regime

Regime [ ʀeˈʒiːm ] ( plural : die Regime [ ʀeˈʒiːmə ] or the Regimes [ ʀeˈʒiːms ], from French régime 'form of government', 'form of government', Latin regimen [n.] 'Steering', 'leadership', 'government'; too Latin lively 'straightening', 'directing', 'ruling') is a term in political science and in various other specialist sciences for regulatory and / or regulatory systems that typically contain norms, decision-making procedures and principles and how the actors involved deal with one another and with certain Shape tasks. The term can be used as a synonym for leadership in the narrower sense and specifically as a synonym for form of government , if political leadership or the regulatory principles of a political system are meant.

In general usage, 'regime' with a derogatory connotation is used primarily for forms of rule that are not democratically formed and controlled , such as dictatorships or coup governments .

International Relations

The term regime plays an important role in international relations . Robert O. Keohane developed a so-called " regime theory " as a further development of the interdependence theory at the end of the 1970s . So-called international regimes are institutionalized arrangements to solve problems that affect the interests of several states or those of non-state actors at the same time . The starting point of a regime is the actors' interest in jointly solving problems that can be of a political, economic, social, ecological or technical nature. Even if there may be fundamentally different interests, a regime should achieve a positive result of cooperation between the actors. In this sense, the procedures of a regime serve to institutionalize conflicts. A decisive feature of international regimes is that they are not instruments for the implementation of specific interests of individual actors, but instruments for the implementation of collective interests. When a regime is formed, multinational mechanisms that are binding under international law are agreed upon, which are based on contractual rules (i.e. norms and principles), and decision-making procedures are established according to which the contractual partners work together. International regimes can therefore be seen as a contractual set of rules . They are therefore not independent actors like international organizations .

Several schools have developed in the political theory of international cooperation and interdependence:

the neorealist school, which analyzes the regime through power analysis and sees the principle of hegemonic stability as a constitutive criterion;
neoliberal or functional regime theories;
Cognitive-theoretical regime theories that emphasize the learning processes in the actors who create regimes or even emphasize that regimes develop more comprehensive normative structures for the society of states.

Examples of regimes are exchange rate regimes , arms control regimes or human rights regimes .

Comparative Politics

In comparative political science , regimes are understood as a form of political rule . The type of regime or the type of regime provides information about the fundamental character of the form of rule, thus designating “a general way of life, order and form of government, that is, an institutionalized set of principles, norms and rules that fundamentally define the behavior of the actors in a given context of action regulates ". This term of the regime does not contain any devaluation, but is used in a value-neutral manner for all forms of rule, including democratic ones. However, de facto regimes , whose exercise of power cannot be derived from a legal title and which have not been recognized as states or governments, but have achieved effective power and in which actual rule is exercised, can be delimited: their area of rule and thus that Territory effectively controlled by them is de jure foreign national territory . Regime can therefore be defined as

“... the formal and informal organization of the political center of power on the one hand and its specially developed relationship to society as a whole on the other. A regime defines the access to political rule as well as the power relations between the ruling elites and the relationship between the rulers and those subject to rule. Both power relations [...] must be institutionalized to a certain extent. This means that they must be accepted, practiced and, in particular, standardize the behavior of those in power. "

- Wolfgang Merkel : System transformation

Often, with totalitarianism , authoritarianism and democracy, a distinction is made between three basic pure types of regimes or forms of rule; these pure types can in turn be subdivided.

The system of government and the individual government are distinguished from 'regime' as a general term for specific occurrences of forms of rule . In comparative political science, the system of government is only a special part of the overall regime. For example, the system of government can be organized as “parliamentary” or “presidential”, but both belong to the type of democratic regime; individual cases of a certain type of government can differ greatly in terms of conventions, procedural channels and different institutions. A government, on the other hand, is a specific institution in the government system or its personnel structure. The term regime covers political structures, but not specific members of government or heads of state , as everyday expressions such as "the Assad regime" imply.

Common usage

In the common usage of the term, 'regime' denotes a dictatorial or a non-democratically legitimized form of exercise of power without sharp demarcation from the clearly institutionalized government with a head of government at its head. This is a totum pro parte in relation to the original meaning (any kind of concrete exercise of rule or any form of government and rule that has been realized ). The term has undergone a negative change in meaning in German and has a negative connotation , especially in everyday or common language, but sometimes also in professional circles (while in English-language transition research the term “regime” clearly has a neutral meaning and there “different political Types of rule ”, which also includes democratic regimes).

If dissidents or insurgents are called regime critics or opponents of the regime , this gives them explicit legitimation and thus expressly sets them apart from rioters, disruptors or even terrorists . In common parlance, the distinction from individual governments is blurred. The term 'regime' has become common for certain historical cases, for example for

Web links

Wiktionary: Regime - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

↑ ^a ^b Truly. German dictionary. 6th edition, Gütersloh 1997, ISBN 3-577-10677-8 , p. 1017, 3rd column.

↑ See on this Hermann E. Ott : Umweltregime im Völkerrecht. An investigation into new forms of international institutionalized cooperation using the example of the treaties on the protection of the ozone layer and the control of cross-border waste shipments. ( International Law and Foreign Policy , Vol. 53). Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft, Baden-Baden 1998, p. 37 with further references.

^ Wichard Woyke (ed.): Theories of international cooperation and entanglement , in: Handwortbuch Internationale Politik , licensed edition for the Federal Agency for Civic Education , Opladen 2000, ISBN 3-89331-489-X , pp. 448–492.

↑ Standard definition according to Stephen D. Krasner, 1983.

^ Michael Zürn : Regime / regime analysis. In: Dieter Nohlen , Rainer-Olaf Schultze (Hrsg.): Lexicon of political science. Vol. 2, CH Beck, Munich 2002.

↑ Bernt Graf zu Dohna: The basic principles of international law on friendly relations and cooperation between states , Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1973, p. 75 f.

↑ Jochen Abr. Frowein : The de facto regime in international law , Cologne 1968, p. 6 f.

↑ JA Frowein, in: Bruno Simma , Charter of the United Nations - Commentary , 1991, Art. 39 Rn 10. (English: ders. Et al., The Charter of the United Nations. A Commentary. Vol. 1, 2nd ed ., Oxford University Press, Oxford 2002, pp. 717-729.)

^ Georg Dahm , Jost Delbrück , Rüdiger Wolfrum : Völkerrecht , Volume I / 2, 2nd edition, de Gruyter, Berlin 2002, p. 303 ; see. Theodor Schweisfurth : Völkerrecht , Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen 2006, p. 33 Rn 119 , also p. 109 Rn 28 .

^ Wolfgang Merkel: System transformation. An introduction to the theory and empiricism of transformation research. 2nd, revised and expanded edition, VS Verlag, Wiesbaden 2010, p. 63 f.

↑ Gotthard Breit / Peter Massing (eds.): Government and government action , Wochenschau Verlag, Schwalbach / Ts. 2008, ISBN 978-3-89974-374-6 , p. 12.

↑ Cf. Manfred G. Schmidt : Regime. In: ders .: Dictionary on Politics (= Kröner's pocket edition , vol. 404). 2nd, completely revised and expanded edition, Kröner, Stuttgart 2004, ISBN 3-520-40402-8 , p. 603.

^ So Philipp Christoph Schmädeke, Politische Regimescherung. Basics of transition research. A. Francke / UTB, Tübingen 2012, p. 10 f.

[Wahrig_1017-1] Truly. German dictionary. 6th edition, Gütersloh 1997, ISBN 3-577-10677-8 , p. 1017, 3rd column.

[2] See on this Hermann E. Ott : Umweltregime im Völkerrecht. An investigation into new forms of international institutionalized cooperation using the example of the treaties on the protection of the ozone layer and the control of cross-border waste shipments. ( International Law and Foreign Policy , Vol. 53). Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft, Baden-Baden 1998, p. 37 with further references.