Kompensationsmöglichkeiten föderaler Vollzugsdefizite. Das Beispiel der kantonalen Alkoholpräventionspolitiken

The implementation of public policies in Switzerland is highly federal and decentralized with the main competencies at the sub‐national level of the member states, i.e. the cantons. Comparing alcohol prevention policies in the Swiss cantons, the present article supports the thesis of considerable differences in the cantonal provision of respective outputs. At the same time we can find cooperative implementation strategies compensating the resulting performance deficits. However, this so‐called “secondary harmonization” only is applied by about half of the cantons. We identify three reasons for that fact: First, only those cantons engage in horizontal cooperation that, on the one hand, have an actual interest in improving their policy performance, and, on the other hand, can afford it resource‐wise. Second, today's paradigm of the “lean state” leads to competitive rather than cooperative implementation strategies. Third, the federal administration neither encourages horizontal cooperation, nor do we find a vertical cooperation between the higher and the lower federal level on an equal basis.     

Die Entwicklung des Föderalismus und der Föderalismus ‐ diskussion in der Schweiz von 1874 bis 1964

Before 1874 and after 1964, the evolution of federalism and related political discourses is well known. Between these years, however, stretches a terra incognita, which this political‐historical essay tries to explore. This period was characterised by a steady shift of power from the Canton's to the Confederation, resulting in the frequent re‐grouping of federalists and centralists. Before the First World War, traditionalists from central and occidental Switzerland fiercely defended a confederalist vision. During the interwar years, things quietened down. The modern federal State organisation was no longer fundamentally questioned, and the debate focused on technical questions. The “geistige Landesverteidigung” (moral defence of the country against fascism) secured an enduring yet problematic place for federalism in Swiss culture by transforming it into the “unity in diversity” principle. After the Second World War, modernising forces resulted in the “executive and co‐operative federalism” that we know today.     

Bright Lights,Big Cities? Metropolisation,Intergovernmental Relations,and the New Federal Urban Policy in Switzerland

Disparities between increasing urban economic power and cities' limited political autonomy have put pressure on intergovernmental relations in many countries. Some authors have claimed that this process leads to a strengthening of the position of cities with respect to higher state levels such as regions or the nation state. The aim of this article is to test this hypothesis for the case of Switzerland. In the first part, we show that, due to the existing intergovernmental framework, the current dynamics of urbanisation (which we describe as “metropolization”) have produced specific problems for governance in Swiss urban areas: spillovers in the distribution of costs and benefits, new political cleavages between core cities and surrounding communes, as well as increasing autonomy conflicts between cities and cantons. In the second part, we argue that initiatives taken in order to tackle these issues of urban governance have contributed to transforming Swiss federalism. “Politikverflechtung” is increasing in urban areas. In particular, the new federal urban policy has introduced a new vertical dimension of co‐operation between cities, cantons and the Confederation. Although Swiss cities have gained new influence in the process, we conclude that cantons still hold the key position. Therefore, like other federalist countries, Switzerland has not experienced a considerable strengthening of urban governments with respect to higher levels. Nevertheless, current developments in this area can be seen as a move away from the hierarchical pattern of co‐operative federalism towards a more heterarchical pattern of multi‐level governance in Swiss intergovernmental relations.     

State vs Federal Government in the “Barmaids” Case: Regulating Australia's Second World War Home Front

Australia's National Security Act of 1939 authorised the federal government to make emergency regulations “for securing the public safety and defence of the Commonwealth [of Australia]”. Further, it instructed the government to decide for itself what might be “necessary or convenient” for the “more effectual prosecution of the present war”. 1 This article examines the authorisation of the civilian leadership through one set of emergency regulations, the National Security (Women's Employment) Regulations, and analyses their functioning through one operational decision, the decision to permit women to serve in South Australian hotel bars with the intention of releasing male bar workers for essential industrial or military employment. Managing the home front proved complex. Sectional interests continued to jockey for positions of influence, even in war conditions. In this case, the state of South Australia sought to protect its “rights” against federal control of employment: a contest fuelled by an ideological squabble about what were then known as “barmaids”. I argue that Australia's centrally‐determined national war goals were undermined by its federal sovereignty‐distribution mechanism, which allowed sub‐national elements such as South Australia to impede national policy, and conclude that even with extensive defence powers to draw on, the federal government's war goals were obstructed by non‐war interests.     

Zur Europäisierung der Handlungs- und Einstellungshorizonte: Ein makrosoziologischer Vergleich der EU-Mitgliedstaaten

Building on the transactionalist paradigm in the tradition of Karl W. Deutsch as well as on Arndt Sorge’s theory of tiered social spaces, this study examines why everyday actions and attitudes are more centered on Europe (i.?e. “Europeanized”) in some EU member states than in others. Analyzing a variety of survey data on the EU-27 countries with partial correlation models, it is shown that the macro-level determinants of Europeanization differ between actions and attitudes. While actions are more Europe-centered in small and affluent countries, attitudes are more Europe-centered in post-communist states as well as in countries that are located in the geographical center of the EU and that do not have a protestant religious tradition. Contrary to transactionalist theory, the Europeanization of actions does not coincide with the Europeanization of attitudes: “doing Europe” and “feeling Europe” do not go hand in hand.     

Between Market‐Preserving Federalism and Intergovernmental Coordination: The Case of Australia

This article investigates Australia's economic success since the 1990s. As this was set in motion by fundamental political reforms, it asks to what extent Australian‐type federalism has been an important factor in the reform process. By using two approaches ‐ the market‐preserving federalism approach of Weingast, which stresses the virtues of ‘limited government’, decentralisation and competition together with the intergovernmental coordination approach of Scharpf which argues for a ‘problem‐solving’ orientation of territorial actors ‐, the structure of Australian federalism, changes in the working of the federal system in the 1990s, and effects on policy‐making are scrutinised. The article demonstrates that a particular combination of a rather centralised federal structure and a particular type of intergovernmental coordination, i.e. collaboration, supplemented by the strong influence of new public management ideas, has been conducive to political reforms in Australia. This suggests that a decentralised and competitive version of federalism, as defended by Weingast, is not a necessary condition for embarking on a successful reform path in federal countries. In future research, both approaches or analytical dimensions should be used in order to better understand the relationship of intergovernmental relations and policy reforms.     

Strength through Weakness: State Executive Power and Federal Reform in Austria

Due to the absence of a strong constitutional veto player, comparative research uses to classify Austria as country with weak federal structures, occasionally even as a “federation without federalism”. From an institutional perspective, the assessment is definitely correct, in particular with regard to the nearly insignificant status of the second chamber Bundesrat. Apart from constitutional provisions, however, there are informal forces at work in decision‐making processes. Our thesis is that any approach ignoring the fact that the nominal constitution is paralleled by a real one falls short. Instead, we focus on the Conference of State Governors which, though not established by law, is a strong player in Austria's multi‐layered system qualifying the picture of “weak” federalism. The paper gives on overview of origin and function of the conference and its ambivalent role in making up for the shortcomings of the federal structures. Taking recent attempts of reorganizing fiscal equalization between states and federation as an example, the need of reforming the allocation of rights and duties between the different levels and, at the same time, the obstacles blocking the reform is outlined and analyzed.     

Malaysia’s Federal System: Overt and Covert Centralisation

In recent decades, many countries have implemented decentralisation drives to increase efficiency and responsiveness. However, Malaysia is an exception. Its federal system is more than 50 years old and, rather than decentralising, the country has pursued a sustained centralisation drive. The cause dates back to the pre-independence period, when the nationalist elite, the British and the traditional rulers negotiated the structure of the future government. The first two parties wanted a strong central government, but had to factor in pre-existing political structures centred on the rulers. The result was a federal system with a powerful central government and state governments with diminished responsibilities. Since independence, the ruling coalition founded by the nationalist elite has remained in power at the federal level. Enabled by the constitution’s “top-heavy” design and its unbroken tenure, the coalition has implemented a continuous centralisation drive. Further catalysts – but not causes – have been the implementation of the New Economic Policy and creeping authoritarianism. The centralisation drive has been pursued through a variety of tactics, including: appropriating state government responsibilities; altering incentive structures; privatising state government-owned assets; and “organisational duplication.” Recent policies look to continue this, precluding the potential benefits of a functioning federal system.     

Russian Federalism in Comparative Perspective

A specialist on the comparative analysis of states and polities provides a framework for investigating the extent to which federal states are democratic in their operations. The article outlines propositions derived from data on eleven continuously democratic federal systems in the world during the 1990s. Russia is then compared systematically with these systems with respect to the federal legacies of pre-Soviet and Soviet power, the distinctiveness and democratic viability of its current “asymmetrical federalism,” and the roles of presidential, legislative, and party-system power. Aggregate data and a case study are presented that bear on the difference between levels of democracy in republics as opposed to oblasts. The dynamics of central “power creation” since August 1998 are explored.     

The Relationship Between Revenue and Expenditure in the ASEAN Countries

The aim of this study is to assess the relationship between revenue and expenditure in the ASEAN countries. Using annual data for the period between 1980 and 2012 in ten member states, a long-run relationship between government expenditure and revenue emerges, both in ASEAN-6 and ASEAN-10 countries. Granger causality analysis shows mixed results, even though for five ASEAN countries the predominance of “tax-and-spend” hypothesis exists, given that government revenue drives the expenditure. Moreover, mixture models seem to produce homogeneous groups, considering the socio-economic structure, welfare state, and historical aspects. Finally, convergence measures show interesting results, confirming the sample’s heterogeneity.     

The Australian Welfare State: Has Federalism Made a Difference?

This paper examines the historical development of the Australian welfare state with a view to identifying the role that Australia's federal constitutional arrangements have played in shaping that development. Theoretical paradigms have been unanimous in their prognoses: that federal states are likely to be slow in developing welfare state programmes and typically spend less on them than unitary states. But recently it has been argued that federal institutions may have a “ratchet effect” of slowing down the pace of change, irrespective of its direction. The purpose of this chronological account of significant stages in the development of the Australian welfare state is to use the unfolding of historical events — far too rich in nuance and detail to be captured in quantitative modelling — as a test‐bed for establishing whether, and, if so, to what extent, federalism has impacted on the trajectory of Australian welfare state development.     

The Transformation of Australian Electoral Analysis: The Two‐Party Preferred Vote — Origins,Impacts, and Critics

Measuring party support in Australia by constructing a “two‐party preferred” vote has had a profound effect, not only on the way political scientists, journalists, and politicians understand electoral “swing” and predict electoral outcomes, but also on their understanding of the party system, their thinking about electoral fairness, and their views about which party or parties can legitimately claim government. This article traces the origins — the maternity as well as the paternity – of the “two‐party preferred”. It documents its spread from federal to state elections, even as voting systems in some states have switched from exhaustive preferential to optional preferential. It discusses its wide‐ranging impact, and its implications for notions of electoral fairness and the legitimacy of election outcomes. It evaluates various criticisms of the concept — technical, pragmatic, and conceptual. And it notes the implications for marginal seat campaigning of the commonly observed “uniform swing”— implications completely at odds with the idea that marginal seats matter.     

Facing Globalization: More Social Capital and the Ability to Act as a Global Player as Response from the EU

Some people think that more unfettered competition in the form of competition of systems is needed to respond to globalization. Federalists, on the other hand, think that a European polity should be based on the principles of autonomy, cooperation, subsidiarity and participation. Essential to the future competitiveness of Europe will be the accumulation of social capital. Social capital is the propensity of people to cooperate for common purposes. Its main features are social justice, trust, civic engagement and tolerance. A federal structure and a reformed welfare state would best fit the accumulation of social capital. But internal structural adjustment of Europe is not sufficient. The EU, as the world's largest economic entity, should acquire the capacity to actively influence the ongoing process of globalization according to its own values and interests. Therefore, the EU should become a global player. But a “global player EU” is not possible until member states can agree to further integration of “high politics”.     

Wohlfahrtsstaatlicher Wandel zwischen „Arbeitszwang“ und „Befähigung“

The concepts of “workfare”, an “enabling” or a “social investment state”, respectively of an “activating welfare state”, share the idea of a paradigm shift of welfare state policies resetting the classic tension between decommodification and (re-)commodification. In this article, a comparative analysis of activating labor market policies in Denmark, Germany and the UK is giving evidence that in all countries recommodification has become a major goal, put into practice by both an increase of workfare and enabling policies. Different reform paths, however, can be identified as the emphasis on enforcing and enabling instruments as well as the particular mix of the instruments varies due to the country-specific background. Hence, the difference of reform policies is supposed to lead to a path dependent implementation of the paradigm shift of welfare state policies.     

Committed to Coordination? Intergovernmental Councils as a Federal Safeguard

In this research note, I suggest that the design of intergovernmental councils (IGC) accounts for the extent to which they are able to prevent the federal government from encroaching on subnational jurisdictions. IGC operate in areas of interdependence where the federal government faces incentives to restore to hierarchical coordination. The effect of the intergovernmental safeguard is measured by the absence or presence of federal encroachment. Two concepts are useful to explain it: the extent to which governments are committed to coordination and the dominance of the federal government of vertical IGC. I argue that different combinations of the two variables help to understand the safeguarding effect of intergovernmental councils. In particular, I contend that in any configuration in which federal dominance is present the federal government can encroach on subnational jurisdictions. The research note shows how the concept of federal safeguards can be applied empirically.     

Is a Federal European Constitution for an Enlarged European Union Necessary? Some Preliminary Suggestions using Public Choice Analysis

In order to guarantee a further successful functioning of the enlarged European Union a Federal European Constitution is proposed. Six basic elements of a future European federal constitution are developed: the European commission should be turned into a European government and the European legislation should consist of a two chamber system with full responsibility over all federal items. Three further key elements are the subsidiarity principle, federalism and the secession right, which are best suited to limiting the domain of the central European authority to which certain tasks are given, such as defense, foreign and environmental policy. Another important feature is direct democracy, which provides the possibility for European voters to participate actively in political decision making, to break political and interest group cartels, and to prevent an unwanted shifting of responsibilities from EU member states to the European federal level.     

Aspectos políticos de la dependencia financiera en los municipios mexicanos1

Specialized literature has analyzed the impact of changes to fiscal institutions such as The National System of Fiscal Coordination (1980) and the constitutional reforms of article 115 (1983 and 1999) on the degree of financial dependence of local (municipal) governments and the governmental functioning. Political environment as well, affects to an important extent such functioning. Indeed, previous studies in the field of political economy point to the effects of political environment and fiscal institutions -such as public spending and debt- on national and sub-national governments. Based on four variables -political affiliation of the mayor, political affiliation of the governor, composition of local congresses and celebration of local elections-, the authors build indicators of “political confluence” at the municipal level. They study the effect that the degree of political unification at the municipal level has on the financial dependence with respect to the State government, and also to the local Congress. In their analysis, the authors also consider the political affiliation of the mayor and the local electoral cycle. Through its analytical focus and main empirical findings, this article contributes to broadening the scope of empirical studies of municipal financial dependence. Simultaneously, it adds to existing literature in the field of political economy that accounts for public finances at the sub-national level     

Nordic-Baltic Interaction in European Union Negotiations: Taking Advantage of Institutionalized Cooperation

Given the long tradition of regional cooperation around the Baltic Sea, one could expect the Nordic-Baltic European Union (EU) members (these countries are known as the NB6; they are Sweden, Demark, Finland, Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania) to pool power in exerting influence in the EU. By drawing on the empirical evidence from the case studies on the Baltic Sea Strategy, the Stockholm Programme, and the EU climate negotiations, the author explains the mechanisms through which the members of the institutionalized coalition of NB6 interact in pre-negotiation stage in the EU Council, thus enhancing their bargaining power. However, we cannot speak of a permanent regional “bloc” in the EU because of member states’ interest differences.     

A tale of two ex-dominions: why the procedures for changing the rules of succession are so different in Canada and Australia

In 2011, the leaders of the nations that share Queen Elizabeth as their head of state agreed to change the rules governing the inheritance of the throne. The federal nature of the Canadian and Australian Crowns raises the question of whether Canadian provinces and Australian states should be involved in the process for modifying the rules of succession. Australia's federal government has decided to include its states in the process, whereas Canada's did not. This article will assess what the differences between these two approaches reveal about the political cultures and leaders of these nations. The issues discussed include relations between the civil service and elected politicians, the contested social memory of the British Empire, and the relationship between neoliberalism and cooperative federalism.     

Redefining the Nonproliferation Norm? Australian Uranium,the NPT,and the Global Nuclear Revival

Optimists maintain that great powers oppose the proliferation of nuclear weapons and have a moral aversion to their use. The Eighth Review Conference of the Treaty on the Non‐Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) in May 2010 produced a final declaration calling for steps toward complete disarmament. Yet recent optimism belies some contradictory, incremental foreign policy decisions taken by countries like Australia and the United States that could produce a change of meaning for the nuclear nonproliferation norm. Building on the “norm life‐cycle” model developed by Martha Finnemore and Kathryn Sikkink, this article links a new constructivist model of normative change to decisions by developed states to expand the global nuclear fuel cycle and provide sensitive nuclear assistance to other countries. An exploratory case study of Australian government policies on nuclear energy and uranium exports (2006‐present), including the possible sale of uranium to India, a non‐NPT signatory, suggests an important role for elite agency in norm redefinition.