Most efforts to detect the consequences of divided government in German federalism by analyzing legislative statistics have been unsuccessful. Therefore, there is still much debate in Germany about the gridlock potential of divided government, as there is in the United States. Using a...

This paper starts from four observations: (1) voter turnout is declining in established democracies; (2) low turnout means socio-economically unequal turnout; (3) compulsory voting is an effective means to increase turnout; (4) even low-turnout countries, however, have neither introduced nor...

Das MORO-Projekt "Regionalstrategie Daseinsvorsorge - Vergleichskreis Kennzahlen" hat zum Ziel einen aussagekräftigen und praxistauglichen Satz von Kennwerten und Indikatoren zusammen zu stellen, mit deren Hilfe die Anpassung von Einrichtungen der Daseinsvorsorge an den demografischen Wandel im...

The creation of constitutional courts is a political affair because the judicial review of laws and competences potentially curb the power of the elected branches. This paper seeks to refine the explanations for both the spread of constitutional courts and the extent of their formal...

This paper seeks to explain how courts in new and vulnerable democracies acquire legitimacy and thus become credible actors able to facilitate or even foster the consolidation of democracy. It analyses the case of the Constitutional Court of Benin (CCB), demonstrating that governmental...