Die Entwicklung kompetitiver Wahlsysteme in Mittel- und Osteuropa: post-sozialistische Entstehungsbedingungen und fallspezifische Reformkontexte

'Nach dem demokratischen Systemwechsel von 1989/ 90 führten die meisten mittel- und osteuropäischen Staaten anlässlich ihrer ersten freien Parlamentswahlen ('Gründungswahlen') nicht nur neue Wahlsysteme ein, sondern reformierten sie auch danach ungewöhnlich häufig. Der folgende Beitrag analysiert diesen institutionellen Entwicklungsprozess systematisch-vergleichend für sechs post-sozialistische Staaten (Russland, Ukraine, Polen, Ungarn, Slowakei und Tschechien). Auf Basis theoretischer Überlegungen zur Reform politischer Institutionen bestätigt sich dabei die These von Nohlen/ Kasapovic (1996), dass die Gründungswahlsysteme wesentlich vom Systemwechseltypus geprägt wurden - allerdings nur dort, wo die Entscheidung über das Wahlsystem in die unmittelbare Transitionsphase fiel. Spätere Wahlsystemreformen sind nicht mehr durch den Demokratisierungsmodus, sondern durch kontextspezifische Variablenkonstellationen zu erklären.' (Autorenreferat)'The democratic regime change of 1989/ 90 saw most Central and East European states introducing new electoral systems for their founding elections. Until today, these electoral systems underwent numerous reforms, a phenomenon unprecedented in interregional perspective. This paper analyses the evolution of post-socialist electoral systems for six cases (Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic). Following theoretical considerations on institutional reform, the comparative inquiry reveals that founding electoral systems in Central and Eastern Europe were mainly shaped by the type of regime change (Nohlen/ Kasapovic 1996) - but only in those states where the decision on the electoral system was made during the entire transition period. At later stages, changes of electoral systems cannot be explained by the democratisation mode, but by context-specific combinations of reform triggers, institutional structures and key actors' self-interests.' (author's abstract

BlueSky: Combining Task Planning and Activity-Centric Access Control for Assistive Humanoid Robots

In the not too distant future, assistive humanoid robots will provide versatile assistance for coping with everyday life. In their interactions with humans, not only safety, but also security and privacy issues need to be considered. In this Blue Sky paper, we therefore argue that it is time to bring task planning and execution as a well-established field of robotics with access and usage control in the field of security and privacy closer together. In particular, the recently proposed activity-based view on access and usage control provides a promising approach to bridge the gap between these two perspectives. We argue that humanoid robots provide for specific challenges due to their task-universality and their use in both, private and public spaces. Furthermore, they are socially connected to various parties and require policy creation at runtime due to learning. We contribute first attempts on the architecture and enforcement layer as well as on joint modeling, and discuss challenges and a research roadmap also for the policy and objectives layer. We conclude that the underlying combination of decentralized systems\u27 and smart environments\u27 research aspects provides for a rich source of challenges that need to be addressed on the road to deployment

External voting: legal framework and overview of electoral legis-lation.

En un orden mundial con una migración creciente, el voto en el extranjero ha cobrado expecial relevancia. ¿Cómo es posible que gente que vive fuera de su país de origen vea protegidos y respetados sus derechos políticos? Algunos han propuesto que el derecho a votar en las elecciones nacionales debe ser reconocido a los ciudadanos que viven fuera de su país de origen. Sin embargo, de acuerdo con los autores del presente ensayo, la noción de "voto en el extranjero" no puede aceptarse como obvia ni deja de ofrecer ciertos problemas. Después de afirmar esto, los autores discuten una serie de temas en torno al voto en el extranjero: el problema de la representación política de los ciudadanos que viven fuera de su país; el problema de la revision judicial de las elecciones realizadas en un territorio extranjero; y el problema de la trans-parencia de los procedimientos relativos al voto en el extranjero. Finalmente, los autores concluyen que no puede encontrarse una solución general a estos problemas, sino que las respuestas deben emerger del contexto propio de cada país

Beyond citizenship and residence? Exploring the extension of voting rights in the age of globalization

The introductory article to the special issue discusses how the extension of voting rights beyond citizenship (that is, to non-national immigrants) and residence (that is, to expatriates) can be interpreted in the light of democratization processes in both Western countries and in developing regions. It does so by inserting the globalization-specific extension of voting rights to immigrants and expatriates within the long-term series of historical waves of democratization. Does the current extension enhance democracy by granting de facto disenfranchised immigrants and emigrants political rights or does it jeopardize the very functioning of democracy by undermining its legitimacy through the removal of territorial and national boundaries? The article offers a synthesis of the findings of the volume's contributions in a broad comparative perspective covering both alien and external voting rights in Europe, sub-Saharan Africa, and Latin America. It shows that reforms toward more expansive electorates vary considerably and that their effects on the inclusion of migrants largely depend on the specific regulations and the socio-political context in which they operate