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With his concept "functional democratisation," Norbert Elias articulates how a specific type of "social equalisation" is connected to expanding interdependency networks and long-term civilising processes. This article initially focuses on connections between functional democratisation and informalisation, throwing new light on the wider framework of the theory of civilisation and informalisation, as well as on these processes themselves. These insights are followed by a discussion into how functional democratisation and informalisation are interconnected with social differentiation and integration as the two major process drivers of globalisation, thus illuminating directions of processes of civilisation, informalisation, and functional democratisation within the overall process of globalisation. Special attention goes to trends of differentiation and integration on the one hand, and integration conflicts or disintegration and defunctionalisation on the other. Considering from a global perspective which side of these opposing trends is dominant helps to clarify directions in processes of (in-)formalisation and of (de-)civilisation. In addition, it helps to explain the declining power and status of the West as a global establishment, and changes in the balance of power between national and international political and economic centres. Expanding global interdependencies have given rise to a variety of practical problems and theoretical questions - a major policy question among them: "How to steer clear of financial and/or political turbulence?" Issues such as economic crises, global migration, and populism, brought up major theoretical questions: "Have the driving processes of differentiation, integration, and increasing complexity of social functions stalled, changed direction, or ceased altogether?" In other words, "Have civilising processes changed direction?," an issue that was first raised in the turbulent 1960s and 1970s. Today, as strong spurts of globalisation give rise to feelings of loss and decline, it is reappraised once again in this paper.

"Faced with ongoing debates on globalisation, societal institutionalism in its traditional form is showing its limits. In this paper, we suggest that a serious sociologically grounded and institutional contribution to the ongoing debate on global governance calls for a shift in focus - away from the preoccupation with national configurations and towards an attempt at understanding transnational recombinations. The investigation of transnational recombination calls for new analytical tools. Here we argue that the solution may come from an hybridisation of NBS and VOC approaches with other variants of the institutionalist argument in particular those we label 'cultural' or 'phenomenological'. We elaborate on three aspects of institutional analysis that we identify as key to getting a better understanding of the relationship between globalisation and institutions. Firstly, we propose an interpretation of institutionalisation as a process and not a state of things. Secondly, we reinterpret institutional genesis and institutional change as revealing recombination. Thirdly, we argue for a more systematic analysis of the interplay of such processes of recombination across different levels of analysis, particularly the national and the transnational. With a conceptual framework so reformulated, it is possible to take in the transnational reality in its full complexity. We show, on the one hand, how the NBS and VOC perspectives are an interesting starting base to look at the structuration and stabilisation of the transnational reality. On the other hand, we gain new insights in the ways in which institution building and recombination at the transnational level become reflected - often progressively and somewhat incrementally - at the national business system level. Our proposition is that the succession and combination, over a long period of time, of a series of incremental and sometimes minor transformations could lead in the end to consequential and significant change." (author's abstract)

"Fifteen years ago, Katzenstein convincingly emphasized the specific features of small European states to cope with their external environment: international liberalization, domestic compensation and flexible adjustment to fluctuations of international markets through democratic corporatist institutions. Thus, small countries should be expected to be less vulnerable to the current trend of economic globalization, as they have previously been exposed to international competition, at least in product markets. Like other small European countries, Switzerland also developed some kind of compensation policies, which were quite different from the policies of other small European states, and favored mainly economic sectors producing for domestic markets. In the 1990's, the liberalization of domestic markets, in response to increasing external pressures, was one of the most important issues in Swiss politics. External pressures, and the changing political preferences of the export-oriented sectors, also triggered important changes in other social and economic policy domains. While much attention has been paid to the recent changes in Scandinavian countries, especially Sweden, the Swiss 'liberal-conservative model' also faced important changes in the recent period. In the paper, the author highlights in which ways the processes of globalization and 'europeanization' affect social and economic policies, which can be considered compensation policies. He analyses three main fields (labor market regulations, social policies and domestic regulations favouring domestic economic sectors) where changes occurred in the recent period." (author's abstract)

'Die berufliche Migration von Fußballspielern ist in letzter Zeit ein beliebtes Thema geworden. Sie hat seit ungefähr zehn Jahren nicht nur die Verfasser von Büchern und Zeitschriftenartikeln beschäftigt, sondern wird auch von Zeitungs-, Radio- und Fernsehjournalisten diskutiert. Die unterschiedlichen Meinungen zur Migration von Berufsfußballern werfen nicht nur ein Licht auf Fragen der politischen Ökonomie des Spitzensports, sondern auch der nationalen Identität, der Staatsbürgerschaft, der freien Arbeitsplatzwahl sowie der Inklusion bzw. Exklusion von 'Fremden'. Dieser Beitrag fasst zentrale Beiträge zu dem Thema zusammen und verbindet dies mit einer Analyse der zugrunde gelegten Globalisierungskonzepte. Er rückt unsere Wahrnehmung der beruflichen Migration von Fußballspielern zugleich in eine historische Perspektive. Im Kern entwickelt der Beitrag zwei Argumente: erstens, dass die Migration von Fußballspielern keine neue Entwicklung darstellt, sondern eine lange und komplizierte Geschichte hat; und zweitens, dass man sie sinnvollerweise nicht isoliert von der Analyse allgemeiner Migrationstrends und -muster betrachtet. Die geografische Mobilität von Fußballspielern von Land zu Land und von Kontinent zu Kontinent ist mithin nicht eine simple Reaktion auf die ökonomischen und politischen Machtverhältnisse im Weltfußball. Sie spiegelt vielmehr ein komplexes Beziehungsgeflecht zwischen bestimmten Ländern oder Ländergruppen wider - ein Beziehungsgeflecht, das vielfältige soziale, kulturelle und historische Verankerungen hat.' (Autorenreferat)

The article contributes to the discussions about global elites from a field-theoretical and empirical perspective. The examination of comparative biographical data on political and economic elites in two countries from the Global North (Germany and the US) and the Global South (Brazil and India) shows that elites in all four countries are globalizing. However, this process is strongly embedded in specific historic and socio-cultural structures of national fields of power. Emerging powers from the "Global South" seem to establish their own "schools of power" for the educational reproduction of their national elites. Therefore, speaking of a homogenous global elite is misleading and obscures the multiple conflicts between elite factions in national fields of power, as well as between national elites from different countries and world regions. Consequently, field-theoretical research on elites must be embedded in a comprehensive analysis of power, conflict, and class-relations on the national as well as on the global level of the capitalist world system.

Abstract
Statt Globalisierung als Basisprozess des späten 20. Jahrhunderts vorauszusetzen, sollte die Zeitgeschichte die Vorstellung einer Globalisierung als ein historisches Produkt der Jahrtausendwende untersuchen. Politisch gewann die Globalisierungsrede weitreichende Bedeutung. Die Regierungen Bill Clintons, Tony Blairs und Gerhard Schröders begründeten zentrale innen- und außenpolitische Reformvorhaben mit den Handlungserfordernissen einer sich rasch verflechtenden Welt. Dabei stützte sich die Politik im Namen der Globalisierung auf unscharfes Wissen, oszillierte zwischen Überzeugung und Strategie und beförderte im Ergebnis manche der Verflechtungen, mit denen ihre Notwendigkeit begründet worden war. So sehr politische Gegner diese Reformen bekämpften, teilten sie doch weitgehend die zugrunde liegenden Diagnosen.

This paper investigates the determinants and the spatial and functional dimensions of firms' outsourcing. Based on a large survey of manufacturing firms in Lombardy, the analysis shows that outsourcing is remarkably wide across sectors and has a clear regional dimension, concerning highly skilled firms at most. Offshoring is still a minor fraction of the deverticalisation process, largely related to wider strategies of internationalisation by foreign group subsidiaries at intermediate stages of the value chain. The evidence suggests the regional system is inserting onto global knowledge networks, but also points at the risk of "branch plant effects" in high tech segments.