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From comparative research on the constitutional development in Central & Eastern Europe & also from the long-standing debate on whether parliamentarism or presidentialism best facilitates democracy, it is apparent that there has been & continues to be, a certain degree of confusion concerning the concepts of semi-presidentialism & presidentialism. Different scholars mean different things by the terms & therefore classify countries differently. In this article I argue that the conceptual dichotomy between pro-premiar (premier-presidentialism) & pro-president systems (president-parliamentary systems) provide the best solution to several of the problems related to categorizing constitutional types, most importantly perhaps to the presidential power dilemma. I, furthermore, employ these concepts on the post-communist constitutional systems & try to reveal patterns with regard to presidential power, geographical region & democratzsation. 6 Tables, 3 Figures, 51 References. Adapted from the source document.

Describes what the section Statsvetenskapliga forbundet includes in this edition of the journal Statsvetenskaplig Tidskrift. The section contains one article on internationalization of political science with the focus on European politology. This issue also contains a correction to a previously published article and a eulogy for docent Susan Marton. L. Pitkaniemi

The aim of the essay is to discuss notions of a European public sphere, partly against the findings in previous empirical studies, partly against the results from an analyses of how the bombings in Madrid 2004 were framed & discussed in four different newspapers, based in different countries. The discussion shows that there is no single answer to the question if a European public sphere exists or not. There are some empirical findings which indicate that, at least the conditions for, a public sphere in Europe exist, while other findings points in the opposite direction. One conclusion that can be drawn from this, it is argued, is that the answer will depend on the theoretical point of departure for the study, as well as how the public sphere is measured. Another conclusion in the essay is that we need more empirical studies, where a comparative approach is used. Tables, References. Adapted from the source document.

The main challenge faced by case study researchers is how to make the most of a rich & varied body of evidence. One way of achieving this goal is to use a combination of analytical strategies. This paper presents three case study strategies -- the periodization strategy, the process-oriented strategy, & the counterfactual strategy -- discussing the methodological problems involved & suggesting ways of combining the strategies in order to produce high-quality case study research. References. Adapted from the source document.

The article is a comment to an article appeared originally in European Political Science (2004) by Simon Hix from London School of Economics. In it, Hix ranks European Political Science Institutes according to their publication record 1993-2002, regarding quantity & impact. Swedish institutes ranked low (Uppsala Institute, the highest, in place 148). Different reasons for this evaluation are discussed, & the author proposes more articles published in English, more articles in international publications, & an increased presence in international conferences is suggested. A. Barral

The study outlined in the article has the goal of describe & explain the trend of increasing presidential character within the parliamentary system. The project consists of three parts: 1) a comparative quantitative analysis of European governments, 2) field studies of European governments, & 3) a normative evaluation of the empirical results. References. Adapted from the source document.

Discusses a coming research project on how the Soviet Union used soft economic power to increase their influence in other countries. The differences in spreading policy and ideas in democratic and communist systems are researched. Preliminary results indicate that decision making structures in youth organizations and workers unions in Europe come from different sources varying from communists to Christian democrats. L. Pitkaniemi

Introduces political psychology as a field that began in the early 20th century in the United States when Charles Merriam from the University of Chicago was researching how psychological factors are affecting political choices. In Europe political psychology has mainly been concerned with the reverse questioning: how politics are affecting psychology. Since the 1950's political psychology has been associated with analyzing and understanding international conflicts as is exemplified with Kelman and Fisher's research. L. Pitkaniemi

This article presents a way of dealing scientifically with the problem of comparison among dynamically evolving units of analysis in social science, namely by using methods from theoretical, computational & mathematical biology & phylogeny (evolutionary tree) analysis. First, the standard political science & static method of comparative analysis is criticized. Second, some important aspects of the dynamic comparison are presented from its multidisciplinary & historic context, commenting on the compatibility with evolutionary institutional as well as universal Darwinian theoretical perspectives. Third, dynamic comparison is approached using first techniques from standard social science statistical software (SPSS) & then from molecular genetics (MEGA, Molecular Evolutionary Analysis). Examples of evolutionary tree analyses of the European nations are presented & discussed. Similarities & dissimilarities between social science & biological applications of the dynamic comparison techniques are discussed, emphasizing the importance of openness to new techniques & application of panel data for elaboration of new methods of dynamic comparative analyses in social sciences. 2 Tables, 9 Figures, 68 References. Adapted from the source document.

The Swedish Social Democrats' coalition with the Left Party & the Green Party seems to be a departure from the party's unique position in Swedish politics. This article analyzes the Social Democrats' transformation from a minority ruling party to a coalition-forming party among others. If the transformation implies a substantial strategic shift, what is then behind it? The change is smaller than it might seem -- the coalition idea is far from new. The option has been considered before, but has for various reasons not been realized. The change of strategy can be explained as a tactical response to new circumstances, rather than as the result of drastic rethinking. Adapted from the source document.

In 1973, the Swedish Centre party managed to attract 25.1 per cent of the votes in that year's election. A quarter of a century later the once agrarian party hovered precariously close to the four per cent election threshold. During the long & unbroken decline, the party was a member of the center-right bloc -- yet was intermittently drawn to the Social Democrats. Throughout, it retained a strong focus on countryside, agrarian & environmental issues (with a particular emphasis on the decommissioning of nuclear power plants). By the late 1990s it was clear that the party's electoral strategy needed an urgent & comprehensive overhaul. In this effort we analyze this overhaul (including a rejection of left-leaning tendencies); its structural antecedents; its intrinsic success potential; & its, & the party's, future prospects. Adapted from the source document.

This article discusses the present negative evaluation of stereotypes. Do people who use stereotypes believe that a characteristic attributed to a group is categorical; that all members of group A have this trait? Empirical research & ordinary observations indicate that judgments are not so crudely made, but that people categorize in terms of probabilities. Therefore the rule "one should not generalize" seems unjustified. Further, such a view often endorses a strategy of correcting old stereotypes with the promotion of new stereotypes. The main problem is often not the negative view of others, but the idolized or victimized picture of the own group. The way to improve group relations according to the presented analysis is to become more tolerant to skeptical views of the own group. Knowledge about the universal human propensity for in-group preferences & honest statistics about actual differences will be helpful in this process. Adapted from the source document.

In Karl Popper's famous book, The Open Society and Its Enemies, appears the formulation social engineering. That is an unfortunate wording. There is nothing mechanical in Popper's political strategy. The keywords are rather piece-meal & trial & error. It is even possible to characterize Popper as -- up to a point -- anti-rationalistic. His warning that we should not think too much of our knowledge of the functioning of the social world & of our ability to make forecasts, reminds one of what a critic of the French Revolution like Edmund Burke had to say. We should start with the delivered institutions, diagnose what is working badly &, aware of possible error, try to improve it. That said, one is not surprised of meeting a strain of antipolitics in Popper's philosophy. Although Popper welcomes measures to clear away suffering & distress, it is uncertain how he would balance his negative utilitarianism against individual freedom. He is distrustful of political power. The idea that democracy gives the people the instrument of governing is an illusion. Democracy's point is to make it possible to dismiss a government (notice the parallel with his methodology, a government is a kind of hypothesis, the election an opportunity for falsification.) However, it is not Popper's political philosophy in a substantial meaning that makes him worth studying, but his theory of the critical discourse, a theory that is very relevant for a reformistic political strategy. The idea of the Popperian discourse is not to get the parties closer emotionally, not to reach a compromise, not even to convince, but for me to listen to & learn from the criticism of my hypotheses. People with divergent standpoints should not be kept out of the discourse, they should be welcomed. Popper admires Greek culture up to Socrates & he emphasizes its openness to influences from other cultures along the shores of the Mediterranean. That is in keeping with Popper's antinationalism. Nationalism fattens stupidity & is often the cause of devastating violence. In his later works Popper regularly uses an evolutionary model & his theory of language is no exception. He sets forth how the development of describing, language's third function besides expressing & warning, created the possibility of storytelling. Now, stories can be true & false, & that makes language's fourth function necessary, the function of argumentation, of proving or disproving of what has been said. Lying, however, is a wonderful invention. To lie, to say what is not, but could be true, is a nursery for fantasy & creativeness. 33 References. Adapted from the source document.