Föderalismus und wohlfahrtsstaatliche Entwicklung. Österreich und die Schweiz im Vergleich

Starting from the stylised fact that federal institutions are held to be inimical to welfare state expansion, this paper examines the ways in which federalism has shaped the dynamics of welfare state development in Switzerland and Austria. A comparison of these different federal polities reveals that the welfare breaking effect attached to federalism crucially depends on the extent of vertical power separation. In both countries economic competition among constituent units did not fuel a race to the bottom in social standards. In Switzerland, the most important reason connected to federalism for why federal social policy was delayed and downsized was policy-preemption by the cantons and their considerable influence on the federal policymaking process. In contrast, the Austrian Länder neither had major social policy competencies nor an effective veto power which allowed them to block the centralisation of public policy. Instead, federalism is subordinate to the partisan arena at the central state level which itself is dominated by political parties quite favourable to welfare state expansion.     

Interministerielle Netzwerke: Formale und informelle Koordinationsstrukturen bei der Vorbereitung der deutschen Verhandlungspositionen zur Regierungskonferenz 1996

How do German ministries manage the preparation of national negotiation positions for EU intergovernmental conference? After a survey of the debate on organizational deficits of the interministerial coordination in Germany, we are consulting decision- and organization-theoretic approaches in IR. Drawing on organizational economics we concretise and supplement these older frameworks. We conceive the management of a governmental organization as a specific aggregation of heterogeneous preferences and information. Applying social network analysis we take into account formal as well as informal aspects of coordination channels. The objective of this article is to make visible the complex structures and processes that constitute foreign policy making, and to provide a preliminary assessment of its efficiency.     

The Contribution of Local Public Infrastructure to Private Productivity and its Political Economy: Evidence from a Panel of Large German Cities

This paper proposes a simultaneous-equation approach to theestimation of the contribution of infrastructure accumulationto private production. A political economy model for theallocation of public infrastructure investment grants isformulated. Our empirical findings, using a panel of largeGerman cities for the years 1980,1986, and 1988, suggest thatcities ruled by a council sharing the State (`Bundesland')government's current political affiliation were particularlysuccessful in attracting infrastructure investment grants.With regard to the contribution of infrastructure accumulationto growth, we find that public capital is a significant factorin private production. Moreover, at least for the samplestudied, we find that simultaneity between output and publiccapital is weak; thus, feedback effects from output toinfrastructure are negligible.     

The incongruous achiever in adolescence

The authors wished to study some of the internal psychological dynamics of achievement in a nonpatient identified high school population. Questionnaires were administered to the Grade 13 students and their parents in a large high school. A number of students whose achievement and educational plans were not congruous with their general background were selected for interview. The findings suggest that a wide variety of ages and developmental stages can be discerned as critical points in the development of a student's attitude toward higher education. These students have many values in common, and their values appear related to a positive or negative identification with parental values. The students themselves show a wide range of personality integration. They relate in a special way to a wide variety of teachers' personalities.Received M.D. from University of Alberta, Edmonton, in 1969 and completed specialty training in psychiatry at University of Toronto in 1974. Main interests include psychoanalysis, community psychiatry, and currently antabuse implants.Received M.D. from University of Toronto in 1960, D. Psych. from University of Toronto in 1963, C.R.C.P.(c) in 1965, and F.R.C.P. in 1972. Main interests include adolescent psychiatry, psychoanalysis, psychiatric residency training programs, and mental health delivery systems.     

Evolution von Staatlichkeit — mit einem Exkurs zu N. Elias’ „Soziogenese des Staates“

If “the state” is considered as a historically grown social institution — and not only as a clearly defined set of institutions of legitimate order —, and if the evolution of legitimate and sanctioned state interventions in society is analysed from a functional politico-sociological perspective, than the emergence of new patterns of state functions in an increasingly global and interdependent socio-economic context is revealed. The paper analyses the following questions: How do recent state theories try to understand and explain the functional change of state institutions in their societal context? Can Norbert Elias’ theories of civilisation processes, of the emergence of the state, and his figuration theory facilitate the empirical analysis of the evolution of (post) modern state functions? Does an evolutionary perspective provide a basis for an “enlightened theory of the state”? What follows in terms of a theoretical and empirical investigation of present and future state functions?     

Transborder data flow issues and technology transfer

Transborder data flow and technology transfer issues have a substantial overlap. Transborder data flows represent flows of information with economic and/or cultural value. Electronic access to “know-how”, information, data, etc. is becoming more and more important to technology transfer and sharing. National transborder data flow policies either affect or can themselves be technology transfer policies.     

Technology transfer at land-grant universities

Improvement in the ability of universities in the United States to transfer technology to the private sector is seen as a factor in strengthening American competitiveness. To better understand the university's role in this process, a survey of formal university programs in technology transfer was performed through personal interviews at four midwestern land-grant universities. There are six basic types of programs in place: technical assistance, affiliate, licensing, business development, incubators and research parks, and information networks. For purposes of classifying these programs, we used the model developed by Janis et al. (1) It was found that, of the six modes of technology transfer, two could be considered active, three semi-active and one passive.     

Auswirkungen des Umweltrechts auf eine nachhaltige Regionalentwicklung*

Das Umweltrecht nimmt in vielfältigen Formen und Verfahren Einfluss auf die Regionalplanung als (Haupt-)Instrument nachhaltiger Regionalentwicklung. Der Beitrag beleuchtet dies unter rechtlichen Aspekten und bezieht hierzu Stellung. Die Kritik richtet sich u. a. auf die Heterogenität umweltrechtlicher Agenden und die eingeschränkte Sanktionierung von Verstößen gegen Vorgaben des Umweltrechts. * Schriftliche Fassung eines Vortrags auf dem Kongress Steuerungsimpulse für eine nachhaltige Regionalentwicklung am 24./25. 11. 2004 in Greifswald. Verf. ist Inhaber eines Lehrstuhls für öffentliches Recht und Geschäftsführender Direktor des Ostseeinstituts für Seerecht, Umweltrecht und Infrastrukturrecht, Universität Rostock.