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What is it to become a citizen? Over the last ten years, the US and the German governments have been vociferously advocating for naturalization as a mechanism for social inclusion and national security. But how do immigrants perceive becoming a citizen? This paper explores what being a citizen means to immigrants in New York and Berlin. Through intensive interviews, thick description and using grounded theory, I unearth how new naturalized citizens think and live citizenship in their everyday lives. I question the importance of the developmental model that has been the standard understanding of naturalization for the last hundred years. I discover that naturalized citizens engage specific citizenship frames to explain what citizenship is to them and why they naturalized. These frames include a benefit seeking, a claims making, a hyperpolitical/ bureaucracy avoidance, a circumstance securing and a developmental approach to understanding what citizenship means. I compare the thoughts, opinions and experiences of permanent residents and naturalized citizens in New York and Berlin, two cities with receptive policies toward immigrants located in countries with polar opposite citizenship policies. Based on the data, the paper includes policy prescriptions for how to think about naturalization as a policy goal, how to make it more meaningful and more likely to achieve the ends desired by the respective governments. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scholars have seldom tested the innovation and normalization paradigm of e-campaigning over time. Particularly outside the U.S., there is a lack of comparative analyses of candidate or party Web sites that deal with the concept's temporal validity and scope. The paper addresses this research gap through a longitudinal content and structural analysis of German party Web sites in the 2002 and 2005 National Elections. The results provide empirical evidence of a twofold development in e-campaigning that challenges past assumptions of the innovation and normalization framework. Specifically, the paper proposes two theoretical revisions: First, innovation and normalization do not represent mutually exclusive opposites of a scientific controversy, but rather signify a dynamic conceptual continuum of parallel stages in the evolution of e-campaigning. Second, this continuum is affected by the Web site dimension as well as by the status of the political actors being observed. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

American studies have pointed to a dramatic increase in negativity on campaign Web sites. Thus far, however, it is unclear, whether this growth of virtual mudslinging reflects either a national trend due to the competitive and highly personalized voting system, or rather an international process in the ongoing professionalization of political communication. In order to explore this question, this paper examined the use of virtual attacks on German party Web sites in two state elections, one national election, and one European parliamentary election by a quantitative content analysis. The results show that online negativity has affected German e-campaigns on all levels of the political system, with patterns similar to those found in the United States. This includes the amount and frequency of the attacks as well as their differential usage by incumbents and challengers, their respective sources, and the subject dimensions of the assaults. Only with regard to the thematic context and the targets of the attacks did German and American e-campaigns vary in their style of online negativism. These findings support the notion of a global standardization effect in Web campaign practices brought about by the general professionalization process in politics. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper seeks to draw out a theory of resistance from the writings of the German Protestant Theologian, Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945), in the process showing one possible avenue political and moral theorizing can take when attempting to reconcile the desirability of theoretical universalism or rationalism on the one hand, and the apparent impossibility of truly systematizing the world that exceptional circumstances reveal on the other. Bonhoeffer was a scholar and pastor grounded in the philosophical and theological traditions of Germany, and his conception of the state, obedience, and authority is unsurprisingly similar to the positions advocated by Martin Luther and Immanuel Kant. Like both of these thinkers, Bonhoeffer claims that under no circumstances may a citizen permissibly resist the state. However, unlike Luther and Kant, Bonhoeffer simultaneously refuses to claim that an unjust regime always deserves obedience, that such universal claims are even possible, and instead attempts to mitigate between strongly emphasizing the necessity of government and recognizing the need for a response to state perpetuated atrocities and other sorts of exceptional circumstances. Faced with the injustice and brutality of the Nazi regime, and having exhausted permissible modes of disobedience, Bonhoeffer took the unlikely step of becoming a triple agent in the Abwehr. Under the guise of a Nazi spy traveling to international ecumenical conferences to collect information on Allied activities, he distributed details about Nazi atrocities, attempted to gain Allied support for a planned coup, helped smuggle Jews outside of Germany in "Operation 7", and took part in the conspiracy to assassinate Hitler. During these conspiratorial activities, Bonhoeffer wrote, attacking both deontological and teleological ethical systems and replacing them with a contextualist approach in which ethical principles are absolute, while simultaneously only provisionally authoritative due to the importance of considering them alongside concrete reality and the needs of others. In times of normalcy, resistance is prohibited and the traditional elements of ethical behavior are appropriate, true, and demanded. However, during necessita, a concept Bonhoeffer adapts from Machiavelli, the responsible person must perform an act of free responsibility, deviating from ethical principles and attacking the very laws he seeks to preserve and reestablish. Such action is exceptional, ethically unacceptable, and lacks the assurance of being the correct choice. Bonhoeffer thus presents a theory that accommodates revolutionary activity in the direst circumstances, but characterizes such action as exceedingly difficult, soaked with guilt, indefinable, and paradoxically driven by communal concerns yet enacted in complete isolation. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Islamic terrorism may only be abated through political reconciliation and a "proper" amount of political representation. This research paper focuses on whether and to what extent Muslim citizens serve on various federal legislative bodies throughout the western world. Is it fair to say, for example, that Muslim communities are well assimilated in the U.S. when there is only one Congressman currently serving out of 435 who holds that particular faith? While, conversely, there are four Muslim members of the British House of Commons? In this multicase comparative analysis, I have counted all Muslim politicians serving at the federal legislative level in 2007, in the United States, Canada, Great Britain, the Netherlands, Sweden, Germany, and Israel. My initial findings point to a nation's acculturation/immigration policies, as well as its electoral procedures, as being major factors in determining the proportion of Muslim federal legislators. Are Muslims in these countries actively involved in nonviolent political exploration as advocated by theorist Hannah Arendt, or is the anti-democratic impulse currently present in many Islamic countries too culturally imbedded, as hinted by Seymour M. Lipset? Political scientists need to answer questions like these and conduct this type of research if we ever hope to solve religious conflict through the channel of representative democracy, at home and abroad. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the issue on social classes in determining the easiness of integrating from a country of origin to another country. The study that focuses on the assimilation by Russians migrating in Germany, revealed that they are the most complex, because instead of being split on class lines, they are separated by their ethnicity as a Russian. Thus, the ease of assimilation is not based on social class but on ethnicity, understanding of the countries primary language and its culture.

We outline competing theoretical conceptions of how political elites (politicians) view rules governing elections and representation. We use survey data from Australia, Germany, the Netherlands and New Zealand to examine whether MPs and candidates for parliament are motivated by electoral self-interest, ideology, or both when evaluating proposals for changing electoral institutions. Self-interest is defined here in terms of whether candidates for office were winners or losers. We find that respondents who won election and who are in government are least supportive of proposals to change institutions, while respondents who lost elections and were from parties out of government are most supportive of institutional changes. However, these self-interest effects are attenuated by ideology. We discuss how these findings have a complex relationship with the static nature of political institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article analyzes elections and government formation at the national and subnational levels in Germany since 1960. It cites several reasons behind the considerable attention received by the multi-level electoral competition and government formation in Germany. It suggests that Land coalitions have contributed to the replication of national coalition patterns at the sub-national level. It emphasizes that the rise in electoral volatility that has been characterizing elections, can be attributed to the increase of Land coalitions.

The article presents an analysis of the impact of personal characteristics of legislators in the United States and Germany on their decision-making behavior. In contrast to existing studies, it is not limited to the analysis of one specific aspect, such as a legislator's gender or ethnic background. Instead, it takes a comprehensive approach by looking at a variety of characteristics, including gender, ethnicity, class, professional expertise and single traumatic events. Taking institutional contexts into account, the article focuses on political representation in the light of personally motivated agendas of decision-makers. The findings suggest a complex connection of substantive, descriptive and symbolic representation. As such, the article presents a re-discovery of the multidimensionality Hanna Pitkin stressed in her treatment on the concept of representation. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports on the state of electronic government (e-government) and the potential impact of the Internet on local governance in the federal republics of the U.S. and Germany. It is noted that e-government in the U.S. is more sophisticated than in Germany, which is based on various factors including professional management and socioeconomic characteristics. It is asserted that local governments in both countries shave not fully maximized the use of e-government.

Provisions for animal protection have been included in the national constitutions of Switzerland (1992, 2000) and Germany (2002). Protective constitutional inclusion is a major substantive accomplishment, and considering other social justice movements also seeking increased political visibility and responsiveness, one wonders how animals were allowed into this realm of political importance? This study seeks to explain how, in three countries with largely differing governments and histories, animal protectionists achieved this substantial gain? Using McAdam et al's relational approach to social movement research (2001), and Kriesi et al's factors of political opportunity structures (1995), my examination of this under-researched topic sheds light on how animal rights activists successfully navigated differing political opportunity structures in each country. Variation between governments, history, and the types of constitutional inclusion, illuminates the dynamism between social movements, the public, and the government, where seemingly irrelevant factors, such as religious cleavages, prove influential, and where "brokerage" as a tactic proves determinant in both cases. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What factors aid an immigrant group in assimilating into a new country? How much does education, command of the countries main language and ethnicity and background come into play? How does the promise of citizenship and or naturalization play into the speed that one becomes an active member of society? In order to answer these questions, I will examine the immigration and assimilation of Russians into Germany. Russian immigrants to Germany are separated by their ethnicity as a Russian, namely the divide is between Ethnic Russians of Russian decent, Ethnic Germans from Russia and Russian Jews. Each group has faced various issues while immigrating to Germany, all of which will be addressed in this paper. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What factors aid an immigrant group in assimilating into a new country? How much does education, command of the countries main language and ethnicity and background come into play? How does the promise of citizenship and or naturalization play into the speed that one becomes an active member of society? In order to answer these questions, I will examine the immigration and assimilation of Russians into Germany. Russian immigrants to Germany are separated by their ethnicity as a Russian, namely the divide is between Ethnic Russians of Russian decent, Ethnic Germans from Russia and Russian Jews. Each group has faced various issues while immigrating to Germany, all of which will be addressed in this paper. ..PAT.-Conference Proceeding [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study asks under what domestic conditions environmental groups in the United Kingdom, France, and Germany will overcome the collective action, resource, and ideological impediments to cooperative activity. A political opportunity approach is employed which looks at the relationship between elite alliances and domestic cleavages and the choice to engage in domestic as well as transnational cooperation. Using data gathered through content analysis over a nearly twenty-five year period, I find that changes in domestic opportunities influence the choice of environmental groups to engage in cooperative activities. An open POS is found to depress both domestic and transnational cooperation; while a closed POS increases cooperative activities. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Variations in the degree of public support for war in Iraq can be traced to differences in the way news media in different countries represented the crisis to their publics. We present related studies of news coverage of the Iraq war in news magazines of five nations over a one-year period leading up to and including the war and its aftermath. We draw on a sample of stories about Iraq in major news magazines from France, Canada, the US, the UK, and Germany. We find support for the hypothesis that international (non-American) media framed the issues of war and foreign policy objectives by advocating a less aggressive, more internationalist, and more diplomatic foreign policy approach than US media, and that these distinctions reflect the widening gap between the United States and Europe on issues of geopolitics and global cooperation. Such differences not only reflect critically important distinctions in national policy positions towards Iraq, they also have likely contributed to differences in public perceptions of the need for war at all. ..PAT.-Conference Proceeding [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accounts of the post-war occupations of Germany and Japan typically stress the importance of positive incentives in gaining cooperation and deterring resistance. Yet few of these accounts examine occupation policy as it was initially conceived prior to the defeat and enacted during the initial period of surrender. As such, it remains unclear whether U.S. policymakers believed in 1945 that positive incentives would be sufficient to gain compliance. This study therefore examines the overall plans for peace as well as the specific measures to enforce that peace as detailed in occupation handbooks and manuals. I argue that the positive incentives designed to win hearts and minds so often associated with the occupations came secondary to strategies emphasizing the strategic use of violence to deter post-war resistance. ..PAT.-Conference Proceeding [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]