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No description available.

German industrialization in the nineteenth century had brought forward a variety of conflicting ideas when it came to the agrarian community. One of them was the agrarian romantic movement led by Adam Műller, who feared the loss of the traditional German peasant. Műller influenced Reichdeutsche Richard Walther Darré, who argued that large cities were the downfall of the German people and that only a healthy peasant stock would be able to ‘save' Germany. Under Darré's definition, “Geopolitik” was the defense of the land, the defense with Pflug und Schwert (plow and sword) by Wehrbauern, an ‘Űberbauer-fusion' of soldier and peasant. In order to accomplish these goals, new settlements had to be established while moving from west to east. The specific focus of this study is on the original Hegewald resettlement ideas of Richard Walther Darré and how his philosophy was taken over by Himmler and fit into his personal needs and creed after 1941. It will shed some light on the interaction of Darré and Himmler and the notorious internal fights and power struggles between the various governmental agencies involved. The Ministry for Food and Agriculture under the leadership of Darré was systematically pushed into the background and all previous, often publicly announced re-settlement policies were altered; Darré was pushed aside once the eastern living space was actually occupied.

Doctorat en sciences sociales, politiques et économiques / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

This study uses the ‘duchies' of Burgundy and Alemannia as case studies for an examination of the nature and causes of political change in the five decades after the death in 888 of the Emperor Charles the Fat ended the Carolingian monopoly on kingship in the Frankish realms. Existing narratives of this period posit discontinuity between the pre- and post-888 political worlds and define the status of dukes in opposition to royal power as the manifestation of either regional communal identity or self-centred aristocratic greed. Close examination of Burgundy and Alemannia indicates that such approaches are invalid, and that the fundaments of the Carolingian system persisted in the ideology and practice of politics after 888: a desire for the control over land and religious establishments, juxtaposed with a deep-seated belief in the centrality of the kingship to the political order. Dukedoms emerged in both regions not as a result of deep-rooted social forces but as short-term responses by magnates to crises at the centre. The perception that the dukedom was an essential form of political organization failed to take root in either territory prior to 940. Although the status of the dukedoms ultimately developed in different ways in the two kingdoms, it is suggested that the root causes of this are best sought in high politics itself.

This study has presented a different characterization of the delegates working within the Frankfurt Assembly during the Revolutions of 1848. The evidence suggests that instead of the delegates being naïve and idle in their pursuit for legitimacy, the assembly was systematic in its endeavor to achieve sovereignty and unify the German states. Through the correspondences of Andrew J. Donelson, this study revealed the competency of the delegates to act as the governing authority of the various German states. The assembly successfully negotiated with the United States and acquired a fully armed war steamer that would benefit the newly created Reichsflotte (German Navy). Establishing a system of defense would protect any legislation produced. The delegates should not be faulted with the ultimate rise of authoritarianism, but rather celebrated for their serious effort made towards democracy. / The Frankfurt Parliament -- The mad year -- The United States of Germany -- New legacy. / Department of History

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On the basis of case studies of 19th and early 20th century Germany, Sweden and the Netherlands, I address the question of how and when incumbent right elites reformed electoral systems under a rising political threat from the left. Some states adopted proportional representation (PR) earlier than others. Why did different states adopt PR at different times? One important factor was the existing electoral system before the adoption of PR. This has been missed in academic research since most scholars have assumed that the electoral system in place before the adoption of PR in most Western European states was single-member plurality (SMP). I show that the system in place prior to PR in most Western European states was not SMP but a two-round system (TRS). TRS effects are still poorly understood by political scientists. I argue that both PR and TRS were used as safeguards by the parties on the right against an electoral threat from the left, which originated from the expansion of suffrage. PR was used as a last resort after other safeguards had been exhausted. I state that in the presence of a strong left threat, countries with TRS could wait longer to implement PR than countries with SMP in place. Under TRS, the adoption of PR was considerably delayed since electoral coordination between parties could be applied more effectively than under SMP systems. This was largely due to the increase of information and time after the first round of TRS elections, which was used by right parties to coordinate votes around the most promising candidate before the second round. First round results under TRS were used as an "electoral opinion poll". Based on these results, the right could react more effectively than the left in order to improve outcomes in round two.

This thesis explores the implications of the Internet for democracy, re-evaluating the various claims and counter-claims that have been made for the Internet's democratic potential. Based on a framework to measure democracy that emphasises popular control and political equality, it assesses whether the Internet gives a greater and more representative share of the population the opportunity to participate in the political process by focusing on use of the Internet to contact political representatives. The analysis combines secondary analysis of population surveys with original data collected in two online surveys from more than 14,000 users of successful contact facilitation platforms in the UK (WriteToThem.com) and Germany (Abgeordnetenwatch.de) that enable sending messages to representatives. The results show that in both countries the Internet in general has only marginally increased the number of people engaged in contacting. At the same time, contact facilitation platforms as specific online applications have attracted large numbers of people who have never before contacted a representative. While all online means of contacting primarily amplify traditional participatory biases, such as for gender and education, they can at least selectively engage traditionally under-represented parts of the population, for example young people or low-income groups. The processes that shape these patterns are identified by developing a basic theory of contacting and using the similarities and differences between the findings for the two countries. It demonstrates not only that participation continues to be dominated by traditional determinants that cannot be completely overcome by technology, but also that Internet applications can shape participation patterns – if designed to appropriately adapt to the context in which they operate, which is rarely the case. This highlights the need to think carefully about how online platforms can be used, building on the – albeit limited – gains identified here, to strengthen them as a means of ensuring democratic participation.

Doctorat en sciences sociales, politiques et économiques / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished