Suchergebnisse

Examines the improvement in women's educational attainment across cohorts & its influence on the process of family formation in West Germany, based on data from the German Socioeconomic Panel, a representative longitudinal database for the former West Germany. An exponential model is used to specify the rates of entry into marriage & motherhood as a function of time-constant & time-dependent covariates. It is found that women's average levels of educational attainment have steadily risen from one birth cohort to another, & enrollment in the educational system has extended over the life-course. It is concluded that women's educational attainment accounts in part for changes in family formation. 10 Tables, 3 Figures, 27 References. M. Wagner

The chapter describe the development of political education and political didactics in schools, showing it to be a process of increasing professionalization having grown resulted from various political influences. The beginnings of political didactics and the school subject of politics are presented. This is followed by a description of the phase of professionalization of political didactics and teacher education through the establishment of chairs of political didactics at institutes of political science. The next section traces the politicization and depoliticization of didactics and of the teaching of politics. Then the didactic moves to a variety of new normative questions. The current situation is characterized by a new phenomenon - the start of a theoretical development. The different theoretical considerations on the subject-specific competences of teachers and pupils are discussed. In addition, the first systematically collected empirical findings on theoretically postulated dimensions of competence are presented.

"Encouraging innovations that can improve governmental effectiveness requires three changes in the Federal Republic's public policymaking process. First, appropriate guiding principles (for example, subsidiarity, targeted action, and the primacy of political over administrative considerations) are needed. Second, a problem-oriented approach must include joint discussions among various levels of government, action based on politically determined agendas, and enhanced governmental capacity to steer political programs. Third, a comparative framework is needed. But for idea-producing institutions to have any positive effects, they must have access to the political leadership, which may require involving the latter in the thought processes entailed in systematic innovation." (author's abstract)

The remarkable openness of German society to the forces of globalization in the post-WWII era is noted, along with ways that cultural changes have been differentially manifested in & experienced by the Eastern & Western halves of the now-united nation. Economic, political, & social factors impacting the cultural mentality of each region & their impacts on cultural developments are explored. Then, findings from research efforts carried out in Frankfurt & Constance are presented that illuminate the dimensions of cultural globalization in both East & West Germany in terms of (1) the diffusion of the lingua franca of the global managerial elite ("Davos" culture) among German business managers; (2) the traditions, current perspectives & position, & visions for the future of German intellectual elites; & (3) the emergence of German cultural self-representations in mass media & events. K. Hyatt Stewart

Corruption is most commonly viewed as an economic issue & associated with countries that remain poor despite natural resources or highly educated labor forces. It has been defined as using a privileged position for economic gain. It is argued that this common view is too narrow. The history of the idea of corruption shows that it is only in the last 50 years that corruption has been associated so much with economics. This focus has obscured or even exacerbated other types of corruption in the political process. Minimizing economic corruption or reducing government may not be the best solution to the broader problem. M. Pflum

"This chapter reviews the current state of German family policy with a special focus on rights and obligations. It identifies the peculiarities of family policies in the formerly socialist East and in the conservative-familist West. German unification merged two contrasting models of family policy: the East German dual-earner model and the West German male breadwinner model. While family policy in East Germany expected both mothers and fathers to work full-time, West German family policy was based on ideas of different but equal and complementary gender roles. East Germany employed measures to increase fertility rates and support having children. Pre-unification West Germany, in contrast, had continuously rejected pro-natalism. The authors will argue that unified Germany is heading towards a third policy model that has more in common with the East German model than the family policy model of former West Germany. Sustainable family policy (Nachhaltige Familienpolitik), as this third model has been called by politicians, conceives of children as society's future assets; it seeks to encourage childbearing by supporting parents to balance work and family responsibilities, and attempts to reduce child poverty by increasing maternal employment." (author's abstract)