L'affaiblissement du Parlement français dans la dernière législature de la Troisième République (1936–1940)

SUMMARY

In this article, Simone Lassig examines franchise reforms in the federal states of the German Empire before 1914. She is critical of restricting the history of the German Empire to the history of Prussia. From this viewpoint, electoral reforms in several of the German federal states are used to indicate the capacity of the political elites to resolve problems related to the system. When we observe southern and central Germany, it can be shown that the old elites were capable of learning. Although the non-socialist parties opposed every form of mass politics until the turn of the century, by limiting the right to vote, after that they opened up to the increasing demands for participation from the lower levels of society. Tendencies towards democrati;tation appeared not only in many new electoral laws, but also in the political culture, expecially in the development of new methods of parliamentary conflict. Legitimation of authoriry gained a new status: the parliamentary resolution of conflicts was revalued as against legal restrictions, and facilitated the partial integration of the formerly excluded workers' party. The concept, scarcely challenged in research, that there was only a primitive level of democratization in Wilhelmine Germany should be reconsidered at least, as a result of this analysis.     

Legislative Self‐Restraint Under Divided Government In Germany, 1976–2002

Using the Vanberg (1998) model of legislative autolimitation from the judicial review literature, we investigated the impact of divided government on the strategic choices of government and opposition. The main prediction of the model is that a strong opposition dominance in the second chamber (Bundesrat) usually does not lead to open party‐political conflict, but rather to a government's legislative self‐restraint. We tested the hypotheses following from the model on a detailed dataset comprising all legislative bills in Germany between 1976 and 2002. The results show that the main effects of divided government are, in fact, indirect and anticipatory. We conclude that when majorities in the Bundestag and Bundesrat diverge, the impact on legislation is substantial.     

INDEFINITE PUNISHMENT AND THE CRIMINAL RECORD: STIGMA REPORTS AMONG EXPUNGEMENT‐SEEKERS IN ILLINOIS*

Although criminal records in the United States are more publicly accessible than ever before, we lack knowledge about how record‐bearers seek to overcome the negative consequences associated with a visible criminal record as they apply for jobs, housing, and financial aid. Furthermore, although criminal histories record all arrests—and not just those that result in conviction—researchers have yet to compare how those with more extensive versus minor criminal records cope with criminal record stigma. We present interview data from a comparative study of expungement‐seekers (N = 53) who have petitioned the courts to remove their criminal records from public view. One group had extensive criminal records (46 percent); the other group had more minor criminal records (54 percent). Several key findings emerged. First, both groups of participants tried, but failed, to persuade potential employers and landlords to overlook the criminal record. They also faced restricted educational opportunity. Second, participants in both groups expressed distress that criminal justice contact could follow them throughout their lives, subjecting them to ongoing stigma. However, those with extensive versus minor criminal records offered different rationales explaining why the visible criminal record history unfairly burdened them. Implications for reintegration theory and policy are discussed.