Suchergebnisse

In sharp contrast to the 2003 election (when the Christian Democrats were able to form a single party government), the 2008 Hessian state election led to a return of 'Hessian Peculiarities'. The 2008 election was dominated by polarizing campaigns (based on the issues of education, social justice, and crime) fought between two opposing blocs (Christian Democrats/Liberals vs. Social Democrats/Greens), each willing to form a coalition of its own. In the course of the campaign, the Social Democrats (lead by Andrea Ypsilanti) were gaining ground and increasing pressure on the Christian Democrats (and its prime minister Roland Koch). In the end, the Social Democrats were able to increase their vote share considerably, while the Christian Democrats were faced with massive losses -- although they were still Hessia's largest party by a very small margin. The liberals came in third, pushing the Greens aside. The Leftist Party was able to enter Parliament for the first time. The polarization of Hessia's party system precluded the formation of a grand coalition, no other two-party-coalition had a majority in Parliament, and three-party-arrangements could not be agreed on. Given that, the ruling Christian Democrats stayed in office as a caretaker government, which in turn lead the Social Democrats -- contrary to their campaign promises -- to take steps to install a red-green minority government tolerated by the Leftist Party. Such attempts were launched twice, but both failed due to the refusal of individual Social-Democratic MPs to follow. In the end, the dissolution of Parliament was accepted by all parties as the only feasible alternative. Adapted from the source document.

Twelve months after the preceding election, Hessian voters were again called to the polls. In the absence of any other feasible coalition option, the second election within a year became necessary after two failed attempts to form a red-green minority government supported by the Leftist party. Individual social-democratic MPs had refused supporting such a coalition. Hesse then saw a short, but not very intense campaign. Following the Social Democrats' disaster in forming a government, they experienced yet another disaster on election night, facing tremendous losses from which mostly the Greens & the Liberals (and not so much the Christian Democrats) benefited. Also, the Leftist Party was able to re-enter Parliament, while turnout was somewhat lower than before. As an overall result of the election, the Hessian state parliament was more fractionalized than ever before. Still, Christian Democrats & Liberals obtained a stable majority and -- following rather short negotiations -- agreed to form a coalition; Roland Koch was re-elected as the prime minister. The formation of this coalition also impacted federal politics: The "Grand Coalition" in Berlin can now no longer count on a stable majority of its own in the Bundesrat, but is dependent on the support of state governments ruling with third parties instead. Adapted from the source document.

War die Justiz der Weimarer Republik auf dem rechten Auge blind? Für die Strafjustiz liegen zahlreiche Arbeiten vor, die diese Thesen bestätigen. Die vorliegende Studie geht der Frage nach, wie Zivilgerichte in der Weimarer Republik reagierten, wenn sie mit Fällen antisemitischen Wirtschaftsboykotts konfrontiert wurden. Kern der Arbeit ist eine Nachzeichnung der Rechtsprechungsentwicklung vom ersten überlieferten Zivilurteil zum Boykott aus dem Jahr 1925 bis zu den von der nationalsozialistischen Machtübernahme im Januar 1933 vereitelten Versuchen, einen Boykottfall zur grundsätzlichen Entscheidung vor das Reichsgericht zu bringen. Dabei werden vor allem Akten des Archivs des Berliner Hauptbüros des Centralvereins deutscher Staatsbürger jüdischen Glaubens (CV) ausgewertet. Die untersuchten Entscheidungen zeigen, dass das Zivilrecht nicht resistenter gegen undemokratische und antisemitische Einstellungen war als das Strafrecht. Ein ernüchterndes Ergebnis der Untersuchung ist, dass deutsche Juden dort, wo sie nicht Akteure im Diskurs um den Antisemitismus waren, keinen hinreichenden Schutz vor antisemitischem Boykott erlangen konnten. (Quelle: Text Verlagseinband / Verlag)

"Dieser Beitrag untersucht, ob und inwieweit das regionale Verhältnis von betrieblichen und schulischen Berufsausbildungen die Ausbildungschancen von ausländischen und einheimischen Jugendlichen in Deutschland und der Schweiz beeinflusst. Betriebliche und schulische Berufsausbildungen unterscheiden sich durch ihre Selektionsverfahren bei der Bewerberauswahl. Berufliche Vollzeitschulen berücksichtigen stärker die bisher erbrachte Schulleistung. Sie zeichnen sich im Vergleich zu den Ausbildungsbetrieben durch einen höheren Formalisierungsgrad aus, was deren Bewerber eher vor benachteiligenden ethnischen Zuschreibungen schützt. Sofern Jugendliche mit Migrationshintergrund über ausreichende Schulabschlüsse verfügen, sollten ihre Ausbildungschancen daher zunehmen, je höher der regionale Anteil der vollzeitschulischen gegenüber dualen Angeboten ausfällt. Diese Hypothese wird an verschiedenen Datensätzen Deutschlands (Mikrozensus) und der Schweiz (Zensus, TREE) vergleichend überprüft. Die Ergebnisse sprechen für komplexe Benachteiligungslagen, mitunter eine Ethnisierung von Ausbildungschancen durch das Ausbildungsangebot: Ausländische Jugendliche, insbesondere Männer, haben in stark dual geprägten Systemen auch bei Kontrolle der Schulabschlüsse schlechtere Ausbildungschancen. In stärker vollzeitschulisch geprägten Systemen wird ihnen der Zugang zur Ausbildung häufig wegen ihrer im Vergleich zu den Einheimischen niedrigeren Schulabschlüsse verwehrt." (Autorenreferat)

This article examines the impact of management attitudes towards human resource management (HRM) practices on the presence of works councils in German small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Based on a survey among executives of German SMEs, the key result of a logit regression analysis is that managers' attitudes towards key HRM practices have a strong impact on the prevalence of the works council in German SMEs. In particular, positive management attitudes towards individual employee participation and direct supervision seem to be detrimental for the institutionalization of works councils. The results suggest that there is more diversity and management choice regarding the institutions of industrial relations than generally expected in the case of German firms.

Since unification, the debate about Germany's poor economic performance has focused on supply-side weaknesses, & the associated reform agenda sought to make low-skill labor markets more flexible. We question this diagnosis using three lines of argument. First, effective restructuring of the supply side in the core advanced industries was carried out by the private sector using institutions of the coordinated economy, including unions, works councils & blockholder owners. Second, the implementation of orthodox labor market & welfare state reforms created a flexible labor market at the lower end. Third, low growth & high unemployment are largely accounted for by the persistent weakness of domestic aggregate demand, rather than by the failure to reform the supply side. Strong growth in recent years reflects the successful restructuring of the core economy. To explain these developments, we identify the external pressures on companies in the context of increased global competition, the continuing value of the institutions of the coordinated market economy to the private sector & the constraints imposed on the use of stabilizing macroeconomic policy by these institutions. We also suggest how changes in political coalitions allowed orthodox labor market reforms to be implemented in a consensus political system. Tables, Figures, References. Adapted from the source document.