Demythologising the Czech opposition agreement

For many observers of the Czech political scene, 8 July 1998 was confirmation of their worst fears. It was then, two weeks after parliamentary elections, that the largest party in parliament, the Czech Social Democratic Party (CˇSSD), announced that it had signed what came to be known as the ‘opposition agreement’ with the Civic Democratic Party (ODS), the second largest party in parliament. The agreement stated that ODS would allow CˇSSD to govern alone as a minority government. In return, ODS would receive a number of parliamentary posts and the two parties would together adopt several constitutional amendments. The reaction of Czech political scientists and commentators was almost unanimously negative. President Va´clav Havel called the alliance ‘unholy’. The head of the Christian Democratic Union (KDU-CˇSL), Josef Lux, believed the agreement to be unconstitutional and vowed to contest it in court. Commentators even likened it to the communist-era national front governments. More specific criticisms focused on its negative consequences for stability, democracy and the fate of important social and economic reforms. Even at the end of its four-year run, political observers remained almost as negatively disposed to the agreement as they were at the start.     

Illiberal democracy and the future of opposition in Singapore

There are quite a number of ways by which politics in Singapore can be meaningfully approached. One perspective is to focus on the guiding beliefs and values of the People’s Action Party (PAP) governing elite and its nature of state governance since its assumption of power in 1959; it has ruled the state continuously since then. Its success in turning Singapore into a modern metropolis the envy of many has helped to buttress and legitimise its rule. Despite the growing criticisms, especially by the opposition parties, of the highly regulated manner by which the country has been managed, the PAP government, led by its first and former prime minister Lee Kuan Yew, and now by Goh Chok Tong, has unrepentantly stuck to its long-held world-view and governing paradigm. To the government, Singapore’s rapid economic growth and political stability could not have been achieved if the country were to follow the Western liberal democratic path and its attendant notions of development. While gradually allowing for greater citizen participation in the formulation of policies in more recent times, the present leadership, mindful of opening up a Pandora’s box, is still cautiously wary of the growth of a more pluralistic political environment; hence, its preference for what can be described as an illiberal, (soft) authoritarian democratic culture. Given this particular regime mindset and its parameters of governance, it is indeed a Herculean task for Opposition parties to make any significant inroads in the Republic’s future politics. However, all may not be lost for opposition parties and for those aspiring to see the evolution of a civil society. If they can capitalise on some probable future happenings—such as intra-party PAP factionalism consequent to the departure of the ‘old guard’, a prolonged economic downturn, and the rise of a new educated, IT generation—then their political future may hold some promise.     

The Sources of Terrorist Financing: Theory and Typology

Terrorism costs money. Although the costs of specific operations may be relatively inexpensive, terrorist organizations require much larger budgets in order to function. But how do terrorist groups acquire funding? What explains the variation in the particular sources used by different groups? This article develops a theory of terrorist financing that identifies criteria by which we can evaluate the different sources of terrorist funding, particularly in terms of their advantages and disadvantages to the terrorist group. These criteria are then applied across a typology of four primary types of terrorist financing: state sponsorship, illegal activity, legal activity, and popular support.     

The resilience of the past: government and opposition in Kenya

The article discusses government and opposition in Kenya over the last 100 years. Major democratic changes have occurred, but legacies from the colonial period and Kenya's one-party state endure. Pushback efforts to perpetuate the status quo continue. Subverting formal legal changes, using violence, and polarizing ethnicity are among the means used to consolidate the past. The focus is on the interplay between stasis and change, using comparative political economy theories and similar examples from other times and places. The analysis highlights the resilience of the past and historic barriers to change, thereby raising broader questions and issues that are not well understood.     

An Empirical Typology of Local Government Systems in Eastern Europe

The most widely used typologies of European local government systems are based on research conducted in the 1980s. The most popular are those of Page and Goldsmith (1987), distinguishing between Northern and Southern European systems, and Hesse and Sharpe (1991), distinguishing between Southern, Northern and Anglo-Saxon models. The rare attempts to include the Eastern part of the continent are far from comprehensive or satisfactory. They usually view the whole region as a distinct group, referring to its specific historical background and recent radical decentralisation (Bennett 1993, Heinelt and Hlepas 2006). Disappointingly, the same approach is presented in the most recent comprehensive analysis of European local government systems (Loughlin et al. 2010). This article tries to fill the gap produced by this simplification, by offering a comprehensive picture of the variation within the Eastern European region and suggesting a first attempt at a typology of around 20 countries of the region. The criteria for this typology refers to those used in earlier classifications of the Western European systems and include: (i) territorial organisation and tiers of elected local governments, (ii) scope of functions provided by local governments (functional decentralisation), (iii) financial autonomy, (iv) horizontal power relations within local government institutions (election systems and relationships between mayors and councils).     

Understanding a New Typology of Batterers: Implications for Treatment

This article reviews early theories of the phenomenology of battering as well as more recent empirical research on batterer personality and behavioral characteristics. These studies yielded inconsistent findings. Most recently, Chiffriller and Hennessy (Chiffriller, 2002; Chiffriller & Hennessy, in press) conducted an extensive study that attempted to expand and correct for the methodological limitations of previous research. Cluster analysis yielded five distinct profiles of men who batter women. Based on the behavioral and personality characteristics that defined each cluster, the following five labels were chosen: (a) pathological batterers, (b) sexually violent batterers, (c) generally violent batterers, and (d) psychologically violent batterers, and (e) family-only batterers. These five profiles, and the implications for understanding battering and developing appropriate interventions, are discussed.     

A New Typology of Contemporary Armed Non-State-Actors: Interpreting The Diversity

This study analyzes contemporary non-state-actors (NSAs) finding four major categories: secessionist organizations fighting for a federal regime or full independence. These have a homogenous character and are domestically oriented. Secessionist NSAs that enjoy strong sponsorship are running a state within a state, possessing regular forces. Second, radical left revolutionary NSAs are fighting to overthrow the existing social order and to relocate power within a country. Arming with limited weaponry that they steal and purchase, they wage guerrilla war from dense jungles and rough mountains. Sectarian-based revolutionary NSAs seek regime change to stop state marginalization. They could evolve into a regular force, armed with heavy weapons. The fourth category and the most powerful is the global revolutionary organizations. They are religious based, seeking to impose Islamic rule in their own countries or worldwide through jihad. They are transnational, specializing in suicide bombing and sophisticated martyrdom assaults.     

Sponsoring Violence: A Typology of Constituent Support for Terrorist Organizations

Terrorist organizations rely on support from their constituencies to survive. Constituent support can be categorized by constituents' behavior (active or passive) and the inducement strategy used by terrorist organizations to obtain it (enticements or coercion). These two dimensions overlap, producing a typology of constituent support for terrorist organizations. Four types of support are thus identified: impelled (active and enticed), auspicious (passive and enticed), compelled (active and coerced), and deterred (passive and coerced). Although types often co-exist and transform from one to another over time, each is a distinct lens to view constituent support and can improve upon state counterterrorism strategies.     

Persistence and renewal: the German Left Party's journey from outcast to opposition

This article examines electoral support for the German Left Party (Die Linke) at the 2013 Federal election. It focuses on two substantive issues. The first is that whilst studies have commonly linked the party's support to political culture, the party has modernised and it is unclear how this has influenced its support. The second is that the election was held amidst the fallout of the global financial crisis and thus enables us to test if the party benefitted from economic adversity. Using multivariate logistic regression models, these issues are investigated at the individual-level using data from the German Longitudinal Election Study. The results demonstrate that the party's support is steeped in political culture, but with important east–west variation. Further, there is no evidence that the party attracted support from economically anxious voters. These findings present a basis for broader reflections on the party's influence on the contemporary political landscape.     

The uses of history by the Polish democratic opposition in the late 1970s

During the late 1970s, members of the Polish democratic opposition revised and reinterpreted key elements in the Polish past in support of their contemporary ideas about Polish society and opposition. The birth of the independent press in Poland in 1976 provided these debates with a medium for wide dissemination and discussion. Analysis of democratic opposition debates in the independent press on the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, historic Polish–Russian relations, and the struggle for and achievement of independence in the early twentieth century shed light on the ways in which the democratic opposition perceived Polish society and the legacy of tolerance, diversity, nationalism, and socialism within it. It also reveals the major divisions within the democratic opposition and its primary tactical proposals prior to the birth of the Solidarity trade union in 1980. Forty years later, these debates continue to reverberate.     

End of the Lone Wolf: The Typology that Should Not Have Been

This research note argues that the “lone wolf” typology should be fundamentally reconsidered. Based on a three-year empirical research project, two key points are made to support this argument. First, the authors found that ties to online and offline radical milieus are critical to lone actors' adoption and maintenance of both the motive and capability to commit acts of terrorism. Second, in terms of pre-attack behaviors, the majority of lone actors are not the stealthy and highly capable terrorists the “lone wolf” moniker alludes to. These findings not only urge a reconsideration of the utility of the lone-wolf concept, they are also particularly relevant for counterterrorism professionals, whose conceptions of this threat may have closed off avenues for detection and interdiction that do, in fact, exist.