Governance in contemporary Germany:the semisovereign State revisited

Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, West Germany was considered to be one of the world’s most successful economic and political systems. In his seminal 1987 analysis of West Germany’s ‘semisovereign’ system of governance, Peter Katzenstein attributed this success to a combination of a fragmented polity, consensus politics and incremental policy changes. However, unification in 1990 has both changed Germany’s institutional configuration and created economic and social challenges on a huge scale. This volume therefore asks whether semisovereignty still exists in contemporary Germany and, crucially, whether it remains an asset in terms of addressing these challenges. By shadowing and building on the original study, an eminent team of British, German and American scholars analyses institutional changes and the resulting policy developments in key sectors, with Peter Katzenstein himself providing the conclusion. Together, the chapters provide a landmark assessment of the outcomes produced by one of the world’s most important countries. Contents: 1. Introduction: semisovereignty challenged Simon Green and William E. Paterson; 2. Institutional transfer: can semisovereignty be transferred? The political economy of Eastern Germany Wade Jacoby; 3. Political parties Thomas Saalfeld; 4. Federalism: the new territorialism Charlie Jeffery; 5. Shock-absorbers under stress. Parapublic institutions and the double challenges of German unification and European integration Andreas Busch; 6. Economic policy management: catastrophic equilibrium, tipping points and crisis interventions Kenneth Dyson; 7. Industrial relations: from state weakness as strength to state weakness as weakness. Welfare corporatism and the private use of the public interest Wolfgang Streeck; 8. Social policy: crisis and transformation Roland Czada; 9. Immigration and integration policy: between incrementalism and non-decisions Simon Green; 10. Environmental policy: the law of diminishing returns? Charles Lees; 11. Administrative reform Kluas H. Goetz; 12. European policy-making: between associated sovereignty and semisovereignty William E. Paterson; 13. Conclusion: semisovereignty in United Germany Peter J. Katzenstein.

The politics of the new Germany

The Politics of the New Germany continues to provide the most comprehensive, authoritative and up-to-date textbook on contemporary German Politics. The text takes a new approach to understanding politics in the post-unification Federal Republic. Assuming only elementary knowledge, it focuses on a series of the most important debates and issues in Germany today with the aim of helping students understand both the workings of the country's key institutions and some of the most important policy challenges facing German politicians. For this second edition, the content has been comprehensively updated throughout, augmented by additional factboxes and data, and features new material on: •Grand coalition •Lisbon treaty •Constitutional court •Financial crisis •Reform of social policy •Afghanistan. Written in a straightforward style by three experts, each of the chapters draws on a rich variety of real-world examples. In doing so, it highlights both the challenges and opportunities facing policy-makers in such areas as foreign affairs, economic policy, immigration, identity politics and institutional reform. The book also takes a bird’s-eye view of the big debates that have defined German politics over time, regardless of which political parties happened to be in power. It pinpoints three key themes that have characterised German politics over the last sixty years; reconciliation, consensus and transformation. The book is a comprehensive, yet highly accessible, overview of politics in 21st Century Germany and should be essential reading for students of politics and international relations, as well as of European and German studies.

Measuring business growth:high-growth firms and their contribution to employment in the UK

The Measuring Business Growth report is a comprehensive look at UK business growth over the past decade. It makes a powerful case that a small number of high-growth businesses are responsible for the lion's share of job creation and prosperity. It is the counterpart to Business Growth and Innovation, which considers the wider benefits of growth businesses, their socio-economic impact, and the relationship between growth and innovation. This has significant implications for the direction of economic policy. It suggests that focusing attention on growing businesses and promoting excellence, far from being an elitist policy, gives rise to widespread job creation and prosperity.

Did mass privatisation really increase post-communist male mortality?

A recent article in the Lancet, by David Stuckler, Larry King and Martin McKee, investigated anew the fluctuations in adult male mortality rates that have come to characterise the so-called post-communist mortality crisis. Adopting a cross-country, time-series perspective the authors examined how the economic policy strategies of the 1990s impacted upon observed fluctuations in mortality. They conclude that the adoption of a strategy of rapid (mass) privatisation contributed to the adverse mortality trends. We subject that finding to closer scrutiny using the same data from which the Stuckler et al claim stems. We find that their claim that mass privatisation adversely affected male mortality trends in the post-Communist world does not stand up to closer examination. It is not supported empirically and is at odds with what we know about both transition in the post-communist world and about health trends over time in this region.

The value of intellectual property to firms and society

Economists view intellectual property rights (IPRs) as policy tools for encouraging innovation, but they recognize that they can also inhibit competition. There are many types of IPRs and institutions concerned with their administration. We begin by outlining how these complex and varied rights are supposed to work and how they interact with other characteristics of firms and markets. We then survey the available literature on patents, trade marks, and copyright to assess the value of these IPRs to firms and the costs to firms of acquiring and defending their rights. The paper concludes with suggestions for topics requiring further research to inform public policy better.

Public procurement:international cases and commentary

In many countries and sectors, public procurement is developing from a functional orientation to an effective socio-economic policy lever. There is a great interest among managers and academics to learn from other countries’ and other sectors’ change initiatives and how they dealt with the challenges they encountered. This text provides such learning opportunities, presenting case studies of public procurement, covering diverse nations, sectors and issues. The cases are combined with editorial commentary and contextualizing chapters to assist the student reader in understanding this complex topic. The text combines descriptions of cases of public procurement with cross case analysis to draw out the key dimensions to enable further examination of the central themes. Each case study concludes with three questions to aid its use as a teaching and training text. Edited by a team of internationally recognised experts in the field this innovative text illustrates the strategies and innovations within public procurement on a global scale and highlights common problems that all countries encounter. Public Procurement is vital reading for anyone with an interest in this topical area.

Episodes in the Malaysian auditing sage

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the various episodes in the Malaysian auditing saga, covering the period of the first 40 years post-independence in 1957 to just before the onset of the Asian Financial Crisis in 1997. Design/methodology/approach – Based on documentary analysis, the paper offers a historical account of the development of the auditing profession with reference to the dynamic changes in its political and socio-economic environment. Findings – The paper concludes that the function of auditing in Malaysian society responded to political-economic pressures over time viz. changing from maintaining the economic policy to serve Western investors to accommodating ethnic relations, and to strengthening the bond between local and global corporate elites and the political leaders. Originality/value – Since, little is known of the professionalisation process in Malaysia, our analysis of the structural conditions during the 40 years from the achievement of independence from the British in 1957 to just before the onset of the Asian Financial Crisis in 1997 and our assessment of their implications for auditing contributes to knowledge in this area

Study on Methodologies for Gas Transmission Network Tariffs and Gas Balancing Fees in Europe

A REKK a KEMA International B.V. partnereként a DGTREN által kiírt tender keretében az európai földgáz átviteli hálózati díjszabásokat és a kiegyenlítő gázforgalom lebonyolításának és elszámolásának nemzeti rendszereit hasonlította össze. Az uniós tagállamok körében folytatott kutatás azt is vizsgálta, hogy a nemzeti hálózati és kiegyenlítő rendszerek különbözősége milyen mértékben akadályozza a közös földgázpiac kialakulását.

Energiapolitikai ajánlások 2010 - A hazai árampiaci szabályozás kritikája és javaslatok a továbblépésre

E tanulmány célja a fenti jelenségek mögött meghúzódó szabályozási és piacszerkezeti problémák minél alaposabb feltárása, és olyan ajánlások megfogalmazása a következő kormányzat számára, amelyek elősegíthetik a gazdasági növekedést szolgáló, hatékony és diszkriminációmentes hazai árampiac további fejlődését. Először a nagykereskedelmi piac szerkezetét és legfontosabb szabályozási körülményeit vesszük szemügyre. Külön taglaljuk a hazai termelői kapacitásokhoz való hozzáférés kérdését, a kötelező átvételi (KÁT) rendszer jellemzőit, az importverseny szempontjából döntő határkeresztező kapacitásokhoz való hozzáférés problémáit, illetve a rendszerszintű szolgáltatások piacát. Ezután értékeljük a piacszerkezeti jellemzők és a szabályozás hatását a szabadpiaci szegmenset jellemző áralakulást illetően. Külön értékeljük az egyetemes szolgáltatás (ESZ) rendszerét. Végül a hazai árampiac működési környezetét meghatározó olyan fontosabb intézményi jellegű kérdéseket tekintünk át, mint a szabályozási környezet stabilitása és kiszámíthatósága, a transzparencia és a hazai áramtőzsde lehetősége. Végül összefoglaljuk javaslatainkat, ajánlásainkat. A tanulmány a Magyar Villamosenergia-kereskedők Egyesületének megbízásából készült.

Energiapolitika – a 2008. év fejleményei

Az írás a hazai vezetékes energiapiacokat érintő legfontosabb tényleges 2008. évi fejleményeket vizsgálja. Kiemelt figyelmet szentel két témának: az év eleji árampiaci modellváltás értékelésének és az alternatív gázvezeték tervekről folytatott politikai vita elemzésének. A műhelytanulmány terjedelmi és hangsúlybéli okokból nem foglalkozik az Európai Uniós energiapolitikai fejlemények összefoglalásával és elemzésével, valamint a MOL-OMV párharc 2008. évi fejleményeivel.