German E-Campaigning and the Emergence of a ‘Digital Voter’? An Analysis of the Users of the Wahl-O-Mat

Within the e-campaigning activities of political actors in Germany, the Wahl-O-Mat has emerged as a popular ‘non-party’ online tool which has been used by millions of voters before elections in Germany. An analysis of the users can provide information about the characteristics of people resorting to this and other types of online pre-election tools. Based on an application-specific approach, hypotheses about the users are developed in light of the uses and gratification theory, taking into consideration normative expectations associated with the rise of the Internet. Whether the Wahl-O-Mat helps fulfilling these expectations is analysed by drawing (1) on data generated by an online exit survey of the Wahl-O-Mat users and (2) on datasets of the German Longitudinal Election Study 2009. The findings show that users of the Wahl-O-Mat largely belong to a group of young and politically interested voters who resort primarily to the Internet to collect political information.     

The Soviet Military Administration and East German Elections, Autumn 1946

Even before the capitulation of Germany in 1945 the Soviet Union had begun to make preparations for a step-by-step communist seizure of power in the territories it controlled. This paper shows that the elections in the Soviet Occupation Zone (SBZ) in autumn 1946 were part of this radical change. Unpublished Russian documents provide evidence that Soviet military authorities had planned almost every detail of this campaign to ensure that the Socialist Unity Party of German (SED) headed the poll — and this was even more evident after the crushing defeat of the communists in Hungary and Austria in 1945. In any case the Soviets were determined that such defeat should not happen again due to Stalin's postwar plans to establish a predominantly communist Germany.     

An optional European contract law code: Advantages and disadvantages

Should the EU introduce an Optional European Contract Law Code and what should it look like? By applying economic theories of federalism and regulatory competition (legal federalism), it is shown why an Optional Code would be a very suitable legal instrument within a two-level European System of Contract Laws. By allowing private parties’ choice of law to a certain extent, it can combine the most important advantages of centralisation and decentralisation of competences for legal rules. Through differentiated analyses of three kinds of contract law rules (mandatory substantive rules, mandatory information rules and facilitative law), important conclusions can be reached: which kinds of contract law rules are most suitable to be applied on an optional basis (e.g. facilitative law) and which might be less so (e.g. a core of information regulations). Furthermore a number of additional general conclusions about the design and scope of an Optional EU Code and some conclusions in regard to sales law are derived.     

Governance and innovation policy failures in Europe

It is axiomatic in business management that organization follows strategy. In public policy, it is not different: governance organization and tools are dependent on the objectives that authorities want to achieve. The present stagnation, if not decline, of the European Union provides an interesting warning not to ignore this. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Comparing functions of transnational city networks in Europe and Asia

Transnational city networks (TCNs) are organisations that facilitate information exchange, cooperation and lobbying activities of cities from different countries—independent of the national level. This paper compares the aims and goals of European and Asian city networks, asking if there are significant differences between the two regions or if certain global patterns of urban international relations can be identified. The analytical concept draws on the literature on European TCNs and identifies specific functions they provide to their membership. By way of a comparative analysis, this concept is extended to the Asian TCN cases. It is shown that in both regions, cities cooperate independently across national borders, circumventing the nation-state. Furthermore, sustainable development with a strong focus on environmental issues, and in particular climate change policy, is the most important policy goal in both Europe and Asia. The TCNs show major differences, however, in the areas of representation of and lobbying on behalf of their memberships. This leads to the conclusions that cities emancipate themselves from the higher tiers of government and that the Westphalian nation state loses coherence in both Europe and Asia, even though to specific degrees.