TY - JOUR A1 - Bach, Stefan A1 - Thiemann, Andreas A1 - Zucco, Aline T1 - Looking for the missing rich: tracing the top tail of the wealth distribution JF - International Tax and Public Finance N2 - We analyse the top tail of the wealth distribution in France, Germany, and Spain using the first and second waves of the Household Finance and Consumption Survey (HFCS). Since top wealth is likely to be under-represented in household surveys, we integrate big fortunes from rich lists, estimate a Pareto distribution, and impute the missing rich. In addition to the Forbes list, we rely on national rich lists since they represent a broader base of the big fortunes in those countries. As a result, the top 1% wealth share increases notably for the three selected countries after imputing the top wealth. We find that national rich lists can improve the estimation of the Pareto coefficient in particular when the list of national USD billionaires is short. KW - Wealth distribution KW - Missing rich KW - Pareto distribution KW - HFCS Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/s10797-019-09578-1 SN - 0927-5940 SN - 1573-6970 VL - 26 IS - 6 SP - 1234 EP - 1258 PB - Springer CY - Dordrecht ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Bergström, Tomas A1 - Copus, Colin A1 - Franzke, Jochen A1 - Ruano, Jose M. A1 - Schaap, Linze A1 - Vakkala, Hanna T1 - Combining European Research on Local Governance and Local Democracy JF - Public Administration in Europe : The Contribution of EGPA N2 - The contribution summarises the scientific discussion and research activities of the EGPA Permanent Study Group 4 (PSG 4) “Local Governance and Local Democracy”, founded in 2005. The impetus for proposing this specific PSG was the growing importance of the local level within the multi-level governance system in the European Union and most of its member states. The PSG 4 acts as a European network of research activities inside and outside EGPA, producing joint publications and organising scientific debates on many problems of the development of municipalities and local authorities. Our focus was on discussing both how to improve democracy by increased participation and deliberation, and how to secure provision of services in an efficient way in developed welfare societies. This includes analysing several forms of administrative changes and reforms at the local level and research of representative, direct and cooperative democracy at local level in a cross-European comparison. Y1 - 2019 SN - 978-3-319-92855-5 SN - 978-3-319-92856-2 SP - 135 EP - 145 PB - Springer CY - Cham ER - TY - BOOK A1 - Dörfler, Thomas T1 - Security council sanctions governance BT - the power and limits of rules T3 - Routledge research on the United Nations ; 6 N2 - Little is known about how far-reaching decisions in UN Security Council sanctions committees are made. Developing a novel committee governance concept and using examples drawn from sanctions imposed on Iraq, Al-Qaida, Congo, Sudan and Iran, this book shows that Council members tend to follow the will of the powerful, whereas sanctions committee members often decide according to the rules. This is surprising since both Council and committees are staffed by the same member states. Offering a fascinating account of Security Council micro-politics and decision-making processes on sanctions, this rigorous comparative and theory-driven analysis treats the Council and its sanctions committees as distinguishable entities that may differ in decision practice despite having the same members. Drawing extensively on primary documents, diplomatic cables, well-informed press coverage, reports by close observers and extensive interviews with committee members, Council diplomats and sanctions experts, it contrasts with the conventional wisdom on decision-making within these bodies, which suggests that the powerful permanent members would not accept rule-based decisions against their interests. This book will be of interest to policy practitioners and scholars working in the broad field of international organizations and international relations theory as well as those specializing in sanctions, international law, the Security Council and counter-terrorism. Y1 - 2019 SN - 978-0-42944-232-2 SN - 978-1-138-33749-7 SN - 978-0-4298-0874-6 SN - 978-0-4298-0873-9 U6 - https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429442322 PB - Routledge CY - London ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Fitzi, Gregor T1 - Max Weber’s concept of ‘modern politics JF - Journal of Classical Sociology N2 - In a critical approach to Mommsen’s classical thesis, which states the dependence of Weber’s sociology on his political position, the article reconstructs the foundation of Weber’s ‘The Profession and Vocation of Politics’ on his sociological analyses of the political domain in the manuscripts for the posthumous publication of Economy and Society. The first two pages of his 1919 lecture particularly show that Weber can fall back on the definitions of State and politics that he had already developed for his political sociology. Yet, to appreciate the full extent of this theoretical contribution, it is necessary to present Weber’s entire ideal-typical analysis of the political. The article then shows that Weber provides an unlabelled definition of ‘modern politics’ that negates ante litteram Carl Schmitt’s foundation of politics on the idea of enmity. In this context, Weber’s sound plea for parliamentarism and against the fascination of civil war comes to the fore that he wanted to deliver to his audience of young revolutionaries in January 1919. KW - Carl Schmitt KW - civil war KW - concept of the political KW - Max Weber KW - monopoly of legitimate use of force KW - parliamentarism KW - political sociology KW - revolution KW - violence Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1177/1468795X19851368 SN - 1468-795X SN - 1741-2897 VL - 19 IS - 4 SP - 361 EP - 376 PB - Sage Publ. CY - London ER - TY - GEN A1 - Fitzi, Gregor A1 - Turner, Bryan S. T1 - Introduction: From politics as a vocation to politics as a profession T2 - Journal of Classical Sociology Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1177/1468795X19851341 SN - 1468-795X SN - 1741-2897 VL - 19 IS - 4 SP - 311 EP - 315 PB - Sage Publ. CY - London ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Forlenza, Rosario A1 - Turner, Bryan S. T1 - Das Abendland BT - The politics of Europe’s religious borders JF - Critical research on religion : crr N2 - The religious borders of Europe, which are more evident and controversial than ever, challenge established forms of political legitimacy and the legal requirements for citizenship. Perhaps covertly rather than overtly, they shape politics and policies. While scholars have once again resorted to Edward Said’s Orientalism to describe the dynamic at play, this article argues that the Orientalism narrative of East and West is too simple to capture the actual complexity of Europe’s borders. There are four religious and thus four cultural-symbolic borders, which are increasingly defining the continent: north-western Europe is Protestant, southern Europe is Catholic, the East is Orthodox and increasingly nationalist, and the South and Near East are Muslim. The cultural purity and the values that Europe craves in search of identity and order are simply not available in a world of global interconnectedness and social diversity. KW - Abendland KW - Catholicism KW - Protestantism KW - Orthodoxy KW - Islam Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1177/2050303218774891 SN - 2050-3032 SN - 2050-3040 VL - 7 IS - 1 SP - 6 EP - 23 PB - Sage Publ. CY - Thousand Oaks ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Franzke, Jochen T1 - Rezension zu: The Routledge handbook of international local government / edited by Richard Kerley, Joyce Liddle and Pamela T. Dunning. - London: Routledge, 2018. - 528 pp. - ISBN: 978- 11-3823-472-7, ISBN: 978-1-31530-627-8 JF - Local government studies N2 - When I took up the task of writing a review of the Routledge handbook of international local government, it occurred to me, as a member of the generation of the 1950s, that I had not even considered whether such compendiums were even necessary in times of easy internet searching. This review will look at whether that is indeed the case. Social-science handbooks naturally are very broad. This also applies to the particular handbook under review. It comprises six content-thematic parts with 33 chapters by 73 authors from 21 countries, with the UK and USA dominant. The focal points, discussed in more detail below, are local elections and local governance, local governments in different jurisdictions, the challenges of local government services, citizen engagement in local affairs, and local authorities in multi-level finance systems that shape how municipal governments ‘get and spend’ public money. These are exactly the topics actually discussed in the international community of political scientists. As a preliminary, the editors work out the theoretical-methodological foundations of the topic. They define ‘the local’ as ‘geographically defined sub-national state administrative or political divisions’ (p. 3). As next steps, they analyse the difference between government and governance, and investigate whether local government is globally important and relevant. Fortunately, they conclude that this is indeed the case. Part I of the handbook illustrates ‘substantive variations’ in the local electoral systems and ‘notable divergences in the values and assumptions of local governance among democratic countries’ (p. 23). That topic is indeed central to local authorities’ legitimacy in democratic political systems. The focus of this part of the handbook is on current research and debates around local electoral systems, the challenges of local political leadership and the councillor’s role in modern local policy. Current trends at the local level are analysed from the actors’ perspectives or from an economic point of view by comparing institutionalised differences in city managers, mayors and council members across different jurisdictions. Sections that investigate traditional leadership and local government in Pacific Island countries are of particular interest to most Western readers, because in Europe and North America we know too little about such issues in that part of the world. Part II of the handbook presents current development processes and challenges in various local government systems. The chapters are territorially oriented around nation states or sub-national regions. This part of the handbook deal with local government in the Pacific Islands, Latin America, and New Zealand and in the Caribbean. However, the rationale behind country selection is not always clear; important countries like China, India and Nigeria, just to name a few, are absent. Unfortunately, there is no summary article highlighting similarities and differences, as well as the challenges in local government, relating to the countries studied in the book. The development of local services is the focus of Part III of the handbook, however, the definition of local services remains highly controversial and their scope varies widely between the countries. From the 1980s onwards, there was a long-term trend towards the marketisation and economisation of local politics, but since the turn of the millennium, there has been a counter-trend of the return of municipalities and third sector in the fields of local public services (Wollmann 2018). The book analyses the US and Georgia as case studies for development trends, finding that local government entrepreneurship remains an important factor in promoting economic development and strengthening capacities. I was pleased to see that Part IV, the next and most extensive part of the handbook, deals with citizen engagement, because the future of local self-government across the world depends not only on top down activities by local governing elites, but above all on the commitment of the inhabitants of cities and municipalities. Practices and challenges of citizen participation in local government are analysed in inspiring case studies of mid-sized cities in Russia and the United States. The contribution on urban governance of austerity in Europe is also of particular interest. The 2008 global financial crash and the subsequent severe budgetary pressure on municipalities in many countries was a key event in the history and development of local self-government, confronting municipalities with ‘the harsh realities of political economy’ (p. 293). Several articles analyse the causes of the declining confidence of the citizens in local authorities in some countries. In contrast, the open budget tool in Brazil is as a positive example of collaborative stakeholder engagement. Part V deals with multi-level governance. With the exception of Australia, it is all about Europe, especially the role of municipalities in the EU’s multilevel system. The authors conclude that ‘local authorities are essential for executing EU legislation, and this turn allows them to shape EU policies’ (p. 401). This part of the handbook includes the issue of local territorial reforms, which are central to local autonomy, combined with analyses of redesigning regional government and local-level Europeanisation. Subsequently, by comparing the local government systems of Southern Europe (France, Italy, Portugal and Spain), the authors underline convincingly the role of traditions, identity, legal frameworks and institutions in local government. Part VI of the book deals with the financial dimension of local self-government under the heading ‘Getting and spending’. This is indeed the ‘key source of dispute between local and central government’ (p. 467) and the crucial factor shaping true local autonomy. Meritoriously, this part also contains a chapter on the fight against corruption and unethical behaviour by public servants. Based on research linking corruption to transparency and accountability, two case studies describe how Tbilisi (Georgia) and Lviv (Ukraine) try to reduce corruption in government budgeting and procurement. Enhancing Value-For-Money audit in local government highlights another important side of local finance. An interesting comparison reveals significant differences in local government revenues in European Union member states between 2000 and 2014. Of course, even in a 530-page book, some important aspects remain underexposed. Above all, I would have liked more attention on some of the enormous future challenges facing democratic systems and with them local governments all over the world, such as digitisation (e.g. in smart cities), the integration of migrants or climate change. The international networking of municipalities should also be given greater prominence. To sum it up, The Routledge Handbook on International Local Government is indeed ‘ambitiously titled’ as the editors underline. Yet, despite my critical objections about its focus on current issues rather than future challenges, they largely fulfil this promise and their general approach has worked well. Across continents and political-administrative cultures, illustrated with many new research findings, they have created an outstanding publication focusing on the challenges and policy of local self-governmental authorities and other local stakeholders. There is a good chance that this handbook will belong in future to the social science standard works on local issues, and be included in academic political science teaching. May the publisher’s wish come true; that this book stimulates its readers to develop further research ideas. Finally, I come back to my initial question. ‘Old fashioned’ printed handbooks like these continue to make sense, even in modern digital times. Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1080/03003930.2020.1702771 SN - 0300-3930 SN - 1743-9388 VL - 46 IS - 1 SP - 163 EP - 165 PB - Routledge CY - Abingdon 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 - JOUR A1 - Ganghof, Steffen T1 - Designing Democratic Constitutions BT - The Search for Optimality JF - Politics and Governance 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. KW - electoral systems KW - parliamentary government KW - presidential government KW - semi-parliamentary government Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.17645/pag.v7i4.2239 SN - 2183-2463 VL - 7 IS - 4 SP - 243 EP - 253 PB - Cogitatio Press CY - Lisbon 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 -