Co-determination in Germany

1954 ◽  
Vol 48 (4) ◽  
pp. 1114-1127 ◽  
Author(s):  
Herbert J. Spiro

When the Labour Government began to nationalize industries in Great Britain, swarms of social scientists descended upon that island. They wanted to study this “great experiment,” which many of them viewed as the trail-blazer for an inevitable trend in all modern industrial societies. That was nine years ago. Now it seems that the nationalization dogma has lost most of its force even in Labour circles. But another great experiment has been in progress on the Continent, in West Germany: Mitbestimmung, the scheme under which labor participates in the management of private industrial corporations. In part it was born out of British disillusionment with socialism's erstwhile cure-all. Because of its novelty and uniqueness, it is attracting increasing attention from social scientists. But this time, the different disciplines are unevenly represented. Economists, and especially experts in labor relations, have shown the most interest. When they run across a student of politics in pursuit of the same quarry, they often express surprise. And the Germans, who are being visited, interviewed, questioned, polled, and subjected to every conceivable form of social scientific scrutiny, react even more strongly. They are positively puzzled: “You are not a Nationaloekonom? But then surely an Industrie- or Betriebssoziologe, or perhaps a Jurist ….” The political scientist is an animal of which few of them have heard. And fewer still can imagine off-hand why he would want to concern himself with co-determination.

Philosophy ◽  
1963 ◽  
Vol 38 (144) ◽  
pp. 117-135
Author(s):  
P. H. Partridge

In recent years, political scientists have talked a great deal about the proper definition of their subject, and of how the ‘field’ of the political scientist is best distinguished from that of other social scientists. One proposal that is frequently made is that political science might quite properly be defined as the study of power, its forms, its sources, its distribution, its modes of exercise, its effects. The general justification for this proposal is, of course, that political activity itself appears to be connected very intimately with power: it is often said that political activity is a struggle for power; that constitutions and other political institutions are methods of defining and regularising the distribution and the exercise of power, and so on. Since there seems to be some sense in which one can say that, within the wider area of social life, the political field is that which has some special connection with power, it may seem plausible then to suggest that the study of politics focusses upon the study of power.


Author(s):  
S.C. Aveyard

This chapter considers the initial three months of the Labour government, incorporating both the political and security situation. During this time the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Merlyn Rees, and the Northern Ireland Office made changes to security policy. Many of these showed continuity with the previous administration but some reflected the differing attitude of the Labour frontbench while in opposition. Most prominent was the suggestion that the police should play a greater role in security efforts. In May the UWC strike led to the collapse of the power-sharing executive and this is considered in great detail. It is argued that previous accounts have placed insufficient emphasis on the political context and the parameters within which the security forces could operate. The practical difficulties involved in strike-breaking are large and the loyalist strike should be placed in the broader, British context of difficulties experienced in handling industrial disputes in Great Britain.


Encuentro ◽  
2010 ◽  
pp. 26-37
Author(s):  
Olav Eggebø

This article describes how remittances have been represented in social scientific texts. Social scientists have predominantly linked discussions about remittances to discussions about development, and many observations regarding remittances have been put into theoretical models where their main purpose has been to verify those models of thought. Remittances have been presented as significant because of the instrumental effects they have for the economy, the society and/or the political system. In this way, discourses on remittances can illuminate not only views on remittances, they can also illuminate intrinsic views of how the world should look like. Remittances have merely been considered in the light of macro models and systems theory, detached from the persons that are in fact the senders and receivers of this money. In this article it is argued that these remittances should not be considered in an instrumental way. The "flow" of remittances is significantly regulated and sanctioned by moral representations linked to structures like household, family and gender. The transactions are manifestations of the personal relations between the actors of the transaction, and cannot be reduced into a model that treats the actors as isolated individuals.


1987 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 113-138 ◽  
Author(s):  
Irving Louis Horowitz

I would like to examine two aspects of German scholarly emigration to the Western democracies, especially the United States and Great Britain. I do not necessarily seek to offer a full explanation of this complex historical and ideological issue, but rather an analysis that attempts to avoid the maze of sociological generalizing that has grown up around the politically inspired migration of scholars.Let me state quite frankly that I am neither a devotee of the history of ideas approach nor an apologist for any particular group of exiles or their ideology. Rather, I seek to understand the common denominators, or better, the root elements that recently led René König (1984) to locate the source of the German sociological exodus in the virulent nationalism of the 1920s, and to argue that the fusion of conservative and radical elements in post-1933 rational socialism was a culmination rather than a cause of social scientific breakdown. As Otto Neurath put this plight: “We are like sailors who must rebuild their ships on the open sea without benefit of a dock, or an opportunity to select the best replacement parts” (Blum, 1985).


1950 ◽  
Vol 44 (4) ◽  
pp. 855-871
Author(s):  
James Macgregor Burns

Who rules Britain? For the political scientist hunting out the real core of power, the question is hard to answer. Students of British politics have variously concluded that the Cabinet, or Parliament, or the party in power, or the administrative class of civil servants, or the “Big Three” (or Four, or Five)—or some combination of these—actually held the reins of authority. Constitutionally, however, the question is an easy one. Formal power rests with a majority of the Members of Parliament. This majority can pass laws and raise money, can bring down governments and make new ones, can change the Constitution itself.Those who have ruled Britain in this sense during the past five years have been a few hundred Labor Members of the House of Commons, organized in the Parliamentary Labor Party. Constitutionally, this is the ruling group, every member of which has equal power. In fact, a small minority of Labor Members, grouped in or about the Cabinet, actually make the great decisions of state. At the same time, the large majority of Labor Members not only lack real power but even in their very name —Backbenchers—they appear as the symbols of impotence.


Author(s):  
S.C. Aveyard

This chapter looks at the changes made by the Labour government to security policy and the establishment of talks with senior Provisional IRA representatives, both designed in order to secure the ceasefire. It also considers the expectations of Labour ministers and senior NIO officials going into the ceasefire. The ceasefire had great implications for security policy and the political scene. It provided the backdrop to the Northern Ireland Constitutional Convention, which lasted from May 1975 through to March 1976, and deeply affected the Labour government’s relationships with political parties in Great Britain and Northern Ireland, with the government of the Republic of Ireland and with senior British army officers.


2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-57
Author(s):  
Lolav M. Hassan Alhamid

This article explores the processes of finding a voice, learning to speak, and breaking silence around gender violence for a Kurdish woman endeavouring to resist oppression and destroy forced negative images and identities. It examines the ways in which she struggles to break imposed silences through resisting gender discrimination and telling stories of violence and exploitation, as represented in the Kurdish novelistic discourse in Bahdinan. Studying Sabri Silevani’s Mariama: Kiçe-Jinek ji Zemanek Di (Mariama: A Woman from Another Time, 2007), the article examines the various forms and layers of violence imposed on Kurdish women by the tribal and patriarchal norms and the social and political structures within the post-conflict Kurdish society in Iraqi Kurdistan. The three-fold typological model of violence developed by the political scientist Johan Galtung is adopted in the article to explore the ways in which the personal characteristics of individuals and the political, economic, and cultural structures of society are viewed as factors affecting the generation of gendered aggression. Most importantly, for the purpose of this article, is the significant utilisation of the association of Galtung’s typology with feminist studies of violence in the exploration of Kurdish women’s attempt to resist marginalisation and their struggle for recognition. Moreover, Rita Felski’s description and study of modern writing by women as a medium through which female political identities and collective consciousness are constructed and represented are adopted to discuss the structural and thematic properties of the text.ABSTRACT IN KURMANJITemsîla şideta cinsî ya piştî şerî di gotara edebî ya kurdên Iraqê de li herêma BehdînanEv meqale berê xwe dide merheleyên peydakirina dengî, fêrbûna axiftinê û daşikandina bêdengiya li dor şideta cinsî li cem jineke kurd a hewl dide li hember zextan ber xwe bide û wêne û huwiyetên menfî yên dasepandî ji nav bibe. Meqale lê hûr dibe ka çawa jin têdikoşe ku bi rêya berxwedana li hember cudakariya cinsî û bi gotina hikayêtên şidet û bikaranînê, wek ku di gotara romana kurdî ya li Behdînan tê temsîlkirin, bêdengiyên dasepandî bişikîne. Ev meqale li ser romana Sebrî Silêvanî ya bi navê Meryema: Kiçe Jinek Ji Zemanek Dî (2007) hûr dibe û dikeve dû destnîşankirina wan awa û tebeqeyên cihêreng ên şideta li ser jina kurd yên bi destê dab û nerîtên eşîrî û babsalarî û herwiha bi destê dezgehên civakî û siyasî yên di nav civaka kurd a li Kurdistana Iraqê ya piştî şerî têne dasepandin. Di meqelayê de modêla tîpolojîk û sê-tebeqeyî ya şidetê, ku Johan Galtungê zanyarê siyasetê dahînaye, hatiye bikaranîn ji bo veçirandina awayên ku taybetiyên şexsî yên ferdan û binyadên civakê yên siyasî, aborî û çandî wek fakterên kartêker ên peydabûna êrîşkariya cinsî têne dîtin. Ji bo armancên vê gotarê, ev tîpolojiya Galtung ligel xebatên fêmînîst ên li ser şidetê têne bikaranîn da ku hewla jinên kurd a berxwedana li hember perawêzxistinê û venasînê berçavtir bibe. Herwiha, pênase û lêkolîna Rita Felski ya li ser nivîsînên hevçerx ên jinan wek amrazek ji bo avakirin û temsîlkirina huwiyetên siyasî û şiûra cemawerî hatine bikaranîn ji bo vedîtina xasyetên metnê yên binyadî û têmayî.ABSTRACT IN SORANIWênekirdinî tundûtîjîy cenderî le gutarî novêlîstîkî kurdîy 'Êraq le BadînanEm meqaleye degerrêt be dway ew prosaney dozînewey deng, fêrbûnî peyivîn û şkandinî ew bêdengîye ke ballî be ser tundûtîjî cenderî da kêşawe, le xebatî ew jine kurde da ke deyewêt rûberrûwî stemkarî bibêtewe û wêne û şunase nerênîye be zor dasepênrawekan têk bişkênêt. Ew rêgayane be taqî dekatewe ke ew jine le xebatî da be kariyan dehênêt bo şkandinî bêdengiye be zor beserî da sepêndrawe le rêgay rûberrûbûnewey ciyakarî cenderî û gêrranewey dastangelî tundûtîjî û pawankirdin, herweku le gutarî novêlîstîkî da be kar hênrawin le nawçey Badînan. Le rêgay xwêndinewey "Meryeme Kiçejinek Ji Zemanek Dî" nûsraw le layen Sebrî Slêvanîyewe, em meqaleye ew şêwaz û rehendaney tundûtîjî be taqî dekatewe ke le rêga bawe hozgerayî û bawsalarîyekan û bunyade siyasiyekanî komellgay kurdî dway şerr le Kurdistanî 'Êraq da xirawnete ser jinanî kurdewe. Lem meqaleye da modêlî sê çînî taypolojîy tundûtîjî bekarhênrawe ke le layen zanay siyasî Johan Galtungewe dirust kirawe, be mebestî dozînewey ew rêgayaney ke pêyan karakterîstîke kesiyekanî takekan û bunyade siyasî û abûrî kelepurîyekanî komellga weku fakterî karîger nîşan drawin be ser qehrî cenderîyewe. Giringtirîn layenî mebestî em meqaleye nîşandanî ew sudbexşîye giringeye ke peywendîdarkrdinî taypolojî Galtung legell lêkollînewey fêmînîstî le gerran da be dway hewllî jinanî kurd bo rûberrûbenewe le hember perawêzxistin û xebatyan bo ewey ke danyan pêda binirêt. Herweha wesf û lêkollînewey Rîta Felski le nusînî hawçerxî jinan weku geyenerêk ke le rêgayiyewe şunasgelî siyasî û agayîy giştîy mê bunyad denirêt û nîşan dedirêt, be mebestî giftûgokirdin le ser layene bunyadî û tewerîyekanî deq, be kar hênrawe.


2005 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 73-86 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Wetherell

Every discipline which deals with the land question in Canaan-Palestine-Israel is afflicted by the problem of specialisation. The political scientist and historian usually discuss the issue of land in Israel purely in terms of interethnic and international relations, biblical scholars concentrate on the historical and archaeological question with virtually no reference to ethics, and scholars of human rights usually evade the question of God. What follows is an attempt, through theology and political history, to understand the history of the Israel-Palestine land question in a way which respects the complexity of the question. From a scrutiny of the language used in the Bible to the development of political Zionism from the late 19th century it is possible to see the way in which a secular movement mobilised the figurative language of religion into a literal ‘title deed’ to the land of Palestine signed by God.


Author(s):  
Piero Ignazi

Chapter 3 investigates the process of party formation in France, Germany, Great Britain, and Italy, and demonstrates the important role of cultural and societal premises for the development of political parties in the nineteenth century. Particular attention is paid in this context to the conditions in which the two mass parties, socialists and Christian democrats, were established. A larger set of Western European countries included in this analysis is thoroughly scrutinized. Despite discontent among traditional liberal-conservative elites, full endorsement of the political party was achieved at the beginning of the twentieth century. Particular attention is paid to the emergence of the interwar totalitarian party, especially under the guise of Italian and German fascism, when ‘the party’ attained its most dominant influence as the sole source and locus of power. The chapter concludes by suggesting hidden and unaccounted heritages of that experience in post-war politics.


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