Institutional Context and Representational Strain in Party–Voter Agreement in Western and Eastern Europe

Theories of electoral institutions and representation suggest that majoritarian and proportional systems will produce distinct patterns of party–voter congruence, with the centripetal incentives of the former pulling parties to the ideological centre and reducing, by comparison with the latter, congruence with voters to the right and left. Recent scholarship, however, has found little contemporary empirical evidence for this pattern but no satisfactory explanation has been advanced to account for these non-findings. This paper develops a new theoretical account of the impact of electoral institutions on congruence that takes into account the increasingly dealigned character of voters. The central argument is that the impact of institutions is conditional on the balance between partisans and independents in the electorate. It is this conditional nature of the influence that seems to account for the absence of the anticipated relationship of institutions to congruence nowadays. This theory is tested using a unique data set of party positions in 24 European states and its consequences are drawn out for the relative representational effectiveness of electoral systems in contemporary conditions.     

Reality and historicity: economy and dialectics in Marxism ∗

On 1 July 1997, the Basil Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) will be enacted in accordance with the Constitution of the People's Republic of China. Articles 107 and 108 of the Basic Law, the so-called balanced budget and low tax policy articles, are the two most controversial articles of the Chapter on Economy. The manifest purpose of these two articles is to constrain the spending and taxing power of the HKSAR in order to prohibit elected members of the Legislative Council from turning Hong Kong into a welfare state, and they have been justified by some ostensibly using Buchanan's concept of fiscal constitution. This paper examines the justification and effects of incorporating elements of fiscal constitution in the Basic Law, focusing particularly on the income redistribution effect. The paper concludes that policy articles grounded on the philosophy of fiscal constitution should not have been included.     

Economic Growth and Changes in the Branch Structure of Economy in Latvia： Linkage and the Sequence

From 2000 to 2012 the Latvian economy experienced four important events： （1） accession to the European Union in 2004; （2） the fastest GDP growth in the European Union and one of the fastest in the world in 2006; （3） the fastest GDP decrease in the European Union and in the world in 2009; and （4） resumption of economic growth in 2011. Such substantial changes during relatively short period of time make the experience of Latvia interesting in context of economic growth. Now Latvia has success in overcoming the consequences of the global economic downturn but the question which still remains relevant is the rationality of the branch structure of economy, because of high share of non-tradable sector in GDP. Such high fluctuations of the GDP during period analyzed, as well as requirements of the modem economy show the necessity to provide changes in the branch structure of economy. The most acceptable and popular direction in accordance with the strategy ＂Europe 2020＂ indicates that these changes should be in favor to the innovative manufacturing branches. On the other hand, the question--whether the changes in the branch structure of economy would be a tool for maintaining and providing the economic growth in Latvia--is actual. The importance and relevance of this question are reinforced by the fact that there is no consensus in the literature about the sequence of the economic growth and changes in the branch structure of economy. The article considers the linkage between economic growth and the changes in the branch structure of economy in Latvia, as well as search for sequence between these processes.     

Involvement in voluntary associations in North America and Western Europe: Trends and correlates 1981–2000

Abstract

There is no lack of studies that point at discomforting trends in community life and citizens' social and political involvement in contemporary society. According to various indicators, Americans have become increasingly disconnected from their families, friends, neighbours and associations, leading to a decline of civic community and social trust and to more individual unhappiness. Similar developments are supposed to take place elsewhere. In this article we use data from the European and World Values Studies to address, for North America and Western Europe, (1) trends regarding voluntary associations, social trust, political involvement and happiness in the 1981–2000 period; (2) changing patterns and types of involvement in associations; and (3) macro and micro relationships between this involvement and political involvement, social trust and happiness. We find no general decline in these traits, no trend towards more passive membership, and only mixed evidence for positive connections between involvement, trust and happiness.     

Traditions of protest and the high‐school student movements in Spain and France in 1986–87

This article explores the social circumstances that nurture social movements in advanced capitalist societies by examining the Spanish and French high‐school student movements of 1986–87. Attention is given to the influence of unemployment, outside organisers, the political education of community leaders, and past protests that provided examples for movement participants. The article proposes that future research on European social movements focus, first, on organisational prerequisites, and, second, on the social and psychological processes by which people derive lessons from past political events.     

Second Best Governance? Governments and Governance in the Imperfect World of Health Care Delivery in China,India and Thailand in Comparative Perspective

Abstract

The objective of the paper is to assess the usefulness of conceptions of different modes of governance for understanding policy outcomes by studying the experience with hierarchical and non-hierarchical governance modes in the health care sector in China, India, and Thailand. The paper shows their experience with non-hierarchical modes to have been largely disappointing and that all three, but especially Thailand, are in the process of reverting to a more hierarchical mode of service delivery. The conclusion from this study is that non-hierarchical governance is not a substitute for or an improvement upon hierarchical governance in health care due to the many market and government failures that afflict the sector and affect the ability of different governance modes to function effectively. The hierarchical mode of government is also imperfect but less so than the alternatives in delivering health care.     

Affective Polarization in Multiparty Systems? Comparing Affective Polarization Towards Voters and Parties in Norway and the United States

A growing body of comparative studies on partisan hostility – a phenomenon known as affective polarization – is providing evidence that partisan affective polarization is generally no greater in the United States than it is in many European multiparty systems. This article takes the comparative literature on affective polarization one step further by presenting the first comparative study on affective polarization that simultaneously uses, compares and combines a direct measure of affective polarization towards voters (using the inter‐party marriage measure) and an indirect measure of affective polarization towards parties (using the like/dislike of party measure) while accounting for the fact that multiparty systems have numerous political parties. This is done by comparing the levels of affective polarization in the United States and Norway. The results show greater affective polarization in the United States relating to parties, but the differences between these two countries are indistinguishable from chance when focusing on the affect relating to voters. This provides empirical evidence that comparative evidence of negative affect towards parties cannot necessarily be generalized to suggest that there is comparative evidence of negative affect towards voters. Yet the results also suggest that negative feelings towards out‐parties move to some extent to the personal level in terms of negative feelings towards voters of these out‐parties.     

History and Thought in China’s Traditions

The recent turn to China??s traditions has the potential to correct for the Eurocentrism of Political Science theories. Nevertheless, the overwhelming emphasis on political thought, especially Confucianism, may have its drawbacks. This article suggests that political scientists who are interested in building theories and drawing policy implications should study the verifiable, i.e., history. Unless the purpose is to study philosophy for its own sake, political scientists should study political thought in practice, rather than political thought divorced from history. This article first discusses why it is important to examine history beyond thought. It then analyzes why scholars should not conflate political thought with historical practice. It anchors the analysis with a high-profile recent book on ancient Chinese thought.     

The city and its ‘other’ in Islamic political ideas and movements

Historically, the city has been the natural habitat for innovations in political and religious ideas and the locus of politico-religious organization and associations. But the proximity to the centers of military power and of religious orthodoxy have rendered the social movements based on these ideas ineffective. The movements which led to political transformations come from marginal settlements and tribal organizations. Ideas and actions relating to location and habitat are examined briefly. Moving on to the modern period it isnoted that almost without exception Islamic political ideas related implicitly to an urban setting. In particular, we examine some of the political ideas of Sayyid Qutb which have been influential among more recent radical Islamic groups in Egypt. These relate to theformation of an Islamic vanguard, separating itself from the prevalent jahiliyya (state of error and ignorance) and, following the example of the early Muslims, fortified with faith, wage a jihad (holy war) to conquer this jahiliyya. Some implications of these ideas for urban social relations and for location and space are examined.     

Ethnicity and education policy in Malaysia： Managing and mediating the ethnic diversity

This paper discusses the issues of ethnicity and how they have been involved in the production of Malaysian education policy in achieving the aim of uniting the multiethnic society of the nation. The central focus in this paper was a discussion of the educational policies in Malaysia that had been produced to mediate the multiple demands, varying interests and ideological differences within Malaysian pluralistic society and amongst its various ethnic groups. This article also considered issues of policy implementation. The focus was on education policy, the politics of ethnicity in education, and the issue of language in education policy production in relation to produce a Malaysian outlook education system.     

Revitalizing and de-territorializing fascism in the 1950s: the extreme right in France and Italy,and the pan-national (‘European’) imaginary

ABSTRACT

In this article Mammone explores a still relatively neglected story in the history of post-war neo-fascism, notably the attempts by some French and Italian right-wing extremists to revitalize fascist ideology after the war by means of two interconnected strategies, namely, radicalization (rejection of the democratic system) and ‘de-territorialization’ (in the sense of converting narrow fascist nationalism into pan-European nationalism). Mammone describes these project(s), as well as the influence of thinkers such as Julius Evola and Maurice Bardèche, and their location in the wider ideological context of the extreme right in the 1950s. The immediate outcome of this ‘de-territorialized fascism’ was the creation of an extreme-right international association, the Mouvement Social Européen, in which French and Italian activists played a central role. Mammone breaks new ground regarding the non-national dimension of extreme-right thought, a topic too often studied within the boundaries of a given geographical territory and nationalist ideological landscape. By utilizing a transnational framework, he also shows the continuous connections and interactions between the Italian and the French extreme rights.     

Polanyi in Brussels or Luxembourg? Social rights and market regulation in European insurance

The decision of the Court of Justice of the European Union to ban sex discrimination in insurance has shown the potential reach of the principle of non‐discrimination. This paper discusses the different positions taken by participants in the policy process leading up to the decision, in order to reveal the potential and limitations of non‐discrimination as the basis for market‐regulatory social policy. It is shown that the European Commission's initial support for prohibiting insurance discrimination faltered with the realization that the measure would have little efficacy as a distributive social policy. It was left to the Court to assert that non‐discrimination rights are constitutive for European markets, regardless of their functional and instrumental limitations. The Court's focus was on the market‐integrative potential of rights as sources of norms for the conduct of insurance relationships. It is argued that this form of constitutive regulation is distinct from distributive social policy as it does not require that outcomes are egalitarian, but, rather, that the processes governing market relations should respect fundamental rights.     

Normalization and Anti-normalization： Value Differences in Sino-EU Relations

As a would-be normative power, the European Union （EU） has the willing to expand its values to the rest of the world, especially to the developing countries. However, China always adheres to sovereignty principle and cultural diversification, never accepting to be normalized by European values. This indicates that there is some ideological collision between these two global actors, which could undermine the base of their bilateral relations. The collision is reflected by the conflict of China＇s exceptionalism, modernity, and socialist-label with the EU＇s universalism, post-modernity and capitalist-label. In order to escape the ideological conflicts, both sides should concentrate on shared values, interests and global governance rather than only on the bilateral political issues.     

Voters’ commitment problem and reforms in welfare programs

When will a vote-seeking government pursue unpopular welfare reforms that are likely to cost it votes? Using a game-theoretical model, we show that a government enacts reforms that are unpopular with the median voter during bad economic times, but not during good ones. The key reason is that voters cannot commit to re-elect a government that does not reform during bad times. This voters’ commitment problem stems from economic voting, i.e., voters’ tendency to punish the government for a poorly performing economy. The voter commitment problem provides an explanation for the empirical puzzle that governments sometimes enact reforms that voters oppose.     

Right‐wing extremism and racist violence in Germany

Rechtsradikale Gewalt im vereinigten Deutschland: Jugend im gesellschaft‐lichen Umbruch. Edited by HANS‐UWE OTTO and ROLAND MERTEN. Opladen: Leske + Budrich, 1993. Pp.470, biblio, index. DM 29.80 (paperback). ISBN 3–8100–1193–2.

Brandstifter: Deutschland zwischen Dcmokratie und völkischem Nationalismus. By HAJO FUNKE. Göttingen: Lamuv, 1993. Pp.208, 12 illus., 1 table, 4 figures, biblio. DM 24 (paperback). ISBN 3–88977–324–9.

Fremdenfeindliche Gewalt: Einstellungen, Tater, Konflikteskalation. By HELMUT WILLEMS with ROLAND ECKERT, STEFANIE WÜRTZ, LINDA STEINMETZ, with a contribution by PAUL B. HILL. Opladen: Leske + Budrich, 1993. Pp.293, 52 tables and figures, biblio. DM 24.80 (paperback). ISBN 3–8100–1196–7.

The Republikaner Party in Germany: Right‐Wing Menace or Protest Catchall? By HANS‐JOACHIM VEEN, NORBERT LEPSZY, PETER MNICH, foreword by KARL H. CERNY. (The Washington Papers; 162) Westport, CT: Praeger, 1993. Pp.xx + 83, 14 tables, 6 figures, £11.50 (paperback). ISBN 0–275–94580–4.

Die Bielefelder Rechtsextremismusstudie: Erste Langzeituntersuchung zur poli‐tischen Sozialisafion männlicher Jugendlicher. By WILHELM HEITMEYER, HEIKE BUHSE, JOACHIM LIEBEFREUND, KURT MÖLLER, JOACHIM MÜLLER, HELMUT RITZ, GERTRUD SILLER, JOHANNES VOSSEN. Weinheim and München: Juventa, 2nd ed. 1993. Pp.612, 2 tables, 38 figures, biblio. DM 68 (paperback). ISBN 3–7799–0422–5.

Politics Against Democracy: Right‐Wing Extremism in West Germany. By RICHARD STÖSS. Translated from the German by Linsay Batson, New York/Oxford: Berg, 1991. Pp.272, 2 maps, 30 tables, 17 figures, biblio, index. £32. ISBN 0–85496–190–9.     

Cultural resistance and religious legitimacy in colonial Algeria ∗

Starting from a specific historical example, that of colonial Algeria, the paper seeks to examine religious movements which play a political role. Too often such movements have been viewed either as being only political or as utilising religion simply as a mask. It is argued here that religious movements having apparent political functions benefit (to the extent that they are religious) from being studied in contrast to other non-religious movements having similar or comparable functions in the same society at the same time (or in other societies with which comparison would appear justified). It is only in this way that one can see how the relation between the political and religious fields function. It is also in this way alone that we are able to see at what price (that of the relative autonomy of the religious field) the objective domination and manipulation of the religious by the political comes about. In studying societies which claim to be Islamic, it is particularly important to break with orientalist notion of the indivisibility of the religious and political, which obscures the real relationship between the two spheres.     

Democratic and constitutionalist elements in Khomeini’s Unveiling of Secrets and Islamic Government

This is a study of Khomeini’s two main pre-revolutionary political works: one, Islamic Government, in which he urges his audience to accept that Islam is a political religion and jurisprudents of Islamic law have a crucial role in government; and a second, The Unveiling of Secrets, of which only short excerpts have been translated into English and which has received scant attention by scholars outside of Iran. This latter work is crucial to study because in this work, he elaborates his view on democratic and constitutionalist principles, subjects he had treated only vaguely and briefly in Islamic Government. Contrary to much of the secondary literature produced on Khomeini, which claims that Khomeini’s theory is simply a theory of guardianship, antithetical to participatory government, the article claims that in The Unveiling of Secrets, and (though more ambiguously) in Islamic Government, Khomeini appeals to democratic and constitutionalist principles to argue that the views of common citizens, and not just experts in Islamic law, must be heeded by an Islamic government. Recognizing the complexities and ambiguities of Khomeini’s thought both in his earlier and later works allows us to understand and engage in dialogue with the scholars who inherit and critique his ideas today.