Governance Delegation Agreements: Shared Sovereignty as a Substitute for Limited Statehood

Governance delegation agreements—international treaties allowing external actors legal authority within host states for fixed terms—succeed in simple and, under certain conditions, complex state‐building tasks. These deals are well institutionalized and have input legitimacy because ratification requires sufficient domestic support from a ruling coalition. In order to obtain that input legitimacy, however, host states constrain external actors commensurate with their level of statehood: Stronger states delegate less legal authority. This article argues that these constraints, which produce joint rather than complete authority, require external actors to work within state structures rather than substituting for them, and thus make coordination of complex tasks more difficult. A quantitative overview of data on consent‐based peacekeeping missions complements a qualitative analysis focused on comparative case studies in Melanesia and Central America to test the theory. The results support the theory and suggest that these deals hold promise particularly for accomplishing complex tasks in especially weak states.     

Exchange rate evidence on the effectiveness of United Nations policy

This paper analyzes the effectiveness of international interventions through their impact on exchange rates. If a specific intervention actually increases (decreases) a country's economic and political stability, then its currency should appreciate (depreciate). Estimates suggest that peacekeeping forces in Lebanon caused long-run appreciations, while economic sanctions imposed upon South Africa only caused temporary depreciations. In both cases, repeated U.N. resolutions condemning or demanding actions, that were not backed by actual interventions, did not cause changes in the exchange rate. The results in this paper are supportive of predictions from the public choice approach applied to international organizations and policies.     

Governing peacekeeping: the role of authority and expertise in the case of sexual violence and trauma

Abstract

The surprising authority of gender expertise on sexual violence within post-Cold War peacekeeping can be understood by tracing how sexual violence became linked with political torture and combat violence in peacekeeping security rationality. The linkage emerged from the development of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) theory within anti-Vietnam war activism, which gained international authority during the 1980s. Post-Cold War narratives of ‘multi-dimensional’ peacekeeping as the policing and rehabilitation of perpetrators and victims for self-government drew on PTSD expertise on ‘integrity violations’, thus problematizing sexual violence. However, gender expertise should not be dismissed as providing ideological cover for imperialist projects: the contingent authority gender expertise has claimed has disrupted the peacekeeping narrative by representing peacekeeping operations as fostering flourishing sex industries in which integrity violations are a norm.     

Examining the Links between Security Sector Reform and Peacekeeping Troop Contribution in Post-conflict States

This article examines the links between post-conflict states’ troop contributions to international peacekeeping missions and security sector reform (SSR). It shows how SSR and troop-contribution preparations are increasingly interwoven and at times perceived as complementary by both external and internal actors. Some of the objectives sought after in SSR, such as the modernization of the military forces and the institutionalization of international norms, overlap with the aim of external partners’ pre-deployment training programmes and formations. Yet, it is argued that there are several unintended consequences with establishing links between SSR and peacekeeping capacity-building that are too strong, including the reinforcement of the troop-contributing government which, in case the government has authoritarian tendencies, undermines democratic reforms and transparency. There is also a risk that donors increasingly prefer to support pre-deployment training that has tangible and rapid results rather than investing funds in SSR, which is politically difficult with few examples of success. Donors and national actors alike are therefore encouraged to reflect on whether post-conflict states should contribute troops in the immediate aftermath of conflict before SSR has been completed. The answer is likely to vary depending on context-specific issues, which makes it difficult to generalize across cases, but the question remains nevertheless essential.     

The Shifting Politics of Climate Science

The global warming controversy has experienced a tumultuous period, with the credibility of climate science repeatedly questioned and a lack of international solidarity on the issue. While climate science institutions have accomplished much in their history, the current impasse highlights the limits of previous approaches. Determined critics have contested the authority of established scientific institutions, which have failed to measure up to their mythic ideals. While the imperfections of climate science have exposed some avenues for reform, they also suggest that the public stands to benefit from a more accurate understanding of science as both a process and body of knowledge. Uncertain and incomplete knowledge need not be an obstacle for action, and climate science can be made more robust and credible if it is removed from the center of what are largely political disagreements.     

Challenges of Local Ownership: Understanding the Outcomes of the International Community’s ‘Light Footprint’ Approach to the Nepal Peace Process

This article investigates whether a ‘light footprint’ approach to peacekeeping and peacebuilding by the international community more effectively addresses local drivers of conflict than the dominant model of large, multidimensional peace operations. It considers international engagement in the Nepalese peace process through the United Nations Mission in Nepal (UNMIN), and argues that the international community’s approach to local ownership became more focused on non-imposition and therefore less politically engaged over time as a result of both local and international factors. This facilitated local elite ownership of the process, which fundamentally undermined the international community’s capacity to support peace consolidation as elites moved away from key transformational pledges of the peace settlement.     

The Informational Role of International Institutions and Domestic Politics

Why did President Bush attempt to acquire a UN Security Council resolution authorizing the use of force before the war with Iraq, even though there was a substantial risk that his request would be rejected? This article presents a game‐theoretic model to investigate how international institutions can shape the behavior of democratic leaders by influencing domestic politics. While it seems unsurprising that unbiased leaders who are truly concerned about foreign policy outcomes would consult international institutions, the results show that biased leaders with private agendas can also be forced to behave like the unbiased type because of their electoral concerns. The equilibrium results are illustrated with the cases of U.S. use of force in international crises.     

Improving crisis management in the imperfect world of foreign electoral assistance

This article's primary focus is on improving techniques of crisis management of electoral assistance. In so doing it intends to contribute to a more systematic sharing of information about lessons learned and possible responses to the pressure of providing electoral support when time is short. It is therefore concerned with situations in which there are not only the usual large gaps between ideal and reality, a host of imperfections and uncertainties, a multiplicity of chains of command and conflicting agendas, a shortage of resources, and endless possibilities for genuine and crafted misunderstandings, but also a lack of time for analysis and preparation. The article looks at such ‘rushed’ electoral assistance from the perspective of the ‘manager’; this is a term that will serve as shorthand for a hypothetical electoral assistance manager in an international governmental or non-governmental donor agency who is given responsibility for managing the assistance but is usually not part of the political or policy-making office of his or her embassy or agency. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

参与式预算的公共投资效率意义——以浙江温岭市泽国镇为例

主要的论题是政府在公共预算制定过程中,通过怎样的机制实现公共投资效率的最大化.采用了规范研究与实证案例研究相结合的研究方法.研究表明,公共投资效率的涵义是公共投入为相关民众带来福利的最大改进,其规范性制度意义是相关民众就公共预算方案达成一致同意.研究指出,实现公共投资效率的核心问题是居民偏好的有效表达与偏好的集结;基于偏好表达与偏好集结的不可能性困境,在居民偏好给定的情况下,通过居民参与公共预算方案的讨论与协商,居民的偏好能够有效表达,并在协商过程中理性地、非强制地改变自己的偏好,进而就公共决策达成一致同意.浙江省温岭市泽国镇实施的参与式公共预算模式,有效解决了公共投资决策中的偏好表达与偏好集结的问题,促进了公共投资效率的实现,在基层公共预算制度改革中具有普遍意义.居民在公共预算制定过程中的协商参与,不仅使得政府公共决策具有了政治上的合法性,公共决策满足了民众需求,更重要的是促进了公共投资效率的实现.     

The role of public relations in non‐electoral participative democracy: a case study examining the effectiveness of district assemblies within Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council

This paper is concerned with how local councils might bring about the renewal of local democracy, and in particular, to the extent to which public relations might contribute to the process of renewal. To begin, the public policy literature is reviewed to investigate the concept of participatory democracy and its application in the UK. The role of local government public relations is then discussed and to the extent to which the concepts of public relations and local public participation are linked. The paper then goes on to describe and critically evaluate one particular case where a public relations strategy was used to effect participatory democracy through local forums or ‘district assemblies’. In the case of Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council, district assemblies were found to be successful examples of deliberative forums in achieving participatory democracy. They were well publicised and encouraged participation, and people thought that they made a difference to their community. However, the research raised questions surrounding the extent of community representation at district assemblies (including the publics targeted); and inclusivity in the structure and organisation of the meetings. The case raised the issue of power inequalities which public relations efforts alone cannot resolve in the democratic renewal project. Copyright © 2003 Henry Stewart Publications     

Beyond Keeping the Peace: Can Peacekeepers Reduce Ethnic Divisions After Violence?

Existing research suggests that international peacekeeping contributes to conflict resolution and helps sustain peace, often in locations with hostile ethnic divisions. However, it is unclear whether the presence of peacekeepers actually reduces underlying ethnocentric views and parochial behaviors that sustain those divisions. We examine the effects of NATO peacekeeper deployments on ethnocentrism in postwar Bosnia. While peacekeepers were not randomly deployed in Bosnia, we find that highly ethnocentric attitudes were common across Bosnia at the onset of peacekeeper deployments, reducing endogeneity concerns. To measure ethnocentrism, we employ a variety of survey instruments as well as a behavioral experiment (the dictator game) with ethnic treatments across time. We find that regions with peacekeepers exhibit lower levels of ethnocentrism in comparison to regions without peacekeepers, and this effect persists even after peacekeepers have departed. The peacekeeping effect is also robust to a sub-sample of ethnic Bosnian Serbs, suggesting that peacekeeper deployments can have positive effects on diminishing ethnocentrism, even when local communities are especially hostile to their presence. Our results speak to the potential long-term role of peacekeepers in reducing tensions among groups in conflict.

     

The Social Psychology of Policy Analysis

This article illustrates how some of the core concepts of social psychology can increase understanding of the practice of policy analysis. Policy analysis is shown to be a form of rhetoric subject to social psychological principles of attitude change. The article argues that policy analysts are primarily concerned with changing policymakers' beliefs about the consequences of alternative policies, but that preferences for alternative policies are largely the result of values. Values are formed and modified primarily by social comparison processes, conformity pressures, and the dynamics of group decision making rather than by rational argument. As a result, policy analysts could become more effective by addressing issues of values in their analyses or by mediating the social processes that might interfere with good policy choices.     

International social security agreements: the U.S. experience

International social security agreements are advantageous both for persons who are working now and for those whose working careers are over. For current workers, the agreements eliminate the dual contributions they might otherwise be paying to the social security systems of both the United States and another country. They also favorably affect the profitability and competitive position of American companies with foreign operations by reducing their cost of doing business. For persons who have worked both in the United States and abroad, and who are now retired, disabled, or deceased, the agreements often result in the payment of benefits to which the worker or the worker's family members would not otherwise have become entitled. Credit for social security coverage the worker earned in the United States and the other country can be combined, if necessary, to meet eligibility requirements, and partial benefits can be paid by one or both countries. Because international social security agreements benefit both workers and employers, the agreements program is supported by organized labor and the international business community. Since the first agreement was signed 15 years ago, every Presidential administration has endorsed the program. In view of this support, and the fact that the agreements enhance the image of the United States as a socially progressive member of the international community, it is expected that totalization agreements will be concluded with additional countries in the future.     

Issue Importance and Performance Voting

Issue importance mediates the impact of public policy issues on electoral decisions. Individuals who consider that an issue is important are more likely to rely on their attitudes toward that issue when evaluating candidates and deciding for whom to vote. The logic behind the link between issue importance and issue voting should translate to a link between issue importance and performance voting. Incumbent performance evaluations regarding an issue should have a stronger impact on the vote choice of individuals who find that issue important. The analysis demonstrates that there is a significant interaction between performance evaluations and issue importance. People concerned about an issue assign more weight to their evaluations of the government's performance on that issue when making up their mind.     

Practical developments in law science and policy: efforts to protect the traditional group knowledge and practices of the Shuar, an indigenous people of the Ecuadorian Amazon

The purpose of this article is to broadly outline a problem in the context of relatively recent activity in the Amazon Basin. My colleagues and I found the Policy Sciences framework to be a useful blueprint for comprehensive issue analysis. The five intellectual tasks of the policy-oriented approach to solving problems helped us to clarify the apparent goals of the primary actors involved; identify certain trends associated with the problem, including estimations of their magnitude and implications; understand several conditioning factors which could impact (or have already had an impact on) the achievement of the goals identified; recognize several projections anticipated from a normative standpoint in light of the trends examined; and make some observations, including possible strategies and their alternatives, which might enable the Shuar to maximize benefits and minimize costs.     

Defining Policing Policies and the Political Agenda

Police officers influence the British policy process through their representative organizations. One of the main ways in which this is achieved is through police domination of the definition of certain sorts of issues at the central governmental level. This definition also occurs at the local level. Analysis of the location of the police as an interest group in the structure of the British state suggests how the politics of policing might be understood. Five issues relating to the police policies towards behaviour -street assaults, 'rural public disorder'. rape, battered women and racially motivated assaults - illustrate how the police define issues and affect the policy process. The debates about police 'politicization' and accountability should be set in the context of the relationship between political structure, issue definition and the political agenda.     

Defending the Realm: The Appointment of Female Defense Ministers Worldwide

Though the defense ministry has been a bastion of male power, a growing number of states have appointed women to this portfolio. What explains men's dominance over these positions? Which factors predict women's appointments? With comprehensive cross‐national data from the post–Cold War era, we develop and test three sets of hypotheses concerning women's access to the defense ministry. We show that women remain excluded when the portfolio's remit reinforces traditional beliefs about the masculinity of the position, particularly in states that are engaged in fatal disputes, governed by military dictators, and large military spenders. By contrast, female defense ministers emerge when expectations about women's role in politics have changed—that is, in states with female chief executives and parliamentarians. Women are also first appointed to the post when its meaning diverges from traditional conceptions of the portfolio, particularly in countries concerned with peacekeeping and in former military states with left‐wing governments.     

COUNTERVAILING POWER AND A GOVERNMENT PURCHASING COMMISSION: AN OPPORTUNITY TO PROMOTE INCREASED COMPETITION IN AUSTRALIAN INDUSTRIES.

Abstract: Recent moves by both Labor and Liberal Governments in Australia indicate increased awareness of the possibilities that a centralized government purchasing body may be able to secure economies in purchasing large quantities of a wide range of goods used by government departments, agencies and commissions, and also that such a purchasing authority can be used as an instrument with which to put into effect government policies concerned with supporting a particular industry or geographic area. The argument in this paper elaborates on this theme. It is suggested that a centralized purchasing authority should act, using its countervailing power, to secure cost savings which would not only provide benefits to government departments, but which could also be passed on to the general public. For these savings to be achieved, significant changes would have to occur in the relatively passive system of tendering which characterizes most government purchases. The government purchasing body would need actively to induce some real competition between rival tenderers, if need be playing one bid against the other. A government contract would be awarded only on the condition that the lower price offered the government was, in fact, also passed on to the general public. Thus both the public and the firm would benefit; the public by paying lower prices and the firm by the extra demand likely to be generated for its product, as well as the security of the government contract. Of course, such a purchasing policy could only be followed against firms with significant market power and excess profits. Even if such a policy were followed for a small number of products, the result could be greater efficiency and lower prices for all consumers of these products.     

The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan: Impartiality in New UN Peace Operations

Abstract

Set within the complex contemporary context of international interventions, UN peacekeeping operations have now evolved into peace operations. The emergence of the concepts of human security and the responsibility to protect have raised expectations that UN peace operations should deal with both macro and micro level insecurity in conflict and post-conflict situations, especially in the case of failed or collapsed states. Reflecting this development, the question of an appropriate framework in which to conceptualize peace operations has also been debated. This essay considers a conceptualization of UN peace operations from a conflict resolution perspective and analyses the case of the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), using a framework of conflict transformation. It argues that the impartiality of UN operations has been reconceived in terms of the values of ‘human security’ and the ‘responsibility to protect’, making it vital to explicitly articulate the meaning and implications of ‘value-based’ impartiality.     

Foreign Policy as Battlefield: A Study of National Interest and Party Motives

In no other policy arena are party unity and national unity considered as critical as in security and foreign policy. Party unity on foreign policy is viewed as a national security strategy of particular importance in times of international crisis and uncertainty, or as an expression of party strategy and ideological considerations. Through an empirical study of programs, congresses, voters and ideology of the Swedish parties 1945–1993, we show that the presence or absence of tension in the international system does not affect the inclination of parties to take issue on matters of foreign policy. We also show that parties argue just as much about issues that are central to Swedish security policy as they do about issues that do not directly affect national interest. The main sources of party disagreement over foreign policy seem to be ideologically motivated.