Thomas König – författare

Learning to Govern Together in Representative Democracy introduces a dynamic theory on coalition governance and circular regression for studying joint policy-making of coalition parties, which considers the “pro tempore” nature of representative democracy. Because representative democracy limits the time to govern, the implementation of a common policy agenda is temporarily constrained. In parliamentary democracies, in which coalition governance is the rule, this temporal constraint demands that coalition parties overcome their collective action problems in joint policy-making within a term. This book argues that the cooperative and competitive incentives of coalition parties vary over time. In the beginning of a term, coalition parties only have a prior belief about the type of partnership, and ministerial office-holders, who are responsible for the implementation of a common policy agenda, do not know how many bills they will initiate and whether their partner will respond cooperatively or competitively to their bill proposals. Over time, however, they can learn this type from experienced interactions in joint policy-making to optimize the timing of further bill initiation. To derive propositions and hypotheses on timing of bill initiation, the authors distinguish two learning models, a portfolio-model with autonomous learning from experienced interactions within the own jurisdiction, and a partisan-model with considering experienced interactions of co-partisan office-holders. The empirical examination of these models for the timing of bill initiation covers 11 parliamentary democracies, in which about 25.000 government bills were initiated and immediately approved or scrutinized in parliament. The findings show that ministerial office-holders infer the type of partnership from the duration of parliamentary scrutiny and initiate further bill proposals either early, if they learned about a cooperative type that immediately approved their bills, or late, if they learned about a competitive type that subjected their bills to intense parliamentary scrutiny. The results further reveal variation across the periods of a term, in which the cooperative and competitive incentives of coalition parties vary due to the temporal constrains for representative democracy. The book provides an understanding of the dynamics of coalition effectiveness, stability of coalition government, and satisfaction with coalition governance, which are determined by learning about the cooperative or competitive partnership type, portfolio- or partisan learning, and the early or late timing of bill initiation. Comparative Politics is a series for researchers, teachers, and students of political science that deals with contemporary government and politics. Global in scope, books in the series are characterized by a stress on comparative analysis and strong methodological rigour. The series is published in association with the European Consortium for Political Research. For more information visit: www.ecprnet.eu .The series is edited by Nicole Bolleyer, Chair of Comparative Political Science, Geschwister Scholl Institut, LMU Munich and Jonathan Slapin, Professor of Political Institutions and European Politics, Department of Political Science, University of Zurich.This is an open access title available under the terms of a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licence. It is free to read at Oxford Scholarship Online and offered as a free PDF download from OUP and selected open access locations.

This new volume presents a wealth of fresh data documenting and analyzing the different positions taken by governments in the development of the European Constitution. It examines how such decisions have substantial effects on the sovereignty of nation states and on the lives of citizens, independent of the ratification of a constitution. Few efforts have been made to document constitution building in a systematic and comparative manner, including the different steps and stages of this process. This book examines European Constitution-building by tracing the two-level policy formation process from the draft proposal of the European Convention until the Intergovernmental Conference, which finally adopted the document on the Constitution in June 2004. Following a tight comparative framework, it sheds light on reactions to the proposed constitution in the domestic arena of all the actors involved. It includes a chapter on each of the original ten member states and the fifteen accession states, plus key chapters on the European Commission and European Parliament. This book will be of strong interest to scholars and researchers of European Union politics, comparative politics, and policy-making.

In Europe’s recent history, there have been several challenges to the strength of the European Union—Brexit, COVID, financial crises, and global tensions—bringing an increased need to understand the ways that the European Union (EU) could successfully stay together or fall apart. In examining how the European Union has changed since 1993, important puzzles have emerged, including how national government functions are transferred to the EU without reforming the EU, how increased transparency is announced while decisions are approved in informal meetings, and how the effects of the polarizing rise of Euroscepticism can be managed to still promote the formation of solidarity and trust among Europeans. To understand these puzzles, Thomas König introduces a new theory of (supra)national partyism to help explain the causes and consequences of choices made by political leaders for Europe. He uses a game-theoretical perspective to look at how conditions for leaders change through accessions of new members, shocks, and crises, and separates institutional choices into two different games played by office- and policy-seeking political leaders—the interstate summit game and the national game of party competition. The Dynamics of European Integration reveals how the reorganization of electoral systems can harness dissensus and polarization among diverse national constituencies to enable the promotion of solidarity and trust in the EU.

In Europe’s recent history, there have been several challenges to the strength of the European Union—Brexit, COVID, financial crises, and global tensions—bringing an increased need to understand the ways that the European Union (EU) could successfully stay together or fall apart. In examining how the European Union has changed since 1993, important puzzles have emerged, including how national government functions are transferred to the EU without reforming the EU, how increased transparency is announced while decisions are approved in informal meetings, and how the effects of the polarizing rise of Euroscepticism can be managed to still promote the formation of solidarity and trust among Europeans. To understand these puzzles, Thomas König introduces a new theory of (supra)national partyism to help explain the causes and consequences of choices made by political leaders for Europe. He uses a game-theoretical perspective to look at how conditions for leaders change through accessions of new members, shocks, and crises, and separates institutional choices into two different games played by office- and policy-seeking political leaders—the interstate summit game and the national game of party competition. The Dynamics of European Integration reveals how the reorganization of electoral systems can harness dissensus and polarization among diverse national constituencies to enable the promotion of solidarity and trust in the EU.

Electrical neuroimaging is based on the analysis of brain electrical activity recorded from the human scalp with multichannel EEG. It offers enormous potential for the dynamic mapping of brain functions, and for the non-invasive diagnosis of neurological and psychiatric conditions. This authoritative reference gives a systematic overview of new electrical imaging methods, with a sound introduction to the basics of multichannel recording of EEG and event-related potential (ERP) data, as well as spatio-temporal analysis of the potential fields. The book enables researchers to measure valid data, select and apply appropriate analysis strategies, and avoid the most common mistakes when analyzing and interpreting EEG/ERP data. Importantly, it informs the research communities of the possibilities opened by these space-domain oriented approaches to the analysis of brain electrical activity, and of their potential to offer even more powerful diagnostic techniques when integrated with other clinically relevant data.

For decades the European Union tried changing its institutions, but achieved only unsatisfying political compromises and modest, incremental treaty revisions. In late 2009, however, the EU was successfully reformed through the Treaty of Lisbon. Reforming the European Union examines how political leaders ratified this treaty against all odds and shows how this victory involved all stages of treaty reform negotiations--from the initial proposal to referendums in several European countries. The authors emphasize the strategic role of political leadership and domestic politics, and they use state-of-the-art methodology, applying a comprehensive data set for actors' reform preferences. They look at how political leaders reacted to apparent failures of the process by recreating or changing the rules of the game. While domestic actors played a significant role in the process, their influence over the outcome was limited as leaders ignored negative referendums and plowed ahead with intended reforms.The book's empirical analyses shed light on critical episodes: strategic agenda setting during the European Convention, the choice of ratification instrument, intergovernmental bargaining dynamics, and the reaction of the German Council presidency to the negative referendums in France, the Netherlands, and Ireland.

For decades the European Union tried changing its institutions, but achieved only unsatisfying political compromises and modest, incremental treaty revisions. In late 2009, however, the EU was successfully reformed through the Treaty of Lisbon. Reforming the European Union examines how political leaders ratified this treaty against all odds and shows how this victory involved all stages of treaty reform negotiations--from the initial proposal to referendums in several European countries. The authors emphasize the strategic role of political leadership and domestic politics, and they use state-of-the-art methodology, applying a comprehensive data set for actors' reform preferences. They look at how political leaders reacted to apparent failures of the process by recreating or changing the rules of the game. While domestic actors played a significant role in the process, their influence over the outcome was limited as leaders ignored negative referendums and plowed ahead with intended reforms.The book's empirical analyses shed light on critical episodes: strategic agenda setting during the European Convention, the choice of ratification instrument, intergovernmental bargaining dynamics, and the reaction of the German Council presidency to the negative referendums in France, the Netherlands, and Ireland.

Founded in 2007 to fund basic research, the European Research Council (ERC) has become the most revered instrument in European science policy and one of the world’s most important focal points for the funding of scientific research.  Its grants are much sought-after by researchers and scholars and it is widely considered to have had a major impact on research communities and institutions across Europe.  How did this remarkable organization, the creation of which was widely regarded as a ‘miracle’, come into being, what has it achieved and how is it likely to adapt in the face of current and future challenges? This book is the first comprehensive history of the creation and development of the ERC.  Drawing on first-hand knowledge, Thomas König gives a detailed account of how a group of strong-minded European scientists succeeded in creating the ERC by pushing for a single goal: more money for scientific research with fewer strings attached.  But he also shows how this campaign would have failed had it not been taken up by skilful officials of the European Commission, who recognized the ERC as a way to gain more influence in shaping European science policy.  Once established, the ERC developed a carefully crafted self-image that emphasized its reliance on peer review and its differences from all other EU research programmes. In addition to analysing the creation and development of the ERC, this book critically examines its achievements and its claims.  It also explores the implications of the rise of the ERC and the challenges and threats that it faces today, engaging with broader questions concerning the relationship of politics, science, and money at the beginning of the 21st century.  It will be essential reading for all scholars and students of science policy, for decision-makers and administrators across Europe, and for researchers and academics looking to engage with and understand the ERC.

Late night comedians and journalists eagerly seized upon the case of an elderly woman who sued McDonald's when she spilled hot coffee in her lap as a prime example of frivolous litigation. But as Rustad and Koenig argue, cases such as these are an incomplete and misleading characterization of tort law. Corporations have successfully waged a public relations battle to create the impression that most lawsuits are spurious, when in fact the opposite is true: tort law plays a crucial role in protecting consumers from dangerous and sometimes life-threatening hazards. Without legal remedies, corporations would suffer no penalty for choosing profits over public health and safely.In Defense of Tort Law is the first book to systematically examine the social, legal and policy dimensions of the tort reform debate. This insightful analysis of solid empirical data looks beyond popular myths about frivolous lawsuits, and tackles a variety of contentious issues: Should punitive damages be capped? Who is favored by tort law? Who loses, and why?Koenig and Rustad's detailed case study analysis also reveals disturbing gender inequities in a legal system that is largely dominated by men. Because women are disproportionately injured by medical products, impermissible HMO cost cutting, medical malpractice and sexual exploitation, restrictions on the rights to recovery in these fields inevitably creates gender injustice. Engaging and up to date, In Defense of Tort Law also identifies aspects of the current law that require further elaboration, including the need for measures to combat cybercrime against consumers.

Late night comedians and journalists eagerly seized upon the case of an elderly woman who sued McDonald's when she spilled hot coffee in her lap as a prime example of frivolous litigation. But as Rustad and Koenig argue, cases such as these are an incomplete and misleading characterization of tort law. Corporations have successfully waged a public relations battle to create the impression that most lawsuits are spurious, when in fact the opposite is true: tort law plays a crucial role in protecting consumers from dangerous and sometimes life-threatening hazards. Without legal remedies, corporations would suffer no penalty for choosing profits over public health and safely.In Defense of Tort Law is the first book to systematically examine the social, legal and policy dimensions of the tort reform debate. This insightful analysis of solid empirical data looks beyond popular myths about frivolous lawsuits, and tackles a variety of contentious issues: Should punitive damages be capped? Who is favored by tort law? Who loses, and why?Koenig and Rustad's detailed case study analysis also reveals disturbing gender inequities in a legal system that is largely dominated by men. Because women are disproportionately injured by medical products, impermissible HMO cost cutting, medical malpractice and sexual exploitation, restrictions on the rights to recovery in these fields inevitably creates gender injustice. Engaging and up to date, In Defense of Tort Law also identifies aspects of the current law that require further elaboration, including the need for measures to combat cybercrime against consumers.

George Tsebelis’ veto players approach has become a prominent theory to analyze various research questions in political science. Studies that apply veto player theory deal with the impact of institutions and partisan preferences of legislative activity and policy outcomes. It is used to measure the degree of policy change and, thus, reform capacity in national and international political systems. This volume contains the analysis of leading scholars in the field on these topics and more recent developments regarding theoretical and empirical progress in the area of political reform-making. The contributions come from research areas of political science where veto player theory plays a significant role, including, positive political theory, legislative behavior and legislative decision-making in national and supra-national political systems, policy making and government formation. The contributors to this book add to the current scholarly and public debate on the role of veto players, making it of interest to scholars in political science and policy studies as well as policymakers worldwide.

In ten years 80 per cent of the legislation related to economics, maybe also to taxes and social aff airs, will be of Community origin.” This declaration has been largely quoted, paraphrased and deformed by different authors, creating a persistent myth according to which 80% of the legislative activity of the national legislatures would soon be reduced to the simple transposition of European norms”. This book addresses the topic of the scope and impact of Europeanization on national legislation, as a part of the Europeanization debate which raises normative concerns linked to the “democratic deficit” debate. The state of the art shows that there are many assumptions and claims on how European integration may affect national legislation and, more generally, domestic governance but that there is a lack of solid and comparative data to test them. The aim of the book is to give a solid and comparative insight into Europeanization focusing on effective outcomes in a systematic way. This book analyzes the period 1986-2008 and includes an introduction, a global overview of European legislative activities which set the background for Europeanization of national legislatures, 9 country contributions (8 EU member states + Switzerland) including systematic, comparative and standardized data, tables and figures, and a conclusion with a comparative analysis of the European and domestic reasons for Europeanization.All national contributions conclude that Europeanization of national legislation is much more limited than assumed in the literature and public debate. It is limited to 10 to 30% of laws (depending on the country), far less than the 80% predicted by Jacques Delors and mentioned daily by medias and public opinion leaders to demonstrate EU domination on member states. Beside that general statement, the various chapters propose a deep insight on EU constraint over national legislation,providing much information on the kind of laws and policies that are Europeanized, the evolution of this process through time, the impact of Europeanization on the balance of powers and the relations between majority and opposition at national level, the strategies developed by national institutions in that context, and many other issues, making the book of interest to academics and policy-makers concerned with Europeanization and national legislation.

George Tsebelis’ veto players approach has become a prominent theory to analyze various research questions in political science. Studies that apply veto player theory deal with the impact of institutions and partisan preferences of legislative activity and policy outcomes. It is used to measure the degree of policy change and, thus, reform capacity in national and international political systems. This volume contains the analysis of leading scholars in the field on these topics and more recent developments regarding theoretical and empirical progress in the area of political reform-making. The contributions come from research areas of political science where veto player theory plays a significant role, including, positive political theory, legislative behavior and legislative decision-making in national and supra-national political systems, policy making and government formation. The contributors to this book add to the current scholarly and public debate on the role of veto players, making it of interest to scholars in political science and policy studies as well as policymakers worldwide.

In ten years 80 per cent of the legislation related to economics, maybe also to taxes and social aff airs, will be of Community origin.” This declaration has been largely quoted, paraphrased and deformed by different authors, creating a persistent myth according to which 80% of the legislative activity of the national legislatures would soon be reduced to the simple transposition of European norms”. This book addresses the topic of the scope and impact of Europeanization on national legislation, as a part of the Europeanization debate which raises normative concerns linked to the “democratic deficit” debate. The state of the art shows that there are many assumptions and claims on how European integration may affect national legislation and, more generally, domestic governance but that there is a lack of solid and comparative data to test them. The aim of the book is to give a solid and comparative insight into Europeanization focusing on effective outcomes in a systematic way. This book analyzes the period 1986-2008 and includes an introduction, a global overview of European legislative activities which set the background for Europeanization of national legislatures, 9 country contributions (8 EU member states + Switzerland) including systematic, comparative and standardized data, tables and figures, and a conclusion with a comparative analysis of the European and domestic reasons for Europeanization.All national contributions conclude that Europeanization of national legislation is much more limited than assumed in the literature and public debate. It is limited to 10 to 30% of laws (depending on the country), far less than the 80% predicted by Jacques Delors and mentioned daily by medias and public opinion leaders to demonstrate EU domination on member states. Beside that general statement, the various chapters propose a deep insight on EU constraint over national legislation,providing much information on the kind of laws and policies that are Europeanized, the evolution of this process through time, the impact of Europeanization on the balance of powers and the relations between majority and opposition at national level, the strategies developed by national institutions in that context, and many other issues, making the book of interest to academics and policy-makers concerned with Europeanization and national legislation.

Diese Studie richtet sich an all diejenigen, die an der Transformation politischer Systeme im allgemeinen und an den Problemen der europaischen Integration im speziellen interessiert sind. Sie unterscheidet sich in theoretischer und empirischer Hinsicht von bisherigen Arbeiten zur europaischen Integration. Den Untersuchungen liegt nicht nur eine aussergewohnliche Datenbasis zugrunde, sondern es werden auch neue Methoden zur Berechnung von Machtverteilungen, zur Analyse von Gesetzgebungsprozessen und zur Modellierung von Verhandlungssituationen eingefuhrt. In einem ersten Teil werden die Grunde fur die nationale und parlamentarische Integration am Beispiel der europaischen Institutionenpolitik aufgezeigt. Es liegen Verfahren vor, welche uber die Beteiligung des Europaischen Parlaments und uber die Absenkung des Entscheidungskriteriums im Ministerrat die formalen Voraussetzungen fur die Transformation in ein europaisches Mehrheitssystem schaffen. Im zweiten Teil werden die Konsequenzen dieser formalen Vorgaben fur die Handlungsfreiheit der Mitgliedsstaaten und die Parlamentarisierung europaischer Entscheidungen analysiert.Am Beispiel von reprasentativen Fallstudien wird gezeigt, wie Mitgliedstaaten, Kommission und Europaisches Parlament ihre unterschiedlichen Politikvorstellungen koordinieren. Letztlich gibt die Qualitat der Vereinbarungen Aufschluss, wie weit Europa auf dem Weg zum Mehrheitssstem vorangeschritten ist.

Dieses Buch vermittelt fundiertes Insiderwissen über die sozialen, politischen und wirtschaftlichen Entwicklungen in China. Die Volksrepublik ist seit Jahrzehnten ein Markt, den kein Land oder Unternehmen mehr ignorieren kann. Chinas steigende Investitionen entlang der Seidenstraße, sein Umgang mit einer die Welt erschütternden Pandemie, Handelskonflikte mit der EU oder den USA – das Großthema China gewinnt täglich an Komplexität. Deshalb ist eine fundierte, verständliche Einordnung des Landes wichtiger denn je. Mit ihrer einzigartigen Kombination aus persönlichem Erfahrungsbericht und objektiver Analyse ökonomischer Trends bieten die Autoren wertvolle Einsichten in das Leben und Arbeiten in China. Die 2. Auflage wurde umfassend aktualisiert und berücksichtigt auch die derzeitigen wirtschaftlichen Entwicklungen, wie zum Beispiel die neue deutsch China-Politik, wirtschaftliche Entkoppelungsszenarien, sowie die Ausweitung der chinesischen Industriepolitik mit direkten Auswirkungen auf die Wirtschaftsbeziehungen zu Deutschland. Das Buch ist der ideale Wegweiser für alle, die mit China in Berührung kommen und neben dem wirtschaftlichen Erfolg auch das kulturell-soziale Miteinander verfolgen.