The article explains economic policy in Germany with a model that takes partisan theory as its starting point, but supplements it with the impact of party competition and veto players. During the 1980s the low internal cohesion of the Christian democrats along with a positive economic performance kept the coalition from introducing coherent reforms. With the loss of the majority in the second chamber, compromises with the opposition were necessary which further diluted reforms with few exceptions. When the government faced worsening economic conditions which put its re-election at risk, it introduced more radical reforms. Because of an opposition majority in the second chamber, however, those reforms ran the risk of failing. In sum, Tsebelis' veto player theory is corroborated with some qualifications, the most important of which is that it must also take into account strategic orientations of actors.

This comparative study analyses how the state alcohol monopoly systems in Finland, Norway and Sweden were affected by interaction with the European Union (EU). Pressures from the EU, as well as the contrasting domestic responses in this process, are viewed in relation to how these institutions were integrated in terms of consistency, interdependence and structural connectedness. The article goes beyond the frequent observation that external scrutiny and pressures challenge national policy coherence to show that domestic public policies also may emerge more coherent and integrated. It is suggested that the relationship between the way public policies are integrated, categorized and re-categorized provides important insights towards our understanding of the dynamics of public policy.

The article provides a structural and political account of financial intervention in Spain, Portugal and Greece and examines competing explanations for financial liberalization. It focuses on the economic and political objectives underlying financial reform, and the costs and benefits for government, central bank, and the banking sector. It argues that financial liberalization was, to a significant extent a necessary prerequisite for the central banks' programmatic effort to achieve effective disinflation. This challenges the dominant arguments viewing financial liberalization exclusively within the framework of the European financial integration program or as a result of interest group pressure. At a subsequent stage, a stabilization strategy based on monetary austerity entailed the significant political advantage of allowing governments to avoid a more radical pace of fiscal adjustment. Both financial interventionism and liberalization displayed a state-driven policy pattern.

This study assesses the impact nationalism has on public policies in ethno-linguistically divided societies. In particular, focus is on the institutional changes from nation-wide systems to Flemish and Francophone halves in Belgian education and mass media. The explanation is a society-based one, which highlights the impact of society on institutions rather than the more common opposite. Evidence demonstrates the role played by the ethno-linguistic structure in promoting the direction of change. Many issues which divide societies and engender political partisanship were subsumed under the question communautaire until a sufficient degree of congruence between the underlying social structure and political institutions was attained.