Individuals,Parties and the Parliamentary Record in the 1690s

SUMMARY

In this article Colin Brooks reviews the historical writing of the last thirty years on British history between 1688 and 1714. This has offered a variety of interpretations which give priority to a number of different factors. The problem now facing historians is how to synthesize these interpretations into a coherent account. The article suggests that while it is possible to reconstruct from the surviving source materials what happened in the House of Commons, the incompleteness and the ambiguities of the evidence make it much more difficult to determine why it happened, or what were the motives of the individuals taking part. The nature of the source materials requires that they be interpreted with more caution than they have often received: they have as much to tell about individual perceptions as about what actually happened.     

Les députès du centre aux origines de la Troisième République française

SUMMARY

In this article Lothar Höbelt compares the political role of the Liberal parties in the Hohenzollern and Habsburg empires after 1867. Both started from a similar position, by granting a retrospective indemnity to their governments for their unconstitutional actions prior to 1866, in the expectation of reinstating constitutional government in which they would have an active role. The article then analyses the reasons why, by 1879 these expectations had been disappointed, but this led to different outcomes in the politics of the two empires. In the Hohenzollern empire, the Liberals eventually split permanently into a party of National Liberals, prepared to cooperate with government, and a progressive wing that tended to be in opposition. In the Habsburg empire, the Liberals remained united in a largely unsuccessful attempt to enforce parliamentary responsibility on the government. It is then shown how this outcome relates to the different ethnic and political structures of the two empires.     

European integration: The case of Bosnia and Herzegovina and south‐eastern Europe

The countries of South‐Eastern Europe see integration with the European Union as a sustainable solution to the ever‐present threat of fragmentation and ethnic divisions     

Von der Zweiparteiendominanz zum Pluralismus: Die Entwicklung des deutschen Parteiensystems im westeuropäischen Vergleich

With the federal election of 2009, the German party system no longer belongs to the party systems with two-party dominance but to the pluralistic systems. The article develops a typology of party systems, decribes the change of the type of Germany's party system, shows that the development of the German party system is an exception in Western Europe and argues that the change in the structure of the system casts a return to two-party dominance into doubt.     

Diplomaten zwischen Sozialisation und Kalkulation: Bestimmungsfaktoren des Berufserfolgs im Auswärtigen Dienst

This article examines the determining factors of career success in the German Foreign Service. Based on the socialization and the rational choice approach, we design two models from which empirical relevance is evaluated through data from four career entry cohorts (attaché training courses 1970–1973). The statistical analysis of a systematic survey shows that facets of career calculation such as networking or conformity more strongly influence the professional achievements of a diplomat than that of group-specific features such as family background or party membership. Even though we cannot strictly separate the models from each other, it becomes evident that the rationalist explanation predicts career success better than the factors attributed from the socialization model.     

Section 47 of the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013: A Flawed Reform of the UK Cartel Offence

On 1 April 2014, section 47 of the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013 (ERRA) entered into force, ensuring significant changes to the UK cartel offence. The criminal offence, contained in section 188 of the Enterprise Act 2002, was enacted to secure the deterrence of cartel activity affecting the UK. Following almost ten years of enforcement, the cartel offence had failed to live up to expectations. Consequently, following a public consultation, it was reformed in substance. Section 47 ERRA, removed the (controversial) definitional element of ‘dishonesty’ from the offence, created a number of ‘carve outs’ from the offence, and created three additional defences. This article examines in detail the specific reforms of the cartel offence and argues that, although considerable improvement has been made, the UK offence is fundamentally flawed and unworkable in practice. Further reform is therefore advised.