The Effect of Inequality and Social Identity on Party Strategies

How do parties decide which issues to emphasize during electoral competition? We argue that the answer to this question depends on how parties of the left and of the right respond to economic inequality. Increasing inequality shifts the proportion of the population falling into lower socioeconomic categories, thereby increasing the size of the electoral constituency that is receptive toward leftist parties' redistributive economic appeals. In the face of rising inequality, then, leftist parties will emphasize economic issues in their manifestos. By contrast, the nonredistributive economic policies often espoused by rightist parties will not appeal to this burgeoning constituency. Rather, we argue, rightist parties will opt to emphasize values‐based issues, especially in those cases where “social demand” in the electorate for values‐based representation is high. We find support for these relationships with hierarchical regression models that draw from data across hundreds of parties in a diverse set of the world's democracies.     

Comparing Extremist Perpetrators of Suicide and Non-Suicide Attacks in the United States

ABSTRACT

This study explores differences in perpetrators of suicide attacks and non-suicide attacks in the United States. The study uses data on far-right and Al Qaeda and affiliated/inspired terrorists between 1990 and 2013 from the United States Extremist Crime Database. Our analysis estimates logistic regression models to test whether suicide attackers were more likely to have exhibited specific risk factors for suicidality, while examining other prominent claims regarding patterns of suicide terrorism. Suicide attackers were no more likely than non-suicide attackers to have previously attempted suicide or to have been diagnosed as mentally ill. Suicide attackers were more likely, though, to have a history of substance abuse, to be loners, have served in the military, participated in paramilitary training, and be more ideologically committed to the cause. We found that Al Qaeda affiliated/inspired attackers were more likely than far-right attackers to have engaged in a suicide mission. With the current focus on Americans traveling to Syria and Iraq to receive training and fight for jihadist movements (e.g., the Islamic State), our findings appear relevant. Observers have expressed concern that these fighters may return and then commit attacks in their homeland. Law enforcement could make use of this study’s findings.     

First Report of Blaesoxipha plinthopyga (Diptera: Sarcophagidae) from a Human Corpse in the U.S.A. and a New State Geographic Record Based on Specimen Genotype

Carrion flies in the taxonomic family Sarcophagidae are often recovered from a human corpse. However, because such specimens are difficult to identify, the forensic literature on this taxon is quite limited compared with that of the commonly employed Calliphoridae. Faced with a sarcophagid larva that could not be identified microscopically from a death investigation in the state of Idaho, we generated cytochrome oxidase one DNA sequence data from the specimen. Comparison to a reference data set of forensically significant sarcophagids from Canada and the U.S.A. confirmed that this was the first discovery of Blaesoxipha plinthopyga in a human corpse in the U.S.A. and the first record of this species in Idaho. Because B. plinthopyga occurs from the Northern U.S.A. to the Neotropics, it is potentially useful for estimating time since death at many locations.     

Divergence and Convergence in the Law of Contractual Penalties and Liquidated Damages Clauses in England,Singapore, and Malaysia

Liverpool Law Review - Contracts often make provision for the remedies available upon breach, i.e., by providing for a sum or stipulation available to either party upon breach by the other (an...     

Evolution,uncertainty, and the asymptotic efficiency of policy

Public Choice - Politics, like any social system, involves selection mechanisms. This paper presents a model of politics as an evolutionary process. Our model yields three main results. First, the...     

A New Look into Broken Windows: What Shapes Individuals’ Perceptions of Social Disorder?

Purpose

This study compares perceptual and observational measures of social disorder to examine the influence of observable levels of disorder in shaping residents’ perceptions of social problems on their street.

Methods

This study uses regression models utilizing data from a survey of residents, systematic social observations and police calls for service to explore the formation of perceptions of social disorder.

Results

We find little correspondence between residents’ perceptual and researchers’ observational measures of social disorder, suggesting that residents form perceptions of social disorder differently than do outsiders to their community. However, researchers’ observations of physical disorder were found to strongly influence residents’ perceptions of social disorder. Findings also suggest that people with different demographic backgrounds and life experiences may perceive the same social environment in very different ways.

Conclusions

The results add to a growing literature suggesting that social disorder is a social construct, rather than a concrete phenomenon. Moreover, we suggest that the linkage between physical disorder and residents’ perceptions of social disorder might provide an avenue for police to address residents’ fear of crime while avoiding some of the criticisms that have been leveled against programs targeting social disorder.     

Cross Pressure Scores: An Individual-Level Measure of Cumulative Partisan Pressures Arising from Social Group Memberships

Early studies of voting behavior hypothesized that the degree to which an individual was “cross-pressured” might affect how she participates in politics. However, attention to this topic waned before returning in recent years, mainly within the narrower confines of social networks analysis. In an effort to encourage broader consideration of the role of cross-pressures in political behavior, we present a new approach to estimating cross-pressures that (1) is individual-specific, (2) reflects the cumulative cross-pressures faced by an individual from her many intersecting social strata and group memberships, irrespective of the mechanism by which those pressures are experienced, and (3) can be estimated using widely-available data in party systems of any size, thus making it easier to study the effect of cross-pressures cross-nationally and over time. We demonstrate that these estimates are robust to many estimation choices, correspond well to existing measures of cross-pressures, and are correlated with patterns of political engagement and participation predicted by extant theories.     

Untangling the Complex Pathways to Confidence in the Police in South Korea: a Stepwise Multilevel Structural Equation Modeling Analysis

Asian Journal of Criminology - Studies on confidence in the police have employed three theoretical frameworks: (1) an instrumental model that focuses on the effect of police effectiveness and fear...