The Transatlantic Origins of the Business Trust

The trust form may have afforded transaction planners all the incidents of so-called ‘corporateness' prior to the enactment of general incorporation statutes, but in England the Companies Acts hindered the development of the business trust, and in the United States, the inability of the common law to distinguish adequately between partnerships and trusts made its use uncertain. Whereas the common law in England charted a complicated path to circumvent prohibitions in the Companies Acts, undoing confusion in American common law, which relied on English precedent, required legislative intervention. This narrative complicates interpretations of the state's role in the development of organizational law. The state could help to break down intellectual barriers impeding the progress of the common law as much as the common law could seek out ways in which to circumvent the strictures of state-imposed regulation.     

The Left and Constitutional Reform,Gladstone to Miliband

Nineteenth‐century constitutional reformers focussed on parliament. Their central idea was citizenship, modelled variously on the democracy of ancient Athens, small communities like Switzerland, and especially the United States, a particular inspiration for Gladstone who admired its constitution. The 1911 Parliament Act marked the final triumph of the Victorian Liberals legacy, with a very different impetus coming from Lloyd George during his coalition. Labour focussed on class, not the constitution, though the ILP favoured localism and devolution, before succumbing to a centralising unionism. Tawney championed the idea of social citizenship, emphasising activism and education. After 1945, Labour did not prioritize constitutional reform until the dramatic changes that came after 1997. Gordon Brown then revived the notion of citizenship, and possible codification, in pursuing the values of Britishness. Labour's legacy was a confusing one. But Ed Miliband's policy revision could reclaim the idea of citizenship, an egalitarian concept to counter the inequalities of class.     

Institutions and coalition formation: The German election of 2005

The German election of 2005 creates three puzzles for the literature on coalition formation. First, the election led to a rare event in German politics and in parliamentary systems more generally, a ‘grand coalition’ between the two largest parties. Second, a minority government, something which has never occurred in postwar Germany (except briefly as the result of the breakdown of a government coalition), was in fact one of the two most likely governments to form. Third, the parties of the left retained a comfortable majority in the Bundestag; however they did not form a coalition. The election of 2005 appears unique in German politics, but we argue that its outcome is easily understood using existing institutional theories of coalition formation. We examine party positions in two dimensions (economic and social) using computer-based word scoring of party manifestos. We demonstrate that the conditions for a SPD minority government were present in Germany due to its central location in the policy space. While the configuration of policy positions would thus have allowed the SPD to form a minority government, the role of the Federal President as a veto player could have prevented it from forming, and the presence of an opposition-controlled upper house would have decreased its effectiveness. The mere possibility of forming a minority government gave the SPD a bargaining advantage in the coalition negotiations with the CDU/CSU. We show that in the final portfolio allocation, the SPD received ministries which control approximately two-thirds of the federal budget.     

The centre holds: The 1986 Netherlands election

It is often argued that clientelism is a key feature of electoral mobilisation in southern European democracies. This article examines the evidence for clientelism in the Spanish case, assessing the recruitment, redistributive strategies and electoral performance of governing parties in the 1977–96 period. It finds little evidence of extensive clientelistic mobilisation; instead, political parties’ use of state resources is largely consistent with their programmatic and ideological positions. ‘Old’ clientelism from the pre‐democratic era mostly did not survive the change of regime, whilst ‘new’ clientelism based on the expansion of state employment contributed to the Socialist Party's organisational consolidation, but was not a significant feature of its strategy of electoral mobilisation.     

Europe: Past,present, future

Jean Monnet: The First Statesman of Interdependence. By FRANÇOIS DUCHÊNE. New York, Norton, 1994. Pp.458, notes, sources, publications, index. £22 (cloth), £10.95 (paper) ISBN 0–393–03497–6 and ‐393–31490–1.

Elusive Union: The Process of Economic and Monetary Union in Europe. By KENNETH DYSON. London, Longman, 1994. Pp.xiii + 361, index. £40 (cloth), £17.99 (paper). ISBN 0–582–225132‐X and 0–582–25131–1.

The Road to Monetary Union in Europe: The Emperor, the Kings, and the Genies. By TOMMASO PADOA‐SCHIOPPA, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1994. Pp.286, index. £30 (cloth). ISBN 0–19–828843–3.

The Rotten Heart of Europe, The Dirty War for Europe's Money. By BERNARD CONNALLY. London: Faber, 1995. Pp.xvii + 427, references, index. £17.50 (cloth). ISBN 0–571–17520–1.

Europe: The Strange Superpower. By DAVID BUCHAN. Aldershot: Dartmouth, 1993. Pp.181 index. £35 (cloth); £17.50 (paper). ISBN 1–85521–441–5 and ‐439–3.

The European Sisyphus: Essays on Europe, 1964–1994. By STANLEY HOFFMANN, Boulder, Westview Press, 1995. Pp.x + 313, index. £58.50 (cloth); £13.50 (paper). ISBN 0–81–332–3200 and ‐2381–9.

Redefining Europe, New Patterns of Conflict and Cooperation. Edited by HUGH MIALL. London: Pinter. The Royal Institute of International Affairs, 1994. Pp.293. Index. £45 (cloth); £14.99 (paper). ISBN 1–85567–257‐X and ‐258–8.

Governing the New Europe. Edited by JACKHAYWARD and EDWARD C. PAGE. Oxford: Polity, 1995. Pp.418, index. £45 (cloth); £14.99 (paper). ISBN 0–7456–1219–9 and ‐1220–2.     

The Erosion of Party Politics in Britain

This article looks at the erosion of democratic practice enacted by "New" Labour in Britain under the leadership of Tony Blair. Building on the internal reforms of the 1980s, the process of Labour Party "modernization" has created an exclusive, top-down managerial style of leadership. This type of party leadership and management has far-reaching implications for British politics more generally, not least the role of political parties. The current crisis of the Conservatives and the destruction of representative democracy within the Labour Party pose serious questions regarding the medium-term future of parties as voluntary membership organizations. These changes are placed in the context of a possible longer-term transformation of British political structures in order to exchange the long-established administration of the Conservative Party for a new type of governmental machinery. The aim is not a new "traditional" party of government, but a partyless formation built around a dominant central presidential figure and his office—a change which necessitates abolishing the Labour Party and social democracy as they currently exist. It is argued that this anticipated remedy to a protracted crisis of the British state accords closely to the requirements of neoliberal economic management, while drawing upon developments in the wider global environment. However, if this is to succeed, Blair's "modernizing" tendency needs to be able to articulate a coherent ideology that strikes a popular chord. Thus far, Blair's managerial approach to politics may have scored a few points against the old party ideologies, but it has also undermined attempts to promote an alternative ideology—even one of a "partyless" nature.     

‘THEY HAVEN'T GONE AWAY,YOU KNOW’. IRISH REPUBLICAN ‘DISSIDENTS’ AND ‘ARMED STRUGGLE’

The shift by the provisional Republican movement towards constitutional politics in Northern Ireland has caused splits among Republicans. The formation of the Continuity and Real Irish Republican Armies, pledged to continue ‘armed struggle’ against British rule in Northern Ireland, was predictable, given the historical propensity of Republicans to divide amid claims of ‘betrayal’ by the leadership. The odds against militarist Republican ‘dissidents’ appear overwhelming, as they lack weapons, members and support. Sinn Féin has carried most of the Nationalist constituency on its transition towards constitutionalism and the Irish Republic has abandoned its claim to Northern Ireland. Nonetheless, continued political uncertainty over the province's political future has contributed to the maintenance of a long-standing militaristic tradition within Irish republicanism.     

Religion,Postmodernization, and Israeli Approaches to the Conflict with the Palestinians

ABSTRACT

This article analyzes the relationship between religion and Israeli approaches to the conflict with the Palestinians. It seeks to explain why religion has become closely correlated with hawkishness since 1967. While the Jewish religion advocates no single approach to the conflict with the Palestinians, the religious have been significantly more hawkish than the nonreligious in Israel. This is because religion in Israel has reinforced ethnocentricity among the Jewish public, which in turn is highly correlated with hawkishness. Yet the correlation between religion and hawkishness only became politically prominent after 1967. This prominence is a function of the way religion has interacted with changes in Israeli political culture that were driven by the process of postmodernization. Whereas mainstream Israeli political culture has become less ethnocentric and more liberal, and consequently more dovish, the religious community has moved in the opposite direction. In this vein, religion has served to shield its adherents from most of the effects of postmodernization while simultaneously encouraging countervailing trends, which accounts for the polarization referred to above. In other words, it is the way religion has interacted with postmodernization that has made it the most effective incubator for hawkishness in Israel since 1967.