Verfassungsvergleichung durch das Bundesverfassungsgericht

Die Zurückhaltung von Verfassungsgerichten beim Heranziehen von verfassungsvergleichenden Argumenten ist nicht unbegründet. Sie beruht auf der Legitimationsproblematik, weiterhin darauf, dass eine auf Verfassungsvergleichung beruhende Auslegungsmethode nicht entwickelt ist, und auf den funktionalen Grenzen von (Verfassungs-)Rechtsprechung.     

Does the Electoral System Foster a Predominant Party System? Evidence from Turkey

This paper discusses the role of the electoral system in making the Justice and Development Party (AKP) dominant. Drawing on Sartori’s framework, we first clarify the concept of a predominant party system. Second, we examine the impact of the electoral system on the emergence of a predominant party system in Turkey. Analysing election results, we argue that the electoral system fosters dominance in three ways. First, a combination of electoral formula, national threshold and district threshold leads to over‐representation of large parties and under‐representation of small ones. Second, the fear of a wasted vote due to the high threshold prompts voters to support their second‐best option, which concentrates the votes among large parties. Finally, the electoral system increases electoral turnout rates by extending polarization.     

Besprechungen

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

U.S. Customs Service User Fees: A Variety of Charges and Counter-Charges

User charges, which have become an important revenue enhancement device during the 1980s, have also raised a variety of counter-charges. This study examines three new mandatory Customs Service fees—for processing passengers, conveyances, and merchandise entering the United States and for special services at small airports—along with their differences and changes over time (in rate structure, exemptions, dedicated accounts, and disposition of funds). Despite support for the charges, opposition to some has arisen because of their cost to the private sector, violation of certain assumptions behind user fees, competing international obligations and policies, rival institutional interests and powers of Congress and the presidency, and changing fiscal conditions.     

The institutional foundation of innovativeness and competitiveness of two German industries: biotechnology and mechanical engineering compared

The article analyzes the institutional foundation of the innovativeness and competitiveness of two German industrial sectors, mechanical engineering and biotechnology. It applies a systemic innovation approach to identify what changes at the national and regional levels can explain why mechanical engineering has kept a competitive advantage for many decades while we can observe a dynamic catching-up process in biotechnology. Both sectors provide good examples of the reconfigurations that take place in national innovation systems in both territorial and functional terms.