National Minorities, Nationalizing States, and External National Homelands in the New Europe. Notes toward a Relational Analysis. Institute of Advanced Studies Political Science Series, 11 December 1993

Nationalism remains central to politics in and among the new nation-states. Far from »solving« the region's national question, the most recent reconfiguration of political space – the replacement of the Soviet Union, Yugoslavia, and Czechoslovakia by some twenty would-be nation-states – only recast it in a new form. It is this new phase and form of the national question that I explore in this paper. I begin by outlining a particular relational configuration – the triadic relational nexus between national minorities, nationalizing states, and external national homelands – that is central to the national question in post-Soviet Eurasia. In the second, and most substantial, section of the paper, I argue that each of the »elements« in this relational nexus – minority, nationalizing state, and homeland – should itself be understood in dynamic and relational terms, not as a fixed, given, or analytically irreducible entity but as a field of differentiated positions and an arena of struggles among competing »stances.« In a brief concluding section, I return to the relational nexus as a whole, underscoring the dynamically interactive quality of the triadic interplay

“… but some are more equal than others“, no more! Decolonizing German Political Sciences

Postkoloniale Politikwissenschaft, herausgegeben von Aram Ziai, Professor für Entwicklungspolitik und Postkoloniale Studien der Universität Kassel, ist das erste Werk, welches eine große Bandbreite von innovativen postkolonialen Interventionen in der Disziplin der Deutschen Politikwissenschaft systematisch vorstellt. Neben der programmatischen Perspektive stellt der Sammelband verschiedene theoretische und empirische Forschungszugänge deutschsprachiger postkolonialer Wissenschaftler_innen vor. Nach postkolonialen Interventionen in der deutschsprachigen Soziologie, Geschichts- und Kulturwissenschaft, führt dieser Band in die dringliche Aufgabe ein, auch die deutsche Politikwissenschaft zu dekolonisieren.The volume “Postcolonial Political Science”, edited by Aram Ziai, Professor for Development and Postcolonial Studies at the University of Kassel, is the first collection to assemble a huge variety of innovative postcolonial interventions in the discipline of German political sciences. Besides its programmatic perspective, theoretical and empirical research is well-balanced in this collection of essays by German-speaking postcolonial scholars. Following postcolonial interventions in German sociology, history, and cultural sciences, this edition now introduces the task of decolonizing German political sciences

The First EU Social Partner Agreement in Practice: Parental Leave in the 15 Member States. IHS Political Science Series: 2004, No. 96

In this paper, we analyze the impact of one specific EU social policy measure, the Parental Leave Directive. This Directive is based on the first Euro-collective agreement, concluded in November 1995 by the ETUC, UNICE and CEEP. Contrary to the rather sceptical assessments presented by many observers at the time of its adoption, our in-depth analysis of the Directive's implementation in all 15 member states reveals rather far-reaching effects. The Directive induced significant policy reforms in the majority of member states and thus facilitated the reconciliation of work and family life for many working parents. These effects were not only brought about by compliance with the compulsory minimum standards of the Directive, but also by a considerable number of voluntary reforms. We argue that domestic party politics and processes of policy learning may explain the occurrence of these "unforced" changes, which have hitherto received little attention by Europeanisation scholars

Unraveling the Central State, But How? Types of Multi-Level Governance. IHS Political Science Series: 2003, No. 87

The reallocation of authority upwards, downwards, and sideways from central states has drawn attention from a growing number of scholars in political science. Yet beyond agreement that governance has become (and should be) multi-level, there is no consensus about how it should be organized. This article draws on several literatures to distinguish two types of multi-level governance. One type conceives of dispersion of authority to general-purpose, non-intersecting, and durable jurisdictions. A second type of governance conceives of task-specific, intersecting, and flexible jurisdictions. We conclude by specifying the virtues of each type of governance

The Two Futures of Governing: Decentering and Recentering Processes in Governing. IHS Political Science Series Paper No. 114, January 2008

Reforms of the public sector have helped create a more efficient and effective public sector, but also have created a number of problems. Both, the New Public Management and “governance” reforms have contributed to the contemporary problems in governing. These problems have been political to a great extent, reflecting the tendency to emphasize administrative rather than democratic values. Governments have begun to react to the real and perceived problems within the public sector by developing a number of “meta-governance” instruments that can help steer public organizations but which involve less direct command and control. This paper addresses the contemporary governance tasks of restoring political direction and policy coherence while at the same supporting the autonomy of public organizations, and the involvement of policy networks, in governing

Europe's governance in crises: politicisation and adaptation

Sack D. Europe's governance in crises: politicisation and adaptation. Working Paper Series ‘Comparative Governance’ . Vol 4. Bielefeld: Universität Bielefeld. Arbeitsgebiet Vergleichende Politikwissenschaft; 2020

Pension Fund Capitalism and Financial Crisis. IHS Political Science Series 126, December 2011

Basic public pension schemes and cut backs in earnings-related public pensions led to an increasing role of supplementary pensions such as pension funds for old-age incomes. In addition to demographic changes that challenge public pensions, private pensions face financial market risks. To what extent are the scope of pension fund capitalism and the impact of financial crises on pension funds related to different institutional arrangements? Given that different production regimes reflect different pension systems, we expect systematic diversities with regard to the public-private pension mix and the specific design of supplementary pensions. These varieties should be mirrored in different forms of vulnerability of pension funds to financial market crises. We hypothesize a higher scope of pension fund capitalism and vulnerability to financial market crises in countries with predominant market-based coordination mechanisms and short term strategies on financial markets (i.e. Liberal Market Economies)

The EU Party System after Eastern Enlargement

From 1953 on, a party system of the European Union has been build up with, at the end,\ud some 6 or 7 distinct and more or less cohesive parties acting in parliament and beyond. It\ud has been said that this party system was “ready for power” during the 5th legislature of the\ud directly elected European Parliament. In this article we ask whether and how Eastern\ud enlargement has changed this state of affairs. The result of the empirical analysis is\ud remarkably ambivalent: first, Eastern enlargement has increased the proportion of\ud “homeless” MEPs, i.e. the non-aligned, and has at the same time added to the strength of\ud the conservative majority of the house. Second, it did not significantly affect the format of the\ud party system nor the stature of its political groups, neither their distinctiveness nor their\ud cohesiveness. And third, the parties from the new Eastern member countries are not yet very\ud well “rooted” in their national electorates. This is why the diagnosis of this early examination\ud has to remain somewhat inconclusive – probably for some years to come

Much Ado About Nothing? Comitology as a Feature of EU Policy Implementation and its Effects on the Democratic Arena. IHS Political Science Series: 2001, No. 78

The previously neglected phenomenon of governance by committees has recently received increasing attention in the academic literature. This paper focuses on the consequences of the arrangements prevailing in the committees active in the implementing phase of EU-legislation on the practice of democracy and legitimacy. The so-called "comitology committees" can be seen as a good example of the tension between input- and output-based sources of legitimacy. On the one hand the EP has demanded its increased involvement in this system ever since these committees were established. On the other hand (preliminary) studies have shown that Members of the European Parliament seem to be overwhelmed with the scrutiny or even the filing of draft implementing measures. This gives rise to the question of increasing the legitimacy of committee work and at the same time preserving the "efficiency" of this (presumably) cooperative form of decision making. This phenomenon is illustrated by means of a case study of committees active in the field of health and consumer protection

Extreme Right and Populism: A Frame Analysis of Extreme Right Wing Discourses in Italy and Germany. IHS Political Science Series No. 121, July 2010

This paper addresses the interactions between the extreme right and populism, looking at right wing discourses in Italy and Germany, focusing on different types of extreme right organizations (political parties, violent subcultural/young right wing groups, and political movements), and adopting a social movement perspective. Through a frame analysis conducted on several types of organizational documents (newspapers, websites, online guest books and forums, and other forms of publications), covering a period from 2000-2006, for a total of 4000 frames, it explores empirically the aspect of the conceptualization of the populism by the extreme right, showing the bridging of the appeal to the people with some traditional frames of the extreme right, such as nativism and authoritarianism, and stressing how the central populist frames (the people versus the elite) are linked to the extreme right definition of the 'us' and the 'them', when developing diagnoses, prognoses and motivations to action. A political opportunity and discursive approach will be useful in explaining the different configurations of populist frames depending on country and organizational type