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Im Rückblick auf die Entwicklung der europabezogenen Regierungs- und Verwaltungsforschung zeigt sich, dass sie während der vergangenen beiden Jahrzehnte von einer beeindruckenden Dynamik geprägt war. Die politikwissenschaftliche Debatte über die Erklärungskraft von Akteuren und Institutionen, Interessen und Ideen hat nicht nur die wissenschaftliche Diskussion der thematisierten Gegenstände befruchtet; sie wurde vielmehr von der Regierungs- und Verwaltungsforschung selbst erheblich befördert. Dabei ist ein lebhafter Dialog der theoretischen Perspektiven entstanden, welcher die traditionelle Gegenüberstellung akteurzentrierter und institutionalistischer Ansätze zunehmend obsolet erscheinen lässt. Der Eindruck eines dynamischen Forschungsfeldes verstärkt sich noch, wenn man den Erkenntnisfortschritten in eng verwandten Feldern, wie der Eliten- oder Parlamentarismusforschung oder auch der Parteien- oder Koalitionsforschung, Rechnung trägt. Der Fokus der Darstellung liegt auf dem internationalen, insbesondere englischsprachigen Schrifttum. Zwar bleiben nationale Traditionsbestände in der Politischen Wissenschaft nach wie vor von Bedeutung; die Disziplin internationalisiert sich aber rasch. Es ist deshalb auch schwierig, den spezifisch deutschen Anteil an der Fortentwicklung des Forschungsfeldes zu erfassen. Viele Arbeiten sind aus grenzüberschreitenden Forschungsprojekten entstanden; ausländische Forscher arbeiten an deutschen Zentren politikwissenschaftlicher Forschung, zumal im außeruniversitären Bereich; an führenden Einrichtungen der europabezogenen Regierungs- und Verwaltungsforschung, wie dem Europäischen Hochschulinstitut, sind deutsche Politikwissenschaftler in hervorgehobener Stellung tätig. Richtungsweisende theoretische Innovationen entstehen im internationalen Austausch, wenn auch die amerikanische Politikwissenschaft nach wie vor eine zentrale, allerdings nicht länger beherrschende Stellung einnimmt. Doch zeigt der Blick in die einschlägige Literatur, dass deutsche Wissenschaftler bei der Umsetzung und Fortentwicklung theoretischer Basisinnovationen in die europabezogene Forschung eine Führungsposition übernommen haben. Im Bereich der Forschung zur EU-Governance und zur Europäisierung wird dies besonders deutlich. (ICG)

"The federal ministerial executive is a dual institution, which combines the attributes of a government and an administration. European integration has affected these two qualities of the executive in different ways. On the administrative side, progressive integration has been associated with growing fusion, through which the ministerial administration becomes part of a closely interconnected multi-level system. By contrast, the governmental dimension of the executive is characterized by growing bifurcation. Government takes place at two levels -the European and the domestic- but institutional linkage between the two levels is limited and key features of German government-party government, coalition government, and parliamentary government-show few signs of Europeanization. The contrasting pattern of effects can be explained with reference to the differing opportunity structures within which officials and executive politicians operate. For officials, progressive integration provides opportunities for 'bottom-up' Europeanization, in that powers and responsibilities at the EU level can be used for bureau-shaping in the domestic context. Executive politicians, too, have to operate at both levels, but European opportunities and constraints translate only loosely into power gains and losses at the domestic level. The chief reason for this lies in the continued non-Europeanization of key actors and processes of domestic politics and democratic decision-making. The main proposition of this chapter may suggest an association between European integration and the bureaucratization of public policy-making. However, the effects on the politics-administration nexus are more ambivalent, since politics and administration cannot be neatly separated." (author's abstract)

"This introductory chapter critically examines the concept of Europeanization and uses it to explore the changing relationship between Germany and the EU. It argues in favour of understanding 'Europeanization' as a complex, interactive 'top-down' and 'bottom-up' process in which domestic polities, politics, and public policies are shaped by European integration and in which domestic actors use European integration to shape the domestic arena. Europeanization may produce either continuity or change and potentially variable and contingent outcomes. Previous work has stressed the capacity of Germany to shape European integration through the use of 'soft' power; the coincidence of enabling and restrictive effects arising from progressive integration; and harmonious co-existence and co-evolution between the German political system and the EU level. However, a focus on Europeanization provides grounds for re-examining the conventional wisdom about the domestic conditioning and effects of integration. It highlights how momentous changes in the European integration process are combining with domestic changes, summarized as the transition from the 'Bonn Republic' to the 'Berlin Republic', to situate Germany as part of a shrinking core and as marked by declining 'soft' power." (author's abstract)

This article introduces a special issue of West European Politics on the COVID-19 crisis. It first sets out the dual challenge to democratic principles and democratic performance that the COVID-19 pandemic has posed to European liberal democracies. Three bodies of scholarship are especially relevant in framing this dual democratic challenge: those that provide accounts of policy, institutional and legitimacy crises; accounts of the governance of emergencies and of emergency politics; and accounts of political turbulence and organisational and policy responses. The articles that comprise the special issue provide comparative empirical insights into first reactions, with a focus on the responses by political decision-makers, European publics and the EU. Assessments of the likely longer-term, potentially transformative effects of COVID-19 on the principles and performance of European liberal democracies will need to draw on both sectoral and systemic perspectives, with a focus on the organisation and operation of public authority and the state.

This paper analyses how the size and socio-economic diversity of their electorate affect parliamentarians legislative behaviour. We study the Australian senate, which wields considerable legislative influence and is marked by large differences in the size and socio-economic makeup of the districts that senators represent. We demonstrate that as the size of their district increases, senators ask more questions and introduce more bills and amendments. By contrast, senators become less active as the diversity of their electoral district increases. The paper thus establishes that size and diversity of electorates have significant effects on legislative behaviour. ; (VLID)5205911 ; Version of record