Altruism as a source of self-interested behavior

When individuals participate in the process that determines their own redistributive obligations and claims, biased outcomes can be expected. This bias can be substantially eliminated by partitioning the collectivity into groups that set one another's redistributive obligations in a cycle.     

Home equity conversion plans as a source of retirement income

This article describes in detail a variety of home equity conversion plans and discusses their relevance for social security beneficiaries, as well as for the aged in general. Under these plans, a dormant asset--accumulated home equity--is converted into current retirement income. The plans vary: Some are debt instruments; others involve the sale and leaseback of the residence. Some provide income for a fixed term; others offer a lifetime annuity. Some include a public subsidy; others are free of governmental involvement. The advantages and disadvantages of these plans, as well as examples of how they operate and their respective income potential, are discussed in this article. The relevance of home equity conversion plans for social security beneficiaries is illustrated by means of data from the Retirement History Study. These data allow comparison of various demographic groups in terms of their dependence on social security benefits. Each group is examined in terms of available home equity and home equity potential under several conversion plans.     

Internet as a source of information for tourists The case of Croatia

This paper presents the results of empirical research conducted during the summer 2007 on the Dalmatian coast in Croatia about how much tourists used the Internet as a source of information. Precisely, because tourism is an important part of Croatian economy, it is in everyone＇s interest for information about Croatia as a tourist destination to be available to potential guests. A variety of media are used in achieving that aim--starting with conventional speech and conversation amongst friends, through radio, television and the press, and now the Internet. This paper has the aim of exploring the share of Internet usage as a source of information compared to other media and showing some characteristics of tourists who have used the Internet as the main source of information and spent their vacations in Croatia in July and August in 2007. The main hypothesis is the continuing problem of the generation and education gap and that the Internet does not jeopardize direct communication.     

The Europeanisation of conflict: Reflections from a social movement perspective

If Europe is becoming a polity, then regular patterns of social and political conflict ‐ both institutional and non‐institutional ‐ will emerge between citizen groups and decision‐making authorities. Although we are beginning to have a substantial body of research on institutionalised interest group interaction at the European level, we know much less about non‐institutionalised forms of contentious collective action that have European policies as their targets. Using social movement theory, several varieties of such collective action can be identified. Based on the theory of political opportunity structure, it is shown why one of these forms ‐ actions intended to bring national states’ power to bear against European policies — appears to have a rich and turbulent future.     

Learning through conflict: a realistic strategy for risk communication

Technological conflicts are commonly seen as rooted in problems of risk perception and risk communication. This view is seriously deficient in that it does not fully appreciate that despite their technical content, the conflicts are at bottom political. Conflict of interests and values is evident even in differences over scientific agendas, methods, and interpretations, and especially in the inevitable cacophony of messages describing scientific knowledge to non-experts. Efforts to produce clear, accurate, and unbiased messages about risks will not even solve communication problems, let alone reduce conflict, because unbiased is undefinable. Clear and accurate messages can always be devised to support a variety of policy positions, and they will be, whenever controversy persists. The article substantiates these points and outlines some realistic approaches to risk communication that enable nonexperts to learn through conflict what they cannot learn from carefully crafted risk messages.     

Diffusion milieus as a focus of research on innovation in the public sector

Public policies to increase the efficiency of state and local governments through fostering the use of new technologies are based, implicitly at least, on theories of diffusion. Existing theories of diffusion have been found to be deficient. This paper presents an approach to the diffusion of technological innovations in state and local governments organized around the concept of diffusion milieus.A diffusion milieu contains those elements external to the organization which bring pressure to bear on the organization to alter its existing practices, which define the range of feasible alternatives to these practices, and which condition the information flow on the performance characteristics of the proposed innovation(s). These milieu components are then filtered through the internal decision-making process(es) of the organization to produce a decision to accept or reject the innovation(s). More specifically, the milieu contains (1) the specific nature of the demands upon the agency to change behavior (performance gaps), (2) the supply of alternatives to existing practices (technological change), (3) agency-executive relationships, (4) the activities of suppliers in marketing innovations, (5) the resources available to the agency to acquire new techniques, (6) the characteristics of the knowledge infrastructure which affect the search behavior and the degree of uncertainty associated with adopting new techniques, (7) the impact of intergovernmental relationships, and (8) citizen demands. The components of the diffusion milieu are then (9) related to a set of agency decision-rules concerning the adoption of new techniques.The rate of diffusion in each field will depend upon themagnitude of the components and on thelinkages between them.Functional fields differ in both respects.Research for this paper was supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation, Office of R & D Assessment. We have benefited from the helpful comments of Professor Marvin Rozen, an anonymous referee and the research assistance of Ms. Lee Ann Kozak. The views expressed in this paper are the sole responsibility of the authors. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 1975 American Political Science Association meetings.     

Old wine in new bottles: Democratic peace as empowerment of states in conflict resolution

Abstract.  This article examines the capacities of various regimes to master conflicts. The capacities of regimes are measured by an empowerment index that reflects more accurately the capacity of states to manage conflicts than measures of democracy. The study draws from a wide range of indicators to calculate values of the independent variables 'challenges' and 'support' for each existing state. In addition to these explanatory factors, regime factors are calculated independently. The dependent variable 'conflict' draws on the data set by Kosimo ( http://www.kosimo.de ) and is based on the number of conflicts occurring between 1945 and 2000. These conflicts are then considered in relation to the management capacities of each state. The analysis shows that the empowerment indicator is a better predictor of conflict involvement than the regime indicator. Cross-calculations also show that, not surprisingly, on the whole, democracies have had a better record in the management of conflicts than other regimes.     

Proxy documents as a source of measurement error in the Comparative Manifestos Project

This paper considers the issue of document type diversity in the Comparative Manifestos Project (CMP). For many years the CMP has been collecting and coding a variety of documents, such as speeches, pamphlets, newspaper articles and leaflets, as manifesto proxies. By using previously unexplored archival material to perform controlled comparisons between different types of documents, this paper argues that the coding of such documents introduced considerable measurement error to party position estimates. Statistical analyses indicate that this measurement error is systematic rather than random as it is often manifested as centrist bias in parties' left–right position estimates. Consequently, the paper argues that random error correction methods cannot always correct for error attributed to the coding of proxy documents. The paper concludes with some recommendations for third-party users of the CMP data and documents and a plea to the CMP research team.     

Building an integrated issue management process as a source of sustainable competitive advantage

This paper defines the key values, principal participants and operational requirements that characterise a strategically relevant global issue management process. It is the authors' intention to reveal and provide support for the most important ‘truth’ about this great discipline: ‘Excellence and relevance is determined by the optimal mix of dedicated, focused and highly imaginative people with processes that unleash their remarkable innovative potential. You need both.’ Copyright © 2002 Henry Stewart Publications.     

Towards a contextual theory of innovation

A contextual theoretical strategy should be pursued to overcome past deficiencies in the study of organizational innovation. The strategy is likely to lead to greater success in efforts to promote innovation. The heart of this strategy is to define the types of innovation processes at work and the contexts in which they operate. There are at least three innovation processes at work which operate in contexts defined by organizational and environmental characteristics and by the type of innovation under consideration.     

Making sense of party strategy innovation: challenge to ideology and conflict-mobilisation as dimensions of party competition

Abstract

This article develops a pooled comparative analysis aimed at addressing two of the three overarching research questions of the special issue. It first discuss an ‘end of ideology’ research question: that is, whether party constituencies and party strategy show clear challenges to classic twentieth century ideological alignments. Second, it investigates the type of issue strategy that parties employ in this new ideological environment, expecting mainstream parties to stress a problem-solving approach, while challenger parties should favour a conflict-mobilisation strategy. Finally, the article combines these two fundamental dimensions (ideological consistency; reliance on problem-solving vs. conflict-mobilisation strategies) in order to identify party strategy innovations in current West European elections.     

Do voters have a cue? Television advertisements as a source of information in citizen–initiated referendum campaigns

Abstract. In this article we examine the scope for campaign effects in citizen–initiated referendum (CIR) elections. Given the context of CIR elections, television effects can be seen to be even bigger and more important than in candidate elections. We use survey data on information demands made upon voters in CIR campaigns, and the information sources they use, in order to gauge the relative importance of various sources that voters rely upon in making voting decisions. We then examine the relative importance of television advertising as a source of information in CIR campaigns. We find that voters report using many sources of information, with few voters relying exclusively upon television advertisements. Rather than telling voters which way to vote, television campaigns may simply raise awareness of CIRs and so encourage voters to seek cues elsewhere, in particular from ballot guides where cues are more readily discerned.     

Ethnic conflict and elite bargaining: The case of Belgium

Ethnic cleavages have dominated Belgian politics for two decades, fragmenting the party system. Constitutional solutions have only met with limited success. In this article two theoretical approaches are applied to the Belgian situation: consociational elite accommodation and bargaining processes in conditions of common and conflicting interests. Bargaining theories, which deal with the actual process of accommodation and give adequate weight to contextual factors are found to explain the situation more adequately than theories which rely on a particular set of consociational ‘devices’.     

Administrative conflict and decentralization: The case of Sri Lanka

Decentralization involves changes in administrative structures which induce conflict as vested interests are affected. Such problems have occurred in Sri Lanka. The responses of the different interests involved in development administration to decentralization are examined. A number of propositions concerning group conflict are applied to the implementation of decentralized development policies in Sri Lanka. Decentralization has restructured power among the Kachcheri officials, Members of Parliament and departmental officers. Consequent conflicts within the administration have led to increased problems in the completion of projects. Power struggles could have been avoided by synchronizing political and administrative decentralization and by making the division of power within the bureaucracy explicit.     

Interreligious conflict in Israel: The group basis of conflicting visions

Utilizing several theories of sociocultural mobilization, this paper examines the contours of secular-religious conflict in contemporary Israel. According to a survey of adult Israelis, resistance to religious coercion among the secular population is driven primarily by symbolic, social, and cognitive forces rather than perceived discrimination or the threat posed by spatial proximity to the religious. As such, it is rooted in cultural identity. The theocratic disposition among religious Israelis is almost entirely a matter of social identification. These findings both confirm existing theories of intergroup conflict and suggest a framework for analyzing religion and state controversies in other polities.     

Brazilian genomics and bioinformatics: instituting new innovation pathways in a global context

Abstract

The paper raises issues of analysis and policy for science and technology in developing countries within the global context of the post-genomic era. Based on a case study of a newly created Brazilian research and technology capability, it argues for an understanding of variety creation, where new organizational forms often transgress established scientific and organizational boundaries and arrangements. In particular, new frontiers of science and technology can be opened up by the alternative trajectories generated by differences in socio-economic, institutional and ecological conditions in ways that thereby reinforce those very differences. It stresses the inherent unevenness and heterogeneity of innovation processes. By focusing on the geopolitical significance of diverse pathways of science and innovation, the approach suggests an alternative vision to catch-up models of innovation and development in terms of variety creation.