摘要:

This article examines one aspect of the relationship between European Union institutions and the French political field: politicians' careers. What is the value of positions in the Commission and the European Parliament for French politicians in terms of career mobility? This study shows that the value of the Commission as a source of domestic political capital has risen since the 1950s, whereas the value of the European Parliament has remained relatively low. The position of Commissioner is now comparable to a ministerial‐level position. Membership in the European Parliament has remained secondary to a national political career. Yet, as a result of the European Parliament's peripheral position in the French political field, new social groups, linking the regions to the European institutions or forming cross‐partisan interest groups, have been created. Evidence shows that if the European Union institutions present an alternative type of political capital to national political capital, political careers and ambitions are still formed in national terms. National mechanisms for the formation of groups having a vested interest in the relative autonomy of supranational political institutions have not developed sufficiently. This inadequacy might be the single most important reason for the democratic deficit in the European Union.We are not in business at all; we are in politics. (Former President of the EC Commission Walter Hallstein, quoted in Swann 1990,

ISSN:0080-6757    

DOI:10.1111/j.1467-9477.1996.tb00378.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1996

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

The left‐right positions of the political parties in Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, and Iceland are compared from the late 1970s to the beginning of the 1990s. To locate the parties, survey data on the voters' self‐placements along the left‐right continuum are used. In order to study changes in the left‐right polarity and the degree of consensus along the left‐right continuum in each of the countries, we use the mean party positions to calculate three different measures of party distances. The wing party distance is that between the party farthest to the left and the party farthest to the right. The rival party distance is that between the Social Democratic Party and the traditional Conservative Party. Finally, the mean party distance is the average distance between all pairs of parties. One of the main conclusions is that in Sweden and Iceland the left‐right continuum seems to contract, whereas in Norway and Denmark the left‐right polarity and the distances between the parties are increasing. In today's Nordic party space, the distance between left and right is longest in Denmark and shortest in Norway. Eventually, 39 Nordic parties are brought together on the same left‐right scale. The analysis reveals that there are some clearly distinguishable clusters of parties or party families in the Nordic countries, such as, for example, the socialist parties, the social democratic parties and the conservative parties. Other party groups differ greatly in left‐right position, like the progressive parties, the liberal parties and t

ISSN:0080-6757    

DOI:10.1111/j.1467-9477.1996.tb00379.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1996

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

It is argued that the role of the public bureaucracy must be analysed along at least two dimensions. One dimension concerns the relationship between politicians and bureaucrats, i.e. the possible conflict between political loyalty and autonomy. The other dimension concerns the relationship between citizens and bureaucracy, i.e. the possible conflict between openness towards citizens and bureaucratic closedness. With the aid of data from a survey of 407 agency heads in Norwegian municipalities, it was possible to group different bureaucrats along the two dimensions. Four categories emerged from the analysis; a political bureaucrat, an autonomous bureaucrat, the “classic” administrator and the “linking pin”. An attempt to predict group membership was made using variables on the societal, organizational as well as individual levels. This attempt was only partially successful, indicating that there is a need for other independent variables to explain group mem

ISSN:0080-6757    

DOI:10.1111/j.1467-9477.1996.tb00380.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1996

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

Recent literature suggests that Swedish politics is decorporatizing. This article reports on the results of a survey of Swedish interest groups active in social welfare policy, administered in 1986 and 1994. The results cast considerable doubt on the decorporatization thesis. Little change is discernible between the two surveys on indicators of key corporatist behaviours on the part of interest groups and government. The immediate goal of the article is to provide evidence that the Swedish system is not, in fact, decorporatizing to the extent cited in recent literature. A larger aim, however, is to push the study of corporatism in a more empirical direction. The value of the theory will be enhanced if researchers are more precise about what it means and what behaviours should follow from it.

ISSN:0080-6757    

DOI:10.1111/j.1467-9477.1996.tb00381.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1996

数据来源: WILEY

ISSN:0080-6757    

DOI:10.1111/j.1467-9477.1996.tb00382.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1996

数据来源: WILEY

摘要:

Since I am to have the honour this evening of being presented with the Johan Skytte Prize in Political Science, it seemed to me that it might be appropriate to say something about the development of political science. Do not fear, however, that I am about to begin my reflections with the study of government in 1622, a task that would greatly exceed my time, my competence and, I imagine, your patience. On a much more modest scale, let me mention a few of the conspicuous changes in political science since I first began teaching and writing in the field about a half century ago. Let me add at once that I do not mean to suggest that my brief account is at all comprehensive or systematic. It is merely a rather subjective survey of a few changes that I find interesting and important.

ISSN:0080-6757    

DOI:10.1111/j.1467-9477.1996.tb00383.x

出版商:Blackwell Publishing Ltd    

年代:1996

数据来源: WILEY