Testing the Buchanan-Wagner Hypothesis: European Evidence from Panel Unit Root and Cointegration Tests

According to the Buchanan-Wagnerhypothesis, public deficits reduce theperceived price of public goods to thecurrent generation of voters who, in turn,increase the demands for such socialservices. Several recent studies haveattempted to test this proposition. In thispaper, we apply modern time seriestechniques organized around panel unit rootand panel cointegration to draw sharperconclusions from the short time series thatare typically available. We find that thereis a long run positive relationship betweengovernment spending and government deficitsfor each country individually, as well asfor the panel as a whole. This providessupport for the BW hypothesis. We alsoanalyze the implications for the relativeproductivity performance of the public andprivate sector, the existence of scaleeconomies in the provision of publicservices, as well as the extent of crowdingout effects.     

Rescinding the signature of an international treaty: the United States and the rome statute establishing the international criminal court

The international communiry's efforts to create a global permanent penal court culminated in the Rome Statute establishing the International Criminal Court of 1998. Although the United States of America initially signed it, it later withdrew the signature thus signalling its very strong opposition to it. This article attempts, on the one hand, to examine and analyze the US opposition from the standpoint of international relations and diplomatic law and, on the other, to determine its legaliry in the context of the law of treaties.     

The United Nations as an early casualty of the East‐West conflict over the nuclear disarmament issue: A view from within

This paper assesses the role of the United Nations in nuclear disarmament in the early postwar period and provides an explanation as to why its contribution was limited. It presents a framework of analysis concentrating particularly on the political organs of the UN. It is a view from within the World Organisation. It emphasises the difficulties the UN encountered in establishing its credentials in dealing with the requirements of the nuclear age. Finally, the paper examines the reasons of the failure of the negotiations which took place between 1945 and 1950.     

(In)securitization and illiberal practices on the fringe of the EU

Illiberal practices of liberal regimes have been extensively studied by critical security studies. The literature on risk emphasises the idea of imminent dangers and the logic of worst-case scenarios, which eventually unsettle the balance between security and liberty by always favouring the former in its most coercive and exceptional forms. This paper, by drawing on (in)securitization theory, attempts to explain how particular illiberal practices with respect to the control and management of immigration on the fringe of the EU become normalised. It argues that (in)securitization of immigration and illiberal practices are effects of the very functioning of a transnational field of (in)security professionals that are produced through the structural competition between different actors of this field over the definition of security and the appropriate control and management of immigration. In this respect, it uses Greece as a case study and draws on material gathered through interviews with Greek security professionals in Athens, Lesvos, Orestiada, and Alexandroupoli, and analysis of their discourse in dissertations they prepared during their study in police academies.     

European democracy,parliamentary decline and the ‘democratic deficit’ of the European Union

This article examines two different, yet interrelated, phenomena: parliamentary decline in western Europe and the ‘democratic deficit’ of the European Union (EU). It argues that the latter has helped to consolidate, and in certain areas, facilitate, the former. This is illustrated by two sets of empirical studies, covering first the European Community (and in particular the Common Agricultural Policy and Economic and Monetary Union) and then the Common Foreign and Security Policy, and co‐operation in Justice and Home Affairs. The main conclusion to be drawn is that a simple reordering of some policies within and across different pillars will not remedy the current democratic shortfalls of the EU which stem as much from the inadequacy of existing parliamentary structures to hold EU decision makers to account, as from the absence of a European demos. The combined effects of the above are particularly crucial for the democratic viability of the emerging European polity which, as with any other political system in the modern democratic era, needs to strike a balance between efficiency and accountability.     

Sample Size Determination for Categorical Responses

Abstract:  Procedures are reviewed and recommendations made for the choice of the size of a sample to estimate the characteristics (sometimes known as parameters) of a population consisting of discrete items which may belong to one and only one of a number of categories with examples drawn from forensic science. Four sampling procedures are described for binary responses, where the number of possible categories is only two, e.g., licit or illicit pills. One is based on priors informed from historical data. The other three are sequential. The first of these is a sequential probability ratio test with a stopping rule derived by controlling the probabilities of type 1 and type 2 errors. The second is a sequential variation of a procedure based on the predictive distribution of the data yet to be inspected and the distribution of the data that have been inspected, with a stopping rule determined by a prespecified threshold on the probability of a wrong decision. The third is a two-sided sequential criterion which stops sampling when one of two competitive hypotheses has a probability of being accepted which is larger than another prespecified threshold. The fifth procedure extends the ideas developed for binary responses to multinomial responses where the number of possible categories (e.g., types of drug or types of glass) may be more than two. The procedure is sequential and recommends stopping when the joint probability interval or ellipsoid for the estimates of the proportions is less than a given threshold in size. For trinomial data this last procedure is illustrated with a ternary diagram with an ellipse formed around the sample proportions. There is a straightforward generalization of this approach to multinomial populations with more than three categories. A conclusion provides recommendations for sampling procedures in various contexts.     

The Vicious Cycle of Building and Destroying: the 2014 War on Gaza

The 2014 summer war on Gaza was the third in the last six years and in many ways the most devastating one. While the triggers to this war were the kidnapping and killing of the three Israeli teenagers and the subsequent kidnapping and burning alive of a Palestinian teenager, the real reasons can be traced back to the international community's failed and myopic policies towards Gaza. Moreover, by adopting the ‘West Bank first’ strategy the international community has failed to blow some fresh air into what is left of the so-called Middle East Peace Process and has acted as the abettor of the recent war.     

Controlling the Instruments of War: The Role of the UN in Disarmament

The focus of this essay is the role the United Nations may be able to play in the year ahead in disarmament and arms control. It is argued that so far the UN, in spite of many attempts made, has played only a peripheral role. The ambiguity of its role in disarmament is due to the deferent perceptions that states maintain about is role in the global disarmament machinery. The authors suggest that there should be an agreement on a comprehensive world structure for negotiating disarmament wherein the UN may play a role approved by the entire world community.