This essay re-examines the dual – republican and liberal – foundations of democratic legitimacy in the Western traditions of normative political theory. Considered in isolation, the European Union conforms to liberal standards but cannot satisfy republican criteria. Given these conflicting...

Rising powers have attracted tremendous interest in international politics and theory. Yet the ways in which secondary powers strategically respond to regional changes in the distribution of power have been largely neglected. This article seeks to fill this gap by presenting a systematic...

This paper discusses the management of the crisis in Greece, arguing that it was based on a series of diagnoses that justified fiscal discipline by stigmatizing the Greek economy and society, and that it had a narrow understanding of the reasons for Greece’s deteriorating competitiveness. I...

Der Aufsatz beschäftigt sich mit der Frage, ob eine Systemtheorie, in deren Zentrum die funktionelle Differenzierung steht, einen analytischen Rahmen für eine über die deskriptive Auflistung einzelner Faktoren hinausgehende Erklärung der zu der jüngsten internationalen Krise des...

In der gegenwärtigen Wirtschafts- und Finanzkrise werden wieder vermehrt Alternativen zum bestehenden Geldsystem diskutiert. Das vorliegende Discussion Paper bietet einen Literaturüberblick zu ausgewählten alternativen Geldkonzepten. Zum einen werden Ansätze der Systemergänzung durch...

It is often said that history matters, but these words are often little more than a hollow statement. In the aftermath of the Great Recession, the view that the economy is a mechanical toy that can be fixed using a few simple tools has continued to be held by economists and policy makers and...

Die Teilnehmerländer der europäischen Währungsunion verfügen über höchst unterschiedliche Regime der Lohnfindung. Diese Unterschiedlichkeit leistete einen eigenständigen Beitrag zur Auseinanderentwicklung der mitgliedsstaatlichen Lohn- und Preisniveaus und damit zu den realen...

Why do citizens support or reject the idea of global authority? The paper addresses this question by examining individual attitudes about UN authority in a comparative perspective. According to the main argument put forward in this paper, we may think of the formation of citizens' support for...

In the wake of the financial crisis, most developed countries have entered a period of prolonged budgetary austerity. While the success of austerity programs is still unclear, it is also an open question what success would mean for activist government in the long run. This paper rejects the...

"Until the global financial crisis, China was thought to be decades away from overtaking the United States as the world's largest economy. But while the US skirted economic stagnation, China was able to successfully navigate the crisis, and its growth continues to accelerate. Has the time...