The Federal Judiciary and Northern School Desegregation: Law, Politics, and Judicial Management

Using a three-tier analysis, this article examines how the interplayof political and legal factors has influenced the developmentof school desegregation policy in Michigan and Ohio. The authorconcludes, among other things, that the district courts, theSixth Circuit Court of Appeals, and the U.S. Supreme Court aresensitive to the influences of politics and legalism, but thatthe responses of the three kinds of federal courts are different.Recognizing a constitutional imperative to eradicate segregation,district courts have emphasized the participation of electedofficials and affected community groups in the remedial process.Because of isolation and low visibility, the Sixth Circuit hastended to pursue a more tenacious policy course than eitherthe district court or the Supreme Court. Meanwhile, the U.S.Supreme Court has generally championed the cause of local officialsby attempting to balance the interest of eliminating segregationwith that of protecting the integrity of state and local decisionmakers.     

Bicameralism and Party Politics in Germany: an Empirical Social Choice Analysis

This paper analyses whether and how party politics transform German bicameralism. Based on the policy positions of bicameral legislators, the study computes the win sets, the yolks of each chamber and a Nash solution in order to analyse empirically the effects of party politics on German bicameralism. In comparison to the basic bicameral model, hypotheses on bicameral conflict and policy stability are tested in the case of similar and different party majorities in the two-dimensional policy space of German labour politics. The results show that party politics transform German bicameralism in two ways. Similar majorities collapse bicameral checks-and-balances, while different party majorities come close to the basic bicameral model with high policy stability and conflict between both chambers.     

Frank Fischer: Citizens, Experts, and the Environment. The Politics of Local Knowledge

Ohne Zusammenfassung

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Frank Fischer: Citizens, Experts, and the Environment. The Politics of Local Knowledge Durham/London: Duke University Press 2000, 363 S., US$18,95 (paperback)

     

Politics, Profession and Law: The Legal Development of Compulsory Intervention towards Substance Abusers in Scandinavian Social Law

The legal foundation of compulsory interventions towards substance abusers in Scandinavian social law has moved from similarity to dissimilarity. The aim of this article is to explain this development by focusing on the relationship between three general discourses in the preparation of these acts in Norway, Sweden and Denmark. The political-democratic discourse focuses on the relationship between law and politics (law as a political instrument); the professional discourse emphasises the relationship between welfare professions and law (law as a professional tool); and the legal discourse draws attention to the importance of legal principles (law as an institution). In Sweden, the process has been strongly politicised and influenced by the political 'war on drugs', resulting in a comprehensive use of coercion towards substance abusers. In Denmark, the process has also been dominated by the political discourse. This process, however, was far less politicised than in Sweden, and no actor has pressed for extensive authority to apply such measures in social policy. In Norway, the process has been strongly influenced by legal discourse emphasising the legal security of the substance abusers, resulting in legislation that is more constricted than in Sweden. In none of these countries have welfare professionals played an active role in pressing for coercive measures in this field of social policy; in fact, they have generally opposed such measures.