Using qualitative-sociological research methodology, the article explores the phenomenon of standard-setting by transnational administrative networks. Regarding both the enormous problem-solving capacity and the occurring threats for legitimacy, it is examined whether such network-like...

In this paper, I explore the applicability of sociological institutionalism for the analysis of security and the military. Based on cross-sectional data from 50 countries, I show how values linked to the nation state and security are related to world cultural ideas and the diffusion of...

Der öffentliche Dienst Frankreichs ist bis zum Jahr 2005 stetig gewachsen. Diese Entwicklung widerspricht nicht nur einem internationalen Trend zur Reduzierung öffentlichen Personals, sondern auch den Bemühungen französischer Regierungen zur Verkleinerung und Reform des öffentlichen...

New data makes it possible to measure the evolution of social program generosity over the roughly three decades since the affluent democracies entered the era of austerity. Compared with plausible expectations derived from power resource theory, as well as prior historical experience, these data...

T.H. Marshall's reputation as an historian, social theorist, and practical interpreter of ideas about citizenship and welfare rights has probably never been higher than at the present time. Whether or not T. H. Marshall was 'right' or 'wrong' in his analysis of the questions raised in...

'Unity in Diversity' was the fortunate motto of the otherwise unfortunate Draft Constitutional Treaty. The motto did not make it into the Treaty of Lisbon. This essay argues that it deserves to be kept alive albeit in a new constitutional perspective, namely the re-conceptualisation of European...

Das vorliegende Papier untersucht exemplarisch, ob sich der Erfolg juristischer Systeme reproduzieren lässt. Hierbei wird eine zentrale Annahme der Regimetheorie zugrunde gelegt, wonach das spezifische Design einer Institution für deren effektives Funktionieren eine zentrale Rolle spielt. Das...