Klaus von Beyme

Funktionenwandel der Parteien in der Entwicklung von der Massenmitgliederpartei zur Partei der Berufspolitiker

Die Parteien waren immer ein relativ untheoretisch behandelter Teil des politischen Systems. Die Grunde dafur wurden an anderer Stelle erortert1. Diese Theorieferne fuhrte dazu, das Funktionenkataloge als checklist bereits als der Inbegriff der Parteientheorie galten, vor allem in der Ara der Dominanz funktionalistischer Integrationstheorien. Das Integrationsmodell der Parteien wurde in der Ara der Volksparteien auch ohne funktionalistische Terminologie uberwiegend akzeptiert. Es wurden additive Listen der Funktionen von Parteien entwickelt, die immer langer wurden2. Das Wettbewerbsmodell der Parteientheorie, das sich in den USA seit Schumpeter und Downs ausbreitete, konnte auf Funktionskataloge verzichten. Der Parteienwettbewerb war von vornherein so definiert, das Parteien nur die Funktion der Bereitstellung von Fuhrungseliten hatten, welche in Wahlkampfen die Wahler periodisch fur ihre Ziele mobilisierten. Den Parteien permanente Mobilisierungsund Sozialisierungsfunktionen zuzuschreiben, schien im Licht des Modells als ideologieverdachtig. Auch die Reprasentation von Interessen im einzelnen konnte die Aggregationsleistung der Parteien nur behindern.

The Concept of Political Class: A New Dimension of Research on Elites?

The term ‘political class’ on the European continent became a populist battle cry to express ‘Politikverdrossenheit’. The author of this contribution tries to assess the usefulness of the concept by empirical analysis. The decision-making aspect continues to be treated under the term ‘political elite’. Political class makes sense only in those aspects by which the ruling groups stabilise their organisations (the party state) and their income as a group. The tendency to lose ground is, however, compensated by increasing responsiveness. Political class as a notion is wider than the term elite because it includes also the backbenchers. On the other hand it is narrower because the political elite comprises actors beyond government and parliament, such as administrators, media agents and interest group leaders.

The Role of the State and the Growth of Government

The hypothesis of this article is that the changing role of the state can best be explained in terms of the growth of government. The growth of the state and its importance in Western society can be measured in the following areas: (1) growth of government agencies; (2) growth of state officials; (3) growth of taxation and the states share of the national product; (4) growth of legislation and programs; (5) growth of government control over the economy. These aspects are reviewed and analyzed. Proceeding from the observation that even in those fields where the state is growing, the problems grow faster than the agencies that should tackle them, two basic strategies are recommended for the predicaments of Western democracy: fighting rising expectations to reduce overloads of the state and ungovernability; and creating new expectations via mobilization of new productive forces.The hypothesis of this article is that the changing role of the state can best be explained in terms of the growth of government. The growth of the state and its importance in Western society can be measured in the following areas: (1) growth of government agencies; (2) growth of state officials; (3) growth of taxation and the states share of the national product; (4) growth of legislation and programs; (5) growth of government control over the economy. These aspects are reviewed and analyzed. Proceeding from the observation that even in those fields where the state is growing, the problems grow faster than the agencies that should tackle them, two basic strategies are recommended for the predicaments of Western democracy: fighting rising expectations to reduce overloads of the state and ungovernability; and creating new expectations via mobilization of new productive forces.

Parteien im Prozeß der demokratischen Konsolidierung

Demokratietheorie ist von zwei konfligierenden Grundkonzeptionen gekennzeichnet. Eine Tradition sieht in der Demokratie das Ziel, eine andere, essentialistischere Konzeption kann in den real existierenden Demokratien immer nur den Weg erkennen. Die bescheidenere Variante sieht die Demokratie am Ziel, wenn Minimalkriterien der Verfassungsstaatlichkeit gegeben sind. Die radikalere Variante kann in der Realitat gunstigstenfalls „Demokratisierung“ erkennen. Solange diese vor den gesellschaftlichen Subsystemen haltmacht, ist sie nicht am Ziel. Ratedemokratische Utopien sind zur Zeit nicht gefragt. Aber eine Konzeption der reflexiven Demokratie (Schmalz-Bruns 1995) drangt auf Weiterentwicklung der konsolidierten Demokratie. Die moderate Variante der Demokratietheorie gibt sich mit Konsolidierung zufrieden.

The Contemporary Relevance of the Concept of the State

The article begins with a critical review of the use or non-use of the concept of state among contemporary authors, in particular Olson, Crozier, Cassese and Lowi. The notion of state as a mediator of a variety of interests is asserted to be particularly use ful to the neo-corporatists but appears useful also to the neo-Marxists.The article begins with a critical review of the use or non-use of the concept of state among contemporary authors, in particular Olson, Crozier, Cassese and Lowi. The notion of state as a mediator of a variety of interests is asserted to be particularly use ful to the neo-corporatists but appears useful also to the neo-Marxists.

Rechtsextremismus in Osteuropa

Die Cleavage-Struktur-Forschung hat vor allem zwei dominante Spaltungen herausgestellt: Arbeit versus Kapital und Zentrum versus Peripherie. Die Strukturen der Konfliktlinien erwiesen sich jedoch in Osteuropa als komplexer: Die lange Zeit des Kommunismus hat einige Konflikte kaum noch zum Anknupfungspunkt fur Rechtsextremismus werden lassen.

Representative Democracy and the Populist Temptation

My topic sounds rather conventional in terms of a traditional institutional approach. But the ‘enlightened neo-institutionalists’ of our days came back to the old controversies of the late 1940s when in the United States a debate was waged whether one should introduce a parliamentary system in the USA. After 1945 even the American Political Science Association—normally refraining from ex-cathedra-normative statements—made contributions about a ‘Toward a more responsible Two-Party System’ (1950) in order to push the presidential system into another form of representative government, as an American functional equivalent of a British cabinet government.

West Germany: Federalism

Germany, a socially homogenous federation, with a centralized party system, developed close cooperation between governments: central to state and state to state, facilitated by the hobnobbing of bureaucrats and politicians. Tax equalization headed off regional movements, so conflicts were really between parties because party ideologies and programs make a difference. Federalism acted as a barrier to rapid change.Germany, a socially homogenous federation, with a centralized party system, developed close cooperation between governments: central to state and state to state, facilitated by the hobnobbing of bureaucrats and politicians. Tax equalization headed off regional movements, so conflicts were really between parties because party ideologies and programs make a difference. Federalism acted as a barrier to rapid change.

The Evolution of Comparative Politics

The evolution of comparative politics has been classified in stages, such as the ‘pre-paradigmatic phase’ which was not dominated by a single theoretical approach in the scientific community and the ‘paradigmatic phase’, in which the scientific community adhered to a dominant theory.

Shifting National Identities: The Case of Gennan History

Abstract This article examines the construction of Gennan identity in the long-run. It models the modes of legitimation of successive Gennan states in relation to that national identity, concluding with reflections upon the likely impact of further European integration upon Gennan identity.