Engineering inclusion: Assessing the effects of pro-minority representation policies

In democracies, a constant tension exists between the stability and integrity of the community as a whole, and the desire to ensure minorities a voice in politics. Reserved seats and reduced thresholds are two common means by which ethnic minorities gain legislative seats, though little or no empirical work exists testing their efficacy in this regard. Combining multivariate analysis with in-depth case studies, this article shows that both reserved seats and lower thresholds increase minority representation, though reserved seats accomplish that goal more consistently. Reduced thresholds tend to increase the share of votes and seats won by ethnoregional parties but reserved seats do not. Additionally, Mauritius' unusual best-loser system aids both minorities and ethnoregional parties.     

Umbilical cord blood banking and its interruptions: notes from Chennai,India

Abstract

What is the relationship between globalization and the body? In both scholarly discourse and everyday practice, the relationship between globalization and the body has been understood through the idea of accumulation – the intensified and interlinked pursuit of health and wealth. Through an examination of private umbilical cord blood banking in south India, this paper investigates the interplay of accumulation and its interruption in Indians' uptake of this practice. Although Chennai-based bankers, doctors and parents explain the recent surge in popularity for cord blood banking in the city in terms of interlinked financial and familial accumulation, investment and security, Indians' cultural and religious conceptions of the latent power of the placenta and cord often work against cord blood banking marketers' neat account of twinned economic and familial accumulation. Analytic attention to interruption highlights the tensions within and precariousness of the accumulation at the heart of the relationship between globalization and the body.     

Branding national issues: India and the branding bandwagon

Branding in the global sense of the marketing discourse has firmly entrenched itself in India like most international markets. Branding and Urban processes are creating a whole new way of looking at oneself and creating new notions of self-worth. This paper will examine the obsession with the idea of branding that cuts across not only just products that are advertised for monetary purchase but also branding that cuts across matters of national concern, of belonging to ideological frameworks, and even reading cultures. Clearly, everything seems to require a label, a sign that comes with a ready sense of identity, of a shelf value that gives temporary sense of collective spirit and provides a much needed soul-stirring experience. This paper will examine recent media-driven branding exercises for issues of national importance against the backdrop of Gandhi as a super-sign and a brand that is revisited at every juncture of social and political phase in the country even today. The paper takes recourse to Umberto Eco's theory of sign production and the theory of codes to understand that signification is a complex process and all signs do not qualify as semiotic judgments. Herein, is the importance of Gandhi as a super sign – the power of cultural codes and Gandhi's ability to identify the semantics of these codes, where most contemporary branding exercises have failed. Another equally important example of a super-sign in India, the game of cricket is an exemplary of cultural codes and the modes of sign production coming together to stand in for “nationalism” of lasting value.     

Crowdfunding industry—History,development, policies,and potential issues

Crowdfunding has gained a great deal of attention from policy makers, researchers, and practitioners. This paper attempts to provide an overview of the history and development of the industry and discusses different types of crowdfunding and their public policies. It is identified that the operation of peer‐to‐peer lending and equity‐based crowdfunding is regulated by the Financial Authority; the reward‐based crowdfunding (RBC) and donation‐based crowdfunding (DBC) is yet to be regulated, neither in the United Kingdom or United States. The lack of rules and regulations in the latter two models highlights the burning issues such as potential fraud and malpractice. Therefore, we suggest that it is timely to consider regulating the two types of crowdfunding possibly by governance mechanism with reporting requirements to keep track of the fund and to provide timely information. Additionally, it is advisable that practitioners to work on an agreed framework to establish industry standard, so potential investors can compare and assess the quality of projects easily. Finally, the management of crowdfunding platforms especially the RBC and DBC platforms should be improved. The ease of launching campaigns has made it difficult for both initiators and investors to succeed in the crowdfunding process. Further research to develop some form of assessment framework would be useful to both parties.     

Analyzing the progress and prospects of financial inclusion in India

Taking data from Financial Access Survey, Global Findex and Reserve Bank of India bulletin, this paper tries to analyze the progress occurred and the future prospect of financial inclusion in India. Our analysis depicts that India has witnessed a quick progress in financial inclusion. Though there is long way to go to achieve the dream of universal financial inclusion, there is no doubt that tremendous progress has been achieved in the recent time. Specifically, after the implementation Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana in August 2014, much improvement has happened in opening of bank deposit accounts. Similarly, the post‐dimerization period has seen a rapid growth of digital finance in India. Despite high growth of digital transaction, digital payment among the women, rural people, elderly people, and less educated people is much less than other groups of people. The provision of good digital infrastructure to the remote area, opening of more financial literacy centers and extension of credit to the marginalized people can help to fulfill the true essence of financial inclusion in India.     

Achievements and challenges of energy poverty alleviation policies: Evidence from the select states in India

Indian energy sector has undergone a tremendous transformation with consistent government policy interventions since 2000. Against this backdrop, we examine the extent to which energy poverty has decreased due to the expansion of energy services and the significant determinants of energy poverty in select six states in India. Overall, results reveal that absolute multidimensional energy poverty has substantially decreased across all states examined in the study as well as across all income and social groups between 2015 and 2018. Specifically, acute multidimensional energy poverty has reduced by an average of 30% between 2015 and 2018 in six states. At the same time, dependency on biomass remains more or less the same between 2015 and 2018. Results also show that inequality in the access to energy across income and social groups exists, and education is negatively related to energy poverty. Energy poverty has declined by a similar percentage among most employment groups, except for people practicing cattle rearing. Finally, culture is a significant determinant of energy poverty as households with the elderly and more land owned have higher energy poverty, probably due to the easy access to biomass and preference of such households to use it.     

Irregular migration and democracy: the case for inclusion

This article examines the democratic status of irregular immigrants from the vantage point of different models of democratic inclusion. The argument developed is that irregular immigrants are in fact members of the democratic state by virtue of being subjected to the legally binding norms in the territory of the state. The extension of the vote and other political rights to irregular immigrants nevertheless remains problematic due to their ‘illegal’ status. Because this status follows from the restrictive border policies implemented by most contemporary states, it shows that the ideal of democratic inclusion is scarcely reconcilable with a policy of restrictive cross-border movement. The conclusion defended in the article is that the interest in keeping borders restricted reduces the prospects for democratic inclusion in contemporary states.     

Government turnover: Concepts, measures and applications

Abstract.  While government turnover is often thought of as an adverse source of instability, it may also be viewed as a favourable source of competition and institution-building. To articulate and test such hypotheses, this article describes two main concepts of government turnover: leadership turnover , or change in rulers, and ideological turnover , or change in the rulers' ideology. Refinements involve the mode, outcome and timing of turnover. The article discusses measurement issues that arise when there are multiple power institutions and when parliaments are controlled by changing majority coalitions. The measures of turnover are illustrated by examining the post-communist world. The article considers the possibility that higher cumulative post-transition turnover – in terms of leaderships or ideologies – has assisted in establishing the rule of law.     

Semi-Presidentialism: Concepts, Consequences and Contesting Explanations

In contrast to the work on presidentialism and parliamentarism, semi-presidentialism remains very much the poor relation in the debate about regime types. This is true both in the sense that there is less work on semi-presidential regimes and also because of the fact that semi-presidentialism has few advocates. This review examines the existing work on semi-presidentialism and asks three questions: What is semi-presidentialism? What is the main dependent variable in semi-presidential studies? And what is the most appropriate explanatory variable in such studies? It does provide some answers to these questions, but the main purpose is to highlight some of the most problematic issues in the contemporary study of semi-presidentialism.     

Institutional Change and Embeddedness: Caste and Gender in Financial Cooperatives in Rural India

ABSTRACT

This article examines the interaction between institutional change and caste and gender embeddedness. It develops a framework for understanding how this interaction takes place. The article presents data on the results of an effort by a non-profit development organization, the Cooperative Development Foundation (CDF), to promote women's cooperatives, grounded in the ideas of mutual self-help and equitable access to services, in rural Andhra Pradesh in India. Using a simple theoretical framework that highlights the multi-level nature of institutional change, and the potential for interactions with embeddedness at one level to affect interactions at other levels, the article presents data showing how particular institutional rules of the cooperatives interacted with caste and gender to shape the overall governance and service delivery practices of these new organizations. In particular, after failed attempts to integrate existing, male-dominated cooperatives with women, the CDF created gender-segregated cooperatives. Data from the women's cooperatives show the creation of mixed-caste organizations, with boards of directors that were fairly representative of their membership, but with presidents that were more likely to be from the higher-castes. Access to financial services shows little caste bias, though lending is through caste-based peer groups. The data suggest that the interaction of embeddedness and institutional change is a process contingent on: a) the strategy taken by the development organization towards embeddedness; b) the nature of the institutional change itself relative to the existing social structure; and c) the effects the interactions between institutional change and embeddedness at different levels have on each other.     

Performance reporting for accountability purposes:: Lessons,issues, future

This article addresses the status and directions for performance reporting in the New Zealand public sector from the perspective of the Office of the Auditor General (OAG). It outlines the role of the Audit Office, provides definitions of accountability, and projects the dimensions of a new accountability. The authors assess challenges to performance reporting and accountability, the history of reporting performance accountability in New Zealand, an Audit Office perspective on accountability to Parliament, lessons learned from reform, some issues outstanding, and future development in terms of how the public sector in New Zealand should improve reporting on non-financial performance.     

Managing for inclusion: balancing control and participation

Participation and control are both necessary in a democracy. In the two main models of public management, control trumps participation. The traditional model, Managing for Process, relies on centralized authority over process and emphasizes rules and regulations. The newer model, Managing for Results, permits decentralized control over process but relies on centralized control of results. We propose a third model, Managing for Inclusion, which has the potential to balance participation and control. Our model permits decentralized control over both process and results and requires centralized control over the implementation of participation. The tools of empowerment, teamwork, and continuous improvement take on new meanings in this model. We show how management tools such as training and rewarding can implement participation and control the process of inclusion.     

Concepts,Crises and Campaigns

SUMMARY

This article enhances understanding of congressional campaigns by exploring how political professionals define campaign crises. Existing academic literature uses binary measures of candidate scandals as a proxy for campaign crises. However, in-depth interviews with senior political consultants and other experienced campaigners demonstrate that political professionals view crises as complex, interactive events. While scandals are one kind of campaign crisis, a variety of other factors account for most crises. After categorizing the different kinds of crises political professionals describe, a typology is developed to analyze the internal, external, expected and/or unexpected dimensions of campaign crises. This article focuses on crises in U.S. House and Senate campaigns, although general lessons apply to campaigns at other levels.     

Legitimacy in Conflict: Concepts,Practices, Challenges

ABSTRACT

The study of legitimacy in situations of conflict and peacebuilding has increased in recent years. However, current work on the topic adopts many assumptions, definitions, and understandings from classical legitimacy theory, which centers on the relationship between the nation-state and its citizens. In this introduction, we provide a detailed critical overview of current theories of legitimacy and legitimation and demonstrate why they have only limited applicability in conflict and post-conflict contexts, focusing on the three main areas that the articles included in this special issue examine: audiences for legitimacy, sources of legitimacy, and legitimation. In particular, we show how conflict and post-conflict contexts are marked by the fragmentation and personalization of power; the proliferation and fragmentation of legitimacy audiences; and ambiguity surrounding legitimation strategies.     

Values,norms and policies

Norms are defined as specific but tacit standards of what is socially and individually acceptable; values as explicit but general statements of principle, of which the content is continually changing through changing norms, changing circumstances, changing policies and the accompanying ethical debate. The relation of norms, values and policies is shown by an historical example. The inherent conflict within both norms and values is discussed and the role of the policymaker is defined, both as an artist in conceiving and devising one among many possible but always partial realizations of contemporary norms and values, and as a partially conscious agent in reshaping the norms and values of his time. The psychological implications of this are briefly indicated.     

On Contested Concepts: Humanitarianism,Human Rights,and the Notion of Neutrality

This article starts with a discussion about the international law of humanitarianism and human rights and what they indicate about trends in international relations (also known as world affairs), moves to a discussion of neutrality, and then discusses concrete examples of neutral humanitarianism in context. Its central theme is an argument for care in usage of terms, and for the utility of traditional forms of neutral humanitarianism—within definite limits.     

Waiting for change: youth,caste and politics in India

Abstract

This paper examines waiting, caste and politics through reference to the cultural and political practices of educated unemployed young men in India. We show through ethnographic fieldwork in Uttar Pradesh how a shared sense of young male limbo sometimes erodes caste divides. While waiting in poorly provisioned north Indian universities, young men develop novel cultures that bridge caste, class and religion. They also collaborate across class, caste and religious boundaries in protests against the state and university bureaucracies. At the same time, some students have responded to a sense of ‘waiting’ by developing collusive relationships with local government and university bureaucrats. Waiting emerges not as a passive condition but as a seed-bed for new cultural and political forms.