Regulations,Brokers, and Interlinkages: The Institutional Organization of Wholesale Markets in India

There is a vigorous debate on the liberalisation of heavily regulated agricultural markets in India. A crucial institutional characteristic is the role of state regulated brokers in wholesale markets. Relying on data from a unique survey in Uttarakhand, a state in North India, we find that regulations on margins are ineffective as most brokers charge rates that significantly exceed the regulated ones. We also find that a majority of farmers self-select into long-term relationships with brokers. These relationships allow some of the farmers to interlink credit and insurance markets to the agricultural output market. This interlinkage does however not appear to be an instrument for farmer exploitation (as it does not lead to worse inputs, high interest rates, or lower implicit output prices), but is seemingly an extra service by brokers as to establish farmer loyalty to them and thus to ensure future supplies.     

The Institutional Basis of Democratic Accountability

This article offers an institutional approach to accountability in representative democracies. Theorising accountability comprises both settled polities with well-entrenched institutions and unsettled polities with weak or contested institutions, and it is argued that agency theory and formal principal–agent models giving priority to compliance and control usually make assumptions that are unlikely to apply to the latter type of polity. An institutional approach challenges principal–agent assumptions regarding what accountability means and implies, what is involved in demanding, rendering, assessing and responding to accounts and assigning accountability, and how accountability institutions work and change. Accountability is related to fundamental issues in democratic politics and the paper treats distributions of information, normative standards of assessment, authority and power relations as endogenous to democratic politics. The paper also holds that institutions affect actors’ identities and roles through socialisation, internalisation and habitualisation, as well as through external incentives. An aspiration is to take a modest step towards understanding areas of application for competing approaches to democratic accountability.     

Recruitment and Expertise in the European Commission

The article examines the changes in the European Commission’s recruitment practices from its creation in the 1950s until today. Based on the insight that recruitment shapes the role of professional experts in public bureaucracies, the article traces the emphasis on specialist skills and qualifications in the Commission’s recruitment competitions (the concours) over time. It finds that the selection of policy staff to the Commission has become more generalist since the 1960s, a surprising finding given that the organisation is often regarded as a ‘technocracy’ dominated by experts. The article attributes this development to the multinational character of the administration, as the need to integrate citizens from new member states has prompted the Commission to rely on one-size-fits-all recruitment tests. It also discusses whether the declining emphasis on specialist knowledge in staff selection can be seen as part of a broader trend towards a more generalist Commission, where officials are required to change jobs frequently and where expert functions are outsourced to other bodies.     

Party choice in hard times: Group-specific responses to economic downturns in Sweden

This article asks if, when, and why different groups of voters behave differently in the wake of economic downturns. We examine two Swedish elections (1994 and 2010) that were held just after two deep recessions (the financial crisis of 1991–1993 and the 2008–2009 Great Recession). We find that group differences were much larger in 2010 than they were in 1994. After the 1991–1993 recession, the government's electoral support declined across the board. In 2010, there were large differences between voters with low economic status (who were unlikely to support the government) and voters with high economic status (who were likely to do so). Our findings suggest that group differences in electoral behavior after an economic downturn depend on contextual differences across elections. We argue that future research should pay close attention to the magnitude of economic shocks, the development of asset prices (especially real estate), and changes in social policy.     

USA,the West and the Rest after September 11/October 7, 2001+: A Midterm Report

This article argues that if the proponents of immigration reform have it their way, the proposed guest worker program will transform American citizenship from an institution based on civic membership to one based on residence rights and socio-economic status. American citizenship, now a relatively accessible option, will become a closed-off status, unattainable for the majority of temporary workers. With this policy, the United States will create a permanently disadvantaged category of guest workers and further reduce the competitiveness of low-skilled minimum wage American workers. The concept of immigration has begun to change from an inclusive notion granting equal rights to immigrants and citizens to a more ambivalent model emphasizing obligations and responsibilities of newcomers while withholding social, political, and legal rights. Guest worker programs with limited residence will accentuate for immigrants that they must pay taxes and benefit the American economy, obey US laws and otherwise contribute to the host society which, in turn, has no reciprocal obligations toward them. This will exacerbate the already existing two-tiered system of human and social rights, creating a new feudalism in America.     

Sustainable development,sustainable livelihoods and land reform in South Africa: a conceptual and ethical inquiry

In this article various necessary conceptual linkages as well as contingent discontinuities between the concepts of land reform, sustainable livelihoods and sustainable development are studied. Exploring the complex relationship between land reform and sustainable development through a critical analysis of the concept of sustainable livelihoods, we argue that a strong ethical case for land reform as a component of sustainable development can be constructed by appealing to principles such as justice, equity and the obligations that we have towards fellow humans, as well as the environment, but fail to discharge if land reform is neglected. The case against land reform and its importance for sustainable livelihoods and sustainable development is also considered. We argue that this case is either inconclusive, or at best shows limits to the value of land reform in certain contexts only. It also suggests pitfalls to be avoided when land reform is being introduced, and can thus be regarded as enhancing the case for land reform that avoids such pitfalls. We furthermore argue that the complex set of relations that emerges proves to justify increased emphasis on implementation of land reform as a contribution towards sustainable development.     

Realising the Public Person

In response to a crisis of representative democracy in many Western countries, (local) governments have introduced instruments to circumvent political parties in order to establish more direct links between citizens and governments. One of these instruments is rendering electoral systems more personal, that is by giving more weight to preferential voting. Preferential voting is important since it constitutes a major element of the personal vote and it determines whether parties or voters are the main decision-makers in designating representatives. We have investigated, in relation to the local elections in Flanders (Belgium), in what kind of municipalities voters are most likely to cast a preferential vote, whether the electoral reform granting voters more power has had an effect, and if it has had an effect, in what kind of municipalities. We have put forward five groups of explanatory variables: socio-demographic, political, social capital, geographic and ballot form variables. Our analysis shows that variables from each group correlate significantly with the percentage of preferential votes, with population density and electronic voting as most important variables. A comparison between the 1994 and 2006 elections often yields the reverse picture: characteristics of municipalities that have a positive effect on the percentage of preferential votes cast have a negative impact on the evolution of preferential voting and vice versa (electronic voting being an exception). This results in the only obvious effects of the electoral reform being seen in urban municipalities, because elsewhere local politics was already to a large extent personalised by politicians being locally known. We could conclude that in these rural municipalities the electoral reform was superfluous.     

When Private Talk Becomes Public Political Expression: Examining a Practice-Field Hypothesis of Youth Political Development

Previous research indicates the importance of interpersonal communication in the political socialization process. Investigations of political talk have mostly been restricted to frequency, and the theorizing of its effects centered on cognitive outcomes such as knowledge and ideological identification. This study examined the part played by private political talk in promoting expressive forms of political participation among adolescents. Recent survey panel data from Swedish 13–18-year-olds were analyzed. Results showed that frequency of private political talk predicted the extent of public political expression even when self-selection and previous levels of political expression were accounted for. Data offered some support for an expected interaction of private political talk and political interest in predicting public expression. The overall findings are consistent with the theoretical idea that political talk offers adolescents opportunities to enact participation in safe settings, and that this is a mechanism that can explain why talking about politics is favorable for political development during adolescence.     

Suicidal electrocution in Sydney: a 10-year case review

A retrospective study was undertaken of all cases of death due to suicidal electrocution in Sydney, Australia between 1996 and 2005. A total of 25 cases were identified with 20 cases (80%) as a result of direct attachment to an electrical outlet and five cases (20%) as a result of immersion in a body of water with an electrical appliance. Twenty of the 25 individuals were men (mean age = 57 years, range 22-90) and five were women (mean age 67, range 53-88). At least 35% of decedents were either currently working or had worked as electricians. Electrical timers had been used in eight (32%) cases, the fuse blown in one case, but the remaining 16 (64%) bodies were "live" on arrival of witnesses or electricity personnel. This study demonstrates the phenomenon of electrical suicide as a regular occurrence in Sydney. We highlight the need for investigators and emergency workers to remain vigilant upon discovery of electrical suicides, due to the fact that most bodies remain electrically active after death.