Rinderwahnsinn. Können Gesellschaften aus Krisen lernen?

Bovine Spongiforme Enzephalopathie, kurz BSE, ist ein Kulminationspunkt einer Reihe sozialer Krisen: BSE ist Symbol für die Krise der Natur, die Krise des Gewissheitsanspruches der Wissenschaften, die Krise der Verwaltungen oder der Agro- und Fleischindustrie. Die BSE-Krise fordert die institutionelle Landschaft moderner Gesellschaften auf besondere Weise heraus. Aber augenscheinlich fällt es Verwaltungen und Regierungen oder einzelnen sub-politischen Akteuren wie Organisationen und Expertengemeinschaften schwer, auf das komplexe Problem zu reagieren. Die Pluralisierung von Wissensansprüchen, -ressourcen und Werthaltungen, aber auch die Zunahme von Ungewissheit und Nicht-Wissen erschweren die Chancen für eine Konvergenz der Problemsichten und die gemeinsame Organisation von Ma\nahmen zur Problemlösung. Vor diesem Hintergrund stellt sich die Frage, inwiefern Gesellschaften überhaupt aus solchen Krisen ?lernen“ können. Die jüngere modemisierungstheoretische Diskussion setzt ihre Hoffnungen dabei auf die Lerneffekte von Netzwerken wie Epistemic Communities, Advocacy- oder Diskurskoalitionen, die die kollektiven Lernchancen quer zu den üblichen Disziplin-, Organisations- und Institutionsgrenzen denken. Der folgende Beitrag versucht über diese Ansätze hinauszugehen. Dabei wird deutlich, dass die Chancen kollektiven Lernens nicht nur von den akteursspezifischen und institutionellen Problemnarrationen abhängen, sondern auch von den institutionellen Kontexten und Verfahren, durch die das Lernen des Lernens organisiert wird. Ob sich durch das Zusammenspiel von Problemnarrationen und interorganisatorischer wie interinstitutioneller Kommunikation die Lernfähigkeit in den unterschiedlichen institutionellen Feldern erhöhen lässt oder sich die Wahrscheinlichkeit ihrer Blockierung erhöht, ist eine brennende Frage.     

Political stability and fiscal policy: time series evidence for the Swiss federal level since 1849

This paper explores the role of political stability on fiscal policy in a time-series analysis over 158 years at the Swiss federal level. We argue that the fiscal commons problem of public finances is affected by the number of years a finance minister remains in office, because the incentives for an incumbent to maintain a good reputation with sound policy decisions are stronger. A finance minister who succeeds to stay a long time in office enjoys a politically powerful position towards the administration, parliament and interest groups. In contrast, frequent government turnover weakens the position of the finance minister.     

Participatory Budgeting in Germany – A Review of Empirical Findings

Participatory budgeting (PB) is one of the most popular democratic innovations worldwide. PB is connected with high stakes regarding mobilizing political inactive citizens, efficient and effective budgetary policy as well as positive effects on citizens (e.g., civic education, democratic attitudes). However, in many Western countries empirical evidence for such benefits is scarce. This also holds for Germany. Since the conduction of PB demands financial and personnel resources, a thorough evaluation is necessary. This article systematically summarizes the current state of research to make the literature on PB in Germany accessible to international scholars as well as political and administrative practitioners. It focusses on the context (which municipalities conduct PB and why), process (role of local administration and council, participation, deliberation), and outcome/impact dimension (outcomes and impact on policies and citizens). To conclude, further research venues are briefly outlined, followed by an outlook on PBs future and practical implications.     

Administrative Agencies and the Collaborative Game: An Analysis of the Influence of Government Agencies in Collaborative Policy Implementation

Over the past decades, most countries have witnessed an increase in collaborative arrangements for engaging stakeholders in collective decision‐making processes. Despite the fact that the role of the state in the collaborative structures has been one of the highly debated issues, there is still a need for a more comprehensive understanding of how governmental agencies affect the performance of collaborative actions. This article develops a framework for systematic analyses of collaborative effects on policy performance. Using PROCESS OLS regression, the authors apply the framework to project‐level Cohesion Policy implementation in Finland – that is, to collaborative arrangements embedded in a rather fragmented and complex administrative context. The typical state characteristics of a Nordic country make Finland an interesting case for studying the interaction in collaborative arrangements between the administration and external agencies in a modern welfare state. The results presented in this article show that government agencies have a considerable moderating impact on the relationships between collaborative qualities and performance. The impact is, however, dependent on the responsiveness of the external agent to the bureaucratic rationale. The results underline the importance of more holistic approaches for analyzing complex collaborative constellations, focusing particularly on interaction effects between potential explanatory factors.     

Recall in Germany: explaining the use of a local democratic innovation

While recall recently has gained slightly more attention from academia, the use of recall has hardly been under systematic scrutiny. Our study tackles this research gap and seeks to answer the following question: What combinations of conditions facilitate or constrain the use of local recall (in Germany)? It provides a qualitative comparative analysis of conditions of recall use in 11 German federal states. Building on theories of democratic innovations and previous studies on recall, we develop an analytic framework systematizing the conditions we include in our empirical analysis along three dimensions: institutional design, attitudinal context, and political context. While our article focuses on Germany, our analytic framework can be applied to study recall in other countries and on other levels, allowing for more systematic comparative research. Applying fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis, our article provides a comprehensive picture explaining the use of recall. It shows that political and attitudinal conditions serve as an equally important explanation for recall use as the institutional design of recall does. Our article gives new insights considering the conditions for the use of direct democratic instruments.     

Avoiding Theoretical Stagnation: A Systematic Review and Framework for Measuring Public Value

Public value theory has become a hot topic in public administration research, but its proponents have long recognised difficulties in empirically testing the theory's central propositions. There has been a lack of clarity about how to measure the extent to which organisations are generating public value, which has rendered researchers unable to quantitatively study the causes, consequences and correlates of public value. The current study systematically reviews the growing literature on public value measurement to identify, evaluate, and synthesise available measures. Through a qualitative synthesis of the themes present in published measures, we identify four key components for measuring public value that appear to be important across a range of policy and national contexts. Our review identifies a promising framework that could be used to structure a comprehensive measure of public value and, in doing so, provides a means to progress theoretical development and testing of the public value approach.     

Any Publicity or Good Publicity? A Competitive Test of Visibility- and Tonality-Based Media Effects on Voting Behavior

When examining media effects on voting intentions, scholars of political communication have either focused on visibility- or tonality-based effects. Our study compares these effect models, asking whether the explanations are complementary or competitive; it goes beyond previous studies by considering interactions between media cues and voters’ attitudes. We draw on panel survey data from the German Longitudinal Election Study (GLES) that is combined with content analysis data of the main evening news broadcast in Germany. Findings show that visibility- and tonality-based effects are similar in potency, but tone-based effects are more contingent on attitudes toward parties and candidates. Both types of cues can backfire: higher visibility and more positive tonality can have negative effects on some attitude groups, which is in part moderated by the expectations about government coalitions. We find that visibility and tonality are rather complementary cues that both influence voting behavior. Implications are discussed.     

Research on Parental Sensitivity, Trust, Intimacy and Adult Romantic Attachment as Predictors for Sexual Delinquency

Some important authors in the field of sexual delinquency stress the importance of inadequate attachment in the aetiology of sexual abusive behaviour. This contribution reports on parental sensitivity, trust, intimacy and adult romantic attachment in a group of sexual offenders (exhibitionists, child molesters and child rapists) and a matched normal control group. Based on the analyses, it appears that parental sensitivity, trust, intimacy and adult romantic attachment significantly differentiate between sexual delinquents and the control group. There is no significant relationship between the different categories of sexual offenders, except for the variable adult romantic attachment. Furthermore, it was found that parental sensitivity, trust and the adult romantic attachment style contribute independently to the explanation of sexual delinquent behaviour. The results tend to be important for the prevention and the treatment of sexual delinquent behaviour.     

Patterned imprint mark due to the folded shoulder stock: A possible finding in contact shots from submachine guns

The muzzle imprint (barrel mark) is a pressure abrasion typically associated with contact shots. Apart from the contours of the actual muzzle profile, other constructional parts such as the front sight and/or the recoil spring guide of semiautomatic pistols may be imprinted next to the bullet entrance wound. In some types of submachine guns the shoulder stock can be folded forward so that its end partly encircles the muzzle. If such a weapon was in contact with the skin at the instant of discharge, a corresponding contusion mark is to be expected. The imprint configuration may point to the type of weapon and to the way in which the gun had been held when firing the shot. The paper presents the injury pattern in a 36-year-old man who committed suicide with a Scorpion SA Vz 61 submachine gun cal. 7.65 mm Browning from former Czechoslovakia.