West European Politics articles from October 2003

West European Politics archives from October 2003

From stability to stagnation: Germany at the beginning of the twenty-first century.
October 1, 2003... Among political and economic elites as well as in public opinion a sense of malaise has spread across Germany since the mid-1990s, after the initial enthusiasm about German unification, the end of the Cold War and the acceleration of European...

German unification and 'model Germany': an adventure in institutional conservatism.
October 1, 2003... At first glance, Germany appears to have benefited extraordinarily from the collapse of East European communism. With the accession of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) to the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) on 3 October 1990, Germany was...

Germany and European integration: a shifting of tectonic plates.
October 1, 2003... Alone among post-1871 German states, the Federal Republic has been internally stable and a contributor to wider European stability. At the foundation of the Federal Republic in 1949 this outcome looked extremely unlikely. Its future trajectory...

New ways of life or old rigidities? Changes in social structures and life courses and their political impact.
October 1, 2003... According to widely shared views, there have been profound discontinuities in the social structures of advanced societies during the last several decades. To mention but a few: the expansion of the service sector, technological advances and...

The crumbling pillars of social partnership.
October 1, 2003... Stable relations of mutual recognition, institutionalised co-operation and regulated conflict between organised labour, organised business and government were core elements of the post-war political economy of West Germany. Social partnership...

Political-economic context and partisan strategies in the German federal elections, 1990-2002.
October 1, 2003... Policy preferences articulated by German voters on the political demand side have evolved from 1990 to 2002 and so have policy options offered by competing German parties on the supply side. But have they changed in such ways as to facilitate...

The changing role of political protest movements.
October 1, 2003... Politics in the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) has never been exclusively characterised by established elites and institutionalised collective actors such as political parties and interest groups? Social and political movements have come...

The disintegration of organised capitalism: German corporate governance in the 1990s.
October 1, 2003... In comparative perspective, the consensus-oriented political system of Germany is not susceptible to radical policy shifts. Constancy and continuity are also key features of the German economic system, which in the past was regarded as a role...

The state of the welfare state: German social policy between macroeconomic retrenchment and microeconomic recalibration.
October 1, 2003... From the start, Germany's welfare state served as a model, particularly in continental Europe, and substantially influenced social policy development. The issue at the heart of Bismarck's social reforms was the Arbeiterfrage. (1) The...

The politics of citizenship in the new republic.
October 1, 2003... For a long time, the German politics of citizenship was characterised by a defensive approach maintaining that 'Germany is not a country of immigration'. This was supposed to render unnecessary all efforts to change the rules of the games of...

Political Institutions in the Federal Republic of Germany.(Book Review)
October 1, 2003... By MANFRED G. SCHMIDT. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003. Pp.vii + 287, 10 tables, references, index. 15.99 [pounds sterling] (paper) ISBN 0-19-879259-4. This is the first introduction to the political system of the Federal Republic of...

Deliberate Discretion? The Institutional Foundations of Bureaucratic Autonomy.(Book Review)
October 1, 2003... By JOHN D. HUBER and CHARLES R. SHIPAN. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002. Pp.304, index, biblio. 17.95 [pounds sterling] (paper) ISBN 0-521-52070-3; 47.50 [pounds sterling] (cloth) ISBN 0-521-81744-7. In this book, Huber and...

El control politico de la Administracion.(Book Review)
October 1, 2003... Edited by JORDI MATAS. Barcelona: Institut de Ciencies Politiques i Socials, 2001, Pp.161. 9 [euro]. ISBN 84-8334-303-7. The three o'clock news presenter in the public Television Espanola changes with every new prime minister. This anecdote...

Great Transformations: Economic Ideas and Institutional Change in the Twentieth Century.(Book Review)
October 1, 2003... By MARK BLYTH. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002. Pp.xii + 284. index. 15.99 [pounds sterling] (paper) ISBN 0-521-81176-7; 40 [pounds sterling] (cloth) ISBN 0521-01052-7. Great Transformations is a significant book in at least two...

The Euro: European Integration Theory and Economic and Monetary Union.(Book Review)
October 1, 2003... Edited by AMY VERDUN. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, 2002. Pp.xiv + 282. 19.95 [pound sterling] (paper) ISBN 0-7425-1884-1; 57 [pound sterling] (cloth) 1SBN 0-7425-1883-3. The 14 essays in this edited volume tackle three...

Developing European Regions? Comparative governance, policy networks and European integration.(Book Review)
October 1, 2003... By MAURA ADSHEAD. Aldershot: Ashgate, 2002. Pp.vii + 197, 5 tables, biblio., index. 42.50 [pound sterling] (cloth) 1SBN 0-7546-1965-6. This clear, thorough and well-written book seeks to strengthen the literature on multilevel governance by...

Scotland in Europe: a Study of Multi-Level Governance.(Brief Article)(Book Review)
October 1, 2003... By AMANDA SLOAT. Oxford: Peter Lang, 2002. Pp.264. 27 [pound sterling] (paper) ISBN 0-8204-5613-6. Amanda Sloat's publication emerges in the context of substantial scholarly activity on the subject of Scotland and Europe. She cover ground...

Telecomunicaciones y politica en Estados Unidos y Espana (1875-2002). Construyendo mercados.(Book Review)
October 1, 2003... By OLGA GIL. Madrid: Centro de Investigaciones Sociologicas/Siglo XXI, 2002. Pp.xlix + 296. 10 [euro] (paper) ISBN 84-7476-336-3. This book is a valuable resource for anyone engaged in the study of comparative telecommunications policy...

The New Regulatory State in Germany.(Book Review)
October 1, 2003... By MARKUS M. MULLER. Birmingham: Birmingham University Press, 2003. Pp.x + 248, index, biblio. 19.95 [pound sterling] (paper) ISBN 1-902459-19-9. We are said to live in the age of the regulatory state. This shift is said not only to have...

The Haider Phenomenon in Austria.(Book Review)
October 1, 2003... Edited by RUTH WODAK and ANTON PELINKA. New Brunswick: Transaction Publishers 2002. Pp.xxvii + 253, index. 57.50 [pound sterling] (cloth) ISBN 0-7658-0883-8. Shadows over Europe: The Development and Impact of the Extreme Right in Western...

Immigration Policy and the Challenge of Globalization: Unions and Employers in Unlikely Alliance.(Book Review)
October 1, 2003... By JULIE R. WATTS. Ithaca; Cornell University Press, 2002. Pp xi + 182, 6 figs, 4 tables, biblio, index. $35 (cloth) ISBN 0-8014-3938-8. Even though labour unions may have been initially hostile to immigrant labour as a potential cause of...

Coming in from the Cold War: Changes in U.S.-European Interactions Since 1980.(Book Review)
October 1, 2003... Edited by SABRINA P. RAMET and CHRISTINE INGEBRITSEN. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 2002. Pp.256. 21.95 [pound sterling] (paper) ISBN 0-7425-0017-9; 57 [pound sterling] (cloth) ISBN 07425-0016-0. Given the current climate of...