Books on European Comparative Research

Rena Lohan, Mark Conrad, Ken Hannigan, and John A. Jackson, eds.: For the Record: Data Archives, Eletronic Records, Access to Information and the Needs of the Research Community. Dublin: Institute of Public Administration, 1996. VIII, 120 pp. ISBN 1-872002-63-3. £ 14.00.
The papers collected in this volume were presented at a conference reflecting the title of the volume, held in Dublin on 11 December 1995. Although some years have already passed since publication, the book is still of importance. The main aim of the conference was to discuss developments in information technology, European integration, and the position and tasks of national archives and social science data archives. Experiences from the US, the UK, and the Nordic countries in data archiving are reported, thus encouraging data archiving in Ireland (and, more specifically, the establishment of an Irish social science data archive).

Research Centres

The Slovak Documentation and Information Centre for Social Protection (DISSO) at the Research Institute for Labour, Social Affairs and Family, Bratislava was newly established in 1999. Here an excerpt from the presentation of the institute: 'The wider objectives of DISSO are:

• To support the ongoing transformation process in the Slovak Republic through the improvement of the given information structure in the social sphere.
• To collect and to disseminate information on social security and social protection at the local, European and international level.
• To create a contact point for a wide network of Slovak organisations and institutions active in the social sphere and facilitate the process of communication and cooperation between the different actors, institutions and agencies.

The specific objective of DISSO is:
To coordinate the activities of different actors in the field of social protection, improve cooperation and optimise their output. It will be a catalytic agent between all functions and actors in the Slovak Republic's social protection landscape through

• The collection and dissemination of information on social security
• The exchange and coordination of information on the activities undertaken by the various social actors and
• The promotion of cooperation between these institutions.

DISSO offers:
Documentation centre: In the first place, DISSO is a documentation centre that contains basic information (books, periodicals, research reports, etc.) on social protection in the Slovak Republic as well as at the European and international level.
Exchange of information: The main task of the Centre is to coordinate the different actors active in the field of social protection. However, as these actors are often unaware of the activities of other actors, DISSO will publish ist own 'Newsletter on Social Protection', that will be sent to all the target groups. This newsletter will contain basic information on current running projects and activities; on recent publications, reports or articles published by the different actors active in the field of social protection and on international programmes.
Data bases: The Centre has some unique data bases. They contain not only information on what is published in the field of social protection (bibliographic information by way of an author catalogue; a subject catalogue; a catalogue of periodicals and reports) but also enables everyone to find out 'who does what'.'

Information: Slovak Documentation and Information Centre for Social Protection (DISSO), Research Institute for Labour, Social Affairs and Family, Špitálska 6, 812 41 Bratislava, Slovak Republic. Tel.: (421)(7) 5975 2618, Fax: (421)(7) 5296 6633, E-mail: disso@vupsvr. ov.sk.

Recent Social Reports in Europe

In France, the INSEE published the tenth edition of the three-annual Données Sociales in 1999, with the first edition having appeared as early as 1973. The present edition is highly characterized by a comparative-both internationally and European-and a historical orientation. As an innovation it includes at the end of each chapter tables with Tendances, summarizing statistically the main longterm trends and the place of France in the spectrum of the European nations. The Données sociales emphasize the dimension of inequality between nation states, social classes, age groups and sexes; this is one feature which makes it unique when compared with other national social reports. There is another positive characteristic: the contributions are innovative, tackle social questions not covered before, and also deal with topics not belonging to mainstream thinking. One example for this approach is the article written by L. Olier on the 'costs of our children' (Combien nous coûtent nos enfants?).
INSEE-Institut National de la Statistique et des Etudes Economiques: Données Sociales. La Société Française. Édition 1999. Paris: INSEE, 1999. 506 pp. ISBN 2-11-066-795-8. ISSN 0758-6531. In French.

Another important title in the field of monitoring the overall living conditions of the French population is the Social Portrait of France (France, portrait social), which is published annually. While the Données Sociales provide extensive analyses of the structure and development of the living conditions according to living domains, the Social Portrait tries to present a picture of more recent social, demographic and economic developments in France. The book is divided into three sections: the summary view of the last year; the section 'Dossier', and the 'Fiches thématiques'. The first section includes short articles discussing and analyzing major developments in the last few years. The second section contains selected substantive articles, while the third section presents approximately 30 small contributions on nearly all aspects of social development. It also includes 'fiches' with data on European countries.
INSEE-Institut National de la Statistique et des Etudes Economiques: France: Portrait social. La Société Française. Édition 1999-2000. Paris: INSEE, 1999. 218 pp. ISBN 2-11-067-030-4. ISSN 1279-3671. In French.

In the United Kingdom, the third edition of 'Trends in British Society Since 1900' appeared with the title 'Twentieth-Century British Social Trends'. The first edition was issued in 1972, and a second enlarged version came out in 1988. This is the most formidable account of long-term trends in British society since the beginning of the last century. In 6 parts and 20 chapters all main subjects of long-term social trends are covered, starting with population and family, and ending with crime. Acknowledged capacities in their field were recruited for the individual chapters. The social trends covered in this volume are based on a large number of official statistics sources, but social survey material was used as well.
Halsey, A.H., and Josephine Webb, eds.: Twentieth-Century British Social Trends. Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire, and London: Macmillan Press, 2000. xxviii, 738 pp. ISBN 0-333-72149-7.

In Germany, the 1999 edition of the 'Datenreport' appeared. This is the fifth issue in a series produced jointly by official statistics and social scientists. The traditional separation into two sections has been maintained: the first section deals with social trends on the basis of official statistics ('objective indicators'), while the second section has been written by social scientists on the basis of the repetetive Welfare Survey and the German Household Panel. Most contributions in the second part refer to 'subjective indicators'.
For the first time, figures and tables are presented in colour, improving visualization a lot. Also for the first time, data have been made accessible electronically via a CD-ROM accompanying the volume.
Statistisches Bundesamt, in cooperation with WZB and ZUMA, ed. Datenreport 1999. Schriftenreihe, vol. 365. Bonn: Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung, 2000. 623 pp. ISBN 3-89331-383-4, ISSN 0435-7604. A library edition is available from Olzog Verlag, Munich.

Historical Statistics

The economy of Luxembourg during the 20th century is described historicoquantitatively on the basis of the extensive historical statistics of Luxembourg collected during the last few years by STATEC. The voluminous book not only deals with economic topics; it also has a broader frame of reference, presenting growth processes in the field of population, employment, economic production. Many tables present long timeseries; furthermore, long-term developments are presented by graphs. Extensive bibliographical references enable further investigations into the valuable material presented.
STATEC, sous la direction de Robert Weides: L'économie luxembourgeoise au 20e siècle. Luxembourg: Editions le Phare. Editpress Luxembourg S.A. 551 pp. In French.
The Welsh Office published a new edition of the Welsh Historcial Statistics, covering the years 1974-1996. It is a follow-up to the two-volume Digest of Welsh Historical Statistics, published in 1985, which covers the time period from the earliest times statistics were compiled (population figures from the 16th century, baptisms, marriages and burials since 1700) to the years 1973/4 resp. the census of 1971.
Welsh Office/Y Swyddfa Gymreig: Digest of Welsh Historical Statistics 1974-1996. By. L.J. Williams. Cardiff: Welsh Office, 1998. ISBN: 0-7504-2299-8. xiv, 342 pp.
Statistics Finland produced a useful historical account of Finland's population from 1749-1999. On the basis of time series for 150 years, basic tendencies of population development are highlighted, and projections until the mid-21st century are made: the growth of Finland's population, population ageing, demographic transition, epidemiological transition, infant mortality, and life expectancy. The appendix includes long time series from 1749-1999 with main demographic variables.
A related title is 'Finnish Life Tables since 1751', published by Väinö Kannisto, Oiva Turpeinen and Mauri Nieminen in Demographic Research, Vol. 1(1), the journal of the Max-Planck-Institute for Demographic Reserach in Rostock (http://www.demographic-research.org). The authors have extended the Finnish life tables back to 1751 and are thus able to identify four stages of mortality transition, separated by the years 1880, 1945 and 1970.
Statistics Finland/Mauri Nieminen: Väestötilastoja 250 vuotta: Katsaus väestötilaston historiaan vuosina 1749-1999. [Population Statistics 250 Years: Overview of Historical Population Statistics for the Years 1749-1999]. Väestö [Population] 1999:8 (=ISSN 0784-8447). Helsinki: Statistics Finland. 75 pp. ISBN 951-727-679-6. In Finnish.

Guides and Bibliographies of National Population Censuses

Although already published more than ten years ago, the reference book by Ralph S. Clem on the Russian and Soviet Censuses deserves to be presented here. The book deals with the Russian census of 1897 and the Soviet censuses of 1920, 1926, 1937 and 1939, 1959, 1970 and 1979. The book is the best gateway to the census material collected in Russia and the Soviet Union during an eighty-year time span. Several descriptive chapters deal with the main topics covered by a population census: ethnicity and language, occupation and work force, urbanization and migration, marriage, family and fertility, and education and literacy. Three introductory chapters deal with the usefulness of the Soviet censuses for research, comparability problems, and the history of the Russian and Soviet censuses. The second main section of the handbook presents an index and guide to the Russian and Soviet censuses 1897-1979. The index lists in English all titles of the individual tables and abstracts its main contents. A keyword index breaks down the contents of the tables of the different censuses according to subject categories.
All in all, this handbook is a very valuable instrument for all those working with census data either on the national level or for comparative purposes. A similar documentation of the 1989 census and the 2000 census would be highly welcomed.
Clem, Ralph S., ed.: Research Guide to the Russian and Soviet Censuses. (Studies in Soviet History and Society). Ithaca, N.Y. et al.: Cornell University Press, 1986. ISBN 0-8014-1338-0. 323 p.

Journals and Newsletters

European Union Politics (EUP). This journal appears three times a year in February, June and October, starting in 2000. London: Sage Publications. ISSN 1465-1165. Subscription: individual rate, two-year subscription £ 60, one-year subscription £ 30; institutional rate, two-year £ 240, one-year £ 120.
Executive editor: Gerald Schneider, University of Konstanz, Germany; Associate editors: Simon Hix, London School of Economics and Political Science, UK; Matthew Gabel, University of Kentucky, Lexington, USA. Editorial office: E-mail: eup@uni-konstanz.de, Homepage: www.uni-konstanz.de/FuF/Verwiss/ GSchneider/eup.html.
Excerpt from the announcement: 'European Union Politics will stimulate the scientific debate on the political unification of Europe and bridge the gap between the theoretical and empirical analyses in this area. The journal will publish high quality work on the theory of integration, decision making in the European Union, the political aspects of fiscal and monetary policy integration, and the relations between the EU an the non-member states. European Union Politics particularly welcomes articles that offer a new theoretical argument, analyse original data in a novel fashion or present an innovative methodological approach. The editorial team invites submissions from any subfield of contemporary political science, including international relations, comparative politics, political economy, public administration, public policy, and political theory. While contributing to new developments at the cutting edge of theory and method, the journal will also be accessible to students and policy experts.'
Ordering: Sage Publications, 6 Bonhill Street, London, EC2A 4PU, UK. Tel.: +44 (0)171 374 0645, Fax: +44 (0)171 3748741, EUP Web Page: http://www.sagepub. co.uk/journals/details/j0x296.html.
Newsletter of the Robert Schuman Centre (RSC) for the Advanced Studies at the EUI in Florence. It is published three times a year and distributed free of charge. The newsletter was started in 1997 (no. 7 in Dec. 1999). Ordering: Robert Schuman Centre, European University Institute, Via dei Roccettini, I-50016 San Domenico de Fiesole, Italy. Tel.: Fax: 39 055 4685 770. Internet: http://www.iue.it/RSC/Welcome.html.
Social Science Japan. Newsletter of the Institute of Social Science, University of Tokyo. Three issues per year. ISSN 1340-7155. Free airmail subscriptions are available to institutions and individuals. Social Science Japan is also available on the World Wide Web at: http://www.iss.u-tokyo.ac.jp. The newsletter was started in July 1994. The most recent issue is no. 18 of April 2000.
Ordering: Published by the Information Centre for Social Science Research on Japan, Institute of Social Science, University of Tokyo, Hongo 7-3-1, Bunkyoku, Tokyo 113-0033 Japan. Tel.: +81 3 5841-4931, Fax: +81 3 5841-4905. E-mail: ssjinfo@iss.u-tokyo.ac.jp.

New MZES Publications

Working Papers

Since the beginning of 1999 all working papers of the MZES are published in one common working paper series (ISSN 1437-8574). The following working papers have been released and can be obtained from the MZES, University of Mannheim, D-68131 Mannheim. Tel. +49-621-292-1885, Fax +49-621-292-1735. Working papers published since 1997 are also available over the Internet and can be downloaded.
Helena Laaksonen: Young Adults in Changing Welfare States: Prolonged Transitions and Delayed Entries for Under-30s in Finland, Sweden and Germany in the '90s. Mannheim: MZES, 2000 (Working Paper no. 12).
Claudia Gardberg Morner: Making Ends Meet: Lone Mothers' Local Subsistence Strategies. Case Studies from Italy and Sweden. Mannheim: MZES, 2000 (Working Paper no. 13).
Egbert Jahn: 'Nie wieder Krieg! Nie wieder Völkermord!': Der Kosovo-Konflikt als europäisches Problem. Mannheim: MZES, 2000 (Working Paper no. 14).
Eriikka Oinonen: Nations' Different Families? Contrasting Comparison of Finnish and Spanish 'Ideological Families'. Mannheim: MZES, 2000 (Working Paper no. 15).
Jakob Edler: Die Genese des Forschungsprogramms BRITE: Institutionalisierungsprozesse zur Überwindung eines europäischen Konsensdilemmas: eine reflexivinstitutionalistische Analyse. Mannheim: MZES, 2000 (Working Paper no. 16).
Rüdiger Wolfrum: Vorbereitende Willensbildung und Entscheidungsprozeß beim Abschluß multilateraler völkerrechtlicher Verträge. Mannheim: MZES, 2000 (Working Paper no. 17).
Claus Wendt und Mathias Maucher: Mütter zwischen Kinderbetreuung und Erwerbstätigkeit: Institutionelle Hilfen und Hürden bei einem beruflichen Wiedereinstieg nach einer Kinderpause. Mannheim: MZES, 2000 (Working Paper no. 18).
Frank Kalter: Measuring Segregation and Controlling for Independent Variables. Mannheim: MZES, 2000 (Working Paper no. 19).
Susan Stewart: Sprachenpolitik als Sicherheitsproblem in der Ukraine. Mannheim: MZES, 2000 (Working Paper no. 20).
Hermann Schmitt und Jacques Thomassen: Dynamic Representation: The Case of European Integration. Mannheim: MZES, 2000 (Working Paper no. 21).
Carsten G. Ullrich: Die soziale Akzeptanz des Wohlfahrtsstaates: Anmerkungen zum Forschungsstand. Mannheim: MZES, 2000 (Working Paper no. 22).
Uwe Kischel: The State as a Non-Unitary Actor: The Role of the Judicial Branch in International Negotiations. Mannheim: MZES, 2000 (Working Paper no. 23).
Markus Gangl: European Perspectives on Labour Market Entry: A Matter of Institutional Linkages between Training Systems and Labour Markets? Mannheim: MZES, 2000 (Working Paper no. 24).
Markus Gangl: Education and Labour Market Entry across Europe: The Impact of Institutional Arrangements in Training Systems and Labour Markets. Mannheim: MZES, 2000 (Working Paper no. 25).
Markus Gangl: Changing Labour Markets and Early Career Outcomes: Labour Market Entry in Europe over the Past Decade. Mannheim: MZES, 2000 (Working Paper no. 26).

New Books from MZES

van Deth, Jan W., and Thomas König, eds.: Europäische Politikwissenschaft: Ein Blick in die Werkstatt. [Mannheimer Jahrbuch für Europäische Sozialforschung, vol. 4]. Frankfurt/New York: Campus, 2000. 457 pp., DM 98.00, ISBN 3-593-36362-3.
This volume provides an excellent insight into the high level of European research in political science. The authors examine, among other things, the mediating role political institutions have, the relation between politics, bureaucracy and institutional reform, regionalization in the era of globalization, the safeguarding of peace, fiscal policy after the introduction of the euro, and problems related to the Eastern enlargement of the EU.
Caramani, Daniele: Elections in Western Europe since 1815: Electoral Results by Constituencies. 'The Societies of Europe': A Historical Datahandbook Series, ed. by P. Flora, F. Kraus, and F. Rothenbacher. London: Macmillan, 2000. 1,090 pp. + CD-ROM. ISBN: 0-333-77111-7.
This data handbook and the CD-ROM contain the systematic and standardized collection of general elections results at the level of single constituencies for 18 Western European countries since the 19th century, accompanied by thorough documentation. The handbook is divided into 3 parts. Part I provides a comparative description of the mechanics of electoral laws, the institutional development of elections and the territorial structure of the vote. Part II provides information by country: dates and types of elections, the evolution of party systems, the connectivity of constituency level results to official statistics, and results tables. Part III provides additional information with regard to the most profitable use of the data, such as the evolution of election statistics, etc.
This book is part of the historical data handbook series 'The Societies of Europe', edited by members of the MZES.
Ebbinghaus, Bernhard, and Jelle Visser, eds.: Trade Unions in Western Europe since 1945. 'The Societies of Europe': A Historical Datahandbook Series, ed. by P. Flora, F. Kraus, and F. Rothenbacher. London/New York: Macmillan/Grove, 2000. 807 pp. + CD-ROM. ISBN: 0-333-77112-5.
Trade unions are one of the major social institutions in modern industrial societies. Today, when they increasingly face pressures from social, economic and political changes, it is appropriate to look at their evolution over the last half of this century. This handbook aims to map the variations in union organization and membership in fifteen western European countries. The introductury guide, comparative overview, country profiles, chronologies, cross sectional and time series tables, as well as comparative indicators are intended to facilitate and encourage the comparative and historical study of modern trade union organization. In addition, the CD-ROM provides easy electronic access to handbook tables and to additional databases on national union organizations and their membership series for further individual indepth analysis.
The book is part of the historical data handbook series 'The Societies of Europe', edited by members of the MZES (see also pages 21-2 of this newsletter).

Forthcoming Events:

Third Conference of the International Society for Quality of Life Studies, 20th-22st July 2000, Girona, Spain. Organized by The University of Girona (UdG), through ist Institut de Recerca sobre la Qualitat de Vida (IRQV) (Research Institute on Quality of Life) with the International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies (ISQOLS). Information about the conference: Birona Convention Bureau, Gran Via Jaume I, 46, 17001-Girona, España. Phone: 34-972-418500, Fax: 34-972-418501, E-mail: Q2000@cambreascat.es, Internet: http:// business.wm.edu/isqols, http://www. cob.vt.edu/market/isqols/.
IAOS Conference 2000 on 'Statistics, Development and Human Rights', 4th-8st September 2000, Montreux, Switzerland, Convention Centre of Montreux.
Organized by the Swiss Federal Statistical Office (SFSO) and the Swiss Development Cooperation Agency (SDC) for the International Association for Official Statistics (IAOS), a section of the International Statistical Institute (ISI).
Information about the conference: IAOS Conference Secretariat, Swiss Federal Statistical Office, Espace de l'Europe 10, CH-2010 Neuchâtel, Switzerland. Fax: +41 32 713 60 93, E-mail: iaos2000@bfs.admin.ch.