The economy of secrecy: security,information control,and EU‒US relations

Abstract

This article develops an ‘economy of secrecy’ as a framework to understand how secrecy regulates interstate relations and to explicate why states react differently to breaches of secrecy. Drawing upon Simmel, the article argues that secrecy shapes interstate relations by tuning the ratio of ‘knowledge’ and ‘ignorance’. Furthermore, while the economy of secrecy acknowledges the existence of many types of secret, it emphasises their common underlying mechanisms, namely: secrecy as a field of power, secrecy as a field of performance, and secrecy as a normative terrain. Finally, the economy of secrecy is agnostic with regard to the moral character of promoting secrecy. In order to substantiate the argument, the article examines three recent iterations of how secrecy has disrupted EU?US relations: extraordinary renditions, WikiLeaks, and Snowden’s revelations. In addition to showcasing how the economy of secrecy operates, these examples contribute to our understanding of how secrecy affects information flow and dissemination in world politics.     

Cultural Penetration and Punctuated Policy Change: Explaining the Evolution of U.S. Energy Policy

Punctuated equilibrium theory (PET) suggests that the policy process is characterized by long periods of incremental change and short periods of punctuated change. The impetus for the latter is usually a focusing event that breaks open policy monopolies, allowing for major changes in legislative decision making. While a burgeoning body of literature, a shortcoming in the PET literature is that it has yet to explain why focusing events and subsequent breakdowns in policy monopolies sometimes fail to result in punctuated policy. We integrate theories on cultural change with punctuated equilibrium to explain why focusing events do not always result in the dramatic policy changes that we might expect. Specifically, we use the context of national energy policy and the lexical database, Google Ngram Viewer, to trace punctuating energy‐related events and the occurrence or lack thereof subsequent policy change from 1952 to 2000.     

The costs of electoral fraud: establishing the link between electoral integrity,winning an election,and satisfaction with democracy

Previous research has shown that voters’ perception of electoral fairness has an impact on their attitudes and behaviors. However, less research has attempted to link objective measurements of electoral integrity on voters’ attitudes about the democratic process. Drawing on data from the Comparative Study of Electoral Systems and the Quality of Elections Data, we investigate whether cross-national differences in electoral integrity have significant influences on citizens’ level of satisfaction with democracy. We hypothesize that higher levels of observed electoral fraud will have a negative impact on evaluations of the democratic process, and that this effect will be mediated by a respondent’s status as a winner or loser of an election. The article’s main finding is that high levels of electoral fraud are indeed linked to less satisfaction with democracy. However, we show that winning only matters in elections that are conducted in an impartial way. The moment elections start to display the telltale signs of manipulation and malpractice, winning and losing no longer have different effects on voter’s levels of satisfaction with democracy.     

《寰有诠》第一卷及其哲学意义上的创造论

傅汎际与李之藻撰写的《寰有诠》(1628)主要翻译自亚里士多德《论天》的拉丁文评注,然而其第一卷加上了从哲学和圣经方面介绍的基督教创造论.在哲学论述方面,通过考证发现,《寰有诠》吸收了阿奎那在《争议问题集:论天主的德能》中的论点,把创造论放在形而上学的框架中去理解,揭示出作为第一本原的天主与万物之间最基本的关系.如此,《寰有诠》为会通创造论与宋明理学提供了非常恰当的基础.     

Like Talking to a Brick Wall: Implications of Emotion Metaphors for Mediation Practice

In this article, the authors discuss the role of emotions in mediation with the goal of providing practical insights that can improve the mediation process. Their assumption is that emotion is ever-present, particularly in conflict, and that acknowledging and addressing underlying emotions facilitates conflict transformation during the mediation process.     

A world apart. Swedish and Australian gender equality policy

This article focuses on the process of gender-equality policy in Sweden and Australia, from 1960 to 1990. It is suggested that the comparative gender analysis must be more susceptible for civil rights issues. A second argument is that the in-depth achievements of the Swedish gender equality policy and the relative weaknesses in other respects are better understood if Swedish gender policy is analysed from an institutional perspective. Finally, the analysis provides an institutional explanation of why it is problematic to establish and maintain policies that do not build on the dominant political tradition of the welfare state in question.     

Making Ends Meet After Prison

Former prisoners are at high risk of economic insecurity due to the challenges they face in finding employment and to the difficulties of securing and maintaining public assistance while incarcerated. This study examines the processes through which former prisoners attain economic security, examining how they meet basic material needs and achieve upward mobility over time. It draws on unique qualitative data from in‐depth, unstructured interviews with a sample of former prisoners followed over a two‐ to three‐year period to assess how subjects draw upon a combination of employment, social supports, and public benefits to make ends meet. Findings reveal considerable struggle among our subjects to meet even minimal needs for shelter and food, although economic security and stability could be attained when employment or public benefits were coupled with familial social support. Sustained economic security was rarely achieved absent either strong social support or access to long‐term public benefits. However, a select few were able to leverage material support and social networks into trajectories of upward mobility and economic independence. Policy implications are discussed.