The paper analyses the new architecture of global governance which is characterised by unaccountable international institutions and scattered sovereignties. It examines the dilemmas of civil society actors (social movements and NGOs) involved in protecting the rights of local communities through...

The ruling by the German Constitutional Court in the famous “Ludin” headscarf case permits the federal states (Bundesländer) to rearrange the treatment of religious symbols in public space (i.e. schools) and to adjust the complex relationship between state and religion in Germany. Based on...

Um Menschenwürde und die Freiheit des Individuums zu wahren, muss jedem Menschen die Chance gewährt werden, am Zustandekommen politischer Entscheidungen zu partizipieren. Im transzendentalen Tausch erkennen Individuen gegenseitig an, dass sie ein rationales, wohlüberlegtes Interesse am Zugang...

In this article we examine the role of right-wing parties in framing and mobilizing national identity against European integration. Using a multi-level analysis and combining individual-level and contextual data, we analyze public support for European integration within the Western European...

Many studies show that political participation at the individual level is fragmented, multidimensional and non-cumulative, but comparison of 22 nations in Europe shows that different kinds of social and political participation at the country level are cumulative, unidimensional. The result is a...

This paper is an exploratory analysis of the efficacy of parliamentary representation as a means to moderate ethnic conflict in new democracies. We agree with many others that the interests of an ethnic minority group are better protected when the group has access to decision makers, can block...

Democracy is feasible in multinational states. Substate nationalism in Europe has grown stronger, not weaker, during the last decades. And this has taken place because of democracy and not in spite of it. The cohabitation of democracy and nationalism is guaranteed by the establishment of...

This paper takes up the familiar question of how one can explain support for European integration. One line of explanation builds on trade theory to theorize a calculus of economic costs and benefits. A second explanation draws on cognitive and social psychology to assess how individuals use...

Der vorliegende Beitrag beschäftigt sich mit der Frage der parlamentarischen Kontrolle der Exekutive in 22 westlichen Demokratien. Ausgehend von der Principal-Agent-Theorie zielt er darauf ab, die Instrumente und Ressourcen zu analysieren, die Parlamenten in westlichen Demokratien zur Kontrolle...