Anatomie des Unstaats: Alfons Söllner und Michael Wildt bringen eine Neuausgabe von Franz Neumanns "Behemoth" heraus

Franz L. Neumann: Behemoth: Struktur und Praxis des Nationalsozialismus 1933-1944. Hamburg: Europäische Verlagsanstalt 2018. 978-3-86393-048-

Perspektiven Kritischer Demokratietheorie

The following article calls for Critical Tbeory of Democrcy to be geared towards theoretical aspects of institutions. This call does not only flow from critically analysing the deficits involved in the Critical Theory's tradition ofprimarily diagnosing cultures; rather, it is made in view ofthe Theory of Democracy's normative aspects and aspects relating to analysing power. Dilemmas as regards the theory of power, the argument runs, may be resolved by means of the Games Theory. The Theory of Democracy's normative dimension raises complex requirements tobe outlined here

Vom Verschwinden bedroht? Politische Theorie und Ideengeschichte in der curricularen Reformfalle

'Der Artikel wertet den Status der Subdisziplin 'Politische Theorie und Ideengeschichte' in den neuen Bachelor- und Masterprogrammen an bundesdeutschen Hochschulen aus. Das Ergebnis lautet, dass der Teilbereich in eine Bedrängnis geraten ist, die mit dem Qualifizierungsgrad des Studiums ansteigt. Im letzten Teil des Artikels werden Handlungsoptionen diskutiert, die der Subdisziplin wieder einen stärkeren Stellenwert zukommen lassen.' (Autorenreferat)'The article measures the status of the subfield 'Political Theory and History of Political Thought' in the curricula of current BA- and MA-programmes in German Political Science. The empirical data indicate that the subfield is under heavy pressure within the discipline. The last section of the article discusses strategies in order to strengthen the role of the subfield.' (author's abstract)

ICTs and ethical consumption: the political and market futures of fair trade

This paper addresses the relationship between information and communication technologies (ICTs) and ethical consumption as part of a cause for the insurance of a sustainable future. It homes in on fair trade as an ethical market, politically progressive cause and, crucially, form of participation where citizens can engage in the formation of an alternative future and the broader issue of food security. An three-dimensional analysis of agencies and uses of digital structures and content is informed by a case study approach, as well as interviews with fair trade activists, and ethically consuming citizens in the British metropolis. Through this, the argument which primarily rises distinguishes between the dimensions of durability (in terms of time and duration) and sustainability (in terms of time, duration and environmental concerns) of engagement in fair trade as a form of participation. Ethical consumption, then, is part of a durable market which has developed despite general market fluctuation, but is still very much bound in traditional physical economic spaces; in other words, ethical consumption has been integrated in the business as usual paradigm. Additionally, ICTs have not challenged the way in which information about ethical consumption is communicated or the spaces in which it is conducted. ICTs have been employed by fair trade activists, but they have not contributed to the development of fair trade as a political or economic project. Over a period of over five decades since the inception of the cause, their use has not significantly altered the way in which citizens engage with fair trade in the alternative or mainstream marketplace

Lottocracy and deliberative accountability

The comment on Cristina Lafont’s book includes two main points. (1) Minipublics do not necessarily stand in opposition to political theories that justify electoral democracy and participatory conceptions of deliberative democracy. In contrast to such a view, I argue that minipublics should be combined with electoral and participatory forms of democracy. (2) A deliberative concept of accountability may overcome some of the shortcomings of the traditional, voluntaristic concepts of democratic accountability