Group influence in American county politics∗

Judgement has a special place in management in the public domain, since a role of management is to enable effective political judgement. The article stresses Vickers's analysis of appreciative judgement. It goes on to discuss how the process of political judgement can be strengthened showing the implications for management, for political processes and for democratic practice.     

Patterns of neo‐fascist violence in Italian politics

This paper explores the characteristics and meaning of Fascist violence in Italy during the two major crisis periods that appear to have stimulated it. The pattern of Fascist attacks during the post‐World War I era is compared to acts of Neo‐Fascist violence from the late 1960s through the early 1970s. Substantial differences are disclosed with respect to the targets the Fascists chose to assault in the two eras. Much of the initial wave of Fascist violence was directed against peasants, workers, and the employment‐related organizations that sought to act on their behalf. Major targets of Neo‐Fascist violence, on the other hand, have been university and secondary school students: groups that went totally unscathed in the dopoguèrra. The differences and similarities between the two waves of Fascist violence are then used as evidence to speculate about the nature of fascism in Italy.     

The politics of government‐business relations in Myanmar 1

All post‐colonial Myanmar governments and the business community benefited from their clientelistic networks. Without the help of government officials, many business firms would have gone under quickly; at the same time, without the assistance of business people, it would have been hard for most post‐colonial Myanmar governments to keep themselves in power. It is very clear that government‐business relations cannot simply be reduced to a zero‐sum game. This article clearly shows that if we assemble cases of government‐society relations in Myanmar in the way we solve a jigsaw puzzle, the picture that emerges is not simply a zero‐sum situation. Rather, certain interactions between incumbent governments and the business community in post‐colonial Myanmar were mutually empowering.     

‘Animals first!’ The rise of animal advocacy parties in the EU: a new party family

‘Euro Animal 7’ is the name given informally to 7 animal protection parties which represent voters in Cyprus, Germany, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and United Kingdom. These parties contested in the 2014 European Parliament (EP) election and gained representation in Germany and the Netherlands. Animal advocacy parties are also represented in the national parliaments of Portugal and the Netherlands.

Animal protection is an emergent issue in international politics and this research offers an account of the political positioning of these animal advocacy parties, analyzing their manifestos and the election results. While acknowledging that some parties have distinct ideological traits and some are still reclusive in the form of a single-issue party, this article argues that animal advocacy parties constitute a new party family in European politics.     

War Minus the Shooting? The politics of sport in Lebanon as a unique case in comparative politics

In the literature on sport and politics the potential of sport to unite fragmented societies is emphasised. Lebanon is a counter example. Sport does not unite but further divides people. Confessionalism, the political system of this ‘mosaic state’ with 18 state-registered sects, produces conditions that only allow for competition within sects. The sport sector, especially the professional men's teams in football and basketball, serves as a tool for competition within and between sects. In a middle-income country with only four million inhabitants, club revenues from ticketing and broadcasting are almost non-existent. Therefore professional sport teams are completely dependent on sponsors. Within a patron–client relationship system, political leaders finance the clubs but expect complete loyalty from the teams, implemented through such practices as choosing their party colours as team colours or posting large pictures of themselves in the arenas. While national sports teams often have the potential to unite societies, in Lebanon this can only happen if first steps from a sectarian to a secular state are taken. Then a common national identity (including general support for the national sports teams) might gradually develop and later transform the confessional subsystems such as the media, schools and sports clubs towards non-sectarian entities.     

Terrorism—a new era of criminality

The Hanafi terrorist attack and takeover in Washington, D.C. is used as an example of how the terrorist threat can be met with effective coun‐termeasures. Negotiation, rather than immediate assault, is regarded as the best solution once a terrorist takeover has occurred. Specific goals and techniques for law‐enforcement personnel are outlined. Criteria for selecting a negotiator are sketched. The main objective of negotiations is emphasized: the safe release of innocent victims. Negotiators are advised to use a variety of techniques including lengthening the time factor and never agreeing to a demand without receiving something in return.     

Old wine in new bottles: Re‐publishing African writers

Things Fall Apart. Chinua Achebe, 1986.150pp. £3.50pb

Arrow of God. Chinua Achebe, 1986. 230pp. £3.50pb

A Grain of Wheat. Ngugi wa Thiong'o, 1986. 247pp. £3.95pb

Petals of Blood. Ngugi wa Thiong'o, 1986. 250pp. £3.95pb

God's Bits of Wood. Sembene Ousmane, 1986. 245pp. £3.50pb

Estrangement. Elechi Amadi, 1986. 244pp. £3.95pb

London: Heinemann Educational Books (African Writers Series)

The Beggar's Strike. Aminata Sow Fall, London: Longman (African Classics). 1987.112pp. £2.95pb

The Real Life of Alejandro Mayta. Mario Vargas Llosa (Translated by Alfred MacAdam) New York: Vintage books. 1986. 309pp. $6.95pb

The Penguin Book of Modern Urdu Poetry. Edited by Mahmood Jamal, Harmondsworth: Penguin. 1986. 165pp. £3.95pb     

How to study ideas in politics and ‘influence’: a typology

The influence that ideas have (or do not have) in political life is widely regarded as a problematic issue – across many fields of study. Reservations about the possibilities for assessing ideas' influence can be shown to differ, however, in quite revealing ways. Apprehension rests neither on a single, shared reservation, nor even on a core set of reservations. Moreover, many of the reservations lack cogency. A more useful way of addressing the ‘influence-problem’ is by employing a typology. This typology would seek to capture the full range of modes in which influence might be exercised. The article therefore proposes one, as a heuristic framework for investigation and analysis, with the intention that it might be applied to the study of ‘real-world’ cases.     

Farm‐to‐market transaction costs and specialisation in small‐scale agriculture: Explorations with a non‐separable household model

Using an integrated household model with endogenous transaction costs, this article illustrates how, even in the absence of risk, the tension between gains from specialisation and corresponding increases in transaction costs may lead to enterprise diversification on small farms. A numerical example illustrates that this tension may contribute to the prevalence of inter‐cropped cash‐crops on small farms, in apparent disregard for foregone yield and income from greater specialisation involving pure‐stands. By implication, measures that augment households’ abilities to override trading costs may be critical complements to efforts seeking to raise productivity and incomes in small‐scale agriculture via increased specialisation.     

Health and human security: a wrinkle in time or a new paradigm?

Since it was first advanced in the 1994 Human development report of the United Nations Development Programme [United Nations Development Project. (1994). Human development report. New York: UN], the concept of ‘human security’ has evolved as a holistic development-oriented acuity [Nef, J. (1999). Human security and mutual vulnerability: The global political economy of development and underdevelopment (2nd ed.). Ottawa: International Development Research Centre]. The human security concept reinforces the right to health, drawing on both the role of states and the global community's commitment to human rights. Yet, health and human security, long the purview of state power and responsibility, increasingly include alliances of state and non-state actors. This paper proceeds in three parts. The first looks at health and human security linkages, charting the trajectory of the health and human security relationship. The second deals with policy and operational implications. It explores the health–human security link, paying particular attention to the allocation of responsibility and accountability, including through private–public partnerships and rising powers such as China. The third provides a theoretical and technical analysis of the status of health and human security since 1994, taking into account its evolution vis-à-vis human rights’ development and development more broadly, also asking whether it represents but a wrinkle in time or a new sustainable development paradigm.     

Voting as a habit in new democracies – Evidence from Poland

Among the wide range of theories explaining why some people vote and others do not, one is recently gaining particular popularity. This is the theory of voting as a habit (e.g. Plutzer, 2002; Franklin, 2004; Hooghe, 2004). The empirical evidence supporting this theory covers only Western democracies, so the following question might be asked: is this pattern universal? In the case of old democracies, voting is a habit acquired gradually in a process which starts at the moment of the very first election one can cast the ballot. In new democracies the situation is different, as we can pinpoint the starting moment (first democratic election), which is the same for different voters and thus different age cohorts. In this paper we investigate voting as a habit in new democracies, using data from the Polish National Election Study. We find that voting in Poland has some habitual aspect; repeated voting brings about a (sort of) habit, which has an intrinsic, irreducible effect on voter turnout. We also find that habit of voting is formed likewise in all age cohorts.     

No staff,no time,no money: Can budget reform work in a rural county?

Budget reforms directed toward providing more information and analysis for management and policy making appear to be most widely used by larger jurisdictions. Reforms such as performance budgeting, program budgeting, and zero based budgeting are associated with professionalism, management information systems, budget staffs, and a lengthy budget preparation and planning phase. This article addresses the question of whether it is possible to implement budget reform without the staff and financial resources that so often goes hand-in-hand with it. The experience of one rural county government in attempting budget reform is examined.