Wege der Korruptionspolitik

Ohne Zusammenfassung Rezension Aktuell zu: Jens Borchert/Sigrid Leitner/Klaus Stolz (Red.): Politische Korruption, hg. v. Zentrum für Europa- und Nordamerika-Studien (Jahrbuch für Europa- und Nordamerika-Studien 3, 1999), Opladen: Leske + Budrich 2000, 251 S., DM 48,-.     

Book Reviews

Books reviewed:
Jorge M. Valadez, Deliberative Democracy, Political Legitimacy, and Self-Determination in Multicultural Societies
Jeffrey Seitzer, Comparative History and Legal Theory: Carl Schmitt in the First German Democracy
Hartmut Rosa, Identität und kulturelle Praxis. Politische Philosophie nach Charles Taylor     

Isoliert oder gut vernetzt? Eine vergleichende Exploration der Publikationspraxis in der PVS

Citations and co-publications are one important indicator of scientific communication and collaboration. By studying patterns of citation and co-publication in four major European Political Science journals (BJPS, PS, PVS and ÖZP), we demonstrate that compared to the conduits of communication in the natural sciences, these networks are rather sparse. British Political Science, however, is clearly less fragmented than its German speaking counterpart.     

Regierungsabwahl ohne Regierungsneuwahl

Ohne Zusammenfassung Dieser Kommentar zur Bundestagswahl wurde am 4. Oktober 2005 der Redaktion der PVS eingereicht. Die Autoren bedanken sich bei der Redaktion der PVS und bei Thomas Gschwend für Verbesserungsvorschl?ge, die am 12. Oktober 2005 in die Endversion eingearbeitet wurden.     

The Postnational Constellation: Democratic Governance in the Era of Globalization

Books reviewed in this article:
Daniele Archibugi, David Held, and Martin Köhler, (ed.) Re-imagining Political Community: Studies in Cosmopolitan Democracy.
Max Pensky, (ed.) The Postnational Constellation: Political Essays. By Jürgen Habermas.
Beate Kohler-Koch, Regieren in entgrenzten Räumen. (Governance in Debordered Spaces.) Politische Vierteljahresschrift, special issue 29.
Wolfgang Streeck, (ed.) Internationale Wirtschaft, nationale Demokratie. Herausforderungen für die Demokratietheorie. (International Economy, National Democracy: Challenges for Democratic Theory.)
Michael Zürn, Regieren jenseits des Nationalstaates. (Governance Beyond the Nation-State.)     

Neubeginn oder Ende der Sozialdemokratie?

After the Social Democrats regained power in the majority of West European countries during the second half of the 1990s, the debate about the decline of Social Democracy, initiated only a few years earlier, increasingly seemed to be obsolete. However, the road to power by the Social Democrats was accompanied by a programmatic debate, which culminated in the “Third Way”. This article analyses the programmatic development in four West European countries and tries to empirically answer the question, whether we can characterize the recent development as a new beginning or the end for Social Democracy. Social and economic policies are at the centre of the analysis, since these policy areas have been at the core for the development of the “parties matter thesis” in the past. The analysis shows that the current or “new” Social Democracy clearly deviates from the “old” programmatically. However, this programmatic reorientation does not constitute a unique Social Democratic reform program, but moreover an acceptance of the central position of Christian Democracy. Therefore, the original “parties matter thesis” seems to lose some of its explanatory power.     

Politische Theorie und Ideengeschichte, Politisches System der Bundesrepublik, Politische Soziologie, Vergleichende Politikforschung, Europäische Union, Internationale Politik, Historische Politikforschung

Inhaltsübersicht   (RezensentInnen in Klammern) Literaturbericht    J?rg Faust / Stefan Leiderer: Zur Effektivit?t und politischen ?konomie der Entwicklungszusammenarbeit Politische Theorie und Ideengeschichte    Bluhm, Harald, und Jürgen Gebhardt: Politische Ideengeschichte im 20. Jahrhundert. Konzepte und Kritik (Philipp H?lzing) • Dryzek, John S., Bonnie Honig und Anne Phillips (eds.): The Oxford Handbook of Political Theory (Johannes Schmidt) • Ke?ler, Mario: Ossip K. Flechtheim. Politischer Wissenschaftler und Zukunftsdenker (1909–1998) (Wilhelm Bleek) • Priester, Karin: Populismus. Historische und aktuelle Erscheinungsformen (Florian Hartleb) • S?llner, Alfons: Fluchtpunkte. Studien zur politischen Ideengeschichte des 20. Jahrhunderts (Michael Becker) • Williams, Bernard: In the Beginning Was the Deed. Realism and Moralism in Political Argument (Carsten Quesel) • Doppelrezension: Henning, Christoph: Philosophie nach Marx. 100 Jahre Marxrezeption und die normative Sozialphilosophie der Gegenwart in der Kritik; Henning, Christoph (Hg.): Marxglossar (Felix Heidenreich) • Doppelrezension: Mouffe, Chantal: über das Politische. Wider die kosmopolitische Illusion; Nonhoff, Martin: Politischer Diskurs und Hegemonie. Das Projekt "Soziale Marktwirtschaft" (André Brodocz) Politisches System der Bundesrepublik    Van Ooyen, Robert Chr., und Martin H. M?llers (Hg.): Das Bundesverfassungsgericht im politischen System (Hubert Woltering) Politische Soziologie    Dolata, Ulrich, und Raymund Werle (Hg.): Gesellschaft und die Macht der Technik. Sozio?konomischer und institutioneller Wandel durch Technisierung (Georg Simonis) Vergleichende Politikforschung    Castles, Francis G. (ed.): The Disappearing State? Retrenchment realities in an age of globalization (Marius R. Busemeyer) • Clasen, Jochen, und Nico A. Siegel (eds.): Investigating Welfare State Change: The 'Dependent Variable Problem' in Comparative Analysis (Marius R. Busemeyer) Europ?ische Union    Huget, Holger: Demokratisierung der EU. Normative Demokratietheorie und Governance-Praxis im europ?ischen Mehrebenensystem (Andreas Wimmel) Internationale Politik    Eder, Franz, Gerhard Mangott und Martin Senn (eds.): Transatlantic Discord. Combating Terrorism and Proliferation, Preventing Crises (Alexander Siedschlag) • Marx, Johannes: Vielfalt oder Einheit der Theorien in den Internationalen Beziehungen. Eine systematische Rekonstruktion, Integration und Bewertung (Ralf J. Leiteritz) • Schmidt, Siegmar, Gunter Hellmann und Reinhard Wolf (Hg.): Handbuch zur Deutschen Au?enpolitik (Helga Haftendorn) • Wolter, Detlev: A United Nations for the 21st Century: From Reaction to Prevention. Towards an Effective and Efficient International Regime for Conflict Prevention and Peacebuilding (Andreas Heinemann-Grüder) • Young, Brigitte (Hg.): Die Politische ?konomie des Dienstleistungsabkommens (GATS). Gender in EU und China (Eva Hartmann) Historische Politikforschung    Kaelble, Hartmut: Sozialgeschichte Europas 1945 bis zur Gegenwart (Siegfried Weichlein) • Doppelrezension: Andres, Jan: "Auf Poesie ist die Sicherheit der Throne gegründet". Huldigungsrituale und Gelegenheitslyrik im 19. Jahrhundert; Schwengelbeck, Matthias: Die Politik des Zeremoniells. Huldigungsfeiern im langen 19. Jahrhundert (Rainer Schmidt)     

Die personalisierte Verhältniswahl unter den Bedingungen des gesamtdeutschen Parteiensystems. Eine Analyse der Entstehungsursachen von Überhangmandaten seit der Wiedervereinigung

Germany’s mixed-member proportional system, internationally known as the ‘German model’, has been recently criticized, since the 1994 Bundestag elections saw the genesis of several surplus mandates giving the CDU-FDP-government a safer majority in parliament. Due to this institutional effect, a lot of political scientists and lawyers have argued that the electoral system is no longer in conformity with the constitutional principle of electoral equality. From the perspective of empirical political analysis, two important aspects have not been taken into account in this debate. First, the complex relationship between different factors causing surplus mandates have not been analysed in a systematic-comparative manner. Second, the literature does not explain why so many surplus mandates have appeared in all national elections since 1990 whereas almost none were produced in Bundestag elections before the reunification. This study analyses the genesis of surplus mandates having appeared in the three German Bundestag elections since reunification (1990–1998). In contrast to monocausal explanations it confirms the hypothesis that in the present political context almost all surplus mandates result from complex relationships between generally known explanatory variables. Furthermore, the empirical analysis shows that the genesis of surplus mandates is not only caused by particularities of electoral districting in certain Bundesländer, but also by politico-structural differences between East and West Germany.     

The free rider problem: Experimental evidence

This paper addresses the need to learn more about the relative desirability of the current FASB and its alternatives. It responds to this need by demonstrating how a given standards-setting alternative might be preliminarily analyzed in terms of its feasibility and the degree to which its theoretical objectives are operationally attainable. The analysis emphasizes that it is not the existence of possible operational shortcomings that is important, but how its operational properties compare with those of other available alternatives. The analysis itself reveals that, in spite of operational shortcomings, standards-setting by means of a demand-revealing process may be an alternative worthy of further consideration both in its own right, and as a basis of comparison for assessing the relative strengths and limitations of the current FASB.     

Mobilisierung, Verstärkung, Konversion? Ergebnisse eines Experiments zur Wahrnehmung der Fernsehduelle im Vorfeld der Bundestagswahl 2002

Based on an experimental study about the televised debates in the last German federal election campaign, the article analyses how the candidates — Schröder and Stoiber — were perceived by the audience. Based on real-time-response-data, the crucial role that already existing attitudes play in the process of debate perception is shown. Still, debates do have effects, although these vary among voters depending on their specific situations. Debates have a mobilizing effect on partisans, while there is a potential persuasive effect on independent voters.     

Die Zentralisierung der Staatstätigkeit in einer Referendumsdemokratie: Evidenz aus der Schweiz

Previous theoretical and empirical research has shown that policymakers have incentives to centralize government activities in order to weaken the competitive pressure of fiscal federalism. We argue that referendums reduce the possibilities for collusion among representatives and the ability of higher level policy-makers to attract additional responsibilities. Empirical results from panel data for Swiss cantons between 1980 to 1998 support this hypothesis. The centralization of government activity, measured by budgetary outcomes, is significantly reduced by a fiscal referendum. This holds in the case of public revenue and its components, but also for public expenditure, in particular public education spending.     

The effects of party competition on budget outcomes: Empirical evidence from local governments in Spain

This paper investigates the link between local budget outcomes and the intensity of party competition, measured as the margin of victory obtained by the incumbent in the previous local election (i.e. the difference between the vote share and 50%). Two competing hypotheses are tested in the paper. On the one hand, the Leviathan government hypothesis suggests that the lower the intensity of party competition is, the greater is the increase in the size of the local public sector, irrespective of the ideology of the party in power. On the other hand, the Partisan government hypothesis suggests that the incumbent will find it easier to advance its platform when intensity of competition is low (i.e., parties on the left/right will increase/decrease the size of the local public sector when the intensity of the challenge from the opposition is low). These hypotheses are tested with information on spending, own revenues and deficit for more than 500 Spanish local governments over 8 years (1992–1999), and information on the results of two local electoral contests (1991 and 1995). The evidence favors the Partisan hypothesis over the Leviathan one. We found that, for left-wing governments, spending, taxes and deficits increased as the electoral margin increases; whereas, for right-wing governments, a greater margin of victory led to reductions in all these variables.     

Kooperative Politikberatung ohne machtpolitisches Kalkül?

The paper contributes to the discussion about policy advice, initiated by Falk et al. in PVS 2/2007. Based on a differentiation between output- and input oriented politics, several notions of advice and knowledge are discussed. This leads to the insight that the relevance of studies in political science does rely on the careful consideration of the strategic influence of knowledge in the political process. The fruitfulness of such a perspective is exemplified by a short view on some institutional developments in the field of political advice. A detailed analysis of the newly organised economic policy report “Gemeinschaftsdiagnose” then reveals that the diagnosis of new cooperative modes of governmental acting, as postulated by Falk et al., has to be modified. Particularly with regard to core fields of governmental acting, like economic and social policy, there is an unbroken continuity of hierarchical forms of governing.     

Volkserziehung oder Institutionenreform? Ein Kommentar zu Werner Patzelts Bürgerschelte in der PVS 4/1998

Zusammenfassung Der Beitrag greift Patzelts These eines „latenten Verfassungskonflikts“ zwischen Bürgern und Politikern auf. Patzelts Auffassung, derzufolge die Demokratievorstellungen der Bürger falsch und korrekturbedürftig seien, stelle ich drei Thesen entgegen. Erstens sind die Demokratievorstellungen von Politikern und Bürgern nicht einfach falsch oder richtig; vielmehr zeichnen sie sich durch Gegens?tze aus, die sich aus den unterschiedlichen Rollenperspektiven von Politikanbietern und Politikabnehmern ergeben. Zweitens sind diese Gegens?tze nicht durch Erziehung, sondern nur durch Anreizver?nderungen — und das hei?t: durch institutionelle Reformen — zu überbrücken. Gefragt ist ein Anreizsystem, das den Rollentausch zwischen Bürgern und Politikern erm?glicht und damit deren wechselseitige Lernbereitschaft erh?ht. Als meine dritte These lege ich dar, dass die Ausstattung des Souver?ns mit Sachstimmrechten genau diesen Rollentausch erm?glicht und deshalb geeignet ist, das institutionelle Anreizsystem in der geforderten Weise zu rejustieren.

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zu: Werner Patzelt, 1998: Ein latenter Verfassungskonflikt? Die Deutschen und ihr parlamentarisches Regierungssystem, in: Politische Vierteljahresschrift 39 (4), 725–757.     

Is newspaper coverage of economic events politically biased?

This paper develops an econometric technique to test for political bias in news reports that controls for the underlying character of the news reported. Because of the changing availability of the number of newspapers in Nexis/Lexis, two sets of time are examined: from January 1991 to May 2004 and from January 1985 to May 2004. Our results suggest that American newspapers tend to give more positive coverage to the same economic news when Democrats are in the White House than when Republicans are; a similar though smaller effect is found for Democratic control of Congress. Our results reject the claim that “reader diversity is a powerful force toward accuracy.” When all types of news are pooled into a single analysis, our results are significant. However, the results vary greatly depending upon which types of economic data are being reported. When newspapers are examined individually the only support that Republicans appear to obtain is from the president’s home state newspapers during his term. This is true for the Houston Chronicle under both Bushes and the Los Angeles Times during the Reagan administration. Contrary to rational expectations, media coverage affects people’s perceptions of the economy.     

Inter-Institutional Dynamics: Assessments of the Supreme Court in a Separation of Powers Context

Using data collected from a survey experiment, we examine whether information about the nature of the interactions between the Supreme Court and Congress influences respondents’ assessments of the Court. We find that political sophistication is key to understanding how individuals incorporate the separation of powers context into their evaluations of the Court. Political sophisticates give the Court its highest assessments when told that the Court and Congress are often in disagreement, and that Congress is most responsible for this disagreement. Assessments of the Court are significantly lower, however, when sophisticates believe that high levels of disagreement between the Court and Congress are due to the Court’s actions and when these respondents believe that the Court and Congress agree a high proportion of the time. These results suggest that for political sophisticates, the Court’s institutional standing is related to the balance it strikes between deference to Congress and judicial independence.     

Inter-regional redistribution through infrastructure investment: tactical or programmatic?

In this paper we study the political economy of the inter-regional allocation of investment in infrastructure, in an effort to disentangle tactical and programmatic motives, where tactical politics refers to the discretionary allocation of investment to districts with more ‘political clout’ and programmatic politics refers to the allocation of investment according to certain ‘objective’ criteria (e.g., income level). We use a panel of data from the Spanish electoral districts for the period 1964–2004 to estimate an equation in which investment depends both on economic and political variables. The results show that tactical politics do matter since the districts receiving the most funds are those in which: (i) the incumbent’s vote margin is low, (ii) few votes are needed to win an additional seat in the legislature, (iii) the central and regional governments are controlled by the same party, and (iv) regional parties play a pivotal role in the legislature. However, the results also show that programmatic politics matter, since inter-regional redistribution is shown to increase: (i) with the arrival of democracy and European Union funds, (ii) under leftist governments, and (iii) the weaker the correlation is between ‘political clout’ and regional income.     

Win,lose, or withdraw: A categorical analysis of career patterns in the House of Representatives, 1948–1978

The literature on incumbency advantage has focused on margin as an indicator for electoral security. But while electoral margin is a goodex ante measure, it is a poorex post measure of security. Further, existing work has not integrated the choice of retirement with changes in the level of security. To improve the specification and definition of “marginality”, a multinomial LOGIT model is proposed where the dependent variable is categorical. Account is therefore taken of all the ways a Representative's term in office can end, including reelection, defeat, retirement, or pursuit of other office. The sample includes all U.S. Representatives elected for the first time between 1948 and 1978. The results indicate that (1) margin in the previous election is a significantex ante proxy for the probability of electoral defeat, and (2) while the electoral safety of all incumbents in the House has been increased, the increases are greater for members elected for the first time in the period since 1965.     

Interministerielle Netzwerke: Formale und informelle Koordinationsstrukturen bei der Vorbereitung der deutschen Verhandlungspositionen zur Regierungskonferenz 1996

How do German ministries manage the preparation of national negotiation positions for EU intergovernmental conference? After a survey of the debate on organizational deficits of the interministerial coordination in Germany, we are consulting decision- and organization-theoretic approaches in IR. Drawing on organizational economics we concretise and supplement these older frameworks. We conceive the management of a governmental organization as a specific aggregation of heterogeneous preferences and information. Applying social network analysis we take into account formal as well as informal aspects of coordination channels. The objective of this article is to make visible the complex structures and processes that constitute foreign policy making, and to provide a preliminary assessment of its efficiency.