Ideological cohesion between congress and the president: Does the road to the white house matter?

This study examines the impact of US presidential nomination politics on congressional‐executive relations. In particular, we pose the critical question of whether nomination reforms have had any systematic effect on the inter‐branch ideological gap. Using an indicator of liberal voting in Congress and a derived liberalism score for presidents, we analyse the ideological disparity between the branches over a 40‐year period from 1949 to 1993. Results do not support the view offered by Polsby and others that a shift toward more open and participatory decision making in the post‐reform nomination process has increased the probability that presidents will be ideologically distant from their fellow partisans in Congress. Indeed, the situation is quite the opposite, with post‐reform presidents being closer to the ideological centre of gravity of their parties in Congress than are presidents who reached the White House in the pre‐reform era.     

Globalisation and resistance in post-cold war Mexico: Difference,citizenship and biodiversity conflicts in Chiapas

In the post-cold war era changes at the global, regional, national and local level are altering earlier ways of understanding and practising citizenship. In Mexico the decline of the state-guided national development project (1930s-70s) has been accompanied by the transformation of corporatist forms of political control. This article uses examples of recent biodiversity conflicts in the state of Chiapas to illustrate this process in terms of a struggle between competing models of 'market citizenship' and 'pluri-ethnic citizenship'. By focusing on the actions and demands of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation and other indigenous organisations, the article highlights how resistance to globalisation in the Lacandon rainforest of Chiapas is related to struggles for collective rights and a more inclusive form of democracy in Mexico. This also raises important questions regarding the future shape of national identities and the scope of democratic rights around the world in the post-cold war era.     

Exports,growth and threshold effects in Africa

Abstract

The relationship between openness and growth remains a controversial issue in development economics with many studies focusing on the export–growth relationship. This paper examines whether the relationship between exports and growth found in large cross-section studies also holds in the context of African economies. The paper employs threshold regression techniques to examine whether African countries benefit more from exports when they reach a certain level of development or openness. Our results suggest that there is indeed a positive relationship between exports and growth in Africa. The threshold regression analysis also suggests that it is not necessary for a country to reach a certain level of development or to have an existing export base for this relationship to hold, though it is found that the relationship is stronger for countries that experience higher rates of export growth.     

Policies first,institutions second: lessons from Estonia’s economic reforms

Abstract

It has become convention in recent years to treat the building of institutions as the centerpiece of successful economic reform. The case of Estonia challenges this view. Although effective economic institutions eventually arose, Estonia began its transition bereft of the institutions that supposedly serve as the requisites of robust achievement. The institutions only emerged after an ideologically driven core of leaders implemented policies that laid the groundwork. In particular, the imposition of hard budget constraints sidelined political capitalists opposed to the rule of law by severing them from the state subsidies, soft loans, and other privileges on which they thrive. In the absence of a powerful class of political capitalists, Estonian governments were free to forge and continually improve a collection of institutions that sets the country apart among its postcommunist peers. Good institutions are desirable but not necessary for policy reform, and they are better seen as auspicious knock-on effects than as prime movers.     

Note the Robinson report

The Politics of Poverty, D. Donnison, Martin Robertson, 1982, pp.239, £3.50 paperback, £9.95 hardback.

Images of Welfare, P. Golding and S. Middleton, Martin Robertson, 1982, pp.296, £5.95 paperback, £16.50 hardback.

The Politics of Poverty, S. MacGregor, Longman, 1981, pp.193, £2.95 paperback.

Policy and Action‐Essays on the Implementation of Public Policy, edited by Susan Barrett and Colin Fudge, Methuen, 1981, pp.308, £7.95 paperback, £15.00 hardback.

Inside the Treasury, Joel Barnett, Andre Deutsch, 1982, pp.220, £8.95.

Ombudsman—Onwards Man, Pat Cook, BKT Publications, 1982, pp.155, £6.95.

British Dogmatism and French Pragmatism, Douglas E. Ashford, Allen and Unwin, 1982, pp.406+xvii, £27.50.

The Politics of Mass Housing in Britain 1945–1975, Patrick Dunleavy, Clarendon Press, 1981, pp.447, £17.50.

Economic Policy‐Making by Local Authorities in Britain and Western Germany, Nevile Johnson and Allan Cochrane, George Allen &; Unwin, London, 1981, pp.182, £15.00.