Alle fünf Jahre werden in Hessen die Kreistage, Gemeindevertretungen und Ortsbeiräte gewählt. Während sich manche Bürgerinnen und Bürger fragen, was Kumulieren und Panaschieren ist, wird pünktlich zum Wahltermin über das Wahlsystem debattiert: Überfordern die großen Stimmzettel und vielen Stimmen die Bürgerinnen und Bürger? Mitunter wird dann behauptet, das komplexe Wahlsystem sei gar die Ursache für die sinkende Wahlbeteiligung. Aus Anlass des 20-jährigen Bestehens werden im vorliegenden Aufsatz die demokratietheoretischen ...

Renewable energy has made significant inroads in addressing growing energy demands on the African continent. However, progress towards SDG 7 is still limited and difficult to trace. Furthermore, the results-oriented rationale of the SDGs means that both policy change and the dimension of environmental justice are not covered properly. We argue that the energy justice concept may provide a powerful tool to offset looming trade-offs and enhance the co-benefits of SDG 7 within broader transition endeavours. In doing so, ...

In the elite domain of interactive sports, athletes who demonstrate a left preference (e.g., holding a weapon with the left hand in fencing or boxing in a ‘southpaw’ stance) seem overrepresented. Such excess indicates a performance advantage and was also interpreted as evidence in favour of frequency-dependent selection mechanisms to explain the maintenance of left-handedness in humans. To test for an overrepresentation, the incidence of athletes’ lateral preferences is typically compared with an expected ratio ...

This paper addresses the changes and continuities within the wide range of cartographic practices that existed in the Middle Ages. Following introductory thoughts on methodological issues, the text focuses on three different types of maps, all of which represent the world in its entirety: schematic maps, world maps and nautical charts. Within different texts, as independent artifacts or as atlases, these maps were employed for diverse purposes, such as the representation of fundamental principles, of encyclopaedic ...

Low perceptual familiarity with relatively rarer left-handed as opposed to more common right-handed individuals may result in athletes' poorer ability to anticipate the former's action intentions. Part of such left-right asymmetry in visual anticipation could be due to an inefficient gaze strategy during confrontation with left-handed individuals. To exemplify, observers may not mirror their gaze when viewing left- vs. right-handed actions but preferentially fixate on an opponent's right body side, irrespective of ...

Background: It is well documented that both balance and resistance training have the potential to mitigate intrinsic fall risk factors in older adults. However, knowledge about the effects of simultaneously executed balance and resistance training (i.e., resistance training conducted on unstable surfaces [URT]) on lower-extremity muscle strength, power and balance in older adults is insufficient. The objective of the present study was to compare the effects of machine-based stable resistance training (M-SRT) and ...

The paper introduces research on transatlantic relations done by neo-Gramscian authors. This research is distinctive by focusing on class in international relations and by using the concept of hegemony in a relational sense. Hegemony is leadership through the active consent of other classes and groups. A central question of this neo-Gramscian research is whether an international class of capitalists has emerged. Some authors have answered in the positive. This paper, however, maintains that hegemony in the international ...

Seit gut einem Jahrzehnt wird über die so genannte Globalisierung viel geschrieben und geforscht. Es ist an der Zeit Zwischenbilanz zu ziehen. Hat sich mittlerweile ein Konsens herausgeschält, was Globalisierung eigentlich ist, was ihre Ursachen sind und welche Konsequenzen sie zeitigt? Oder haben zumindest die jeweiligen Interpretationen klare Konturen gewonnen? Der Autor gibt hier zunächst einen kurzen, keinesfalls Vollständigkeit beanspruchenden Überblick zum Stand der Diskussionen zum "Globalisierungskomplex" ...

Zum Umgang mit der Globalisierung besteht eine Vielfalt von Konzepten. Der Übersichtsartikel unseres Autors in der Juli-Ausgabe der Kommune, "Globalisierung - eine Zwischenbilanz", schloss mit einer sowohl nach Strategie als auch nach Regelungsebene differenzierten Typologie der Reaktionen auf die Globalisierung. Die Strategien waren unterteilt nach Versuchen, Globalisierungstendenzen zu ignorieren, sich ihnen gegenüber abzuschotten, sich ihnen anzupassen und schließlich in Bemühungen, die Rahmenbedingungen zu ändern. ...