Recent csd items

Electoral Choice in Multidimensional Party Systems

Wed, 23 Jun 2021 00:00:00 +0000

The diversity of issue interests and party options in multiparty systems makes individual electoral decisions increasingly complex. Voters are challenged to find a political party that represents their own political views in this more complex political space. This research offers a new methodological approach to studying voting choice in a multidimensional party space. We integrate the issue preferences of European voters and the issue preferences of party elites in a two-dimensional model of electoral choice. A common space of political competition for citizens and party elites is defined by the economic and cultural cleavages using data from the 2009 European Elections Studies (EES). Our innovation is to employ multilevel structural equation modeling to address the unique statistical challenges of a multi-dimensional party space, mass-elite comparisons, and cross-national analysis. This new approach generates results that are distinctly different from previous studies—even those...

A Series of Unfortunate Events or Some Karma? 2018 Election and Brazil's Persistent Conservative Alignment

Fri, 12 Feb 2021 00:00:00 +0000

The 2018 elections in Brazil caused profound disturbance to political scientists, political analysts, jurists, and activists.1 The electoral outcome shocked the establishment. The winner was an anti-system politician, an irrelevant (and burlesque) representative, with no significant party, no experience in positions in the Executive Branch, and with a frankly pro-military authoritarianism against minorities discourse. Bolsonaro reached strong popular support and was elected President. Politicians, scholars, and part of the voters immediately ran out for an explanation for such an electoral outcome.

The Changing Nature of Mass Belief Systems: The Rise of Concept Ideologues & Policy Wonks

Thu, 12 Sep 2019 00:00:00 +0000

In today’s world of intense ideological conflict at the elite level, the nature of mass belief systems has changed dramatically since the last time Converse’s famous levels of conceptualization (Campbell et al., 1960; Converse, 1964) were coded in 2000. This paper shows that the percentage with well-developed belief systems based on a clear understanding of public policy choices has increased substantially since then. It also introduces a new category termed “policy wonks” to reflect a sub-category that Converse only referred to in passing but which is now quite common. Unlike respondents whom I classify as “concept ideologues” in this paper, policy wonks do not employ overarching concepts such as liberalism/conservatism or the scope of government. Rather, policy wonks just refer to at least three public policy stands when asked what they like and dislike about the major parties and presidential candidates. Although it was very rare for citizens in the 1950s to show a...

Partisan Dealignment and the Personalization of Politics in West European Parliamentary Democracies, 1961-2016

Thu, 7 Jun 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Partisan dealignment is recurrently presented in the literature as a main driver of the “personalization of politics”. Yet, on the one hand, the claim that leader effects on voting behaviour are increasing across time is short on comparative evidence. On the other hand, there is limited empirical evidence that such increase is due to dealignment. This article addresses these claims, exploring the longitudinal relationship between dealignment and the determinants of vote choice through a novel dataset pooling 90 national election surveys from 14 Western European parliamentary democracies in the period 1961-2016. The results suggest that both critics and proponents of the personalization thesis got it partially right. Leader effects did not increase over time, but their relative importance did: leader images came to matter more as party attachments came to matter less. Partisan dealignment is the key contextual dynamic in downplaying the electoral impact of partisan attachments...

President Park Geun-hye and the Deconsolidation of Liberal Democracy in South Korea: Exploring its Cultural Roots President Park Geun-hye and the Deconsolidation of Liberal Democracy in South Korea: Exploring its Cultural Roots

Fri, 14 Jul 2017 00:00:00 +0000

For years, many political scientists and research institutes endorsed South Korea (Korea hereafter) as a fully consolidated liberal democracy. This non-Western icon of liberal democracy recently underwent a series of setbacks due to the restoration of autocratic governance by the President Park Geun-hye government. Why did liberal democracy backslide in the highly globalized and modernized country, contrary to what is expected from modernization and other prominent theories of democratization? To explore this question, we propose a cultural theory of democratic deconsolidation, and test it with the latest wave of the Asian Barometer Survey conducted in Korea in 2015. The analysis indicates that socioeconomic development under the sponsorship of the state and big businesses has failed to “emancipate” both the ruling class and the masses from the Confucian legacies of political paternalism and social harmony. Moreover, it has failed to instill them with “the bourgeois impulse”...

Which Kind of Democracy for Whom? Explaining Citizens’ Expectations from Democracy

Sun, 31 Jul 2016 00:00:00 +0000

What does democracy mean? This question is difficult to answer - theoretically, we find different ideas of a “good” democracy, and also empirically, democracy is a multidimensional concept: Across countries, democracy varies both in its quality and in the way it is realized. Yet, when researchers for example analyze if citizens are satisfied with “the way democracy works” in their country, they suppose that democracy means the same for individuals all over the world. I argue that in order to be able to analyze support for democracy in a more nuanced way, we need to take a step back and ask what democracy actually means to citizens and how such expectations are formed. Based on the theoretical and empirical literature on varieties of democracy, I suppose that individual expectations from democracy differ across countries, and that they are influenced by two factors: The democratic culture, consisting of age and quality of institutions as well as authoritarian legacies, and the...

Economic Crisis and Protest Behavior in EU Member States: An Assessment after the Initial Impact

Wed, 13 Jul 2016 00:00:00 +0000

The 2008 European recession has been linked to higher political unconventionality across countries in recent studies. Research on the impact of the economic downturn on people’s engagement in protest has focused on data mostly from 2008 to 2012. Recent findings have supported primarily a relative deprivation theory based explanation of why Europeans choose to participate in street marches, suggesting a change has taken place in the way the economy affects political contention. This article assesses the relationship between the economy and protest in 2014, six years after the crisis took place, a long enough period for countries to have improved their economic situation and for people’s interpretations of the economy to be more optimistic. Does the economy still matter to explain protest if it is not as salient any longer? This research employs data for 13 European Union member states from the 2008 and 2014 European Social Survey to test the importance of national level objective...

Western Theories versus East Asian Realities:Political System Preferences among East Asians

Wed, 13 Jul 2016 00:00:00 +0000

What types of political systems do people in East Asia favor most and least? Throughout the region, do most people uniformly prefer democracy to nondemocratic systems, as advocates of universal democratization theses claim? If they do, do they prefer liberal democracy to non-liberal democracy? If they do not favor democracy more than other types of political systems, what type do they favor most? Is it meritocracy or a hybrid system, for which proponents of Confucian democracy or the Asian Values Thesis have recently advocated? To address these questions, I first review previous studies on democratic system support and highlight their limitations in unraveling the meanings of avowed democratic system support and comparing its levels across different countries and regions of the world. Then I propose a new typology of citizen preferences for a variety of political systems, including democracy and autocracy. Unlike all other typologies, it ascertain in sequence the types and subtypes...

Seat allocation in federal second chambers

Wed, 13 Jul 2016 00:00:00 +0000

Most federal second chambers give subunits equal representation. A few apply per capita representation, like most first chambers. Only Germany and Canada compromise between territorial and per capita representation. Both broadly allocate seats following S_i=SP_i ⁿ/∑P_k ⁿ, the only simple format without internal inconsistencies. Two values have been proposed for n. The rigid n=0.5 approximates the Canadian pattern but does not fit the German system. The flexible n=[1/logT-1/logS]/[1/logT-1/logP] takes into account the number of subunits (T) and total seats (S), for given total population (P). The flexible model better predicts seat allocation both in Canada and Germany. This model has been shown to apply to the European Parliament and the EU Council. Hence it may express what countries intuitively grope for when trying to strike a compromise between representations per capita and per subunit. As such, it...

Assessing Citizen Responses to Democracy: A Review and Synthesis of Recent Public Opinion Research

Mon, 29 Jun 2015 00:00:00 +0000
A growing number of political scientists have recently claimed that democracy has emerged as a universal value, and that it is also becoming the universally preferred system of government. Is the whole world becoming democratic, as these proponents of global democratization claim? To test the validity of these claims, this study critically reviews the voluminous literature on citizen conceptions of democracy and identifies the limitations of previous public opinion research on democratization. In an attempt to overcome those limitations, it proposes a two-dimensional notion of informed democratic understanding, and thereby reanalyzes the World Values Surveys conducted in 2005-8. Results of the analysis reveal that two-thirds of global citizenries are either uninformed or misinformed about the fundamental characteristics of democracy and its alternatives. In every region except for the old-democratic West, moreover, the well-informed constitute minorities of its avowed supporters....

The Sweet Temptation of Corruption: Understanding Corrupt Actions by Experiments in the US and Germany

Tue, 7 Apr 2015 00:00:00 +0000
The study analyzes the propensity to engage in and to punish corrupt behavior in a three-person sequential move-game played by university students in the US and Germany. The assumption is that in environments that are characterized by lower levels of corruption, there is both a lower propensity to engage in and a higher propensity to punish corrupt acts. In contrast to the assumptions, almost 70% of the Californian offered and accepted a bribe. In Germany almost 50% of the participants took the opportunity to offer and 40% accepted a bribe. I found that in both countries the probability to bribe decreases if the participants have work experiences and increases with the time the participants spent in other countries. Additionally, in Germany men have a higher propensity to bribe than women, while in California males tend to give higher bribes compared to females. In the US, 52% of the citizens punished corrupt acts, in Germany even 80%. I also found a relationship between punishment...

An Experimental Study on Corrupt Actions

Fri, 20 Feb 2015 00:00:00 +0000
The large negative impact of corruption on all areas of individuals’ lives suggests that it is vital for the well-being of citizens to understand why people act corruptly and why corrupt actions are sometimes punished and sometimes not. Our study analyzes the propensity to engage in and to punish corrupt behavior in a three-person sequential move-game played by university students in California. We find that 66% of the people participating in our experiment bribed, and out of these bribes almost 70% accepted the bribes even with knowledge that their actions may be sanctioned by a third person. Males tend to give higher bribes compared to women, and the likelihood of offering a bribe decreases if the participant has work experience and spent time in other countries. Only 51% of the corrupt acts were punished by the citizens. Furthermore, our survey reveals that a lot of the participants are well informed about corruption in the US and all over the world by the media. A contribution...

How People Perceive and Appraise the Quality of Their Lives: Recent Advances in the Study of Happiness and Wellbeing

Sun, 1 Feb 2015 00:00:00 +0000
The past two decades have witnessed the dawning of a new age for the scientific study of people’s quality of life. For the first time in its history, both scholars from a variety of disciplines and policymakers from national and international government agencies have partnered to develop a new paradigm, and establish new interdisciplines aiming to appraise and prescribe the quality of life from the perspectives of the people who experience it. This paper sought to review major advances made in these interdisciplines called happiology, hedonomics, and positive psychology.

National Mechanisms of Direct Democracy and Citizens' Perceptions of Vote Efficacy in Latin America

Wed, 26 Nov 2014 00:00:00 +0000
Mechanisms of Direct Democracy (MDDs), i.e. plebiscites, referendums and popular initiatives, allow citizens to decide on issues rather than just candidates, and to continue to be proactive in the democratic process or veto players after the elections.If participation in MDDs is considered a good thing, as in the 16 Latin American countries analyzed here, people appreciate having more access to the political decisions, and they may feel a growth in the influence of the vote. Their evaluation can be different depending on the type of MDD, how many happened in the recent history, the number and salience of issues. Considering another institutional variable (MDDs) to explain citizens' opinions is interesting because it is easier to change institutions than alter cultural and socio-economic structures. Despite the limited number of available cases to test with data from Latinobarometro surveys (1996-2009), the results indicate that MDDs have more positive impact on people's perceptions...

The Bigger Picture of Corruption: Europe in Comparative Perspective

Wed, 4 Jun 2014 00:00:00 +0000

Recent scandals all over Europe illustrate that corruption permeates political systems. In 2013, Thorbjørn Jagland, Secretary General of the Council of Europe even claimed that “Corruption is the biggest threat to democracy in Europe today”. Generally, corruption is detrimental to economic, social and political development and, in particular, violates the fundamental principles of democracy. Given its large negative impact, much stands to be gained from understanding the causes of corruption, especially in relation to region-specific factors, and the ways in which it can be reduced.
Building on prior corruption research, this study investigates the extent and dynamics of corruption in European states both longitudinally as well as cross-nationally; employing multiple levels of analysis. The study considers 37 European countries at the macro level and 20 countries at the micro level, over the period 1995-2010.
My findings reveal that a country’s contextual conditions...

New Voices in U.S. Immigration Debates: Latino and Asian American Attitudes Toward the Building Blocks of Comprehensive Immigration Reform

Mon, 5 May 2014 00:00:00 +0000

That U.S. immigration policy has shaped the demography, size, and potential for routine political influence of Latino and Asian American populations is a truism. What is perhaps less acknowledged, but also increasingly clear is that debates over U.S. immigration policy (and Congressional and Executive inaction and posturing) are shaping the politics of Latino and Asian American communities for the next generation. In this paper, I examine the factors that shape Latino and Asian American attitudes toward U.S. immigration policy with a particular eye to whether generational differences in Latino and Asian American communities predict different preferred outcomes of the national debate on immigration policy. This generational question is one that will take on increasing influence in coming years as the children and grandchildren of today’s immigrants make up a larger and larger share of these panethnic populations.
            This paper speaks to three sets of scholarly...

Using Spanish Surname Ratios to Estimate Proportion Hispanic via Bayes Theorem

Mon, 5 May 2014 00:00:00 +0000

We offer a new tool to improve matchups between surname and ethnicity, illustrating the use of this method with data on Spanish surname matching drawn from the U.S. Census. We first show that there is no such thing as the proportion of bearers of a given name who are Hispanic. How Hispanic any given name will turn out to be is a function of the overall Hispanicity of the population, which will affect both the distribution of names and the conditional probability that the possessor of any given name will be Hispanic. We then propose a simple approach, using only two common names -- one of which is far more likely to be Hispanic and one of which is far more likely to be non-Hispanic -- that allows us to generate, via Bayes Theorem, remarkably accurate estimates about the size of Hispanic populations in California cities from very limited data, here the ratio of those with the name ‘Garcia’ to those with the name ‘Anderson’.

Cultural Hybridization in East Asia: Exploring an Alternative to the Global Democratization Thesis

Mon, 5 May 2014 00:00:00 +0000

Is democracy emerging as the universally preferred political system, as advocates of the global democratization thesis claim? This paper seeks to explore this question in the context of East Asia, a region known for democratic underdevelopment. To this end, we first provide a critical review of how previous survey-based studies were conducted to estimate the relative preference of democracy as a political system. We then introduce hybridization as a new conceptual tool for ascertaining the emerging patterns of political orientations among citizens of authoritarian and post-authoritarian societies and for analyzing the contours of cultural change taking place in those societies. Finally, we analyze the latest, third wave of the Asian Barometer surveys conducted in eleven East Asian countries conducted in 2010 and 2011. On the basis of this analysis, we argue that it is premature to claim that democracy is emerging as the universally preferred system. Further, we argue that hybridization,...

Rising Support for Reproductive Freedoms: Emancipatory Breakthroughs into a Bulwark of Tradition

Mon, 5 May 2014 00:00:00 +0000

This article presents evidence for a rising emancipatory spirit, across generations and around the world, in a life domain in which traditional family, fertility and sex (FFS) norms have been most resistant to emancipatory gains since the ages: reproductive freedoms. We propose an explanation of rising emancipative values that integrates several theoretical approaches into a single idea—the utility ladder of freedoms. Specifically, we suggest that objectively improving living conditions--from rising life expectancies to broadening education to better technologies—transform the nature of life from a source of threats to suffer into a source of opportunities to thrive. As living conditions begin to hold more promise for increasing population segments, societies climb the utility ladder of freedoms: supporting universal freedoms becomes increasingly instrumental to use the opportunities that a more promising life offers. This trend has begun to spill over into a life domain in...

Economic Voting in an Age of Growth and Poverty Reduction: Electoral Response in Latin America (1995-2010)

Wed, 5 Jun 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Economic growth and social investment has promoted significant poverty reduction and, therefore, dominated the Latin American agenda from 1995 to 2010. How does economic voting take place in this context? I suggest the effect of macroeconomic variables occur mostly indirectly, that is, macroeconomic results impact voters’ economic evaluation, which in turn determines the ruling party's electoral outcome. In this investigation, aggregated data from legislative (60) and presidential (58) elections of 18 countries were used. Growth and inflation did not have a direct impact on ruling parties' electoral outcomes, but social investment did just in case of presidential elections. Growth and social investment affected retrospective economic evaluations, which in turn affected the incumbent's electoral outcome.

Beyond the Base? Political Parties, Citizen Activists, and Digital Media Use in the 2009 German Federal Election Campaign

Mon, 27 May 2013 00:00:00 +0000

When digital media emerged in the early 1990s, many were hopeful that political parties would utilize the technology to mobilize disengaged voters. Instead, parties established websites that appealed to supporters. Did this change with the introduction of interactive media like social networking sites (SNS) in the Web 2.0 era? Using survey data from the 2009 German Longitudinal Election Study (GLES), we find that parties are able to reach beyond their base by disseminating campaign information through social networking sites. Unlike earlier studies, which found that parties tended to mobilize male party members who were older, wealthier, and more educated, we find that younger party members and non-members who strongly identify with political parties are more likely to see campaign information through social networking sites, regardless of their income, education, or gender. Moreover, party members are more likely than non-members to share campaign information on social media...

Internet Use and Political Engagement: The Role of E-Campaigning as a Pathway to Online Political Participation

Fri, 15 Feb 2013 00:00:00 +0000
This paper uses original survey data from the 2010 UK General Election to examine two central questions about e-participation: how people engaged with the online campaign; and whether any mobilization effects of e-campaigning activity can be detected in terms of increasing individuals’ likelihood of participating after the election. Following our previous work, were-test and confirm a measurement model of e-campaign activities. Through exploratory factor analyses, we identify our three dimensions of e-campaign participation: e-information, e-party and e-expressive. We then show how these activities differentially predict subsequent online political participation: e-donate, e-contact, e-petition and e-discuss. We do this using a panel study design that allows us to impose robust controls on pre-existing levels of political engagement. Our results show that for the most part levels of pre-election engagement in e-donating, e-contacting and e-petitioning explain much of the post-election...

Does Partisan Gerrymandering Violate Individual Rights? Social Science and Vieth v. Jubilirer

Sun, 15 Jul 2012 00:00:00 +0000
InVieth v. Jubilirer(2004) the Supreme Court found that claims of political gerrymandering could not be adjudicated by the courts. The reason for this was the finding that there did not exist a suitable standard to determine the existence of a political gerrymander that was both constitutionally justified and practically manageable. This paper questions the social science assumptions behind this finding. In particular it questions the assertion that the proposed standard that a majority of voters should be able to elect a majority of representative rests on a group right to equal representation, which does exist in the Constitution. Using social choice theory it is shown that the standard can be sustained strictly in terms of granting equal rights to individuals. The paper also considers how such a standard could be practically applied.

The Rise of Unconventional Political Participation in Italy: Measurement equivalence and trend over time, 1976-2009

Mon, 28 May 2012 00:00:00 +0000
What is the trend of unconventional participation in Italy and how do we measure it? This article analyzes the rise of unconventional participation in Italy from 1976 to 2009, focusing on measurement equivalence over time to produce unbiased estimates and to meaningfully compare means. The results show that the concept and the measure of unconventional participation are unidimensional and equivalent across time. Further, there has been a significative increase in the levels of unconventional participation and a differentiation in its distribution.

You Don't Bite The Hand That Feeds You: The Impact Of Redistribution On Attitudes Towards Europe

Mon, 28 May 2012 00:00:00 +0000

European studies unanimously designate 1992 as a breaking point in European public opinion. The 1992 dramatic drop in support for Europe has been analyzed as a side-effect of the Maastricht Treaty: the establishment of the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) raised citizens’ awareness of the economic implications of EMU. In this paper I hypothesize that the financial pressures that came along with the EMU raised concerns about the potential consequences for the level of social protection and labour market (de-) regulation.
           This paper assesses the empirical validity of this hypothesis by analyzing the effect of redistribution on support for Europe over time, in three steps. I investigate first the effects of redistribution on general support for Europe. Then, I narrow down the focus to concerns about the EU's impact on social protection. Finally, I investigate specific support for a European social policy. This paper provides a Time Series Cross Section analysis...

Social Mobility and Redistributive Taxation

Thu, 16 Feb 2012 00:00:00 +0000
We investigate redistributive taxation in a political economy experiment and determine how different patterns of social mobility affect the choices of redistributional taxes. In the absence of social mobility, voters choose tax rates that are very well in line with the prediction derived in the standard framework by Meltzer and Richard (1981). However, past or future changes in the income hierarchy affect the choice of the tax rate in the current period. The same is true for social mobility within the period to which the tax rate choice applies and for the case where the choice of the tax rate takes place behind the veil of ignorance. Due to our design of the experiment, these strong effects of own social mobility cannot be attributed to social or other-regarding preferences.

Brothers in Arms - An Experiment on the Alliance Puzzle

Thu, 16 Feb 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Our experimental analysis of alliances in conflicts leads to three main findings. First, even in the absence of repeated interaction, direct contact or communication, free-riding among alliance members is far less pronounced than what would be expected from non-cooperative theory. Second, this possible solidarity among ‘brothers in arms’ when fighting against an outside enemy may rapidly deteriorate or disappear as soon as the outside enemy disappears. Third, when fighting an outside enemy, ‘brothers in arms’ may already anticipate future internal conflict about dividing the spoils of winning; however, this subsequent internal conflict does not discourage alliance members from expending much effort in the contest against the external enemy.

The Effects of Legislative Institutions and Party Discipline on Policy Stability: A Comparative Analysis

Thu, 16 Feb 2012 00:00:00 +0000
The objective of this article is to present a theory that analyzes the effects of legislative institutions and party discipline on policy stability. In this paper, I generalize Krehbiel’s (1998) U.S. lawmaking model by reformulating it within the veto player framework. A major finding of this article is that legislative institutions have differential effects on policy stability depending on party discipline, and that party discipline also has differential effects depending on legislative institutions. This article also yields two important results that do not support the conventional wisdom that divided government works better with party indiscipline and unified government does better with party discipline. First, the cause of non-differential lawmaking across government types in the U.S. Congress is not party indiscipline but legislative institutions that provide both of the governing and opposition parties with symmetric veto powers. Second, gridlock not only occurs but also...

Do Departures From Democratic Accountability Compromise the Stability of Public Finances? Keynesianism, central banking, and minority governments in the Canadian system of party government, 1867 – 2009

Thu, 16 Feb 2012 00:00:00 +0000
This paper is concerned with the effectiveness of Westminster parliamentary institutions in ensuring the stability of a nation’s public finances. Our starting point and major hypothesis is that the governance structure embodied in Canada’s parliamentary system has contributed importantly to the maintenance of fiscal stability. The fact that the Government of Canada, like the central government of many other modern democracies, has survived for over a century without default on its public debt means that in some meaningful sense, long run responsibility with respect to the nation’s finances has in fact been achieved, and we show that this is in fact the case. Hence a more meaningful test of our main hypothesis requires the designation of specific sub-periods when the ideological background for political policy making changed and/or when the institutions and organizations for operationalizing policy varied in ways that either improved or discouraged responsible fiscal performance....

Transnational Strategies and their Determinants: Czech Social Movement Organizations Acting Abroad

Tue, 29 Nov 2011 00:00:00 +0000
The paper focuses on social movement organizations (SMOs) in one country in order to explore the level of their transnational activism, and account for their transnational strategies. The paper shows 1) what the level of transnationalisation of SMOs is, 2) what types of transnational strategies SMOs employ, and 3) what explains these strategies. First, although a number of studies on transnational social movements have been published, systematic evidence on transnationalisation remains limited. This especially concerns the new members of the EU. Therefore, the first goal of this paper is to analyze the whole population of SMOs and their level of transnationalisation in one country, the Czech Republic. Second, the issue of the types of strategies SMOs perform transnationally remains open. Employing principal component analysis, we differentiate among three types of transnational activities: lobbying, protest, and public persuasion. Third, the paper asks why organisations select...

Political Activism, Candidate Position and Valence, and Representation: Theory of Political Transaction

Tue, 29 Nov 2011 00:00:00 +0000

In this paper,I argue that the essential features of political competition are collective decision making and forced consumption of political products that incur conformity costs. A concern about conformity costs motivates citizens to influence policymaking by offering electoral resources. I elaborate this idea into a single spatial model in which citizens are specified not only as voters (consumers) but also as political activists (investors). I find that position taking by a candidate with a valence advantage depends on the types of electoral resources the candidate uses to advertise his valence. If the advantaged candidate depends on exogenous (endogenous) resources, the candidate adopts a more moderate (extreme) policy than the other candidate. This paper also finds a result that has normative implications on theories of representation:the general public is more represented if citizens act as consumers whereas a majority is more represented if citizens act as investors.

The Congressional Black Caucus and a Theory of Concordance

Tue, 29 Nov 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Minority incorporation or empowerment theories have not advanced much beyond the assertion that minority influence increases as their numbers in office increase. However, political incorporation is a two-sided process. Not only do minorities struggle for representation in the political system, fighting established groups in the system and racism, but there is a second struggle over how these newly-incorporated groups will lead. Incorporation favors political moderation even as newly-incorporated liberal members seek to liberalize their party. Over time, there is concordance. Data analyzed from Poole and Rosenthal (2007) show that African American House members have become less liberal over time as the Democratic Party has liberalized.  Furthermore, African American legislators are less likely to vote as a bloc (except on the CBC’s alternative budget), and have joined other caucus groups as they seek to expand their influence as both liberals and moderates.

Inequality and Economic Growth: Bridging the Short-run and the Long-run

Tue, 29 Nov 2011 00:00:00 +0000

I analyze the effect of inequality on growth over different time-frames. In a large cross-country dataset for the period 1950-2007 I find evidence of a short-run (5-year periods) and medium-run (10-year periods) inverse-U relationship between inequality and growth. In the long-run (20-year periods), however, inequality has a negative effect on growth in poor countries, and a positive effect in rich ones. Finally, in the 37-year period (1970-2007) higher inequality is associated with a lower rate of growth. Thus, while some (but not much) inequality is good for growth, the negative effect of inequality on growth becomes dominant over longer time-frames.

Enticing the Global Gaze, The Contention for Urban Spatial Rights in China

Tue, 29 Nov 2011 00:00:00 +0000
Taking the new urban poor as a focus, it is clear that the issue of “the right to the city” in China is bound up with the problem that the streets have become unfriendly to those doing informal work. This situation is the product of several changes in recent decades: principally, as the leadership became concerned with making the country fit into the global market, it engineered a program of mass layoffs in the late 1990s, disposing of workers who were less skilled and older than 35. At the same time, in an effort to bring in foreign capital, cities have become the captives of local governmental-business coalitions that emphasize orderly, modernized urban streetscapes. These developments have meant that even as the less qualified have been dismissed from positions of lifetime employment, they have also effectively been discouraged from earning an income through casual labor on the sidewalks. The upshot is that the poor have no real “right to the city” even when they desperately...

Family Matters: Testing the Effect of Political Connections in Italy

Tue, 7 Jun 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Using a new dataset of Italian publicly traded companies between 1994 and 2008, this paper aims to quantify the value of different types of political connections. Conducting an event study on stock returns, we examine how the stocks of connected companies perform before and after the politicians to whom they are connected are either elected to Parliament, or appointed as government ministers. First, we check whether political connections in general lead to abnormally positive returns. Then, we ask whether political connections have a different effect on stock returns, depending on whether companies have politicians themselves (direct connection) or some of their relatives (indirect connection) among their administrators. Finally, we test the hypothesis that connections are effective only when the politicians are members of the governing coalition. Contrary to most studies, political connections are not always associated with positive stock returns. Taking stock performance...

How Robust Is Muslim Support for Patriarchal Values? A Cross-National Multi-Level Study

Thu, 28 Apr 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Evidence that Muslims support patriarchal values more than Non-Muslims is abundant but the nature of this evidence is contested. The ‘cultural’ interpretation suggests that patriarchal values are an inherent element of Muslim identity. The ‘structural’ interpretation holds that patriarchal values reside in structural characteristics and have little to do with Muslim identity. Evidence on these contradictory claims is inconclusive. Neither have advocates of the cultural position shown that Muslim support for patriarchal values remains robust under control of structural characteristics; nor have proponents of the structural position demonstrated that Muslim support for these values vanishes under such controls. Filling this gap, we use multi-level models to test whether Muslim support for patriarchal values vanishes under control of patriarchy’s structural underpinnings. We find that Muslim support for patriarchal values is robust against various controls. And, we identify mosque...

Critiques and Counter-Critiques of the Postmaterialism Thesis: Thirty-four Years of Debate

Wed, 20 Apr 2011 00:00:00 +0000

I summarize and evaluate published critiques in English and French of Inglehart’s value change thesis, which he first advanced in 1971. I discuss them in the order in which they were published. Where Inglehart or Inglehart and his colleagues reply to a critique, the response follows my summary. Where authors have published more than one critique, I begin with their first and follow it through to their last. I summarize forty-eight critiques, beginning with Ike (1973) and Rokeach (1973) and ending with Lee (2007). I summarize eighteen responses by Inglehart and by Inglehart and his colleagues, beginning with Inglehart (1982) and ending with Inglehart and Abramson (1999). Much of my discussion focuses on two scholars who raise a series of critiques over several years, Flanagan (1979 through 2003) and Clarke (1991 through 2000). I briefly demonstrate that generational replacement was a driving force contributing to the trend toward Postmaterialism.

Gay Rights and Legislative Wrongs: Representation of Gays and Lesbians

Wed, 9 Mar 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Over the past half-century, students of democratic representation have investigated the extent to which elected officials act as their constituents prefer. Less attention has been paid to the fact that in addition to popular sovereignty, however, modern republican democracy is characterized by the values of liberty and equality. Democratic theorists suggest that these latter values should prevail in cases of conflict when the issue in question speaks to citizens’ fundamental rights, as is the case with gay marriage. We examine this question of representation and responsiveness with respect to gay marriage, an issue of importance to the gay community—a small and intense group that struggles to achieve policy success. We find that neither majoritarian nor capture-based theories of representation fully account for the lack of elected official responsiveness to this particular constituent interest group. Instead, our evidence supports the theory of subconstituency politics....

Drift, Draft, or Drag: How U.S. Supreme Court Justices React to New Members

Fri, 4 Mar 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Using the Martin-Quinn ideology scores, we show that U.S. Supreme Court justices strategically respond to Supreme Court membership change. At the aggregate level, the Court moves to counter-balance the ideological change brought about by a new justice. The behavior is most prevalent in 1938-1948, which we call a period of “Constrained Liberalism” and 1975-1995, which we call a period of “Constrained Conservatism.” Counter-balancing is less prevalent throughout the 1950s – early 1970s when justices either ignored or amplified ideological shifts caused by the membership change (especially liberal shifts in 1960s). At the individual level, membership change in the conservative direction leads to a greater response from liberal justices while a change in the liberal direction leads to a greater response from the conservative justices. One implication of our results is that the prevalence of this counter-balancing reaction to membership change has a stabilizing effect on the...

Torture Approval in Comparative Perspective

Wed, 2 Feb 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Torture is (almost) universally condemned as barbaric and ineffective, yet it persists in the modern world. What factors influence levels of support for torture? Public opinion data from 31 countries in 2006 and 2008 (a total of 44 country-years) are used to test three hypotheses related to the acceptability of torture. The findings, first, show that outright majorities in 31 country-years reject the use of torture. Multiple regression results show that countries with high per capita income and low domestic repression are less likely to support torture. Constraints on the executive have no significant effect on public opinion on torture.

Diverse Democracies: Citizenship Beliefs and Political Participation Across Three Geopolitical Regions

Mon, 25 Oct 2010 00:00:00 +0000

This study examines respondents’ beliefs about political, social and civic duty components of “good citizenship,” three modes of political engagement (party membership, voting and activism), and the relationship between beliefs and participation across three geopolitical regions (Eastern Europe, Western Europe and Western non-European states). Based on theories of democracy, voting, and institutionalism, we explore cross-regional patterns and differences. Eastern Europeans are far less engaged in political activism, and all the regions differ widely in beliefs about “good citizenship.” Western non-Europeans generally focus on the civic duty and political components of citizenship. We find that the perceived importance of civic duties is negatively related to all forms of participation, whereas the opposite is true of the political citizenship beliefs. Stronger social citizenship beliefs are positively associated with political activism but negatively with institutional forms...

Economic and Political Reform in China and the Former Soviet Union

Fri, 25 Sep 2009 00:00:00 +0000

The contrast between the two cases is well known: China’s economic reforms were stunningly successful whereas those of Gorbachev failed. Moreover, his political reforms set in motion forces that he could not control, eventually bringing about the unintended end to communist rule and the dissolution of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. Why this difference? Numerous variables are at issue. This paper focuses on the policies, strategies, and values of reformers and on opportunities to carry out economic reforms, which favored China but not the SU.

Political Science Faculty Salaries at the University of California

Fri, 26 Jun 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Combining salary data for permanent non-emeritus faculty at seven departments of political science within the University of California system with lifetime citation counts and other individual level data from the Masuoka, Grofman and Feld (2007) study of faculty at Ph.D. granting political science departments in the United States, we analyze determinants of faculty salaries. For the full data set our main finding are that (1) base salaries of UC political science faculty are slightly more strongly correlated to citation rates (annualized or total lifetime citations) as a measure of research visibility than they are to seniority measured by years since receipt of the Ph.D; and (2) that gender differences and subfield differences in salary essentially vanish once we take into account both year of Ph.D. and research visibility (as measured by annualized citation counts), while gender inequities would appear to exist if we did not control for both variables and thus may appear...

Styles of Political Representation: What do Voters Expect?

Tue, 2 Jun 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Until recently, voters’ views on the representational roles of MPs have been almost an unexplored field in the studies of political behaviour. With the exception of Carman (2007) and Mendez-Lago and Martínez (2002), the few existing studies have mainly been conducted in a U.S. context and are fairly dated. In this study, we are partly filling this gap by examining voters’ views on representational roles in the Finnish open-list PR-system with mandatory preferential voting, which is characterised by a strong degree of candidate centeredness. Based on the Finnish election study 2007 (FSD2138, N=1,422), we first analyse support for various representational styles most often discussed in the literature, i.e. resemblance, delegation and trustee model, and then account for it through the social and political background of the respondents. The results show that both the delegate and trustee styles of representation are almost equally popular. The support for the different styles of...

Iran-US Relations: At a New Cross Roads

Wed, 27 May 2009 00:00:00 +0000

This is a speech by the son of the former Shah of Iran. The speech addresses Iran-US relations.

Growth in Women's Political Representation: A Longitudinal Exploration of Democracy, Electoral System, and Gender Quotas

Mon, 27 Apr 2009 00:00:00 +0000

The expansion of women’s formal political representation ranks among the most significant trends in international politics of the last 100 years. Though women made steady political progress, substantial country-level variation exists in patterns of growth and change. In this paper, we develop longitudinal theories to examine how political factors affect women’s political representation over time. We use latent growth curve models to assess the growth of women in politics in 110 countries from 1975 to 2000. We investigate how electoral systems, national-level gender quotas, and growth of democracy impact country-level trajectories of women’s legislative representation. We find: (1) national quotas do affect women’s political presence, but at a lower level than legislated by law; (2) the impact of a proportional representation system on women’s political representation is steady over time; and (3) democracy, especially civil liberties, does not affect the level of women’s political...

A Gender Gap in Citizenship Norms? The Importance of Political, Civil and Social Rights and Responsibilities

Tue, 2 Dec 2008 00:00:00 +0000

Previous research suggests that men are more engaged in, knowledgeable about, and interested in citizenship compared to women. Yet, little is known about gender cleavages in citizenship norms. Do men and women simply define citizenship differently? To address that question, this study looks at citizenship norms using 2004 ISSP data among 18 Western, industrialized nations. Our results suggest the utility of a disaggregated approach to understanding definitions of citizenship. Among beliefs about citizenship responsibilities and rights, we examine political, civil, and social norms. After controlling for a variety of demographic and attitudinal influences, we find no difference in men and women’s political norms. When it comes to civil and social norms however, women view these responsibilities and rights as significantly more important than men.

Voter Advice in the Presidential Election of 2008: A Guide for the Perplexed

Tue, 2 Dec 2008 00:00:00 +0000

Recently, voter assistance aids (VAAs) have become available on the internet to help voters make election choices. Customarily these aids work by asking a set of questions about the voter’s policy preferences and then matching the voter’s answers to the presumed policy positions of the candidates or parties, and then devising some method of weighting the various questions so as to develop an overall assessment of voter-candidate or voter party proximity. The voter is then advised which candidate or party s/he is closest to. We offer a single five item discriminator as our preferred VAA for the 2008 U.S. Presidential election. Carefully conducted experiments with both business executives and students validate the predictive power of this instrument.

Explanatory Factors for the Merger of Political Parties

Mon, 24 Nov 2008 00:00:00 +0000

Recently, scholars in party research have focused attention on questions of adaptation and change. This article isolates one particular phenomenon of party change—party merger—and presents a heuristic framework which seeks to explain why parties merge. The heuristic framework identifies three different types of factors that may act as catalysts for parties to merge: intra-party factors (within parties), inter-party factors (between potential merging partners), and contextual factors. These three different types of factors and their complex interplay are discussed and subsequently examined with reference to the merger process of two small Dutch Calvinist parties, the GPV and RPF, into the ChristenUnie.

Territorial Dimension as Political Strategy: Elite-driven Center-Periphery Cleavage in Spain 1977-2008

Wed, 19 Nov 2008 00:00:00 +0000

The Spanish democratic transition and consolidation are internationally acclaimed. Yet there is one issue that poses a major puzzle to political scientists: the persistence of conflict over Spain’s territorial model. If it is true that democracy can better address territorial disputes, why is it that the Spanish territorial model continues to be widely contested? After a brief discussion of the theoretical literature on democracy and ethno-territorial conflict, this paper develops the following hypothesis: the territorial model is still openly contested in Spain because regional political elites vehemently push territorial agendas as a way to boost their electoral power within the Estado de las Autonomías. I present evidence from the content analysis of party manifestos (1977-2008) showing that the most relevant Catalan and the Basque parties have promoted the salience of the center-periphery dimension in their electoral programs while paradoxically receiving fewer votes. Moreover,...

Ashamed Not to Vote for an African-American; Ashamed to Vote for a Woman: An Analysis of the Bradley Effect from 1982-2006

Thu, 2 Oct 2008 00:00:00 +0000

By systematically analyzing the universe of black, Latino, Asian American Senate and Gubernatorial candidates, a representative sample of female candidates, and a large sample of white male comparison cases, we demonstrate that there is a Bradley Effect for black candidates that continues to the present day. We also show that women are susceptible to a reverse Bradley Effect. In addition to this contribution, the article also introduces a model of preference falsification which fills a gap in the survey response bias literature and is consistent with our overall findings, though to our knowledge no data exists to test it directly.

DEMOCRACY OVER A BARREL: OIL, REGIME CHANGE AND WAR

Mon, 7 Jul 2008 00:00:00 +0000

Will autocracies dependent on the export of oil become democratic? To some, the answer seems evident. “The trend is clear,” President Bush said in March 2005. “In the Middle East and throughout the world, freedom is on the march.” Unfortunately, at least in the near term, the opposite is true. Not only is the worldwide spread of democracy stagnating in general, but a number of countries that had once demonstrated some progress are seriously backsliding. By my calculations, about a third of these backsliders are oil-exporters, perhaps most notably Russia. And not a single oil-exporter currently classified by Freedom House as “not free” or “partly free” shows signs of changing its status to democracy. This does not mean that oil-exporting countries cannot become democratic (witness, for example, Norway or Trinidad-Tobago), but it does indicate that oil dependence may pose special problems for democratization.

Covering Islam: A Challenge for American Journalism

Thu, 12 Jun 2008 00:00:00 +0000
Covering Islam: A Challenge for American Journalism

Measuring the Presidential Risk Factor: A Comment on Cheibub’s Presidentialism, Parliamentarism, and Democracy

Thu, 29 May 2008 00:00:00 +0000

I argue that the vision of “self-enforcing” democratization found in, for example, Przeworski (1992) and Acemoglou and Robinson (2007)—wherein democracy represents an organic balance of power between society’s actors, arrived at through a potentially long process of political give and take—is relevant for understanding an important difference between the modal democracies born during and after the Cold War. Given the logic of the self-enforcing democratization literature, and the evidence of an increased incidence of “electoral authoritarianism” in the Cold War period, I demonstrate that we should expect a much smaller estimated impact of the presidential risk factor after the Cold War than during it, even if presidentialism’s effect on breakdown remains constant.

Rethinking Capital Mobility and Democratization: The Size of Political Regimes and Endogenous Capital Mobility

Thu, 29 May 2008 00:00:00 +0000
Rethinking Capital Mobility and Democratization: The Size of Political Regimes and Endogenous Capital Mobility

How We Count Counts: The Empirical Effects of Using Coalitional Potential to Measure the Effective Number of Parties

Thu, 29 May 2008 00:00:00 +0000

Despite its conceptual centrality to research in comparative politics and the fact that a single measure—the Laakso-Taagepera index (LT)—is nearly universally employed in empirical research, the question of what is the best way to “count” parties is still an open one. Among other alleged shortcomings, LT has been criticized for over-weighting small parties, especially in the case of a one-party majority. Using seat-shares data from over 300 elections, I have calculated LT as well as an alternative measure (BZ) which employs normalized Banzhaf scores rather than simple party seat shares, as weights. The Banzhaf index is a voting power index which calculates a party’s voting power as a function of its coalitional potential. Though the two measures are highly correlated, I identify three particular party constellations in which the differences between LT and BZ are systematic and statistically significant. In all of these cases, and especially in the case of a one-party majority,...

The Influence of the Gender Gap in Parliamentarian Support for Reproductive Rights: Comparisons across Western Europe

Thu, 29 May 2008 00:00:00 +0000

I test seven explanations the function of gender in parliamentarian support for abortion policy by comparing the differences in attitudes between women and men national and European parliamentarians across 15 democracies in Western Europe. I consider the influence of the social policy environment of a parliamentarian’s nation, women’s autonomous access to resources in a parliamentarian’s nation, the mass orientations of a parliamentarian’s nation, the party family to which the parliamentarian belongs, the ideology of the parliamentarian, the institutional design elements of the parliamentarian’s nation, and the gender composition of the representational body in which the parliamentarian resides.

Two Paths to Populism: Explaining Peru’s First Episode of Populist Mobilization

Thu, 29 May 2008 00:00:00 +0000

Both major contenders in Peru’s 1931 presidential contest made populist mobilization a centerpiece of their political strategies. Never before had a candidate for national office so completely flouted traditional channels of political power and so thoroughly staked his political aspirations on the mobilization of support from non-elite segments of the population. This paper asks: Why did these two candidates pursue novel populist strategies at this particular historical juncture? The first part of the paper identifies the conditions that encouraged Peruvian politicians to pursue populist mobilization in 1931; it also explains why populist mobilization had never before been undertaken in Peru. An adequate explanation of populist mobilization, however, must also trace the social processes by which objective conditions translate into the selection of specific lines of action by political leaders. The second part of this paper thus assesses the socially-conditioned strategic vision...

Electoral Systems and Interregional Cooperation: Politics and Economics in Transportation and Metropolitan Planning Organizations

Thu, 29 May 2008 00:00:00 +0000

This research analyzes institutions of governance because institutions can constrain or augment the preferences of decision-makers. The objective of this study is to model an important class of regional institutions, namely metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs). MPOs are responsible for implementing United States Federal transportation policy at the local level in all areas with a population of 50,000 or more. The primary mission of the MPO is to engage in transportation planning to meet requirements for the receipt of federal funds that number in the hundreds of billions of dollars.

The Effects of Transition on Life Satisfaction in Poland

Thu, 29 May 2008 00:00:00 +0000

Since 1989 Poland has been considered a leader in economic reform, but did the process of transition from a planned economy to a free market model make its people happier? A look at the life satisfaction levels reported in the World Values Survey shows that the answer is no. The disruptive effects of transition on marriage rates, as well as the increased unemployment and withdrawal from the labor force seem to have mattered more for the happiness of Poles than the recovery in terms of GDP per capita. People over thirty and those less educated are the ones who suffered the most and this led to an increase in life satisfaction inequality. Overall, there is not a significant difference in the levels of subjective well-being of women and men. However, while both genders report lower levels in 1999 compared with 1990, the difference between the two dates is only significant in the case of men. For them, only after considering the changes in marital and employment status the decrease...

Tax Man Cometh: Income Taxation as a Measure of State Capacity

Thu, 29 May 2008 00:00:00 +0000

We adopt a definition of state capacity that focuses on policy implementation and propose to measure the construct by examining the proportion of total tax revenue from income taxes. We make three major contributions in this paper. First, unlike other scholars, we focus explicitly on income tax collection rather than looking at overall tax collection. Second, we demonstrate the construct validity of our measure. Third, we compare our measure to the most commonly used indicator for state capacity, tax/GDP, to demonstrate the construct validity of that measure and how ours performs better for our large sample of cases.

Is Sunshine the Best Disinfectant? The Causal Relationship between Media Freedom and Democratization

Thu, 29 May 2008 00:00:00 +0000

This article seeks to contribute to the literature on democratization by examining the media’s causal relationship to political liberalization. First, I briefly review the major theoretical research regarding democratization and the media. I then provide an account of why media freedom contributes to democratic development. Specifically, I highlight two causal mechanisms, The Civil Society Function and The Opposition Function. The Civil Society Function, most often carried out in the print media, describes the media’s role in facilitating a public sphere in which elites can communicate. In contrast, in accordance with The Opposition Function, the media furthers political liberalization by increasing the public’s awareness of alternative political candidates. Because of its vast distribution, the broadcast media best performs The Opposition Function. The case of Mexico is examined to provide a concrete illustration of each of these functions of the media in relation to democratization....

Islamization of the Egyptian Intelligentsia: Discourse and Structure in Socialization Strategies

Thu, 29 May 2008 00:00:00 +0000

The paper traces the historical unfolding of the Islamization strategy during Mubarak’s reign. It examines and compares the practices constituting this strategy and the State’s reaction to it. The relational approach adopted in this study gives weight to structured agency through analyzing how ideational and organizational levels interact. It evaluates the political efficacy of counter-hegemony as a political strategy, bringing to the forefront its practical, as well as its theoretical limitations.

The Role of Political Parties in Electoral Competition

Thu, 29 May 2008 00:00:00 +0000
The Role of Political Parties in Electoral Competition

Political Expenditures and Power Laws: A Spatial Model of the Lobbying Process

Thu, 29 May 2008 00:00:00 +0000

I develop the theory of power laws and allude to their prevalence elsewhere in the scientific world. I use actual data on US special interest groups to identify a broad, empirical regularity in the distribution of their lobbying expenditures, which naturally gives rise to a spatial model of the lobbying process. I discuss the policy implications of these findings and stress the superiority of this approach in describing aggregate special interest behavior relative to the stylized, strategic workhorse models in this field. Supplemental mathematical background is provided in two appendices.

Support for the Democratic Process in Europe

Wed, 16 Apr 2008 00:00:00 +0000

This paper presents an analysis on one of the main indicators for the study of political support, which is Satisfaction with Democracy. It also offers a revision on the actual levels of this indicator in different European societies. This paper, therefore, deepens and presents data on the levels and nature of support for the democratic process, measured by the indicator of satisfaction for democracy.

The Internet and Virtual Civil Society: The New Frontier of Social Capital

Wed, 16 Apr 2008 00:00:00 +0000

Although scholars generally agree that social interactions within traditional social groups build social capital, they debate the benefits of a virtual civil society based on social interactions over the Internet. Our research examines how interpersonal social group activity and virtual activity contribute to the multiple dimensions of social capital: social trust, citizen norms and political involvement. Our analyses rely on data collected in the 2005 Citizenship Involvement Democracy survey conducted by the Center for Democracy and Civil Society at Georgetown University. This survey provides unique detail on participation in both social groups and virtual interactions. Our findings suggest that social group activity and virtual interactions both foster democratic norms and activities.

Democracy as Human Empowerment: The Role of Ordinary People in the Emergence and Survival of Democracy

Wed, 19 Mar 2008 00:00:00 +0000

This article argues that “human empowerment” is the most important driving force behind effective democratization. Though elite agreements are central to establish nominal democracy, effective democracy does not emerge because elites concede it to the masses, but because ordinary people become increasingly capable and willing to place effective mass pressures on the elites. Effective democracy is thus the outcome of a broader process of “human empowerment.”

Suffer a Scratch to Avoid a Blow? Why Post-communist Parties in Eastern Europe Introduce Lustration

Wed, 30 Jan 2008 00:00:00 +0000

Neither the “Transitional Justice” literature or literatures in post-communist politics have examined post-communist “self lustrations.” Our goal is to explain why Post-communists “punish themselves.” We argue that Post-communists act under constraints of legislative institutions. We formalize our argument with a game-theoretic model of agenda-setting.

Which Candidate Selection Method Is More Democratic?

Wed, 30 Jan 2008 00:00:00 +0000

The aim of this article is to open the debate on the question, “Which candidate selection method is more democratic?” It does this by suggesting guidelines for identifying the ramifications of central elements of candidate selection methods for various democratic dimensions – participation, competition, representation and responsiveness – and by analyzing their possible role in supplying checks and balances. It proposes employing a three-stage candidate selection method, in which, in the first stage, a small committee appoints candidates to a short list; in the second stage, a selected party agency may add or remove candidates using a special procedure (absolute majority vote, for example) and it would also ratify the re-adoption of incumbent candidates; and, finally, party members would select candidates for safe seats or safe list positions among the proposed candidates. The article also recommends using moderate requirements for candidacy; the use of a non-majoritarian voting...

Empowering Women: The Role of Economic Development, Political Culture and Institutional Design in the World’s Societies

Wed, 31 Oct 2007 00:00:00 +0000

Multiple literatures suggest that the following factors may figure prominently in explanations of women’s increasing empowerment: economic modernity factors, cultural modernity factors, cultural legacies, institutional legacies, political institutions, and the status of women’s civil society. I argue that the comparison of these factors across different stages of women’s empowerment will give us a clearer picture for understanding the roles of social conditions, national histories, institutional designs and associational behavior in empowering women. This, in turn, will help us clarify the ability of theories central to the study of politics to explain social change in processes of inclusion.

Boundaries of Inequality: Perceptions of Distributive Justice among Urbanities, Migrants, and Peasants

Tue, 16 Oct 2007 00:00:00 +0000

How do the Chinese population interpret a socially segregated China that already has a half-century history? Moreover, to what extent do Chinese of different status perceive such a social reality in a similar or a dissimilar way? On top of the social and economic categories that are in existence, are there also corresponding mental categories that both reflect and cement the social divide? These are the main questions I attempt to address in this paper. I will first establish that there are indeed three distinctive social groups today who compose the Chinese population and discuss that the differences separating these categories are institutional not geographical or simply occupational. Utilizing national survey data on perceptions of distributive justice, I will then explore what differences, if any, exist among the three groups in their perceptions of the current social system and economic inequality in China. I will also show how different social groups perceive their...

Economic Perceptions and Economic Voting in Post Communist Countries of East Central Europe

Tue, 16 Oct 2007 00:00:00 +0000

The purpose of this paper is twofold. First, it explores the formation of economic perceptions in post-communist Europe. Second, it investigates the mechanism of economic voting in that region during the early transition years. Using both micro- and macro-level data from 11 newly established democracies in East Central Europe, the author finds that national economic perceptions were disconnected from the objective economic reality, and mostly driven by personal economic evaluations and political attitudes. In addition, the empirical findings suggest that economic voting in the wake of the transition was both retrospective and prospective.

More of a Bridge than a Gap: Gender Differences in Arab-American Political Engagement

Mon, 30 Jul 2007 00:00:00 +0000

Objective. Research on immigrant women’s economic and cultural adaptation has increasingly come to the fore of immigration research, yet relatively little remains known about their engagement in the political arena. This study examines this question among Arab Muslims, a group who has been at the center of much public debate but little scholarly discourse. Methods. Using nationally representative data on Arab Muslims, this study examines gender differences in political consciousness and activity and assesses the degree to which different dimensions of religious identity contribute to differences in men’s and women’s attitudes and behaviors. Results. Both women and men have high levels of political engagement, in part reflecting their relatively affluent socioeconomic positions. Men are slightly more involved than women, and this is explained by their greater participation in religious activities and higher levels of political religiosity. In contrast, subjective dimensions...

Understanding Democratic Congruence: A Demand-Supply Perspective

Mon, 30 Jul 2007 00:00:00 +0000

Congruence theory suggests that democratic institutions are supplied on a level that is congruent with mass demands for democracy. Recently this claim has been disconfirmed by showing that the cross-country correlation between the institutional supply of democracy and mass demands for democracy is weak. But this finding is flawed because of inflated measurements that give an embellished picture of many societies’ democratic reality. To validate this point we demonstrate that standard measures of both the institutional supply of democracy and of mass demands for democracy are often seriously deflated as one weights them by characteristics relevant to democracy in practice. These weighting procedures yield “effective” institutional supplies of democracy and “genuine” mass demands for democracy, providing a more realistic picture of a society’s state of democracy. Using these realistic measures, congruence between the institutional supply of democracy and mass demands for democracy...

Why has the LDP Stayed in Power so Long in Post-War Japan?:Democratic System Support and Electoral Behavior

Wed, 4 Jul 2007 00:00:00 +0000

Why has the LDP stayed in power so long? This is the biggest puzzle in Japanese politics, especially considering the fact that Japan has been constitutionally a liberal democracy in the postwar period. This paper exams possible reasons for why the LDP has stayed in power for so long. I empirically exam three different explanations, namely the political culture explanation, the political economy explanation (or the Clientelism with centralized fiscal structure), and the system support explanation. While the political culture and the political economy explanations have some validity, neither one can exclusively explain the LDP dominance in the postwar party system. The system-support explanation provides evidence that supports that those Japanese who support the Japanese political system are more likely to support the LDP. Thus, the LDP’s linkage to system evaluation may be another answer to this puzzle of LDP dominance that has been overlooked in previous research.

Does Collective Identity Matter? : African-American Conventional and Unconventional Political Participation

Fri, 8 Jun 2007 00:00:00 +0000

This study is the first to compare the role of feelings of collective identity, or a shared sense of common fate, on the likelihood of participating in conventional (electoral) low-commitment political activity that takes little time (voting), conventional high-commitment involvement that requires more time and effort (participation in a voter registration drive), unconventional (non-electoral) low-commitment political activity (signing a petition), and unconventional high-commitment activity (participation in a protest march or demonstration). The paper concludes that collective identity is a powerful predictor of the likelihood of participation in unconventional but not conventional political activity irrespective of the level of commitment.

Gendered Resource Returns: African American Institutions and Political Engagement

Thu, 7 Jun 2007 00:00:00 +0000

While numerous studies discuss the importance of black churches and race-based organizations to African American political participation, few of them systematically analyze the gendered nature of such engagement. Employing data from the 1994 National Black Politics Survey, this study compares the influence of church-based activities and race-based organizational participation on African American men’s and women’s electoral and non-electoral political participation, and finds that 1) African American women participate less than African-American men; 2) in spite of black institutional participation the gender gap remains; 3) a liberal political orientation or households with union members mediates the gendered black institution effect; and, 4) Black institutional involvement enhances male more than female political participation. These findings have important implications for our theoretical understanding of institutional resource returns.

Popular Conceptions of the Meaning of Democracy: Democratic Understanding in Unlikely Places

Fri, 18 May 2007 00:00:00 +0000

This paper addresses the question of whether ordinary people express a reasonable understanding of the meaning of democracy, and what are the contents of their definitions? Do people focus on the procedural aspects of democracy—elections, democratic institutions, and processes—which are the main focus of democratization efforts. Alternatively, do they see democracy in terms of rights and liberties, or economic or social welfare terms? We draw on a wide range of recent public opinion surveys from Africa, Asia, Europe, and Latin America. Our research yields three generalizations about popular conceptions of democracy. First, even in new democracies, most people can define democracy in their own words. Second, and most important, most people think of democracy in terms of the freedoms, liberties and rights that it conveys, rather than procedural conceptions of liberal democracy. Third, equating democracy with social benefits emerges as a minor theme, even in the poorest of nations....

The Nature of Mass Communist Beliefs in Postcommunist Russian Political Space

Sun, 29 Apr 2007 00:00:00 +0000

The collapse of the Soviet Union and the emergence of a democratizing regime in Russia during the 1990s raise several questions about the contours of Russian political space: Do Russians have structured beliefs that motivate political behavior? Is there any ideology guiding Russian mass political beliefs? How has seventy years of Communist Party rule affected Russian political attitudes? Based on an analysis of the 1995-1996 and 1999-2000 Russian National Election Studies, I argue that an attitudinal belief system structured along an attachment to values inculcated through the communist experience is present in the Russian political mind. This belief system appears to be a legacy of the communist past and continued to play a motivating role in Russian political behavior throughout the first postcommunist decade. Moreover, attachment to these values has a greater effect on vote choice than do standard socioeconomic indicators.

Classing Ethnicity: Class, Ethnicity and the Mass Politics of Taiwan’s Democratic Transition

Sun, 29 Apr 2007 00:00:00 +0000

In this essay I offer a sharply revisionist account of Taiwan’s transition to democracy, based upon an empirically derived neo-Weberian class-analytic framework. My analysis reveals that the conventional accent on the middle class was largely misplaced. Instead, the true heroes in the struggle for democracy, even in prosperous, placid Taiwan, were the island’s urban and rural working classes, although proper recognition of this fact requires us to look beyond the politics of the workplace. While the better-educated middle classes in fact displayed the highest normative affinity for democratic values, as the primary beneficiaries of the State they were also among the most politically conservative sectors in society. In contrast, working class support for the opposition was driven primarily by a generalized sense of disaffection with the existing social order, although its lack of a coherent agenda also proved consequential for the opposition’s mobilizational strategy and...

How Proportional are Mixed Compensatory Electoral Systems? Determining the Necessary Share of Compensation Mandates in Mixed Systems

Sun, 29 Apr 2007 00:00:00 +0000

Mixed compensatory systems (some call them “mixed-member proportional systems”), are praised for combining "the best of both worlds.” Yet, we know fairly little about their outcomes in practice. We still lack a genuine model that explains how many compensation seats are needed for the outcome to be proportional. Without this knowledge we will neither be able to estimate how many parties we expect to compete and to win representation in parliament under mixed compensatory systems; a key question of comparative research on electoral systems and party systems. This paper provides a quantitative model that shows under which conditions a mixed compensatory system might lead to proportional vote-seat conversion.

Does Social Capital Lead to Support for Democracy in East Asia?

Sun, 29 Apr 2007 00:00:00 +0000

This paper considers the origins and conceptualizations of social capital, particularly the effects of interpersonal trust and participation in voluntarily associations on support for democracy. In so doing, the study introduces a “two-step process” proposition, suggesting that while a causal relationship exists between social capital and democratic support, this link is mediated by intervening variables in the form of knowledge and skills resulting from trust and participation. Empirical tests are conducted on survey data from seven countries covered by the East Asian Barometer to examine the validity of this hypothesis.

Refusing to Engage: Political Competence and the “Don’t Know” Response on Surveys

Sun, 29 Apr 2007 00:00:00 +0000

Pierre Bourdieu’s theories of political competence and the political field have not been used widely in studies of political life in the United States. But these concepts offer a more theoretically grounded and coherent way of understanding how people in this country do and do not engage with politics than most conventional approaches to political participation. I argue that Bourdieu’s notion of “political competence” (1979:126; 1984:405-6) allows us a much more full understanding of the ways that disenfranchised people relate to the political process. I use analyses of the full (1978 – 2004) General Social Survey to do three things: first, to challenge commonly accepted renditions of the causes of the “don’t know” response to political questions; second, to explore the relationship between “don’t know” response and income and education; and finally to argue that don’t know response is indicative of low “political competence” – not simply a lack of resources or knowledge....

Do We Still Need the VRA: In a Word "YES."

Mon, 8 Jan 2007 00:00:00 +0000

Since race-conscious redistricting and the creation of effective minority districts remains the basis upon which most African-American and Latino officials gain election, the Voting Rights Act, including both Sections 2 and 5, remains a valuable tool to protect the ability of minorities to elect their preferred candidates. The evidence presented demonstrates that the fundamental argument in favor of the creation of majority-minority districts remains valid today: The vast majority of minority legislators still win election from majority minority districts. The share of non-black-majority districts with African-American state legislators and congressional representatives remains extremely low – 5 percent or less in 2005. Majority-Hispanic districts play a similarly crucial role in the election of Latino officials. The share of non-Hispanic-majority districts electing Latinos to legislative office is minuscule – less than 4 percent of these districts elected Latinos in 2005...

Inequality in Political Participation: Contemporary Patterns in European Countries

Mon, 8 Jan 2007 00:00:00 +0000

The fact that social stratification factors are closely related to different levels of political participation is a classical issue that has relevant normative as well as explanatory implications for the study of participation. However, in the shift from the industrial to the information or knowledge society some patterns in that respect may be changing. This paper explores the effect of various possible sources of inequality on political participation (gender, age, social class, education, income, ethnicity, and working status) on four political activities, using data from the European Social Survey for 22 European countries. The frequency, consistency, and the mode specific patterns of the observed differences are taken into account to discuss which of these factors can be considered genuine sources of inequality. Overall, age and education emerge as the most widespread causes of distortion, while gender, membership in minorities, and occupational variables are less clearly...

A Decade of Rising Poverty in Urban China: Who Are More Likely to Fall Under?

Mon, 20 Nov 2006 00:00:00 +0000

This paper focuses on a small portion of the overall picture of rising inequality in China; the emerging trend and underlying patterns of poverty in Chinese cities. We ask and then attempt to answer the question of "who are more likely to fall under the poverty line." By examining the prevalence of poverty and especially the characteristics of those who fall within this group, we intend to gain some insights about the capabilities of those falling into the poor category, and about the durability of inequality. Falling under the lowest end of income distribution itself is significant, but the characteristics of those who fall into the poor category provide useful hints about the production and the reproduction of poverty.

Types of Democratic Deliberation: The Limits and Potential of Citizen Participation

Thu, 2 Nov 2006 00:00:00 +0000

Following more than a decade of theorizing and widespread practical application, political scientists have begun empirical research on democratic deliberation. For the most part, this research has focused on individual or collective outcomes of deliberation, paying relatively little attention to the deliberative processes themselves. Here an attempt is made to study these processes themselves. First, a typology of the different ways people talk to one another is offered. Four types of discourse are defined: (1) proto-discourse, (2) conventional, (3) cooperative, and (4) collaborative. The last two types are of the kind presumed by deliberative democratic theory, with more liberal versions assuming that deliberations are cooperative and rational and more critical versions assuming that deliberation are collaborative and transformative. Research is then reported on two deliberative groups of parents who met seven times to consider improvements in the delivery of K-12 education...

An Empirical Study of Types of Democratic Deliberation: The Limits and Potential of Citizen Participation

Thu, 2 Nov 2006 00:00:00 +0000

Following more than a decade of theorizing and widespread practical application, political scientists have begun empirical research on democratic deliberation. For the most part, this research has focused on individual or collective outcomes of deliberation, paying relatively little attention to the deliberative processes themselves. Here an attempt is made to study these processes themselves. First, a typology of the different ways people talk to one another is offered. Four types of discourse are defined: (1) proto-discourse, (2) conventional, (3) cooperative, and (4) collaborative. The last two types are of the kind presumed by deliberative democratic theory, with more liberal versions assuming that deliberations are cooperative and rational and more critical versions assuming that deliberation are collaborative and transformative. Research is then reported on two deliberative groups of parents who met seven times to consider improvements in the delivery of K-12 education...

The Nexus of Democratization: Guanxi and Governance in Taiwan and the PRC

Thu, 2 Nov 2006 00:00:00 +0000

This paper focuses on the extent to which, and the ways in which, the rise of one specific segment of the middle class, the bourgeoisie, contributes to a push for the institution of democracy in Taiwan and China. Taiwan appears--more or less--to fit the conventional theory, which alleges a link between economic growth, the emergence of a newly monied class, and demands for democracy, while China does not. The loyalties, allegiances, and resentments of businesspeople that were the product of the aims and behaviors of these two regimes can explain the divergent outcomes. The nature of the social connections of the bourgeoisie--their guanxi--those relations with others that so famously shape social, economic and political life in these two contexts--provides the most succinct and parsimonious explanation for businesspeoples’ role in the movement toward new forms of governance in China and Taiwan. The opportunity for democratization to unfold was in past in Taiwan, and seems presently...

Women's Representation in Parliament: The Role of Political Parties

Sat, 21 Oct 2006 00:00:00 +0000

Parties vary substantially in the proportion of women they send to Parliament. We examine how party characteristics affect women's representation in the parliamentary parties of twelve advanced industrial nations at three time points-- 1975, 1985, and 1989. Four party-level factors have some explanatory power: 1) organizational structure, 2) ideology, 3) women party activists, and 4) gender related candidate rules. Leftist and New Left ideologies, high levels of women activists within the party and gender related candidate rules all enable parties to increase the descriptive representation of women. We propose a temporal sequence in which the four factors and electoral rules work both directly and indirectly to affect women's representation. Women party activists and gender related rules are the more direct mechanisms which affect women's legislative representation. Further, New Left values and high levels of women activists within the party both enhance the likelihood that...

Armed Force, Regimes, Contention, and Democratization in Europe since 1650

Thu, 19 Oct 2006 00:00:00 +0000

Drawing on a lifetime of comparisons between French and British experiences, this essay clears ground for a more general explanation of variation in the impact of regimes on contention, and vice versa, over Europe as a whole since 1650. Differences among Swiss, British, French, Dutch, Iberian, and other European experiences with regime change and contention set challenging empirical, conceptual, and theoretical problems. Considering the great variety of European trajectories, how can we possibly pinpoint important similarities and differences in the interplay among changes in social environments, alterations in governmental forms, histories of contentious politics, and approaches to (or retreats from) democracy? How can we single out the effects of varying patterns of military activity? What concepts will help discipline those comparisons and single out significant causal mechanisms? To what extent can we identify recurrent cause-effect relationships that operated throughout...

THE HISTORY OF CONDITIONAL AGENDA-SETTING IN EUROPEAN INSTITUTIONS

Thu, 19 Oct 2006 00:00:00 +0000

The purpose of this article is twofold. Our first goal is to make explicit an institutionalist theory of European integration. This theory is based on the concept of "conditional agenda setting," which we argue has played an important role in European integration. According to this theory, the fact that Commission proposals are more easily accepted than modified by the Council has accelerated the pace of integration. This finding brings us to the second goal of this article which is to investigate, by studying the history of EU institutions, whether or not these institutions were the result of conscious planning. We demonstrate that while some of the founding fathers (Hallstein, Spaak) and opponents of the EU (de Gaulle) had an accurate understanding of the institutional structures created in Rome, later participants in the integration process did not. In particular, the arguments surrounding the Single European Act indicate a lack of understanding of the full implications...

Coming and Going: On the State Monopolization of the Legitimate Means of Movement

Thu, 19 Oct 2006 00:00:00 +0000

This article undertakes four tasks. First, I show how and why states have sought to monopolize the "legitimate means of movement" -- that is, to gather into their own hands the exclusive right to authorize and regulate movement. Next, I argue that the processes involved in this monopolization force us to re-think the very nature of modern states as they have been portrayed by the dominant strands of sociological theories of the state. In particular, I seek to show that the notion that states "penetrate" societies over time fails adequately to capture the nature of state development, and argue instead that we would do better to regard states as "embracing" their citizenries more successfully over time. Then, I analyze the development of modern states as nation-states and demonstrate the corresponding need for states to identify unambiguously who belongs and who does not-in order to "embrace" their members more effectively and to exclude unwanted intruders. Finally, I discuss...

Turnout Decline in the U.S. and other Advanced Industrial Democracies

Thu, 19 Oct 2006 00:00:00 +0000

Based on what was known about the factors influencing turnout rates, there was good reason to expect that American turnout would gradually increase to around the high levels then experienced in most established democracies. The reasons why turnout should have increased in recent decades make perfect sense and there is little reason to believe that the underlying theories have proved to be wrong. But turnout has decreased over time. This paper examines the factors that explain who votes in the United States at present, and as compared to the early 1960s.

Where the Heart Is? A Geographic Analysis of Working-class Cultures in Detroit Neighborhoods, 1953

Thu, 19 Oct 2006 00:00:00 +0000

Have left-wing politics spread from American workplaces to nearby communities where workers live? And, if so, under what conditions did this occur? We examine the class character of neighborhood-level voting in the 1952 presidential election and focus on how concentrations of workers from UAW Local 600, a left-wing union local, representing workers at the Ford River Rouge plant, influenced the result in Detroit, Michigan. Data come from the 1950 U.S. Census, precinct-level voting returns for the city of Detroit, and a 1953 traffic study which contains information on workplace and home locations. A spatial matrix of the census tracts in Detroit permits examination not only of the main effects of workplace on neighborhood, but also the effects of specific groups of workers and their political orientation on adjoining communities. We found, as hypothesized, that high concentrations of Ford Rouge workers in neighborhoods are significantly related to higher proportions of both Democratic...

Getting Mad or Going Mad? Citizens, Scarcity and the Breakdown of Democracy in Interwar Europe

Fri, 6 Oct 2006 00:00:00 +0000

In 1920, twenty-six out of twenty-eight European states were parliamentary democracies. By 1938, thirteen of these democracies had become dictatorships. This essay is about why these regimes broke down and about the role that ordinary citizens played in the breakdown process.

Institutions and Policies for Democracy: A Discussion Paper

Fri, 6 Oct 2006 00:00:00 +0000

The frameworks and models employed in conventional policy analysis serve poorly the purpose of examining the impacts of institutions and public policies upon citizenship and democracy. This failing is all the more serious during the current period of non-incremental institutional and public policy change. Such fundamental changes in the landscape of governance include: the diminishing power of Washington and the devolution of authority over many issues to lower levels of government; the movement of many public issues from public to private spheres; the use of market-like incentives in public policies; the emergence of community-based initiatives in policy; and the creation of new institutional forms including new kinds of property rights and regional forums. The purpose of this round table is to raise critical questions about the possible side effects of the "reforms" being undertaken. What will be the impacts on already underserved constituencies? How will institutional and...

Congruence Theory Explained

Fri, 6 Oct 2006 00:00:00 +0000

This essay was written for Can Democracy Take Root in Post-Soviet Russia? Edited by Harry Eckstein, Frederic J. Fleron, Erik P. Hoffmann, and William M. Reisinger (Lanham, Maryland: Rowman and Littlefield, 1998). It discusses cultural congruence theory and how this might be applied to post-communist Russia.

The Tailor of Marrakesh: Western Electoral Systems Advice to Emerging Democracies

Wed, 4 Oct 2006 00:00:00 +0000

Emerging democracies may go through a sequence of positive and negative attitudes toward foreign advice on electoral systems. My experience in Estonia makes me propose such a sequence, to see from the roundtable responses whether it has any generality. Based on a sample of one, the framework most likely will not hold, but reactions to it may help to map the field. Indirectly, I will touch on the touchy issue of whether the foreign advisors have failed to give adequate advice or whether local politicians have failed to take sound advice. Of course, it is neither and both, to some degree, plus honest misunderstandings. I will examine to what extent our systematic and analytical knowledge of electoral systems enables Western political scientists to offer advice to emerging democracies, and my conclusions are rather modest. I will briefly digress from impact of political science advice for emerging democracies to the latter's impact on political science discourse, focusing on Duverger's...