Public Philanthropic Partnerships: The Changing Nature of Government/Foundation Relationships in the US

Relationships between foundations and the government in the United States have long been difficult with government attitudes ranging from hostile to at best indifferent in the past. American foundations have long claimed innovation as a distinctive function to perform in society in order to preserve their legitimacy. One hundred years after the rise of the large-scale American philanthropic foundation, however, the relationships between foundations and government have come into flux. Between demands from fiscally-strapped local governments and a new openness of state and federal governments to develop collaborative relationships, a variety of public-philanthropic partnerships have emerged that question the traditional roles and distribution of labor between philanthropy and the state. This article traces the historical development of the government/foundation relationship and discusses its changing nature using recession-induced ad hoc partnerships, the emergence of foundation liaison offices, and the Obama Administration’s Social Innovation Fund and Investing in Innovation program as examples.     

Der "gläserne" Abgeordnete? Transparenzregeln für Parlamentarier und ihre Folgen

Der vorliegende Beitrag analysiert – unter Bezugnahme auf eine ländervergleichende empirische Studie derselben Autoren – die Verhaltensregeln für Parlamentarier und die daraus resultierenden Konsequenzen. Dabei wird zunächst auf die Frage eingegangen, was unter Transparenzpflichten verstanden wird. Im Anschluss daran werden Hypothesen über den Zusammenhang von schärferen Transparenzpflichten und diversen Variablen dargelegt, gefolgt von einer kurzen Analyse der Implikationen für die verfassungsrechtlichen Argumente in Deutschland unter Berücksichtigung auch der österreichischen Regelungen.     

Eating the Rich vs. Feeding the Poor: Borrowing Constraints and the Reluctance to Redistribute

This paper offers an explanation why most democracies arecharacterized by moderate taxation of wealth although thewealth distribution is persistently skewed to the right. Wemodel an economy in which agents have to acquire highereducation to qualify for skilled work and in which capitalmarket imperfections prevent poor individuals from making sucha profitable human capital investment. If these borrowingconstraints do not bind for members of the middle class, theymay rationally reject redistribution although both the currentand the future median of the wealth distribution are below themean.     

Books in review

the author of numberous works in U.S. Jewish history and culture. Her most recent book is The Wonders of America: Reinventing Jewish Culture, 1880–1950.     

Gm and Km frequencies in West Germans: usefulness of typing Gm(1,2,3,10,21) and Km(1,3) in paternity cases

The immunoglobulin allotypes G1m(1,2,3) and G3m(10,21) were typed in 2855 unrelated West German adult individuals. 1455 individuals were typed for the factors Km(1,3). Phenotype and haplotype frequencies are reported. The usefulness of this routine typing programme in paternity tests is demonstrated in three case reports.     

The UN Global Compact and the Global Governance of Corporate Social Responsibility: Complex Multilateralism for a More Human Globalisation?

In recent years, questions of corporate social responsibility (CSR) have developed into a global policy issue. Multinational corporations, as high-profile representatives of economic transnationalisation and globalisation, have come under ever closer scrutiny in regard to their actual development impact, especially in Third World countries. The UN Global Compact as an example for evolving “complex multilateralism on a global level” aims at solving two problems at once, namely the implementation of minimum standards of “good corporate conduct” and socio-economic development, especially of poor countries. In a paradigmatic policy shift, the United Nations has fostered close partnerships with global business to promote CSR and socio-economic development, thereby opening the UN system to private business interests. This shift has been criticised by many civil society actors. Despite its remarkable achievements, the Global Compact reveals many problems of contemporary global governance related to its understanding of globalisation, the implementation and control of its core norms and rules as well as in regard to issues of transparency and democratic legitimacy. Finally, the Global Compact serves to illustrate how international institutions try to adapt to the growing complexity of development and economic governance issues and the larger influence of non-state actors in the global political economy.     

Democracy out of Reason? Comment on Rainer Forst's “The Rule of Reasons”

In my paper, I comment on Rainer Forst's paper in this issue. I raise doubts as to whether the justification of democracy emerges from a fundamental moral right to reciprocal and general justification, as Forst claims. His basic argument appears questionable because democracy is different from a "hypothetical-consent-conception" of moral legitimacy, which limits as well as enables democratic legitimacy. The former cannot, however, justify the latter through an argument centered on self-government: Such an argument relies heavily on the possibility of consensus, thus neglecting the crucial phenomenon of disagreement or dissent. As a result of not adequately dealing with this phenomenon, the argument is unable to account for the basic democratic principle of majority rule as the remedy at hand.     

Naturschutzrecht im Zeichen des Klimawandels

Zusammenfassung  Der Aufsatz er?rtert naturschutzrechtliche Problembereiche, die im Hinblick auf die Adaption an den Klimawandel von besonderer Bedeutung sind. Hierzu z?hlen die Anpassung und Dynamisierung der Schutzgebietskonzepte und des Schutzes von Natur in der Fl?che, die Realisierung von Biotopverbünden als Infrastrukturen zur Anpassung wie auch der Umgang mit gebietsfremden Arten. Um den Anpassungsbedarf des Naturschutzrechts besser absch?tzen zu k?nnen, stellt der Aufsatz einleitend die m?glichen klimatischen Folgen für Natur und Landschaft dar.