Political Culture, Konrad Adenauer, and the Reunification of Germany: an Attempt at Sorting Out a Number of Problems in a Current Debate.

Alfred Heuss, Versagen und Verhaengnis, Vom Ruin deutscher Geschichte und ihres Verstaendnisses (Failure and Disaster, On the Ruin of German History and its Comprehension), Berlin: Siedler, 1984, 213 pp.; Herbert Ammon and Theodor Schweisfurth, Friedensvertrag, Deutsche Konfoederation, Europaeisches Sicherheitssystem (Peace Treaty, German Confederacy, European Security System), Starnberg: IBF Verlag, 1985, 95 pp.;
Hans-Peter Schwarz, Die gezaehmten Deutschen, von der Machtbesessenheit zur Machtvergessenheit (The Tamed Germans, From the Obsession with Power to the Oblivion of Power), Stuttgart: Deutsche Verlagsanstalt, 1985, 191 pp.;
Hans-Peter Schwarz, Adenauer, Der Aufstieg: 1876–1952 (Adenauer, The Rise: 1876–1952). Stuttgart: Deutsche Verlagsanstalt, 1986, 1021 pp.;
Dieter Blumenwitz and Boris Meissner (eds.), Die Uebenvindung der europaeischen Teilung und die deutsche Frage (The Surmounting of the Division of Europe and the German Question), Cologne: Verlag Wissenschaft und Politik, 1986, 143 pp.;
Wolfgang Seiffert, Das ganze Deutschland, Perspektiven der Wiedervereinigung (The Whole Germany, Perspectives of Re-Unification), Munich-Zurich: Piper, 1986, 377 pp.     

Developing Codes of Conduct: Regulatory Conversations as Means for Detecting Institutional Change

The introduction of a new corporate governance code in Sweden, modeled after prevailing Anglo-Saxon norms of corporate governance, offers the opportunity to investigate global regulatory convergence. Using the metaphor of regulatory space, this article analyzes the positions of the parties who submitted formal responses to the introduction of "The Swedish Code of Corporate Governance—A Proposal from the Code Group." While the globalization of financial markets might forecast unconditional acceptance of the proposed code by business and financial interests, the analysis of who made comments, and what was said, reveals three categorically distinct groups: Swedish business "insiders" connected to the existing institutional framework who opposed changes that would erode traditional division of functions, including collective responsibility for the actions of company boards; "outsiders" (i.e., foreign investors and more marginal Swedish investors) aligned with Anglo-Saxon internationalization of the markets who would change the system of corporate accountability; and the professions (i.e., auditors), who advocated for their professional interests. Of the three groups, Swedish business insiders were most successful in gaining support for their positions. Although international financial and political interests were key to the introduction of the Code in the first place, the article demonstrates how the dynamics of national (local) culture and power structures influence the transfer of regulatory law across jurisdictions.