Identity,Solidarity, and Islam in Europe

Populists argue that Islamic immigrants are fundamentally different from Europeans. As evidence, they point to notions of religious and cultural identity. Such arguments have popular resonance. As more mainstream politicians pick up on these themes, they begin to take on an air of common sense. Nevertheless, they are mistaken. Europe has a long track record of reconciling competing identities. This has happened by focusing on patterns of interaction (solidarity) rather than obvious indicators of distinctiveness. Using the examples of the Netherlands and Turkey, this article illustrates the wide spectrum of European approaches to the challenge of getting different groups to share the same geographic space.     

“How to Fight Savage Tribes”: The Global War on Terror in Historical Perspective

The Bush administration's “Global War on Terror” has, by both defenders and critics, been characterized as unique. However, as this article shows, there is a long tradition, both in the United States and in Europe, of fighting wars against “savage tribes”—against enemies who fail to make a distinction between soldiers and civilians, and who use terror as a weapon. The problem of how to fight such groups was much discussed in the legal literature of the nineteenth century. This is a discussion from which it is possible to learn contemporary lessons.     

Creating Direct Incentives for Wildlife Conservation in Community-Based Natural Resource Management Programmes in Botswana

Community Based Natural Resource Management (CBNRM) programmes in Botswana were intended to create a wildlife conservation incentive by providing rural communities with tourism rights to wildlife—with limited effect. The 2007 CBNRM policy, increasing central control of CBNRM, is likely to further undermine communities' incentive to conserve wildlife. A complementary conservation corps is needed to create direct incentives to conserve wildlife and to reduce human-wildlife conflict. Responses to contingent behaviour questions indicate broad community support for such a programme and the availability of a suitable labour force willing to work at costs that can be financed from existing CBNRM revenues.     

Injured but Not Yet Dead: A Bottom-Up Perspective on the Swedish Governmental Commissions

This article analyzes the recurrent “erosion thesis” in the governance literature, arguing that bureaucratic or procedural public-sector institutions have come to play a less significant role in public-policy formation. Evidence from the Swedish policy-making institutions referred to as “governmental commissions” and adoption of the perspective of interest organizations support the claim. Using various theories of institutional change, I show that increased government control has reduced the influence of governmental commissions on policy, but not eliminated the belief held by interest organizations that the commissions are legitimate institutions.     

The bureaucratic characteristics of late 19th century railroad organization

The principal purpose of the research reported here was to assess the extent to which the organizations created by 19th I century railroad managers possessed the structural, procedural, and personnel characteristics of bureaucracy. Historical evidence I indicates that the structural and procedural characteristics were quite prominent, but biographical data about the managers suggests that the personnel characteristics were less so, particularly with respect to the key factor of managerial career development. The managers who created these bureaucratic organizations did not have organizational models or principles available to them, but rather employed a contmgency approach to their organizing decisions. The biographical data suggests that few of them had relevant experiences on foreign railroads or in the Civil War army to guide their organizing decisions. Finally, the biographical data suggests that late 19th century railroad managers were not only a clearly defined occupational group, but were also distinct with respect to selected social characteristics, forming he vanguard of the emerging managerial class.     

Identity and redistribution

This paper models the interaction between individuals’ identity choices and redistribution. Both redistributive policies and identity choices are endogenous, and there might be multiple equilibria. The model is applied to ethnicity and social class. In an equilibrium with high taxes, the poor identify as poor and favor high taxes. In an equilibrium with low taxes, at least some of the poor identify with their ethnic group and favor low taxes. The model predicts that redistribution is highest when society is ethnically homogeneous, but the effect of ethnic diversity on redistribution is not necessarily monotonic.     

Governance in the European union

Governance in the EU. Edited by GARY MARKS, FRITZ W.SCHARPF, PHILIPPE C. SCHMITTER and WOLFGANG STREECK. London: Sage, 1996. Pp.192, biblio, index. £37.50 (cloth); £12.95 (paper). ISBN 0–7619–5134–2 and ‐5135–0.

Elitism, Populism, and European Politics, Edited by JACK HAYWARD. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1996. Pp.265, index. £35 (cloth). ISBN 0–19–828035–1.

Adjusting to Europe. The Impact of the EU on National Institutions and Policies. Edited by Y. MÉNY, PIERRE MULLER and JEAN‐LOUIS QUERMONNE. London and NY: Routledge, 1996. Pp.181, index. £40 (cloth); £13.99 (paper). ISBN 0–415–14410–8 and ‐14409–4.

Cohesion Policy and European Integration: Building Multi‐Level Governance. Edited by LIESBET HOOGHE. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996. Pp.458, biblio., index. £40 (cloth). ISBN 0–19–828064–5.

The European Union and Members States. Towards Institutional Fusion? Edited by DIETRICH ROMETSCH and WOLFGANG WESSELS. Manchester and NY: Manchester University Press, 1996. Pp.382, index. £45 (cloth). ISBN 0–7190–4809–5.

The Impact of European Integration. Political, Sociological and Economic Changes. Edited by GEORGE A. KOURVETARIS and ANDREAS MOSCHONAS. Westport and London: Praeger, 1996. Pp.335, index, annotated biblio. £51.95 (cloth). ISBN 0–275–94952–4.

European Welfare Policy. Squaring the Welfare Circle. Edited by VIC GEORGE and PETER TAYLOR‐GOOBY. Pp.224, tables, index. Macmillan, 1996. £11.99 (paper). ISBN 0–333–60917–4.

European Integration and Disintegration. East and West. Edited by ROBERT BIDELEUX and RICHARD TAYLOR. London and NY: Routledge, 1996. Pp.298, index. £45 (cloth); £13.99 (paper). ISBN 0–415–13740–3 and ‐13741–1.

The European Union: How Democratic Is It? Edited by SVEIN ANDERSEN and KJELL A.ELIASSEN, London, Thousand Oaks, CA and New Delhi: Sage, 1996. Pp.295, biblio, index. £13.95 (paper). ISBN 0–7‐619–5113‐X.

Democracy, Sovereignty and the European Union. By MICHAEL NEWMAN. London: Hurst, 1996. Pp.236. £30 (cloth); £10.95 (paper). ISBN 1–85065–256–2 and 255–4.     

U.S. workers weigh‐in on the issue of portable benefits

As the sharing economy continues to grow and diversify, various institutes and members of government are contemplating the need for new employment regulations, including those related to portable benefits. However, there has been no known inquiry into this issue with those U.S. workers in the sharing economy. This paper presents exploratory research on the subject of portable benefits for workers engaged in the sharing economy and is intended to inform the development of future research questions and to determine the best research design and data collection method for a more extensive study. Arguably, rideshare drivers represent a large constituency of sharing economy workers in the United States and were utilized as the study population. Through authorized access to closed social media sites, this study explored the desire among rideshare drivers for portable benefits, how these benefits should be funded, and how such programs would be administered. The findings indicate that the majority of respondents were interested in the availability of portable benefits, although the preference for specific benefits varied widely among respondents. More than half believe companies, along with workers, should fund these benefits, and slightly less than half believe private sector third parties like insurance companies should administer these programs. However, given the transient nature of this workforce, administering such programs could prove to be quite challenging for organizations and plan administrators alike.