Abstract This contribution examines the role of business magnates ("oligarchs") in political transitions away from competitive authoritarianism and towards either full authoritarianism or democracy. Based on 65 cases of competitive authoritarian regimes named in the academic literature, 24 historical cases with politically active business magnates are identified for further investigation. The analysis shows that in about half of those cases business magnates do not have a distinct impact on political regime change, as they are tightly integrated into the ruling elites. If they do have an impact, they hamper democratization at an early stage, making a transition to full democracy a rare exception. At the same time, a backlash led by the ruling elites against manipulation through business magnates makes a transition to full autocracy more likely than in competitive authoritarian regimes without influential business magnates.
In Kasachstan kam es 2019, insbesondere im Umfeld der Präsidentenwahl im Juni, zu größeren Protesten. Der Einfluss der Demonstrationen auf die politische Haltung der Bevölkerung hängt aber davon ab, inwieweit und in welcher Form die Medien des Landes darüber berichten. Der vorliegende Beitrag untersucht deshalb die Berichterstattung wichtiger Printmedien und Online-Nachrichtenportale über die Proteste. Zum Vergleich wird auch die Darstellung in deutschsprachigen und russländischen Tageszeitungen vorgestellt.
The number of economy-related country rankings has been steadily increasing. By one account the number of global performance indices has risen from less than 50 in 1999 to over 150 only 15 years later (The Economist 2014). Most economy-related rankings take the model of free, market-based competition as a reference point and then measure how closely specific countries approach this ideal. In addition to general assessments of the quality and competitiveness of economic systems, the evaluation of business environments has gained special attention as it is seen as a major precondition for investment and economic growth. Some rankings have a developmental background and focus on socio-economic conditions. Others look at specific aspects linked to the economy, like corruption or environmental problems. Taken together, these rankings broadly examine economic systems and economic developments among the world's countries. In their methodological approach, most rankings combine statistical data and expert assessments in order to construct an index. The index is divided into several subdivisions and, for each subdivision, suitable indicators are selected. For subdivisions, which cannot fully be measured using statistical data, expert assessments are added. In the extreme, the UNDP's Human Development Index relies solely on statistical data, while the World Bank's Worldwide Governance Indicators include only expert assessments. A special case is the World Bank's "Ease of Doing Business" ranking, which assesses the regulatory environment for the initiation and operation of a local firm (in terms of money, time and number of required administrative acts). In a similar methodological approach, the Open Budget Index offers a systematic quantitative assessment of the transparency of state budgets. It is important to note that many rankings change their results and methods retrospectively. The World Bank, for example, has changed the method of the Doing Business ranking in 2009, 2012 and again in 2014. In the following three years each ranking incorporated further changes. Each methodology expansion was recalculated for one year to provide comparable indicator values and scores for the previous year. Another important point, when working with the rankings, is that the year indicated in the ranking usually refers to the year of publication, not to the year which is being assessed. For example, the 2018 Doing Business Ranking refers to data as of June 2017.
Am 11. Mai 2014 haben die selbst-erklärten Volksrepubliken in Donezk und Luhansk Referenden über ihre Unabhängigkeit abgehalten. Der vorliegende Text erläutert die verschiedenen Kritikpunkte an den Referenden, die sich auf Völkerrecht und demokratische Standards beziehen, und gibt eine kurze Einschätzung der Lage.
Am 11. Mai 2014 haben die selbst-erklärten Volksrepubliken in Donezk und Luhansk Referenden über ihre Unabhängigkeit abgehalten. Der vorliegende Text erläutert die verschiedenen Kritikpunkte an den Referenden, die sich auf Völkerrecht und demokratische Standards beziehen, und gibt eine kurze Einschätzung der Lage.
