Model Workers or Hardened Nazis? The Australian Debate about Admitting German Migrants, 1950-1952

Immigration policies implemented in the early 1950s by the Menzies government embraced several principles defined by the postwar Labor government, trying to accommodate employers, unions, veterans and ethnic voters within a framework of international considerations. The issue of admitting Germans severely tested the government's ability to reconcile these divergent interests. While anti-communism and established ethnic stereotypes were the undercurrents driving the debate, the practical demands of the Australian labour force, on the one hand, and the memories of the Second World War, on the other, also assumed much prominence in the public rhetoric. This study suggests that despite the existence of a common set of assumptions, both sides in the debate constructed opposing viewpoints to exploit them for partisan purposes. Groups or individuals whose concerns indeed focused on the advantages and disadvantages of admitting German migrants were shunted aside in this essentially political battle.     

Foreign Nationals as a Minority Group in the Criminal Justice System of Greece: From Offending to Victimization of non-Greek Population

During the last two decades, the overrepresentation of foreign nationals in the Greek criminal justice system constitutes a critical issue. By exploring the available statistical data and relevant surveys, this article attempts to examine how, on the one hand, groups of non-Greek nationals fare at different stages of criminal justice within the broader social and political context and whether, on the other hand, the prejudice and stereotyping against the foreign population affects directly or indirectly the attitudes of stakeholders of social control and how this escalates, in extreme cases, into hostility, racism, and xenophobic violence against them during the years of crisis.     

Are Female Offenders Underreported Compared to Male Offenders? A German-Greek Comparison of Crime Reporting,Rating of Offence Seriousness and Personal Experiences of Victimisation

The difference in official crime statistics between women and men is a constant fact in criminology, but has yet to be explained in a satisfactory way. There are few studies addressing the issue of why this gender gap is larger in registered crime than it is in self-report studies. The study at hand comprises a survey among Greek and German students to examine whether this gap could be attributed to a gender-specific reporting of crime. Participants’ self-reported experiences of victimisation and their rating of the seriousness of offences depicted in case vignettes were used to gain insight into varying tendencies to report a crime depending on the offender’s gender. The act of reporting a crime did not vary gender-specifically.     

A research topic in education law and policy: The development of regionalism and federalism in Europe and their impact on educational policy and administration

There has been an “upgrading” of the regional level in the European policy process which also has implications for educational policy and administration. At the same time federalism has become a model not only for nation states but also for the construction of Europe. While regionalism and federalism has attracted more and more scholarly attention there has been a neglect of the implications for the educational field. The article starts by looking for models of regionalisation and federalisation as a legal and political technique of conciliating between the different levels in education. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

„…den Dämon finden, der seines Lebens Fäden hält.“ Theoretische Beiträge zur Funktionslogik von Lebensführung

Mitteilungen und Berichte

     

Just a Matter of Timing? Local Electoral Turnout in Germany in the Context of National and European Parliamentary Elections

This article looks at the impact of national and European elections on turnout in German local council elections. The focus is first on effects from the timing of local council elections in between two federal elections and second on turnout effects from the combination of local council elections and European parliamentary elections. Starting from considerations about the relationships between high- and low-stimulus elections the article analyses data from 111 German local council elections held between 1951 and 2008. The analyses show first that upcoming national elections do mobilise voters to cast their ballots in regions where local council turnout traditionally is low. Second, combining European and local elections tends to reinforce turnout as well.     

Buying into Myths: Free Movement of People and Immigration

The way in which free movement of people has become the central issue of the British government's renegotiation and referendum campaign on the UK's relationship with the European Union (EU) risks obfuscating at least three central issues: why immigrants are coming to the UK; what impact EU migrants are having on the UK; and what can be done to effectively regulate such inflows. It is, however, not just the eurosceptics and the British government, but also ‘in campaigners’ and other EU member states, who risk perpetuating a number of widely held misconceptions about free movement and immigration for political reasons. Buying into such myths risks undermining attempts to have a more honest and more evidence‐based debate about immigration and migrant integration.