Institutional Openness and the Use of Referendums and Popular Initiatives: Evidence from Swiss Cantons

Despite the growing interest in direct democratic institutions—like referendums and popular initiatives—the empirical evidence on the relationship between institutional openness and use is still sparse. We use a novel data set on the institutional openness and test its link to actual voting behaviour for ballots in the Swiss cantons for the period 1970‐1996. We find no robust relationship between the number of cantonal ballots and openness, measured by the number of signatures necessary to force a ballot and the time limit within which they have to be gathered. We observe, however, that openness is negatively related with voter participation. Having to gather more signatures apparently increases the awareness in the population at large, creates more information about the issues at hand, and thus induces more voters to turn out.     

State Sovereignty in the Federal System: Constitutional Protections Under the Tenth and Eleventh Amendments

The U.S. Supreme Court has held that state sovereignty is protectedby principles of common law rather than explicit constitutionalguarantees under the Tenth and Eleventh Amendments. The Courthas also cautioned that congressional actions, even under delegatedpowers, may not threaten the integrity of states as sovereignentities in the federal system. The National League of Citiesdecision in 1976 appeared to reverse this doctrine by implyingthe existence of Tenth Amendment protections of state actionsin traditional functional areas. However, the federal courtsdiscounted the NLC ruling as a compelling precedent in subsequentfederalism cases because of its vagueness and its fundamentalinconsistency with established doctrine. In 1985, the SupremeCourt overturned the ruling in Garcia v. San Antonio, reaffirmingthe common law nature of state sovereignty and arguing thatconstitutional protection of state interests lies primarilyin the representative structure of the federal system ratherthan in specific constitutional guarantees.     

To loosen and bind: Khomeini,Rafsanjani, and supplementary governance in the Islamic Republic

ABSTRACT

Despite attention to Khomeini’s Guardianship of the Jurist (1970) and to Sunni iterations of ma?la?a, there is a dearth of Western scholarship on what Iranian scholars and journalists recognize as indispensable to governance in the Islamic Republic. With a comparative approach to modern perceptions of ma?la?a from inside and outside Iran, this article reveals a new perspective on how the outcome of debates in the earliest years of the Islamic Republic between the parliament and the Guardian Council went against the grain of traditional discussions on reconciling new laws with the shari‘a’s principles. Using academic literature, Sunni and Shi‘i jurisprudence, and, most significantly, one of Ayatullah Hashemi Rafsanjani’s (d. 2017) final interviews, this article shows that in these debates, Rafsanjani invoked the welfare of the state and national interest using the traditionally legal and limited concept of ma?la?a to justify new laws. Khomeini, on the other hand, re-imagined ma?la?a as necessary for Islamic Republic’s existence. Curiously, Khomeini’s re-imagining bears unexpected parallels with Jacques Derrida’s ‘supplement’, which, unlike ma?la?a, maintained human existence while the latter maintained political existence. Both ma?la?a and the supplement, however, provide a means and explanation for the defence of political and human existence during a real or perceived crisis.     

“(Mis)interpreting Threats: A Case Study of the Korean War”

During the fall of 1950, many American national security officials concluded that the Chinese Communists would refrain from undertaking full-scale intervention in the Korean War. Contrary to most secondary accounts, however, officials who doubted that Communist China would intervene nonetheless drew increasingly worrisome signs from incoming verbal threats and intelligence signals. A small minority of officials in the State Department expressed considerable concern over the dangers of having United Nations forces cross into North Korea and approach the Yalu River. This growing concern and the minority of opposing voices, however, did not override the prevailing judgment—held by hawkish members of the State Department and the CIA as a whole—that China would more likely increase covert involvement in the Korean War, but would not undertake full-scale military intervention. Theories of biased assimilation and risk-taking practices have divergent success in predicting American reactions to the threat. Only further archival research can shed light on how this case of American strategic surprise comports with these theories.     

Education as an equalizer and challenges to the American Republic

This paper compares the educational system in the United States with those in two other countries. One is Sweden, a developed country that enjoys peace and social tranquility; the other is Iraq, a developing country that is torn by wars and tyrannical political systems. Based on such comparison and while acknowledging historic differences between the three countries, this paper will identify ＂cost of education＂ as a major causal agent in producing two social groups. The first group is a small, elitist cluster emerging as the leading force in all aspects of society and governance; the second group is a larger under-educated cluster, suffering from insufficient resources and forced into marginalization as voiceless, non-productive, non-competitive and expendable segment in society while plagued by poverty, or under unemployment, crime and economic hardship. In recognizing the limitation of access to education by the second group as the primary causal element in such disparity, this paper recommends ＂free access to quality education＂ as a fundamental right for all Americans and as an equalizer in correcting the American regime values in order to remain competitive in challenging.