Towards a new model of the rise of right‐wing extremism

Terror from the Extreme Right. Edited by Tore Bj?rgo. London: Frank Cass, 1995.

The Extreme Right. Freedom and Security at Risk. Edited by Aurel Braun and Stephen Scheinberg. Boulder: Westview, 1997.

The Logic of Evil. The Social Origins of the Nazi Party, 1925–1933. By William Brustein. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1996.

Extremism in Europe. By Jean‐Yves Camus (co‐ordinator). Paris: Editions de l'Aube/CERA, 1997.

The Rise of National Socialism and the Working Classes in Weimar Germany. Edited by Conan Fischer. Providence and Oxford: Berghahn Books, 1996.

The Radical Right in Western Europe. A Comparative Analysis. By Herbert kitschelt (in collaboration with Anthony J. Mcgann). Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1995.

The Revival of Right‐Wing Extremism in the Nineties. Edited by Peter H. Merkl and Leonard Weinberg. London: Frank Cass, 1997.

Hitler's Thirty Days to Power. January 1933. By Henry Ashby Turner Jnr. Reading, Mass.: Addison‐Wesley, 1996.     

Barking Mad? Risk Regulation and the Control of Dangerous Dogs in Germany

The 'focusing event' of a deadly attack on a six-year-old boy by two dangerous dogs provided not only one of the most debated policy issues in Germany in 2000, but also led to regulatory responses by most Länder governments. By assessing the different responses and the selection of regulatory instruments, it is questioned whether the diversity and speed of responses reflected 'barking mad' regulation as predicted by critical commentators of risk regulation. The conclusion argues that the responses reflected incentives existing within the system of German federalism which led to the diversity of responses and regulatory competition 'to the top'.     

The rise of Femi‐Nazis? Female participation in right‐extremist movements in unified Germany

German feminist scholars have recently come to argue that female involvement in right‐extremist causes is grounded in gender‐specific motives. They have also begun to uncover a troubling link between new patterns of female political engagement (ranging from electoral mobilisation to violent streetfighting) and their own efforts to promote an independent women's consciousness since the 1960s. This article develops a typology of New Right women, characterised here as Femi‐Nazis, evincing different levels of sympathy for, identification with, and participation in radical and extremist movements. It then explores five issue orientations distinguishing New Right women of the 1990s from the Old and New Right men of the 1940s and 1990s, suggesting that these women have developed an independent, self‐assertive political consciousness without internalising feminism's broader aims of diversity and inclusion. The article concludes with reflections on the interplay of ‘feminist’ consciousness and ultra‐nationalist qua xenophobic attitudes, and on the dilemmas Femi‐Nazi thinking poses for feminist identity in united Germany.     

Hollowing out or filling in? Taskforces and the management of cross-cutting issues in British government

This article considers the problem posed by the need to build policy coherence across the levels of government but with a focus on the strategic role of the centre in the hollow state. It considers the Social Exclusion Unit (SEU) as an example of a structure, the taskforce, designed to meet the demands of coherence-building. It concludes that, far from the centre being hollowed out, resulting in a permanent loss of capacity, there is a growing emphasis in the core executive on strategic co-ordination and the emergence of institutions such as the SEU indicate a counter-tendency to hollowing out: filling in.     

The irresistible decline of the medical profession? an empirical investigation of its autonomy and economic situation in the changing German welfare state

The aim of this paper is to examine various theses of loss of autonomy in the medical profession by means of an empirical investigation of changes in physicians' economic opportunities and technical autonomy in Germany since the mid-1970s. The paper shows that transitions in the organisational structure of the health care system, government policies aimed mainly at the economisation of health care, and the changing situation of the profession in the labour market, have together been responsible for the changes investigated. It is argued that technical autonomy has been retained in out-patient care, while in hospitals there has been some loss of technical autonomy. Moreover, the economic situation of physicians has in general deteriorated as a result of central state intervention.     

Contesting Europe,or Germany's Place in Europe? European Integration and the EU Policies of the Grand Coalition Government in the Mirror of Parliamentary Debates in the Bundestag

This article explores how European integration is contested between political parties in debates of the German Bundestag. Distinguishing between ‘domestic’ debates about the conduct of EU policy-making by the German government and ‘supranational’ debates about the institutions and policies of the European Union, the article asks for thematic objects and patterns of polarisation between parties within these debates. Presenting empirical evidence from the manual coding of 23 plenary debates during the second ‘Grand Coalition’ government, it is shown that the polarisation between parliamentary parties differs greatly at both levels of discussion. Whereas the antagonism between government and opposition appears to determine the polarisation of parties in ‘domestic’ debates, more ambiguous and atypical position patterns emerge on behalf of supranational issues. Therefore, the article suggests that a differentiation of various levels of debate is helpful in capturing the polarisation of political parties over the issue of European integration.     

The Media as a Window on the Past? The Impact of Television and Newspaper Consumption on Knowledge of the Democratic Transition in Portugal

This study seeks to expand our understanding of how the media increase the level of political information, by focusing on an understudied yet important learning outcome: knowledge of the political past. The article explores the factors underlying variation in the recognition of the leading actors in the transitional process in Portugal. The results show that television news and newspaper exposure foster recognition of these actors, but that media use interacts with personal experience of the transition (stronger effects among younger cohorts) and party identification (stronger impact on those who do not feel close to a political party).     

Brothers in arms or at arms? IG‐Metall in 1994: Confronting recession and unification

The protracted collective bargaining dispute in German manufacturing during spring 1994 displayed a variety of characteristics fundamental to an understanding of the social unification process in Germany. This article focuses on contextual conditions affecting the negotiating and compromise formation process. This serves to illustrate the ‘turbulent environment’ under which industrial relations are currently taking place. To illustrate this argument the article analyses the requirements and obstacles to finding a compromise in the 1994 bargaining round. The core challenge consisted in displaying a degree of organisational flexibility on both sides of the bargaining table. At the heart of this challenge is the search for a new architecture in German industrial relations which includes coming to terms with the combined effects of unification and economic restructuring.     

Yet another coup d'État in Germany? Schröder's vote of confidence and parliamentary government in Germany

According to some political commentators Gerhard Schröder's decision in May 2005 to use a ‘false’ vote of confidence in order to have the Bundestag dissolved was nothing less than a coup d'état. From this vantage point an incumbent chancellor had put party interests above crucial aspects of the Basic Law. The debate ensuing Schröder's decision is, thus, to be understood as a variation of a controversy about the legitimate power of parties in the political system, i.e. about the essence of the parliamentary form of government in Germany. In order to bring these issues to the fore the article first describes the chronology of events triggered by Gerhard Schröder's (and Franz Müntefering's) announcements on 22 May 2005. It then examines the five motions for a vote of confidence that have been brought to the floor of the Bundestag since 1949. Finally, it discusses the question of whether the Bundestag should receive the constitutional right to dissolve itself. Overall the analysis supports the view that the vote of confidence has been totally subsumed under the logic of parliamentary government in Germany.     

Media as political actors? Issue focusing and selective emphasis in the German quality press

This article examines media's active role in the political process. By selecting and emphasising certain issues in their editorials media outlets communicate their particular political position to the audience and establish a distinct ideological profile. It is assumed, however, that the impact of editorials on the political system depends on the degree of issue focusing in the media system. Only if different newspapers assign relevance to the same issues the political system is likely to respond. A content analysis of German quality press editorials between 1994 and 1998 is employed in order to assess the ideological distances between papers and investigate the circumstances under which high degrees of focusing nevertheless develop. Results indicate considerable differences among newspapers paired with highly consonant attention for certain polity and politics issues throughout the media system.     

Construction of Gender and National Identity in Turkey: Images of the First Lady in the Turkish Media (2002–7)

This article analyses the conception of womanhood and nationhood in Turkey through images of the First Lady in the media. It demonstrates that while there is a struggle between the secularist and Islamist media on issues such as Turkish national identity and public visibility, the secularist and Islamist discourses overlap when it comes to gender roles. In both cases, the private sphere is designated as the primary domain of women and the agency of women in the public sphere is limited by the symbolic duties they are expected to perform in accordance with the national imaginary.     

Militancy and parliamentary representation in Chile, 1849–79. Notes for a prosopographical study of the chamber of deputies

SUMMARY

This article provides a political and social characterization of Chilean deputies in the second half of the nineteenth century. It covers 11 parliamentary elections ranging from 1849, the first election under a relatively recognizable party system to 1879, the last election before the consequences of the War of the Pacific (1879–84) altered the local political landscape. The study of parliamentarians is based on a prosopography derived from the analysis of 405 deputies, and in this case is limited to three criteria: place of birth, profession or occupation, and age of entry into parliament. The latter criterion is a key one, because the authors focus only on members who joined congress for the first time over a period of 30 years. One of the main hypotheses of this article suggests that from the 1861 election congress experienced changes in its composition, allowing the entrance of actors who had hitherto not been part of congress.     

Indianisation or indigenisation? Greater India and the politics of cultural diffusionism

The paper focuses on the notion of Greater India that celebrated the diffusion of Indian cultural practices in Asia. Although prominent in the early twentieth century, it continued to fascinate Indian statesmen in the post-independence period. Juxtaposing its cultural frame with alternative conceptions of India’s self-identity, the paper argues that Greater India at once engaged with, and was in defiance of, both colonial and nationalist discourses. To what extent was the diffusionist logic calibrated to acknowledge mutual learning in the region? The paper critically engages with the dynamics between the circulation of ideas and their systematisation in India’s intellectual history.     

Confrontation and co‐operation in the Indian Ocean

The end of the Cold War has created new dangers and opportunities. The formation of an Indian Ocean Rim trading bloc has the potential to benefit some of the poorest people in the world. Regional maritime co‐operation could provide the catalyst for alleviating poverty on the Indian Ocean Rim by giving a spurt to incomes and employment from the seas.