Suchergebnisse

Die Autorin schildert die Grundzüge des französischen Staats- und Verwaltungsaufbaus, die Kompetenzverteilung zwischen den lokalen Gebietskörperschaften, die Struktur der kommunalen Interessenvertretung in Frankreich und die Repräsentation französischer Kommunalinteressen in Brüssel. Sie analysiert die Europafähigkeit französischer Kommunen anhand von zwei Beispielen und entdeckt in Frankreich ähnliche Tendenzen zu einer stärkeren Europäisierung der kommunalen Ebene wie in Deutschland. (ICG)

Die Varianz im internationalen Kriegsverhalten von Demokratien könnte durch die unterschiedliche demokratische Qualität der nationalen sicherheitspolitischen Entscheidungsverfahren erklärt werden. Wird Demokratisierung der Sicherheitspolitik als Parlamentarisierung konkretisiert, müssten sich Demokratien mit sicherheitspolitisch starken Parlamenten als kriegsaverser zeigen als solche mit sicherheitspolitisch schwachen Parlamenten, jedenfalls in den Fällen, in denen die Öffentlichkeit deutlich kriegsabgeneigt ist. Diese Hypothese vom parlamentarisch-demokratischen Frieden wird anhand von 25 europäischen Demokratien und ihrer Beteiligung am Irakkrieg 2003 überprüft, indem der Grad der sicherheitspolitischen Macht der Parlamente, das Ausmaß ihrer nationalen Kriegsbeteiligung und der Zusammenhang zwischen diesen beiden Faktoren bestimmt werden. Das Ergebnis bestätigt grundsätzlich den vermuteten parlamentarisch-demokratischen Frieden, macht zugleich aber auch weiteren Forschungsbedarf deutlich. (ICE2)

Aims: Several studies have found an inverse relationship between people's readiness to endorse biogenetic causal explanations of mental disorder and their desire for social distance from people with mental disorders. The aim of this study is to examine why this may be the case. Method: In the spring of 2001, a population survey was carried out among German citizens aged 18 years and older, living in private households. A total of 5025 interviews were conducted, reflecting a response rate of 65.1%. At the beginning of the personal, fully structured interview, respondents were presented with a vignette containing a diagnostically unlabelled psychiatric case history, either depicting a case of schizophrenia or major depressive disorder. Using five-point Likert scales, causal attributions as well as perceived dangerousness, fear and the desire for social distance were assessed. Results: The more respondents endorse a brain disease as a cause, the more dangerous they believe the person with schizophrenia or major depression to be. Respondents who perceive the individual in the vignette as being dangerous express a higher degree of fear and a greater preference for social distance from these individuals. As compared with brain disease, the relationships between heredity and perceived dangerousness are less pronounced for both disorders. Conclusions: Our analysis showed that endorsing biogenetic explanations decreases the likelihood of social acceptance of people with schizophrenia and major depression. Rejecting behavioural responses in the form of social distance desired from people with schizophrenia and major depression result from cognitive emotional processes in which biogenetic causal attributions are linked to lack of self-control, unpredictability and dangerousness, which, in turn, are associated with fear of these people.

Background: There are studies that either deal with the stigmatization patients anticipate or with patients' concrete stigmatization experiences. Up until now, however, research is short of studies that investigate both aspects of subjective stigmatization simultaneously. Aims: This study aims at investigating to what extent patients with schizophrenia or depression anticipate and experience stigmatization and how this is influenced by the type of mental disorder and the social environment. Method: A total of 210 patients with schizophrenia or a depressive episode were interviewed, one half living in a city and the other in a small town. Results: Most of the patients expect negative reactions from the environment, particularly as concerns the access to work. Concrete stigmatization experiences were most frequently reported in the domain of interpersonal interaction. Even though schizophrenia patients and patients with depression anticipated stigmatization similarly frequently, the former reported concrete stigmatization experiences more frequently than the latter. Conversely, patients living in a small town anticipated stigmatization more frequently than patients from the city, even though both had actually experienced stigmatization at a similar rate. Conclusion: The results underline the necessity to differentiate between anticipated and experienced stigmatization. This is highly relevant for planning interventions aimed at reducing the stigma of mental disorder.

Background: Patients who spend an above-average amount of time in inpatient care are termed heavy users. Up to this point, very little has been known about what drives these patients to their heavy use of inpatient treatment. Aim: For this reason, the present study investigates the causes for frequent inpatient admissions of heavy users from the perspective of the patients affected. Methods: Twenty heavy users who were identified in a quantitative preliminary study were interviewed using a qualitative analysis of the contents. Results: Heavy users housed in sheltered accommodation either experienced frequent inpatient stays because of their symptomatic burden, or because of poor integration in their residences. Among the heavy users living in private residences was a subgroup that compensated for the lack of support from the private sphere with frequent hospital visits. A second subgroup turned to hospital care only during acute relapse episodes. In a third subgroup, secondary substance abuse accounted for the high demand for inpatient treatment. Conclusion: Findings suggest that, using community-based psychiatric support offers tailored to the needs of the heavy user subgroups, inpatient treatment could be avoided.