Cologne School (Political Science)

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The Cologne School of Political Science (now Political Science ), also known as the Cologne-Mannheim School , describes a small group of German political scientists whose understanding of their subject is based on their previous economic training and the regulatory thinking in economics ( Walter Eucken , Alfred Müller-Armack , Ordo-Liberalism ). This trend is based on the empirical-analytical theory, whose roots lie in the natural sciences. Other influential schools of political science were the Marburg School and the Freiburg School .

Development research

In 1959, Ferdinand A. Hermens succeeded Heinrich Brüning at the Chair of Political Science at the University of Cologne . The scientific concern of Hermens "was the establishment of an empirical-analytical political science influenced by the theory of economic behavior and appropriately emphasizing the role of institutions". His "extensive preoccupation with questions of electoral law, his detailed and comparative studies on majority and proportional representation are fed by the experience of the constitutionally dysfunctional Weimar Reichstag and concern for the stability of the Federal Republic." These are the roots of the following years and decades developing Cologne and later Mannheim school of empirical and quantitative political science.

Based on Hermens, his Cologne students, in particular Rudolf Wildenmann and Werner Kaltefleiter , developed an approach to political events that focuses on the effect of institutions on political behavior and political processes. In the tradition of the Cologne School, in addition to Wildenmann and Kaltefleiter, the following political scientists and graduates at the Hermens chair are: Georg Geismann , Hans Kammler , Paul Kevenhörster , Norbert Konegen , Karl-Heinz Naßmacher and Gerda Zellentin.

Rudolf Wildenmann, who completed his habilitation in 1962 at Hermens, followed a call in 1964 at what was then Mannheim Business School, which was expanded to become a university in 1967. There he supervised u. a. the dissertation of Uwe Schleth. In 1974 Wildenmann finally founded the Center for Surveys, Methods and Analyzes (ZUMA), from which the Society for Social Science Infrastructure Facilities ( GESIS - Leibniz Institute for Social Sciences ) emerged.

Wildenmann understood political science as an analytical-empirical social science, as the academic father of which he can also be described. In this perspective, Hermens is the academic grandfather, whose doctoral supervisor Joseph A. Schumpeter was the great-grandfather.

The foundations of the empirical-analytical approach of the Cologne School were developed in:

  • Ferdinand A. Hermens: Democracy or Anarchy? University of Notre Dame Press, Notre Dame IN 1941 (German edition: Demokratie oder Anarchie? Athenäum Verlag, Frankfurt / Main 1951; 2nd edition Westdeutscher Verlag, Cologne and Opladen 1968);
  • Ferdinand A. Hermens: The Representative Republic , Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 1958 (German edition: Verfassungslehre . Athenäum Verlag, Frankfurt / Main 1951, 1964; 2nd edition Westdeutscher Verlag, Cologne and Opladen 1968) .

Three quotations explain the science program of the Cologne School:

  • Since "there are also connections of a general kind in the field of politics ... the political form and the dynamics inherent in it are one of the factors that regulate political behavior."
  • "Political form includes all the regulations that actually influence the processes of opinion, will and power formation and power control."
  • A theory of politics obtained in this way "allows statements to be made about tendencies in political action and behavior and about the framework of possible decisions and their probable consequences without wanting or being able to bring about the decision itself."

The concept of the “political form” (Hermens) refers directly to the “rules of power application” (Wildenmann), to which in addition to the applicable electoral procedure (with its specific effects for the implementation of votes in parliamentary mandates) also the party funding regime (i.e. all rules for the inflow of public funds and public control of the party finances). While Hermens, Wildenmann and Kaltefleiter worked in various papers on the importance of majority-building electoral systems as a central concern of their social technology, Wildenmann, Schleth, Kaltefleiter and Naßmacher worked on the design of the framework conditions for party financing as an important question of an empirically founded democratic theory. In addition, there are other institutions for exercising political power, the spending brake of Article 113 of the Basic Law or the reserve function of the Federal President.

Numerous work results of the Cologne School appeared in the series of Cologne writings on political science , democratic existence today and democracy and peace as well as the yearbook constitution and published by Hermens as director of the Research Institute for Political Science and European Issues at the University of Cologne Constitutional reality .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Wilhelm Bleek : History of Political Science in Germany . Munich 2001, p. 360.
  2. Joachim Detjen : Ferdinand A. Hermens (1906-1998), in: Eckhard Jesse , Sebastian Liebold (eds.): German political scientists - work and effect. From Abendroth to Zellentin , Nomos-Verlag, Baden-Baden 2014, p. 355.
  3. Thomas Noetzel, Hans Karl Rupp: On generation succession in West German political science . In: Hans J. Lietzmann, Wilhelm Bleek (Hrsg.): Political Science. History and development in Germany and Europe . Oldenbourg Verlag, Munich 1996, p. 84.
  4. ^ Wilhelm Bleek : History of Political Science in Germany . Munich 2001, p. 270; further information Schmitt-Beck, Rüdiger: Max Kaase (born 1935), in: Jesse, Eckhard / Liebold, Sebastian (eds.): German political scientists - work and effect. From Abendroth to Zellentin , Nomos-Verlag, Baden-Baden 2014, p. 397; similar to Kaase, Max: Rudolf Wildenmann (1921–1993), in: Jesse / Liebold, ibid, p. 794.
  5. Dissertation: Werner Kaltefleiter: Function and responsibility in European organizations . Athenaeum, Frankfurt a. M. 1964.
  6. ^ Georg Geismann: Political structure and system of government in the Netherlands . Athenaeum, Frankfurt a. M. 1964.
  7. Paul Kevenhörster : The political system of Japan . Westdeutscher Verlag, Cologne and Opladen 1969.
  8. Dissertation: Norbert Konegen: Expertise and political decision in the German Bundestag, Cologne, 1970
  9. ^ Karl-Heinz Naßmacher: The Austrian system of government. Grand coalition or alternate government? Westdeutscher Verlag, Cologne and Opladen 1968.
  10. ^ Habilitation thesis: Rudolf Wildenmann: Power and Consensus as a Problem of Domestic and Foreign Policy . Athenaeum, Frankfurt a. M. 1963.
  11. ^ Wilhelm Bleek : History of Political Science in Germany . Munich 2001, p. 380.
  12. Uwe Schleth: party finances. A study of the costs and financing of party activities, their political problems and the possibilities of reform . Anton Hain, Meisenheim a. G. 1973.
  13. ^ Wilhelm Bleek : History of Political Science in Germany . Munich 2001, p. 381.
  14. JA Schumpeter: Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy . 3rd edition Francke Verlag, Munich 1972.
  15. ^ Wilhelm Bleek : History of Political Science in Germany . Munich 2001, p. 381f.
  16. ^ Ferdinand A. Hermens, Rudolf Wildenmann: Political Science . In: Concise Dictionary of Social Sciences , Volume Eight. Stuttgart / Tübingen / Göttingen 1964, p. 390.
  17. Werner Kaltefleiter: Political Form . In: Rudolf Wildenmann (Ed.): Form and experience. A life for democracy , Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1976, p. 173.
  18. ^ Ferdinand A. Hermens, Rudolf Wildenmann: Political Science . In: Concise Dictionary of Social Sciences , Volume Eight. Stuttgart / Tübingen / Göttingen 1964, p. 391.
  19. In Germany these rules are summarized in the Law on Political Parties (PartiesG) of 1967/1994/2002.
  20. For example in: Ferdinand A. Hermens, Helmut Unkelbach: The science and the right to vote . In: Politische Vierteljahresschrift , Vol. 8 (1967) Issue 1, pp. 2–22. Rudolf Wildenmann, Werner Kaltefleiter, Uwe Schleth: Effects of electoral systems on the party and government system in the Federal Republic . In: Erwin K. Scheuch, Rudolf Wildenmann (ed.): On the sociology of choice , Cologne and Opladen 1965, pp. 74–112. With current reference to this now: Guido Tiemann: Way out majority vote? The political consequences of a majority voting system in Austria . In: Austrian Journal for Political Science , 42nd year (2013) issue 1, p. 8f.
  21. ↑ Among other things, Rudolf Wildenmann: Expert opinion on the question of subsidizing political parties from public funds . Anton Hain, Meisenheim a. G. 1968. Karl-Heinz Naßmacher: Party financing in Canada - a model for Germany? In: Journal for Parliamentary Issues, Volume 13 (1982), Issue 3, pp. 338–359. Werner Kaltefleiter, Karl-Heinz Naßmacher: Problems of party financing in Germany - possibilities of a reorganization . In: Zeitschrift für Politik , Vol. 39 (1992), Issue 2, pp. 135-160. Karl-Heinz Naßmacher: Framework for a Plural Party Democracy - The Example of Political Money . Edward In: Edward Keynes , Ulrike Schumacher (Hrsg.): Thinking in Orders in Politics - Challenges to an application-oriented political science . Peter Lang, Frankfurt / Main a. a. 1997, pp. 37-61. Karl-Heinz Nassmacher: Regulation of party finance . In: Richard S. Katz, William Crotty (eds.): Handbook of Party Politics . Sage Publications, London et al. 2006, pp. 446-455.
  22. Hans Kammler, Ellen Wallenhorst, Joachim Wiesner: Standing Order 78 and Article 113 of the Basic Law . In: Constitution and Constitution Reality , vol. 2 (1967), issue 1, pp. 46–62.
  23. Werner Kaltefleiter: The function of the head of state in parliamentary democracy . Westdeutscher Verlag, Cologne and Opladen 1970.
  24. politik.uni-koeln.de ( Memento of the original from May 10, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.politik.uni-koeln.de
  25. Kürschner's German Scholars Calendar , 1976, 12th edition Berlin / New York 1976, p. 1214.