Maren Reyelt – författare

Seminar paper from the year 2001 in the subject Politics - Region: USA, grade: very good, University of Wyoming (Department of Political Science), course: U.S. Presidency And Congress, language: English, abstract: "e;Legislatures have one core defining function: that of giving assent to measures that, by virtue of that as-sent, are to be binding on society. In practice, they have usually other roles as well, such as debating meas-ures or the conduct of public affairs. They have existed for centuries. They span the globe. Most countries have one; federal states have several."e;This statement applies to both institutions my paper deals with: to the United States Congress as well as to Germany s parliament. The constitutional core of both political systems is actually a powerful bicameral parliament vested with the power to enact legislation. However, the structure of power of the American Congress in comparison to the German system is different in regard to the relationship of both chambers to each other on the one hand and to the executive on the other hand. But both institutions share the same essential functions of representing the people of their country, of counterbalancing the executive power and of developing legislation. Germany s political system is build upon a parliamentary structure, where the power of the executive depends on a prime minister or chancellor and his cabinet getting their mandate from the legislature and thus being responsible to and depending on the support of it. On the contrary, the United States features a presidential system, where the president is both head of the state and head of the government, independent from the legislature, which can be dominated by the oppos-ing party (divided government). But this does not mean that the two branches cannot be com-pared. Because of their position within the federal system (as described above) and the similar composition of the branches, a comparison is more than just possible. It was the high influence of the allied powers and in particular of the United States occupation policy after World War II that made the German parliament bicameral. Its first chamber, the Bundestag (Federal Diet) corresponds to the United States House of Representa-tives, the Bundesrat (Federal Council) is comparable to the United States Senate although I have to admit, that Germany s chambers are created unequal.

Seminar paper from the year 2001 in the subject Politics - Region: Near East, Near Orient, grade: very good, University of Wyoming (Department of Political Science), course: Politics and Government of the Middle East, language: English, abstract: "e;The war in Lebanon was the result of several highly connected internal and external conditions that have been in the making for a long time. ... Causal ... forces rooted in the existing social and political structures of the country, while [contributing forces] aggravated the internal conflicts and set the process of confrontation into motion, triggered a set of events already in the making that awaited only the proper time and place."e;Regarding this quoted statement, the purpose of our paper is to show the reasons that led to the Civil War in Lebanon from 1975 till 1990. Usually, four causes can be found throughout the literature we used for this paper: the social context within Lebanon itself, namely the unbalanced sectarian or confessional system and socioeconomic problems, namely the United States, Israel and Syria. This paper mainly deals with the causes expressed above. We do not want to describe the war itself in all its details or provide a historical chronology, instead discussion of the war will be restricted to the description of landmark events. However, the named causes worked together in waging the Civil War. One cannot separate them from one another. Mutual interactions took place between them leading to bloodshed and hatred. The Lebanese people needed almost five decades to settle down these causes from which almost all were already present since the independence in 1943. The first attempt to resolve some of the problems with the National Pact of 1943 did not last long, before the second Civil War broke out in 1958. The latest peace agreement, the Taif Accord from 1990, reviewed most of the causes, trying to adopt political measures to prevent another outbreak of violence. Still, the accord did not get rid of the sectarian problem so far. This paper will not deal with these events in great details. References will be made according to their importance for the topic. In this regard, we try to answer not only the questions of the causes but also how they interrelated and how they contributed to the escalation of the situation in Lebanon. Our paper describes first the social context starting with the unbalanced confessional system, followed by the socioeconomic problems. Afterwards we want to write down how the Palestine issue contributed to the Civil war and how the external actors USA, Syria, and Israel caused more and more troubles, which led to the extent of the conflict.

Seminar paper from the year 2000 in the subject Politics - Region: Far East, grade: 1,0 (A), University of Wyoming (Department of Political Science), course: Government and Politics of Asia, language: English, abstract: This paper wants to compare the parliamentary systems of Japan and Germany, especiallythe structure of the governments, the Diet, and the Bundestag. In our paper we willanswer the following questions: Why can both countries be compared? What historical prerequisitesled to the recent political systems? How do the respective parts of parliamentsand governmental institutions work together? Therefore, we want to concentrate on thequestion, where there are similarities in the political procedures and where these ones differ?Several reasons make both countries comparable. In this regard, our first item gives anoverview over 130 years of a Japanese-German relationship, in which many parallel historicaldevelopments and treaties occurred. A description of the constitutional developments(item 3) shows that the Japanese Constitution of 1890 adopted general provisions(especially provisions for the emperor and the parliament) from the German Constitution of1871. In addition, both postwar Constitutions were strongly influenced by the UnitedStates occupation politics, which established a parliamentary democracy in both countries. All of these are necessary fundamentals to show that both systems can be compared becauseof these several similar, historical, and political developments. Our fourth item comparesthe parliamentary systems today. Within the concluding remarks we will point out thedifferences and the similarities, both systems share or rather divide from each other. Japan and Germany can look back upon 130 years of a more or less deep relationship. Sure, there are some differences within this old official Japanese-German relationship, andthere are parallels with other states. But despite of all possible relativity, the degree of theJapanese-German similarity is succinct, and it is possible to discover parallels betweencertain historical developments in Japan and developments in Germany. The official relationsbegan on January, 24th 1861 when the Prussian East Asian Delegation under the DukeFriedrich zu Eulenburg and the Japanese Shogunat completed the Freundschafts-, Handels-,und Schiffahrtsvertrag (Friendship, Trade-, and Navigation-Treaty). [...]