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Copyright of Internationales Archiv für Sozialgeschichte der deutschen Literatur is the property of De Gruyter and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

How did the Japanese government defend its postwar capital controls against foreign criticism within the wider discourse surrounding the liberalization of cross-border capital f lows? This paper argues that it was relying on the so-called "balance of payments rationale," a rhetoric linking the annual in- and outf lows of foreign money to current and future states of the national economy, to justify its continued application of foreign capital import controls between 1950 and 1967. It traces how legal, diplomatic, and economic conditions enabled the balance of payments rationale to assume this role. As the control of capital imports was an important element of Japan's postwar industrial policy, maintaining it was deemed essential for the country's economic development. Thus, the initial conditions of the capital liberalization discourse coupled with the effective use of the balance of payments rationale enabled the Japanese government to retain this important industrial policy tool. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of ifo Dresden Berichtet: Ueber Konjunktur, Struktur, Wirtschaftspolitik is the property of ifo Institute for Economic Research and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Zeitschrift fur Wirtschaftspolitik is the property of De Gruyter and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Perspektiven der Wirtschaftspolitik is the property of De Gruyter and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Der Moderne Staat is the property of Verlag Barbara Budrich GmbH and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Perspektiven der Wirtschaftspolitik is the property of De Gruyter and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The study presented in this paper reviews the emergence and development of Hungarian economic and legal terminology. It is based on research during which I examined over 1 000 terms from their first publication in specialized dictionaries, through changes in their meaning, all the way to their integration into technical vocabulary or their extinction. My research also focused on the reasons why the colloquial meaning of a term may cause the disappearance of its technical meaning. I conclude my study with examples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of the paper is to bring up again the important issue – the fact that the academic staff, researchers and support staff of universities have low salaries in Estonia and their work is not highly valued or appreciated in the society, and to assess the situation. Unless changes are made soon in this area, qualified persons will gradually move from universities and establishments of higher education to other areas/sectors of national economy (some of them probably also to other countries) and the quality, competitiveness and standards of teaching and research activities will decline. Development of the whole Estonian national economy would suffer. This is the opinion of both the heads of the universities and many practical experts of the economy who are familiar with the situation. The research tasks of the paper are: to identify and highlight positions on the problem of salaries in Estonian higher education; to present, study and assess salary levels in Estonia; to examine the positions of Estonian politicians in the issue of salaries; to draw conclusions. Instead of theoretical thoughts/positions and comparisons between them and their synthesis, the author of the paper above all relies on practical opinions and the required trends/changes arising from them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Volkswagen's success has generated both admiration and criticism. As such, the enterprise shines a light on the Federal Republic of Germany's global position as an export nation. By examining the company's presence in the USA and Mexico and its sustained efforts to become a leading global automaker since the early 1990s, the paper asks to what extent Volkswagen's international conduct has been shaped by the norms of self-restraint and moderation that define Germany's diplomatic style. That an economic actor like Volkswagen repeatedly diverged from these official diplomatic codes by pursuing its interests and provoking conflict underlines the importance of economic power in shaping Germany's image abroad. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Der Moderne Staat is the property of Verlag Barbara Budrich GmbH and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The Gold Frontier in South Africa. This paper uses the concept of commodity frontiers to compare the expansions and contractions of the South African gold frontier. Similarities and differences to its counterparts in the USA or Australia become visible in the South African gold frontier's rapid industrialization, massive exploitation of low-skilled workers and tremendous damage to the natural environment. In addition to these regional factors, the approach also shows to what extent the gold economy has its own specific functional interrelations. Finally, the study also demonstrates how global changes and local dynamics can interact in very different and sometimes unexpected ways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ever since the origin of the global economic crisis 2007 ff., the political debate, along with the contemporary analysis of society, centre around an ongoing discourse that is deeply affected by said crisis. It is within this context that the critique of capitalism saw a renaissance in social studies. This paper suggests to not look separately at the economic, ecological and political crises, but rather regard them as a sign that points out the proneness to crisis of capitalism as society's regulative framework. At first, we will be covering texts that deal with the relation between the capitalistic economy and politics. Afterwards, the topics of financialisation, inequality, (post-)growth and democracy will be discussed. Our aim here is to show that this newly arisen critique of capitalism is, and has to be, the very core of a modern critique of society itself. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent decades have seen the rise of neoliberal interpretations in the economic history of capitalism, development and economic growth. Free trade and free markets are said to have been the epitome of good economic development, whilst protectionism and mercantilism are seen as the antinomy of economic modernity. The economic historyofearlymodernEurope,including processesofglobaleconomic divergence have often been written accordingly. The present paper, whilst not laying any judgemental claims to the right or wrongs of neoliberalism, wishes to tracethe influence of neoliberal philosophy on writing early modern economic histories and the history of capitalism. It studies some of its most obvious implications, including Eurocentrism, economic determinism and the new historical materialism inherent in cliometrics and the New Economic History as it emerged in the 1960 s and 1970 s in the West. The first section surveys broad trends in writing „neoliberal“ economic histories in the last forty years. The second section discusses three concrete examples, namely the contribution of Martin Luther to the modern economic mind, the positive contributions of protectionism and regulation to the making of European capitalism and modern economic growth during the centuries of capitalism’s ascendancy in late medieval and early modern Europe, as well as the contribution of early modern economic ideas and theories – namely cameralism and mercantilism – to the modern economic mind. They all runagainstthe neoliberalparadigmbutoffer, by waysofhistorical empiricism,ways and means of overcoming this paradigm. A third section offers possibilities of refocusing and re-interpreting the economic history of early modern Europe through a post-neoliberal lens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Zeitschrift für Wirtschaftsgeographie is the property of De Gruyter and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Der Moderne Staat is the property of Verlag Barbara Budrich GmbH and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Perspektiven der Wirtschaftspolitik is the property of De Gruyter and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the position of capital city and capital city region in Estonia. An analysis of the position of the capital city in the local self-government organisation of a country must consider the following four aspects: 1. The capital city in the system of human settlements. 2. The capital city and the national legal environment, including the capital city's relationship with the central government and regional co-operation. 3. Management models of the capital city, including decentralisation. 4. The economic environment in the capital city; the capital city and the economic environment of the region and the country. The author is of the opinion that there are practically no interdisciplinary analyses addressing legal, economic, and demographic and management problems of capital city in Estonia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Perspektiven der Wirtschaftspolitik is the property of De Gruyter and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The paper calls for a reconceptualization of pre-classical political economy and economic thought and its role in long-term growth and Europe's transition towards industrialization, c. 1350-1900. The focus will be on German Cameralism and its imputed characteristic as a Sonderweg doctrine. The Sonderweg hypothesis will be refuted. Cameralism was neither specifically German (it was a pan-European doctrine), nor in any way an aberration in the evolution of modern economic thought. And it contained key elements that would make, if applied wisely, for an effective economic transition from agrarian low-growth economies to more productive industrial economies based on manufacturing. It thus was the origin and pre-runner of modern economic doctrine(s). One key element however, that has been understudied in recent years, and which is the focus of the present article, is the strong notion in Cameralist economics on order in the market place and how a secure framework of property rights could be achieved that was apt to effect such transitions noted above. This can be shown using a focus on the monetary theory of the Cameralists. Far from following a traditionalist 'Scholastic' or worse, dirigiste, stance, the German economic thinkers developed a quite idiosyncratic set of ideas how money should be managed so as to achieve stability in domestic economy and society, as well as the potential for long-term growth. There were three areas or topics in particular around which these theories of order evolved, sometimes conflicting: first by the command for a stable currency (measured in terms of the precious metal content of the coins), second the call for currency debasement in those cases where this would help the domestic economy become more competitive, and thirdly, by increasing money's speed of circulation as a means to achieve economic expansion. These ideas have a long history that sometimes goes back to the Middle Ages. But their longevity is proven in some continuities to be found in twentieth- century economic thought so that it may be said with some justification that Cameralist economics - or 'economic reason of state' theory - laid the basis for Europe's long way towards the industrial revolution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information on the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic on the economic development of the Germany. It mentions the challenges to Dutch travelers, harvest workers, seasonal labor migration in agriculture amid the pandemic. It discusses the consequences associated with the seasonal labor migration in agriculture.

In spite of the continuing European integration process, some Austrian cities are still disconnected from the dynamic development in the big metropolitan areas. Being confronted with growing competition and threatened by shrinkage processes, these mostly small and mid-sized cities have to fulfill their role as regional centers and economic growth engines. This is especially true for small towns in the Austrian region of Waldviertel, where conditions have changed dramatically since the fall of the Iron Curtain. Hence, this paper will investigate whether the risk of further peripheralisation has been banned in this formerly peripheral region near the border to the Czech Republic. In this context the paper discusses the main theories and concepts explaining regional development in current literature. It examines the most relevant driving forces of regional economic development stressing the importance of endogenous factors and relational capital. The empirical analysis of the Waldviertel reveals the main characteristics of recent economic and demographic development and tries to identify processes of centralisation and peripheralisation within the region. The main results show a slight improvement of the economic situation in recent years and prove that the rural areas can only participate in growth impulses in the regional centers if they are economically linked to them. Based on these empirical findings, the paper elaborates the role of small towns in strategic planning approaches in Austria and discusses opportunities to offer endogenous strategies for sustainable development. It concludes that territorial competitiveness of peripheral regions needs to be supported by comprehensive and network-based planning approaches on a regional level. English Title: Small Towns as Growth Engines for Rural and Peripheral Regions: the Case of Waldviertel [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent discussions on urban governance regularly emphasize a trend towards an “entrepreneurialization” which is said to be reflected in a growing importance of local and regional scales, an increased relevance of partnerships and the strategic positioning of localities in an environment of intensified place-competition. Building a case study in six medium-sized German cities that are characterized by economic losses and population decline, the article discusses different trajectories of local governance. First, it shows that the actual modes of local governance gain importance. Second, it shows that the actual local modes of governance are fairly different among the cases studied. Therefore, many localities are more dependent on resources from the national government than on private investment, lending more significance to public-public cooperation than to public-private cooperation. Third, the paper argues that the ability to implement long-term local development strategies is severely complicated by a dependence on external resources. As a consequence, short-term project-orientation prevails in the majority of cases. The paper focuses on these different experiences and discusses implications for the analysis of urban governance in peripheralized cities and regions. English Title: Governance and Peripheralization – experiences and approaches in six mid-sized German cities [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Copyright of Zeitschrift für Politik is the property of Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Zeitschrift für Soziologie is the property of De Gruyter and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The paper starts with a critical assessment of attempts to measure sustainability. Moreover, incentives for the present generation to follow a sustainable path are a key issue. Sustainability is threatened by discounting and by the open access structure of the relationship between present and future generations. On the other hand, there are economic causes for optimism. Particularly if the present generation corrects market failures, positive intertemporal externalities are generated. In addition to this „main stream” economic reasoning, the paper investigates whether sustainability is more likely if decision makers are not guided by the rules of homo oeconomicus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista de Economía Institucional is the property of Universidad Externado de Colombia and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Haushalt in Bildung & Forschung is the property of Verlag Barbara Budrich GmbH and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The wars of 1792-1815 constituted the last and biggest military conflict in pre-modern Europe. This essay reviews the available evidence concerning their economic impact on the German lands. Given the low level of fiscal development there, taxes and capital markets were of limited relevance for the mobilization of resources for war-related purposes relative to requisitions and exactions on the spot. Adverse effects of the wars on the aggregate economy in the short run were limited, and post-war reconstruction was achieved within a half-decade. The 1810s also saw the transition from a Malthusian disequilibrium to a post-Malthusian regime, which raises the question of whether the wars produced institutional shocks favouring economic development in the long run. The available evidence supports the view that links the increase of the state size, which resulted from the wars, with Smithian growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Southeast Europe’s economic backwardness and very slow industrialization prior to 1945 continues, even in recent research, to be attributed to an unproductive peasant economy and traditional peasant society. However, the radical paradigm shift in the view of peasants as agents of economic growth and of their ability to adjust to modern growth after 1960 has surprisingly never been highlighted in economic history research on the Balkan-states (Romania, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Greece). Interpreting agricultural development as a mainly demand-driven process this paper argues that the potential for agricultural growth was much more restricted in the Southeast than the Northwest of Europe but that Balkan peasants seem to have exploited their growth potential as far as possible. There is a lot of evidence that the reasons for sluggish industrialization before 1940 were definitely not rooted in 'peasant traditionalism' as often claimed by Balkan elites and many scholars. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Zeitschrift für Gerontologie und Geriatrie is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Zeitschrift für Personalforschung is the property of Sage Publications Inc. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Border regions have to overcome substantial locational disadvantages in order to have a stake in the competition of regions and to achieve an ordered economically and socially stable and future-oriented development in terms of spatial planning. A peripheral location often brings barriers and potential risks for further development in border regions. However, it may also provide opportunities – based on the clever and comprehensive utilisation of all endogenous potentials. The region Bodensee-Oberschwaben, as part of the tri-national Bodensee region D-A-CH (Germany-Austria-Switzerland) is on its way to successfully dealing with impediments resulting from its location at the border: dividing elements such as the large Lake of Constance, the Alps and the relatively long distances to the administrative centers in Stuttgart and Berlin, are overcome in the sense of a de-peripheralization. In conjunction with other regions of a similar structure and with corresponding directions of development, the region is positioning itself in a “Network of European Spaces”, which works in addition to metropolitan Region-approaches. This paper analyzes and describes why and how regions succeed in stepping out of their peripheral location. English Title: Peripheries Don't Have to Remain Peripheries. De-peripheralization in the Bodensee-Oberschwaben Region [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The paper shows an empirical analysis of regional returns to education in Germany. Therefore the returns to education are estimated for Germany as a whole and for the eastern and western part seperately. Additionally the analysis examines the returns for each federal state. For the estimations it is necessary to identify an efficient method and the best estimable model. It can be shown that the Three-Stage-Least-Squares-method yields the best results. For Germany the regression shows an average return for an additional year of education of about 10 %. By comparing the eastern and western part, it can be shown that in the east german states - the New Länder - employees get a much higher return. A further separation of states verifies the heterogeneities of the regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper contains a brief treatment of the economic crisis in Estonia, associating it critically with the general economic situation and reasons. The issues of unemployment, increase in prices and several other important areas are under review. Adoption of euro and the price dynamics in Estonia are treated separately. In the opinion of the author the price increases are not caused by the euro but by the greed for profits and irresponsibility of businesses and traders. National institutions do not view economic policy as an integrated activity either but rather see it as behaviour and choices appropriate for a particular political party. Situation in quite a few areas is critically evaluated, including the activities of the Estonian political parties in power. Organization of the recent elections of the Estonian Riigikogu (Parliament) is evaluated and suggestions are made both for improvement of the organisation of elections in the spirit of democracy and for the related needs for further development of the Estonian national economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the stabilizing effects of Swiss fiscal policy. First, we find that the federation adopted a countercyclical fiscal policy in approximately 60% of all periods observed. During recessions, fiscal policy was always countercyclical and therefore helped to stabilize the economy. In case of the cantons, fiscal policy was countercyclical in 55% of all recessions. In recent years, there has been a trend for both the federation and the cantons toward stronger stabilization. Second, the two stabilizing instruments of fiscal policy, automatic stabilizers and discretionary fiscal policy are compared with each other. Over the last 50 years, automatic stabilizers have been expanded continuously, particularly on the federal level. We find that the impulse of automatic stabilizers is about twice as large as the one of discretionary fiscal policy. Third, macroeconomic effects of Switzerland's fiscal policy during recessions are examined. Automatic stabilizers have been particularly effective in the cantons whereas the effects of discretionary fiscal policy on economic growth have tended to be weaker. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the last several decades, the Chinese economic development has led to various environmental problems. The resultant high national health expenditures and economic risks have recently brought about a change in China's environmental and energy policy. However, it remains questionable if the country will be able to master the balancing act between the environmental challenges and the economic and social stability. Due to the great importance of china as a trading partner, the policy change may cause significant impacts on German companies operating in and with China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study reviews evidence produced with different methods to track output and productivity in agriculture during the pre-statistical era and derives a characterization of the long-term evolution of the agricultural sector in Germany during the threeand- a-half centuries prior to the transition to modern economic growth. The three methods are: (1) An indirect estimation of agricultural output using a consumption function; (2) returns from tithes and sharecropping as proxies for grain production; and (3) an estimate of total factor productivity (TFP) using product prices and rents of input factors. Yield ratios and a TFP estimate for four estates in Westphalia suggest stagnant productivity during the seventeenth and eighteenth century in most parts of Germany. Feeding an expanding population thus required more intensive cultivation of land at a declining marginal product of labour, testified by a rising rent-wage ratio and an expansion of the arable. Regions situated in the neighbourhood of proto-industrial were exceptions to this general picture: at least from c. 1740 output grew in line with population there, and output per agricultural worker rose. Nevertheless, the effects of demand from proto-industrial workers on agricultural growth was weaker compared to effect of expanding urban populations in north-western Europe. Only the emergence of modern industry from the 1830s set a strong stimulus to agricultural modernization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Beyond the Production-Consumption Divide. Conceptual Tools for the Analysis of Modes and Processes of Provision. Within historical as well as sociological research a gulf exists between the study of matters of production, marketing and distribution on the one hand and questions of consumption and the use of goods in social practices on the other hand. Developing theoretical frameworks and methodologies that cut across this divide remains an ongoing challenge. This article considers different conceptual frameworks that open up an institutional perspective on the social and economic organization of production and consumption. Offering a close examination, in particular, of the mode of provision-approach through comparison with antecedent perspectives such as Polanyi's conceptual scheme for studying the substantive economy, this article refines these tools and outlines their possible applications within empirical and historical research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Few nortifications dating from before the mid-ninth century are known in those parts of the northern West Slavic region that are distant from the coast, extending from Brandenburg through Northern Silesia, Wielkopolska and Central Poland to Mazovia. In these central settlement areas, widespread construction of castles only began a few centuries later than in the hinterland of the southern Baltic coast and the foothills of the Western Carpathians and Sudetes. There, fortifications with large surface areas, some of them comprising multiple components, started to be built as early as the second half of the eighth century. Early castle-building in these regions can most likely be attributed to external factors (the threat posed by the Kingdom of the Franks and the growing threat from the Avars). In addition, economic development in the areas between Eastern Holstein and Eastern Pomerania was rapid, particularly on account of the sea-trading settlements that were being established on the Baltic coast, linked to long-distance trading routes. Inland landscapes on the middle reaches of the Oder, the Warta and the central Vistula developed quite differently; the social and economic progress of the Slavs who arrived in the seventh century was far slower. Farming was largely for subsistence purposes, while the material culture was modest; in areas that were still sparsely populated and not exposed to external dangers, to supraregional trading or to influences that promoted economic and cultural development, the inhabitants of settlements which were presumably still entirely independent of overlords or at most had only weak hierarchical structures lived in a self-governing manner in unfortified rural settlements – there was neither any need to build castles nor any basis for doing so. Only from the mid-ninth century were fortifications extensively built in the northern West Slavic region – mostly small concentric castles. These existed in particularly large numbers in Lusatia, the Berlin area, Lower Silesia, Wielkopolska and northern Mazovia, but also on the southern coast of the Baltic Sea. Generally speaking, the small, massively fortified concentric castles, with buildings on their periphery, are assumed to have served the needs of territorial rulers, and most are interpreted as the seats of a Slavic elite. In northern Lower Silesia, the region on the middle reaches of the Oder, there are around 40 castles which can be assigned to the Middle Slavic period, more precisely to the 9th and 10th centuries. Particularly in the past 30 years, many of them have been investigated archaeologically. In addition to important findings about their layout and fortification, the occupation of their interiors and the material culture, it has been possible to obtain dendrodates from a number of castles, enabling them to be dated with precision. The article draws on key findings from research at small concentric castles in northern Lower Silesia to describe their general characteristics, including with regard to castle mounds outside the specific area under consideration, after which the historical background and the functions of the castles are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Zeitschrift für Aussen- und Sicherheitspolitik is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper gives an overview on the design and the evaluation of Active Labor Market Policy (AAMP) in Germany. While expenditure on AAMP is very high (43 billion DM in 2000), a comprehensive evaluation of its effects is missing. We discuss the methodological problems involved and the data requirements for a convincing evaluation. In the past, policy makers did not appear interested in a scientific evaluation of their sometimes erratic AAMP and no appropriate data were made available. This situation is changing slowly and awareness for the necessity of evaluation is increasing. However, there is the risk that some recent attempts by policy makers to foster evaluation may prove counterproductive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This article examines financial aid for companies and the guidelines of subsidy policy in East Germany after 1989 in the context of German structural policy in the "Helmut Kohl era" (1982-1998). It comes to the conclusion that -- after a short period of fast structural change in East Germany -- efforts increased to rescue existing businesses and industrial sites, as well as the jobs they provided after the end of 1992, primarily through the initiative of regional actors. Financial aid for companies -- particularly for funding industrial investments in modernisation and new plants -- played a key role in the rescuing and restructuring process. At the same time, structural policy gradually converged with the patterns that had been formed during the political management of structural change in the "former" Federal Republic. Only the short period of the postreunification years 1991 and 1992 was characterised by the steering of structural change and the redefinition of East German industry by the markets as well as by a renunciation of subsidies for the preservation of existing jobs. The temporary retreat of the state from structural policy was partly a result of the experience of the 1980s, when structural policy was criticized for slowing down German economic growth and impeding structural change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Berichte zur Wissenschafts-Geschichte is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The Banat Swabians represent in the years 1867-1918 one of the most exciting parts of regional history, and we tried to contribute to a more detailed knowledge of the multicultural and cross-cultural and multi-confessional physiognomy of the region Banat. Our research intends to provide more information on the past of this cultural-linguistic and confessional group. Its presence from the eighteenth century in the region between Mures, Tisa and the Danube is correlated with the Habsburg policy of modernization and with the ethnonational identities structured in the romantic era. The study seeks to enrich the history of regional history through a so-called marginal component, which has always played a key role in defining the specifics of a region as the Banat. We focused on the Austro-Hungarian period, highlighting the relevant passages in the life of this important community, namely, its social expression, economic and cultural development. Throughout the paper, our intention was to highlight the active participation of the Swabians at the modernization process.We chose the years 1867-1918 - those that coincide with the existence of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy - because at that time, the Banat Swabians had a spectacular economic development and an ambivalent cultural creation, between German and Hungarian. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper argues for a merge of media studies and economic history. Concerning the history of shippers and shipping documents since the eighteenth century, two assumptions should be discussed. The first stresses the importance of coordination devices for the international competition development during the nineteenth century, and the second emphasizes the origins of nineteenth century trade laws and commercial sciences in early modern transport documents. Shipping documents stabilized international trade by reducing the complexity of transport situations, and served as tariff documents for calculating aids and advertising medias.

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Copyright of Zeitschrift für Internationale Beziehungen (ZIB) is the property of Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)