West European Politics articles from July 1999

West European Politics archives from July 1999

Vincent Wright 1937-1999.(Obituary)
July 1, 1999... Sadly, after a long illness, Vincent Wright died on 8 July 1999. We had edited West European Politics together since the very first issue in 1978. Its established reputation and world-wide readership are in large measure thanks to his...

Interpersonal trust, political trust and non-institutionalised political participation in Western Europe.
July 1, 1999... Barely 30 years ago, Western political thought was challenged and stimulated by speculations of a declining acceptance of liberal democracy by its citizens. (1) Theories of crisis blossomed, and many observers saw a transformation of Western...

The European Union and NATO enlargement debates in comparative perspective: A case of incremental linkage?
July 1, 1999... BUILDING A BIGGER EUROPE? The collapse of the Iron Curtain and the end of the Cold War in 1989-91 generated considerable speculation regarding the future prospects for East-West European relations. The new security agenda in turn raised...

Party finance and political scandal in Italy, Spain and France.
July 1, 1999... Scandals connected to the illegal financing of political parties have proliferated throughout Latin Europe in recent years. Although the Italian tangentopoli (bribe-city) prosecutions provide the most dramatic case, scandals have also damaged...

Convergent co-ordination patterns in the French and German core executive: The case of the BSE crisis.
July 1, 1999... This article examines the working of the French and German core executive in a crisis situation. Comparative analysis of the respective policy responses to BSE suggests that the European Commission's 'embargo-decision' of 27 March 1996 provides...

Bundesbank-government relations in Germany in the 1990s: from GEMU to EMU.
July 1, 1999... The German Bundesbank's independence from political instructions in the conduct of monetary policy is both widely admired and widely discussed. Academic literature gives independent central banks a large amount of credit for reducing inflation...

What's left of the French Right? The RPR and the UDF from conquest to humiliation, 1993-1998.
July 1, 1999... The plight of many West European conservative parties resembles that of their social democratic counterparts 40 years ago: they have won (most of) the policy arguments, but have lost office to adversaries who have stolen, and restyled, their...

Party system change in Scandinavia since 1970: 'restricted change' or 'general change'?
July 1, 1999... Whilst the 'earthquake elections' in Denmark and Norway three years later are better known, the 'thaw' in the frozen cleavage structure of the Scandinavian party systems may be said to have begun in Finland in March 1970 when the Finnish Rural...

Is 'competitive' corporatism an adequate response to globalisation? Evidence from the low countries.
July 1, 1999... The world economy is playing havoc with the welfare state. Once settled, national systems for full employment and income redistribution have collided with volatile, globalised markets for goods and capital. The result has been an increasing...

The single-issue party thesis: extreme right parties and the immigration issue.
July 1, 1999... The 1980s have brought forth the rise of two new party families within west European party systems, that of the 'left-libertarian' or Green parties, since the early-1980s, and that of the 'extreme right' (1) parties (ERPs) since the mid-1980s....

Belgian civil servants in the European Union: A tale of two cultures.
July 1, 1999... COMMUNICATION NETWORKS: VERTICAL AND HORIZONTAL. In 1981 Aberbach, Putnam, and Rockman published their seminal comparative study about the political culture of senior bureaucrats and politicians in several Western democracies. (1) One of...

Are Catholics still different? Catholicism, political attitudes and party attachments in Switzerland, 1970-95.
July 1, 1999... The topic of this article is the political orientations of Swiss Catholics between 1970 and 1995. Of course, the question of the impact of Catholicism on political attitudes, opinions and values is by no means new. A large amount of literature...

The German federal election of 1998.
July 1, 1999... The Bundestag election of 27 September 1998, the last for a parliament sitting in Bonn, was exceptional in three important respects: * it was the first postwar election which resulted directly in a change of government; * it was the...

The judicialisation of politics: contemporary trends in research on European and other courts. (Review Article).(5 books on judicial power)(Book Review)
July 1, 1999... Courts, Law, and Politics in Comparative Perspective. By HERBERT JACOB, ERHARD BLANKENBURG, HERBERT M. KRITZER, DORIS MARIE PROVINE and JOSEPH SANDERS. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1996. Pp.408, index. $20 (paper). ISBN 0-300-06379-2....

Institutions come before markets. (Review Article).(4 books on political institutions)(Book Review)
July 1, 1999... The Theory of Institutional Design. Edited by ROBERT E. GOODIN. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996. Pp.x + 288, name and subject indexes. [pounds sterling]16.95 (paper); [pounds sterling]35/$49.95 (cloth). ISBN 0-521-63643-4 and...

Postcommunist Presidents. (Book Reviews).(Book Review)
July 1, 1999... Postcommunist Presidents. Edited by RAY TARAS. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997. Pp. 250. [pounds sterling]14.95/s 18.95 (paper), [pounds sterling]40/$54.95 (cloth). ISBN 0-521-58282-2 and -58765-4. Who governs? This time-revered...

Francois Mitterrand: A Study in Political Leadership, 2nd edition & The Mitterrand Years: Legacy and Evaluation & Grand Disillusion: Francois Mitterrand and the French Left. (Book Reviews).(Book Review)
July 1, 1999... Francois Mitterrand: A Study in Political Leadership, 2nd edition. A. COLE. London: Routledge, 1997. Pp.viii + 212, biblio., index. [pounds sterling]40 (cloth); [pounds sterling]14.99 (paper). ISBN 0-415-07159-3 and -16336-6. The...

Private Groups and Public Life: Social Participation, Voluntary Associations and Political Involvement in Representative Democracies. (Book Reviews).(Book Review)
July 1, 1999... Private Groups and Public Life: Social Participation, Voluntary Associations and Political Involvement in Representative Democracies. Edited by JAN W. VAN DETH. London and New York: Routledge, 1997. Pp.ix + 239, 12 figures, 58 tables, index....

The Nordic States and European Unity & The European Union and the Nordic Countries. (Book Reviews).(The Nordic States and European Unity; The European Union and the Nordic Countries)(Book Review)
July 1, 1999... The Nordic States and European Unity. By CHRISTINE INGEBRITSEN. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press, 1998, Pp.219, no biblio., index. NP. ISBN 0-8014-3484X. The European Union and the Nordic Countries. Edited by LEE MILES. London:...

European Political Thought, 1815-1989. (Book Reviews).(Book Review)
July 1, 1999... European Political Thought, 1815-1989. By SPENCER M. DI SCALA and SALVO MASTELLONE. Boulder, Colorado and Oxford: Westview Press, 1998. Pp.352, biblio., index. $47.50/[pounds sterling]42.50 (cloth); $l6.95/[pounds sterling]l2.50 (paper). ISBN...

Historical Dictionary of Socialism. (Book Reviews).(Book Review)
July 1, 1999... Historical Dictionary of Socialism. Edited by JAMES C. DOHERTY Lanham, Maryland and London: The Scarecrow Press, Inc., 1997. Pp.xvi + 395, biblio. $48 (cloth). ISBN 0-8108- 3358-1. One-third of this dictionary is taken up by a detailed...