The Structure of Utility in Spatial Models of Voting

Empirical models of spatial voting allow legislators' locations in a policy or ideological space to be inferred from their roll‐call votes. These are typically random utility models where the features of the utility functions other than the ideal points are assumed rather than estimated. In this article, we first consider a model in which legislators' utility functions are allowed to be a mixture of the two most commonly assumed utility functions: the quadratic function and the Gaussian function assumed by NOMINATE. Across many roll‐call data sets, we find that legislators' utility functions are estimated to be very nearly Gaussian. We then relax the usual assumption that each legislator is equally sensitive to policy change and find that extreme legislators are generally more sensitive to policy change than their more centrally located counterparts. This result suggests that extremists are more ideologically rigid while moderates are more likely to consider influences that arise outside liberal‐conservative conflict.     

Politics Can Limit Policy Opportunism in Fiscal Institutions: Evidence from Official General Fund Revenue Forecasts in the American States

Governments make policy decisions in the same areas in quite different institutions. Some assign policymaking responsibility to institutions designed to be insulated from myopic partisan and electoral pressures and others do not. In this study, we claim that differences in political context and institutional design constrain the policy choices governments make. Testable propositions based on an analysis of varying electoral incentives and time horizons created by these different contexts are empirically tested using panel data on official general fund revenue forecasts in the American states, 1987 to 2008. The empirical evidence reveals that executive branch agencies and independent commissions produce more conservative forecasts than legislatures with one important exception. Executive branch revenue forecasts in states with gubernatorial term limits are indistinguishable from legislative branch forecasts. Further, we find that legislative branch forecasts are more conservative in the presence of divided partisan legislatures than unified party government. In turn, this implies that entrusting policymaking authority to either the executive branch or an independent commission may only be consequential when the political system itself fails to check legislative excesses or executive myopia.     

Teaching the Violent Past: History Education and Reconciliation, Elizabeth A. Cole

Elizabeth A. Cole has edited a comprehensive collection of casestudies of educational reform efforts following some of the20th century's most searing episodes of violence and human rightsabuse. The collection begins with an essay on the role of educationalreform in reconciliation. Cole     

The internal market and the grand exception

The Oxford Encyclopaedia of European Community Law The Lawof the Internal Market By A.G. Toth, 2005, Oxford: Oxford UniversityPress Price: £155.00, Hardback, ISBN: 0-19-825600-0   This second volume of the Oxford Encyclopaedia appears somefifteen years after the first volume, which dealt with InstitutionalLaw. A third volume is projected which will cover CompetitionLaw. Given the excellence of the first two volumes, one hopesthat we will not have to wait as long for the final instalment.An update of the     

Technology Acquisition and Innovation in the Developing World: Wind Turbine Development in China and India

Although China and India rely on coal to fuel most of their electricity generation, both countries are also home to burgeoning wind power industries. India currently leads the developing world in manufacturing utility-scale wind turbines, and China is close behind. This study examines the technology development strategies that have been pursued by the companies Suzlon and Goldwind, India and China’s leading wind turbine manufacturers. While the institutional and other barriers present in large, developing countries such as China and India certainly challenge any simplistic notions of energy leapfrogging, an examination of wind turbine development in these countries has shown that substantial technical advances are possible in a relatively short time. While both Suzlon and Goldwind pursued similar licensing arrangements to acquire basic technical knowledge, Goldwind’s technology development model lacks Suzlon’s network of strategically positioned global subsidiaries that contribute to its base of industry knowledge and technical capacity. This examination of how two leading developing-country firms have acquired and assimilated advanced technologies provides crucial insights into facilitating international technology transfers, which will be an important component of any technological leapfrogging strategy to achieve lower greenhouse gas emissions in the developing world.     

International Dimensions: What Is the Role of Third Parties?

In the Arab–Israeli arena, third parties have traditionally played a prominent role. External intervention has tended to peak when violence threatens international interests (e.g., the 1973 Arab–Israeli War), or when the parties are unable to sustain a negotiating process. Whether providing political and security assurances aimed at mitigating insecurity or offering economic inducements to underwrite peace accords, third parties have made a number of positive contributions toward managing the conflict.