Who Inherits the State? Colonial Rule and Postcolonial Conflict

Postulating grievance‐based mechanisms, several recent studies show that politically excluded ethnic groups are more likely to experience civil conflict. However, critics argue that endogeneity may undermine this finding since governments' decisions to include or exclude could be motivated by the anticipation of conflict. We counter this threat to inference by articulating a causal pathway that explains ethnic groups' access to power independently of conflict. Focusing on postcolonial states, we exploit differences in colonial empires' strategies of rule to model which ethnic groups were represented in government at the time of independence. This identification strategy allows estimating the exogenous effect of inclusiveness on conflict. We find that previous studies have tended to understate the conflict‐dampening impact of political inclusion. This finding suggests that grievances have been prematurely dismissed from conventional explanations of conflict, and that policy makers should consider conflict resolution methods based on power sharing and group rights.     

Debating Islam in Austria,Germany and Switzerland: Ethnic Citizenship,Church–State Relations and Right-Wing Populism

This article explores public debates regarding Islam and Muslim immigration in Austria, Germany, and Switzerland. The authors are interested in which issues dominate the debates, which actors participate, which positions are taken, and which arguments are mobilised. Exploring three countries with an ethnic model of citizenship allows them to control for important cultural factors and to focus on three other explanatory variables: the dominant model of political participation, the relationship between the state and church/Islam, and the strength of right-wing populism. To test their arguments, they rely on a new dataset based on content analyses of quality newspapers from 1998 to 2007 that enables them to go beyond existing studies, which concentrate on state activities or on mass-level attitudes. The authors demonstrate that above all the relationship between the state and church/Islam, i.e. issue-specific opportunity structures, influences the debates to a great extent.     

From Command Economy to Hollow State? Decentralisation in Vietnam and China

In Vietnam and China, decentralisation is a by‐product, both by default and design, of the transition to a state‐managed market economy. A dual process of horizontal and vertical decentralisation is occurring simultaneously in both the economic and political arena. There is an increasingly high level of de facto political/fiscal decentralisation, much of it occurring by default as local governing units try to meet rising demand for services. This is accompanied by the marketisation and socialisation of services such as education and health. Accompanying both of these processes is a trend towards greater ‘autonomisation’ of service delivery units, including the emergence of new ‘para‐state’ entities. Most of these decentralisation processes are the by‐product of marketisation, rather than part of a process of deliberate state restructuring in pursuit of ideals of decentralised government. The cumulative effects include a significant fragmentation of the state, a high potential for informalisation and corruption, and a growing set of performance accountability problems in the delivery of public services.     

Political Accountability in Hong Kong: Myth or Reality?

This article assesses the practice of political accountability in Hong Kong: whether it has largely been realised in practice, or whether it is merely a political slogan for the government to justify its executive-led governance. The analysis begins with a review of the theoretical concepts of political accountability and ministerial accountability, and then establishes an operational framework to analyse the current practice of political accountability in Hong Kong's political system. It concludes by addressing the degree of political accountability overall.     

Reinventing the Hong Kong state or rediscovering it? From low interventionism to eclectic corporatism

Abstract

The low-intervention state of Hong Kong in colonial times did not originate from strong neo-liberal ideological convictions. It was an artefact of the colonial political configuration, a pragmatic governing strategy adapting to the political and economic needs at the time. Political changes, economic restructuring, divestiture and marketization of state institutions since the 1980s had brought a new state form after 1997. A new business and professional elite class, embedded in an eclectic corporatist structure, evolved and brought multilateral, ad hoc and particularistic bargaining, leading to more sectoral intervention after 1997. Fragmented state institutions nonetheless weakened state capacity, making it difficult for the post-1997 state to be highly penetrative, transformative or developmental.     

From Church and Mosque to WhatsApp—Africa Check’s Holistic Approach to Countering ‘Fake News’

False claims and misinformation spread in Africa not only on Facebook, in WhatsApp groups or on the dark web, but also in political meeting rooms, churches, mosques, and community gatherings. To reduce the harms caused by misinformation, Africa Check, the leading independent fact-checking organisation on the continent, believes a four-pronged, or holistic approach is needed: identifying and reducing the circulation of harmful misinformation; ensuring accurate information is more widely available; ensuring a more accurate understanding of topics it covers; and fostering fact-checking skills among the public. To achieve this, it reaches out and engages with a wide range of on- and offline communities and networks. The UK could learn from this approach to tackle the ways that misinformation continues to spread offline today.     

Carceral State 2.0?: From Enclosure to Control & Punishment to Surveillance

Mass incarceration is at a crossroads. Even though demands to dismantle mass incarceration are increasingly gaining traction, it will not necessarily lead to a reduction of the carceral state. There is an emerging trend that centers on surveillance, security, and police discretion. The ways in which policy-making is negotiated, social upheaval is managed, and policing is being adjusted affirm a shift that puts more of the onus on the controlling aspects associated with law enforcement and less on the enclosing characteristics of incarceration. The current decline in incarceration should thus be seen as more of a realignment than an end of the carceral state.     

Hong Kong as the ‘Neoliberal Exception’ of China: Transformation of Hong Kong Citizenship Before and After the Transfer of Sovereignty

The formation of Hong Kong citizenship was under tensions and struggles after the change of sovereignty in 1997. In spite of the limited political and social rights, many incidents showed that the promised civil rights were declining. More importantly, subject to the intensified transborder population mobility of Chinese citizens, there were public discourses addressing that the social rights of Hong Kong citizens were threatened. Protests in response to the intensified transborder population mobility were found, with the rightist public discourses advocating to conserve the essences of Hong Kong citizenship. Being the neoliberal exception of China, Hong Kong is positioned to contribute for China by its market economy, as well as the relatively well-established socio-economic institution. However, as this article argues, in spite of the logic of exception, i.e. the zoning technology that the state deploys, the intensified transborder population mobility and economic activities between the neoliberal exception and the sovereign state can lead to the struggles and contentions concerning the citizenship of the former.     

A Review of: “Corruption by Design: Building Clean Government in Mainland China and Hong Kong by Melanie Manion”

ABSTRACT

The impact of privatization on public service quality is an enduring issue in public policy and management. Advocates of privatization suggest that market forces prompt private firms to provide better quality services, while opponents point towards the potential for quality to be traded off against profits. Drawing on incomplete contract and capability theories, we explore a more nuanced possibility: that private providers of public services perform better on dimensions of public service quality that are easier to measure and monitor, and vice versa. Using panel data on service quality in prisons in England and Wales in the period 1998 to 2012, we find that privately managed prisons do perform better on dimensions of quality, such as confinement conditions and prisoner activity, which are more easily measured, whereas public prisons perform better on dimensions of quality, such as levels of order and prisoner safety, which are less easily measured and managed.     

Preservation actors — past and present a trip through the players: From 1960 to 2000 — and beyond

Abstract

This paper discusses the players in the delivery of low‐income housing from 1960 into the next century. It attempts to analyze characteristic roles for federal, state, local, and private‐sector actors and point to changes in these roles over time.

Activities that are not controversial and not overly expensive will continue; others will fall by the wayside. Unscathed actors, with some redefinition, will continue to survive, while flawed performances will cause some providers of low‐income housing to fail. Eventually, a set of actions and actors capable of promoting sustained housing delivery will emerge. The world will be much different after 2000, however, than it was in the 1960s. Public and private roles will be almost totally reversed, as will be the scale of their activities.     

Strauss and 'Straussianism': From the Ancients to the Moderns?

Do scholars inspired by Leo Strauss adhere to, or diverge from, his teachings as they contribute to turn of the twenty-first-century American conservative thought and new conceptions of the American political executive and constitutional order? Analyzing Strauss' view of the twofold task of political philosophy, as well as his position that modern political philosophy inexorably leads to philosophic and moral crises, the scaffolding of Strauss' political outlook – and the dimensions of its contemporary relevance – will begin to take shape. Turning to the writings on America by many of Strauss' most notable students, we discover that most of them point back to the admittedly liberal theories of John Locke and the American founders as the starting point for defining a new conservative outlook that will address the problems of modernity. We are thus confronted by a quandary. How can an important current of Strauss-inspired scholarship put forth that the theories of Locke and the American founders provide the foundation for addressing a crisis that Strauss states is rooted in that very modernity? We will discover that the thought of Strauss and an important strand of Straussianism are not the same, because Strauss-inspired scholarship on America adheres to only a facet of Strauss' two-pronged political philosophy. Strauss, however, cannot disavow responsibility for these students and followers, who embrace an important current of his thinking.     

Understanding the neighborhood: From residents’ perceptions and needs to action

Abstract

Motivated by a renewed interest in homeownership, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development developed techniques to study patterns of ownership. A baseline model is used to forecast homeownership in 2000 and then extended to illustrate how policy initiatives designed to overcome race‐and income‐based barriers to ownership could affect the national homeownership rate and the rates of ownership by specific subgroups. Another technique uses American Housing Survey data to estimate how these initiatives could affect household location and the choice of housing type.

This article clearly demonstrates that even limited success in reducing race‐and income‐based disparities will result in a significant increase in the national homeownership rate and dramatic increases for subgroups, such as minorities, young households, and low‐income households, that have low rates of homeownership. Thus, these techniques affirm the importance of focusing on access and affordability.     

The Endgame or Resilience of the Chinese Communist Party’s Rule in China: A Gramscian Approach

Journal of Chinese Political Science - This paper intends to provide a framework for conceptualizing and interpreting the resilient capacity and adaptability of the Chinese Communist Party to cope...     

Beyond Civil Society: An Organizational Perspective on State–NGO Relations in the People's Republic of China

Abstract

This article discusses the transformations in terms of participation brought about by the change of tides in Venezuela, Bolivia, and Ecuador. The key focus will be an analysis of the interaction between states undergoing reformulation and the social movements in these countries. To this end, the article first presents some theoretical and analytical frameworks. In what follows, it refers to the experiments of participative and direct democracy in these societies carried out amidst the above-mentioned process of refoundation, with a particular emphasis on state–society relations.     

Bundesbank‐government relations in Germany in the 1990s: From GEMU to EMU

The Bundesbank's widely‐discussed independence ascribes it only discretionary power in the realm of monetary policy, but its influence can extend into other areas of economic policy. Since the government retains the initiative in these policy realms, the Bundesbank's influence consists of being able to mould the form rather than the direction of government policy. To exercise this influence, however, the Bundesbank must have public opinion on its side. An examination of the government‐Bundesbank relationship as it touched upon the cases of Economic and Monetary Union in Germany (1990) and Europe (1990–98) reveals the extent and limitations of the Bundesbank's influence over economic policy.