In his article "Opfersensibilität und Friedensdividende. Legitimationsmuster einer aktiven amerikanischen Rüstungsindustriepolitik", Niklas Schörnig shows that traditional paradigms about the active US arms industry policy in the 1990s are insufficient.
Instead, he offers an alternative approach: As assumed by the Democratic Peace Theory, the desire to minimize own casualties in future conflicts was a driving force in US arms industry policy during the 1990s, thus transforming arms industry into a high-tech industry that should be capable to minimize own casualties by using state-of-the-art arms.
Combining methodological ingenuity, political relevance and theory-driven empirical research, the quantitative content analysis is exemplary and should be role-model for forthcoming articles in the ZIB journal, said laudator Professor James W. Davis (St. Gallen University).
The award was presented during the conference of the Deutsche Vereinigung für Politische Wissenschaft "Die Versprechen der Demokratie" on 25th September 2012 in Tübingen. It is endwoed with 500 Euros and was given for the first time. It shall be awarded for the best article in the journal every six years.