Effective Global Economic Governance by the World Trade Organization

The World Trade Organization (‘WTO’) is the principalinternational institution for the management and regulationof the process of economic globalization. Its effectivenessin fulfilling this important task, however, leaves much to bedesired. On 4 and 5 February 2005, the Faculty of Law of MaastrichtUniversity organized an international research conference entitled‘In Search of Effective Global Economic Governance: TheCase of the World Trade Organization’. This conferencebrought together academics, WTO officials, government diplomats,national trade officials, representatives of business associationsand NGOs to discuss a wide range of issues, including: possibleimprovements to and alternatives for consensus decision-makingin the WTO; issues of transparency, democratic legitimacy andthe participation of civil society in WTO decision-making; secondarylaw-making by WTO bodies; and an expanded role for the WTO Secretariat.It is important that legal and political science scholars focustheir research efforts on the reforms needed to transform theWTO into an instrument of effective global economic governance.The main objective of the conference was, therefore, to definea comprehensive agenda for research into the institutional reformof the WTO. This article is, above all, a report of the conferenceand summarizes the main arguments made by the participants.     

System-Justifying Functions of Complementary Regional and Ethnic Stereotypes: Cross-National Evidence

According to system justification theory, stereotyping is an ideological process that serves to justify the status quo and bolster the legitimacy of the existing social order. The present research investigates the system-justifying role of complementary stereotypes in which high-status groups are represented as agentic and achievement-oriented and low-status groups as communal and interpersonally oriented. We demonstrate that such complementary stereotypes: (a) reflect a high degree of consensus across high- and low-status perceiver groups; (b) are endorsed more strongly to the extent that system justification motives are chronically or temporarily activated; and (c) serve an ideological function by enhancing the perceived legitimacy of the existing social system. Evidence concerning regional and ethnic stereotypes in Italy, England, and Israel provides converging evidence for the system-justifying function of complementary stereotypes and reveals remarkable similarity in the contents of stereotypes of different groups that happen to occupy similar status positions in their respective societies.     

Policy Styles and the Swiss Executive Federalism: Comparing Diverging Styles of Cantonal Implementation of the Federal Law on Unemployment

This article focuses on the implementation of the federal law on unemployment insurance (LACI) by the Swiss cantons. Starting in the mid 90s, the second revision of the LACI reformed the Swiss labour market policy. Resulting from a political compromise at the federal parliament between left and right wing parties, this law juxtaposes instruments of reinsertion of the unemployed into the labour market with instruments of control of the unemployed. Thus, the implementation of this federal law varies not only by the degree of application but also by the orientation of application. Some cantons implement the reinsertion instruments and neglect the control instruments, others make intensive use of the control instruments and neglect the reinsertion instruments. Some cantons make an intensive use of both types of instruments while a last group of cantons implements the law in a very sketchy way. The second part of this article deals with the concept of policy style, operationalised around four variables, as an explanation of the diversity of LACI cantonal implementation modes. One quantitative variable—the scope of state intervention—is statistically tested in the entire range of Swiss cantons. The other variables—style of state intervention, co‐ordination and interaction modes of social actors and the main traits of the regional political culture—are examined in six cantonal case studies of the LACI implementation process.     

The Role of Aggressive Peer Norms in Elementary School Children’s Perceptions of Classroom Peer Climate and School Adjustment

Journal of Youth and Adolescence - Although prior research has indicated that peer norms for aggression enhance the spread of aggression in classrooms, it is unclear to date how these norms relate...     

Developing Identification with Humanity and Social Well-Being Through Social Identification with Peer Groups in Adolescence

Journal of Youth and Adolescence - Developmental literature highlights that cognitive, moral, and affective development proceeds from concrete operations to more abstract ones. However, it is not...     

Why do public agencies seek accountability? The role of audiences

Accountability-seeking behaviors of public agencies are said to be motivated, among others, by attempts at pre-empting stricter mandatory provisions, logic of appropriateness motives, Machiavellian opportunism, reputational considerations, and a perceived need to compensate for the inadequacy of traditional arrangements. However, we do not know when a particular rationale, or a combination thereof, prevails. This study therefore examines how public agencies seek accountability, to whom and for what reason. Relying on data from 15 interviews with top-level managers/directors and 75 survey responses, it demonstrates that the type of audience to whom the account is rendered is a key explanatory factor as to why specific mechanisms become “activated.” This study furthermore uncovers why certain rationales are associated with specific types of audiences. Thus, rather than a “holy grail” of one set of driving motivations, our study suggests, one should look at the audience to understand why a public agency seeks accountability.