School

Foto: Bor Benedek/CC BY 2.0

Allensbach survey: 69 percent say their personal conversations reveal rejection of accepting more refugees

It is no surprise that the attitude towards the acceptance of refugees in Germany is changing. After all, asylum seekers are coming into the country in numbers never before experienced in this way – comparisons with migrations after the Second World War or after reunification are only of limited use; the mastery of the German language by the former asylum seekers alone is not enough "Resettlers" represents a significant difference.

Why the "digital revolution" not everything will change overnight and why the changes will not be the same everywhere.

Interview with Geoffrey M. Hodgson

In the early 1980s, Geoffrey M. Hodgson, Professor of Economics at the University of Northumbria, UK, underwent an intellectual transformation. From someone who "critically sympathetic to Marxism" became an institutional economist. In retrospect, this change is proving to be borne of good foresight. From the perspective of neoclassical economics, institutional econometrics is a tiny but harebrained branch, and until recently it also seemed rather dusty. Since 1989, however, and with the increasing importance of the changes brought about by communication technologies, this school of thought has become more and more relevant. The influence of new technologies is not the same in all countries and leads to different manifestations. Institutional economists see the reason for this in the historically different anchored institutional environments. The role of institutions also helps explain why the "digital revolution" will not change everything abruptly overnight. Hodgson’s books helped shape a side branch into a relevant direction in contemporary economic theory. Telepolis presents Geoffrey Hodgson with an hour-long interview held in his office at the Judge Institute of Management Studies, University of Cambridge.

Asylum Policy: Andreas Bausewein Calls for Further Restrictions of Benefits for Asylum Seekers to Ensure a Welcome Culture

The mood among the population could tip, warns the mayor of Erfurt, Andreas Bausewein, SPD leader in Thuringia, in an open letter on refugee policy. The letter is addressed to Chancellor Merkel and the head of the state of Thuringia, Bodo Ramelow. Bausewein wants the highest attention for the city’s note and help: more money and a push for deportation. In doing so, Bausewein walks a line between factual argumentation and the invocation of a danger on the part of the right-wing mob.

He doesn’t want Heidenau, either in Erfurt or any other city, he writes. In Erfurt will "currently an exemplary welcoming culture" but that could change, he threatens. In order to counter this, Bausewein draws up a list of valid administrative demands: the revision of the list of safe countries of origin – mostly Kosovo and Albania are mentioned in this context – and expedited procedures for deportation, accessible departure of rejected asylum seekers, etc..

First rough study of privatization from the Nordic countries published

In the Nordic societies, things are so different after all. The latest example: A large group of researchers has come together to analyze one of the most pressing political ies in depth. Dozens of experts from Finland, Sweden, Norway and Denmark as well as cooperating experts from Canada, the USA, Great Britain and Australia founded the Nordic research network on marketisation in eldercare (Normacare). At the first meeting in January 2012, the experts had agreed to study what had been "Marketisation" in eldercare is called. And in all its aspects.

The study entitled Marketisation in Nordic eldercare, edited by Gabrielle Meagher and Marta Szebehely, has just been published in Stockholm at the local university. It has what it takes to become a standard work (also outside Northern Europe) and should be taken note of by all those involved and interested, especially in Germany. Even though many of the foundations and frameworks, preconditions and implications of specific "nordic" and on top of that are different in the individual countries – the analyzed contexts are very instructive.