TY - JOUR A1 - Mielke, Jahel T1 - Signals for 2 degrees C BT - the influence of policies, market factors and civil society actions on investment decisions for green infrastructure JF - Journal of Sustainable Finance & Investment N2 - The targets of the Paris Agreement make it necessary to redirect finance flows towards sustainable, low-carbon infrastructures and technologies. Currently, the potential of institutional investors to help finance this transition is widely discussed. Thus, this paper takes a closer look at influence factors for green investment decisions of large European insurance companies. With a mix of qualitative and quantitative methods, the importance of policy, market and civil society signals is evaluated. In summary, respondents favor measures that promote green investment, such as feed-in tariffs or adjustments of capital charges for green assets, over ones that make carbon-intensive investments less attractive, such as the phase-out of fossil fuel subsidies or a carbon price. While investors currently see a low impact of the carbon price, they rank a substantial reform as an important signal for the future. Respondents also emphasize that policy signals have to be coherent and credible to coordinate expectations. KW - Green infrastructure investment KW - policy signals KW - green finance KW - climate change KW - institutional investors Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1080/20430795.2018.1528809 SN - 2043-0795 SN - 2043-0809 VL - 9 IS - 2 SP - 87 EP - 115 PB - Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group CY - Abingdon 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 - JOUR A1 - Gehring, Thomas A1 - Dorsch, Christian A1 - Dörfler, Thomas T1 - Precedent and doctrine in organisational decision-making BT - the power of informal institutional rules in the United Nations Security Council’s activities on terrorism JF - Journal of international relations and development N2 - We examine how and under what conditions informal institutional constraints, such as precedent and doctrine, are likely to affect collective choice within international organisations even in the absence of powerful bureaucratic agents. With a particular focus on the United Nations Security Council, we first develop a theoretical account of why such informal constraints might affect collective decisions even of powerful and strategically behaving actors. We show that precedents provide focal points that allow adopting collective decisions in coordination situations despite diverging preferences. Reliance on previous cases creates tacitly evolving doctrine that may develop incrementally. Council decision-making is also likely to be facilitated by an institutional logic of escalation driven by institutional constraints following from the typically staged response to crisis situations. We explore the usefulness of our theoretical argument with evidence from the Council doctrine on terrorism that has evolved since 1985. The key decisions studied include the 1992 sanctions resolution against Libya and the 2001 Council response to the 9/11 attacks. We conclude that, even within intergovernmentally structured international organisations, member states do not operate on a clean slate, but in a highly institutionalised environment that shapes their opportunities for action. KW - decision-making KW - doctrine KW - international organisations KW - precedent KW - Security Council KW - terrorism Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1057/s41268-017-0101-5 SN - 1581-1980 SN - 1408-6980 VL - 22 IS - 1 SP - 107 EP - 135 PB - Palgrave Macmillan CY - Basingstoke 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 - BOOK ED - Hickmann, Thomas ED - Partzsch, Lena ED - Pattberg, Philipp H. ED - Weiland, Sabine T1 - The anthropocene debate and political science T3 - Routledge research in global environmental governance N2 - Anthropocene has become an environmental buzzword. It denotes a new geological epoch that is human?dominated. As mounting scientific evidence reveals, humankind has fundamentally altered atmospheric, geological, hydrological, biospheric, and other Earth system processes to an extent that the risk of an irreversible system change emerges. Human societies must therefore change direction and navigate away from critical tipping points in the various ecosystems of our planet. This hypothesis has kicked off a debate not only on the geoscientific definition of the Anthropocene era, but increasingly also in the social sciences. However, the specific contribution of the social sciences disciplines and in particular that of political science still needs to be fully established. This edited volume analyzes, from a political science perspective, the wider social dynamics underlying the ecological and geological changes, as well as their implications for governance and politics in the Anthropocene. The focus is on two questions: (1) What is the contribution of political science to the Anthropocene debate, e.g. in terms of identified problems, answers, and solutions? (2) What are the conceptual and practical implications of the Anthropocene debate for the discipline of political science? Overall, this book contributes to the Anthropocene debate by providing novel theoretical and conceptual accounts of the Anthropocene, engaging with contemporary politics and policy-making in the Anthropocene, and offering a critical reflection on the Anthropocene debate as such. The volume will be of great interest to students and scholars of political science, global environmental politics and governance, and sustainable development. Y1 - 2019 SN - 978-0-8153-8614-8 SN - 978-1-351-17412-1 PB - Routledge CY - London ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Hickmann, Thomas A1 - Partzsch, Lena A1 - Pattberg, Philipp H. A1 - Weiland, Sabine T1 - Conclusion BT - Towards a 'deep debate' on the Anthropocene T2 - The anthropocene debate and political science Y1 - 2019 SN - 978-0-8153-8614-8 SP - 237 EP - 251 PB - Routledge CY - London 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 - JOUR A1 - Guske, Anna-Lena A1 - Jacob, Klaus A1 - Hirschnitz-Garbers, Martin A1 - Peuckert, Jan A1 - Schridde, Stefan A1 - Stinner, Sven A1 - Wolff, Franziska A1 - Zahrnt, Dominik A1 - Ziesemer, Florence T1 - Stories that Change Our World? BT - Narratives of the sustainable economy JF - Sustainability 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. KW - narratives KW - sustainable economy KW - societal impact of research KW - research communication Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3390/su11216163 SN - 2071-1050 VL - 11 IS - 21 PB - MDPI CY - Basel 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 -