The political economics of agricultural price support in Turkey: An empirical assessment

The present study is an attempt to explain the variations in the extent of protection provided to the producers of four selected agricultural crops in Turkey by a set of independent variables representing various economic and political events of the 1962–1983 period. The economic variables were selected in order to assess the divergence between the intentions of the policy makers and their actions as reflected in the level of support actually provided; while the political variables were chosen to assess the impact of elections, military takeovers and noticeable shifts in the underlying philosophy of the policy makers on the support provided. The regression analysis suggested that the political power of the agricultural producers was an important determinant of the policies implemented, especially during times of democratic practices; that during times of military regimes, the agricultural sector tends to be less protected; that there is indirect evidence for the existence of political business cycles synchronized to political elections: and, that general conditions in the economy can influence the behavioral rule of the policy makers.     

Median voters,political systems and public policies: An empirical test

This paper tests the median voter hypothesis that variations in policies across political systems are caused by variations in median voter preferences. The context of the empirical analysis is the tax policies of three groups of sub-national governments in England in three time periods. The results of a median voter model of tax policy variation are compared to the results of a mean voter model in different party systems and different electoral systems. The evidence provides little support for the median voter hypothesis.     

Nominating women for Europe: Exploring the role of political parties' recruitment procedures for European Parliament elections

Drawing on an original dataset covering more than 100 political parties in over 20 European Union Member States, this article analyses how political recruitment procedures affect the proportion of women nominated on party lists in the context of the 2009 European Parliament elections. The findings show that the inclusiveness of the selectorates in the early stage of candidate selection processes is a key determinant of the representativeness of lists regarding their gender composition. Moreover, it is found that neither territorial centralisation nor the inclusiveness of the selectorate in the later stage of candidate selection play a significant role. The key to the puzzle, therefore, lies in the composition of the initial pool of potential candidates and those who make initial nominations.     

Political systems and distortions: An empirical study

This paper studies empirically why price distortions are more prevalent in some countries than in others. We find no significant difference between democracies and dictatorships, but frequent regime changes reduce distortions. Political systems (factional-subordinate) that encourage redistributive activities (RDA) tend to have more distortions. Allowing for different effects of RDA in democracies and dictatorships, there is a positive and significant effect of RDA on distortions in dictatorships. In democracies, “distortions-destroying” lobbying seems more important since no significant relation between RDA and distortions can be found.     

Justifying controversial political decisions:Home style in the laboratory

Elected officials are not passive bystanders in the electoral process. Rather, they try to influence their constituents' perceptions of events through a variety of strategies, including explanations. Fenno's case studies reported inHome Style (1978) have yielded important insights into the explanations representatives provide to their constituents to account for unpopular or controversial decisions. This paper reports an experimental analysis of the effectiveness of two principled justifications taken from Fenno'sHome Style interviews: individualistic and communitarian appeals to conscience. We also present a theoretical framework for the anlaysis of political accounts, conceptualizing them as a type of persuasive communication. The impact of the two justifications on a number of important judgments is examined within this framework, including reactions to controversial policies, attributions of responsibility, perceptions of political character, and evaluations of public officials.     

The political economy of food pricing: An extended empirical test of the interest group approach

Several recent studies have documented the magnitude and impact of distortions in food pricing. However, little attention has been paid to the nature of the political agendas that determine the levels of direct and indirect protection granted to producers and consumers. This paper offers evidence that, regardless of the degree of economic development, the level of political pressure wielded by interest groups in food markets, and hence the level of protection they receive, is an inverse function of the relative size of their constituencies. The results recommend the application of collective action concepts to the understanding of agricultural policies in countries which are at different stages of development.     

Electoral promises and minority governments: An empirical study

Abstract.  This article studies the relationship between electoral policy proposals and subsequent government actions in the case of minority governments. Content analysis of electoral pledges of Spanish parties is utilised to study the gains that a relatively small party obtains when it helps to sustain the governing party in office without entering a coalition government. According to the authors' results, cooperating in parliament to maintain the minority government in office can be a rational choice for a party because it allows it to obtain significant gains in terms of programme fulfillment.     

Political participation and procedural utility: An empirical study

Abstract.  Democracy can be characterized by policy outcomes as well as governmental processes. In this article, it is argued that people have preferences about both aspects and that they derive utility from the processes involved in decision making over and above the utility gained from outcomes. The authors study political participation possibilities as an important source of procedural utility. To distinguish between outcome and process utility, they take advantage of the fact that nationals can participate in political decision making, while foreigners are excluded and thus cannot enjoy the respective procedural utility. Utility is assumed to be measurable by individually reported subjective well-being. As an additional indicator for procedural utility, reported belief in political influence is analyzed.     

Public expenditures in Canadian provinces: An empirical study of politico-economic interactions

It is widely believed that government ideology and electoral constraints are two major factors that influence the level of public expenditures. However, Frey and Schneider argue that the effects of the two phenomena are not simultaneous. Only when a government is popular can it pursue ideological goals, and when popularity is low, energies must be redirected toward gaining support from voters to win the next election. Data draw from the Canadian provincial case are used to test empirically this hypothesis. The findings support the Frey and Schneider explanation.     

Populism as a Spectre of Democracy: A Response to Canovan

The literature on populism used to depict the phenomenon as an alternative to the standard path from traditional to modern society; as a way to enfranchise the underclass; or as an anomaly vis-à-vis class politics and liberal institutions. More recently, the debate has shifted into something of a terra incognita as a result of the growing interest in the connection between populism and democratic politics. One of the more intriguing contributions to this debate is an article by Margaret Canovan, if only because it makes this unknown territory less confusing. Her argument draws from Michael Oakeshott's claim that political modernity is characterised by the interplay of two distinct styles – the politics of faith and the politics of scepticism . She renames them the redemptive and pragmatic faces of democracy and suggests that populism arises in the gap between them. This establishes a relation of interiority between populism and democracy. The former will follow democracy like a shadow. At times, however, the theoretical status of the gap is somewhat uncertain, as it seems more appropriate for thinking politics (particularly radical politics) in general. The political valence of the shadow could also be specified further to show the undecidability between the democratic aspect of the phenomenon and its possible ominous tones. This paper looks into this in some detail to engage in a friendly interrogation of Canovan's claims.     

Industry characteristics and interest group formation: An empirical study

The role of interest groups in the political process has been the subject of much analysis in both political science and economics. However, few studies have examined directly the factors which influence the variation in interest group formation across industrial sectors and between countries. Using data on 75 industrial sectors in 10 countries, we examine the way in which variations in interest group formation are explained by variations in industrial and political characteristics. In cross-sectional empirical relationships we test for the significance of a variety of industry and political variables. Our results indicate that industry characteristics such as the proportion of total demand purchased by households and the concentration ratio are related to variations in interest group formation. We discuss the implications that our results have for recent theoretical work on the effect of interest groups on economic policy.For helpful comments, we would like to thank Antonio Estache, Bruce Gardner, Dennis Mueller, Mancur Olson, and participants at the meetings of the Public Choice Society and the Southern Economic Association. The International Institute of Management of Berlin, Paul Geroski, Neal Kennedy, Alexis Jacquemin, Kenneth Platto, Joachim Schwalbach, and Hideki Yamawaki helped in providing data. The Computer Science Center of the University of Maryland is acknowledged for provision of computational resources.     

Military professionals as political governors: A case study of contemporary Greece

In this article we attempt to measure the performance of the Greek military with regard to social change. Using Eckstein and Gurr's model of regime performance—consisting of four variables we hypothesised that military professionalism did not provide the military governors with the necessary political skills to become effective agents of social change. Our analysis, based on interview data supplemented with socio‐economic indicators of the years of military rule (1966–74), led us to the conclusion that aspects of military professionalism, at least in the case of Greece, prevented the military regime from performing well and thus hampered its ability to generate social change.     

Dynamic optimization of political popularity in an empirical macroeconomic model

We estimate a political popularity function for Israel, taking account of the effects of institutional and political changes on the structure of the function, and then use this function, in conjunction with a simple macroeconomic model of the Israeli economy, to calculate dynamic macroeconomic strategies which would have maximized the political popularity of three previous Israeli governments. We conclude that the dominant strategy was always to keep unemployment at the natural rate, but that this strategy was optimally combined with either rising inflation close to elections (for the earlier governments) or with near-zero inflation throughout the term (for later governments).We are indebted to Alex Cukierman, Moshe Mandelbaum, Jacob Rosenberg, Gordon Tullock, and Ben-Zion Zilberfarb for helpful comments, and to Shulamith Levy and the late Louis Guttman for the use of their popularity data. Research assistance was provided by T. Cagan, A. Friedman, J. Hertz, I. Landau, J. Mizrahi, and J. Sapir. This research was supported by grants from the Friedrich Flick Foundation, FRG, and the Economics Research Institute, Bar-Ilan University.     

Factionalism and political discourse in the Islamic Republic of Iran:The Case of the Hujjatiyeh Society

The revolutionary Islamic government of Iran is dominated by clerical forces organised for the most part in the Islamic Republic Party. After defeating and banishing its secular opponents, notably the first President of the Republic, Bani-Sadr, the clerical party and regime developed factional struggles within their ranks. The issue of these struggles is what we consider to be the central dilemma of the revolutionary regime: the radical, populist slogans and policies of the revolution vs. routinised government maintaining order and protecting property. Khomeini's doctrine of Wilayat-i-Faqih which required the politicisation of religion and the sacralisation of politics has become closely associated with revolutionary populism. The radical forces, self proclaimed Maktabis, have insistently defended the original principles and policies of the revolution in the name of Khomeini and his ‘Imam line’ against the forces which they claimed to be infiltrating the regime to subvert the revolution and restore capitalist-imperialist control. The Maktabis with the vocal support of the Tudeh (communist) party, identified subversive forces with the Hujjatiyeh, a shadowy society, apparently with close connections to the clerical establishment

We examine the attacks upon and the defences of the ‘Hujjatiyeh’ to distinguish the styles, discourses and directions of factional struggles in relation to the central conflict between populism and order