Requisites of radical reform: Income maintenance versus tax preferences

Why did tax reform succeed in gaining passage while the family assistance plan failed? Using cultural theory, we argue that the active consent of elites from three political cultures is required before radical policy proposals will win political support in America. Although the Nixon administration cast the income maintenance plan in integrative terms—support for the family—it failed because egalitarian leaders demanded more. Tax reform succeeded because elites of the three cultures—individualists, egalitarians, and supporters of hierarchy—saw benefits in the plan and were willing to compromise.     

Falling From Grace: Nonestablished Brokerage Parties and the Weight of Predominance in Canadian Provinces and Australian States

Given the conventional meaning of party predominance—winninga majority of legislative seals in four or more consecutiveelections—all sixteen subnational political systems (SPS)in Australia and Canada have featured at least one predominantparty since the end of World War II. In Australia, no predominantparty has failed ever again to hold office, and failed to secureeven official opposition status for two consecutive elections,upon losing predominance. In Canada's central and Atlantic (CAC)provinces, only two of eleven predominant parties have failed.In Canada's four western provinces, however, three of six predominantparties have failed since governing after World War II. Severalfactors combine to produce differences among predominant partiesin Australia and Canada. When these parties engage in brokeragepolitics, and therefore lack entrenched social foundations,and where patterns of socialized party identification have beeninterrupted, the "weight of predominance" can become fatal.Upon losing power, these parties may cease to be relevant. Theworldwide proliferation of federal systems suggests that thelife-cycles of SPS as just described may become more relevantwith time.     

Bodo ethnic self-rule and persistent violence in Assam: A failed case of multinational federalism in India

Indian federalism has been credited in the literature on comparative federalism for having successfully resolved many of its ethnic conflicts (in a country of immense ethnic diversity) since 1956 by conceding varied forms of statehood. In most cases, the resolution of ethnic conflict has entailed self-determination for ethno-nationalist groups. There are however cases when the experiment has failed and the institutional arrangements for recognition of ethnic self-determination have given birth to more conflicts and persistent violence. In this article, we argue that the Bodoland Territorial Authority (created in 2003) in Assam is a failed case of multinational federalism in India. We argue that the case of Bodoland illustrates the limits of territorial management when groups are intermixed and highlight the need for power sharing in government and/or non-territorial representation as a better method for managing ethnic conflict in such cases.     

The government versus management controversy: Ascribing responsibility for the failure of a public corporation in Nigeria

Efforts to employ public corporations in African countries to promote development have had limited success. A major controversy has developed over who is responsible for such failure. On the one hand are those who accuse management; on the other hand are those who accuse government. This study seeks to assess the merits of the contending arguments through an analysis of Nigeria'S Cross River State Agricultural Development Corporation (ADC). There is a strong prima-facie case against management. It failed to sustain the enterprise; it failed to produce any profits; it failed to give employees satisfaction in their work; it failed to give strong direction to the corporation; it failed significantly to advance the technology of the ADC; and it made little contribution to the community. But, on close examination, it is apparent that management'S failure was a consequence of structural and financial constraints imposed on it by government. Thus, real responsibility for the failure of the ADC belongs with the government. The reasons for government ‘killing’ its own public corporation are partly constraints imposed on it and partly the opposition of its supporters to public enterprise.     

Guaranteed Rotation in Office: A ‘New’ Model Of Democracy

Although once a classic democratic ideal, rotation in office is nowadays seen more as a natural consequence of competitive elections than a goal in its own right. But this article proposes that a strict rota, with each group taking a turn in office, might be preferable to ordinary electoral democracy in certain sorts of countries: nascent democracies, divided societies with persistent minorities and failed one‐party democracies. Ways are suggested of combining intraparty democracy with interparty rotation.     

The Government's Plans for Decentralisation and Localism: A Progress Report

This article assesses progress on the coalition government's ambitious agenda for decentralisation and localism against six actions set out in the government's own guide to decentralisation. It critically examines the government's case that the previous government's centralised approach failed. The six actions cover reducing bureaucracy, community empowerment, more local control of public funding, provider diversification, more public scrutiny and stronger local accountability. The paper concludes that accountability is the most challenging and that progress is hampered by tensions between the actions and between government departments. It argues that the government needs a clearer, shared vision for localism going forward.     

The Myth of the Failed State and the War on Terror: A Challenge to the Conventional Wisdom

Abstract

A central hypothesis in the articulated rationale inspiring the war on terror suggests that failed states play a key role in the international terrorist nexus and require external intervention and guided democratization. This logic is based on two related premises; first that there is a direct link between failed states and international terrorism, second that democratic governance reduces the recourse to terrorism. This article suggests that there is no causal link between failed states and international terrorism and that the asserted ability of democratic governance to catalyze a reduction in terrorism is exaggerated if not wholly inaccurate.     

Why International Trusteeship Fails: The Politics of External Authority in Areas of Limited Statehood

International trusteeship is widely touted as a solution to the problem of failed states, an extreme form of limited statehood. Current theories of legitimacy and statebuilding suggest that trusteeships should produce more capable states. These theories, however, fail to take into account the self‐interest and political strategies available to trustees and politicians within new states. We pose a more political model of statebuilding by the international community, the trustee, and national politicians that predicts that trusteeship will fail to produce states with greater capacity. We test for the effects of trusteeship on state capacity, measured by service provision, by creating a matched sample of countries. We find that there is no evidence that states under trusteeship develop greater capacity leading to better provision of public goods than comparable states not under trusteeship. Would‐be statebuilders must be more aware of the political incentives of all parties involved in the process.     

Loyalty for sale? Military spending and coups d’etat

Coups d’etat continue to be common around the world, often leading to changes in leaders and institutions. We examine the relationship between military spending and coups and find that (i) successful coups increase military spending by more than failed attempts, and (ii) coups are more likely when military spending as a share of GDP is relatively low. Our identification strategy deals with the problem of reverse causality between coups and military spending by exploiting the conditional independence between a coup’s outcome and the change in military spending that follows it. We interpret our results as evidence that the military may stage coups in order to increase its funding, and rule out several alternative explanations.     

USING PRODUCER INCENTIVES TO ACHIEVE SOCIAL OBJECTIVES: AN ASSESSMENT OF THE MARKETPLACE AND PUBLIC POLICIES

The purpose of this paper is to recast the light in which we have come to evaluate public policy initiatives and open the door for a more careful examination o f the effects markets have on the course of public policies employing producer incentives to achieve policy goals. Specifically, the paper will review the past experience of urban renewal to show the relationship between policy objectives and outcomes when policy is designed to work through the marketplace. By arguing that market incentives cons train policy outcomes, it is maintained that policies which are judged to have failed in its goals may in reality have succeeded when viewed in terms of normal market operations.     

The Impact of Devolution on Women's Political Representation Levels in Northern Ireland

Historically, Northern Ireland women have been severely under-represented in the formal political arena. Despite the main parties having failed to address this issue, women have notably increased their presence in elected positions since the establishment of the Northern Ireland Assembly in 1998. In the absence of any initiatives undertaken specifically to improve women's political status, it appears that the opportunities of devolution have facilitated these recent achievements. Specifically, the new political landscape has become more open and conducive to promoting women into positions of political power, and it is the impact of these developments that this article explores.     

The effects of electability on US primary voters

The general consensus of the research on US primary contests is that voters consider candidates’ potential for a general election victory when choosing their party’s nominee. Yet, at the individual level, this literature has failed to (1) clearly isolate the effects of electability from the money and media attention that they generate; and (2) properly control for the potential effects of ideology. Using an original experimental design, I find that electability can increase the likelihood of a voter supporting a more ideologically distant candidate. I also show that when faced with a tradeoff, a large percentage of subjects from both parties choose electability over ideology. The resulting implication is that there is potential for moderates to be successful in primaries, as even ideologically extreme voters appear to be willing to compromise on policy representation when confronted with a more distant but electable candidate.     

Spying on chaos: the Somali model of intelligence on failed states

Failed states pose ongoing strategic challenges for governments concerned with terrorism, poverty and uncontrolled migration. Policy approaches to failed states have ranged from state-building efforts to humanitarian debacles, and outright inaction. This article approaches failed states primarily as intelligence challenges, and uses Somalia as a model of targeting intelligence collection for failed states. This model demonstrates that economic activity offers an approach to intelligence gathering in such environments. In tracing Somalia’s economic successes from the collapse of the Somali state in 1991, this research shows how the business activity produces the needed intelligence opportunities that a strategy for a failed state requires.     

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.     

Contract–Management Capacity in Municipal and County Governments

Under pressure to do more with less, governments across the country have moved from direct service provision to providing services by contract. Proponents argue that contracting can reduce costs and improve flexibility and customer satisfaction. Critics point to a growing number of failed contracts, arguing there are numerous pitfalls associated with contracting. Missing from these debates is a discussion of how governments' managerial capacity can improve contract performance. In this article, we identify specific capacities that governments can use to harness the promise of contracting while avoiding its pitfalls. We present analyses of data on municipal and county government contracting activities that show how governments invest in contract– management capacity in response to several internal and external threats to effective contract performance. Because government investment in contract–management capacity is uneven—that is, some governments invest in less capacity even when circumstances would call for more—our analyses may help to explain why some contract arrangements are more successful than others.     

What the Age of Populism Means for Our Liberal Democracy

Populism has leapt from fringe protest to shaping, even dominating, mainstream politics in just a few years. Behind this political and social upheaval is an economic and political settlement that has failed to deliver good jobs, life chances and sustainable communities in many parts of the country, particularly outside urban centres. The failure of mainstream political parties to build a new settlement following the financial crash in 1998 has left a vacuum which now threatens the foundations of liberal, representative democracy. Progressive politicians need to build a new pluralist settlement based on a radical devolution of power that allows decision making to become less remote, more responsive and brings capital under greater democratic control.     

Fragile states and the territory conundrum to countering violent nonstate actors

The concept of controlling territorial space informs Western conventions of counterinsurgency and counterterrorism. The Islamic State surprised the West when it recently captured dozens of cities across Iraq and Syria. Eradicating failed states and ungoverned territories vis-à-vis more robust state-building also forms the backbone of U.S. efforts to reduce violence, provide order, and build stronger societies. I argue that clearing territory, while important, should be selectively employed. Greater stateness does not always correlate with reductions in violence, and conversely not all “ungoverned spaces” are terrorist safe havens. A number of these areas are natural, if non-integrated, parts of the international system. Second, I posit that state-building can have its own negative externalities, such as pushing nonstate actors across state borders and thereby externalizing internal conflicts. The policy implications of my theory are twofold: First, territory is often a poor metric to capture military progress in the fight violent nonstate actors; second, fixing failed or fragile states does not always reduce the threat of violence but often just relocates it, as nonstate actors get squeezed out of areas of increasing stateness and move toward areas of weak stateness.     

Rethinking ‘Crowding Out’ and the Return of ‘Private Affluence and Public Squalor’

This article traces the history of ‘crowding out’, and its use as a justification for austerity and state deflation from its origins in the 1920s to its latest post-2010 incarnation. It examines why governments have kept turning to austerity and continue to justify it on the grounds that public sector activity crowds out more productive private activity, despite the accumulated evidence that this traditional pro-market formulation has failed to deliver its stated goals. It examines three other embedded forms of crowding out that have been highly damaging—leading to weakened social resilience and more fragile economies—but which have been ignored by both governments and mainstream political economists.     

Cardinals or Clerics? Congressional Committees and the Distribution of Pork

Journalistic and academic accounts of Congress suggest that important committee positions allow members to procure more federal funds for their constituents, but existing evidence on this topic is limited in scope and has failed to distinguish the effects of committee membership from selection onto committees. We bring together decades of data on federal outlays and congressional committee and subcommittee assignments to provide a comprehensive analysis of committee positions and distributive politics across all policy domains. Using a within‐member research design, we find that seats on key committees produce little additional spending. The chairs of the Appropriations subcommittees—the so called “cardinals” of Congress—are an exception to the rule. These leadership positions do generate more funding for constituents, but only from programs under the jurisdiction of their subcommittee. Our results paint a new picture of distributive politics and call for a reexamination of its canonical theories.     

The Value-Added Tax in Ghana

Ghana's Parliament enacted a value-added tax (VAT) in December 1994, with collection to begin on March 1, 1995. The short preparation period proved fatal for the tax. However, the nation's fiscal problems continue and the government is resolved to reintroduce the tax in 1998. This article reviews the structure of the failed tax, showing how it would have been a more effective general consumption tax than the system it would have replaced, examines the reasons for its untimely demise, and considers prospects for a successful reintroduction of the tax. Ghana's experience with the VAT can hold important lessons for countries contemplating the introduction of such a tax.