@article{SmieliauskasBewleyGronewoldetal.2016, author = {Smieliauskas, Wally and Bewley, Kathryn and Gronewold, Ulfert and Menzefricke, Ulrich}, title = {Misleading Forecasts in Accounting Estimates}, series = {Journal of business ethics}, volume = {152}, journal = {Journal of business ethics}, number = {2}, publisher = {Springer}, address = {Dordrecht}, issn = {0167-4544}, doi = {10.1007/s10551-016-3289-1}, pages = {437 -- 457}, year = {2016}, abstract = {The current financial reporting environment, with its increasing use of accounting estimates, including fair value estimates, suggests that unethical accounting estimates may be a growing concern. This paper provides explanations and empirical evidence for why some types of accounting estimates in financial reporting may promote a form of ethical blindness. These types of ethical blindness can have an escalating effect that corrupts not only an individual or organization but also the accounting profession and the public interest it serves. Ethical blindness in the standards of professional accountants may be a factor in the extent of misreporting, and may have taken on new urgency as a result of the proposals to change the conceptual framework for financial reporting using international standards. The social consequences for users of financial statements can be huge. The acquittal of former Nortel executives on fraud charges related to accounting manipulations is viewed by many as legitimizing accounting gamesmanship. This decision illustrates that the courts may not be the best place to deal with ethical reporting issues. The courts may be relied on for only the most egregious unethical conduct and, even then, the accounting profession is ill equipped to assist the legal system in prosecuting accounting fraud unless the standards have been clarified. We argue that the problem of unethical reporting should be addressed by the accounting profession itself, preferably as a key part of the conceptual framework that supports accounting and auditing standards, and the codes of ethical conduct that underpin the professionalism of accountants.}, language = {en} } @article{Ganghof2016, author = {Ganghof, Steffen}, title = {The Regime-Trilemma: On the Relationship between the Executive and Legislature in advanced Democracies}, series = {Politische Vierteljahresschrift : Zeitschrift der Deutschen Vereinigung f{\~A}¼r Politische Wissenschaft}, volume = {57}, journal = {Politische Vierteljahresschrift : Zeitschrift der Deutschen Vereinigung f{\~A}¼r Politische Wissenschaft}, publisher = {Nomos}, address = {Hannover}, issn = {0032-3470}, doi = {10.5771/0032-3470-2016-1-27}, pages = {27 -- +}, year = {2016}, abstract = {A comprehensive typology of basic executive formats is presented and linked to a discussion of tradeoffs in the design of executive-legislative relations. The focus is on the tradeoffs between three goals: (1) programmatic parties, (2) identifiable cabinets and (3) issue -specific legislative coalitions. To include semi-presidentialism into the typology in a logically consistent manner, a heretofore neglected executive format has to be defined, which is labelled semi-parliamentarism. Based on a discussion of Australian states, it is argued that semi-parliamentarism has the potential to mitigate the trilemma.}, language = {de} } @article{Seyfried2016, author = {Seyfried, Markus}, title = {Setting a fox to guard the henhouse? Determinants in elections for presidents of supreme audit institutions Evidence from the German federal states (1991-2011)}, series = {Managerial auditing journal}, volume = {31}, journal = {Managerial auditing journal}, publisher = {Emerald Group Publishing Limited}, address = {Bingley}, issn = {0268-6902}, doi = {10.1108/MAJ-03-2015-1168}, pages = {492 -- 511}, year = {2016}, abstract = {Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to provide evidence regarding the selection procedures for and characteristics of senior officials in supreme audit institutions (SIAs). Design/methodology/approach - This study follows a quantitative approach using original data collected for presidential elections of SIAs in the 16 federal states in Germany. A fractional logit model is calculated to test different theoretical assumptions in relation to structural, political and individual factors. Findings - The descriptive results confirm the findings of prior research that presidential candidates are elected with very high approval rates. The main determinants are the vote share of the ruling coalition and the executive experience of the presidential candidate. Research limitations/implications - This study focuses on 16 federal states in Germany, but an international comparative perspective covering subnational levels would further augment analysis through the variance of selection procedures and electoral outcomes. Social implications - Independence of auditors is a fundamental issue for the control of the executive, but it seems that there are inevitable trade-offs therein, such as between knowledge of the auditing objects or the politicization of the election process and the independence of the auditor. Originality/value - This study provides novel empirical insights into the election and selection procedures for senior SIA officials at the subnational level, and shows that the executive exerts strong, but functionally reasonable, influence on candidate selection.}, language = {en} } @article{SprinzdeMesquitaKallbekkenetal.2016, author = {Sprinz, Detlef F. and de Mesquita, Bruce Bueno and Kallbekken, Steffen and Stokman, Frans and Saelen, Hakon and Thomson, Robert}, title = {Predicting Paris: Multi-Method Approaches to Forecast the Outcomes of Global Climate Negotiations}, series = {Politics and Governance}, volume = {4}, journal = {Politics and Governance}, publisher = {Cogitatio Press}, address = {Lisbon}, issn = {2183-2463}, doi = {10.17645/pag.v4i3.654}, pages = {172 -- 187}, year = {2016}, abstract = {We examine the negotiations held under the auspices of the United Nations Framework Convention of Climate Change in Paris, December 2015. Prior to these negotiations, there was considerable uncertainty about whether an agreement would be reached, particularly given that the world's leaders failed to do so in the 2009 negotiations held in Copenhagen. Amid this uncertainty, we applied three different methods to predict the outcomes: an expert survey and two negotiation simulation models, namely the Exchange Model and the Predictioneer's Game. After the event, these predictions were assessed against the coded texts that were agreed in Paris. The evidence suggests that combining experts' predictions to reach a collective expert prediction makes for significantly more accurate predictions than individual experts' predictions. The differences in the performance between the two different negotiation simulation models were not statistically significant.}, language = {en} } @article{PossamaiTurnerRooseetal.2016, author = {Possamai, Adam and Turner, Bryan S. and Roose, Joshua M. and Dagistanli, Selda and Voyce, Malcolm}, title = {"Shari'a" in Cyberspace. A Case Study from Australia}, series = {Sociologica : Italian Journal of Sociology online}, volume = {63}, journal = {Sociologica : Italian Journal of Sociology online}, publisher = {Societ{\~A}  editrice il Mulino}, address = {Bologna}, issn = {1971-8853}, doi = {10.2383/83882}, pages = {143 -- 159}, year = {2016}, abstract = {New forms of communication and greater accessibility of Islamic texts on-line allow Muslims to shape their own religiosity, to become less dependent on established sources of authority, and thereby to become more aware of their own cultural diversity as a community. New practices of transnational Islam, and the growth of new concepts of Muslim identities currently emerging in the on-line community, are relatively free from immediate constraints. This article provides the result of a sociological analysis of three Internet sites in Sydney which deliver on-line fatwas. Even if cyberspace has allowed the Muslim world to be de-territorialised and provides a way for people to distance themselves from traditional communities if they wish, this research points out a variety of approaches, including one case which is aiming at re-localising an Australian Muslim system of values. This case highlights ways in which first generation Muslims are re-territorialising Shari'a in a specific western country.}, language = {en} } @article{Weinbach2016, author = {Weinbach, Christine}, title = {Limited Inclusion as the General Case: Ascriptive Person Categories in the Political System of the Functional Differentiated Society}, series = {Tutorials in Quantitative Methods for Psychology}, volume = {67}, journal = {Tutorials in Quantitative Methods for Psychology}, publisher = {University of Montreal, Department of Psychology}, address = {Baden-Baden}, issn = {0038-6073}, doi = {10.5771/0038-6073-2016-2-159}, pages = {159 -- +}, year = {2016}, abstract = {Der vorliegende Beitrag interessiert sich aus differenzierungstheoretischer Perspektive am bundesdeutschen Beispiel f{\"u}r die Funktion askriptiver Personenkategorien im Politiksystem der funktional differenzierten Gesellschaft. Den Ausgangspunkt bildet die Geldabh{\"a}ngigkeit von Organisationen, welche die limitierte Inklusion von Individuen in die lebenslaufrelevanten Funktionssysteme zum Normalfall macht. Der nationale Wohlfahrtsstaat reagiert darauf mit der Regulierung des Arbeitsmarktzugangs durch die askriptiven Personenkategorien nationale Zugeh{\"o}rigkeit und Geschlecht, und erzeugt so eigene Formen limitierter Inklusion. Diese Personenkategorien werden im europ{\"a}isierten Wohlfahrtsstaat durch die askriptive Personenkategorie des rationalen Akteurs mit individueller Agency, der sein Wollen in die Vertragslogiken des Arbeits marktes und des aktivierenden Sozialstaates stellt, ersetzt und der Arbeitsmarktzugang extensiviert. Bei allen Unterschieden zwischen dem nationalen und dem europ{\"a}isierten Wohlfahrtsstaat begreift der Beitrag askriptive Personenkategorien als normative Strukturen einer Ebene sekund{\"a}rer Ordnungsbildung, die sich zwischen Funktionssystem- und Organisationsebene schiebt und auf der Kategorien sozialer Ungleichheit im Wohlfahrtstaatsstaat produziert werden. The present article asks from the perspective of differentiation theory for the function of ascriptive person categories within the political system of the functionally differentiated society. For this purpose it takes the Federal German as a case study. The article starts with the fact of money dependence of organisations and that this leads to the generally limited inclusion of the individuals into the functional systems, which are life course relevant. The national welfare state refers to the limited inclusion and regulates excess to the labour market via the ascriptive person categories national affiliation and gender, and by this it produces own modes of limited inclusion. The Europeanised welfare state expands the excess to the labour market. Simultaneously it replaces the national person categories by the person category of the rational actor with individual agency who puts his or her own willingness into the contract logics of labour marked and activating welfare state. Despite all differences between the national and the Europeanised welfare state the article conceives ascriptive person categories as normative structures of a secondary order formation which is slot between the levels of functional and organisational systems. On this secondary order level categories of social inequality are reproduced.}, language = {de} } @article{deGuevara2016, author = {de Guevara, Berit Bliesemann}, title = {visits in zones of conflict and intervention}, series = {Journal of intervention and statebuilding}, volume = {10}, journal = {Journal of intervention and statebuilding}, publisher = {Soil Science Society of America}, address = {Abingdon}, issn = {1750-2977}, doi = {10.1080/17502977.2015.1137394}, pages = {56 -- 76}, year = {2016}, abstract = {This article explores the practice and political significance of politicians' journeys to conflict zones. It focuses on the German example, looking at field trips to theatres of international intervention as a way of first-hand knowledge in policymaking. Paying tribute to Lisa Smirl and her work on humanitarian spaces, objects and imaginaries and on liminality in aid worker biographies, two connected arguments are developed. First, through the exploration of the routinized practices of politicians' field trips the article shows how these journeys not only remain confined to the 'auxiliary space' of aid/intervention, but that it is furthermore a staged reality of this auxiliary space that most politicians experience on their journeys. The question is then asked, second, what politicians actually experience on their journeys and how their experiences relate to their policy knowledge about conflict and intervention. It is shown that political field trips enable sensory/affectual, liminoid and liminal experiences, which have functions such as authority accumulation, agenda setting, community building, and civilizing domestic politics, while at the same time reinforcing, in most cases, pre-existing conflict and intervention imaginaries.}, language = {en} } @article{Ganghof2016, author = {Ganghof, Steffen}, title = {Research Design in Political Science - Causal perspectives versus contrastive theory testing}, series = {Austrian journal of political science}, volume = {45}, journal = {Austrian journal of political science}, publisher = {{\~A}-sterreichische Gesellschaft f{\~A}¼r Politikwissenschaft}, address = {Wien}, issn = {2313-5433}, doi = {10.15203/ozp.1037.vol45iss1}, pages = {1 -- 12}, year = {2016}, abstract = {Die politikwissenschaftliche Literatur unterscheidet zwei Grundtypen von Forschungsdesigns: x- und y-zentriert. Dieser Beitrag argumentiert, dass ein „kontrastives" Forschungsdesign als dritter Grundtyp abgegrenzt werden sollte. Die drei Designs unterscheiden sich durch die Anzahl der betrachteten Theorien und dadurch, ob mehrere Theorien konkurrierend oder komplement{\"a}r sind. Die typologische Abgrenzung des kontrastiven Designs verdeutlicht auch die Vor- und Nachteile x- und y-zentrierter Designs. Anhand verschiedener Beispielstudien (experimentell und nicht-experimentell, quantitativ und qualitativ) werden die Charakteristika der drei Designs sowie ihre Kombinationsm{\"o}glichkeiten herausgearbeitet. Dar{\"u}ber hinaus wird das kontrastive Design als verbindendes Element zwischen den quantitativen und qualitativen Forschungs-„Kulturen" hervorgehoben. The political science literature distinguishes two basic types of research designs: x- and y-centered. The article argues for the distinction of a third basic type: the "contrastive" design. The three designs differ in the number of relevant theories and in whether they see theories as competing or complementary. The typological differentiation of the contrastive research design helps to clarify the pros and cons of x- and y-centered designs. The article uses exemplary studies (experimental and observational, quantitative and qualitative) to illustrate the characteristics of the three designs as well as the possibilities of combining them. The contrastive design also constitutes a common element of the quantitative and qualitative research, "cultures".}, language = {de} } @article{HustedtSeyfried2016, author = {Hustedt, Thurid and Seyfried, Markus}, title = {Co-ordination across internal organizational boundaries: how the EU Commission co-ordinates climate policies}, series = {Journal of European public policy}, volume = {23}, journal = {Journal of European public policy}, publisher = {Springer Publishing Company}, address = {Abingdon}, issn = {1350-1763}, doi = {10.1080/13501763.2015.1074605}, pages = {888 -- 905}, year = {2016}, abstract = {Through an analysis of climate policy-making in the European Commission (EU), this article argues that co-ordination in the Commission displays the same characteristics as the co-ordination across ministries in central governments, i.e., the properties of negative co-ordination. The article is based on a survey among Commission officials. Overall, the article reveals that a public administration perspective on the Commission proves invaluable to gain insights on how decisions are made at the European Union level. The article contributes to the emerging literature viewing the Commission as an ordinary bureaucracy - as opposed to a unique supranational organization.}, language = {en} } @article{Borgnaes2016, author = {Borgn{\"a}s, Kajsa}, title = {The Policy Influence of Sustainability Indicators: Examining Use and Influence of Indicators in German Sustainability Policy Making}, series = {German politics}, volume = {25}, journal = {German politics}, publisher = {Elsevier}, address = {Abingdon}, issn = {0964-4008}, doi = {10.1080/09644008.2016.1193160}, pages = {480 -- 499}, year = {2016}, abstract = {In 2002 Germany adopted an ambitious national sustainability strategy, covering all three sustainability spheres and circling around 21 key indicators. The strategy stands out because of its relative stability over five consecutive government constellations, its high status and increasingly coercive nature. This article analyses the strategy's role in the policy process, focusing on the use and influence of indicators as a central steering tool. Contrasting rationalist and constructivist perspectives on the role of knowledge in policy, two factors, namely the level of consensus about policy goals and the institutional setting of the indicators, are found to explain differences in use and influence both across indicators and over time. Moreover, the study argues that the indicators have been part of a continuous process of 'structuring' in which conceptual and instrumental use together help structure the sustainability challenge in such a way that it becomes more manageable for government policy.}, language = {en} }