Beyond Bureaucracy—Public Administration as Political Integrator and Non‐Weberian Thought in Germany

The political role of public administration holds an ambiguous status in public administration theory. The dominant paradigms of the discipline offer more or less negative perspectives. Max Weber’s notion of bureaucracy conceives public administration as the apolitical tool of government, while the public choice school conceives it as the realm of individual selfishness and rent seeking at taxpayers’ expense. In this unfavorable epistemological environment, positive concepts of what makes public administration “political” can hardly flourish. However, as public authorities may organize clientele participation and consequently co‐opt stakeholders, they provide for symbolic sense making and create patterns of identity. Public administration thus works as a political integrator in its own right. Unfortunately, this subject is not prominent within contemporary scholarly research. German political integration through administration is analyzed here in order to address these and related theoretical questions.     

"Fantasiegeld" als Deliktsobjekt der Geldfälschung

Die Existenz einer bestimmten, als Zahlungsmittel gesetzlich vorgesehenen Banknote als Vorbild ist keine Voraussetzung des Nachmachens. Das Falsifikat muss im Wesentlichen die von der Allgemeinheit als für ein gesetzliches Zahlungsmittel wesensbestimmend angesehenen Merkmale aufweisen. Unter der Voraussetzung der Verwechslungstauglichkeit kommt auch "Fantasiegeld" als Deliktsobjekt der §§ 232, 233, 236 und 241 StGB in Frage. Wer falsches oder verf?lschtes Geld weitergibt, erfüllt in der Regel neben der jeweiligen strafbaren Handlung des 13. Abschnitts auch den Tatbestand des Betrugs. Idealkonkurrierende Verwirklichung der Tatbest?nde ist begrifflich nicht ausgeschlossen – Exklusivit?t scheidet aus. Das Verh?ltnis der Tatbest?nde ist nach den Grunds?tzen der Scheinkonkurrenz zu l?sen, wobei Spezialit?t mangels vollst?ndiger überdeckung eines Tatbestands durch einen – weitere Elemente enthaltenden – anderen ausscheidet. § 245 Abs 3 StPO gew?hrt kein Recht auf jederzeitige Besprechung zwischen Verteidiger und Angeklagtem. § 249 Abs 1 StPO enth?lt das Recht des Angekl, selbst Fragen an jede zu vernehmende Person zu stellen. Ein Anspruch, dieses Fragerecht in bestimmter Form wahrzunehmen, ist weder aus dieser Bestimmung noch aus Art 6 Abs 3 lit d MRK abzuleiten.     

Phasing out nuclear energy in Germany

The German Red‐Green government decided to phase out all nuclear power stations and stop the reprocessing of German nuclear fuel in Britain and France. The coalition agreement between the Greens and SPD set out a well‐defined timetable for the implementation of this policy, involving new legislation within the first 100 days and the negotiation of a consensus with the electricity utilities to be achieved within 12 months. While these deadlines passed without political results, an agreement between the government and the nuclear utilities was reached in mid‐June 2000. This analysis of the genesis and development of the policy of phasing out nuclear power focuses in particular on the difficulties of the Green Environment Minister, Jürgen Trittin, to put the anti‐nuclear policies of his party into practice. It is argued that the Greens faced a ‘no win’ situation in their attempt to design a constitutionally and politically viable phasing out policy. The party remains caught in the middle between the radical anti‐nuclear movement that continues its protest against all nuclear operations and an intransigent electricity industry fighting for its commercial self‐interest to keep nuclear stations running as long as possible. A range of theoretical approaches that could help the understanding of these processes is discussed, with an ‘advocacy coalition’ approach appearing to be the most promising option.     

Germany in Europe: return of the nightmare or towards an engaged Germany in a new Europe?

Especially since (re-)unification, perceptions of Germany alternate between the fear of the return of the German hegemon and – at the same time – the diametrically opposed call for more German leadership based on Germany's outstanding pro-European engagement. Nonetheless, Germany's foreign policy has changed little since 1989: it is still cautious rather than assertive. Due to Germany's experience with the two world wars, German foreign policy places great value on the enlargement as well as the deepening of the EU. In sum, Germany can best be characterised as a normal and engaged European state.     

UNWCC Policy on the Prosecution of Torture 1943–1948

This article provides a cursory overview of the development of torture as a war crime and/or a crime against humanity. While torture may at one time have been an accepted method of interrogation and punishment, matters changed in the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century. After presenting the approaches to torture common before World War II, the article focuses on the United Nations War Crimes Commission’s (UNWCC) internal debates on the crime, as well as it’s scrutiny of the national war crimes prosecution programmes of its members. As torture was, however, not at the core of UNWCC’s discussions, the author calls for further comparative research on the legacy of the UNWCC, particularly in the records of national authorities which were responsible for the prosecution of war crimes following World War II.     

A Crime Against Humanity

The German Red-Green coalition has declared unlimited solidarity with the US government in its response to the attack on the World Trade Center in New York City. Yet, very few questions have been raised by the mainstream media, and any 'inopportune' comments that have worked their way into the press, questioning the legitimacy of the response, have been declared scandalous. This article argues that the time may have come to deal with long-term developments and potential consequences of today's politics and policies and perhaps it may even be possible for us to begin to understand what is going on--a possibility that should not be ignored out of an archaic thirst for revenge.