Leaders,the Economy or Iraq? Explaining Voting in the 2004 Australian Election*

Following the 2001 “border security” election, it was assumed that the 2004 federal election would revert to the traditional campaign battleground of socio‐economic issues. This prediction proved to be only partly true, and while economic and social issues did figure in the election campaign, much more important were popular perceptions of the leaders. Indirectly, the Iraq War also had some impact, mediated through evaluations of John Howard. Analysis of leader effects suggests that Mark Latham was not the electoral liability for Labor that many have subsequently claimed. Ultimately, the Coalition won the election because they had a highly popular leader who had presided over a period of sustained economic growth. The election emphasizes the central role that the party leaders play in modern election campaigns.     

Das Jagdrecht im Spannungsfeld bundesstaatlicher Gesetzgebung – Auswirkungen der Föderalismusreform auf die Jagdgesetzgebung in Deutschland –

Der nachfolgende Beitrag stellt die Diskussion um eine Novellierung des Jagdrechts, die schon seit einiger Zeit unter inhaltlichen Gesichtspunkten kontrovers geführt wird, in den Zusammenhang mit der kürzlich in Kraft getretenen F?deralismusreform. Die Bundesl?nder besitzen im Bereich des Jagdwesens mit Ausnahme des Rechts der Jagdscheine nunmehr die Kompetenz, nach eigenem politischem Dafürhalten vom Bundesrecht abzuweichen. Der Verfasser stellt zun?chst die Verfassungsrechtslage und deren Auswirkungen auf das einfache Recht dar. Anschlie?end zeigt er die mit dem Abweichungsrecht der L?nder auf dem Gebiet des Jagdwesens verbundenen Chancen einer Re-F?deralisierung insbesondere infolge des zwischen den L?ndern entstehenden Wettbewerbs auf, um schlie?lich einen Ausblick auf die weitere Entwicklung des Jagdrechts in Deutschland zu wagen.     

On tort as an implicit insurance system with state-dependent utility: The case of child mortality risk

Parents deriving utility from children and their material standard of living will equate neither marginal utilities of consumption nor of income across states of the world and, contrary to claims in the literature but according with the historical record, will sometimes purchase fair insurance against child mortality risks even if a child's death reduces the marginal utility of consumption. Thus criticism of tort as an implicit insurance system should be refocused. It is not inefficient per se because it leads to payouts in death-contingent states but, rather, because the implicit third-party insurance which it provides crowds out more cost-effective first party insurance which households would and did purchase prior to the expansion of suppliers' liability under tort.     

The Right to Secession: an Antisecessionist Defence

Liberal egalitarians should support a right to secession while seeking to discourage secessions. The coherence of these apparently opposed stances depends upon three important distinctions that are under-explored in existing secession literature: between the right to secede and the choice- worthiness of secessions; between moral considerations relevant in advising would-be secessionists and those relevant in advising leaders of existing states; and between the legitimacy of a secession and the means that might be legitimately employed in advancing or resisting it. There is a strong but conditional right to secession rooted in the principle of associational freedom, but there are good reasons usually not to exercise it. Would-be secessionists should normally be advised against secession, but leaders of existing states should be advised to grant secessions that satisfy certain conditions. Only certain means are legitimate in resisting even secessions that fail to satisfy these conditions. If necessary the conditions that secessionists are expected to satisfy should be relaxed, provided relaxation takes place in a morally appropriate sequence.     

Interest groups and lobbying in Latin America: theoretical and practical considerations

The major purpose of this Special Issue is to provide the first comprehensive treatment of interest groups in Latin America. This first article provides background to this end by defining key terms and concepts; explaining the ubiquity of power groups, interests and interest groups in politics and government, and the fundamental elements of an interest group system, relating all this to past characteristics of Latin America's politics. Additionally, the article identifies the reasons for the dearth of studies of interest groups in the region and makes the case for the value of such studies. Drawing on this background, the article also sets out a heuristic for approaching the contributions to this volume and for developing a theoretical framework for the analysis of Latin American interest group systems. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.