COMMANDING CONFIDENCE

<正>Economic strength and bold leadership typify modern ChinaPrior to China's reform and opening up,there were often fierce debates between senior Chinese policymakers on whether a new policy or reform indicated that"politics was in command"or conversely,"economics."While these terms are politically archaic today,reflecting on them briefly can provide a useful rubric for     

Lake Taupo: a multi‐sector collaborative partnership towards sustainable development

This paper explores the motivations for and processes of a unique multi‐stakeholder collaboration aimed at the long‐term sustainable development of a region. The region is that of Australasia's largest lake, Lake Taupo, New Zealand. Lake Taupo has geographic features that have not only enabled the development of a strong economy based on tourism, forestry and agriculture but have also generated particular environmental problems. The findings of the case study present highly innovative solutions that are premised on collaboration and on a ‘business case’ for sustainability. From extensive interviews with a wide range of stakeholders, the case confirms extant literature that looks at the roles of leadership, stakeholder engagement, and first movers in bringing about change, but it also highlights further findings that include the surprisingly important role of fringe stakeholders, the difficulties presented by uncertain regulation, and the need to innovate in tailoring solutions to fit the peculiarities of a specific problem. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Contested or established? A comparison of legislative powers across regimes

In research on authoritarian institutions, legislatures are portrayed as capable of resolving dilemmas between the leader and opposition members. Nevertheless, repeated interactions between a leader and their ruling coalition can lead to both contested dictatorships, in which institutions constrain the leader, and established dictatorships, in which the leader exercises near-complete control. To date, however, no one has examined the patterns by which powers vary across legislatures in different settings and over time. Using data from the Varieties of Democracy Project on legislative powers between 1900 and 2017, we conceptualize changes in the powers afforded to the national congress to characterize the development of regimes in either direction. The study expounds on the content of legislatures across regimes and the ways in which they change, encouraging scholars to further consider the relationship between regime dynamics and legislative institutionalization.     

Unsecular Politics in a Secular Environment: The Case of Germany's Christian Democratic Union Family Policy

Secularisation theory carried two implicit implications for Christian Democratic parties: either they become secular or they cease to exist. Both implications were wrong. Christian Democracy has neither vanished from the political landscape nor has it become fully secular. To secure its survival Christian Democracy has embarked on a delicate balancing act between the modern and the secular. Following up empirically on the thesis of Christian Democratic politics as being modern unsecular, the paper explores how much of the Christian element is still needed to explain Christian Democratic ideology and policy in the twenty-first century. By scrutinising the struggle surrounding Christian Democratic family policy in Germany, the paper finds that the conflict on the repositioning of Christian Democracy in a new cultural environment not only unfolds between secular modernisers and religious traditionalists. It has also led to the re-eruption of the interdenominational cleavage between Protestants and Catholics within the party.     

European terrorism: A German perspective

Abstract

Concentrating on terrorism in West Germany, Italy, and the Basque provinces of Spain, the author presents a detailed picture of the motivations, the strategies, and the ‘'achievements” of a number of the best known groups which for alleged political purposes take the law into their own hands. The Red Armee Faction, perhaps the best known West German terrorist group, and the 2nd of June Movement as well as such organizations as the Revolutionary Cells and the Guerilla Diffusa are described and their aims and activities are scrutinized. German right‐wing terrorism is also shown to wield great power, its contacts with terrorists in Lebanon and Algeria rivaling those of leftist organizations. Italian terrorism is also fully covered in this paper, with the activities of the Red Brigades, the best‐known of the leftist organizations, and its international connections, as well as other groups and the individuals involved being dealt with in some detail. The events in Spain, past and present, due especially to Basque terrorism, are considered, and the Soviet influence, represented by terrorist organizations in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Cuba, is discussed as is also the outlook for the future.     

Into the Great Wide Open: The Transformation of the German Armed Forces After 1990

The German military has gone through fundamental changes since Reunification in 1990. Not only did its obvious enemy disappear, but the basis for what had been a partnership of convenience between German society and the Bundeswehr eroded. Since then, successive German governments have tried to find ways to transform strategic concepts, military structures, and international commitments to fit the new international relations and security challenges at the beginning of the twenty-first century. These transformation efforts have been affected both by cultural restraints and by economic ones. Instead of just following one new and simple strategic concept, the transformation of the Bundeswehr had to be oriented towards military structures that were politically and financially feasible. Despite the progress achieved on the operational level, Germany is still lacking a clear strategic concept for the use of force and the engagement of the Bundeswehr.     

Book reviews

Radical Transitions. The Survival and Revival of Entrepreneurship in the GDR. By Andreas Pickel. Boulder, San Francisco and Oxford: Westview Press, 1992. £25.95 pb.

Europe and German Unification. By Renate Fritsch‐Bournazel. Oxford: Berg, 1992. £30 hb, £8.95 pb.

The Oder‐Neisse Line ‐ A Reappraisal under International Law. By Philip A. Bühler. Boulder: Eastern European Monographs, distributed by Columbia University Press, 1990. $32.50 hb.

Recasting the Ruhr, 1945–1958. Manpower, Economic Recovery and Labour Relations. By Mark Roseman. Oxford: Berg, 1992. £42 hb.

The US Congress and the German Bundestag: Comparisons of Democratic Processes. Edited by Uwe Thaysen, Roger H. Davidson and Robert Gerald Livingston. Boulder, San Francisco, Oxford: Westview Press, 1990. £31.50 pb.

Der verkappte Einheitsstaat. By Heidrun Abromeit. Opladen: Leske und Budrich, 1992.

Wir Kollaborateure. Der Westen und die deutschen Vergangenheiten. Edited by Cora Stephan. Reinbeck bei Hamburg: Rowohlt, 1992. DM9.90 pb.

Die CDU. Organisationsstrukturen, Politiken und Funktionsweisen einer Partei im Föderalismus. By josefschmid. Opladen: Leske und Budrich, 1990. DM48.

Moscow, Germany and the West from Khruschchev to Gorbachev. By Michael J. Sodaro. London: I.B. Tauris, 1991. £29.95 hb, £12.95 pb.

Deutsche Irrtümer. Schönfärberei und Helfershelfer der SED‐Diktatur im Westen. By Jens Hacker. Berlin: Ullstein, 1992. DM68 hb.

Föderalismus in der Bewährung: die deutschen Länder vor der Herausforderung fortschreitender EG‐Integration. Edited by Bernhard Vogel and Günther H. Oettinger. Köln: Deutscher Gemeindeverlag/Kohlhammer, 1992.

The Territorial Imperative: Pluralism, Corporatism, and Economic Crisis. By Jeffrey J. Anderson. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992. £35 hb.

The Federal Republic of Germany and NATO: 40 Years After. Edited by E.J. Kirchner and J. Sperling. Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1992. £45 hb.

The Economy of United Germany: Colossus at the Crossroads. By W.R. Smyser. London: Hurst &; Co., 1992. £25 hb.     

New ‘Mass Line’ Campaign

The Communist Party of China(CPC)recently began a new training campaign for Party members and cadres as part of a multi-pronged approach designed to confront a number of challenges facing China today.The purpose of the campaign is to reassert and deepen the Party’s values and connection with the Chinese masses,and to establish in the clearest of terms the professional and ethical requirements of service.     

Schadenersatz wegen im Prozess verz?gerter R?umung

Immer wieder kommt es vor, dass Bestandnehmer in R?umungsprozessen Einwendungen erheben, um die R?umung zu verhindern bzw hinauszuschieben. Dadurch k?nnen dem Vermieter Sch?den entstehen, die durch die prozessrechtliche Kostenersatzpflicht und Benützungsentgelte nicht gedeckt sind. In deswegen geführten Schadenersatzprozessen hat der OGH die Frage der Beweislast zum Verschulden bisher unterschiedlich beantwortet. Oftmals wurde der Vermutung, dass die Anrufung des Gerichtes gutgl?ubig erfolgt, Vorrang gegenüber der Beweislastregel nach § 1298 ABGB gegeben. Zu diesem Rechtsstandpunkt ?u?erte sich der OGH nun ausdrücklich in der nachstehend besprochenen Entscheidung 1 Ob 153/11y.