Research Interests:
Do different types of procedure affect the degree of politicization of constitutional courts in European democracies? We argue that they do and we find evidence that supports this assumption in our analysis of the German, Bulgarian and... more
Do different types of procedure affect the degree of politicization of constitutional courts in European democracies? We argue that they do and we find evidence that supports this assumption in our analysis of the German, Bulgarian and Portuguese courts. We show that two features of the types of procedure lead to a higher politicization of court decisions: lower legal requirements on the part of the applicants and broader opportunities for them to weaken political opponents. This kind of moderating effect appears equally for all groups of applicants.
Research Interests: German Studies, Constitutional Law, Portuguese Studies, Bulgarian Politics, German Politics, and 11 moreConstitutional Politics, Portuguese politics, German Law, German Federal Constitutional Court, Politicization, Bulgarian law, Portuguese Law, Constitutional Courts, Bundesverfassungsgericht, German Constitutional Law, and Dissenting Opinions
ABSTRACT
Since the 1950s, the European agricultural policy is a highly communitized policy field. Yet, the strengthening of the so called second pillar of the Common Agricultural Policy - the rural development policy - led to a substantial... more
Since the 1950s, the European agricultural policy is a highly communitized policy field. Yet, the strengthening of the so called second pillar of the Common Agricultural Policy - the rural development policy - led to a substantial reassignment of competencies to the national states. In Germany, this development includes a strengthening of agricultural policy options for the subnational level, too. The Bundesländer develop and implement - coordinated with the federal government and the European Commission - rural development programmes for their territories. These programmes are of a comparatively great heterogeneity.
This paper asks for the determinants of these differences from a political science perspective. Against the background of the different approaches of public policy research, it analyses the influence of interest organizations, institutions, parties and path dependencies empirically. The analytic framework to distinguish the rural development programmes is the fundamental difference of two agricultural policy paradigms, the paradigm of productivism or justice and the paradigm of sustainability or multifunctionality.
This paper asks for the determinants of these differences from a political science perspective. Against the background of the different approaches of public policy research, it analyses the influence of interest organizations, institutions, parties and path dependencies empirically. The analytic framework to distinguish the rural development programmes is the fundamental difference of two agricultural policy paradigms, the paradigm of productivism or justice and the paradigm of sustainability or multifunctionality.
Research Interests:
This article examines the influence of the types of procedure on the degree of politicization of European constitutional courts. Based on an analysis of the German, Bulgarian and Portuguese cases, we show that the lower the legal... more
This article examines the influence of the types of procedure on the degree of politicization of European constitutional courts. Based on an analysis of the German, Bulgarian and Portuguese cases, we show that the lower the legal requirements on the part of the applicants and the broader their opportunities to weaken political opponents, the higher is the degree of politicization of the court decisions. This moderating effect appears equally for all groups of applicants.
Research Interests:
Agricultural policy and rural development, a policy field of the German federal Laender, has expanded substantially when the EU established the second pillar of its Common Agricultural Policy. Hence, Laender parliaments, and their... more
Agricultural policy and rural development, a policy field of the German federal Laender, has expanded substantially when the
EU established the second pillar of its Common Agricultural Policy. Hence, Laender parliaments, and their agricultural
committees in particular, move into the focus of policy analysis. Our paper undertakes to determine the factors which influence
Laender committee members’ policy orientation. We do differentiate between support, in agricultural policy, for the paradigm
of productivism and support for the paradigm of sustainability. Our survey of parliamentarians reveals that political group
affiliation and, particularly, closeness to various interest groups explain a delegate’s opinion or political orientation. Individual
socio-structural factors or specific characteristics of a constituency have no significant effects.
EU established the second pillar of its Common Agricultural Policy. Hence, Laender parliaments, and their agricultural
committees in particular, move into the focus of policy analysis. Our paper undertakes to determine the factors which influence
Laender committee members’ policy orientation. We do differentiate between support, in agricultural policy, for the paradigm
of productivism and support for the paradigm of sustainability. Our survey of parliamentarians reveals that political group
affiliation and, particularly, closeness to various interest groups explain a delegate’s opinion or political orientation. Individual
socio-structural factors or specific characteristics of a constituency have no significant effects.
Research Interests:
The constitutional court is the central place of constructing and balancing the relationship between politics and law. Therefore, it is not by chance that ‘politicization’ is one of the most frequently used keywords in scientific research... more
The constitutional court is the central place of constructing and balancing the relationship between politics and law. Therefore, it is not by chance that ‘politicization’ is one of the most frequently used keywords in scientific research on constitutional courts. Although it plays a central role in many, particularly in empirical studies, a distinct definition is often lacking. Against this background, we reconstruct and typologize the manifold concepts of politicization in the history of ideas. Additionally, we examine the theoretical conceptions of the relationship between politics, law and constitutional adjudication that underlie these different concepts. Based on this, we develop a systems-theoretical understanding of politicisation. It will be shown, that numerous empirical studies implicitly use such a concept.
Research Interests:
Martin Petrick zeigt in seinem Beitrag mit Hilfe eines spieltheoretischen Ansatzes positive Entwicklungspotentiale für (periphere) ländliche Räume auf. Er argumentiert zudem, dass neue politische Steuerungsformen wie das LEADER-Programm... more
Martin Petrick zeigt in seinem Beitrag mit Hilfe eines spieltheoretischen Ansatzes positive Entwicklungspotentiale für (periphere) ländliche Räume auf. Er argumentiert zudem, dass neue politische Steuerungsformen wie das LEADER-Programm
ein Element einer solchen positiven Entwicklung darstellen können. LEADER ist ein Kernbereich der sogenannten „zweiten Säule“ der Gemeinsamen Agrarpolitik (GAP) der EU zur Entwicklung des ländlichen Raums. In meiner Replik werde ich
(1) diese Entwicklungspotentiale diskutieren. Darüber hinaus ergeben sich aus dem
Beitrag Martin Petricks zwei weitere ausgesprochen spannende Anknüpfungspunkte zur Diskussion: Zum einen ist an der Schnittstelle von Wissenschaft und Politik nach dem Einfl uss der akademischen Diskussionen von agrarpolitischen
Leitbildern und konkreten politischen Instrumenten auf die Entwicklung der GAP der EU zu fragen (2). Zum anderen ergibt sich die Frage, welche Veränderungen die Landwirtschaft als Empfänger von Transferzahlungen im Rahmen der GAP
und ihre Interessenvertretung erfahren werden, wenn zukünft ig größere Teile des Budgets über die „zweite Säule“ in die Entwicklung des ländlichen Raums insgesamt umgewandelt werden (3).
ein Element einer solchen positiven Entwicklung darstellen können. LEADER ist ein Kernbereich der sogenannten „zweiten Säule“ der Gemeinsamen Agrarpolitik (GAP) der EU zur Entwicklung des ländlichen Raums. In meiner Replik werde ich
(1) diese Entwicklungspotentiale diskutieren. Darüber hinaus ergeben sich aus dem
Beitrag Martin Petricks zwei weitere ausgesprochen spannende Anknüpfungspunkte zur Diskussion: Zum einen ist an der Schnittstelle von Wissenschaft und Politik nach dem Einfl uss der akademischen Diskussionen von agrarpolitischen
Leitbildern und konkreten politischen Instrumenten auf die Entwicklung der GAP der EU zu fragen (2). Zum anderen ergibt sich die Frage, welche Veränderungen die Landwirtschaft als Empfänger von Transferzahlungen im Rahmen der GAP
und ihre Interessenvertretung erfahren werden, wenn zukünft ig größere Teile des Budgets über die „zweite Säule“ in die Entwicklung des ländlichen Raums insgesamt umgewandelt werden (3).
Research Interests:
Research on Baltic Sea region building processes emphasizes the discursive elements of the emergence of the region in the beginning of the 1990s, yet lacks the analysis of policy-specific developments of regional integration around the... more
Research on Baltic Sea region building processes emphasizes the discursive elements of the emergence of the region in the beginning of the 1990s, yet lacks the analysis of policy-specific developments of regional integration around the Baltic Sea. My article argues that the neo-functionalist approach opens useful insights in order to understand these developments. Starting from marine environment protection as a nucleus of regional integration, I demonstrate spill-over effects to the field of education policy and higher education co-operation in the Baltic Sea Region. Following this, I analyze why there are no spill-over effects to the adjacent policy area of agriculture up to now.
Research Interests:
‘Politicisation’ is one of the most frequently used keywords in public discourse and scientific research on constitutional courts. However, whereas the concept of judicialisation, which is equally important in this field of research, has... more
‘Politicisation’ is one of the most frequently used keywords in public discourse and scientific research on constitutional courts. However, whereas the concept of judicialisation, which is equally important in this field of research, has been the subject of considerable discussion in political and legal theory, a distinct definition of the term politicisation is lacking in many studies. In light of this, we address the question of how politicisation of constitutional courts can adequately be understood. To this end, we examine the theoretical conceptions of the relationship between politics, law and constitutional adjudication that underlie the different understandings of politicisation. Based on our findings, we develop a decision-oriented concept of politicisation, which is not only suitable for many theoretical approaches, but can also be detected in numerous empirical studies.
Research Interests:
This article examines academic cooperation in the Baltic Sea Region. Academic networks are being discussed as indicators of regionalization, but research on the empirical basis is scarce. In the article, the regional networks of 70 higher... more
This article examines academic cooperation in the Baltic Sea Region. Academic networks are being discussed as indicators of regionalization, but research on the empirical basis is scarce. In the article, the regional networks of 70 higher education institutions in the Baltic States and the German federal state Mecklenburg–Western Pomerania are analyzed. The analysis shows a heterogeneous pattern for the regional higher education area. Regional embedding depends on the focus of an academy and its participation in regional networks. The article concludes with a discussion of options to be considered by regional organizations in order to strengthen regional academic cooperation.
Research Interests:
Die regionale Vernetzung von Institutionen ist bisher vorrangig ein Thema ideographisch-deskriptiver Regionalstudien. Der Aufsatz argumentiert, dass mit Hilfe eines Index zur Erfassung der regionalen Vernetzung von Hochschulen der... more
Die regionale Vernetzung von Institutionen ist bisher vorrangig ein Thema ideographisch-deskriptiver Regionalstudien. Der Aufsatz argumentiert, dass mit Hilfe eines Index zur Erfassung der regionalen Vernetzung von Hochschulen der Regionalisierungsdebatte ein quantitativer Input gegeben wird, anhand dessen einerseits die Regionalisierungspolitik der Europäischen Union und regionaler politischer Organisationen zu bewerten ist und andererseits regionale Diffusionsprozesse analysiert werden können. Die Konstruktion des Index erfolgt aus verschiedenen Elementen der Internationalisierung der Hochschulen in den Bereichen Lehre und Forschung. Die Anwendung des Index am Beispiel des Ostseeraums zeigt verschiedene Bestimmungsfaktoren der regionalen Vernetzung auf.
Research Interests:
Seit der Annahme der Ostseestrategie im Jahre 2009 durch den Europäischen Rat kommt dem Ostseeraum innerhalb der Europäischen Union besondere Aufmerksamkeit zu. Stefan Ewert entwickelt einen Index, mit dessen Hilfe die These des... more
Seit der Annahme der Ostseestrategie im Jahre 2009 durch den Europäischen Rat kommt dem Ostseeraum innerhalb der Europäischen Union besondere Aufmerksamkeit zu. Stefan Ewert entwickelt einen Index, mit dessen Hilfe die These des region-building-Ansatzes überprüft werden kann, nach der Hochschulen im Prozess der Regionalisierung im Ostseeraum eine zentrale Rolle spielen. Zudem untersucht der Autor mittels qualitativer Verfahren die Relevanz der regionalen politischen Organisationen (Ostseerat, Ostseeparlamentarierkonferenz, Nordischer Ministerrat) im Regionalisierungsprozess.