “coalition deal”? We argue that parties will make use of parliamentary scrutiny of “hostile” ministerial proposals to overcome the potential problems of delegation and enforce the coalition bargain. Statistical analysis of original data on government bills in Germany and the Netherlands supports this argument. Our findings suggest that parliaments play a central role in allowing multiparty governments to solve intracoalition conflicts.     

Redistribution of work and income in the crisis: Actors' problems of working time reduction and a guaranteed basic income

In the present mass unemployment the ability of working time reduction to redistribute work and income becomes more clearly limited. In this paper I explore the feasibility of combining a guaranteed basic income with working time reduction in order to enhance the redistribution of work and income in the crisis. An important problem arises however when these programs are combined. The demand for working time reduction applies to a narrower range of interests, but integrates them more strongly, whereas the demand for a guaranteed basic income affects a wider range of interests, but integrates them less strongly. I call this the collectivity dilemma. The solution of this dilemma demands relatively complex cognitive reflexions on the part of the social actors involved.Translated by Andrew Watt     

Crises and their interpretations

Crises are interpreted facts. Thus the sociological term crisis implies that a certain period of economic and political development has been in practice already interpreted as a crisis. Therefore the comparison between the crises 1929 ff. (the beginning of the first world economic crisis and the beginning of the destruction of the first Austrian Republic) and 1974 (the first oilprizeshock and the end of full employment in Western Europe) in Austria must consider two dimensions. First, the authors compare some key-data of the economic and political development. Second, they compare interpretations of the crises by analyzing articles from two Austrian newspapers in each period. The comparison shows-as expected-important differences between the two crises. But it also draws the attention to some unexpected similarities.     

Consistency in sentencing: Recommendation to member states and explanatory memorandum

Documents

Consistency in sentencing: Recommendation to member states and explanatory memorandumCouncil of Europl     

Voters' wrath? Policy change and government popularity

Recent research suggests that voters are bad at responding in a meaningful way to policy events when deciding for whom to vote. Voters rely on so‐called “blind retrospection”, punishing governments for events outside politicians' control. However, another core aspect of the blind retrospection perspective has not been put to the test: are voters unable to respond to policy decisions that clearly are under the politicians' control? We construct a unique large‐N dataset on legislative changes in German old age pensions and unemployment protection to see if cutbacks and expansions lead to lower/higher support for the government. Our data are exceptionally fine‐grained and allow us to track the policy‐vote link for 416 months from 1977 to 2013 with a total of 329,167 respondents. We find substantial support for the notion that voters react in a meaningful way to policy changes, but also that they can be distracted by high‐profile, extreme events.     

William R. Keech: in Memoriam

Public Choice - We analyze the non-contributory health insurance program (“green cards”) in Turkey with RDD (Regression Discontinuity Design) and show that more citizens receive green...     

Sozialstaatliche Kürzungspolitik in Deutschland: Nur eine Mär? Eine quantitative Gesetzgebungsanalyse 1974–2014

Quantitative analyses on welfare state dynamics have to cope with the “dependent variable problem”, as studies on social spending reach different conclusions than analyses of replacement rate data. This article suggests a way around this problem by presenting results from a fine-grained analysis of welfare state legislation in Germany between 1974 and 2014. We show that the German welfare state has seen both cuts and expansions occur in all decades. Moreover, we show by means of a regression analysis that partisan politics play a role. Supporting the “Nixon-in-China”-thesis, social democratic governments are associated with a higher probability of cutbacks—especially in times of budgetary pressure—whereas expansions are more likely under Christian democratic governments.     

The Pivot between Containment,Engagement, and Restraint: President Obama’s Conflicted Grand Strategy in Asia

This article examines the formulation and implementation of American grand strategy under the Obama administration, and how the “pivot to Asia” functions within this strategic context. It argues that President Obama attempts to secure continued American hegemony through a combination of cooperative engagement and restraint. This exposes a fundamental dilemma at the heart of America’s rebalancing: increased engagement with US allies and partners in the Asia-Pacific is fueling political, economic, and military competition with China. Sequestration and questions over American strategic coherence and consistency are simultaneously undermining the credibility of the pivot, both at home and abroad. The article concludes that this dilemma makes it unlikely for the pivot to succeed in its stated aims, unless the United States re-emphasizes cooperative engagement with China.