Willy Brandt

Bio: Willy Brandt is an academic researcher. The author has contributed to research in topics: German & Politics. The author has an hindex of 7, co-authored 28 publications receiving 178 citations.

My life in politics

Abstract: Return to freedom the discovery of the world terminus, peace power struggles some endings the principle of the future building plans.

People and politics: The years 1960-1975

Abstract: ForewordAfter resigning the office of Federal Chancellor in spring 1974 I was asked if the time had not come to assemble my personal recollections. It seemed appropriate to draw up a preliminary account of the years during which I bore political responsibility as Mayor of Berlin, head of government of the German Federal Republic and Chairman of the German Social Democratic Party.In working on this book I have concentrated largely on attempting to trace lines of thought and action directed towards problems insoluble by one country alone but crucial to the fate of its citizens. The following account may convey the impression that I had to concern myself almost exclusively with foreign policy. This is not so, but the circumstances and history of the Federal Republic invest its foreign relations with special importance. I did my best to allow for this.The changes induced by a policy may be slow or swift. In either event, the ideas of those involved are affected by extraneous circumstances. Sometimes, therefore, my record of personal and political experiences will mirror developments at various stages and from the aspect of more than one participant or observer. This will illuminate the stratified and complex nature of a policy, its variations and transformations. The reader will also discover that many things - particularly in my own attitude - remain unaltered.It will become apparent that numerous passages are based on notes as well as memory. I have been at pains to avoid damaging my country's interests and hampering the future development of a policy of practical co-operation. In other words, I have told the truth without being indiscreet.This book, which will be followed by a second volume dealing with my early years, is not simply a translation of the German edition which appeared in early summer 1976. Many aspects of the German political scene are of minor interest to the foreign reader. A few terms and concepts required explanation, just as some events and developments had to be more closely defined. I have also tried, wherever possible, to lay additional stress on matters of special interest to the British and American public.The present account is not my final word. I hope to be able to contribute still further to the attainment of the objectives that have always been my concern: peaceful co-operation and a proper blend of freedom and justice.

Toward a Theory of Community-Based Enterprise

Abstract: In this article we develop the concept of community-based enterprise (CBE) and argue that it provides a potential strategy for sustainable local development in poor populations. We maintain that in this emerging form of entrepreneurship, typically rooted in community culture, natural and social capital are integral and inseparable from economic considerations, transforming the community into an entrepreneur and an enterprise. Drawing on interdisciplinary and multilevel approaches, we propose a theoretical model of the determinants, characteristics, and consequences of CBEs.

The Security Dilemma in Alliance Politics

Abstract: The concept of the “security dilemma” is applied to alliance relations in multipolar and bipolar systems. The dilemma involves a choice between support or nonsupport of allies, and tension between fears of entrapment and abandonment. It interacts with the adversary security dilemma in which the choice is between firmness and conciliation toward the opponent. The multipolar interaction is illustrated by a survey of the 1904–1914 period, the bipolar by reference to the contemporary crisis in NATO. The alliance security dilemma is more severe, and places more constraints on allies' policies toward adversaries, in multipolar than in bipolar alliances. The weakness of the dilemma in the contemporary system is a major reason for the current persistence of conflict in NATO.

Liberal Corporatism and Party Government

Abstract: The progress of corporatist ideas since the late nineteenth century and the advent of authoritarian “corporatist” regimes in the twentieth century have been strongly fostered by critiques of parliamentary and party government. To be sure, corporatist doctrines have not been unanimous in their assessment of universal suffrage, parliament, and competitive party systems. While on the one hand authors such as Spann (1934) proposed to abolish parliament, that “Schwatzbude,” and to replace it by a representation of “estates,” others merely proposed to redress the alleged shortcomings of parliamentary democracy by adding a system of corporate representation. For example, Catholic “Solidarists” (a school which has been important in the German-speaking countries), proposed a Chamber of Corporations which should supplement, but not substitute for, a parliament based on political parties (Mayer-Tasch, 1971:60). On the other hand, a socialist party leader, the “Austro-Marxist” theorist Bauer, under the influence of early Soviet experience as well as English “guild socialism,” pleaded for the improvement of merely “formal” or “political” democracy (i.e., bourgeois-dominated parliamentary government based on universal suffrage) by “functional democracy,” which demands that “the government in each single branch of its activity rests in continual understanding with the organized whole of the citizens, who, according to their profession or their plant, according to their social and economic function are immediately concerned by that particular branch of government activity” (Bauer, 1923: 187).

Towards a paradigm of Southern urbanism

Abstract: In this paper I argue that cities in the global South constitute a distinctive ‘type’ of human settlement. I begin by critiquing Brenner and Schmid’s concept of planetary urbanization which erases difference among cities and locates the essence of urbanity in the global North. I echo their criticism of postcolonial urbanism, however, which has struggled to articulate precisely how Southern cities differ from their Northern counterparts. I then propose three tendencies that, when taken together, serve as the basis of an emergent paradigm of Southern urbanism. First, I assert that cities in the South tend to exhibit a persistent disconnect between capital and labor. Second, I demonstrate that their metabolic configurations are discontinuous, dynamic and contested. Finally, I argue that political economy is not the overriding context within which urban processes unfold, but rather it is always already co-constituted with the materiality of Southern cities. This is not meant to be a comprehensive list of char...

Elevating Women’s Voices in Congress: Speech Participation in the House of Representatives

Abstract: The authors analyze gender differences in members’ speech participation on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives. Speeches increase members’ visibility and voice in the legislative process, providing opportunities for members to highlight their policy knowledge, constituents’ concerns, and partisan commitments. The authors hypothesize that women’s underrepresentation, coupled with the related challenges that female legislators face in a predominantly male institution, motivates congresswomen of both parties to speak at greater rates than congressmen. Analyzing over ten thousand floor speeches during the 103rd and 109th Congresses, the authors find strong support for their hypothesis, demonstrating that congresswomen’s participation in legislative debate increases their visibility and enhances women’s substantive representation.