Sovereignty Lost, Sovereignty Regained? The European Integration Project and the Bundesverfassungsgericht

European law; Germany; integration theory; law

The quality of sustainability and the nature of open source software

The aim is to categorise Open Source Software as a commons based production process and resource. The definition of the commons is always accompanied by the doubt about its sustainability, the so-called "tragedy of the commons." Therefore it is worth to have a closer look on Open Source and why a "tragedy" does not appear

Anleitung zur Organisation von Webkonferenzen am Beispiel der “Bibcast”-Aktion zum Bibliothekskongress 2016

Zwischen dem 7. und 11. März 2016 fand der erste Bibcast, eine Webcast-Serie zu bibliothekarisch relevanten Themen statt. Aus der Idee heraus entstanden, abgelehnten Einreichungen für den Bibliothekskongress ein alternatives Forum zu bieten, hat sich der Bibcast als interessantes, flexibles und innovatives Format herausgestellt, das die Landschaft der Präsenzkonferenzen zukünftig sinnvoll ergänzen kann. In diesem Praxisbeitrag soll über Entstehung und Ablauf berichtet, Mehrwerte und Stolpersteine veranschaulicht und damit zugleich eine Anleitung zur Organisation von Webkonferenzen gegeben werden

Das demokratische Potenzial des Internets

Weblogs und komplexe Diskurs-Plattformen repräsentieren ganz unterschiedliche Ausprägungen elektronischer Demokratie. Im Unterschied zu den monolithischen, top-down moderierten Diskurs-Plattformen knüpfen typische Web 2.0 Anwendungen wie Weblogs an die many-to-many-Kommunikationsstruktur des Internets an. Das demokratische Potenzial der Web 2.0 Anwendungen gründet in den Prinzipien der Selbstorganisation aus den frühen Tagen des Internets. Durch Gestaltungsprinzipien wie Offenheit, Einfachheit, bottom up, Nutzerpartizipation, Konsensorientierung und nicht-hierarchischer Organisation werden Web 2.0 Anwendungen zu Manifestationen der Urideen und Konzepte des Cyberspace. Durch die Fokussierung auf die Interaktion zwischen Software und Nutzern kann die Debatte um die Digitale Spaltung der Gesellschaft eine neue Wendung bekommen: Unter der Annahme, dass Software die Form politischer Auseinandersetzung regelt, liegt das demokratische Potenzial des Webs nicht nur in den Fähigkeiten oder Unfähigkeiten der Nutzer, sondern auch im Design technischer Architekturen.Weblogs and complex designed discourse-platforms represent different types of E-Democracy. In contrast to the monolitic, top-down moderated discourse-platforms typical web 2.0 applications like weblogs are connected to the many-to-many communication structure of the internet. The democratic potencial of web 2.0 applications is based on the principles of self-organisation deriving from the early days of the internet. Web 2.0 applications become manifestations of the origin ideas and concepts of the cyberspace by design principles such as openess, simplicity, bottom up, user participation, consensus and non hierarchical organisation. Focusing on the interaction between software and users the dispute about the digital divide of society might take a different turn: Assuming that software rules the form of political debates, the web’s democratic potencials and risks are not only bound to abilities or inabilities of users but also to the design of technical architecture

Offene Standards und verteilte Anwendungen als Grundlage „verteilter Wissensarbeit“ (auch) im Open Government

Im Beitrag wird die Frage behandelt, inwieweit und in welcher Form offene Standards und verteilte Anwendungen als Grundlage einer „verteilten Wissensarbeit“ wirksam werden. Verteilte Wissensarbeit wiederum wird als substantielle Grundlage zur Beherrschung komplexer Herausforderungen und Problemlagen sowie als Voraussetzung für Innovationen und zur Schaffung von Mehrwert gefasst. Wir entwickeln unsere grundsätzliche Position wissenschaftstheoretisch und reflektieren sie an den aktuellen Zielen, Prozessen und Beispielen von Open Government, ohne sie darauf zu begrenze

Co-operative Development and Corporate Governance Structures in German Co-operatives: Problems and Perspectives

In Germany exist a large number of co-operatives that are engaged in a broad variety of business activities. Their organisational structure is determined by co-operative law and to a lesser degree by statutes or by-laws. As has been shown for German rural co-operatives by applying property rights theory the corporate governance structure as determined by law is formally still in existence, while it actually has been shifted in favour of the executive board. This has created an imbalance where on the one hand no longer any corporate governance is actually taking place while on the other hand members' interests may easily be neglected, because it is the executive board that determines the members' interests and also whether they have benefited from the cooperatives activities. In theory, suitable instruments to improve the corporate governance structure within such co-operative are the promotion plan and the promotion report as developed by Boettcher. However, for transaction cost reasons and due to the current attenuation of property rights, it is unlikely that these instruments will be implemented without outside pressure, e. g. through a change in cooperative law. A superior alternative to promotion plan and promotion report may be a combination of promotion task controlling and member oriented quality management. While such instruments would indeed improve members' ability to execute co-operative governance, managers' willingness to submit themselves to stronger governance may well be assumed to be very low. Taking into account the current distribution of property rights in big German co-operatives, managers will accept stronger governance structures only if some other incentives exist. An ongoing research project indicates that such incentives might exist in the realm of improved business opportunities due to better information about members' aims and needs. --

International law - a constitution for mankind? : an attempt at a re-appraisal with an analysis of constitutional principles

One of the current trends in international law scholarship is the question of which influences specific legal cultures have on the understanding of international law. This contribution will trace the conditions of a German perspective and analyse the debate against the background of positive law. We will try to assess what the debate adds to the general theory of international law, how it fits into demands of legitimacy of international governance, and whether it contributes to a sensible reconstruction of current law. Furthermore, we try to develop our own perspective that matches the system of international law and is plausible in terms of international legal theory. For that purpose, we will first take It is probably in this context that the contention has to be understood that the ongoing debate on the constitutionalisation of public international law is particularly European, if not German. Whether or not this is the case is difficult to investigate with a lawyer’s tools. However, the idea that international law is the constitution of mankind has found many adherents in German legal writings. This contribution will trace the conditions of a German perspective and analyse the debate against the background of positive law. We will try to assess what the debate adds to the general theory of international law, how it fits into demands of legitimacy of international governance, and whether it contributes to a sensible reconstruction of current law. Furthermore, we try to develop our own perspective that matches the system of international law and is plausible in terms of international legal theory. For that purpose, we will first take up the debate and find its place in the landscape of international legal theory. In this context, we try to shed light on the central concepts used or presupposed when constitutionalisation is discussed by German-speaking scholars (see below, section B). Furthermore, we will discuss structures in positive law which are used as arguments in the debate (section C). Finally, we will try to give an account of constitutionalisation in terms of both sources doctrine and legal theory (section D), before drawing conclusions from the discussion (section E)

Communities und Wissensmanagement: Wenn hohe Erwartungen und wenig Wissen zusammentreffen

The idea of communities is very popular in the current discussion on knowledge management in practice: Positive and emotional associations as well as high expectations, especially regarding communication and innovation, have resulted in the foundation of communities as informal groups of shared interests in many organizations. Compared to the community-euphoria, the empirical foundation of the concept can be characterized as unsatisfactory. It is not yet clear if communities content the proposed potential of creativity and innovation. It is also an open question to what extent such communities can develop and exist on the basis of self-organization claimed by the theoretical community-concept. This article tries to analyze the attractive power and chances of communities in detail and points to the critical aspects which can be understood as scientific tasks.Die Community-Idee hat in der praktischen Auseinandersetzung mit Wissensmanagement derzeit Hochkonjunktur: Positive und emotionsbetonte Assoziationen sowie hohe Erwartungen, insbesondere in Bezug auf Kommunikation und Innovation, haben dazu geführt, dass in vielen Organisationen Communities im Sinne von informellen Interessengemeinschaften gegründet werden. Im Vergleich dazu muss man die empirische Seite der Community-Euphorie als unbefriedigend bezeichnen. Ungeklärt ist nicht nur, ob etwa das angenommene Kreativitäts- und Innovationspotential von Communities praktisch tatsächlich gegeben ist. Offen ist auch die Frage, inwieweit derartige Gemeinschaften auch selbstorganisiert entstehen und existieren können, wie dies das theoretische Community-Konzept fordert. Der Beitrag möchte die Anziehungskraft und Chancen von Communities näher beleuchten und gleichzeitig auf die kritischen Aspekte aufmerksam machen, die man als Forschungsaufgaben verstehen kann