Ist der Schweizer Föderalismus zu kleinräumig?

Welche territoriale Gliederung sollte der Schweizer Föderalismus annehmen? Könnte ein Zusammenfügen von Kantonen zu Grossregionen Kostenersparnisse im öffentlichen Sektor zur Folge haben? Wohlfahrtstheoreti‐sche Argumente betonen steigende Skalenerträge in der Nutzung öffentlicher Leistungen und die Internalisierung von Nutzenspillovers urbaner Zentren als Argumente für Gebietszusammenlegungen. Wer hingegen politisch‐ökonomisch argumentiert, sieht im kleinräumigen und autonomen Schweizer Föderalismus eine Möglichkeit zur Verringerung politischer Verzerrungen durch Begrenzung der staatlichen Monopolmacht. In einer gepoolten Querschnitts‐Zeitreihenanalyse von 1988‐1998 wird der Schweizer Föderalismus anhand von fünf Hypothesen zu den beiden kontroversen Standpunkten diskutiert. Die empirischen Ergebnisse weisen darauf hin, dass die politisch‐ökonomischen Vorteile der starken Dezentralisierung in der Schweiz ihre wohlfahrtstheoretischen Nachteile der Kleinräumigkeit mehr als kompensieren. Direktdemokratische Institutionen spielen dabei eine wichtige Rolle.     

Ideas and interests in global financial governance: comparing German and US preference formation

Financial crises underline the necessity for more effective global governance. Despite the creation of the Basel II Accord, no agreement has been reached on the reform of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Why do governments only selectively agree to reform global governance? I argue that convergence and divergence of governmental positions cannot be explained solely by the logic of the international system, institutions or globalization. Instead, they strongly reflect domestic ideas and interests. Furthermore, the ability of governments to compromise internationally is influenced by the different impact of domestic ideas and interests. With regard to their prevalence in domestic preference formation, ideas prevail when governance affects lobby groups diffusely and poses fundamental questions on the role of politics in governing the economy. Interests prevail when lobby groups are affected directly and new governance concerns a specific distribution of costs. These arguments are tested on the preference formation of the United States and German governments on the IMF and Basel II.     

The economic effects of direct democracy—a first global assessment

This is the first study that assesses the economic effects of direct democratic institutions on a cross-country basis. We find that total spending as well as spending on welfare is lower in countries with mandatory referendums, consistent with the previous literature. But we also find that countries with national initiatives appear to spend more and be more corrupt. Finally, budget deficits, government effectiveness, productivity and “happiness” appear unrelated to direct democracy. Institutional detail thus matters a great deal. In general, the effects of direct-democratic institutions become stronger if the frequency of their actual use is taken into account. Effects are usually stronger in countries with weak democracies.     

The praise of ressentiment: or,how I learned to stop worrying and love Donald Trump

American political discourse in the era of Tea Parties, Donald Trump, and ‘#BlackLivesMatter’ is suffused with Nietzschean ressentiment. Left critical theorist Wendy Brown’s ‘wounded attachments’ characterize civil rights protesters, multiculturalists, anti-tax activists, and Christian conservatives alike: all are grounded in an identity thoroughly constituted by foundational wounding, which then provides a continuing impulse to fixate on perceived wrongs as the basis for political community. Rather than lamenting this, however, I defend ressentiment from the vantage point of a renewed Left in the United States. This paper explores a strategic reclamation of ressentiment ‘well-used,’ argues that its employment in past liberation struggles has been crucial to the successes of the Left, and proposes several specific tactics in political rhetoric and mobilization, including: (a) embracing victim/enemy narratives, (b) cultivating anger, and (c) deploying effective lies rather than ineffective truths.