Prompted by unification, the German constitution has undergone the most fundamental re-examination since the foundation of the Federal Republic. The high hopes of many that the achevement of unification ould be crowned by a new constition for Germany have been dashed; but although continuity may seem to prevail, unification and, even more so, the process of European integration have provided powerful forces of constituional change. This volume seeks to identify some of the central challenges which constitional policy faces and analyzes how, and with what degree of success, they are being met.

Secrecy is a prevalent feature of politics within and among liberal democratic states, as well as in the relations between states and international organisations. However, surprisingly little research in political science has explored the effects of secrecy on policy making; the evolution of the regulatory frameworks that govern the use of secrecy; and the tensions between secrecy and transparency. This fascinating volume examines secrecy in European politics across a range of EU and national settings and policy domains, exploring the technological, social and political developments which appear to signal the end of privacy and the rapid expansion of political secrecy in European multi-level settings. Consequently, the tensions between democratic accountability with its transparency requirements, and political secrecy, which is typically justified on grounds of effectiveness of state action, have become more marked and more politicised. Engaging with these developments, the authors focus on actors' motivations in secret politics; institutional perspectives that highlight contestation over secrecy norms; and organisational perspectives that emphasise the diversity of secrecy cultures. This book will be of great interest to students, researchers and professionals of political science and law. It was originally published as a special issue of the journal West European Politics.

This book arises out of a specially commissioned issue of West European Politics marking the journal's 30th anniversary. It examines the profound changes in the European political landscape over the last three decades, including the fall of Communism; progressive European integration; territorial restructuring; public sector reforms at European, national, regional and local levels; changes in democratic participation, protest, elections, political communication, political parties and party competition; and challenges to the welfare state. The book also discusses how political science has responded to these changes in terms of its substantive focus, concepts, methods and theories. Many of the 17 contributions included identify important challenges for the future, including those stemming from EU integration, the reduced electoral accountability of politicians, the problematic legitimation of party government and the sharpening of the edges of the state. Contributors include K. A. Anderson, F. C. Castles, C. Crouch, M. Egeberg. M. Ferrera, H. Goetz, L. Hooghe, E. M. Immergut, R. F. Inglehart, M. Keating, H.-D. Klingemann H. Kriesi, M. Lodge, J. Lovenduski, P. Mair, G. Marks, Y. M ny, L. Morlino, H. Obinger, V. A. Schmidt, P. C. Schmitter, and G. Smith.

This book was published as a special issue of West European Politics.

This book arises out of a specially commissioned issue of West European Politics marking the journal's 30th anniversary. It examines the profound changes in the European political landscape over the last three decades, including the fall of Communism; progressive European integration; territorial restructuring; public sector reforms at European, national, regional and local levels; changes in democratic participation, protest, elections, political communication, political parties and party competition; and challenges to the welfare state. The book also discusses how political science has responded to these changes in terms of its substantive focus, concepts, methods and theories. Many of the 17 contributions included identify important challenges for the future, including those stemming from EU integration, the reduced electoral accountability of politicians, the problematic legitimation of party government and the sharpening of the edges of the state. Contributors include K. A. Anderson, F. C. Castles, C. Crouch, M. Egeberg. M. Ferrera, H. Goetz, L. Hooghe, E. M. Immergut, R. F. Inglehart, M. Keating, H.-D. Klingemann H. Kriesi, M. Lodge, J. Lovenduski, P. Mair, G. Marks, Y. M?ny, L. Morlino, H. Obinger, V. A. Schmidt, P. C. Schmitter, and G. Smith.

This book was published as a special issue of West European Politics.

The Spanish language has a long and rich history, from its prehistoric roots to its position today as the mother tongue of nearly 400 million inhabitants of 21 countries. How the language originated, how it evolved, and how it is spoken today around the world makes for a fascinating story that greatly enhances the study of written and spoken Spanish. This Spanish-language text covers the history of Spanish from its pre-Roman and Latin roots to its standardized form and its many regional variations. Along the way, discussion covers the spread of Latin on the Iberian Peninsula, the development of romance dialects due to a number of sociolinguistic influences, and the process of creating a standard variety of Spanish. It concludes with a discussion of the origin and the range of dialects that are spoken across the vast geographcial area that forms the Spanish-speaking world. Details of pronunciation, spelling, grammar, and vocabulary are explained in their historical context, giving the student of Spanish a deeper understanding of the language as a whole. Perfect for students of Spanish as well as Spanish-speaking readers seeking to expand their general knowledge of the language, this book also includes a glossary of basic linguistic terms discussed in the text. La lengua espanola tiene una rica y larga historia, desde sus raices prehistoricas hasta su estado actual como la lengua materna de casi 400 millones de habitantes en 21 paises. El como se origino, como evoluciono, y como se habla hoy en dia alrededor del mundo contribuye a una historia fascinante que complementa el estudio del espanol escrito y hablado. El presente texto, en lengua espanola, trata la historia del espanol desde sus raices prerromanas y latinas hasta su forma estandarizada y sus multiples variantes regionales. A lo largo de la narrativa se cubre la expansion del latin en la Peninsula Iberica, el desarrollo de los dialectos romances debido a una serie de influencias de tipo sociolinguistico, y el proceso de crear una variante estandar del espanol. El libro concluye con una discusion de los origenes y de la variedad de dialectos que se hablan en la vasta zona geografica que comprende el mundo hispanohablante. Los pormenores de la pronunciacion, la ortografia, la gramatica, y el vocabulario se explican dentro de su contexto historico, y proporcionan al esudiante del espanol un entendimiento mas profundo de la lengua en su totalidad. El libro es perfectamente adecuado para los estudiantes del espanol tanto como para otros lectores hispanohablantes que desean aumentar sus conocimientos de la lengua, e incluye tambien un glosario de los terminos linguisticos elementales que se tratan en el texto.

This comparative examination of the impact of European integration on the politics and government of EU member states covers the parties, the legal system, voters and public administration.

Prompted by unification, the German constitution has undergone the most fundamental re-examination since the foundation of the Federal Republic. The high hopes of many that the achevement of unification ould be crowned by a new constition for Germany have been dashed; but although continuity may seem to prevail, unification and, even more so, the process of European integration have provided powerful forces of constituional change. This volume seeks to identify some of the central challenges which constitional policy faces and analyzes how, and with what degree of success, they are being met.

This comparative examination of the impact of European integration on the politics and government of EU member states covers the parties, the legal system, voters and public administration.

How do international organizations in the United Nations system put together their budgets? What is the role of complex principals - most notably member states - and the complex agents in the bureaucracies of international organizations in budgeting processes? And what does a focus on budgeting tell us about the changing nature of the system of international organizations? This book provides answers to these questions through a detailed examination of budgeting in the UN system. The analysis draws on both quantitative and qualitative observations for a total of 22 UN system organizations and detailed case studies for the United Nations, ILO, UNESCO, and WHO. The findings demonstrate the importance of three key organizational outcomes- proceduralization, routinization, and budgetary segmentation - as international organizations grapple with managing discord over priorities as a result of complex principal- agent constellations. Contrary to a common view of international bureaucracies as pathological organizations, core budget routines are mostly successfully maintained. However, principal constellations become more complex, notably through the rise of voluntary contributions and non-state donors; budgetary segmentation advances, in some cases even leading to the setting up of new international organizations; and budgeting and resource mobilization become ever more intertwined. As a consequence, the capacity of international bureaucracies to fulfil their budgeting responsibilities is stretched to the limits and beyond. Transformations in Governance is a major academic book series from Oxford University Press. It is designed to accommodate the impressive growth of research in comparative politics, international relations, public policy, federalism, and environmental and urban studies concerned with the dispersion of authority from central states to supranational institutions, subnational governments, and public-private networks. It brings together work that advances our understanding of the organization, causes, and consequences of multilevel and complex governance. The series is selective, containing annually a small number of books of exceptionally high quality by leading and emerging scholars. The series is edited by Liesbet Hooghe and Gary Marks of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and Walter Mattli of the University of Oxford.

Obwohl bald 10 Jahre vergangen sind, seitdem das Penicillin in die Therapie eingefUhrt worden ist, sind die Ansichten hinsichtlich seines Wertes in der Dermatologie noch immer geteilt. Wahrend der eine Autor die besten Erfahrungen bei verschiedensten Dermatosen gesam- melt haben will, vermag der andere bei den gleichen Erkrankungen nur uber unbefriedigende Resultate zu berichten. Da aber in der Literatur eine zusammen!assende Darstellung der von verschiedensten Unter- suchern mitgeteilten Behandlungsergebnisse dermatologischer Affek- tionen bisher fehlte - die in den umfangreicheren Penicillinwerken der Dermatologie gewidmeten Kapitel umfassen meist nur wenige Seiten - vermag sich der Arzt tatsachlich kein klares Bild uber die Bedeutung dieses Antibioticums bei Hautkrankheiten zu machen. Bei dem Versuch, sich selbst ein Urteil zu bilden, tritt nun, insbesondere bei dem deutschen Beschauer, die Schwierigkeit hinzu, infolge der Kriegs- und Nachkriegsverhaltnisse meist nicht in der Lage zu sein, den er- forderlichen Einblick in die auslandische Literatur nehmen zu konnen. Wir haben uns daher bemuht, auf Grund eines eingehenderen Literatur- studiums, das dem einen von uns (GOTZ) im Rahmen eines Studien- aufenthaltes in London durch den Besuch der arztlichen Bibliotheken der Royal Society of Medicine, der British Medical Association und des University College Hospitals ermoglicht wurde, sowie unserer eigenen klinischen Erfahrungen, den erforderlichen zusammenfassenden Uber- blick uber die bisherigen Erfolge und MiBerfolge der Penicillintherapie in der Dermatologie zu geben, urn auf diese Weise zu einer gerechteren Beurteilung zu gelangen.

Migration is at the center of much of the discussion on globalization. Migrants move across borders and thus defy state-centered traditions. Migration is often caused or influenced by aspects of global change: the transformation of the world economy with the expansion of free trade, the modification of the world balance of power and the challenge of global insecurity, the emergence of the global environment as an important political issue, and the redefinition of the role of communities in shaping identities when faced with networks of migrants and diasporas. Forced Migration and Global Processes considers the crossroads of forced migration with three global trends: development, human rights, and security. This expert collection studies these complex interactions and aims to help determine what solutions may alleviate most of the human suffering involved in forced migrations.

This timely comparative analysis explores the evolution of governance in Central and Eastern Europe. The book considers post-communist leaders' key challenge: the development of central government institutions capable of coordinating, integrating, and steering the policymaking process. Building on a broad range of primary sources and extensive field research, the distinguished authors analyze the processes and outcomes of institution-building in Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic, and Bulgaria since the late 1980s. They examine in detail the organization and inner workings of central executives; explain differences in executive trajectories across time and countries by considering the influence of institutional legacies, the impact of evolving party systems, and the role of crises in spurring institutional change; and show the effects of executive institutions on patterns of public policy, especially the budgetary process. Through a rigorous application of the core-executive framework, this study offers nuanced conceptual and analytical insights that will enhance understanding of both the evolving institutions of Central and Eastern Europe and the more stable West European systems. The in-depth analysis of the development of national executive institutions casts a distinctive new light on debates about EU enlargement, Europeanization, and patterns of governance.

This timely comparative analysis explores the evolution of governance in Central and Eastern Europe. The book considers post-communist leaders' key challenge: the development of central government institutions capable of coordinating, integrating, and steering the policymaking process. Building on a broad range of primary sources and extensive field research, the distinguished authors analyze the processes and outcomes of institution-building in Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic, and Bulgaria since the late 1980s. They examine in detail the organization and inner workings of central executives; explain differences in executive trajectories across time and countries by considering the influence of institutional legacies, the impact of evolving party systems, and the role of crises in spurring institutional change; and show the effects of executive institutions on patterns of public policy, especially the budgetary process. Through a rigorous application of the core-executive framework, this study offers nuanced conceptual and analytical insights that will enhance understanding of both the evolving institutions of Central and Eastern Europe and the more stable West European systems. The in-depth analysis of the development of national executive institutions casts a distinctive new light on debates about EU enlargement, Europeanization, and patterns of governance.

Migration is at the center of much of the discussion on globalization. Migrants move across borders and thus defy state-centered traditions. Migration is often caused or influenced by aspects of global change: the transformation of the world economy with the expansion of free trade, the modification of the world balance of power and the challenge of global insecurity, the emergence of the global environment as an important political issue, and the redefinition of the role of communities in shaping identities when faced with networks of migrants and diasporas. Forced Migration and Global Processes considers the crossroads of forced migration with three global trends: development, human rights, and security. This expert collection studies these complex interactions and aims to help determine what solutions may alleviate most of the human suffering involved in forced migrations.