In der sozialwissenschaftlichen Debatte wird die Frage, welches Ausmaß an politischer Partizipation der BürgerInnen ideal für eine Demokratie ist, nach wie vor kontrovers diskutiert. Über die Bedeutung einer paritätischen Partizipation der Geschlechter herrscht ebenfalls wenig Einigkeit....

Students of social movements have long struggled with the question how relatively abstract political opportunities, such as elite divisions, affect unorganized activists without much knowledge of politics. We argue that the relationship between institutional opportunities and decisions to...

Engaging discussions on civic integration for immigrants, this comparison systematically analysis citizenship tests in the US, Austria, the UK, Germany, and the Netherlands. A central question discussed is whether these tests can be interpreted as assimilation, repressive liberalism or as a...

In this paper we develop and test an encompassing theoretical framework for the explanation of the geographical and temporal spread of extreme right violence. This framework combines internal precipitating factors related to ethnic competition, social disintegration, and political opportunity...