Die Einflussmöglichkeiten der Europäischen Kommission auf die europäische Politik

The means of the European Commission to influence European policies are being discussed predominantly with view to its agenda-setting powers. Institutionalist analyses have shown how the Commission can use agenda setting to bring to bear its own political preferences on the Council. With view to other Commission rights, in contrast, there have not been similar systematic analyses to show the Commission’s impact on European policies. In this article it is shown how the Commission can use its rights following from its role as a guardian of the Treaty and from competition law strategically. By simultaneously imposing threats on the Member States, the Commission can present its proposals to the Council as a “lesser evil”, pressurizing the Council into acceptance. The paper shows the scope and limits of this strategy and takes into consideration how other studies discussing the Commission’s powers fit into this framework of analysis.     

Die Deutschen und die Türkeifrage: eine Analyse der Einstellungen zum Antrag der Türkei auf Mitgliedschaft in der Europäischen Union

In this paper, I examine the sources of support for Turkey’s EU-entry in the German public. I propose several models and explore their respective empirical validity using survey data gathered in May and June 2005. The analysis shows that neither trust in the federal government nor evaluations of the EU institutions play a role in attitudes toward Turkey’s bid for membership. By contrast, attitudes towards this issue are considerably affected by preferences about EU enlargement and, more strongly, by beliefs about whether Turkey at least partly belongs to Europe. Likewise, when forming attitudes towards Turkey’s bid for EU membership, Germans appear to consider the presumed consequences of including Turkey in the EU. Both East and West Germans are particularly likely to take consequences for regional security into account. The paper concludes with a discussion of several implications for German public opinion on this EU issue.     

Begrenzte Rationalität und regulatives Lernen in der EG: die Liberalisierung der Elektrizitätsversorgung

The article analyses the liberalization of the EC electricity supply industry. Confronting the intergovernmental approach, the case study is based on the premise that the member state executives act within the limits of a bounded rationality and do therefore not always represent clear and fixed interests in EU negotiations. Taking the examples of France and Germany, it shows that the national positions and preferences may change greatly during the course of the decision making process. While the French positional changes may be reasonably well explained by the intergovernmental approach, the German preference changes are attributed to effects of the EC institutions and negotiations. Institutional principles, policy-concepts and fairness criteria guide member state orientations and behavior and hinder the pursuit of unilateral advantages. Incremental negotiation techniques within the Council induce learning processes and cause reassessments of the domestic situations. Furthermore, the EC decisions may cause behavioral changes which clearly surpass their regulatory content even if they contain extensive flexibilisation mechanisms.     

Politikwandel und seine Messung in der vergleichenden Staatstätigkeitsforschung: Konzeptionelle Probleme und mögliche Alternativen

Policy change is an important concept in comparative policy analysis. Despite its central significance, most empirical studies fail to provide clear-cut definitions and measurement of this concept. Against this background, this article evaluates previous scholarship on policy change in the areas of social and environmental policy. We find that most studies use proxies for measuring policy change even though they contradict the basic idea of policy-making activities. Furthermore, studies usually neither capture the complexity of policy change, nor take into the possibility of policy change through dismantling account. Additionally, the empirical focus of most analyses is too narrow, thereby impeding robust statements about causality. In response to these shortcomings, we propose a new conceptual perspective, which captures policy change as a broader empirical phenomenon. We discuss its advantages as well as its disadvantages and show the implications for the research process.     

Peter Nitschke: Einführung in die Politische Theorie der Prämoderne 1500–1800

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

Die „Sonntagsfrage“, soziale Erwünschtheit und die AfD: Wie alternative Messmethoden der Politikwissenschaft weiterhelfen können

In Germany, the standard vote intention survey item has come under attack because it failed to correctly measure the vote share of the German party “Alternative für Deutschland” (AfD). We argue that alternative measurement techniques that aim to reduce social desirability bias are better suited for this task. We test three measurement techniques to forecast AfD vote share—a double list experiment, the crosswise-model randomized response technique, and the wisdom of crowds design—and compare their performance to the standard vote intention item. Our results indicate that the wisdom of crowds design is an easily implementable and promising addition to political scientists’ toolbox of survey items.     

Theorien als latente Quellen von Normativität und Verantwortung in der Hochschullehre: Die Bedeutung von didaktischen und fachspezifischen Theoriedebatten am Beispiel des politikwissenschaftlichen Teilgebiets „Internationale Beziehungen“

The article deals with normative aspects that are negotiated in didactic and subject-specific theoretical debates and thus gain relevance in teaching. It turns out that the didactic theories provide divergent answers to the question of what should be taught how and by whom. Similarly, the example of theoretical debates in International Relations shows that, from a subject-specific perspective, there can often be a lack of consensus on the essentials that are to be taught. Such conflicting requirements, however, demonstrate the instructors’ scope for action, which they should realize and use responsibly. Due to academic pluralism, it seems possible that the societal pluralism, which is sometimes perceived as crisis-laden, can be used productively for teaching.