Swiss Air Traffic Policy: Noise between Berne and Berlin

This article looks at the negotiations between Switzerland and Germany on air traffic regulation with the help of negotiation analysis tools. A number of factors pre‐eminent in the literature on negotiation processes and outcomes are presented and critically assessed. In particular arguments of “power”, which are often insufficiently explored in analysing interstate cooperation, are brought back into the picture. The article argues that structural power best explains the negotiation results while domestic politics and information asymmetries both account for non‐ratification of the treaty. Institutionalist arguments on the constraining effects of international norms and institutions as well as explanations focusing on negotiation skills are of minor importance. Moreover, the nature of the Swiss intra‐governmental setting at the federal level did not encourage the Swiss negotiators to exploit all means during the different stages of the bargaining process. The article concludes by illuminating a number of policy observations in the broader context of Swiss foreign relations and indicating avenues for further research.     

Zeitarbeit — ein Muster für die Arbeits- und Betriebsorganisation der Zukunft?

Vielfach wird Zeitarbeit als Muster für die Arbeits- und Betriebsorganisation der Zukunft gesehen, das heißt, für die Verknüpfung von Flexibilität im Personaleinsatz und von Beschäftigungssicherheit für Zeitarbeitnehmer. Wenngleich diese Beschäftigungsform in Deutschland erst ein Prozent der Beschäftigungsformen ausmacht, lassen sich an ihr, einem Dreiecksverhältnis zwischen Verleih-, Entleihunternehmen und Zeitarbeitnehmer, generelle Entwicklungstendenzen von Arbeit und Betrieb aufzeigen: die Erosion des Normalarbeitsverhältnisses, der Übergang von Arbeitsauf ?Kaufverträge“ von Arbeit, die Hybridisierung von Arbeitsverträgen und die Bearbeitung der Risiken für Unternehmen durch ihre Externalisierung. Damit einher geht ein Wandel der Betriebsorganisation durch horizontale Netzwerke und der Organisationsrolle der Arbeitnehmer durch ?just in time“-Abruf anstelle dauerhafter Inklusion. Entspricht die geforderte Mobilität zwischen Betrieben und Arbeitsorten einem Trend im Lebensstil? Worin bestehen Auswirkungen auf die berufliche, personale und soziale Identität? Ausgehend von theoretischen Überlegungen über die Institution des Normalarbeitsverhältnisses und die Segmentierung von Arbeitsmärkten untersucht der Beitrag diese Fragen auf der Basis europäischer und deutscher Daten zu Diffusion, Struktur und Wirkungen von Zeitarbeit. Die Folgen für das deutsche Modell der Arbeitsorganisation werden mit den Stichworten Hybridisierung, Pfadabhängigkeit und Einpassung in das deutsche Modell zusammengefasst.     

Warum Mittelmaß? Deutschlands Bildungsausgaben im internationalen Vergleich

Ohne Zusammenfassung Der vorliegende Beitrag ist die überarbeitete und erweiterte Fassung der Antrittsvorlesung des Verfassers an der Ruprecht-Karls-Universit?t Heidelberg am 13. Dezember 2001.     

Friedrich Engels and the Origins of German Revisionism: Another Look

The precise nature of Friedrich Engels' theoretical role following Marx's death in 1883 has remained a hotly disputed topic among historians of socialist thought. However, despite their intellectual disagreements, the exponents of various perspectives frequently share a serious interpretive deficiency: the failure to anchor their readings of crucial texts in an analysis of specific political contexts. Situating Engels' later writings—his 1890s Letters on Historical Materialism, and his 1895 Introduction to Marx's The Class Struggles in France —within the dramatically changed political situation in fin de siècle Germany, this essay seeks to recast the entire gestalt of the quarrel over Engels' alleged revisionism by illuminating the historical and political framework that shaped his late Marxism and its theoretical premises.     

A hopeless case?

In a hollow covered with earth, a herb gatherer discovered a severely decomposed corpse mutilated by scavenging animals. Only small areas of the skin had remained intact. A conspicuous tattoo could still be distinguished on the left upper arm. Despite concrete evidence of violence (fracture in the occipital bone, subdural hemorrhage with a volume of 20 ml), the exact cause of death could no longer be established. Police enquiries identified a person in whom such a conspicuous tattoo had been photographed in an earlier criminal case. Eventually, the deceased person could be identified by DNA analysis of a stored blood alcohol specimen. Considered together, the autopsy findings and the results of the investigation of traces of blood on the putative tool used in the crime indicated that the man had been struck dead and the body had afterwards been buried in the wood. Although the prospects of success had been initially slight, it was not only possible to identify the victim, but also to reconstruct the crime.     

Homicide by gunshot. An evaluation of 50 homicides with reference to gunshot wound site]

In this paper the homicides committed in the region of Ulm with firearms over a period of 17 years were studied. These included 50 deaths caused by gunshot wounds, 33 males and 17 females. Homicides by firearms accounted for 44 percent, which was slightly higher than in other German regions. Homicide victims were found in all age groups with a markedly higher number up to the 20th year and in the fourth decade of life. In most cases small arms were used, and in many cases multiple shots were fired primarily hitting the head and the left side of the trunk: but injuries in the region of the extremities were also seen.     

Maximizing utility at the polls? A replication of Himmelweit's 'Consumer Model of Voting' with German election data from 1983

Abstract. A rational choice model of voting behaviour suggested by Himmelweit et al. is put to an empirical test in the context of the 1983 West German general election. Compared to the traditional measure of party identification, an indicator based on multi-attribute utility theory (MAUT) considerations fails to be as dominant as in the original British data. However, specific context effects were at work in the German 1983 election. Also, the party identification measure is problematic itself. It is concluded that the MAUT approach deserves further elaboration; several methodological improvements are discussed.     

Can tax evasion tame Leviathan governments?

This paper asks to what extent institutional features that facilitate tax evasion may keep Leviathan governments at bay. The specific feature we look at is banking secrecy abroad. The analysis draws on a 16-generation OLG model in which tax rates are determined in a repeated game between voters and a rent-seeking Leviathan government. Key insights are: (1) Effects on any generation alive when change takes place may differ substantially from steady-state effects that accrue for generations yet to be born. (2) There is considerable intergenerational diversity in these effects that is not monotonic as we move from young to old. Combined, these results suggest that the political economy of pertinent institutional change may be quite complex.