A Legislator under Surveillance: The Creation and Implementation of Swiss Banking Legislation 1910-1934
This paper analyses how banking regulation was introduced in Switzerland – one of the world’s most prominent financial centres – which remained in place until the beginning of the twenty-first century. It shows that the law adopted on 8 November 1934 is a perfect example of capture of the regulator by the regulated. Essentially a political response in the context of the economic crisis of the 1930s, it largely reflected the interests of banking circles by limiting the intervention of the State as much as possible. The introduction of the new legislation was facilitated by the temporary weakness of Swiss banking circles, as they depended on the State to delay or prevent the collapse of many major credit institutions. They did not manage to derail the law as they had two decades earlier when they scuppered the federal bill on banks drawn up between 1914 and 1916. But this time they were better organized and more united, and intervened all the more effectively in the legislative process itself. The 1934 law is thus distinctive in that it made no structural changes to the architecture of the financial centre but merely codified its practices through flexible legislation meant to reassure the public. The law was aimed less at controlling banking activity than at keeping – thanks to skilfully calibrated political concessions – the State from having to intervene more directly in the internal management of banks or in the fixing of interest rates and the export of capital.
Quelle: http://ehq.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/45/4/662?rss=1
When Montevideo Was French: European Civilization and French Imperial Ambitions in the River Plate, 1838-52
This article examines French informal-imperial ambitions in the River Plate from 1838 to 1852. It argues France achieved considerable influence, and that a shared liberal understanding of ‘civilization’ drove French politicians, diplomats and journalists to promote deeper imperial connections with the region. This ideology was an important antecedent to the colonial civilizing mission of the Third Republic. It also had supranational appeal and was adopted and adapted by Platine elites, such as Domingo Faustino Sarmiento and Juan Bautista Alberdi, to further their own political projects with French support. Thus, for these politicians, France was not an imperial aggressor, but rather the defender of ‘European civilization’.
Quelle: http://ehq.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/45/4/638?rss=1
‚Come and Dine‘: The Dangers of Conspicuous Consumption in French Revolutionary Politics, 1789-95
The consumption of food and drink was suffused with political meaning in the new culture of revolution. This article explores tensions arising from the dining culture of revolutionary politicians at a time when the activity of politics had become subject to public scrutiny. A deputy’s approach to food, and especially to the social activity of dining, was used to judge his authenticity. Conspicuous consumption by deputies became a source of conflict between a hungry populace and its elected representatives. Cafés and restaurants, together with private dinner parties (‘behind closed doors’), were locations where the tactical business of politics could be conducted, yet such venues were seen as redolent of Old Regime practices and against the culture of transparency. Deputies who were seen to engage in excessive consumption and attend select dinner parties, especially with ‘suspect’ characters, were vulnerable to the charge that they were engaging in a conspiracy against the Republic.
Quelle: http://ehq.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/45/4/615?rss=1
A2 | 20 (2015)
Sebereflexivní filmy [Self-reflexive films]
Quelle: http://www.eurozine.com/journals/a2/issue/2015-10-08.html
Mittelweg 36 | 5/2015
Schwerter zu Pflugscharen - Veteranenpolitik und Wohlfahrtsstaatlichkeit
Quelle: http://www.eurozine.com/journals/mittelweg36/issue/2015-10-08.html