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When politics prevails: Parties, elections and loyalty in the European Parliament
No full textIn many political systems, legislators serve multiple principals who compete for their loyalty in legislative votes. This article explores the political conditions under which legislators choose between their competing principals in multilevel systems, with a focus on how election proximity shapes legislative behaviour across democratic arenas. Empirically, the effect of electoral cycles on national party delegations’ ‘collective disloyalty’ with their political groups in the European Parliament (EP) is analysed. It is argued that election proximity changes the time horizons, political incentives and risk perceptions of both delegations and their principals, ‘punctuating’ cost‐benefit calculations around defection as well as around controlling, sanctioning and accommodating. Under the shadow of elections, national delegations’ collective disloyalty with their transnational groups should, therefore, increase. Using a new dataset with roll‐call votes cast under legislative codecision by delegations between July 1999 and July 2014, the article shows that the proximity of planned national and European elections drives up disloyalty in the EP, particularly by delegations from member states with party‐centred electoral rules. The results also support a ‘politicisation’ effect: overall, delegations become more loyal over time, but the impact of election proximity as a driver of disloyalty is strongest in the latest parliament analysed (i.e., 2009–2014). Furthermore, disloyalty is more likely in votes on contested and salient legislation, and under conditions of Euroscepticism; by contrast, disloyalty is less likely in votes on codification files, when a delegation holds the rapporteurship and when the national party participates in government. The analysis sheds new light on electoral politics as a determinant of legislative choice under competing principals, and on the conditions under which politics ‘travels’ across democratic arenas in the European Union's multilevel polity
The impact of informalisation: Early agreements and voting cohesion in the European Parliament
No full textEuropean Union legislative decision-making is increasingly shifted into informal secluded arenas. Scholars have explained this trend and analysed its consequences for bargaining success and democratic legitimacy. Yet, we know little about how informalisation affects legislative behaviour in the European Parliament. This article contributes to closing the gap, by theorising and analysing the impact of ‘early agreements’ on cohesion. Given the reputational, political and transaction costs of failing an early agreement in plenary, we expect political groups to invest heavily in discipline and consensus, and legislators to comply in votes. Using a new dataset, combining Hix et al.’s (2007) roll-call data with original codecision data (1999–2011), we show that informalisation increases cohesion but only for centrist parties. Rapporteurships and votes on ‘costly’ legislative resolutions also matter, but do not mediate the effect of early agreement
Familien nach Trennung und Scheidung in Deutschland
Get PDFTrennungen und Scheidungen auf einem hohen Niveau – auch unter Familien mit minderjährigen Kindern – kennzeichnen bereits seit längerer Zeit die Familienentwicklung in Deutschland und anderen europäischen Ländern. Sofern aus einer Beziehung gemeinsame Kinder hervorgegangen sind, impliziert eine Trennung zwar das Ende der Partnerschaft, jedoch nicht das Ende der Elternschaft. Sowohl auf gesellschaftlicher als auch auf individueller Ebene besteht, mit Ausnahme von Sondersituationen, mittlerweile die explizite Erwartung, dass Eltern nach einer Trennung in ökonomischer und sozialer Hinsicht weiterhin gemeinsam Verantwortung für ihre Kinder wahrnehmen. In der gesetzlichen Grundlage wird allerdings weiterhin davon ausgegangen, dass Kinder nach der Trennung bei nur einem Elternteil leben. Für andere Modelle existieren bisher keine oder nur unzureichende Regelungen. Die ökonomischen, sozialen und psychischen Folgen einer Trennung oder Scheidung können nach Geschlecht, sozialer Position und Alter variieren und damit soziale Ungleichheit hervorrufen oder verstärken. Neue Partnerschaften bzw. sogenannte Fortsetzungsfamilien beeinflussen das Leben der betroffenen Erwachsenen und Kinder zusätzlich. Bislang existieren über die Verbreitung und Lebensumstände von Nachtrennungsfamilien in Deutschland nur rudimentäre sozialwissenschaftliche Befunde. Die vorliegende Broschüre stellt einen ersten Versuch dar, bislang vorliegende sozialwissenschaftliche Befunde zur Lebenswirklichkeit von Nachtrennungsfamilien in Deutschland allgemeinverständlich in knapper Form zu bilanzieren. Folgende thematische Schwerpunkte werden behandelt: 1) Allgemeine Trends und rechtliche Rahmenbedingungen, 2) Elternschaft und Partnerschaft nach Trennung und Scheidung, 3) Wohlbefinden und Lebenszufriedenheit nach Trennung und Scheidung sowie 4) Finanzielle Folgen von Trennung und Scheidung. Diese Aspekte werden aus unterschiedlichen Perspektiven beleuchtet und zugrundeliegende empirische Analysen decken ein breites Spektrum der derzeit verfügbaren Datenquellen ab
Policy reform and fathers’ use of parental leave in Germany: The role of education and workplace characteristics
Get PDFThe introduction of the parental leave benefit scheme in 2007 is widely regarded as a landmark reform that has shifted the German welfare state toward a model that is more supportive to the compatibility of work and family life. In this paper, we investigate whether and how this reform has affected men’s use of parental leave based on data from the German microcensus 1999-2012. We find that parental leave usage has increased across all educational levels, but the shift has been strongest for university-educated fathers. Public sector employment is beneficial for men’s uptake of leave, while self-employment and temporary work lowers fathers’ chances of taking leave. The parental leave reform has not affected these associations much
Transnational skills development in post-industrial knowledge economies: the case of Luxembourg and the Greater Region
No full textLuxembourg exhibits strong transnational traits within its skills regime, defying any neat fit with existing educational typologies. It is characterised by its high-skill economy, cross-cultural characteristics, and central location within the European Union. As such, Luxembourg has developed a hybrid strategy of responding to labour market challenges, and by that, to skills development. Our institutionalist analysis finds that Luxembourg is involved in transnational skills development in three complementary ways: (a) employers in Luxembourg extensively recruit skilled workers at the European and global levels, but also (b) heavily rely on the distinct skills sets of cross-border commuters from the neighbouring regions of Belgium, France, and Germany (the Greater Region). Furthermore, (c) Luxembourg combines institutional elements of these neighbouring countries – representing distinct models of capitalism and welfare – within its own education system. In combining the specific strengths of different national skills regimes, institutional bricolage represents a core feature of Luxembourg’s highly stratified system of skill formation. Our analytical framework refers to two major comparative political economy perspectives, namely the welfare state and varieties of capitalism approaches, to analyse how Luxembourg has responded to deindustrialisation by creating a domestic transnational labour market
Is being a "small fish in a big pond" bad for students' psychosomatic health? A multilevel study on the role of class-level school performance?
No full textBackground
Features of schools and classes are closely related to students´ health and wellbeing. However, class composition (e.g. in terms of school performance) has rarely been examined in relation to students´ health and wellbeing. This study focuses on the so called Big-Fish-Little-Pond-Effect (BFLPE), by investigating whether the level of high-performing students in classroom is negatively associated with psychosomatic complaints of students who perceive themselves as poor performers.
Methods
Data were derived from the German sample of the WHO-Collaborative “Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC)” study 2013/2014. The sample included 5226 11-, 13- and 15-year-old students. Individual perceived school performance (PSP) was included (very good/good vs. average/below average PSP) at the individual student-level. At the class-level, school performance in class was generated by aggregating the share (in percentage) of students who report a very good/good PSP to the class-level, indicating the percentage of students with good/very good PSP in classroom. Using multilevel regression models, the association between class-level school performance (in percentage of students with very good/good PSP) and individual psychosomatic complaints were analyzed, stratified by students´ individual PSP.
Results
Students who report average/below average PSP showed higher likelihoods of psychosomatic complaints (Odds Ratio: 1.75; 95% Confidence Interval: 1.52–2.03) compared to counterparts with very good/good PSP. The aggregated class-level PSP was not significantly associated with psychosomatic complaints. However, in line with the BFLPE, results further revealed that students with average/below average PSP, who attend classes with a higher percentage of students who report very good/good PSP, had higher likelihoods of psychosomatic complaints (Odds Ratio: 1.91; 95% Confidence Interval: 1.01–4.01) compared to classmates with very good/good PSP.
Conclusions
This study revealed that class composition in terms of PSP was differentially associated with students´ psychosomatic complaints, depending on their individual PSP. Findings highlight the vulnerability of students with poor PSP placed in classes with a higher percentage of students with good PSP. Results of this study therefore indicate a need for initiatives for low performing students from teachers and school staff in class
Leistung und Wohlbefinden in der Schule: Herausforderung Inklusion
No full textImmer mehr Schulen stehen vor der Herausforderung, inklusive Strukturen zu etablieren, also Schülerinnen und Schüler mit besonderem pädagogischen Förderbedarf in den Regelbetrieb einzugliedern. Aus einer interdisziplinären Perspektive beleuchtet der Band nicht nur leistungsbezogene Aspekte der schulischen Inklusion von heterogenen und vulnerablen Schülergruppen, sondern erweitert die Debatte um Aspekte des Wohlbefindens, die eng mit der schulischen Leistung korrespondieren. Ein Schwerpunkt liegt außerdem auf der Belastung und dem Wohlbefinden von Lehrkräften sowie den Herausforderungen mit schulischer Heterogenität und Inklusion
Who Inherits the State? Colonial Rule and Post-Colonial Conflict
No full textPostulating grievance‐based mechanisms, several recent studies show that politically excluded ethnic groups are more likely to experience civil conflict. However, critics argue that endogeneity may undermine this finding since governments' decisions to include or exclude could be motivated by the anticipation of conflict. We counter this threat to inference by articulating a causal pathway that explains ethnic groups' access to power independently of conflict. Focusing on postcolonial states, we exploit differences in colonial empires' strategies of rule to model which ethnic groups were represented in government at the time of independence. This identification strategy allows estimating the exogenous effect of inclusiveness on conflict. We find that previous studies have tended to understate the conflict‐dampening impact of political inclusion. This finding suggests that grievances have been prematurely dismissed from conventional explanations of conflict, and that policy makers should consider conflict resolution methods based on power sharing and group rights
Interpreting fiscal accounting rules in the European Union
No full textIn the European Union, the creation of public debt statistics starts with member state governments’ reports. The EU’s statistical agency – Eurostat – then revises. How do these actors’ incentives shape reported numbers? Governments have incentives to take a more favourable view of often ambiguous accounting rules than Eurostat. Lower debt improves governments’ performance with domestic and external audiences. Eurostat is tasked with monitoring budgets for ‘excessive’ debts. We expect governments to present debt figures that Eurostat then revises upwards. This is more likely when governments have high debts, especially when in the eurozone, and prior to elections. Financial crises heighten the number of policies needing interpretation and both actors have more incentives to shape the numbers. We examine these propositions using Eurostat’s debt revisions. We find debts are revised upwards more for eurozone countries with higher debt levels and years with unscheduled elections. Financial stress strengthens these effects
Budgeting in Europe after Maastrichtpatterns of reform and their effectiveness
No full textEste trabajo analiza el desarrollo de las reglas e instituciones fiscales en los países europeos durante la última década. Hallamos que el grado de cambios de los procesos presupuestarios y de las reglas fiscales difiere mucho entre los distintos países. Se evalúa el patrón de los cambios con respecto a los diferentes tipos ideales de gobernabilidad fiscal. Nuestro análisis muestra que los países que adoptan reglas en consonancia con sus instituciones fiscales predichas consiguen mayores logros en el plano fiscal que otras naciones que no hacen eso. Tenemos, pues, una explicación parcial de por qué razón el efecto del marco fiscal europeo ha sido asimétrico en relación con los países miembros