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The internet offers citizens new possibilities to participate in political communication by setting topics on the agenda of public discussion that are neglected by the conventional media. The article examines if and how the topics of the new emerging political public on the web differ from the topics generated by traditional media. The empirical analysis reveals that the topics are mostly the same. However, the analysis also shows that a clear separate public sphere exists that deals with topics outside the political mainstream.
The second election of President Bush is the climax of twelve years of successful activity by the Republicans. Rarely before could an American president rely on a majority in both houses of the Congress. Consequently, Bush has ever since his re-election conveyed the impression that he is committed to follow the paths he had taken during his first term at home and in international affairs without any concessions. Therefore, also his new initiatives towards Europe seem to be aimed only to improve the transatlantic atmosphere but not to develop a more cooperative American foreign policy.
The role of the military in the Peruvian revolution of 1968 is the key point of this article. The author, founder of the ELN guerrilla organization, worked together with the military and describes its situation and intentions in a very personal way. Different internal and external factors that led to the failure of the revolution are analysed in detail. The conflicts between the left-wing military and the civilian left are especially emphasized.
According to the new German defense policy concept, the German armed forces can be deployed abroad in multinational operations to establish security and to manage the aftermath of conflict in crisis areas. This paper investigates different aspects, resulting prospects and consequences connected with this challenge. It focuses on the meaning of intercultural competence with respect to the primary objective of Germany´s foreign deployment policy to achieve sustained, comprehensive and integral crisis prevention, and to generate peace in the 21st century.
Since 9/11, the fight against the financial sources of terrorism has become a major arena for international co-operation. In the first part, the paper highlights the borderline between security studies and international political economy. The second part of the paper asks how successful the international community is in this fight. The authors show that the idea of seizing terrorist funds and denying access to the international financial system is not a very promising one. They conclude that, so far, results have been mixed and that only a political approach to the problem promises a solution.
Is there a theory of transformation? While most scholarship focuses on describing the causes, mechanisms and consequences of social change in the postcommunist area, this article tries to reflect theoretically on system transformation, using the Polish case as an example. The author argues that the social change involved is more a change in social structure, culture and consciousness than a political, economic and technologic process.
1945 und die Polen
(2005)
The current series of anniversaries concerning World War II raise the question of how Poland is coming to terms with its past. The article summarises the ongoing Polish debate about the Warsaw Uprising and the changing perspectives on Polish history in society and political circles. The discussion about Poland’s view on its own past has great influence on recent foreign political relations, e.g. with Germany, the Ukraine, or Russia.
This article asks how the internet has been contributing to the trans-national networking of the radical right and whether the radical right has the capacity to act as a trans-national movement. Taking into account language difficulties, the ideological background of ultra- nationalism and internal disputes, the analysis shows that the radical right-wing transnational networking has hardly developed. Additionally, its internet users’ potential is too low to contribute to a stronger trans-national alignment. The obstacles remain despite improved technological possibilities. This is proven by empirical examples of virtual trans-national networks.
The paper analyzes the impact of financial globalization on corporate governance systems. While shareholder systems are relatively unaffected by globalization pressures, the burden of adjustment rests primarily on stakeholder systems, owing to their dominant non-market forms of coordination. Convergence theory therefore expects a transformation of stakeholder systems towards shareholder systems, whereas the ‘hybridization thesis’ argues for a combination of elements from shareholder and stakeholder systems as a result of globalization. The ‘Varieties of Capitalism’ approach expects stability in corporate governance systems and a continuation of differences between them.
The European Employment Strategy (EES) belongs to the European Union’s „softer“, legally non-binding policy instruments. Many politicians and academics associated its introduction with the expectation for a strengthening of the EU’s social dimension and democratic quality. This article examines whether, so far, the EES can be regarded as effective and legitimate. To illustrate this, the author briefly examines the role of the EES for the development of labour market policy in Germany and the UK.
Paraguays vast natural resources, especially water, are a source of geopolitical wealth – and trouble. This articleshows how the interests of the USA in this region put Paraguay in a difficult position and turn the country into a playground for international powers. The need to regain national power and real-life influence by the Paraguayan people is especially emphasized. Even though the article concentrates on Paraguay, it also makes clear that this country is part of an US-masterplan for a new order on the American continent.
In the need to reform the German labour market, the so-called ‚Hartz IV’- Act cut down subsidies for unemployed people in order to increase the pressure for searching for a new job. By law, low-paid jobs shall be introduced. However, even if this creates employment, there will be a future problem: pensions for these people will dramatically drop below the poverty line. The author argues that, in order to avoid such ‘poverty-traps’, an alternative social support system should be considered: a ‘tax transfer system’ with lowered income tax, yet complete reduction of legal exceptions on the one hand, and transfer systems combined with work incentives on the other hand.
Flassbeck’s article proposes to use demand management to enhance growth in Germany in order to increase employment. The author considers this kind of policy to release positive, but merely short-term effects. In the long run, he argues, government measures such as the deregulation of the labour market are necessary strategies for long-term growth.
The author argues that growth determines employment and not the other way around. He opposes the widespread view among German economists that more employment generated by wage cuts or increased labour market flexibility will stimulate growth. For him, this view relies on theoretical prejudices that have to be rejected in light of some recent, simple evidence. The fact that all cyclical rebounds during the 1990s have been cut short by restrictive monetary policy explains the inability of the German labour market to regain full employment.
Organized drug trafficking and transnationally networked terrorism are transnational threats in Latin America. Security experts see the first as the paramount problem, but regard the second as a mere potential security risk. Latin America’s specific conditions allow limited options for containing non-military threats. Should actors and instruments for containing crime and terrorism be organized on a subregional level, in the Latin American or in the Inter-American context? The author documents promising subregional approaches, especially in the extended Mercosur.
Following an interpretive sociological approach, the article analyses the rise and transformation of the UÇK in terms of social order and the resulting implications for a solution of the Kosovo status question. Combining Elias’ concept of society with Bourdieu’s categories of capital, the development of the UÇK can be “understood” from an interpretive point of view. In the social space of war, the UÇK rose as a result of increasing capital. As the war ended, the UÇK fell apart because it was unable to accomplish the indispensable functions of any social order.
The German Ostpolitik of the Red-Green government between 1998 and 2005 focused particularly on the autocratic Russia. It mostly ignored the other – democratic – states in Central and Eastern Europe. Since this policy failed to improve the stability in the region, a policy change is necessary. Regional stability can only be based on the equal cooperation of democratic states. Germany should therefore intensify her support for the democratic forces in the region and integrate her policy into a common Ostpolitik within the EU.
The United States, despite impressive efforts, have not reduced Colombian drug supplies over the recent years. Policy ineffectiveness results from problems in Colombia, including poverty, strong non-state actors, as well as a weak state and society. On the US side, ineffectiveness results from a geographically selective approach, a reliance on coercion, and bilateralism. The US has exacerbated human rights violations, environmental destruction, the displacement of the drug industry within Colombia, and the spread of Colombian problems to neighbouring countries.
Modern Japanese philosophy offers a new approach to describing the world of labour. The article compares this approach with neoclassical labour market theories. Neither the working individual nor her "labour world" are sufficient as starting points to explain certain forms of organization. Instead, Graupe focuses on the "context of action". As an example of organisation, which classic economical theory is unable to explain, she presents "internal labour markets". The Japanese philosophical understanding of the world influences thus the specific design of working worlds in Japan.
Konservatismus in der europäischen Ideengeschichte : Wirkungen in Theorie und politischer Praxis
(2005)
Literaturbericht Rezensierte Bücher: Bösch, Frank: Die Adenauer-CDU. Gründung, Aufstieg und Krise einer Erfolgspartei 1945– 1969, Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, Stuttgart 2001, 575 Seiten, ISBN 3-421-05438-X. Bösch, Frank: Das konservative Milieu. Vereinskultur und lokale Sammlungspolitik (1900–1960) (= Veröffentlichungen des Zeitgeschichtlichen Arbeitskreises Niedersachsen 19), Wallstein Verlag, Göttingen 2002, 266 Seiten, ISBN 3-89244-501-X. Bösch, Frank: Macht und Machtverlust. Die Geschichte der CDU, Deutsche Verlags- Anstalt, München 2002, 312 Seiten, ISBN 3-421-05601-3. Gauland, Alexander: Anleitung zum Konservativsein, Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, München 2002, 131 Seiten, ISBN 3-421-05649-8. Geppert, Dominik: Thatchers konservative Revolution. Der Richtungswandel der britischen Tories 1975–1979 (= Veröffentlichungen des Deutschen Historischen Instituts London 53), Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag, München 2002, 463 Seiten, ISBN 3-486-56661-X. Mannheim, Karl / Stehr, Nico / Kettler, David / Meja, Volker (Hrsg.): Konservatismus. Ein Beitrag zur Soziologie des Wissens. Suhrkamp Taschenbuch Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2003, 288 Seiten, ISBN 3-518-28078-3. Rill, Robert / Zellenberg, Ulrich (Hrsg.): Konservativismus in Österreich. Strömungen, Ideen, Personen und Vereinigungen, Stocker-Verlag, Graz 1999, 368 Seiten, ISBN 3-7020-0860-8. Schrenck-Notzing, Caspar v.: Lexikon des Konservatismus, Stocker-Verlag, Graz 1996, 608 Seiten, ISBN 3-7020-0760-1.
Since the beginning of the 1970s a lot of countries in Latin America has been starting the transition to democracy. The article analyses the role played by the military in this process, especially the effects of civildemocratic governments – sometimes failing in – gaining power over the military. It is described how and why the army occasionally kept their independence from the civil power and how this influenced the consolidation of democracy.
In the Spring 2004 issue of WeltTrends, Gunther Hellmann sparked a debate on Germany’s foreign policy. The debate was resumed through the Summer, Fall, Winter and Spring editions (no. 43 to 46) of WeltTrends, which featured articles of German International Relations scholars as well as foreign policy-makers and experts from abroad. In his concluding article, Hellmann seizes the opportunity to outline and comment on some characteristics of the debate as revealed in the contributions of his critics.
The Polish discourse about the European Constitution has one feature in common with the discourses of other member states: it deals with everything but the text of the Constitution Treaty itself. At its core it oscillates between the Polish striving for power in the EU and the toleration for cultural difference in Europe. The opposite of the latter has been particularly significant during the referendum debates in France and the Netherlands, which let to the rejection of the constitutional treaty.
The author discusses the issue whether the internet and other electronic sources should be used for elections. Online-elections can make the electoral process not only less complex but also cheaper, thus the analysis faster and more reliable. The lower costs could, in turn, lead to a new impulse on direct-democracy-instruments. Comparing the USA, Great Britain, Germany and Switzerland the article provides information about national strategies, discourses and problems, and shows the different political and cultural settings.
The authors agree with Flassbeck’s claim that growth generates employment. However, they do not agree with Flassbeck’s conviction that growth is to be increased by demand management. In their comment, they explain why deficit spending and expansionary monetary policy are inappropriate substitutes for a sound structural policy.
This article analyzes to what extend new knowledge and ignorance-structures within financial markets challenge basic assumptions in scientific discourse. ‘Ignorance’ is seen as an inherent part of governance-regimes. It is argued that the self-fulfilling prophecy of a bank run as the dominant metaphor for systemic risks is insufficient to capture today’s dynamics and categorical changes. Therefore, the paper seeks to show that ‘science’ has not sufficiently attempted to fully come to terms with issues of uncertainty and self-reference.
Community Initiatives are one part of implementing European Employment Strategy in the European Union’s member countries. By the example of the EQUAL-Project „INCLUSION - Integration-Network for Migrants in the Federal State of Brandenburg“, this article critically examines what results such projects can achieve. Following ADAPT and EMPLOYMENT, the initiative EQUAL started in 2001 with the stated mission to promote social integration in working life through fighting against discrimination and exclusion.
EU-Verfassung im Härtetest
(2005)
The author discusses the failure of the EU-Constitution plebiscite in France and focuses on the different arguments brought forward in the French debate over the EU-Constitution. The draft of the Convent was a complex volume full of compromises. However, in comparison with the Treaty of Nice, it would have been a starting point for achieving a direct trans-national democracy. According to the author, the referendum only failed due to some unique plebiscite elements that were instrumentalised by governments which had overestimated themselves.
Despite the difficult situation in Iraq, US President Bush easily won a second term, but his room for manoeuvre is now significantly smaller than it was four years ago. He has at least three conflicts on his plate: the first and most critical one in Iraq, the second the continuing war on terror and the third the struggle to consolidate Afghanistan. Conscious of the growing risk of US overstretch, Bush is now reaching out to the European allies. However, most observers anticipate a change in style rather than any real change in substance.
Editorial
(2005)
Editorial
(2005)
Editorial
(2005)
Editorial
(2005)
This article discusses the complex relationship between the state and the military in Latin American societies. Defining the state in Latin America as a weak one, it contains a typology of the different roles played by the military in the 20th century. In this context, the ambivalent impact of the USA as well as the search of the Latin American military for “new tasks” since the 1990s is discussed. The article concludes with the challenges for civil-military relations in the current democratic regimes in Latin America.
Zahlen und Fakten
(2005)
Beginning with the year 2000, the political society of South Korea has undergone a development towards more transparency. The increasing emergence of civil organizations as well as their new-orientation favoured the development of an alternative “online-public” which tries to mediate between the public’s interests and the state. The influence of this online-public, who profits from the fast and various ways of communication via internet, is best shown by some successful examples of online-action in the economic and the political sector. This gives credence to Dick Morris’ postulated rise of the internet to be the “fifth power” of the state.
This article deals with the explanation of failed democratisation as caused by political culture. Against the background of the Belarus’ autocracy, the author questions that political culture can be considered a reason for failed democratisation. The Belarus’ paternalistic political culture does not essentially differ from that of successfully democratising neighbouring states. A weak national conscience is the only specific characteristic of the Belarus autocracy, but it lacks a convincing theoretical link with democratisation. Nevertheless, in paternalistic political cultures, successful democratisation seems to need more incentives for people, due to higher adaptation costs.
This article investigates how institutional, organisational and individual factors influence labour politics in the internet economy. The authors discuss several theoretical approaches towards labour politics and industrial relations. Using the example of the IT industry, they then illustrate how in the IT industry the organisation of work changes, what requirements result for employees, how regulation is structured, and what political challenges this brings for trade unions and employer’s associations. Considering current developments in the IT economy, the authors finally evaluate the theoretical approaches according to their explanatory strength.
Literaturbericht Rezensierte Literatur: Nikolaus Werz: Lateinamerika. Eine Einführung, Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft, Baden-Baden 2005, 400 S., ISBN 3-8329-1068-9 Klaus Bodemer/Detlef Nolte/Hartmut Sangmeister (Hrsg.): Lateinamerika Jahrbuch 2004, Vervuert, Frankfurt a.M. 2004, 385 S., ISBN 3-86527-123-5 Peter Imbusch/Dirk Messner/Detlef Nolte (Hrsg.): Chile heute. Politik, Wirtschaft, Kultur, Vervuert, Frankfurt a.M. 2004, 957 S., ISBN 3-89354-590-5 Walther L. Bernecker/Marianne Braig/Karl Hölz/Klaus Zimmermann (Hrsg.): Mexiko heute. Politik, Wirtschaft, Kultur, Vervuert, Frankfurt a.M. 2004, 3. vollständig neu bearbeitete Auflage, 826 S., ISBN 3-86527-140-5 Rafael Sevilla/Andreas Boeckh (Hrsg.): Venezuela – die Bolivarische Republik, Horlemann, Bad Honnef 2005, 322 S., ISBN 3-89502-197-0
Es ist doch Politik! : Liberalisierung und Integration der Finanzmärkte als politischer Prozess
(2005)
This article examines the liberalization and cross-border integration of European financial markets from a political-economic perspective. Three features particularly come to the fore: First, national liberalization and European integration have been two sides of one integrated political process that owes its specific dynamics to the conflicts of interest between different groups of actors. Second, not only effective liberalization, but also market integration relies on an extension and formalization of public financial market regulation – and thus seemingly on ‘more state’. Third, the established distinction between ‘state’ and ‘market’ and their respective roles is insufficient for a proper understanding for the politics of financial market regulation.
In the spring 2004 issue of WeltTrends, Gunther Hellmann sparked a debate on Germany's foreign policy. He argued that Germany’s international behaviour is dominated by a "realpolitik" policy, generally referred to as "normalization". For Hellmann, this transformation indicates one of the "deepest crisis of Germany’s foreign policy" ever. The first three parts were published in the summer, fall and winter editions (no. 43, 44 and 45) of WeltTrends, which featured contributions of German International Relations scholars as well as experts from abroad. In this issue, foreign policy makers and a Polish expert join the debate.
Der Putsch nach dem Putsch
(2005)
The ideological change within the Chilean military before and after the coup in 1973 is the central issue of this article. Before the developments in the early 1970s, the cardinal mindset of the military leaders was one of a state-run evolution of society. After the coup, this thinking changed rapidly into a neoliberal kind. How could this happen? Which explanations have been and which should be discussed? These questions are answered and it is shown that the military itself played a bigger role than previously thought.
Die vernachlässigte Reform : zum Primat der Politik über das Militär im südlichenLateinamerika
(2005)
Despite many economic and state reforms in South America, no comparable changes have taken place with regard to civil-military relations: Neither do the armed forces have a clearly defined mission of their own nor are they adequately democratically controlled. The article looks at the present civil-military relations from various angles and explicitly deals with examples from Argentina, Bolivia, Chile and Peru. It presents the reasons for the lack of civilian control over the military and discusses the resulting consequences for domestic and foreign politics.
This article explores the impact of the internationalised economy on work relationships between German companies and their subsidiaries in Eastern and Central Europe. The author refers to empirical research findings in the field of social sciences that shed light on the interest groups’ scope of participation in international competition for investments.
This article compares two theoretical concepts of international relations: the Soft-Powermodel by Joseph S. Nye and the Turbulence-model by James N. Rosenau. They are both trying to study the impact of the revolution in information- and communication-techniques. Although both concepts are far-reaching in their explanations there are questions in both concepts that remain unanswered. The author tries to cover these gaps by turning to the other model, respectively.
Rezensierte Literatur: Bieber, Christoph (2003): Das Internet als Präsentations- oder Repräsentationsraum. Kommunikation in politischen Online-Versammlungen, in: Gellner/Strohmeier (Hrsg), S. 139-153. Gellner, Winand/Strohmeier, Gerd (Hrsg.) (2003): Repräsentation und Präsentation in der Mediengesellschaft, PIN-Jahrbuch 2003, Baden-Baden: Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft. Herzog, Roland/Hoffmann, Bert/Schulz, Markus (2002): Internet und Politik in Lateinamerika. Einleitung und Vergleichende Betrachtung, Band 1 der Reihe Internet und Politik in Lateinamerika: Regulierung und Nutzung der neuen Informations- und Kommunikationstechnologien im Kontext der politischen und wirtschaftlichen Transformation, Frankfurt am Main: Vervuert Verlag Hoffmann, Bert (2002): Internet und Politik in Lateinamerika. Costa Rica, Band 2 der Reihe Internet und Politik in Lateinamerika: Regulierung und Nutzung der neuen Informations- und Kommunikationstechnologien im Kontext der politischen und wirtschaftlichen Transformation, Frankfurt am Main: Vervuert Verlag. Mai, Manfred (2003): Das Parlament in der Mediengesellschaft. Parlamentarische Debatte oder Talk-Show, in: Gellner/Strohmeier (Hrsg.), S. 13-27. Schaper-Rinkel, Petra (2003): Die europäische Informationsgesellschaft. Technologische und politische Integration in der europäischen Politik, Münster: Verlag Westfälisches Dampfboot.
Since the early 1990s the use of private military companies (PMCs) has proliferated. Especially the United States are increasingly turning to private contractors to perform military tasks. Privatization advocates claim that PMCs work cheaper than the military. In addition to that, PMCs give the cover of plausible deniability that regular troops lack. But the fact that legislative control or public debate are missing raises the question of accountability and underlines the need for legal means to control and regulate PMCs and their operations.