All-pay-all aspects of political decision making

Decision-making processes are studied using non-standard all-pay structures. Our interest is motivated by regulatory, political, legal, military, and economic applications in which individual actions determine the consequences for a larger group or the general public. The common features of these examples are a competitive environment, a winner-takes-all reward structure, and some form of all-pay-all payment rule.     

Aerial Bombing and Counterinsurgency in the Vietnam War

Aerial bombardment has been an important component of counterinsurgency practice since shortly after it became a viable military technology in the early twentieth century. Due to the nature of insurgency, bombing frequently occurs in and around settled areas, and consequently it tends to generate many civilian casualties. However, the effectiveness of bombing civilian areas as a military tactic remains disputed. Using data disaggregated to the level of the smallest population unit and measured at multiple points in time, this article examines the effect of aerial bombardment on the pattern of local control in the Vietnam War. A variety of estimation methods, including instrumental variables and genetic matching, show that bombing civilians systematically shifted control in favor of the Viet Cong insurgents.     

Die Tugend des Staatsmanns. Eine pragmatische Dimension in Kants politischer Philosophie

Der vorliegende Artikel sucht die Dimension konkreter Politik in Kants Philosophie und fragt anhand des Verhältnisses von Staatsoberhaupt und Untertan danach, wann eine Republik mehr ist als nur ein Wort auf einem Blatt Papier. Hierzu wird das Verhältnis zwischen Kants Ethik und seiner Pädagogik heranzuziehen sein. Weder kann die Lösung allein durch die Individualethik erbracht werden, noch befriedigt allein eine geschichtsphilosophische Hoffnung. Denn dadurch wird das Selbstdenken als zentrale Forderung der Aufklärung konterkarriert. Die realhistorischen Ereignisse in Frankreich und ihre systematische Erläuterung durch Kant weisen auf dasselbe Problem hin, wenn er die Abschaffung der Adelselite befürwortet. Die Institution des Adels genügt nämlich ebenfalls nicht dem Kriterium der Menschenrechte. Daraus ergibt sich für die Republikanisierung, damit sie für den Untertan nachvollziehbar wird, die Bildung eines politischen Bewusstseins. Hierzu antizipiert Kant dasjenige, was heute unter dem Begriff des Sozialkapitals diskutiert wird.     

Treaty federalism as a model of policy making: Comparing Canada and the European Union

Systematic analyses of Canada and the EU as comparable federal systems have been neglected for a variety of methodological reasons. Most importantly, neither body fits the mould of the dominant model of the American federal state. A revised conceptual framework can show, however, that Canada and the EU both provide a similar institutional and procedural environment for policy making: powers are shared rather than divided; policy directions are determined by executive negotiation rather than parliamentary deliberation; unanimity takes precedence over majority rule; and inter‐regional competition is moderated by a commitment to equalization.