TY - GEN A1 - Heucher, Angela T1 - Evolving order? BT - Inter-organizational relations in the organizational field of food security governance in Côte d’Ivoire T2 - Postprints der Universität Potsdam Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaftliche Reihe N2 - Global food security governance is fraught with fragmentation, overlap and complexity. While calls for coordination and coherence abound, establishing an inter-organizational order at this level seems to remain difficult. While the emphasis in the literature has so far been on the global level, we know less about dynamics of inter-organizational relations in food security governance at the country level, and empirical studies are lacking. It is this research gap the article seeks to address by posing the following research question: In how far does inter-organizational order develop in the organizational field of food security governance at the country level? Theoretically and conceptually, the article draws on sociological institutionalism, and on work on inter-organizational relations. Empirically, the article conducts an exploratory case study of the organizational field of food security governance in Côte d’Ivoire, building on a qualitative content analysis of organizational documents covering a period from 2003 to 2016 and semi-structured interviews with staff of international organizations from 2016. The article demonstrates that not all of the developments attributed to food security governance at the global level play out in the same way at the country level. Rather, in the case of Côte d’Ivoire there are signs for a certain degree of coherence between IOs in the field of food security governance and even for an – albeit limited – division of labour. However, this only holds for specific dimensions of the inter-organizational order and appears to be subject to continuous contestation and reinterpretation under the surface. T3 - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaftliche Reihe - 110 KW - inter-organizational relations KW - international organizations KW - organizational fields KW - inter-organizational order KW - food security governance Y1 - 2019 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-433086 SN - 1867-5808 IS - 110 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Ganghof, Steffen T1 - Designing Democratic Constitutions BT - The Search for Optimality T2 - Postprints der Universität Potsdam : Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaftliche Reihe N2 - This article analyses salient trade-offs in the design of democracy. It grounds this analysis in a distinction between two basic models of democracy: simple and complex majoritarianism. These models differ not only in their electoral and party systems, but also in the style of coalition-building. Simple majoritarianism concentrates executive power in a single majority party; complex majoritarianism envisions the formation of shifting, issue-specific coalitions among multiple parties whose programs differ across multiple conflict dimensions. The latter pattern of coalition formation is very difficult to create and sustain under pure parliamentary government. A separation of powers between executive and legislature can facilitate such a pattern, while also achieving central goals of simple majoritarianism: identifiable cabinet alternatives before the election and stable cabinets afterward. The separation of powers can thus balance simple and complex majoritarianism in ways that are unavailable under parliamentarism. The article also compares the presidential and semi-parliamentary versions of the separation of powers. It argues that the latter has important advantages, e.g., when it comes to resolving inter-branch deadlock, as it avoids the concentration of executive power in a single human being. T3 - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaftliche Reihe - 120 KW - electoral systems KW - parliamentary government KW - presidential government KW - semi-parliamentary government Y1 - 2020 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-445408 SN - 1867-5808 IS - 120 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Ganghof, Steffen A1 - Eppner, Sebastian A1 - Stecker, Christian A1 - Heeß, Katja A1 - Schukraft, Stefan T1 - Do minority cabinets govern more flexibly and inclusively? BT - evidence from Germany T2 - Postprints der Universität Potsdam Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaftliche Reihe N2 - A widespread view in political science is that minority cabinets govern more flexibly and inclusively, more in line with a median-oriented and 'consensual' vision of democracy. Yet there is only little empirical evidence for it. We study legislative coalition-building in the German state of North-Rhine-Westphalia, which was ruled by a minority government between 2010 and 2012. We compare the inclusiveness of legislative coalitions under minority and majority cabinets, based on 1028 laws passed in the 1985–2017 period, and analyze in detail the flexibility of legislative coalition formation under the minority government. Both quantitative analyses are complemented with brief case studies of specific legislation. We find, first, that the minority cabinet did not rule more inclusively. Second, the minority cabinet’s legislative flexibility was fairly limited; to the extent that it existed, it follows a pattern that cannot be explained on the basis of the standard spatial model with policy-seeking parties. T3 - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaftliche Reihe - 114 KW - Australian bicameralism KW - pledge fulfillment KW - majority formation KW - veto players KW - patterns KW - coalitions KW - consensus KW - democracy KW - parties KW - policy Y1 - 2019 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-434175 SN - 1867-5808 IS - 114 SP - 541 EP - 561 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Scianna, Bastian Matteo T1 - A predisposition to brutality? BT - german practices against civilians and francs-tireurs during the Franco-Prussian war 1870–1871 and their relevance for the German ‘military Sonderweg’ debate T2 - Postprints der Universität Potsdam Philosophische Reihe N2 - The German Sonderweg thesis has been discarded in most research fields. Yet in regards to the military, things differ: all conflicts before the Second World War are interpreted as prelude to the war of extermination between 1939–1945. This article specifically looks at the Franco-Prussian War 1870–71 and German behaviour vis-à-vis regular combatants, civilians and irregular guerrilla fighters, the so-called francs-tireurs. The author argues that the counter-measures were not exceptional for nineteenth century warfare and also shows how selective reading of the existing secondary literature has distorted our view on the war. T3 - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Philosophische Reihe - 165 KW - francs-tireurs KW - levee en masse KW - myth of Franktireurkrieg KW - Franco-Prussian War KW - Geneva convention of 1864 KW - Landwehr KW - siege of Paris 1870 Y1 - 2019 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-434218 SN - 1866-8380 IS - 165 SP - 968 EP - 993 ER - TY - THES A1 - Nasery, Mustafa T1 - The success and failure of civil service reforms in Afghanistan T1 - Erfolg und Misserfolg der Reformen im öffentlichen Dienst Afghanistans BT - a critical study of reforms in a fragile and conflict-affected state BT - eine kritische Studie der Reformen in einem fragilen und konfliktbeladenen Staat N2 - The Government will create a motivated, merit-based, performance-driven, and professional civil service that is resistant to temptations of corruption and which provides efficient, effective and transparent public services that do not force customers to pay bribes. — (GoIRA, 2006, p. 106) We were in a black hole! We had an empty glass and had nothing from our side to fill it with! Thus, we accepted anything anybody offered; that is how our glass was filled; that is how we reformed our civil service. — (Former Advisor to IARCSC, personal communication, August 2015) How and under what conditions were the post-Taleban Civil Service Reforms of Afghanistan initiated? What were the main components of the reforms? What were their objectives and to which extent were they achieved? Who were the leading domestic and foreign actors involved in the process? Finally, what specific factors influenced the success and failure Afghanistan’s Civil Service Reforms since 2002? Guided by such fundamental questions, this research studies the wicked process of reforming the Afghan civil service in an environment where a variety of contextual, programmatic, and external factors affected the design and implementation of reforms that were entirely funded and technically assisted by the international community. Focusing on the core components of reforms—recruitment, remuneration, and appraisal of civil servants—the qualitative study provides a detailed picture of the pre-reform civil service and its major human resources developments in the past. Following discussions on the content and purposes of the main reform programs, it will then analyze the extent of changes in policies and practices by examining the outputs and effects of these reforms. Moreover, the study defines the specific factors that led the reforms toward a situation where most of the intended objectives remain unachieved. Doing so, it explores and explains how an overwhelming influence of international actors with conflicting interests, large-scale corruption, political interference, networks of patronage, institutionalized nepotism, culturally accepted cronyism and widespread ethnic favoritism created a very complex environment and prevented the reforms from transforming Afghanistan’s patrimonial civil service into a professional civil service, which is driven by performance and merit. N2 - Die Regierung wird einen motivierten, leistungsbasierten, leistungsorientierten und professionellen öffentlichen Dienst schaffen, der den Versuchungen der Korruption widersteht und effiziente, effektive und transparente öffentliche Dienstlesitungen anbietet, die Kundinnen und Kunden nicht dazu zwingt, Bestechungsgelder zu zahlen. — (GoIRA, 2006, p. 106) Wir waren in einem schwarzen Loch! Wir hatten ein leeres Glas und unsererseits nichts, um es zu füllen! Deshalb haben wir alles angenommen, was uns jemand anbot; so wurde unser Glas gefüllt; so haben wir unseren öffentlichen Dienst reformiert. — (Früherer Berater der IARCSC, persönliches Interview, August 2015) Wie und unter welchen Umständen wurden die Reformen des öffentlichen Dienstes in Afghanistan nach Ende der Taliban Zeit initiiert? Was waren die Ziele der Reformen und in welchem Maß wurden sie erreicht? Wer waren die führenden in- und ausländischen Akteure, die am Prozess beteiligt waren? Welche spezifischen Faktoren haben den Erfolg und Misserfolg der Reform des öffentlichen Dienstes Afghanistans seit 2002 beeinflusst? Diesen grundlegenden Fragen folgend, zeichnet diese Forschungsarbeit den verhängnisvollen Prozess der Reform des afghanischen öffentlichen Dienstes in einem Umfeld nach, in dem eine Vielzahl kontextueller, programmatischer und externer Faktoren die Ausgestaltung und Umsetzung der Reformen beeinflussten, die ausschließlich von internationalen Gemeinschaft finanziert und technisch unterstützt wurden. Die qualitative Untersuchung konzentriert sich auf drei Komponenten der Reform – Einstellung, Vergütung und Bewertung der Beamtinnen und Beamten – und liefert ein detailliertes Bild über den öffentlichen Dienst vor der Reform und der Hauptentwicklungen im Personalwesen in der Vergangenheit. Nach einer Diskussion über Inhalt und Zweck der wichtigsten Reformprogramme, zeigt die Studie das Ausmaß der Veränderungen in Politik und Praxis auf, indem sie die Ergebnisse und Auswirkungen der Reformen untersucht. Darüber hinaus definiert die Studie spezifische Faktoren, die dazu geführt haben, dass die meisten der angestrebten Reformziele nicht erreicht wurden. Dabei untersucht und erklärt sie, wie ein überwältigender Einfluss der internationalen Akteure mit widersprüchlichen Interessen zusammenwirkte mit großangelegter Korruption, politischer Einflussnahme, Netzwerken von Klientelismus, institutionalisiertem Nepotismus, kulturell akzeptierter Vetternwirtschaft und weit verbreiteter ethnischer Patronage. Dieses sehr komplexe Umfeld verhinderte grundlegende Reformen und die Transformation eines patrimonialen öffentlichen Dienstes in einen professionellen, leistungsorientierten öffentlichen Dienst in Afghanistan. KW - public administration KW - civil service reform KW - public administration reform KW - fragile and conflict-affected states KW - governance KW - international cooperation KW - Verwaltung KW - Reform des Öffentlichen Dienstes KW - Verwaltungsreform KW - fragile und konfliktbeladene Staaten KW - Governance KW - internationale Zusammenarbeit Y1 - 2019 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-444738 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Guske, Anna-Lena A1 - Jacob, Klaus A1 - Hirschnitz-Garbers, Martin A1 - Peuckert, Jan A1 - Schridde, Stefan A1 - Stinner, Sven A1 - Wolf, Franziska A1 - Zahrnt, Dominik A1 - Ziesemer, Florence T1 - Stories that change our world? BT - Narratives of the sustainable economy T2 - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaftliche Reihe N2 - Narratives are shaping our understanding of the world. They convey values and norms and point to desirable future developments. In this way, they justify and legitimize political actions and social practices. Once a narrative has emerged and this world view is supported by broad societal groups, narratives can provide powerful momentum to trigger innovation and changes in the course of action. Narratives, however, are not necessarily based on evidence and precise categories, but can instead be vague and ambiguous in order to be acceptable and attractive to different actors. However, the more open and inclusive a narrative is, the less impact can be expected. We investigate whether there is a shared narrative in research for the sustainable economy and how this can be evaluated in terms of its potential societal impact. The paper carves out the visions for the future that have been underlying the research projects conducted within the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) funding programme "The Sustainable Economy". It then analyzes whether these visions are compatible with narratives dominating societal discourse on the sustainable economy, and concludes how the use of visions and narratives in research can contribute to fostering societal transformations. T3 - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaftliche Reihe - 162 KW - narratives KW - sustainable economy KW - societal impact of research KW - research communication Y1 - 2019 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-472783 SN - 1867-5808 IS - 612 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Kay, Alex James T1 - Speaking the unspeakable BT - the portrayal of the Wannsee Conference in the film Conspiracy T2 - Postprints der Universität Potsdam Philosophische Reihe N2 - This article discusses the filmic representation of the infamous Wannsee Conference, when fifteen senior German officials met at a villa on the shore of a Berlin lake to discuss and co-ordinate the implementation of the so-called final solution to the Jewish question. The understanding reached during the course of the ninety-minute meeting cleared the way for the Europe-wide killing of six million Jews. The article sets out to answer the principal challenge facing anyone attempting to recreate the Wannsee Conference on film: what was the atmosphere of this conference and the attitude of the participants? Moreover, it discusses various ethical aspects related to the portrayal of evil, not in actions but in words, using the medium of film. In doing so, it focuses on the BBC/HBO television film Conspiracy (2001), directed by Frank Pierson, probing its historical accuracy and discussing its artistic credibility. T3 - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Philosophische Reihe - 162 KW - Nazi Germany KW - Wannsee conference KW - Jewish question KW - Holocaust KW - film Y1 - 2019 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-434230 SN - 1866-8380 IS - 162 ER - TY - THES A1 - von Kaphengst, Dragana T1 - Project’s management quality in development cooperation T1 - Managementqualität von Projekten in der Entwicklungszusammenarbeit N2 - In light of the debate on the consequences of competitive contracting out of traditionally public services, this research compares two mechanisms used to allocate funds in development cooperation—direct awarding and competitive contracting out—aiming to identify their potential advantages and disadvantages. The agency theory is applied within the framework of rational-choice institutionalism to study the institutional arrangements that surround two different money allocation mechanisms, identify the incentives they create for the behavior of individual actors in the field, and examine how these then transfer into measurable differences in managerial quality of development aid projects. In this work, project management quality is seen as an important determinant of the overall project success. For data-gathering purposes, the German development agency, the Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), is used due to its unique way of work. Whereas the majority of projects receive funds via direct-award mechanism, there is a commercial department, GIZ International Services (GIZ IS) that has to compete for project funds. The data concerning project management practices on the GIZ and GIZ IS projects was gathered via a web-based, self-administered survey of project team leaders. Principal component analysis was applied to reduce the dimensionality of the independent variable to total of five components of project management. Furthermore, multiple regression analysis identified the differences between the separate components on these two project types. Enriched by qualitative data gathered via interviews, this thesis offers insights into everyday managerial practices in development cooperation and identifies the advantages and disadvantages of the two allocation mechanisms. The thesis first reiterates the responsibility of donors and implementers for overall aid effectiveness. It shows that the mechanism of competitive contracting out leads to better oversight and control of implementers, fosters deeper cooperation between the implementers and beneficiaries, and has a potential to strengthen ownership of recipient countries. On the other hand, it shows that the evaluation quality does not tremendously benefit from the competitive allocation mechanism and that the quality of the component knowledge management and learning is better when direct-award mechanisms are used. This raises questions about the lacking possibilities of actors in the field to learn about past mistakes and incorporate the finings into the future interventions, which is one of the fundamental issues of aid effectiveness. Finally, the findings show immense deficiencies in regard to oversight and control of individual projects in German development cooperation. KW - development cooperation KW - project management quality KW - evaluation KW - GIZ KW - knowledge management KW - Entwicklungszusammenarbeit KW - Qualität des Projektmanagements KW - Evaluierung KW - GIZ KW - Wissensmanagement Y1 - 2019 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-430992 ER -