Suchergebnisse

Throughout the year the controversial legislative elections dominated the political landscape. Huge anti-government demonstrations that called in vain for political alternance. The legislative elections of 20 December 2018, boycotted by the major opposition parties, resulted in an easy victory of the ruling party, however without the expected constitutional amendment majority. Therefore, the prime minister and his cabinet were replaced. The local elections, crucial for democratization at the grass-roots, but postponed time and again since 1987, were again postponed in December 2018 sine die. Economic growth remained stable at about 5% per annum. Public investment in infrastructure (e. g. roads, harbour) and increases in agricultural productivity, notably of export crops, had been the key drivers of economic growth. Moreover, money-laundering, illegal money transfers and trafficking grew alarmingly. Unemployment and lacking political change caused increasing migration.

Monetary coordination is high on the agenda of different regional organizations in Africa. Economic benefits of a common currency, like lower transaction cost, increased macroeconomic stability, or the shielding of central banks against political pressure from nationalist elites and their inclination for excessive spending are undoubtedly expected. But the most important underlying aim of monetary integration in Africa is derived from its history, particularly the legacy of the slave trade and colonialism, and the subsequent strive for pan-African ideals, which has become manifest in the promotion of African unity in a crisis prone continent. However, whether it is feasible to achieve this ambitious political aim with economic means of regional economic and monetary cooperation, is open to question. Experts and the international donor community periodically caution about diverting attention from the most pressing needs of African countries by pursuing over-ambitious monetary policies. African governments should get the priorities right, i.e. they ought to implement first sustainable solutions to the problems of crisis resolution and prevention, the fight against corruption and rent-seeking elites, in order to promote good governance, transparency and accountability. The realities of African economies suggest that the grand new projects of monetary unions are unlikely to succeed. In addition, it is questionable whether economic, result-orientated reasoning and the discussion of monetary concepts (e.g. that of the Optimum Currency Area or of the Original Sin), which might be duly applied to Western or Latin American societies, have the same relevance in the African context.

The crucial intervening variable in the globalization & inequality-poverty matrix is asserted to be the role of national economic governance to create & sustain forms of national economic governments associated with the maintenance of institutional capacities. The author argues that strategic economic planning continues to be vital to the types of economic structure & forms of economic growth that are most conducive to reducing inequality & poverty. A brief historical narrative discusses the nature of state institutions & their relation to economic growth from the Weberian tradition of bureaucratic incompetence economic governance as related to the cases of South Korea & Malaysia. Recent scholarship of the dramatic poverty reductions in Korea have identified a consequence of improvements in economic growth without significant recourse to anti-poverty or redistribution policies that is contrasted with the explicit anti-poverty & redistribution of policies of the Malaysian development project. The historical contingencies that sustain an institutional apparatus capable of the effective management of the domestic economy in an age of globalization has had the unsurprising result of national development projects that have their own hearings to poverty, inequality, & a reduction of both. Although the conclusion that national economic governance is vital to reducing inequality & poverty runs counter to neoliberal theorizing, and it is a conclusion that demand serious attention from national & international agencies & from the development community at large. References. J. Harwell

"During their lifetime, political parties face a range of strategic dilemmas. Some involve the dilemma between vote, office and policy success (Strom 1990; De Winter 1998: 238-40). Some revolve around the exact nature of party goals, policies or coalition strategies. However, in some cases, parties also face some fundamental strategic and organisational choices about whether to become parties at all in terms of standing candidates at elections, establishing distinct party platforms and operating exclusive membership through an organisation that is independent of other political parties. As will be discussed below in the case of the Scottish National Party (SNP), such strategic and organisational choices are by no means straightforward but can involve vigorous internal debate, divisions and splits. Such choices might also not be one-off events, but rather recurrent due to fluctuating levels of electoral success and occasions when alternative strategies appear attractive. Both endogenous and exogenous factors are responsible for such developments in the life of a party, as they face strategic choices and organisational challenges (McAllister 1981: 238). To make sense of such strategic and organisational choices and their effect on party development, this chapter applies Pedersen's model of party lifespans to the SNP. It will examine the Impact of passing through Pedersen's different lifespan thresholds on SNP organisation (the party on the ground, party in central office and party in public office) and party goals. It will also focus on key events in relation to the SNP's success in passing the thresholds of representation and relevance/ governance, which came in 1999 in the shape of electoral reform and the establishment of the regional level of government in Scotland. In doing so, it recognises that Pedersen's model was a heuristic device (Pedersen 1982: 3), so that there will be no exact conceptual or chronological fit between the model and the SNP's political development. Indeed, the manner in which the SNP passes through the various thresholds is definitely not chronological or sequential, though it does occur at the national level of elections (1934-97) and only latterly at the regional level (1999-2007). In addition, the party's success in surpassing the various thresholds is accompanied by organisational growth and a level of institutionalisation, and without electoral alliances with other political parties, even when it formed the government in Scotland in 2007. Furthermore, in Pedersen's human terms, the party's birth and infancy lasted a relatively Jong time and it faced possible death in the 1950s and from 1979-84, only to experience a dramatic resurgence in the 1990s that led the party into minority government in the Scottish Executive in 2007. These latter facts illustrate its existence as a mature, electorally successful party within the autonomist party family." (author's abstract)

Controversial constitutional and institutional reforms voted in May 2019 in parliament opened the way for President Gnassingbé to stand for a fourth and fifth term because the law does not apply retroactively. In February 2020, the President won again the disputed presidential elections and thus consolidated his power, assisted by the loyal army and security services. The outbreak of the Corona epidemic in Togo in March and the subsequent economic recession may have contributed to limit popular protest against the Gnassingbé regime. The human rights record of the government has improved, but remains poor. Yet, the international community followed a 'laissez faire' approach in the interests of regional stability. The economy dropped into recession due to the worldwide economic negative effects of the corona-crisis. The democracy index of the Economic Intelligence Unit, London, still rated Togo as an 'authoritarian regime'.

Controversial constitutional and institutional reforms voted in May 2019 in parliament opened the way for President Gnassingbé to stand for a fourth and fifth term because the law does not apply retroactively. In February 2020, the President won again the disputed presidential elections and thus consolidated his power, assisted by the loyal army and security services. The outbreak of the Corona epidemic in Togo in March and the subsequent economic recession may have contributed to limit popular protest against the Gnassingbé regime. The human rights record of the government has improved, but remains poor. Yet, the international community followed a 'laissez faire' approach in the interests of regional stability. The economy dropped into recession due to the worldwide economic negative effects of the corona-crisis. The democracy index of the Economic Intelligence Unit, London, still rated Togo as an 'authoritarian regime'.

"In the paper the United Europe, in the shape of EU, is described, but also the 'cracks' ongoing inside it: first of all the European economic crisis that does not allow to practice a positive internal 'soft power', the lack of charismas of the EU elites, the mechanisms of government that weaken the capacity of EU to be effective (for example the rotation of the presidency, creeping internal colonialisms, and so on) are considered. Starting from this present scenario, scenarios for the future are worked out. We can define them in the following ways: 1) the pure catastrophic scenario: it sees the disappearance of the United Europe or this becomes an empty shell; 2) the realistic catastrophic scenario: it sees the United Europe to become an entity in which internal asymmetrical relations Lake form. completely open towards the strongest states and dose enough (for the circulation and rules) towards the internal peripheral or smaller states or more little, operating a kind of colonialism; 3) the realistic ideal scenario: it sees that the United Europe keeps the 'promises' made and the 'premises' from which it is born, except that its member states are still strong and their 'reserve of powers'. Outwards the EU always remains and keeps the features of an International Organisation; 4) finally the pure ideal scenario: it sees the transformation of the EU in a federal state, in which the sovereignty of the federate state remains more and more soft so much that it disappears, at least in the aspects of general coordination and of the management of the EU general policies. The discussion of the Tour scenarios verifies which of them will be carried out in the future: alter 10 years, 20 years, 30 years. 40 years. It is more likely that the gilt scenario occurs, that is a scenario that collects elements from each of the scenarios considered before and it assumes a further configuration with respect to those are forecast." (publisher's description)

"Labor unions are interest associations of workers in waged employment. They are formed to improve the market situation and the life chances of their members, by representing them in the labor market, at the workplace, and in the polity, and in particular by collectively regulating their members' terms of employment. Unions emerged in the transition to industrial society in the nineteenth century, together with the de-fedualization of work, the rise of free labor markets, and the commodification of labor. While employing modern means of formal organization, they represent an element of traditional collectivism in a market economy and society. Unions have taken a wide variety of forms and adopted different strategies in different historical periods, countries, and sectors. They are therefore favorite subjects of comparative social science." (excerpt)

Entgegen vielfältigen Prognosen hat die Bedeutung ethnischer Vergemeinschaftungen und Nationalitäten in den letzten Jahrzehnten nicht abgenommen. Die Propagierung ethnischer Vergemeinschaftung ist ein fester Bestandteil auch in westlichen industrialisierten Gesellschaften. Welche Gründe gibt es hierfür? Argument der Autoren ist, dass Ethnizität unter anderem auch deshalb in der Moderne präsent bleibt, weil sie nicht nur Prozessen der Kollektivierung, sondern auch Prozessen der Individualisierung förderlich ist, oder es doch zumindest in vielen Formen sein kann. Die diskutierte Annahme lautet, dass Ethnizität in arbeitsteiligen Gesellschaften die miteinander verschränkten Prozesse der Kollektivierung und Individualisierung befördert und deshalb stabiler Bestandteil der kollektiven Vorstellungen in arbeitsteiligen Gesellschaften ist. Diese These wird an zwei Beispielen entfaltet, zum einen an der Verbindung von Ethnizität und Nationalismus und zum anderen am Beispiel von Ethnizität und Migrationsbewegungen. Diese beiden Beispiele werden gewählt, weil Nationalstaaten eine der prominentesten Kollektivformen des 20. und 21. Jahrhunderts sind und Migration diese Form durchbricht bzw. auf ihr basiert. (ICA2)

"Theorists of international relations have laid out two elegant scenarios for the future of Western liberal order. A positive one where rising powers such as China are welcomed into existing institutions and eventually socialized into upholding liberal norms. And a negative one where liberal powers fail to adapt and the new pretenders seek to overturn the order and develop competing institutions. But as China and America face of in the messy reality of the international system, it is becoming increasingly clear that neither is likely to take shape. Seen from Beijing, there was never a binary choice between joining the institutions of the Western liberal order and developing parallel ones in China's image. The Chinese leadership has pursued a carefully calibrated strategy of joining universal institutions, seeking to minimize the constraints they would put an China and developing China-led institutions that exclude the West. Until recently Western states put more effort into reforming and bolstering the universal institutions that they created and only acted outside them in extremis. But faced with gridlocked global institutions, they are increasingly mirroring China's by-pass diplomacy and creating new groupings outside of the universal institutions. In the new order that is taking shape, universal institutions will continue to exist but they are increasingly seen as a transactional space rather than as a blue-print for global government. Most of the energy in the global system is going into a new generation of institutions forged by states with similar levels of development and similar histories. You can think of it as the rise of 'similateralism' - international organisations whose members have flocked together because of similar histories, incomes and levels of development. Rising powers joined Western-led institutions, but regard them with suspicion and work together in a series of 'post-colonial friendship' associations. The established powers - on the other hand - are disconcerted by their loss of control over the universal institutions and are increasingly flocking together into new communities of similar countries. This is creating a new Liberal archipelago of organisations - from the European Union to NATO and the TTIP - that enshrine the principles of the liberal order in new ways. Proponents of this approach argue that, if successful, these similateral institutions are simply a stepping-stone to universal ones. If they are successful, they will incentivize China and other rising powers to join them. But critics are more likely to see these institutions hollowing out the universal order. It is true that some of the dynamics resemble the self-segregation of advanced societies where - with the onset of universal institutions - the wealthy and the privileged have retreated into their own schools, hospitals and gated communities." (author's abstract)

Das Gesellschaftsmodell der westeuropäischen Nachkriegsepoche war Ergebnis des Versuchs einer doppelten Versöhnung: zwischen Demokratie und Kapitalismus und zwischen Arbeit und Kapital. In allen westeuropäischen Ländern räumte die tatsächliche Verfassung von Staat und Wirtschaft den organisierten Großklassen der Industriegesellschaft einen privilegierten Status ein: Dachverbände von Arbeitnehmern und Unternehmen bildeten eine "zweite Regierungsebene", mit der sich die demokratisch gewählte staatliche Regierung weite Bereiche der öffentlichen Macht teilte, letztlich diente dieses Arrangement vor allem der Institutionalisierung der Gewerkschaften in einem sozialstaatlichen und "partnerschaftlichen" Kontext. Der vorliegende Beitrag betrachtet diesen "Euro-Korporatismus" im Kontext sowohl der Geschichte der europäischen Integration als Teil der Geschichte des Nachkriegskapitalismus in Westeuropa, als auch der Interaktion zwischen europäischer und nationaler Ebene der Politikformulierung und politischen Entscheidungsfindung. Die These dabei ist, dass die Entwicklung des Integrationsprozesses ebenso wie die des modernen Kapitalismus die Vorstellung obsolet gemacht hat, ein geeintes Europa könne politisch nach dem Muster eines klassenkorporatistischen Tripartismus von Staat, Unternehmen und Gewerkschaften organisiert werden. Im Gegenteil hat die europäische Integration in der Gestalt des "neoliberalen Projekts" wirksam zur Auflösung klassenkorporatistischer Strukturen auf der nationalen Ebene beigetragen, insbesondere - wie gezeigt wird - zur Schwächung oder gar Entmachtung der Gewerkschaften. (ICA2)

Anhand der Beispielfelder Qualifikation, Entstandardisierung von Beschäftigungsverhältnissen und nachfrageseitige Entwicklungstendenzen stellen die Autoren dar, welche Veränderungen und somit neuen Herausforderungen es hinsichtlich der Erklärung und Erfassung arbeitsbezogener Berichtssysteme gibt. Das betrifft erstens die Dynamik der Entwicklung selbst, die angesichts des inhaltlichen Wandels von Arbeit Annahmen in Frage stellt. Zweitens schwindet mit der Entstandardisierung von Erwerbsverhältnissen die Reichweite der Aussagefähigkeit. Drittens werden durch die weitgehende Nichtberücksichtigung der "Nachfrageseite" des Arbeitsmarktes spezifische Veränderungen im herkömmlichen Untersuchungsrahmen immer weniger eine Erklärung finden. Insgesamt stellt sich die Frage nach der generellen Reichweite im Rahmen standardisierter Berichtssysteme. Auch inhaltlich-methodische Berichtssysteme sind angesichts der Entwicklungsdynamik und -differenzierung unzureichend. (prh)