Aktuelle Publikationen

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dc.contributor.author: Bouffier, Volker; Walter-Borjans, Norbert; Peffekoven, Rolf; Wieland, Joachim; Lenk, Thomas

Welche Rolle spielen Gebühren im politisch-administrativen System der Bundesrepublik Deutschland? Welche Faktoren haben einen Einfluss auf die Höhe von Gebühren und die Charakteristika von Gebührenregimen? Diesen Fragen gehen wir in dem vorliegenden Beitrag nach. Wir zeigen, dass Gebühren nicht nur eine Finanzierungsfunktion besitzen wie bereits hinlänglich in der Literatur diskutiert, sondern auch Funktionen im Hinblick auf die Verhaltensregulierung sowie das (Um-) Verteilen von Ressourcen und Leistungen. Hinzu kommt, dass Gebühren auch eine symbolische Funktion haben können. Basierend auf bisherigen Forschungsarbeiten im Bereich der Politik- und Verwaltungswissenschaft zeigen wir, dass unterschiedliche Gebührenregime und Gebührenhöhen vor dem Hintergrund fiskalischer, regulativer und redistributiver Ziele durch die rechtlichen und wirtschaftlichen Rahmenbedingungen und kulturelle Faktoren, parteipolitische Konstellationen sowie gesellschaftliche Interessen erklärt werden können. In einem letzten Schritt gibt der Beitrag einen Überblick über die weiteren Artikel dieses Symposiums und umreißt eine mögliche Forschungsagenda.

The security externalities of globalization and capitalism continue to play an influential role in peace research. Typical contributions to these interrelated areas of scientific inquiry address the hope that the external openness (commercial liberalism) and the internal freedom of an economy (capitalist peace) pacify interstate as well as intrastate relations. I claim, despite the empirical support both theses have received, that they face considerable analytical hurdles. Commercial liberalism has, on a theoretical level, not yet moved much beyond the opportunity cost arguments that enlightenment philosophers first advanced more than 200 years ago. The capitalist peace research program similarly does not offer clear micro-level mechanisms explaining why the interactions between economic agents and political decisionmakers should be more peaceful in capitalist than in state-dominated economies. Drawing on the political economy literature, I argue that economic liberalism should distinguish between level- and change-effects of both globalization and capitalism and that thinking in analogies between domestic and interstate peace has prevented the field from making analytical headway. Both literatures will only profit from the advent of ‘big data’ in the case that the field addresses the theoretical challenges upfront.

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This article argues that two core domains of the German coordinated market economy have undergone transformative institutional change: the welfare state and the vocational training system. We argue that this process is best described as a process of liberalization resulting from the exhaustion of traditional institutions. Exhaustion describes a mechanism of institutional change in which endogenous negative feedback effects, caused by the overextension of resources, lead to a transformation of the formerly symmetrical and consensual relationship between the state, employers and unions into an asymmetrical and conflictual one. The article contributes to the analysis of institutional change and applies the comparative method of the "parallel demonstration of theory".

Political parties are generally thought of as agents of democracy that fulfil a range of functions, such as policy formulation, interest aggregation and articulation, social integration, and elite recruitment. However, given the weakness of many African parties, are they able to contribute positively to democracy? This article seeks to answer this question by using Ghana – one of Africa's most successful democracies – as a case study. It is found that parties in Ghana are comparatively strong and do indeed mobilise large numbers of voters. They even expose a degree of ideological competition and have successfully adapted their strategies to the local context. On the other hand, they expose serious weaknesses in the field of social integration and interest representation. Against this background it is argued that even in procedurally well-functioning democracies like Ghana, political parties can be instruments of elite competition that contribute to the exclusion of the poor from decision-making.

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This research studied the concept of enacted peer support during adolescence by means of the Harry Potter Series. A network approach was used. Results indicated the importance of reciprocity and transitivity for enacted peer support during adolescence. Contrary to our expectations, gender, age and personality traits did not affect enacted peer support. No homophily effects based on gender and age were detected. However, students were found to be more supportive of students with similar personality traits. We hope this study adds to the current knowledge on peer support in adolescence and promotes the use of social theories and methods in literacy research.

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