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,-.     

Bilanz der Einigungsbilanzen — Forschungs-und Meinungskonjunkturen der letzten 15 Jahre

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

Eine Disziplin auf der Suche nach Wissenschaftlichkeit: Entwicklung und Stand der Methoden in der deutschen Politikwissenschaft

The article takes stock of methods use in German political science. Based on an analysis of articles published in four German political science journals it is shown that only a minority takes an explicit theory-guided empirical perspective on research. A large share of publications can be better characterized as a knowledgeable discussion of a particular topic. This finding is amended by a placement of Germany in the international context and a glance into the political science curricula at some German universities. The finding is then nuanced by exemplary references to methodologically innovative work by German political scientists in four research areas. This work, however, has only seldom been published in German scholarly journals but has been preferably sent to international ones. The article closes by referring to the specific character of research questions in political science compared to neighbouring disciplines.     

Die politischen Konsequenzen der niedrigen Wahlbeteiligung bei der Europawahl 2009

If electoral abstention is linked to party preferences, low turnout—as witnessed in European Parliament elections—may hurt some parties and benefit others. In order to assess this possibility, we compare, in the member states of the EU, parties’ vote shares in the 2009 European Parliament elections with the results that would have been obtained had turnout reached the level of national general elections. We find that the effects of low turnout are minimal, and that—except for a single seat—higher turnout would not have resulted in a different composition of the European Parliament.     

Governance in der politischen Ökonomie — zum Stand der Debatte

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

Informelle transgouvernementale Koordinationsnetzwerke der Ministerialbürokratie der EU-Mitgliedstaaten bei einer Regierungskonferenz

We investigate the informal bilateral transgovernmental relations between equivalent ministries of EU member states during the preparation of the Intergovernmental Conference 1996. Starting point of this analysis is the hypothesis of a growing importance of transnational and transgovernmental relations as a cause and a result of European integration. Whereas these proclaimed tendencies have been extensively researched with regard to economic interdependencies and transnational relations of societal actors, networks of the administrative and bureaucratic elites have been rather neglected. Applying diverse concepts of network analysis, we identify the hitherto latent informal network structures of the governments. The overall configuration can be described as a mixture of a centre-periphery structure and cohesive blocks. The gradual center-periphery structure consists of a “triumvirate” of the powerful member states (Germany — France — Great Britain) and smaller states, and is characterized by a clear north-south dimension. The costs of informal coordination are mainly borne by the large member states as well as by “brokers” (Austria, BeNeLux, Finland, Sweden).     

Exzentrische Systemtheorie der Politik

Ohne Zusammenfassung Essay zu: Niklas Luhmann: Die Politik der Gesellschaft (herausgegeben von André Kieserling). Frankfurt a.M.: Suhrkamp 2000, 444 S., DM 48,-.     

Fragen an die politökonomische Sozialforschung im Prozess der Osterweiterung der EU

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

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.     

Die Bekämpfung der Unsicherheit: Politikerkarrieren und Karrierepolitik in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland

Political Careers differ from other professional careers in several regards, but most significantly in the peculiar degree of insecurity they impose. This insecurity is due to the democratic accountability to voters, which includes the possibility of electoral defeat and deprofessionalization. Therefore a continuous career is rendered much more difficult than in other occupations. This calls for specific strategies of access to and staying in political positions, which may be subsumed under the rubric of “career politics”. This article deals with political careers in the Federal Republic of Germany and the elements of individual career politics that may be reconstructed from these careers. The analysis is based on a dataset comprising the political biographics of all 1948 German state legislators with the date being taken from the official legislative handbooks. The features that are most interesting here are the succession and the cumulation of different political offices. Four strategies of career politics can be distinguished: a local politics, a party politics, an interest group, and a fourth strategy, that proceeds via staff positions. In analyzing these strategies the article wants to contribute to a better understanding of the relationship between political careers and career politics.     

Ein Bericht von der Heimatfront

For a considerable period, the ISAF mission of the German army to Afghanistan has been opposed by a majority of German citizens. This discrepancy between elite decisions and public opinion suggests that the process of political representation does not work smoothly. This paper shows that political elites hardly engaged in political leadership concerning this issue. Moreover, voters did not give strong incentives for elite responsiveness by casting policy votes on the Afghanistan issue. Even in the 2009 election, the Afghanistan issue did not play a major role in voting choice. At the same time, public opinion appears to have affected elite decisions. Accordingly, the process of political representation appears to work more smoothly than suggested at a first glance.     

Die soziale Norm der Wahlbeteiligung

This article assesses the determinants of the subjective voting norm with the European Social Survey 2002/3 for 21 European democracies. The empirical procedure tests various combinations of four theoretical perspectives: (1) social integration, i.e., the extent and quality to which an individual is integrated into given social contexts, (2) social trust, i.e., the general willingness to cooperate with other individuals, (3) the support of the social system to which the norm belongs, and (4) the perception of the degree of compliance and the quality of a social norm in an individual’s context. The best explanation is offered by the model which combines social integration, the support of the social system and the perception of the degree of compliance and quality of the norm. We also examine additional causal paths of indicators of social integration through system support on the individual voting norm. The paper contributes to an improvement on existing literature through its more complex causal modelling and the placing of individual attitudes in context.     

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.     

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.     

Die Politische Vierteljahresschrift im Urteil der Profession: Ergebnisse einer Umfrage unter den Mitgliedern der DVPW

The authors present results from a survey conducted among members of the German Political Science Association (?Deutsche Vereinigung für Politische Wissenschaft“, DVPW) pertaining to the usage and evaluation of the Politische Vierteljahresschrift in the context of other national and international political science journals. The results show that 50 years after its inception the PVS is an accepted part of the profession in Germany. Its articles are widely read, although mostly in a selective manner, differentiated by subdisciplines. As a place for publishing research findings it is of interest for almost all respondents. The journal’s evaluations are overall positive. From the perspective of its addressees the PVS fulfils its professional mission. However, in some respects its performance is seen as improvable.