The invention of democratic parliamentary practices in the Helvetic Republic

In this book, leading historians of the French, Batavian, Helvetic, Cisalpine, and Neapolitan revolutions bridge the gap between the historiographies of the so-called Sister Republics and explore political culture as a set of discourses or political practices. Parliamentary practices, the comparability of "universal" political concepts, late-eighteenth-century Republicanism, the relationship between press and politics, and the interaction between the Sister Republics and France are all examined from a comparative, transnational perspective.

Institutionelle Regeln oder politische Kultur? Faktoren der parlamentarischen Mitgliederfluktuation in der Schweiz

Die Frage, ob es institutionelle Regeln oder Merkmale der politischen Kultur sind, die den personellen Wechsel in Parlamenten erklären, wird auf subnationaler Ebene für alle 26 kantonalen Legislativen der Schweiz für den Zeitraum zwischen 1960 und 2012 untersucht. Die Befunde zeigen, dass sowohl institutionelle Rahmenbedingungen als auch kulturelle Merkmale bedeutende Beiträge zur Erklärung der kantonalen Unterschiede der Parlamentsfluktuation bieten. Während Massnahmen wie die Senkung der Anzahl Parlamentsmandate und die Amtszeitbeschränkung einen direkten und starken Einfluss auf die Fluktuationsrate haben, erweisen sich die Höhe der finanziellen Vergütungen und institutionelle Regeln zur Stärkung des Parlaments gegenüber der Exekutive ohne nachhaltigen Einfluss. Langfristige politisch-kulturelle Merkmale wie die Zugehörigkeit zu einem Sprachraum sind mindestens ebenso wichtig wie einzelne institutionelle Arrangements. Als relativ unbedeutend zur Erklärung der kantonalen Niveauunterschiede parlamentarischer Mitgliederfluktuation erweisen sich sozioökonomische und demographische Faktoren – mit Ausnahme des Urbanisierungsgrads.

Transnational Migration and Cross-border Mobility in the Serbian-Hungarian Border Region

The study is aiming to present migrant groups in the Serbian-Hungarian border region which are playing a role in forming transnational migration, ransnational networks and transnational spaces. Transnational migrants are using material, cultural, social and symbolical capital in various forms. The everyday activities of the people as well as their mobility, emotional attachments, and economic relationships have contributed to a transnational region the cross-border contacts in the last century were always present, even in spite of political and historical changes, only their intensity, political charge and tension has been changing. The asymmetries defining the border region has been reflected in different directions, places, time and in different volume. In this specially built and constantly reorganising scope, people who were living their everyday life have tried to use the differences for their benefit, and to improve their possibilities. With their transnational lifestyles and cross-border networks, they substantially contribute to the stability and prosperity of the cross-border region.

Avant-garde or supplement? Advisory bodies of transnational associations as alternatives to the League’s Minority Protection System, 1919-1939

This exegesis focuses on the work of minority committees of transnational associations in the interwar period. Most of their members considered the League system to be inefficient and supported the establishment of non-state alternatives, which included private investigations on the spot, publicity for specific problems of minorities, and attempts to reconcile representatives of ethnic minorities with those of the majority. Members of non-involved states were pre-destined especially to act as neutral moderators. Only those in close contact with League officials avoided being misused by political forces that did not seek reconciliation but border revision. They learnt that the League rules looked inadequate from the outside but turned out to be useful in coming to applicable solutions once they started their own alternative methods. Their publications and investigative journeys turned out to deepen the problems, whilst their reconciliation work became an appreciated supplement of the League system.