The Borda rule is also intended for dishonest men

This paper examines the welfare consequences of strategic voting under the Borda rule in a comparison of utilitarian efficiencies in simulated voting games under two behavioural assumptions: expected utility-maximising behaviour and sincere behaviour. Utilitarian efficiency is higher in the former than in the latter. Strategic voting increases utilitarian efficiency particularly if the distribution of preference intensities correlates with voter types. The Borda rule is shown to have two advantages: strategic voting is beneficial even if some but not all voter types engage in strategic behaviour, and even if the voters’ information is based on unreliable signals.     

An analysis of voter predictive dimensions and recovery of the underlying issue space

Based on the spatial voting model posited by Enelow and Hinich, this paper presents a means of determining the nature of the issue dimensions used by voters. This method allows for calculation of the extent to which the predictive dimensions recover the underlying issues space. Of particular interest is the extent to which a single predictive dimension can recover the issue space. The method also suggests that Enelow and Hinich are correct in their hypothesis that the social liberal-conservative axis and the economic liberal-conservative axis are the dimensions most used by the electorate.     

The Brussels issue in Belgian politics

Belgium is one of the few countries that has been able effectively to accommodate major divisions along linguistic, cultural, ethnic and territorial lines within the fabric of a unitary government. However, one major issue which it has been unable to resolve is the status of its capital city, Brussels, within its devolution reforms. The status of Brussels encapsulates all aspects of the major community divisions in Belgium and has led to numerous unsuccessful legislative proposals, endless parliamentary debates, and the fall of several governments. It was not until 1980 that the Belgian government was able to deal ‘constructively’ with this issue. It did so by removing it from the national political agenda. It is likely that the status of Brussels as a non‐issue is the only resolution possible.     

The issue of standing in cost-benefit analysis

Insufficient attention has been given in cost-benefit analysis to whose benefits are to be counted. Foreigners, illegal aliens, fetuses, and criminals are problematic cases. Persons or entities may be given “standing” by participation in decision processes; by having their preferences counted, if meaningful preferences exist; by having their welfare counted, if they cannot express their preferences; or by representation by others whom they do not choose. Problems of standing arise in the valuation of life, the consideration of future generations and nonhuman entities, and equity weighting. These problem may be treated by altering the scope of the expert community or by interaction between that community and the political community. They are not always resolvable, but should be treated more explicitly.     

The space security index

This is an excerpt from “Space Security 2003,” published March 2004 by the International Security Research and Outreach Programme of the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade. The views and positions stated in this paper are soley those of the contributors to this research project and are not intended to reflect the views and positions of the Department of Foreign Affairs or the Government of Canada. A review of the project was provided to the “Ensuring Space Security: Enhancing Stakeholder Cooperation” Conference by Dr. Robert Lawson, Senior Policy Advisor Non-Proliferation, Arms Control and Disarmament Division, Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade.     

On-line processing in candidate evaluation: The effects of issue order,issue importance,and sophistication

This article reports the results of a study that replicates and extends the impression-driven model of candidate evaluation reported in Lodge, McGraw, and Stroh (1989). This model holds that evaluations are formed and updated on-line as information is encountered, and that as a result, citizens need not rely on specific information available from memory to form their candidate evaluations. In the present work we explore whether the order in which information is encountered, as well as whether information that is personally important, influences the weight accorded to evidence in on-line processing. In addition, differences in information-processing strategies due to political sophistication are examined. The results indicate that important information receives more weight than unimportant information. In addition, the evidence suggests that political sophisticates are more efficient on-line processors than are less sophisticated individuals. The implications of these results for models of candidate evaluation are discussed.     

The strategy of responsive space

This article explores the utility of responsive space in the context of the strategies of Sun Tzu, Mahan, Corbett and John Boyd. Responsive launch is important to applying military strategy to space for achieving space control and in protecting the space systems which are part of the United States's critical infrastructure. It follows that if responsive launch is important in achieving military strategic objectives and protecting the national critical infrastructure, implementing responsive launch must also drive changes in satellite design and operational concepts. The article discusses some of these possible changes resulting from the implementation of a doctrine of responsive launch.     

Prison labor markets: The supply issue

Putting prisoners to work has widespread appeal, but the nature of prison labor markets suggests that prisoners may have little incentive to work. The inmate population exhibits sociodemographic and psychological characteristics that correlate highly with labor market difficulties. Moreover, work incentives are bounded by both a guaranteed minimum standard of living and severe restrictions on the uses of earnings; prison is essentially a ration regime The impact of these institutional arrangements also depends upon the duration of the prisoner's remaining sentence and expected remaining lifetime. Unfortunately, there is little evidence bearing on these concerns, and experimental analysis is proposed.     

The profile of gender equality issue attention in Western Europe

This article investigates the factors that drive governments to pay attention to gender equality issues and place them upon executive agendas. In line with studies of the dynamics of issue attention, which demonstrate the importance of investigating variability in the attention policy makers give to issue demands across policy domains, this article argues that policy issues related to gender equality are multidimensional and patterns in executive attention vary across the different types of gender issues. Multidimensionality of gender equality issues reflects different dynamics in agenda‐setting as different issues invoke contrasting constellations of political representation, institutional friction and veto points. To investigate this variation, this article proposes a twofold distinction between class‐based and status‐based gender equality issues and assesses the validity of three sets of explanations for when gender issues succeed in reaching executive agendas: women in politics, party ideology and economic performance. Drawing on governmental attention datasets from the Comparative Agendas Project, a systematic comparative quantitative analysis of the determinants of gender equality issue attention in five Western European countries is conducted. The main findings confirm that the mechanisms through which different types of gender equality issues gain executive attention differ according to the kind of the gender equality demand. Costly class‐based gender equality issues are more likely to receive executive attention when the economy is performing well, when there is a strong presence of Social Democrats and when there is a high proportion of female MPs. In contrast, economic performance, party politics and women's parliamentary presence do not seem to exert any impact on status‐based issues. Instead, critical actors in the government seem to be the strongest driver for attention over this second type of gender equality issue. This study contributes a gendered dimension to the policy agendas scholarship, adding theoretical and empirical depth to the understanding of how non‐core issues secure their place on full governmental agendas. By focusing on how to secure governmental attention for gender equality issues, the article makes a major contribution to understanding the initial genesis of gender equality policies.     

The nuclear weapons issue in the 1983 British general election

Abstract. In common with many other Western European countries, the issue of nuclear weapons rose to political prominence in Britain in the course of the 1980s. However, whereas the issue was often taken up by newly formed environmentalist parties elsewhere, it differentiated the traditional parties one from the other in Britain. This was made possible by the Labour party's manifesto commitment to unilateral nuclear disarmament. This article details the views of the British electorate on the nuclear issue and assesses its importance for individual voting patterns in the 1983 general election. The electorate shows itself able to distinguish between, and hold opposing views on, nuclear weapons in principle and control over them in practice. Its general support for them, however, means that Labour's perceived hostility to them cost it a considerable number of votes in net terms. These losses could have been mitigated, perhaps even turned into gains, had the party emphasised the security problems stemming from Britain's lack of control over American nuclear weapons on its soil.     

Forgetting to make votes count: The role of previous democratic experience

This paper argues that wasted votes in founding elections decrease when countries have a previous democratic experience before the current democratic period. This historical-institutionalist argument is tested with national election results in 22 founding elections in third-wave European, Asian, Latin American and African democracies. The results demonstrate that having a democratic past clearly increases coordination and then reduces the percentage of wasted votes in the founding election, controlling for the electoral system.     

Success and failure in electoral competition: Selective issue emphasis under incomplete issue ownership

Political parties are often argued to compete for voters by stressing issues they feel they own – a strategy known as ‘selective emphasis’. While usually seen as an electorally rewarding strategy, this article argues that cultivating ‘your’ themes in the public debate is not guaranteed to be electorally beneficial and may even become counter-productive. It describes the conditions under which ‘selective emphasis’ becomes counter-productive, and applies the argument to recent discussions regarding the strategies of mainstream parties confronting the extreme right.     

The electoral consequences of issue ambiguity: An examination of the presidential candidates' issue positions from 1968 to 1980

This study investigates the consequences of ambiguity in the issue positions of presidential candidates from 1968 to 1980. Two potential consequences are examined: a direct impact and a conditional impact on the vote. The findings indicate no significant direct effect on the vote. However, significant conditional effects were found. Compared to losing candidates, winning candidates were somewhat less likely to hold clear positions when issues were salient to the public and were somewhat more likely to hold ambiguous positions when public opinion was dispersed. They were especially more likely to be ambiguous when their positions substantially differed from the median public position on the issue.     

Deixis and space in drama

This article seeks to explore some of the functions of deixis in the delineation of space in drama. The dramatic text addresses a context of performance and, therefore, space depiction is generally regarded as within the province of theatre since the transformation of the hare boards of the stage into other spaces and places calls forth the skills of scenographers, lighting experts, etc. Verbal depictions of space are seen to be best employed in referring to off‐stage space or restricted to reference to objects onstage, when they need to be particularly foregrounded as significant for the onstage action in its relation to the whole. The, basically, onstage/off‐stage division is mapped on to the visual/verbal one so that the visual, onstage space is the main business with verbal references to offstage space backgrounded as a consequence. Deictic phenomena, however, cut across such divisions. Deixis uses the body of participants in speech events as the primary point for calculations of space. The body has access to different channels—visual, auditory, tactile, etc. which deictic usages mobilise. Moreover, from a linguist's point of view, the mode of discourse appropriate to drama is speech since the dialogue presupposes actors on stage interacting with each other, via speech, and not reading texts silently. The voice is the medium of communication, and hence, the body is installed back into the page of the text. Deixis presupposes a corporeal context of utterance with corporeal bodies and channels of communication open for use. This article explores some of the consequences for delineating dramatic space, when the visual/verbal division and its progeny are undercut by the use of deixis.