Mau, Steffen
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Mau, Steffen
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Mau, Steffen
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Item-typ:Veröffentlichung, The Worth of Citizenship : Experiences of Citizenship Acquisition among Russian Speakers in Latvia and Lithuania(2015-12-17); ; ; Concerns about existing cultural differences have resulted in a quick spread of new policies introducing a number of restrictive elements into citizenship acquisition. These policies, also known as "civic" integration tests, were adopted both in the EU as well as in other parts of the world. Although these tests were adopted because some countries viewed them as "good practices" to facilitate integration, empirical evidence on how these policies function is scarce. The citizenship policies in Latvia and Lithuania are close to two ideal types contrasting opposite manifestations of the same process. While in Latvia Soviet-era immigrants were exposed to naturalization attached to the language, history, and constitution knowledge tests as well as proof of a legal source of income, their counterparts in Lithuania could receive the state nationality by simply applying for it based on the residency criteria. The selected cases allow to draw an interesting comparison, which is no longer possible in other EU countries due to a convergence of citizenship policies. Therefore, the main focus of this contribution is to examine the experiences of citizenship acquisition among the Russian-speakers, given a particular set of naturalization requirements in Latvia and a lack thereof in Lithuania. Using a mixed methods framework, the project stresses the importance of understanding the mechanisms of the respective citizenship regulations. The results demonstrate three possible links between the decision to acquire citizenship and integration. First, the selection mechanisms of the more restrictive citizenship policies in Latvia favor individuals with higher socio-economic status. The second link applies only to these individuals. For them, the decision not to acquire citizenship can be related to the subjective perception of insufficient integration. Last but not least, open citizenship policies were indeed perceived by the Russian-speakers in Lithuania as a sign of acceptance. As this project does not aim at generalizing to other populations and the results pertain only to the Russian-speakers in the two Baltic states, it is important to corroborate the findings in other countries and with other ethnic groups.Dissertation344 178 - Some of the metrics are blocked by yourconsent settings
Item-typ:Veröffentlichung, Welfare Geography and the Changing World of Welfare Municipalities : Municipal social spending in Denmark and South Korea analyzed(2008-12-10); ; ; For the last two decades, a growing polarization of providing social care services has been observed across municipalities in every industrialized country. What is interesting is that this has happened irrespective of the type of welfare state regime. Therefore, a crucial question arises: why do individual municipalities behave differently in providing social care services over time across countries? In this regards, the thesis investigates the causal mechanisms behind the changes in municipalities' social spending in Denmark, as an institutional welfare state, and Korea, as a residual welfare state. In addition, the mechanisms in both countries are compared in order to identify some similar logic of welfare municipality change. For empirical analysis, the thesis uses municipal-level data from 1995 to 2004 for both countries and employs descriptive as well as regression analysis. The major findings are threefold. First, welfare geography matters; municipal social spending is often determined by the geographic configuration of different welfare needs (e.g., needs between the elderly and the working females), and welfare needs in general and resources. Second, paradigm shifts in the field of social policy matter; municipal social spending today is affected by not only industry-related policy environments (e.g., economic affluence, old social risks, partisan politics, local fiscal autonomy, etc.), but also post-industry-related elements (e.g., poverty, new social risks, consumer politics, intergovernmental network, etc.). Third, the type of welfare state regime does not matter; in both countries it is revealed that municipalities tend to play a residual role rather than institutional one in the social care provision; more specifically, an increasing role of municipalities in terms of local budget size per capita benefit more the non-welfare businesses than the welfare programs. In conclusion, the thesis argues that the patterns of spatial dimension (i.e., welfare geography) and temporal dimension (i.e., paradigm shifts in social policy) must be taken into account when accessing the welfare municipality change today.Dissertation276 106 - Some of the metrics are blocked by yourconsent settings
Item-typ:Veröffentlichung, Public Opinion and Social Policy(2013-05-30); ; ; An investigation of public opinion and social policy. This dissertation looks at how attitudes toward social welfare policies are formed, and their reciprocal relationship with spending on welfare. The perspective is cross-national and looks at the most advanced democracies in the world, plus two formerly Communist countries. The dissertation utilizes theoretical frameworks from sociology, social psychology and political science. It concludes that self-interest, group dynamics and ideology are driving forces behind opinion and attitude formation, although ideology may be even more important. Also, that social norms related to Communism or socialism, individualism and corporatism shape public opinions. Finally, it concludes that although public opinion probably has an impact on social policy, this does not appear to be a general impact across democratic societies. Instead, institutional norms align opinion and policy into a cross-national pattern. The stability of social spending indicates that path dependency of policy impacts the otherwise erratic nature of public opinion.Dissertation418 311