State Sovereignty and the Eleventh Amendment in the U.S. Supreme Court: The 1988 Term

During its 1988 term, the U.S. Supreme Court addressed two importantaspects of the Eleventh Amendment, which generally protectsstates from being sued in federal courts. First, the Court heldthat the Congress has power to abrogate states' immunity fromsuit—to subject states to suits in federal courts fordamages—under Congress' expansive commerce-clause power.Second, the Court made clear that such abrogation would be foundonly where the text of the statute itself, as distinct fromits legislative history, clearly and specifically so provided.This article describes these decisions, and analyzes some oftheir implications for judicial federalism.     

Small City Autonomy in the Federal System: A Study of Local Constraint and Opportunity in California

How severe have been the restrictions on the autonomy of localgovernments, as state and federal mandates and grant programsproliferated in the 1970s? This study of mandate and grant impactsin nine, small California cities suggests that local controlhas not been reduced as much as the recent literature of federalismargues. Municipal officials in these communities perceived arange of effects according to program areas. Clean water standardswere negatively viewed, while state planning mandates actuallyserved to further local goals. Most of the cities did not hesitateto compete for grants, despite their many strings. Based onthe "hard case" of small cities—which are relative newcomersto grant and mandate programs, and generally change-resistantin attitude—this study points out some positive localgovernment impacts of federal-and state-local entanglements. ¹ As associate investigator of the project on which this paperis based, Joan Hogan of the Institute of Governmental Affairs,University of California at Davis, contributed significantlyto the research.     

The determinants of structural changes in public budgets: a theoretical and empirical analysis for the Federal Republic of Germany

Abstract. Since there is no generally accepted and satisfactory theory that can explain structural changes in public budgets over time, this article focuses on the determinants of the budget structure and its changes over time. Thus, it would already be an improvement in the development of a complex and coherent theory of budgetary structures and its changes if initially appropriate variables could be identified which could explain in the short, intermediate and long runs the structural changes in public budgets with respect to the various governmental levels. Potential candidates for explaining structural changes could be socio-economic, political and institutional variables. These sets of variables will be analyzed here in detail for the Federal Republic of Germany for the time period 1964–1978. The results are very similar to those found in various U.S. studies. In comparably developed nations with similar political (federal) structures, institutional factors seem to play the dominant role in determining and explaining changes in the budgetary structure.     

Split-voting in the Federal Republic of Germany: An analysis of the federal elections from 1953 to 1987

This article is about split-voting in the Federal Republic of Germany. Since 1953 each voter has had two votes. Although only the second vote is of importance for the distribution of the mandates, the voters increasingly make use of split-voting. The reasons for this increase of the split-vote are multiple: one being an expression of the rising need for participation. This split-vote' has nothing to do with the candidate of the electoral district, but very much with coalition preference. Considerable discrepancy between the first and the second vote can especially be observed among the Liberals. They profit from the fact that there is a widespread ignorance of the electoral system. The gains of the FDP are made at the expense of the current coalition partner.     

Yeling Tan,Disaggregating China,Inc.: State Strategies in the Liberal Economic Order

Journal of Chinese Political Science -     

Corporatism and Regional Economic Policies in the Federal Republic of Germany: The "Meso" Politics of Industrial Adjustment

This article examines corporatist theory (business, labor, governmentinteraction) in the context of regional governments and economicpolicy in the Federal Republic of Germany. West German regionalgovernments, far more than the federal government, have actedto shape industrial adjustment and enhance international competitiveness.Corporatist theory is analyzed in the context of its evolutionfrom a macro to a meso variant, which attempts to address sector-andregion-specific forms of economic dislocation. The new meso-corporatistapproach is found insufficient because it looks only at privateinterests and neglects the regional politics of industrial adjustment.The very different "meso-political" patterns of adjustment areexamined here in a synthetic review of recent research on economicpolicymaking in Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, and North-RhineWestphalia. Meso-corporatism may still prove useful theoretically,but only if it includes the role of regional governments.