Suchergebnisse

The author looks into Habermas' theory of deliberative democracy in the context of the present-day debates on the theory of morals & politics. The starting point of Habermas' theory is his idea of discourse ethics. This is cognitivist ethics in the tradition of Kant, Rawis, Tugendhat & Apel that is built around the concept of normative correctness analogous to the descriptive notion of truth. This idea is best expressed by Kant's categorical imperative, according to which the validity of norms depends on their generalizability. Habermas, in line with Kant, is aware of the impossibility to rationally found universalist ethics. Instead of the final (deductive) foundations he offers the reflexion about the assumptions of a meaningful discourse i.e. the argumentation rules that must be respected if language communication is to be meaningful. Habermas' outline of the theory of law in his book Between Facts and Norms (Faktizirat und Geltung) builds on this moral-theoretical position. In modern society the function of law is to facilitate social communication: law is the legitimate framework of social communication on which the actors can rely. Habermas considers the specific link between human rights & popular sovereignty as the source of legitimacy. Human rights & popular sovereignty mutually condition each other & at the same time there is tension between them. The absolutization of individual rights makes democracy impossible since decision-making is obstructed; absolutization of popular sovereignty leads to the tyranny of the majority & the loss of rights. Habermas thinks that law can be legitimized by communicational mediation between the individual rights & popular sovereignty, in line with the principle that the claim to validity can only be laid by those norms that are approved of by all potentially affected individuals as rational discourse participants. Popular sovereignty is consistently procedurally interpreted. On the one hand, it is practised by means of public discourses & on the other through decision-making processes within democratically structured political institutions. The two dimensions of legitimizing law are different yet complementary: public discourses take place in civil society, political decisions are made in democratic institutions of the state. This is also an outline of the specific position of Habermas' political theory of deliberative democracy. It is equally distant from the model of liberal democracy which emphasizes possessive individualism & the protection of citizens' private interests, & from the republican democratic model that emphasizes political participation of active citizens. The theory of deliberative democracy emphasizes the importance of civil society: It is a sort of a practical verification of discourse ethics. Civil society is a sphere of autonomous public communication that is complementary to state administration but cannot substitute it. Communication power is exercised in the "siege mode" i.e. multiple discourses of civil society should contribute to the rationality & legitimacy of the decisions made by the political system, but do not have to replace them nor expose them to populist pressures. 2 Figures, 16 References. Adapted from the source document.

The author looks into Habermas' theory of deliberative democracy in the context of the present-day debates on the theory of morals & politics. The starting point of Habermas' theory is his idea of discourse ethics. This is cognitivist ethics in the tradition of Kant, Rawis, Tugendhat & Apel that is built around the concept of normative correctness analogous to the descriptive notion of truth. This idea is best expressed by Kant's categorical imperative, according to which the validity of norms depends on their generalizability. Habermas, in line with Kant, is aware of the impossibility to rationally found universalist ethics. Instead of the final (deductive) foundations he offers the reflexion about the assumptions of a meaningful discourse i.e. the argumentation rules that must be respected if language communication is to be meaningful. Habermas' outline of the theory of law in his book Between Facts and Norms (Faktizirat und Geltung) builds on this moral-theoretical position. In modern society the function of law is to facilitate social communication: law is the legitimate framework of social communication on which the actors can rely. Habermas considers the specific link between human rights & popular sovereignty as the source of legitimacy. Human rights & popular sovereignty mutually condition each other & at the same time there is tension between them. The absolutization of individual rights makes democracy impossible since decision-making is obstructed; absolutization of popular sovereignty leads to the tyranny of the majority & the loss of rights. Habermas thinks that law can be legitimized by communicational mediation between the individual rights & popular sovereignty, in line with the principle that the claim to validity can only be laid by those norms that are approved of by all potentially affected individuals as rational discourse participants. Popular sovereignty is consistently procedurally interpreted. On the one hand, it is practised by means of public discourses & on the other through decision-making processes within democratically structured political institutions. The two dimensions of legitimizing law are different yet complementary: public discourses take place in civil society, political decisions are made in democratic institutions of the state. This is also an outline of the specific position of Habermas' political theory of deliberative democracy. It is equally distant from the model of liberal democracy which emphasizes possessive individualism & the protection of citizens' private interests, & from the republican democratic model that emphasizes political participation of active citizens. The theory of deliberative democracy emphasizes the importance of civil society: It is a sort of a practical verification of discourse ethics. Civil society is a sphere of autonomous public communication that is complementary to state administration but cannot substitute it. Communication power is exercised in the "siege mode" i.e. multiple discourses of civil society should contribute to the rationality & legitimacy of the decisions made by the political system, but do not have to replace them nor expose them to populist pressures. 2 Figures, 16 References. Adapted from the source document.

Machine generated contents note: Foreword -- by Uwe E. Reinhardt -- Acknowledgments -- Preface to the Second Edition --1 Introduction -- 1.1 Why Should the Economics of Health Be Reconsidered? -- 1.2 Purpose of the Book -- 1.3 Outline of the Book -- 2 Market Competition -- 2.1 The Traditional Economic Model -- 2.1.1 Consumers -- 2.1.2 Producers -- 2.1.3 The Economy as a Whole -- 2.1.4 Pareto Optimality and Social Welfare -- 2.2 Problems with the Traditional Model -- 2.2.1 Negative Externality: Concern About Status -- 2.2.2 Positive Externality: Concern About Others -- 2.2.3 Consumer Tastes Are Predetermined -- 2.3 Implications for Health Policy -- 2.3.1 Does the Distribution of Income Affect the Health of the Population? -- 2.3.2 Equalizing Access to Health Services -- 2.3.3 What Comes First: Allocation or Distribution? -- 2.3.4 Competition and Prevention -- 2.3.5 Government-Sponsored Health Education -- 2.3.6 Should Cost Control Be a Public Policy? -- 3 Demand Theory -- 3.1 The Traditional Economic Model -- 3.1.I Utility and Social Welfare -- 3.I.2 Revealed Preference -- 3.1.3 Demand Curves and Functions -- 3.1.4 The Meaning of Demand and Consumer Surplus --3.2 Problems with the Traditional Model -- 3.2.1 Social Welfare and Consumer Choice: A Syllogism -- 3.2.2 Are Individual Utilities Maximized When People Are Allowed to Choose? -- 3.2.3 Is Social Welfare Maximized When Individual Utilities Are Maximized? -- 3.3 Implications for Health Policy -- 3.3.1 Is Comprehensive National Health Insurance Necessarily Inefficient? -- 3.3.2 Should Patient Cost-Sharing Be Encouraged, or Should We Use Other Policies? -- 3.3.3 Should People Pay More for Price-Elastic Services? -- 3.3.4 Defined Contribution, Premium Support, and MSAS --4 Supply Theory 129 -- 4.1 The Traditional Economic Model -- 4.2 Problems with the Traditional Model -- 4.2.I Are Supply and Demand Independently Determined? -- 4.2.2 Do Firms Have Monopoly Power? -- 4.2.3 Do Firms Maximize Profits? -- 4.2.4 Do Increasing Returns to Scale Exist? -- 4.2.5 Is Production Independent of the Distribution of Wealth? -- 4.3 Implications for Health Policy -- 4.3.1 Capitation and Incentive Reimbursement -- 4.3.2 Issues Surrounding Patient Cost-Sharing -- 4.3.3 Allowing Only Selected Hospitals to Provide Particular Services -- 4.3.4 Improving Productivity by Providing Insurance -- 5 Equity and Redistribution 171 -- 5.1 The Traditional Economic Model -- 5.2 Problems with the Traditional Model -- 5.2.1 Overview of Utilitarianism -- 5.2.2 Problems with Ordinal Utilitarianism --5.3 Implications for Health Policy -- 5.3.I Providing Health Services Rather than Cash -- 5.3.2 Focusing on People's Health, Not Utility -- 5.3.3 National Health Insurance -- 6 The Role of Government 201 -- 6.1 Alternative Views on the Role of Government -- 6.1.1 Market Failure -- 6.1.2 Government Failure -- 6.2 Different Approaches to the Role of Government in the -- Health Services Sector -- 6.2.1 Structure of the System -- 6.2.2 Nature of Coverage and Delivery -- 6.2.3 Regulation of Prices and Expenditures -- 6.2.4 Regulation of Volume -- 6.2.5 Control of Input Supply -- 6.3 Cross-National Data on Health System Performance -- 6.3.1 Access -- 6.3.2 Utilization -- 6.3.3 Expenditures -- 6.3.4 Quality and Satisfaction -- 6.3.5 Equity of Financing System -- 6.3.6 Summary of Evidence -- 6.4 Ten "Lessons" on the Role of Government in Health Systems --7 Conclusion 271 -- Appendix: Overview of the Health Services Systems -- in Ten Developed Countries -- by Miriam J. Laugesen and Thomas Rice 275 -- References 306 -- Index 335 -- About the Author 342

The aim of this article is to explore the bargaining process of the EU Financial Perspective 2007-2013 & to provide the conceptual explanation of the particular result of this bargaining. Although quite a number of drafts have been discussed among member states, three of them characterize the most important turns of the bargaining: Commission's Proposal, the Luxemburg's Compromise & the Decision of the European Council. Andrew Moravcsik's Liberal Intergovernmental Approach has been applied as the methodological tool for the analysis of the EU Financial Perspective 2007-2013. Moravcsik assumes that European bargaining is a two level game. A two level game is a metaphoric concept describing how the interaction between the domestic pressure groups & decision makers formulates national preferences & how political leaders on the European level represent those national preferences. On both levels pragmatic economic interests are the driving factors of different actors. It should be emphasized that states are the main players in EU arena, whereas supranational institutions play a supporting part. Five different groups or informal coalitions could be found in the recent bargaining for the Financial Perspective. The key interest of rich member states (UK, Germany, Netherlands, Austria, Sweden, & France) was to decrease EU spending -- to cut the contributions to the EU budget. Phasing out states (Italy, Spain, Portugal, Greece) as former major beneficiaries of EU structural policy strived to diminish financial losses in the new Financial Perspective. Poorer Central European countries (Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Czech Republic & Hungary) fought for the structural funds. Finally, the UK was alone against the rest of member states which called for the radical review of the British rebate. The comparative statistical & qualitative analysis of those proposals revealed two important trends in the bargaining. First, the EU spending was cut in every turn. Second, the funds for the rich member states were redistributed at the expense of the poorer member states. Certainly, such redistribution did not change the fact that the older member states remained the net contributors & the poor Central European countries gained more benefits compared to the previous Financial Perspective 2000-2006. Besides these two main tendencies the phasing out states succeed to increase the funds for their undeveloped regions & the final Decision of the European Council offered for the UK the most favorable mechanism counting the British rebate. The article reveals the weaknesses of the popular geopolitical interpretations which were proposed in order to explain the strong clashes between member states. The geopolitical & ideological discourse was aimed at neutralizing the domestic pressure. The economic logic to pay less & get more was the dominant thinking in the bargaining for the European financial pie. The asymmetrical interdependence which was the main source of bargaining power during the previous intergovernmental negotiations on Common Market is obsolete in explaining the modalities of redistributional policies. The effect of relative power was limited to the bargaining strategy, however it did not make a remarkable impact to the final agreement. On the contrary, the typical net recipient is a small & poor member state. The author has to come to the conclusion that the poor Central European countries states were forced to support the cuts of the budget & suffered a relative defeat in the bargaining, since they were the main beneficiaries of the common EU budget. It means that the poor Central European countries were the most interested to reach an agreement as soon as possible in order to avoid the risk of facing the EU financial turbulences. For this reason their bargaining power was very weak. Adapted from the source document.

ist of maps -- Preface -- List of acronyms -- Introduction -- References -- Social movements and revolutions -- Revolutionary movements: critical factors -- Revolutions that failed -- Theories of revolution -- Summary -- References and further readings -- The russian revolutions and Eastern Europe -- Geography and population -- The setting for revolution -- The Russian social democratic party -- The attempted revolution of 1905 -- The revolutions of 1917 -- Assessing the Bolshevik seizure of power -- The Civil War -- Leadership struggle -- The Soviet Union under Stalin -- The Russian Revolution: long-term consequences -- The Soviet Union and revolution in Eastern Europe -- The Solidarity movement and the roots of conflict in post-communist party states -- The disintegration of the Soviet Union -- Russian economic and political trends -- Corruption -- Health and related issues -- The disintegration of Yugoslavia and the tragedy of Bosnia -- Summary and analysis -- Russian revolutions: chronology of major events -- References and further readings -- Selected DVD, film, or videocassette documentaries -- Revolution in China -- Geography and population -- Social and historical settings for revolution, -- The development of the republican movement -- War in China -- The People's Republic of China: 1949-1990 -- The great proletarian Cultural Revolution: 1966-1968 -- Post-1978 reforms -- The 1989 prodemocracy demonstrations -- China's economic and political systems in the 1990s -- China's economic success relative to the former USSR -- Morality and the future of the Chinese revolution -- China's progress, problems, policies, and plans for the future -- Summary and analysis -- Chinese revolution: chronology of major events -- References and further readings -- Selected DVD, film, or videocassette documentaries -- The Vietnamese Revolution -- Geography and population -- Early cultural and political characteristics -- French conquest -- The French impact on Vietnam -- Resistance to French rule -- The impact of World War II -- Insurrection -- The French Indochina War: 1946-1954 -- The 1954 Geneva Accords on Indochina -- U.S. involvement in Vietnam: 1954-1975 -- Aftermath and related developments -- Summary and analysis -- Vietnamese revolution: chronology of major events -- References and further readings -- Selected DVD, film, or videocassette documentaries -- The Cuban revolution -- Geography and population -- Prerevolutionary political history -- Economy and social classes -- Revolution -- Revolutionary Cuba -- U.S. reactions to the revolution -- Cuba and revolution in Latin America and Africa -- Cuba and Venezuela's Bolivarian revolution, and the democratic shift to the left in Latin America -- Cuban economy and political system, -- Summary and analysis -- Cuban revolution: chronology of major events -- References and further readings -- Selected films and videocassettes -- Revolution in nicaragua -- Geography and population, 205 -- Nicaragua before the revolution -- The revolution -- Postrevolutionary government, changes, and conflicts -- U.S. and world reactions to the revolution -- Peace agreement and 1990 election -- Nicaragua in the 1990s -- Why were republican administrations so hostile? -- Nicaragua after the Violeta Chamorro presidency -- Summary and analysis -- Nicaraguan revolution: chronology of major events -- References and further readings -- Selected DVD, film, or videocassette documentaries -- The Iranian revolution and Islamic fundamentalism -- Geography and population -- National culture -- The Qajar Dynasty and foreign influence -- The Pahlavi Dynasty -- The setting for revolution -- The revolutionary process -- Revolutionary Iran -- Iran after Khomeini -- Iran and the Gulf War -- Iran and Islamic revolution elsewhere -- Iran, Afghanistan, the War on Terror, and the U.S. led invasion and occupation of Iraq -- Summary and analysis -- Iranian revolution: chronology of major events -- References and further readings -- Selected DVD, film, or videocassette documentaries -- Islamic revolutionary movements -- Historical background of Islamic fundamentalism -- Fundamentalism, millenarianism and revolutionary potential in Shia Islam -- Contemporary revolutionary fundamentalism in Sunna Islam: hamas, al -- Qaeda, Taliban, Hamas of Palestine -- Al Qaeda and transnational revolution -- Taliban of Afghanistan -- The war in Iraq -- Iraq war: nationalist insurgents -- Iraq war: Sunni Islamic insurgents -- Iraq war: Shia fundamentalists -- Iraq war: the future of Iraq? -- Summary and analysis -- Islamic revolutionary movements: chronology of major events -- References and further readings -- Selected DVD, film, or videocassette documentaries -- South Africa -- Geography and population -- Dutch and British colonization -- The Union of South Africa -- The Apartheid state -- Changes in the Apartheid system -- Opposition to Apartheid -- Counterinsurgency strategies of the regime in the 1980s -- Reforming Apartheid -- The dismantling of Apartheid, 320 -- South Africa after Apartheid: economy, aids, crime, and politics -- Summary and analysis -- South Africa: chronology of major events -- References and further readings -- Selected DVD, film, or videocassette documentaries -- Conclusions -- Some comparisons among the case studies -- Inadequacies in the theories of revolution -- Revolutions of the future? -- References and further readings -- Rental sources -- About the book and author