National Election Cycles and the Intermittent Political Safeguards of Federalism

Scholars have challenged the notion of "political safeguardsof federalism" in a large and well-developed body of work onthe use of coercive policy tools by the federal government.This study suggests, however, that there may be some utilityin re-examining the political factors that help to constrainthe growth of national power. Specifically, it argues that theneed to win votes from subnational constituencies makes nationallawmakers less supportive of mandates, preemptions, and taxsanctions during election cycles and, thus, provides an intermittentsafeguard of state authority. It tests and finds evidence forhypotheses related to that general argument in analyses of thepassage of coercive federalist policies over the last thirtyyears.     

A Chinese Medicine Convert

正I have a confession,and it’s one that I’m sure my Chinese colleagues will berate me for:When it came to Traditional Chinese Medicine(TCM),I was a bit of a doubter.I didn’t doubt that Chinese medicine could be effective.I just wasn’t sure that in this age of modern medicine,where pharmacies have come to resemble Hogwarts Potions Labs,     

Stratification by regulation: Are bootleggers and Baptists biased?

This paper investigates whether and to what extent regulation may be associated with wage inequality. Using regulation measures created by Al-Ubaydli and McLaughlin (Regul Govern 11:109–123, 2017), I find that regulation is associated with larger within-occupation wage inequality. Specifically, I show that a worker at the 90th wage percentile realizes a raise of $1.19 per hour relative to the 10th percentile earner for each standard deviation increase in regulation. That represents a 3.5% raise for a worker at the 90th percentile. Overall, increases in the regulatory burden are associated with 42–45% of the change in the 90th–10th percentile wage ratio from 2002 through 2014.

     

Back to Stormont: The New Decade,New Approach Agreement and What it Means for Northern Ireland

The decision of the Democratic Unionist Party and Sinn Féin to once again share power in Northern Ireland has ended a three-year hiatus in the region’s devolved government. The deal which resurrects the devolved institutions—New Decade, New Approach—is not short of ambition. It introduces significant institutional reforms which place the institutions on a more sustainable footing and limit the potential for abuse of the Assembly’s infamous Petition of Concern. Nettles have been grasped on issues to do with language, culture, and identity that have long vexed political parties in Northern Ireland. Tucked away in the deal’s appendices are commitments to implement outstanding pledges made in previous agreements, plus ambitious plans for the new Northern Ireland Executive. However, as parties in the region were quick to discover, aspects of this deal are easier said than done. This article considers what New Decade, New Approach promises and, if fully implemented, what its implications are for politics and governance in Northern Ireland.     

Campaign Advertising and the Stimulation and Activation of the Authoritarian Personality

This research examines whether authoritarianism can be stimulated and activated by politicians. The traditional belief is that psychological traits are basically quasipermanent structures that consistently determine behavior, but newer research suggests that these traits can be stimulated. This research tests whether campaigns can stimulate traits with targeted messages. I do so by exposing subjects in an experiment to political television advertising that was designed to stimulate known correlates of authoritarianism, such as fear. The results show that authoritarianism is stimulated in treatment groups that watched advertising designed to invoke threat and the strong-father metaphor and the treatment effect is greater on conservatives. I also show that watching these commercials leads to an activation of authoritarianism that influences its predictive power over support for torture. This suggests that politicians can use emotional appeals to stimulate advantageous personality traits, and that these ads also influence the public's attitudes through activation.     

Social Network Analysis of German Foreign Fighters in Syria and Iraq

ABSTRACT

Why do Westerners become foreign fighters in civil conflicts? We explore this question through original data collection on German foreign fighters in Syria and Iraq, and test three sets of hypotheses that revolve around socioeconomic integration, online radicalization, and social network mobilization. We conduct link analysis to map the network of German foreign fighters prior to their mobilization, and marshal evidence to assess the validity of competing explanations. We find only modest support for the integration deficit hypothesis, and meager support for the social media radicalization theory. Instead, the preponderance of evidence suggests that interpersonal ties largely drive the German foreign fighter phenomenon. Recruitment featured clustered mobilization and bloc recruitment within interconnected radical milieus, leading us to conclude that peer-to-peer networks are the most important mobilization factor for German foreign fighters.     

Trademarks as Sources of Market Power: Legal and Historical Encounters

Although the history of trademarks is well catalogued in various review articles and books in different jurisdictions, one particular missing link is whether trademarks are sources of market power—from a historical perspectives. This article addresses exactly that question, and presents some of the legal encounters that support the historical narrative that trademarks are sources of market power, by examining selected trademark cases—centuries apart in England and the United States. The overall purpose of these discussions is aimed at situating the law and policy of trademarks in the antitrust regime when significant historical trademark cases are brought into the equation and whether a prediction can be made that trademarks are increasingly heading into a clash with the antitrust regime.