Suchergebnisse

A review article on a book edited by Max Kaase & Winfred Schulz, Massenkommunikation: Theorien, Methoden, Befunde ([Mass Communication: Theories, Methods, Findings] Wiesbaden, Westdeutscher Verlag, 1989 [see listing in IRPS No. 63]). These collected essays document the state of research in mass communication & examine the relations between this field & the social, economic, political, & legal realms. Focus is on West Germany, with some reference to other European countries, the US, & Benin. Among the topics covered are dissemination of information, the role of broadcasters, political communication, theories of media effects, & methodologies. It is suggested that some articles are peripheral, & the work suffers from fragmentation. A lack of communication research in the areas of cinema & popular culture is indicated. 9 References. I. Shagrir

A commentary on the 1989 public sector labor negotiations in Quebec, contrasting the current situation with the 1972 negotiations. In particular, three trends are considered: (1) upheavals in public sector union negotiations on the issues of pay equity, an area that accentuates the disagreements between the unions; (2) a breakdown in the framework of orderly labor relations, brought about by legal & illegal union strike actions; & (3) fragmentation among unions based on a growing & problematic tendency of professional & technical groups toward abandoning commitment to common front action. It is argued that state spending cutbacks have caused much of the conflict in public sector labor relations, which is now occurring at higher levels than in private sector labor relations. C. Grindle

The functions of cities in societies are discussed in this essay, the specialized functions performed and the integration of functions. The cities are seen as marketplaces of ideas, attitudes, artifacts, and consequently, innovation; they are driving wheels of great cultures. Then the modem city is considered—as it emerges as a vast collection of "small towns" around a small urban center deserted by night with various islands of intense cultural activity. The question is raised: What will be the consequence of the loss of the city as it has developed during the 200 years of modern civilization in the West? Some speculations suggest an isolation of functions and elites, a growing social distance among them, and a situation conducive to fragmentation of culture.

AbstractThis article examines the impact of economic crisis on the process of regionalization in Belgium and the influence of both on the balance of centrifugal and centripetal forces in the Belgian political system. It argues that the usual approach to this suject, which identifies centripetal forces with the national government and centrifugal forces with regional governments, misses the possibility that important proponents of further fragmentation may be located at the national level. The economic crisis of the early 1980s did lead to an increase in centrifugal pressures in the system but not to an increase in the power of the new regional executives. Rather, it led to a major rearrangement of the economic policy-making process at the national level.

This essay explores two contrasting paradigms of collective action in the context of some observed anomalies in the development of the welfare states, focussing on private interest mod& of public expenditure growth versus models emphasising social choice and the degree of congruence between the political responsiveness of interest groups to the public expenditure crisis since the early 1970s, and the assumptions underpinning these models on political behaviour in the mixed economies. A bifurcation of the political system, resulting from the development of systems of functional interests representation alongside parliamentary and representative government, gives rise to a potential for strong governments to maintain regime support because of, rather than despite, the political fragmentation of majorities.

An examination of the impact of economic crisis on the process of regionalization in Belgium & the influence of both on the balance of centrifugal & centripetal forces in the Belgian political system. It is argued that the usual approach to this subject, which identifies centripetal forces with the national government & centrifugal forces with regional government, misses the possibility that important proponents of further fragmentation may be located at the national level. The economic crisis of the early 1980s did lead to an increase in centrifugal pressures in the system but not to an increase in the power of the new regional executives. Rather, it led to a major rearrangement of the economic policy-making process at the national level. 3 Tables, 1 Appendix. HA

The history & development of the concept of consociational democracy, proposed originally by Arend Lijphart (The Politics of Accommodation: Pluralism and Democracy in the Netherlands, U of California Press, 1968) are traced. The history of the Netherlands & interpretations of its politics predating Lijphart's are recounted. The state of comparative politics as a field is also outlined. Lijphart achieved a notable success, based on combining two theoretical foci: comparative elites, & the degree of fragmentation in political culture. Despite its substantial contributions, however, Lijphart's book is somewhat lacking in empirical evidence, being primarily analytical in focus & limited to a single case; moreover, its imitators sometimes fail to share its theoretical subtlety, making its influence not wholly favorable. W. H. Stoddard

IT WILL BE ARGUED IN WHAT FOLLOWS THAT FRENCH POLITICAL DISCOURSE WAS DOMINATED IN THE EARLY MODERN PERIOD BY TWO ESSENTIAL HISTORICAL 'DILEMMAS', WHICH NEVER FIGURED CENTRALLY IN ENGLISH HISTORY: A DIVIDED POLITY WHICH COULD NOT OVERCOME THE POLITICAL 'PARCELLIZATION' AND CORPORATE FRAGMENTATION OF ITS FEUDAL PAST; AND A STATE CONCEIVED AS A KIND OF PRIVATE PROPERTY, A RESOURCE FOR PRINCES AND OFFICE-HOLDERS, AN INSTRUMENT FOR EXTRACTING WHAT MIGHT BE CALLED A FORM OF RENT FROM DIRECT PRODUCERS, SPECIFICALLY PEASANTS, BY MEANS OF TAXATION. THE SET OF PROBLEMS ASSOCIATED WITH THIS POLITICAL CONFIGURATION SHAPED THE POLITICAL THOUGHT OF BOTH SUPPORTERS AND CRITICS OF ROYAL ABSOLUTISM AND PRODUCED A 'TRADITION OF DISCOURSE' THE CONTOURS OF WHICH ARE CLEARLY VISIBLE IN THE WORK OF ROUSSEAU.

THERE IS NO SINGLE PREVALENT 'MODERN SCHOOL OF POLITICS' in Germany. Territorial fragmentation in the federal system and pillarization of the political subcultures and intellectual camps has had its impact on the organization of political science in Germany after the Second World War.The new discipline had some roots in German intellectual history, though even the Deutsche Hochschule fur Politik (German Academy for Politics) out of which emerged the largest political science department in Germany, the Otto Suhr-Institute in Berlin, was no equivalent to the Ecole des sciences politiques in Paris or the London School of Economics and Political Science. Nevertheless the older German Staatswissenschaften had some impact on the founding fathers of American political science (Francis Lieber, J. W. Burgess, A. F. Bentley, and Charles Merriam).

ABSTRACTThis article explores relationships among income status, economic resources, service needs, and taxing policies for municipalities and schools in 39 metropolitan suburbs of the Milwaukee SMSA. The results indicate some modest support for those who are concerned about the impact of class and income clustering, as well as government fragmentation, on inequalities regarding local tax policy. Use of path analysis to explore some of the possible alternative linkages that account for patterns of fiscal inequality among suburban municipalities shows that fiscal disparities resulting from income clustering by jurisdiction is only partially attributable to resourse and need inequities. It might also be that income status, reflecting differing service preferences, operates directly to generate inter municipal fiscal disparities.

The federal form of government does not need a dual court system corresponding to the dual legislative and executive authorities. No such system was established at confederation. Yet a dual court system has now developed through the establishment and expansion of federal courts. The jurisdictional problems inherent in a dual court system have been exacerbated by recent decisions of the Supreme Court of Canada, forcing the fragmentation of litigation between the federal and provincial courts, and producing an unnecessary increase in the number of disputes which cannot be resolved in one lawsuit. This has occurred through the failure by the Supreme Court of Canada to accommodate its notions of federalism to the special nature of the administration of justice.

Post industrial tendencies indicate changes in the composition of the LF & changes in world view. Increasingly, work with affective content & existentially based ways of understanding can be found next to highly intellectual work & rational ways of thinking. Rationalism loses effectiveness as a guide to social action because it leads to fragmentation of the experienced world. Existentialism holds out the promise of synthesizing experience into a coherent image. Because planning involves the translation of knowledge into action, these changes in cultural values & ways of understanding call for innovations on planning theory. Challenges to rationalism require creating a new constitution for planning. Synthesis of rationalism & existentialism requires articulation of an existential planning theory. Embracing existing social conflicts is necessary for accomplishing both tasks. HA.

The Ixil differ from other Mesoamerican societies in their extensive ancestor worship and their absence of a belief in animal companion spirits. The historical and archaeological evidence shows Ixil continuity with the lowland Classic Maya with comparatively little change during the Postclassic. The conclusion is tentatively drawn that the lowland Classic Maya were ancestor worshipers, and that the predominant characteristic of those Postclassic changes outside IxU country which led to the demise of Classic ceremonial centers in some areas and the later fragmentation of political units in others, derived from a basic religious change which was reflected in a change in the use of the 260-day ritual calendar. The new religion opposed ancestor worship and introduced a depersonalized soul belief system.

Although ours is an age of transnational economic and political forces, itis even more an age of intense and intensifying nationalism. In fact, taken as a whole, the twentieth century has been a time of political fragmentation and disintegration. Much of the handiwork of political integration that characterized the nineteenth century has been undone and much else is under severe strain. The empires and multiethnic states that formerly provided order and unity over much of the globe have been destroyed. Once stable societies like Belgium, Canada, and the United States have become subject to severe internal strain. Yet despite the prevalence of this phenomenon, very few political scientists have studied from a systematic perspective the process of political disintegration.

The omnipresence of ethnic factors as a determinant in Nigerian politics during the first republic appears almost as a truism for Africansts today. The fragmentation of Nigeria into two units with the secession of Biafra on 30 May 1967 constitutes the most tragic and vivid manifestation of the consequences of ethnic confrontation. But in addition to these well-known ethnic-bloc politics at the macropolitical— Federal—level, competition based on ethnic groups also characterised the regional and local political systems. After all, the separate identities of such ethnic groups as the Ibo, the Yoruba, and the Hausa—Fulani only became relevant and generally accepted subsequent to the Introduction of a representative political system after World War II.