Negotiating Identities: The Party of Democratic Socialism between East German Regionalism, German National Identity and European Integration

For many East Germans, the Party of Democratic Socialism has been a political and social environment in which German national identity, GDR biographies, post-unification East German experiences and European integration could be successfully negotiated. The PDS enabled GDR identifiers to arrive at a critical evaluation of GDR history while maintaining self-respect for their individual biographies and avoiding the temptations of GDR nostalgia. As it found its place in the regionalized pluralism of the new German party system, PDS supporters came to terms with the dual transformation that ended the post-1945 socialist experiment as well as GDR statehood. Far from deepening the continuing cultural divisions between East and West Germans, the expression of regional East German interests and identity by the PDS contributed to the integration of post-unification German society.     

Beinahe-Gleichzeitigkeit. Die europäische Anti-Gentechnik-Welle und das Öffentlichkeitsdefizit der EU

Massenöffentlichkeiten spielen in der Geschichte des internationalen Gentechnikkonflikts seit dessen Einsetzen vor nunmehr drei Jahrzehnten eine entscheidende Rolle. Die Rekonstruktion dieses Konflikts lässt indes die nationale Situiertheit dieser Öffentlichkeiten erkennen: Die in ihnen stattfindenden Gentechnikkonflikte verlaufen voneinander unabhängig, in nationalem Rahmen und nationaler Selbstbezüglichkeit. Gleichzeitig wird in der zweiten Hälfte der 1990er Jahre aber auch eine andere bemerkenswerte Entwicklung deutlich: der Übergang von einem asynchronen Nebeneinander nationaler Kontroversen zu deren annähernd gleichzeitiger Mobilisierung. Theoretische Relevanz erhält diese Erscheinung vor dem Hintergrund der aktuellen Diskussion um die Transnationalisierung politischer Systeme und die demokratietheoretischen Implikationen dieses Vorgangs. In der entstehenden ?postnationalen Konstellation“ bricht eine Kluft auf zwischen nationalen Massenöffentlichkeiten und supranationalen Entscheidungsabläufen. Am deutlichsten zu Tage tritt dieses Problem im ?Öffentlichkeitsdefizit“ der Europäischen Union. Der internationale Konflikt um die Gentechnik lässt jedoch darauf schließen, dass, obwohl es kein Anzeichen eines ?Verschmelzens“ nationaler Massenöffentlichkeiten zu einer gemeinsamen europäischen Öffentlichkeit gibt, der dargestellte Synchronismus ein funktionales Äquivalent einer solchen europäischen Öffentlichkeit bilden könnte.     

Regulating Vertically Integrated Utilities When Transfers are Costly but Revenues are Beneficial

This paper considers regulating a vertically integratedutility under asymmetric information about efficiency gainsdue to integration. The benchmark case – benevolentregulation – implies a divestiture of a technically efficientintegration, unless the cost savings due to integrating aresubstantial. This highlights how private information causes adeviation from the standard perfect information framework.This result is at odds with the worldwide experience withpublic utilities that remained integrated almost throughoutthe 20th century despite that integration offered meager or nosavings as now becomes evident. Of course, this divergencebetween normative analysis and facts is no surprise for publicchoice. Indeed, a rather mild kind of a Leviathan motive –regulators dislike transfers to the utility, and by symmetry,like revenues – coupled with the `secrecy' only integrationoffers due to private information explains why a regulator hasan interest to keep even economically inefficiently integratedfirms integrated. This is in line with Crew and Rowley (1988)that public regulation serves to `milk' rather than to imposeefficiency.     

Austria

European Journal of Political Research -     

Elektorale Responsivität als Kriterium zur Beurteilung des deutschen Bundestagswahlrechts

We argue that plurality systems strengthen the accountability of governments towards the electorate while proportional systems lead to a broad representation of voter interests in parliament and coalition governments. We demonstrate these effects in an analysis of all German federal elections from 1949 to 2017 using first-tier votes and directly elected deputies as reflecting the plurality segment and second-tier votes and the seat shares of parties as reflecting the proportional representation segment. We show that the percentages of directly elected deputies react more to differences in perceived party competences (party valences) than the percentages of all party deputies. Electoral system reforms should take into account the effects of both parts of the German electoral system.     

The political economics of Wackersdorf: Why do politicians stick to their past decisions?

The politicians' reactions to changing circumstances appear often sluggish. The decisions about the construction of a nuclear reprocessing plant at Wackersdorf (Federal Republic of Germany) provide a recent example. Reprivatization of the company led to an immediate cancellation of the project due to its lack of economics. However, politicians tried (and still try) to save the project, despite a large public opposition. This may be considered as irrational because the politicians apparently account for their past investments. This paper argues that a piecemeal type of a policy is rational if voters honour both credibility and populistic decisions.I acknowledge the helpful comments from an anonymous referee and the suggestions from Elisabeth Szirucsek.     

Central-Local Government Relations in Transition: The Case of Swedish Child Care

The provision of subsidized child care has grown to become asizeable economic activity in Sweden during recent decades.This paper examines the changed financial relation betweencentral and local governments and the impact of child-caregrants on local government behaviour. We find that during anearlier regime, with a system of matching grants, localgovernments responded strongly to the incentives of the rules.This resulted in both intended and unintended outcomes, aswell as a distortion of information to the central government.Experiences from a recent transition of regime towards a kindof closed block grant system, illustrates new types ofadaptive behaviour but also the problem of finding a formulafor a fair allocation of resources among local governments.When designing a block grant system a distinction must be madebetween expenditures and resource needs; cost expenditure datado not necessarily reflect resource needs in cases where thereare national categorical equity goals related to socialservices of a merit-want character.     

From “international cooperation” to “development policy”? Reform and reorientation of Japan's ODA

Japan's program for official development assistance (ODA) is a critical tool of foreign policy. However, this program has historically been driven by quantitative goals. Only in the last decade have explicit principles and implementation policies emerged that concentrate on a qualitative, more human-centered approach to ODA. According to Professor Dr. Franz Nuscheler and Ben Warkentin, Director and Research Fellow respectively of the Institute for Development and Peace, Duisburg University, Germany, this reorientation of Japan's ODA has the potential to challenge the overall stature of the country” s foreign relations. It remains to be seen, however, whether Japan's commitments to ODA reforms will be put into practice. Will Japan's ODA Charter be a tiger without teeth?     

Isolation of Delta9-THCA-A from hemp and analytical aspects concerning the determination of Delta9-THC in cannabis products

A simple procedure based on a common silica gel column chromatography for the isolation of Delta9-tetrahydrocannabinolic acid A (Delta9-THCA-A) from hemp in a multi-milligram scale is presented. Further, the decarboxylation reaction of Delta9-THCA-A to the toxicologically active Delta9-tetrahydrocannabinol (Delta9-THC) at different analytical and under-smoking conditions is investigated. Maximal conversion in an optimised analytical equipment yields about 70% Delta9-THC. In the simulation of the smoking process, only about 30 % of the spiked substance could be recovered as Delta9-THC.