This paper explores effects of deliberation on decisions in a context of representative politics. It tests claims of deliberative democratic theory that a high quality of discourse leads to more consensual decisions (formal outputs) and to policies that approximate normative ideals of distributive justice (substantive outputs). The mostly quantitative empirical analyses are based on recorded debates of the German Conference Committee (Vermittlungsausschuss). To this end, indicators which operationalize diverse dimensions of discursive politics are developed and transformed into a discourse quality index (DQI). The results imply that discourse quality is a strong determinant of the formal outputs but is quite ineffective to counteract voting power in respect to the substantive outputs. (Author's abstract)

This report summarizes deliberations over the Protection of Traditional Knowledge held during a stakeholder dialogue process launched by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) in 2001/2002. The dialogue process was designed to explore options of companies to address contested issues of intellectual property in their business strategies. To that end, companies were exposed to the concerns of stakeholders and urged to define responses to these concerns. The project involved major companies and transnational nongovernmental organizations as well as renowned experts in the field of intellectual property rights. This paper briefly sketches the project and the process of the Dialogue. The products of the process are the opinions, both concurring and dissenting, that the participants reached on the Protection of Traditional Knowledge, subsumed in the final report to the WBCSD that emerged from the project. This paper also reviews documents (Circulars) from the proceedings, which further illustrate the dynamics of the deliberations, and the range and direction of arguments exchanged by the participants. (Author's abstract)

Environmental policy is considered a cornerstone of 'red-green' (Social Democratic Party-Green Party) politics in Germany. To evaluate its success, national path dependence as well as global policy convergence has to be taken into account. Therefore, we have chosen a conceptual approach that encompasses two dimensions: the scope of policy change, which can be either radical or only moderate, and Germany's international position as a pioneer or a laggard. On this basis, four types of policy strategies can be distinguished: (1) moving first, (2) catching up, (3) staying ahead, and (4) lagging behind. This typology is used to analyze four case studies: energy policy, the ecological tax reform, climate change policy, and the national sustainability strategy. The case studies show, firstly, that a policy change occurred in areas that were high on the Green Party agenda from the very beginning (phase-out of nuclear energy, ecological taxation). Secondly, it is evident that policy innovations already tested in foreign countries facilitate policy change, because policy entrepreneurs can use them as a point of reference. Thirdly, Germany pursues multilateral strategies in areas where the country is a pioneer. To guarantee Germany's position, other countries are pushed to adopt similar policies. (Author's abstract)

An abbreviated version of this articles appears in Werner Reutter (ed.), Germany on the Road to "Normalcy". Policies and Politics of the first Red-Green Government (1998-2002). New York: ⌐Palgrave Macmillan, 2003.

This study will focus on two networks, namely, the 'Alliance in the Alps' and the 'Austrian Climate Alliance' (the Austrian national organization within the European network 'Climate Alliance of European Cities with Indigenous Rainforest Peoples/Alianza del Clima'). The study begins with an overview of network development, stability, functioning, and policy performance. This is followed by an overview of the Swiss and the Austrian national sustainable development, policies respectively, and a description of the Alliance in the Alps Region and the Austrian Climate Alliance, in particular, focusing on those organizations' respective development, aims, structure, and financing. The development of both networks can be interpreted primarily as a reaction to a specific dilemma of sustainable development. Thus, these networks can be said to be problem-oriented. The Alliance in the Alps concerns itself with problems specific to Alpine areas, the Austrian Climate Alliance, on the other hand, concentrates on specific policy fields directly related to the problem of climate change. At present, both networks are in growth phase, with their respective memberships increasing slowly but steadily. From country to country, however, development varies: in some countries, for instance, a fair amount of municipalities are network members, in other countries only very few communities are networked. In Austria, for example, two-thirds of the population live in municipalities that are member communities of the Climate Alliance. Both organizations boast successful network structures. The Austrian Climate Alliance, for instance, has a national and regional secretariats. The Alliance in the Alps is currently in the process of creating similar structures. Regarding policy performance, both networks have been only moderately successful. Most of the aims of the Austrian Climate Alliance cannot be achieved within their stated time frame. Although the Alliance in the Alps can point to a number of 'best practice' projects, the extent to which these have actually contributed qualitatively to sustainable development is not altogether clear. It is easier to gauge the success of the Austrian Climate Alliance because it has a set of unambiguous criteria by which their accomplishments can be measured quantitatively. The Alliance in the Alps, on the other hand, has just begun to develop such criteria by expanding upon local sustainability indicators. For both networks, some core indicators can be named, by which success can be measured: (1) the representation of native languages as working languages within the network, (2) mutual social learning via personal encounter between actors, (3) counselling of the municipalities/local authorities, (4) dynamic individuals within local communities or municipalities who assume responsibility and actively promote the aims of network on the local community-policy level. Whereas Switzerland and Austria support the Alliance in the Alps and the Climate Alliance, their support is restricted in both cases to the national-level organizations of the respective networks in each country. This fact probably contributes to the disparate, heterogeneous development of network membership within individual countries. (Author's abstract)

In the research field of new firm survival, the temporary existence of non-survivable firms is an empirical fact which has time and again proved a source of irritation. The observed entry size of most manufacturing firms is smaller than a defined minimal efficient entry size: that is, it is suboptimal. In a series of investigations, an adolescent phase with a diminished hazard rate (as compared to the adulthood of firms) has been identified. The appearance of adolescence is interpreted as a honeymoon of exhaustion of resources brought along by entry. But why do the firms celebrate this bizarre delight shortly before the end? The present study identifies a partial neutralization of the effects of selection within an initial growth phase after the entry process as the cause for the diminished mortalitythis also explains the possibility of entry and survival with suboptimal entry sizes. The problem field of new firm survival is investigated using a stochastic evolutionary model developed in evolutionary physics in the early 1980s, to deal with the problem of generation and survival of new variants in complex adaptive systems. The research concept of the present study develops a two-phasemodel of growth of a newly founded firm which, by application of the stochastic instrument, is transformed into a two-phase-model of survival representing the content of the 'liability-of-adolescence'-hypothesis. As in the traditional investigations on the 'liability of adolescence' in the interplay with the two phases entry size is a relevant indicator of new firm survival. The evolutionary schema claims in addition for every analysis an evaluation of product attributes of the firms by the customers as well as a further indicator displaying an entry claim of the newly founded firm represented by the very market segment which has to be occupied in order to be able to survive in relative security. (Author's abstract)

This study surveys the integration of Polish local and regional authorities into general and policy-specific networks at the national and transnational level. Special attention is paid to networking that focuses on sustainable development and environmental protection policies. The introduction to the study describes the decentralisation of political and administrative structures in Poland from 1990 onwards, which has continuously strengthened local and regional self-government. The study further examines the responsibilities and commitment of the different administrative levels concerning sustainable development and environmental policies. It becomes clear that the Local Agenda 21 process in Poland was initiated primarily and promoted mainly by the local authorities, whereas state regulation and support of this process are shown to be lacking. The focal point of the study is the description of national and transnational networks and their importance for the development of Polish cities and regions. In the Baltic Sea Region, in particular, local and regional authorities have built strong transnational links. Two case-studies of the Polish cities Gdansk and Szczecin try to demonstrate the importance of such a transnational orientation for urban development. (Author's abstract)

In politics and business, the new communications media are being used increasingly for the purpose of staging discursive conflicts. Program systems have been developed, which are designed to facilitate decision making in moderated or mediated groups. One of these programs, 'ZENO', was tested in a three-month online roll-playing encounter called 'Sprottenborn'. The use of role playing in a research context is methodologically new. The communication experiences and the written interactions among participating subjects were analyzed. The main purpose of our investigations was to make a contribution to further development of the software and to gain a more insightful view of typical online psychosocial processes. We compared them with well known results of sociopsychological discourse research. This project was carried out jointly by the Institute for Autonomous Intelligence Systems (AiS) in St. Augustin, Germany and the Working Group on Online Mediation at the Social Science Research Center Berlin (WZB) in Berlin, Germany. (Author's abstract)