Democratic inclusiveness,climate policy outputs,and climate policy outcomes

In an ideal inclusive political system, all citizens are equally able to influence and challenge policies. We focus on how inclusiveness affects climate policies and outcomes. We argue that more inclusive systems should produce more policies in response to environmental threats and should have better outcomes. We test these hypotheses using panel and cross-sectional data relating to climate policy outputs and outcomes. The results suggest that inclusiveness is positively associated with policy outputs, but probably not with lower emissions of greenhouse gases. This pattern may relate to a lack of deliberation in systems, which are relatively inclusive in the narrower sense of pluralist democratic theory.     

Immigration,refugees, and foreign policy

The author first notes that mass movements of people across international boundaries, whether voluntary or forced, are increasingly becoming topics for international concern. In particular, the late 1970s and early 1980s have seen a series of migration crises with powerful foreign policy implications. The policy consequences of these international migration movements are considered, with particular reference to U.S. policy.     

Multilateral agencies,NGOs, and policy reform

This article examines the growth in relations that have occurred between multilateral agencies (MLAs) and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) during the past decade. It identifies three substantive debates in the MLAs on participatory development, value for money, and the role of the public sector in social service delivery that have served to promote greater interest in NGOs for efficiency reasons. The article reviews the experience of NGOs in the Bolivian Emergency Social Fund and the first attempt to create a Social Investment Fund in Guatemala. It concludes by identifying some of the obstacles that prevent the full integration of NGOs into MLA projects, even when good will exists to do so.     

Global diffusion,policy flexibility,and inflation targeting

ABSTRACT

A diverse group of over 30 countries located all over the world—such as the UK, Colombia, and Ghana—introduced inflation targeting, which is a monetary policy that seeks to control inflation through a pre-announced target. Fully institutionalized democracies adopted the policy first because the core features of inflation targeting are consistent with the principles of a liberal democracy. But why was inflation targeting also introduced by less-democratic countries? This article develops the argument that decision makers of less-democratic countries became more likely to adopt inflation targeting when they observed that nearby countries increased the flexibility of the policy. The statistical analysis of data from 76 countries between 1989 and 2013 supports this hypothesis. The finding that the change of a policy toward a more flexible framework drives its global spread addresses a blind spot in the more recent policy diffusion literature.     

Ethnicity,political survival,and the exchange of nationalist foreign policy

How does leadership’s desire for political survival in ethnically heterogeneous democracies affect the probability of states exchanging nationalist foreign policy? I define nationalist foreign policy as foreign policy that aims to fulfill national self-governance using a civic or ethnic frame. I argue that civic-nationalist policy disputing the territoriality of one’s own state is more likely, while ethno-nationalist policy favoring the leadership’s foreign co-ethnics is less likely, when the size of the leadership’s ethnic group is small and the level of democracy is relatively high. This is because the leadership, under such domestic conditions, has to mobilize support from other ethnic groups in order to stay in power. Civic-nationalist policy allows the leadership to increase domestic solidarity across ethnic lines and mobilize support from other ethnic groups, whereas ethno-nationalist policy would risk other ethnic groups criticizing the leadership of being ethno-centrist. These hypotheses are supported by quantitative analysis using an original dataset.     

Considering Black,Latino, Asian,and Pacific Islander opinion on foreign policy

Most of the literature on racial or ethnic groups’ foreign policy preferences focuses on parochial or diasporic interests to demonstrate group-specific influence in this policy realm. This situation leaves room for addressing the impact of African American, Latino and Asian American, and Pacific Islander (AAPI) racial/ethnic identities on individual-level preferences for broader, non-parochial, foreign policy issues and the degree to which multiracial preference coalitions (or agreement) emerge in a fashion reflective of domestic policy attitudes. Utilizing data on a range of contemporary foreign policy issues from the 2018 and 2019 Congressional Cooperative Election Studies (CCES), the analyses reveal that minority preference coalitions emerge across a wide range of foreign policy issues, a pattern that is most dramatic among Latino and Black Democrats. Moreover, these coalitions suggest minority moderation relative to white co-partisans from both parties.     

Conditionality,compliance, and domestic interests: State capture and EU accession policy

States and international organizations often attempt to influence the behavior of a target government by employing conditionality—i.e., they condition the provision of some set of benefits on changes in the target’s policies. Conditionality may give rise to a commitment problem: once the proffered benefits are granted, the target’s incentive for continued compliance declines. In this paper, I document a mechanism by which conditionality may induce compliance even after these benefits are distributed. If conditionality alters the composition of domestic interest groups in the target state, it may induce permanent changes in the target government’s behavior. I construct a dynamic model of lobbying that demonstrates that conditionality can reduce long-term levels of state capture. And I test the model’s predictions using data from the accession of Eastern European countries to the EU.     

Soup kitchens,women and social policy: studies from Peru

This article describes the operations of soup kitchens in Peru for low-income women and their families; it is based on interviews with leaders and members of 12 soup kitchens in Lima, 21 women who took part in a workshop, and interviews with leaders of the Federation of Organizations of Self-Managed Soup Kitchens of Lima and Callao. Soup kitchens may be self-managed or started by women's groups and later recognized and funded by government programs. Government programs usually include a range of support services, such as daycare. More recent changes in both types of programs include provision of income generation or social service activity to help families increase income and cut household expenses. Kitchens operate with a governing board and a decision-making assembly. Soup kitchens are located in rented, borrowed, or owned properties. Self-managed kitchens can have 35-100 members. Active members cook and receive a set amount in return. Kitchens prepare about 100-560 meals/day and charge less than 1 new sol. The law requires the state to cover 65% of food costs. Kitchens begin operations at 5:30 AM. Soup kitchens operate connected activities depending upon member's age, their children's ages, family size, and commitment. There are many benefits and sacrifices. Members gain confidence, self-assurance, knowledge, and self-esteem due to capacity building, skills acquired, and social recognition. Women's participation affects gender relations in their family, sometimes including domestic tension and conflict. Soup kitchens are valued for the improvement they foster in living standards of members and their families.     

US foreign policy,public memory,and autism: representing September 11 and May 4

In this article, we examine the social production of autism in US foreign policy discourse. Autism, we argue, is evident in the active forgetting of US foreign policy and its consequences, both in the US and abroad. It is this forgetting, promoted by the US state, that enabled many Americans to respond to the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon with the question ‘Why do they hate us?’ The explanation for the social production of an autistic attitude in US foreign policy, we argue, lies in the relations between institutional power and competing narratives and articulations of US foreign policy and domestic politics. The argument is illustrated through analysis of the politics of public memory at Kent State University in Kent, Ohio, where, on May 4, 1970, 13 students were shot, four fatally, while protesting the US invasion of Cambodia.