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For several decades now, advanced economies across the globe have been undergoing a process of rapid transformation towards becoming knowledge economies. It is now widely recognized that intangible capital has been a crucial element in the growth performance of these economies and their firms. The term serves as a useful device for capturing those dimensions of capital that are not tangible in nature but are nevertheless fundamentally important for growth. It encompasses investments in education (human capital) and in informal (social capital) and formal (rule of law) institutions by the public sector and households, as well as investments by businesses aimed at enhancing their knowledge base, such as software, innovative property, and economic competencies. Intangible Capital and Growth is the first of two open-access volumes presenting a selection of the author's essays on Labor Productivity, Monetary Economics, and Political Economy. This first volume brings together eight of the author's essays, selected with the aim of providing an overview of his research to date on intangible capital and growth

The long-term sustainability of the euro and the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) depends heavily on their ability to attract widespread public support. The support shown for the euro throughout its first two decades has helped to shield it against populist attempts at the national level to dismantle the common currency. It has granted political legitimacy to the presidents of the European Central Bank to do "whatever it takes" whenever a serious crisis has threatened the viability of the euro. Public Support for the Euro is the second of two open-access volumes presenting a selection of the author's essays on Labor Productivity, Monetary Economics, and Political Economy. This second volume brings together eleven of the author's essays, selected with the aim of providing an overview of his research to date on public support for and the economics and political economy of the euro and EMU

Foundations and mechanisms of Islamophobia in the West. Islamophobia as a Form of Radicalisation discusses the scope and fragmented boundaries of Islamophobia as a concept and a sociopolitical reality. The fifteen chapters of this collection cover and connect interdisciplinary research, media content analysis, media discourse analysis, ethnographic research, intersectoral advocacy work, and action research conducted in Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Poland, Portugal, and Spain. Confronted with an Islamophobia that is growing as a symptom of broader societal malaise in the West, a resistance against it is also arising. It is now a question of better understanding the foundations and mechanisms of this metasolidarity and resistance. Islamophobia as a Form of Radicalisation offers recommendations for urgent consideration by Muslim citizens of Canada and Europe, media professionals, civil society and academic stakeholders, policymakers at the municipal, provincial and federal levels

Klappentext: We are witnessing a worldwide resurgence of reactionary ideologies and movements, combined with an escalating assault on democratic institutions and structures. Nevertheless, most studies of these phenomena remain anchored in a methodological nationalism, while comparative research is almost entirely limited to the Global North. Yet, authoritarian transformations in the South - and the struggles against them - have not only been just as dramatic as those in the North but also preceded them, and consequently have been studied by Southern scholars for many years. This volume brings together the work of more than 15 scholar-activists from across the Global South, combining in-depth studies of regional processes of authoritarian transformation with a global perspective on authoritarian capitalism. With a foreword by Verónica Gago

Klappentext: Zahlreiche bürgerliche Revolutionäre haben im 18. Jahrhundert die Demokratie begrifflich aufgewertet. Mit diesem Wandel ging aber ein zweiter einher: Die Demokratie wird zur repräsentativen Form umgedeutet, was dem demokratischen Prinzip jedoch entgegen steht. Repräsentationssysteme sind mit einer aristokratischen Rekrutierung des Amtspersonals per Wahl und der Abgabe politischer Macht an Repräsentanten nur eine elitäre "Alternative". Philip Dingeldey analysiert diese fundamentale Umdeutung der Demokratie, die mit einem aristokratischen Republikkonzept verbunden ist und keine Weiterentwicklung der klassischen Demokratie mit der direkten, freien und gleichen Selbstgesetzgebung der Bürgerschaft darstellt.

Populists and the Pandemic examines the responses of populist political actors and parties in 22 countries around the globe to the COVID-19 pandemic, in terms of their attitudes, rhetoric, mobilization repertoires, and policy proposals. The responses of some populist leaders have received much public attention, as they denied the severity of the public health crisis, denigrated experts and data, looked for scapegoats, encouraged protests, questioned the legitimacy of liberal institutions, spread false information, and fueled conspiracies. But how widespread are those particular reactions? How much variation is there? What explains the variation that does exist? This volume considers these questions through critical analysis of countries in the Americas, Europe, Asia, and Africa, by leading experts with deep knowledge of their respective cases. Some chapters focus on populist parties, others on charismatic populist leaders. Some countries examined are democracies, others autocracies. Some populists are left wing, others right wing. Some populists are in government, others in opposition. This variation allows for a panoramic consideration of factors that systematically influence or mediate populist responses to the pandemic. The book thus makes a unique contribution to our understanding of the intersection between two of the most pressing social and political challenges of our time. The book will be of interest to all those researching populism, extremism, and political parties and those more broadly interested in political science, public policy, sociology, communications, and economics

This book addresses the consequences of legitimacy in global governance, in particular asking: when and how do legitimacy crises affect international organizations (IOs) and their capacity to rule. The book starts with a new conceptualization of legitimacy crisis that looks at public challenges from a variety of actors. Based on this conceptualization, it applies a mixed-methods approach to identify and examine legitimacy crises, starting with a quantitative analysis of mass media data on challenges of a sample of 32 IOs. It shows that some, but not all organizations have experienced legitimacy crises, spread over several decades from 1985 to 2020. Following this, the book presents a qualitative study to further examine legitimacy crises of two selected case studies: the WTO and the UNFCCC. Whereas earlier research assumed that legitimacy crises have negative consequences, the book introduces a theoretical framework that privileges the activation inherent in a legitimacy crisis. It holds that this activation may not only harm an IO, but could also strengthen it, in terms of its material, institutional, and decision-making capacity. The following statistical analysis shows that whether a crisis has predominantly negative or positive effects depends on a variety of factors. These include the specific audience whose challenges define a certain crisis, and several institutional properties of the targeted organization. The ensuing in-depth analysis of the WTO and the UNFCCC further reveals how legitimacy crises and both positive and negative consequences are interlinked, and that effects of crises are sometimes even visible beyond the organizational borders

In Southeast Europe, the Balkans, and Middle East, scholars often refer to the "peaceful coexistence" of various religious and ethnic groups under the Ottoman Empire before ethnonationalist conflicts dissolved that shared space and created legacies of division. "Post-Ottoman Coexistence", interrogates ways of living together and asks what practices enabled centuries of cooperation and sharing, as well as how and when such sharing was disrupted. Contributors discuss both historical and contemporary practices of coexistence within the context of ethno-national conflict and its aftermath.This title was made Open Access by libraries from around the world through Knowledge Unlatched

This book explores processes of legitimation and delegitimation of global governance institutions (GGIs). How, why, and with what impact on audiences, are GGIs legitimated and delegitimated? The book develops a comprehensive theoretical framework for studying processes of (de)legitimation in global governance and provides broad comparative analyses to uncover patterns of (de)legitimation processes. It covers a diverse set of global and regional governmental and nongovernmental institutions in different policy fields. Variation across these GGIs is explained with reference to institutional setup, policy field characteristics, and broader social structures, as well as to the qualities of agents of (de)legitimation. The approach builds on a mixed-methods research design that uses both quantitative and qualitative new empirical data. Three main interlinked elements of processes of legitimation and delegitimation are at the center of the analysis: the varied practices employed by different state and non-state agents that may boost or challenge the legitimacy of global governance institutions; the normative justifications that these agents draw on when engaging in legitimation and delegitimation practices; and the different audiences that may be impacted by legitimation and delegitimation. This results in a dynamic interplay between legitimation and delegitimation in contestation over the legitimacy of GGIs

Digitization is transforming our world economically, culturally, and psychologically. The influx of new forms of communication, networking, and business opportunities, as well as new types of distraction, self-observation, and control into our societies represents an epochal challenge. Following Bernard Stiegler's concept of pharmacology, Felix Heidenreich and Florian Weber-Stein propose to view these new forms as digital pharmaka. Properly dosed, they can enable new self-relationships and forms of sociality; in the case of overdose, however, there is a risk of intoxication. In this essay, Felix Heidenreich, Florian Weber-Stein, and, in a detailed interview, Bernard Stiegler analyze this complex change in our world and develop new skills to use digital pharmaka

Klappentext: Wie steht es um den Staat im "digitalen Zeitalter"? Der Wandel des Staates in der Leistungsdimension und der Staatlichkeit in der Steuerungsdimension ist eher die Regel als eine Ausnahme. Für die 1990er-Jahre wurde er mit dem Modellwechsel vom "intervenierenden Leistungsstaat" zum "kooperativen Gewährleistungsstaat" als Transformation beschrieben. Im Angesicht der "Digitalisierung" und weiterer Megatrends zeigen sich die nächsten tiefgreifenden Wandlungsprozesse. Samuel Greef beleuchtet den neuen Mix aus Steuerungsformen und -instrumenten sowie eine hybridere Leistungserbringung, welche die Gestalt des Staates in unterschiedlichen Politikfeldern prägen. Sein Fazit: Deutschland befindet sich heute auf dem Weg zum "kontingenten Patchworkstaat".

"Indigeneity" has become a prominent yet contested concept in national and international politics, as well as within the social sciences. This edited volume draws from authors representing different disciplines and perspectives, exploring the dependence of indigeneity on varying sociopolitical contexts, actors, and discourses with the ultimate goal of investigating the concept's scientific and political potential

Die Aufnahme Tausender »Fremder« im Sommer 2015 wurde medial euphorisiert als »deutsches Wunder« beschrieben. Die Geflüchteten selbst tauchten in dieser Perspektive kaum auf. Dem Narrativ der »Willkommenskultur« folgte ein Wechselbad der Diskurse hin zum drohenden Staatsversagen, der Belastungsgrenze oder sexueller Übergriffe. Dabei ging es primär um die Befindlichkeit der Nation und der »Flüchtling« wurde zum Verursacher nationaler Bedrängnisse. Uwe Becker analysiert diese Diskurse und zeichnet nach, welche Narrative sich im »langen Sommer der Flucht« aufgebaut haben. Dabei zeigt er auf, wie sie im kollektiven Gedächtnis ruhen, jederzeit aktivierbar sind und bis heute eine restriktive Flüchtlingspolitik legitimieren