The finnish centre party: Profile of a ‘Hinge group’

Recently, the functioning of Austrian Social Partnership has been increasingly called into question. The strains on the system, often traced to the internationalisation of the economy and the related shift to neoliberally inspired policies, might make Austria prone to disorganising pressures. However, case studies infields of social and economic policy‐making crucial for international competitiveness (working time, vocational training, industrial policy) suggest that many elements of interest intermediation, concertation, and conflict resolution have remained constant over the last 30 years, entailing both elements of concertation and of conflict as well as different trends across policy areas.     

The Legacy of Western Overseas Colonialism on Democratic Survival

Using an original dataset that covers the period from 1951 to 1995, we consider the enduring effects of Western overseas colonialism on the democratic survival of postcolonial democracies. We treat colonialism as a holistic phenomenon and differentiate the relative effects of its legacies with regard to the level of economic development, social fragmentation, and the relationship between the state and civil society. We find that Western overseas colonialism, a factor often overlooked in recent large- n studies, continues to have an effect on the survival of democratic regimes. We further find that the legacy of specific colonial powers has an important effect on survival as well. Unlike previous studies, we find that former Spanish colonies outperform British colonies when colonialism is conceptualized holistically. However, when we break colonial legacy into separate components (development, social fragmentation, and the relationship between the state and civil society), we find that the advantages former British colonies enjoy are attributable to the legacy of the state/civil society relationship. Moreover, we show that at least in the case of former British colonies, time spent under colonial rule is positively associated with democratic survival.     

Cyprus under British Rule: An International Law Analysis of Certain Land Surveys and Land Assignments Between 1878 and 1955

From 1878 onwards, Great Britain exercised sovereign rightscoming close to full sovereignty over Cyprus. The present articledemonstrates that, by undertaking certain land surveys and landassignments with regard to religious property in North Cyprus,Great Britain ultimately failed to abide by the restrictionon the exercise of its sovereign rights flowing from internationallaw, which in turn referred to the Ottoman Law on Foundationsand Endowments. Apart from shedding light on a commonly neglectedaspect of colonial law, which is closely linked to key conceptsof public international law continuing to shape our present-daydiscourse, a loose frame of reference for reparation of pastinjuries is sketched out.     

Die symbolische Inszenierung als „kultureller Anderer“ – Zur Auslegung weltkultureller Skripte im Feld der europäischen Inklusionspolitik

This paper puts forward a sociological perspective on the Open Method of Coordination (OMC) going beyond the usual focus on power and learning in governance studies. It uses a combined approach based on Pierre Bourdieu’s theory of social fields and John W. Meyer’s neoinstitutionalism. Seen from this angle the OMC transmits and amplifies the abstract ideas of the world polity for EU Member States. The coordination procedure gives rise to a political field in Bourdieu’s sense filled with a variety of actors that claim to be selfless and disinterested “cultural others”. Hence, the OMC can be used by these actors as an opportunity structure for symbolic enrichment. By symbolically enriching their strategies, these actors avoid triggering the automatic recourse to subsidiarity as a means to fend off European influence. Empirically, the article identifies five types of cultural others: conceptual entrepreneurs, knowledge producers, fundamental critics, detached observers and robust actors.     

Literatur

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

The 1992 health reform victory over pressure group politics

The 1988 health reform was substantially undermined by the influence of powerful pressure groups representing the interests of the medical profession and the pharmaceutical industry and resistance from the German federal states. Consequently, it failed to achieve its aim of ‘cutting costs’. The theory supporting ‘resistance to reform within the health care system’ was widely accepted in the literature on the subject. The 1992 reform appeared to contradict this theory, as the political leadership succeeded in overcoming both party policy and intergovernmental differences, as well as making considerable cost savings and structural changes in spite of resistance from the opposition ‘lobby’. Three factors were responsible for this. They were under enormous pressure to act due to the financial crisis and the interdependent costs within the welfare state, the changing motives within the health care system, and a new political strategy which responded to this. In the long term, prospects are for a trend towards ‘greater privatisation’.