Superwahljahr 1994 and its effects on the German party system
The Bundestag election of 1994 took place in an unusual context: that of ‘Superwahljahr’ and was the most exciting in terms of uncertainty that there had been for at least 25 years. The causes of the lack of electoral uncertainty in the history of the Federal Republic are analysed. The reasons for this uncertainty: historical, institutional and party‐political, are explored in this article.
Das Parteiensystem der Bundesrepublik Deutschland : Von Krise zu Krise?
Blickt man nach einem halben Jahrhundert auf die akademische Debatte um das bundesdeutsche Parteiensystem zuruck, so scheint dessen Entwicklung durch eine immerwahrende Abfolge von Krisen gekennzeichnet zu sein. Lautete in den funfziger Jahren (und seitdem immer wieder) die bange Frage, ob „Bonn doch Weimar“wurde (Allemann 1956; Jesse 1997: 75–76), so provozierte die programmatische Annaherung der grosen Parteien in den sechziger Jahren die Sorge um das „Verschwinden der Opposition“(Kirchheimer 1966) und Kritik an ihrer ideologischen Beliebigkeit, die sie zu Allerweltsparteien gemacht habe (Kirchheimer 1965). In den Siebzigern sahen manche die Bundesrepublik gar auf dem „Weg zum Einparteienstaat“(Narr 1977) oder befurchteten eine Frontstellung „Parteien kontra Burger? “(Scheer 1979), zumindest aber diagnostizierte man eine „Legitimationskrise“des Parteiensystems (Dittberner/ Ebbinghausen 1973). Kaum uberraschend warf in den Achtzigern nicht zuletzt der Erfolg der Grunen erneut die Frage auf nach der Krise der Parteien und des Parteiensystems (Krockow/Losche 1986; Haungs/Jesse 1987). Schien die erstaunlich bruchlose Ausdehnung des westdeutschen Parteiensystems in die neuen Bundeslander zu Beginn der Neunziger zu signalisieren, das die „ratlosen Riesen“(Wildenmann 1989) doch leistungsfahiger waren, als ihnen vielfach zugetraut wurde, so brach die Kritik danach um so heftiger uber die „Dinosaurier der Demokratie“(Ruttgers 1993) und das von ihnen dominierte Parteiensystem herein (Rieger 1994).
Introduction and experience with the primary mail services based on their names for students
Kyushu University provided mail service based on student IDs such as "1AB10123X" to the university students for many years. Using this model, we had problems communicating with the students who graduated from the University and enrolled in the graduate school. The students received new mail addresses based on their new student IDs such as "2AB12789Y". Faculty members were forced to change the student mail addresses in the mailing lists and in their mail client address book. Furthermore, students were forced to notify the e-mail address change to all of their existing contacts. We introduced a new mail system to provide addresses based on the student name, as well as student ID in April 2011. The new naming convention uses the following format: lastname.firstname.999 where 999 is a random number of 3 digits. Students can select some combination patterns of their first and last names for Japanese. We also consider the middle names for foreign students. In the system implementation, we did not have the formal information of alphabetical names for students. We generated alphabetical names from Japanese Katakana names. It is not easy for us to get the appropriate name in this manner. We implemented a confirmation stage of the alphabetical name at first use, and then students can select their mail addresses for their convenience. We paid much attention to the user interface in the system. Since April 2011, the number of users who use the mail address based on their own name has been increasing gradually. This paper will detail the usage status of the new system.