Suchergebnisse

The four state-like entities on the territory of the former Soviet Union that emerged about twenty years ago have successfully defended their precarious independence until today. However, we still know very little about the internal political developments in these de facto states, because so far most research has focused on the regional and international dimensions of the now "frozen" secessionist conflicts which brought them into being. The authors of this issue argue that it is high time to have a closer look at the developments inside these de facto states for several reasons. First, in order to understand whether there is mutual dependence between internal political structures and processes and the chances of international recognition. Second, the post-Soviet de facto states are model cases for internal transformation or even democratization efforts as a strategy of internal and/or external legitimacy building. Finally, the issue proves that the reluctance of academia to analyze the political systems of these entities for fear of legitimizing regimes that do not deserve it is not reasonable: the post-Soviet de facto states are fully grown states for all but international recognition – they are not supposed to disappear because we refuse to admit this fact.

Von den "Grenzen der Verfassung" ist seit dem frühen 19. Jahrhundert die Rede. Dieser Sonderband widmet sich in interdisziplinärer Perspektive der Frage, ob und in welcher Weise der Grenzbegriff für die verfassungspolitische Analyse systematisch fruchtbar gemacht werden kann. Dabei wird gezeigt, dass moderne Verfassungen nicht nur selbst aktiv Grenzen ziehen, sondern sich auch ihrerseits vielfältigen Grenzziehungen gegenüber sehen. Diese Grenzen werden von den politik- und rechtswissenschaftlichen Beiträgen dieses Sonderbandes systematisch unter die Lupe genommen. Vier Grenzziehungen werden näher untersucht: die Grenzen der Verfassungsgebung, die Grenzen der Effektivität und Präzision von Verfassungen, die Grenzen der Legitimität von Verfassungen und die nationalstaatlichen Verfassungsgrenzen. Darüber hinaus werden die zentralen methodischen und inhaltlichen Fragen diskutiert, denen sich die Verfassungsforschung mit Rückgriff auf den Grenzbegriff zukünftig widmen sollte.Mit Beiträgen vonHubertus Buchstein, Annette Förster, Verena Frick, Michael Hein, Ran Hirschl, Nils J. Janson, Christina Kamm, Uwe Kranenpohl, Oliver W. Lembcke, Matthias Lemke, Felix Petersen, Susanne Pickel, Theresia Smolka, Toralf Stark, Silvia von Steinsdorff, Simone Szczerbak, Manon Westphal, Fabian Wittreck

Contrary to what is often assumed, members of the German Bundestag do not only use the plenary debates for issuing pre-fabricated statements or advertising party positions to an imaginary public but they also refer to each other and enter into a direct discourse on con­tent . In an innovative long-term study, this article examines all speech shares on ecological topics in the chancellor's budget debates (EP 04) since the eighth legislative period . By com­bining quantitative and qualitative content-analytical methods, it shows how discourse coali­tions develop and change within and between parliamentary groups . Not only did the ecol­ogy issue continuously take up more space in the budget debates but content alliances developed across factional boundaries, with the CDU/CSU and the Greens in particular converging over time and partly taking up each other's arguments . The second readings on EP 04 provide a very good basis for comparison in this regard as they depict the antagonism between government and opposition annually in a largely unchanged framework, which allows to control possible intervening variables .