Estimating the position of the European Union: a tool for macro-quantitative studies

This paper develops an index for estimating the position of the European Union in various policy fields and ideological dimensions. The index is designed for macro-comparative studies, which currently mainly use a dummy variable as a proxy for the impact of the EU on domestic politics, policies and outcomes. The index assesses the position of each European institution (European Council, Council of Ministers, Commission, and European Parliament) and takes the frequently changing decision-making rules between these institutions into account. Based on an actor-centered approach the index links policy preferences of actors with formal and informal decision-making rules. The index thereby appraises the impact of the EU on its member states in greater detail and is therefore suitable for analyses of most urgent research questions concerning the relationship between the EU and its member states. Furthermore, the index allows a calculation of the positional and ideological misfits between the EU and each individual member state on an annual basis. Questions about an ideological bias of the EU or problems of compliance can thus be analyzed with greater precision than before. To illustrate our index we use data on the left-right dimension, which has proven to be highly relevant in macro-quantitative studies. The data is available for quarterly and annual longitudinal analyses from 1966 to 2012

A Tool for Macro-Quantitative Studies

This paper develops an index for estimating the position of the European Union in various policy fields and ideological dimensions. The index is designed for macro-comparative studies, which currently mainly use a dummy variable as a proxy for the impact of the EU on domestic politics, policies and outcomes. The index assesses the position of each European institution (European Council, Council of Ministers, Commission, and European Parliament) and takes the frequently changing decision-making rules between these institutions into account. Based on an actor-centered approach the index links policy preferences of actors with formal and informal decision-making rules. The index thereby appraises the impact of the EU on its member states in greater detail and is therefore suitable for analyses of most urgent research questions concerning the relationship between the EU and its member states. Furthermore, the index allows a calculation of the positional and ideological misfits between the EU and each individual member state on an annual basis. Questions about an ideological bias of the EU or problems of compliance can thus be analyzed with greater precision than before. To illustrate our index we use data on the left-right dimension, which has proven to be highly relevant in macro-quantitative studies. The data is available for quarterly and annual longitudinal analyses from 1966 to 2012

Attitudinal and socio-structural determinants of cervical cancer screening and HPV vaccination uptake: a quantitative multivariate analysis

Aim: The introduction of the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine enables for the first time in the history of cancer prevention the possibility of combating the major cause of a cancer even before its onset. The secondary prevention measure of cervical cancer screening has thus been complemented by a primary prevention measure. The aim of this study is to analyse the determinants of uptake of preventive measures against cervical cancer as a basis for comparing the determinants of screening attendance with those of HPV vaccination attendance. Subject and methods: A population-based representative survey comprising 760 randomly selected women aged 14 to 65 was performed in the German federal state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. Prevention behaviour, attitudes towards cervical cancer screening and HPV vaccination, and knowledge about cervical cancer and HPV were investigated by means of a structured questionnaire. Descriptive analyses and multivariate logistic regression analyses were conducted to identify the determinants of screening and HPV vaccine uptake. Results: Attendance both at screening and at HPV vaccination was best predicted by attitudinal factors. Positive connotations of cancer prevention measures and utility expectations, fear of cancer and high subjective risk perception were conducive to attendance at screening and HPV vaccination. Screening attendance was less regular among women of lower socioeconomic status. In contrast, HPV vaccination uptake was higher for young women with lower educational attainment and lower social class. Knowledge did not impact prevention behaviour significantly. There is no trade-off between screening and vaccination attendance; the vast majority of respondents was aware of the necessity of regular screening attendance even when vaccinated against HPV. Conclusions: Uptake rates for existing primary and secondary prevention measures against cervical cancer can be enhanced by fostering perceptions of utility and positive connotations of regular screening and becoming vaccinated against HPV. Elderly women in particular should be encouraged to attend screening by means of a recall system. Given the low overall level of knowledge about cervical cancer and its risk factors, there is a need for education about the necessity and utility of prevention to reach women of all social classes

New politics in trade unions : an organisation theoretical analysis of the debate on nuclear energy in Swedish and German trade unions

Defence date: 24 September 1991Examining Board: Prof. Gösta Esping-Andersen (EUI, Supervisor) ; Prof. Claus Offe (Universität Bremen, co-supervisor) ; Dr. Ferdinand Müller-Rommel (Universität Lüneburg) ; Prof. Olof Petersson (University of Uppsala) ; Prof. Alessandro Pizzorno (EUI)First made available on 14 February 2019The institutionalization of ecological attitudes in highly industrialized societies is the main interest of this study. Analyses of national politics often underestimates the competing and partially latent interests which are voiced by different political pressure groups. Therefore, I am interested in the response of the workers' movement to the ecological challenge. Although the labor movement does not support the cruder forms of ecologism such as no-growth claims, of all established political actors it is the most open to these demands. This is so because the ecological politics offers an utopia for a modern society. The labor movement has also the aspiration of being a socially progressive force of society that aims for social change. Most directly, the left-wing parties have to compete with other parties that attract the post-material electorate. However, the policy and strategy of workingclass parties are not independent of trade union policy. It is self-evident that politicians of social democratic parties consult trade unions in order to formulate their political goals. But also on the national policy level, unions are often consulted in order to obtain a broad alliance for some political decisions. All these examples should illustrate that trade union policy and standpoints concerning the development of society are important for the better understanding of the political outcomes of society. Yet traditional union policy - and also trade union research - tends very much to generally ignore politics: "Unions are involved in a major way in a very significant activity - the political life of the country - and yet there is considerable evidence that they do not take that activity very seriously"

New politics in trade unions : applying organizational theory to the ecological discourse on nuclear energy in Sweden and Germany

This work analyzes the impact of new political ideologies on trade unions in Sweden and Germany. Referring to modern organization theory, and by means of a quantitative content analysis, the author demonstrates the continuity and changes of standpoint of 19 individual trade unions.Published version of EUI PhD thesis, 199

Globalization as : The Missing Link in the Analysis of Diffusion Patterns in Welfare State Development

Most macro cross-national studies in political science that analyze the impact of globalization on domestic policies do not sufficiently consider the methodological consequences of diffusion processes, or Galton s problem, as it is often referred to. I argue that globalization is a form of diffusion. Therefore it requires a shift from an exclusively functional analysis, which dominates in almost all established comparative studies in the field, to a diffusional analysis. I assume that globalization leads to a shift in focus on the part of political actors from domestic to international issues. I test this hypothesis by examining social expenditure rates of sixteen highly developed welfare states. The results indicate that globalization has become a highly influential factor since the late 1980s in contrast to the years before. In addition to the actual results presented here, the methodological approach of analyzing globalization as diffusion is relevant to other areas of comparative and international politics and may be a tool in future research.The results of this article are based on a research project, Environmental Problems as a Global Phenomenon, which is supported by the German Research Society (DFG; JA 638 7). I wish to thank my research assistants Katrin Daedlow and Bertram Welker for supporting me in data collection and analysis. For constructive comments on different versions of the manuscript, I thank Reinhard Wolf, Kerstin Martens, Susanne Pickel, Kati Kuitto, and above all Elizabeth Zelljadt, two anonymous referees, and the editor of this journal. Most of the revision of this article was written while I visited the Department of Political Science at UCLA. I thank George Tsebelis and James Honaker for comments and advice and Michael Lofchie for his hospitality. I also received invaluable support from Heino von Meyer and Herbert Pfeiffer from the OECD Berlin Centre. Finally I would also like to thank Michael Z rn, who motivated me with his statement that comparative country studies might become obsolete in times of globalization. Without this provocation, this article would not have been written.

Trade Unions and New Politics: A Quantitative Content Analysis of the Minutes of German and Swedisch Trade Union Congresses

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