Diversifying Local Government Revenue in Bosnia-Herzegovina Through an Area-Based Property Tax

After a bitter and devastating war, Bosnia and Herzegovina is making slow but steady progress rebuilding its economy and government structure. As normalcy returns, the demand for government services invariably will continue to increase, especially at the sub-entity levels of government. Unfortunately, the current fiscal structure severely restricts the resources available to local governments. This article suggests that Bosnia and Herzegovina consider adopting a property tax as a means to provide much- needed revenue. After describing the current governmental and fiscal system that has evolved since the signing of the Dayton Accords, the authors discuss why an area-based property tax, rather than a more traditional property tax based on capital value or market prices, makes sense for this country in transition.     

Governance from Below in Bolivia: A Theory of Local Government with Two Empirical Tests

This article examines decentralization through the lens of the local dynamics it unleashed in the much‐noted case of Bolivia. It argues that the national effects of decentralization are largely the sum of its local‐level effects. To understand decentralization, therefore, we must first understand how local government works. The article explores the deep economic and institutional determinants of government quality in two extremes of municipal performance. From this it derives a model of local government responsiveness as the product of political openness and substantive competition. The quality of local politics, in turn, emerges endogenously as the joint product of the lobbying and political engagement of local firms and interests and the organizational density and ability of civil society. The analysis tests the theory's predictions on a database containing all Bolivian municipalities. The theory proves robust. The combined methodology provides a higher‐order empirical rigor than either approach can alone.     

Children with Incarcerated Parents and Developmental Trajectories of Internalizing Problems across Adolescence

American Journal of Criminal Justice - Research over the past several decades has documented the effect of parental incarceration on child development. While many findings point to a negative...     

Gender and Class Negotiations in an Edwardian Welfare Organisation: a Tale of Two Women

This article considers the role played by two women in the establishment of a ‘Waifs Rescue Agency and Street Vendors’ Club’, opened for boys in the East End of Sunderland in 1902. The parts played by the women enabled the male managers to resolve tensions relating to discourses of ‘rescue’ associated with a Barnardo model of social work, and the realities of the practical need of local boys for a place of recreation more appropriate to club work. The club minutes illustrate the association between middle‐class female power and the caring aspects of child rescue enshrined within social work. Resistance of local families to rescue afforded a place for working‐class female intervention but only if it remained invisible and under the protection of the middle‐class female presence. The story of the two women explains how institutional masculine power was reasserted through a reconfiguration of practices and relationships.     

‘The Women's Branch of the Commonwealth Relations Office’: the Society for the Overseas Settlement of British Women and the long life of empire migration

ABSTRACT

This article concerns the Society for the Overseas Settlement of British Women from its formation in 1919 to its closure in 1964 upon the withdrawal of the Treasury grant that provided the bulk of its funding. Describing the imperial network of voluntary organisations and migrants, through which the Society operated, it shows continuity in its activities, geographical remit and personnel from the interwar period despite efforts, especially by the 1960s, to reframe the Society's imperial mission with the rhetoric of Commonwealth and development. It highlights the persistence of imperial institutions and networks after the Second World War.     

The Relevance of Religion for Political Office: Voter Bias Toward Candidates from Different Religious Backgrounds

Over the last several decades, Gallup data shows an increased willingness among members of the public to support presidential candidates from a wide range of religious backgrounds, though a nontrivial proportion of the public is still unwilling to vote for an Atheist, Mormon, or Muslim. What underlies this opposition? We argue that voters evaluate candidates from religious out-groups more negatively on a wide range of dimensions considered desirable for political office, and that this bias should be more pronounced among the highly religious. We show support for these arguments using a survey experiment fielded with YouGov. Atheists and Muslim candidates were perceived more negatively on a large set of traits considered desirable for political office compared to candidates from religious in-groups, and Mormon candidates fall somewhere in between. The Atheist and Muslim candidates were also perceived as less competent on a diverse set of issues.