Debt and the developing countries: A note on optimal international borrowing

This note re‐examines the economic model of optimal international borrowing for LDCs proposed by Gemmell [1988]. Pursuing a rigorous methodology, this note derives alternative optimal debt functions, and discusses the sufficient conditions under which the optimal debt level is positive. Interesting implications of the analysis in this note, inter alia, rest in identifying the appropriate role of social inter‐temporal consumption preferences in a more realistic setting, and in perceiving, unambiguously, the tendency of ‘overborrowing’ by LDCs that only service their debts over long periods.     

The electoral consequences of corruption scandals in Spain

Previous studies of the electoral consequences of corruption in Spanish local elections (Jiménez Revista de Investigaciones Políticas y Sociológicas, 6(2):43–76, 2007; Fernández-Vázquez and Rivero 2011, Consecuencias electorales de la corrupción, 2003–2007. Estudios de Progreso, Fundación Alternativas; Costas et al. European Journal of Political Economy: 28(4):469-484, 2012) have found that voters do not necessarily punish corrupt mayors. As has been pointed out in the comparative literature, the average loss of electoral support by corrupt incumbents is small and does not prevent their reelection most of the times (Jiménez and Caínzos 2006, How far and why do corruption scandals cost votes? In Garrard, J. and Newell, J. (eds.) Scandals in past and contemporary politics. Manchester: Manchester University Press). What remains unsolved, however, is the remarkable variability in this pattern. This article explores some of the micro-level variables that may mediate the effect of corruption scandal on the votes. We focus on three factors: ideological closeness to the incumbent party, political sophistication, and employment status. Our results provide only partial support for our hypotheses, suggesting that the effects of corruption are much more complex than what may seem at first sight.     

Shmaglena: Ethnic framework for problem mediating

The article describes traditional mediators (in Amharic, shmaglotz meaning “elders”; shmagaleh in the singular) who fill a range of roles within the community of Ethiopian immigrants in Israel, as well as a mediation process (shmaglena in Amharic). The present research is a constructivist-qualitative study. Thirteen respondents participated in the study, all of whom were exposed to the shmaglena process. The data were collected through semi-structured content interviews. The research elicited that the shmaglena function has undergone transformation and adaptation to the target nation's culture. It was also found that the shmaglotz constitute an informal authority whose roles resemble those of conflict resolvers in other cultures.     

Risk avoidance and missed opportunities in mental health reform: the case of Israel

Passage of the National Health Insurance Law (NHI) [National Health Insurance Law (NHI) (1994). Israel Law Code, 1469, 156 (Hebrew).] provided a window of opportunity for mental health reform in Israel. The reform called for transfer, within a period of 3 years, of responsibility for psychiatric services formerly provided mostly by the Ministry of Health, to Israel's four major healthcare providers. Planners of mental health reform in Israel saw in the NHI Law an opportunity to bring about far-reaching structural changes in mental health policy and service provision, shifting the locus of care from psychiatric hospitals to the community. This paper reports results of a case study assessing factors that hindered or promoted the planned reform. The theoretical and conceptual framework of the study was derived from public policy theories and in particular on those related to public agenda and agenda setting processes. The study was also informed by organizational and interorganizational theories and exchange theory. Data was gathered from documents and interviews of key informants. Sources of data included official reports, proceedings of Knesset's Labor and Social Affairs (LSA) Committee, Ministry of Health documents, healthcare providers' reports, budget documents, newspaper analysis, and about 60 interviews with persons who played important roles in the process of the negotiations regarding the reform efforts. Analysis identified the major stakeholders and their concerns, distinguishing between the key stakeholders involved directly in the negotiations and secondary or additional stakeholders outside the main circle, some of whom were very involved and influential in the process. The study identified the major issues and the problems that emerged during the process of negotiations. Analysis of the failure of the attempt to implement the reform reveals a combination of obstacles emanating from the process of negotiation, on the one hand, and from the larger political, economic and social context, on the other. Findings show that conflict of interests and risk avoidance of the major stakeholders were major obstacles to reaching agreement on a formula for implementation. The major risks were related to the inability to predict future demand for ambulatory services, uncertainty regarding future costs, and disagreements regarding the reliability and validity of data. Contextual factors that undermined the chances for successful implementation of the reform included lack of a strong political commitment and a coalition supporting the reform, a financial crisis in the health system resulting from early stages of implementation of the National Health Insurance Law, and social turmoil created by the Rabin government's attempts to implement the Oslo agreements. This turmoil ultimately culminated in the assassination of the Prime Minister Yitzchak Rabin, creating a climate far from conducive to generating public interest in mental health reform and facilitating the planned change. As a result the mental health system remained virtually unchanged.     

The right to be forgotten: The Israeli version

The right to be forgotten and erase, originally introduced in the well-known case of Google Spain, has caused considerable legal debates on both theoretical and procedural issues. The Israeli Supreme Court has also just recently considered the issue when it was asked to enforce the right to be forgotten of an Israeli advocate, Jonathan Miller, and delist harmful information which appeared in a Google search, and was in truth related to a different adv. Jonathan Miller. The plaintiff relied on the Israeli Prohibition of Defamation Law. Liability was denied on the basis that the information was indeed true, and thus- justified. We suggest in this article that the court should have imposed liability in negligence, an open ended general tort that mainly applies when particular torts fail to supply a reasonable and just solution in new factual situations due to change in social, economic and technological circumstances.     

Democracy in Spain: Legitimacy, discontent, and disaffection

This article examines changes in perceptions of democracy in Spain over the last two decades. A variety of empirical indicators gleaned from numerous surveys are used to distinguish between democratic legitimacy and political discontent, as well as between this (which includes the well-known indicator of dissatisfaction with the way democracy works) and political disaffection. The article traces the different ways in which these attitudes have evolved in Spain over the last twenty years, and demonstrates that they belong to different dimensions. It also includes the results of two tests showing that these two sets of attitudes are conceptually and empirically distinct: a factor analysis confirms the distinct clustering of the indicators at the, individual level, whilst cohort analysis identifies different patterns of continuity and change across generations. José Ramón Montero is Professor of Political Science at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. He obtained his doctorate in Law at the Universidad de Santiago and has taught, at the Universities of Granada, Santiago, Zaragoza, Cádiz and the Universidad Complutense de Madrid. He has been Visiting Professor at the Universities of Harvard, California at Berkeley, and Ohio State University, as well as Secretary and Dean of the School of Law, Universidad de Cádiz, and Deputy Director of the Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas. Richard Gunther is Professor of Political Science at Ohio State University. He has a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of California at Berkeley, and is co-Chair of the Subcommittee on Southern Europe of the Social Science Research Council. Mariano Torcal is Assistant Professor of Political Science at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. He holds a doctorate from the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid and a Ph.D candidacy in Political Science from the Ohio State University. He has been a Visiting Professor in the Department of Political Science at the Univeristy of Michigan, and Visiting Fellow at the Kellogg Institute for International Studies, Notre Dame University.     

Book reviews

Robert O. Freedman, Soviet Policy Toward the Middle East Since 1970. (Praeger Special Studies in International Politics and Government.) New York: Praeger Publishers, 1975. ix+198 pp. $16.50 or $5.95 (paperback).

R. D. McLaurin, The Middle East in Soviet Policy. Toronto and London: D. C. Heath, 1975. xiv+206 pp. £6.75.

Roger E. Kanet (ed.), The Soviet Union and the Developing Nations. Baltimore and London: Johns Hopkins UP, 1974. 293 pp. $12.50.

Robert R. King and Robert W. Dean (eds.), East European Perspectives on European Security and Cooperation. New York: Praeger, and London: Pall Mall, 1974. xxi+254 pp. £7.25.

Louis J. Mensonides and James A. Kuhlman (eds.), The Future of Inter‐Bloc Relations in Europe. New York: Praeger, and London: Pall Mall, 1974. xiii+217 pp. £7.25.

J. F. N. Bradley, Civil War in Russia 1917–1920. London: Batsford, 1975. 197 pp. £6.50.

Canfield F. Smith, Vladivostok under Red and White Rule. Revolution and Counterrevolution in the Russian Far East 1920–1922. Seattle and London: University of Washington Press, 1975. xv+304 pp. $11.00. £6.60.

Maury Lisann, Broadcasting to the Soviet Union: International Politics and Radio. (Praeger Special Studies in International Politics and Government.) New York: Praeger Publishers, 1975. ix‐j‐199 pp. $16.50.

David E. Powell, Antireligious Propaganda in the Soviet Union. Cambridge, Mass, and London: The MIT Press, 1975. xi+206 pp. £13.75.

David A. Dyker, The Soviet Economy. Granada Publishing—Crosby Lockwood Staples, 1976. 173 pp. £4.95.

Zbigniew M. Fallenbuchl (ed.), Economic Development in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, Volume I: Reforms, Technology, and Income Distribution. (Praeger Special Studies in International Politics and Government.) New York: Praeger Publishers, 1975. 360 pp. £14.45.

V. Bajaja, Theoretische Grundlagen und praktische Entwicklung landwirtschaft‐licher Betriebsgrössen in der Tschechoslowakei. Berlin: Duncker & Humblot, 1975. 325 pp.

Richard Farkas, Yugoslav Economic Development and Political Change. (Praeger Special Studies in International Economics and Development.) New York: Praeger Publishers, and London: Pall Mall Press, 1975. x+133 pp. £5.95.

Trond Gilberg, Modernization in Romania since World War II. (Praeger Special Studies in International Economics and Development.) New York and London: Praeger, 1975. xiii+261 pp. £9.65.

David Lewis Jones, Books in English on the Soviet Union, 1917–73: A Bibliography. (Garland Reference Library of Social Science, Vol. 3.) New York and London: Garland Publishing, 1975. xiv+331 pp. $30.00.     

Financial development and economic growth: Additional evidence

This note suggests that, contrary to the conclusions reached in several recent studies, the empirical evidence does not support the view that financial development promotes economic growth. It is first noted that the predominant pattern in the data for 95 individual countries is that of a negligible or weakly negative covariation between financial development and growth of real GDP per capita. Second, the individual‐country correlational picture is a sharp contrast to the correlations based on crosscountry data that have been used in most research on the subject. Third, individual‐country estimates of a basic multiple‐regression growth model also do not indicate a positive association between financial development and growth. Fourth, in cross‐country data and models of the kind that have been used in most studies, when the regression structure is permitted to vary across three subgroups, a huge parametric heterogeneity is observed, and the overall indication is that of a negligible or negative association between financial development and growth.