Why bother campaigning? Campaign effectiveness in the 2009 European Parliament elections

This paper explores the effectiveness of European Parliament candidates' campaigns. We analyze the relationship between candidates' spending and their likelihood of success, controlling for a range of relevant co-varying factors. We then investigate whether the effects of electoral spending are conditioned by two variables: ballot design and incumbency. We find that, ceteris paribus, spending was positively related to a candidate's likelihood of electoral success in the 2009 campaign, though this effect is small in scale. We also reveal that the electorally positive effects of spending are observable across both 'party-centered' and ‘candidate-centered’ ballot structures, and that there is some evidence that incumbent spending is less effective than challenger spending.     

Engineering inclusion: Assessing the effects of pro-minority representation policies

In democracies, a constant tension exists between the stability and integrity of the community as a whole, and the desire to ensure minorities a voice in politics. Reserved seats and reduced thresholds are two common means by which ethnic minorities gain legislative seats, though little or no empirical work exists testing their efficacy in this regard. Combining multivariate analysis with in-depth case studies, this article shows that both reserved seats and lower thresholds increase minority representation, though reserved seats accomplish that goal more consistently. Reduced thresholds tend to increase the share of votes and seats won by ethnoregional parties but reserved seats do not. Additionally, Mauritius' unusual best-loser system aids both minorities and ethnoregional parties.     

All Glory is Fleeting: Sigint and the Fight Against International Terrorism

This article discusses the important role that Signals Intelligence (Sigint) has played, and continues to play, in the war against international terrorism. It sets out what is known or can be authoritatively established about the role that Sigint played in the events leading up to the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, especially the performance of America's Sigint organization, the National Security Agency (NSA). The article also analyzes what the potential future role of Sigint may be in the war on terrorism given the ever changing nature of terrorist operations, the growing number of technological impediments to effective Sigint collection against terrorist targets, and shifting geostrategic considerations on the part of the nations engaged in the fight against the international terrorists.     

When Politics Fails: Hyper-Democracy and Hyper-Depoliticization

Although declining political engagement has been identified as a key problem for advanced liberal democracies, this article suggests that a more profound tension needs to be addressed. Specifically, it identifies interdependences between growing political pressures on national governments, and the tendency to delegate decisions away from control by elected politicians. These processes of “hyper-democracy” and “hyper-depoliticization” arguably create and re-enforce political tensions, magnifying a risk of central government “overload.” Through analyzing the arguments of prominent scholars of democracy, the article picks apart these interdependencies and argues for a more balanced approach to democratic governance.     

America's backyard

Eric Paul Roorda, The Dictator Next Door: The Good Neighbour Policy and the Trujillo Regime in the Dominican Republic, 1930–1945. Durham and London: Duke University Press, 1998. Pp.xii + 337. ISBN 0 8223 2123 8 (paperback).

Stephen G. Rabe, The Most Dangerous Area in the World: John F. Kennedy Confronts Communist Revolution in Latin America. Chapel Hill and London: University of North Carolina Press, 1999. Pp.257. ISBN 0 8078 4764 X (paperback).

William M. LeoGrande, Our Own Backyard: The United States in Central America, 1977–1992. Chapel Hill and London: University of North Carolina Press, 1998. Pp.xvi + 773. ISBN 0 8078 2395 3 (hardback).     

Contested or established? A comparison of legislative powers across regimes

In research on authoritarian institutions, legislatures are portrayed as capable of resolving dilemmas between the leader and opposition members. Nevertheless, repeated interactions between a leader and their ruling coalition can lead to both contested dictatorships, in which institutions constrain the leader, and established dictatorships, in which the leader exercises near-complete control. To date, however, no one has examined the patterns by which powers vary across legislatures in different settings and over time. Using data from the Varieties of Democracy Project on legislative powers between 1900 and 2017, we conceptualize changes in the powers afforded to the national congress to characterize the development of regimes in either direction. The study expounds on the content of legislatures across regimes and the ways in which they change, encouraging scholars to further consider the relationship between regime dynamics and legislative institutionalization.     

Who are Refugees?

Hundreds of millions of people around the world are unable to meet their needs on their own, and do not receive adequate protection or support from their home states. These people, if they are to be provided for, need assistance from the international community. If we are to meet our duties to these people, we must have ways of knowing who should be eligible for different forms of relief. One prominent proposal from scholars and activists has been to classify all who are unable to meet their basic needs on their own as ‘refugees’, and to extend to them the sorts of protections established under the United Nations Refugee Convention. Such an approach would expand the traditional refugee definition significantly. Unlike most academic commentators discussing this issue, I reject calls for an expanded refugee definition, and instead defend the core elements of the definition set out in the 1967 Protocol to the United Nations Refugee Convention. Using the tools of moral and political philosophy, I explain in this article how the group picked out by this definition has particular characteristics that make refugee protection distinctly appropriate for it. While many people in need of assistance can be helped ‘in place’, in their home countries, or by providing a form of temporary protected status to them, this is not so, I show, of convention refugees. The group picked out by the UN refugee definition is a normatively distinct group to whom we owe particular duties, duties we can only meet by granting them refuge in a safe country. Additionally, there are further practical reasons why a broader refugee definition may lead to problems. Finally, I argue that rejecting the call for a broader definition of refugees will better help us meet our duties to those in need than would an expanded definition.     

Exporting Court Innovation from the United States to Continental Europe: Compatibility between the Drug Court Model and Inquisitorial Justice Systems

This paper explores the viability of the adoption of the American drug court model by European countries relying on inquisitorial justice systems, by focusing on the compatibility between key features of each. Discussion of the key features of the European inquisitorial systems focuses on their underlying ideologies and values. Discussion of the key features of the American drug courts is informed by data from a comprehensive nationwide survey of drug courts (the National Drug Court Survey).

The preference for rehabilitative goals, the very active judicial role of the judge, and the collaboration between defense and prosecution in inquisitorial systems are identified as elements highly conducive to the importation of drug courts. Treatment integration and the relative (in) flexibility to establish a legal framework for the operation of drug courts are identified as challenges to potential importation. Overall, there is a great deal of compatibility between key features of the drug courts in the US and key features of the inquisitorial systems of most European countries. This makes the adoption of drug courts in Europe a potentially viable response to illegal drug use and drug‐related crime.     

Comparative criminology in the era of neoliberal globalization

Public trust has become a critical issue in transitional societies, such as China and Taiwan, where the legitimacy and accountability of the government in general, and legal authorities in particular, have been frequently scrutinized. Based on nationwide random samples, this study tests the explanatory power of three theories, the social structural thesis, the institutional performance thesis, and the cultural thesis, in accounting for public trust in police in China and Taiwan. Results show that Chinese citizens have higher levels of trust in police than do Taiwanese. The higher level of Chinese trust, to a large extent, derives from greater confidence in macroeconomic conditions and satisfaction with government responsiveness. The performance thesis, thus, receives the strongest support. Results also show some support for the cultural perspective that traditional values, such as interpersonal trust, promote trust in police in both societies. Policy implications are provided for enhancing police legitimacy and facilitating police reform in China and Taiwan.