Zwischen Ökonomie und Politik. Zur diskursiven Konstruktion des Begriffs „Sozialmodell“ im Sarkozy-Wahlkampf 2005–2007

In “general economic-political discourses”, actors from the spheres of politics, economics and mass media struggle over the valid perception of the relations between the economy, politics, and society as a whole. The discourse on the “modèle sociale français“ provides a case in point: A concept that had been associated for many years with the economic success of the fifth republic, but in the 2000s became a central element of a crisis-rhetoric that helped to pave the way for the reform agenda of Nicolas Sarkozy. Building on this example, the article analyzes how economic-political discourses are established and transformed. On the one side, it reflects upon the importance of discourse research for economic sociology in general; on the other, it shows how general economic-political discourses help to legitimize certain positions in public debates, and how they depict specific scientific problems as relevant for society. Mediators of public and scientific debates benefit from this, just as political and economic actors do as they generate public approval for their corresponding reform-agendas.     

Relations with North Africa: a new priority in Portuguese bilateral foreign policy?

Portugal has remained quite distant from coastal North African states for many centuries. Having recently emerged as a prominent player across North Africa, Portugal’s current relationship with the Maghreb countries is unprecedented in its history. Lisbon has invested in building the Maghreb axis as a ‘new priority’ in the architecture of Portugal’s bilateral foreign policy. This policy already took off, and is now beyond the rhetorical plan, where it stood for many years. Portugal and its partner countries across the Mediterranean have reiterated their willingness to keep up with the positive momentum, especially from the past 10 years, deepening bilateral political dialogue and bolstering trade relations. This article puts Portuguese relations with North Africa into context and offers an up-to-date analysis on recent (and ongoing) developments in Luso?Maghreb relations.     

Lifestyle Preferences and Strategies of Spanish Working Mothers: A Matter of Choice?

There is a rich debate surrounding the causes of women’s heterogeneous work–life orientations and strategies. This article focuses on the debate between postmodern individualistic approaches and gender approaches that emphasise the pervasiveness of socio-structural factors. After offering a profile of Spanish women in the twenty-first century, we present the results of qualitative research based on 30 semi-structured interviews with working mothers from different social backgrounds. We discuss Hakim’s ‘preference theory’ by exposing how social class shapes Spanish working mothers’ work–life attitudes and behaviour and how these further change over the life cycle or as a result of changing contexts.     

Reform of the criminal law the Inns of Court,London, England July 26–29, 1987

Conference Papers

Reform of the criminal law the Inns of Court, London, England July 26–29, 1987     

Drug Trafficking and Drug Policies in the Americas: Change,Continuity, and Challenges

Bruce M. Bagley and Jonathan D. Rosen, eds., Drug Trafficking, Organized Crime, and Violence in the Americas Today. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2015. Figures, tables, index, 464 pp.; hardcover $84.95, paperback $35. Julie Marie Bunck and Michael Ross Fowler, Bribes, Bullets, and Intimidation: Drug Trafficking and the Law in Central America. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2012. Figures, maps, tables, abbreviations, bibliography, index, 448 pp.; hardcover $93.95, paperback $34.95. Winifred Tate, Drugs, Thugs, and Diplomats: U.S. Policymaking in Colombia. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2015. Illustrations, bibliography, index, 304 pp.; hardcover $90, paperback $25.95, ebook $24.65. Roberto Zepeda and Jonathan D. Rosen, eds., Cooperation and Drug Policies in the Americas: Trends in the Twenty‐First Century. Lanham: Lexington Books, 2014. Bibliography, index, 288 pp; hardcover $100, paperback $39.99, ebook $39.99.     

The Clash of Historical Analogies and Their Influence on Decision-Making: The Case of Iraqi Reconstruction Under George W. Bush

Contrary to the conventional wisdom in the literature on United States foreign policy, there was no consensus within the George W. Bush Administration on the parallel between the reconstruction of Iraq and that of post-Second World War Germany and Japan. Systematic analysis of available sources shows that the decision-makers drew a large number of different historical analogies—73 in all. This analysis takes a fresh look at the use of analogies regarding Iraqi reconstruction. We divide the period of April 2003 to June 2008 into four phases, in each of which a different analogy predominates—Afghanistan, Germany and Japan, the Cold War, and Vietnam. Analysis of the analogies embraced by five distinct groups within the Administration’s decision-making team—nationalist hawks, neoconservatives, administrators of Iraq, realist internationalists and the president—clarifies the affinities and tensions amongst them.     

Rolling off the Tongue into the Top-of-the-Head: Explaining Language Effects on Public Opinion

Growing evidence shows that mass opinion varies by interview language, yet modest theory exists to explain this result. I propose a framework where language impacts survey response by making some political concepts more mentally accessible. I claim that concepts vary by how associated they are with certain languages, which means people are more likely to acquire a construct when it is tied to the tongue one speaks. Hence, recalling concepts from memory should be easier when the language a construct is linked to matches the tongue one interviews in, thereby intensifying people’s opinions. I test my theory by manipulating the interview language in two U.S. surveys of English/Spanish bilingual Latino adults. I generally find that language influences the accessibility of concepts. For example, subjects report higher opinion levels for concepts that are tied more to their interview language, such as American identity among English interviewees. Subjects who interview in English are also less likely to refuse completing items measuring knowledge about U.S. politics, and more likely to answer them quickly. Items reflecting constructs that are highly labile (e.g. anti-Obama affect) or very crystallized (e.g., partisanship) do not display these patterns. I then rule out that language effects are mostly mediated by a heightened sense of anxiety, anger, pride or efficacy that emerges when bilingual subjects interview in one of their languages.