Multilevel Governance and Business Interests in the European Union

The article analyzes how business interests responded to European integration. It draws on survey data of eight hundred German, French, British, and European Union (EU) trade associations as well as thirty-four large firms. The argument is that the multilevel governance approach to European integration captures the realities of EU interest intermediation better than neofunctionalism and intergovernmentalism. The article suggests that the strategies of interest organizations depend mainly on their location in the EU multilevel system and on their governance capacities. I distinguish two kinds of governance capacities: negotiation capacities and organizational resources. The analysis proceeds in the following steps: After outlining the three theories of European integration and presenting their implications for interest groups, a brief overview of the relative importance for interest organizations of EU and national institutions over time is provided. Then, cluster analysis techniques serve to identify types of interest groups according to their lobbying strategies in the multilevel system: niche organizations, occasional players, traditionalists, EU players, and multilevel players are distinguished. The composition of these clusters and the characteristics of their members support the multilevel governance approach and indicate that multilevel players have greater governance capacities than organizations in the other clusters.     

Evaluation of a community-based intervention to enhance road safety

A total of 300 motorists were recruited at public places to answer a self-report questionnaire on a new community-based intervention to enhance road safety. The intervention consisted of a speed-displaying device that was mounted next to the road and was visible to both motorists and the public. The device gives feedback about the current speed of the motorist. The majority of motorists believed these devices influenced compliance with the speed limit. They indicated they approached locations with these devices more slowly than similar locations without such devices. Moreover, they slowed down if they were going faster than the speed limit. They also said that their reaction to the devices was not influenced by whether they were driving in a community where they had friends or in a community where nobody knew them. These results were consistent across gender, age, levels of education, and professions.     

Unequal but fair? Cultural recognition and self-government rights

This review of Patten’s Equal Recognition suggests that minority rights can be grounded either in cultural accommodation rights or collective self-government rights. I defend four propositions: (1) individuals’ interests in membership in political communities cannot be reduced to their interests in being able to pursue their own conceptions of the good; (2) liberal states do not have to extend neutrality as equal treatment to self-government claims that intersect with their own jurisdiction; (3) claims for the establishment of public languages and territorial autonomy need to be justified on the basis of self-government rights rather than on grounds of equal treatment of cultural identities; (4) as a condition for their admission, immigrants can be expected to waive collective self-government rights rather than cultural protection rights.     

Analysis and Classification of Problem Statements in Technology Transfer

For many years, the U.S. Government has encouraged the transfer of technologies developed through taxpayer funded endeavors to the commercial sector of the U.S. economy. The Regional Technology Applications Board, based at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, is an organization with technology transfer responsibilities. The Board receives technology transfer assistance (TTA) requests from many private-sector firms. The Board relies heavily on a problem statement from the requestor of technology assistance in determining an appropriate solution to the requestor's needs. However, the problem statements contained in these requests are often vague, ambiguous, or repetitive. This study reports on a method developed to analyze and classify problem statements that have been received by the Board so that additional understanding of the nature of these problems is obtained. One thousand one hundred past problem statements were analyzed using a content analysis method. The hierarchical classification structure developed during this project includes classes, sub-classes, and sub-sub-classes, allowing for differentiation of problem statements based upon key elements contained within the statements. Previously, no method for analysis and classification of problem statements had been documented. The results of the study indicate that problem statements can be analyzed and classified. The problem statement classification structure created through this project provides a vehicle for problem statement assignment, thereby lending additional form to the problem definition process. The study also provides an understanding of the frequency and distribution of TTA problem statements received by the Board.     

Effects of Deviant Peer Association on Adolescent Alcohol Consumption: A Growth Mixture Modeling Analysis

This study examined concurrent and lagged effects of deviant peer association on levels of alcohol use for distinctive trajectories of drinking from ages 14–18 years, while controlling for age, paternal education, community size, and conduct problems. Longitudinal data were available from a secondary data archive of male and female German adolescents (N = 1,619). Conditional latent growth mixture modeling analysis indicated consistent concurrent effects of deviant peer association (specified as time-varying covariate) on alcohol use for the regular users group, but not any of the other drinking trajectory groups. Very few lagged effects of deviant peers association on alcohol use were found, and thus the social influence hypothesis received little empirical support. Overall, findings suggest the need to consider heterogeneity in the study of peer characteristics and alcohol use for both male and female adolescents.

Effects of Pubertal Timing on Communication Behaviors and Stress Reactivity in Young Women During Conflict Discussions with their Mothers

Individuation, a process whereby adolescents gain autonomy from their parents while maintaining emotional relatedness, is displayed by characteristic styles of verbal exchanges. Negotiating this developmental transition is often stressful for adolescents and their parents. This study deals with the association between pubertal timing, communication behaviors, and stress reactivity assessed during young females’ conflict discussions with their mothers. A sample of N = 32 girls (age 9–13, T1) was grouped by pubertal timing. Years later (age 17–22, T2) they were followed up and videotapes of daughter–mother conflict discussions were evaluated. Salivary alpha-amylase was used to assess the stress reactivity. Results revealed that young women who had entered puberty early were higher in striving for control and separation in interactions with their mothers, and displayed higher stress levels. These results pointed to less successful individuation in late adolescence/young adulthood compared to on-time and late maturing age mates.

Efficiency and effectiveness control based on economic analysis: The example of the Austrian court of audit

The purpose of this article is fivefold: First, we demonstrate the potential and importance of central auditing in Austria in section 2.1 before identifying the causes of public-sector inefficiency in section 2.2. Then we outline the organizational structure in section 3 and describe the need for return in section 4. We develop proposals for improving the central auditing system in section 5. In so doing, we endeavor not to succumb to the pervasive influence of the well-established, yet objectionable Austrian status quo, realizing that our proposals may be rejected by politicians and bureaucrats as being unrealistic.     

The Postnational Constellation: Democratic Governance in the Era of Globalization

Books reviewed in this article:
Daniele Archibugi, David Held, and Martin Köhler, (ed.) Re-imagining Political Community: Studies in Cosmopolitan Democracy.
Max Pensky, (ed.) The Postnational Constellation: Political Essays. By Jürgen Habermas.
Beate Kohler-Koch, Regieren in entgrenzten Räumen. (Governance in Debordered Spaces.) Politische Vierteljahresschrift, special issue 29.
Wolfgang Streeck, (ed.) Internationale Wirtschaft, nationale Demokratie. Herausforderungen für die Demokratietheorie. (International Economy, National Democracy: Challenges for Democratic Theory.)
Michael Zürn, Regieren jenseits des Nationalstaates. (Governance Beyond the Nation-State.)