Suchergebnisse

From 1980 to 1982 there were many conflicts between the youth movement & the authorities in Zurich, Switzerland. A study by H. Kriesi (Die Zuricher Bewegung. Bilder, Interaktionen, Zusammenhange [The Zurich Movement: Representations, Interactions, Correlations], Campus Verlag: Frankfurt am Main, 1984) revealed three different social images held by authorities, members of the youth movement, & others concerned. Here, a replication of this study is described in which Q-sort data were collected in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, where there is a youth movement of squatters, & the social situation is comparable to that of Zurich in some respects. Rs, who included squatters, local authorities, & others, were found to hold the same social images as found in Zurich, although squatters in Amsterdam do not seem to isolate themselves as much as in Zurich, & the authorities seem to tolerate more. A subsequent exploratory factor analysis of the Q-sort data supports the findings. 4 Tables, 3 Figures, 7 References. Modified HA

Switzerland's attitude toward the EEC is typical of the new foreign policy adopted by that country in 1947 under the heading "Neutrality & Solidarity." A number of centrifugal factors (the EEC is regarded as the center or the pole of attraction) have kept Switzerland out of the EEC although many other factors--economic & commerical, in particular, but also ideological, cultural, political, & geographic--tend toward closer ties with the EEC & have acted as "centripetal" forces. The main "centrifugal" factors were: Swiss neutrality, the federal system, & direct democracy, such economic elements as the fiscal & agricultural systems & especially psychological factors including attitudes & ideas concerning the EEC & the consequences of membership. Fear of bureaucratization & fear of infringement on individual liberties are greater stumbling-blocks than economic & political factors. Timely corrections & adaptations in the international commercial field (EFTA membership, advantages gained from the Kennedy Round, the 1972 Free Trade agreement with the enlarged EEC) have reduced the necessity to seek a closer relationship with the Community, Only drastic economic, social, & political changes in the evolution of the EEC or of Switzerland itself could bring about fundamental changes in the relationship between Switzerland & the EEC. Modified HA.

Using literature, documents and parliamentary debates in Britain, Germany, The Netherlands, Austria, and Switzerland, nine arguments for and against lowering the voting age to sixteen are distinguished and critically assessed. The assessment is based on criteria such as logical consistency and empirical validity. It is argued that most arguments can hardly be defended with these criteria. However, this does not mean that the case for lowering the voting age is weak. This would only be the case if a voting age of eighteen is considered as valuable in its own right. Adapted from the source document.

The replacement of grassroots environmental movements with institutionalized mass membership organizations in Western nations during the 1980s & 1990s is examined, hypothesizing that the degree of institutionalization is primarily determined by national political opportunity structure. An analysis of the environmental movements of the Federal Republic of Germany, the Netherlands, & Switzerland reveals that they are highly institutionalized in comparison to France. Moreover, it is demonstrated that different political opportunity structures generate international differences among highly institutionalized environmental movements. 10 Tables, 56 References. Adapted from the source document.

Majority rule has various applications. In parliamentary theory, it intervenes at the level of relations between assembly & gov, & again, in elections. We find it in democratic theory where the majority of the people must approve decisions of the constitutional organs. Finally, it is employed in the decisionmaking process of the assemblies, & it is this aspect which forms the object of the present study. Since antiquity the majority principle has been generally observed in the decisions of deliberating bodies; but it was not until the 16th cent that it triumphed in England & France. In Switzerland up to the 16th cent majority rule was in effect, disappeared for a while, & then reappeared after the transition from confederation to federation. In Holland, majority rule was applied with certain restrictions from the 16th cent on. Poland had the 'liberum veto' up to the beginning of the 19th cent. From a theoretical viewpoint, the jurists of the Middle Ages based their justification of majority rule on an old Roman adage, & Canon Law has also made an important contribution to this doctrine. The authors of the 18th cent elaborated a legal theory based on rational fictions & on the doctrine of the Social Contract in particular. Among the moderns, 3 principal schools can be distinguished: those who, with Duguit, give a utilitarian basis to the principle, those who see in it a sublimated power, particularly sociol'ts, & finally the theoreticians who accept the principle for ethical reasons. The problem has increased in importance with the existence of international org's where at present, the majority principle is applied only exceptionally. (Translated by Z. Dana from IPSA).