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The Making of Criminal Law Norms in Welfare States: Economic Crime in West Germany
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 July 2024
Abstract
Using the cognitive mapping approach, I investigate the genesis of criminal law norms against economic crime in West Germany. Four theoretical approaches can be derived from the interaction of two dimensions: differentiation versus Marxist theory, and functionalist versus conflict-group theory. Focusing on interests, anticipated functions, and conflict lines, I analyze the argumentation structures in the judicial committee of the Bundestag concerning the criminalization of price fixing in cases of public tender. The results show that the rationalities of politicians are oriented to dominance groups and power, not policy; communicative relatedness between representatives of different political parties is low; and cognitive maps are restricted and do not indicate policy rationality but legitimatory purposes.
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- Research Article
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- Copyright © 1987 The Law and Society Association.
Footnotes
This article is based on the research project entitled “On the Genesis of Criminal Law Norms within the Second Law against Economic Crime: An Empirical Study of Decision Making Structures and Processes,” financed by the West German National Research Council (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft) within its section, Empirical Research on Sanctions (Empirische Sanktionsforschung) (Project No. Ha 1014/10-1-3). The project was initiated by Hans Haferkamp and Christian Lüdemann. It was conducted by this author in collaboration with Peter Brühl, a lawyer. The final publication of this project is a book, planned for 1987.
I would like to thank the editor, Robert L. Kidder, anonymous reviewers of the Law & Society Review, and Pamela Feldman-Savelsberg, Department of Anthropology, The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, for fruitful suggestions and important editorial advice.
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