In Reaktion auf zahlreiche wirtschaftliche Missbrauchsfälle und Gewalteskalationen, in die Private Sicherheitsunternehmen (PSU) während des Irak- und Afghanistaneinsatzes verwickelt waren, sind in den Vereinigten Staaten eine Reihe von neuen Regulierungen in Kraft getreten. Im Mittelpunkt...

When representatives of the U.S. government and Congress debated military intervention in the conflict in Bosnia in 1995, they were not just talking about an American troop contribution. The dispute became a focal point for issues such as relations with the U.N. and NATO and the general...

In this working paper, we treat legitimacy and legitimation as interactive, discursive and relational concepts: Legitimacy is socially constructed in the public spheres of (democratic) political regimes, that is, in discursive exchanges of political elites and citizens about the acceptability of...

Based on qualitative research conducted in Austria, Denmark, France, Germany, Poland, and the United Kingdom, the article analyses the citizens' perspective on the EU financial crisis as it is communicated in the European public sphere. With reference to this aim, we argue in the following...

Since 1994 worldwide maritime piracy has witnessed an explosion. While data collection has improved, the incidence of piracy has undoubtedly risen as well, particularly in areas of the world marked by failed or weak states' (Somalia, Papua New Guinea, Sierra Leone), though some areas (South-East...

Auslandseinsätze der Bundeswehr verdeutlichen wie kein anderer Anlass die Chancen und Risiken, die mit der multilateralen Einbettung der Bundesrepublik Deutschland in die Vereinten Nationen (VN), die EU und die Nato einhergehen. Spätestens an ihnen entzündet sich eine Debatte über Vorteile...

This paper is a first attempt to classify 30 OECD healthcare systems according to a typology developed by Rothgang et al. (2005) and elaborated by Wendt et al. (2009). The typology follows a deductive approach. It distinguishes three core dimensions of the healthcare system: regulation,...

Im Binnenhandel bietet die staatliche Gerichtsbarkeit kleinen und mittleren Unternehmen (KMU) einen effektiven Rechtsschutz für ihre Transaktionen. Einen vergleichbar effektiven Rechtsschutz kann der Staat aber jenseits seiner Grenzen nur bedingt gewährleisten. Aufgrund ihrer systematischen...

International vergleichende Schulleistungsuntersuchungen wie das Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) der Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) oder die Internationale...

This paper describes welfare state transformation in OECD countries since the 1970s against the background of the post-war settlement. Relying on quantitative macro-data and qualitative information from the literature, we show that welfare states have converged, especially regarding various...