'All for One and One for All': Transactions Cost and Collective Action

Rational choice analysis of collective action predicts that individual members of a large group will not contribute voluntarily towards a common cause; members of large groups attribute no significance to individual action. Large groups are mobilised by the attraction of private goods and services; private interest, rather than identity with a common cause, is the stimulus. Yet the efficacy of such selective incentives depends on the signal that erstwhile 'profits' (from the provision of private goods) are dedicated to achieving a collective goal. At the same time, the signal that collective action is 'non-profit' enhances the intrinsic value of the act of participation. When the impact of individual action on outcome is difficult to discern, individuals rely on low-cost signals relating to process . There are incentives to identify with the pursuit of a common cause when collective action is deemed 'non-profit' and a common goal is non-rival.     

Post-materialist values and political preference: Some unlikely findings from Northern Ireland

Abstract. Post–materialist values (PMVs) in Northern Ireland are less widespread than in most European countries. This is in accordance with Inglehart's argument that PMVs are less likely to arise among groups that have spent their formative years in physical and economic insecurity. However there has also been an increase in PMVs since the early 1970s which has continued steadily into the 1980s when the cohort which spent its formative years in the 'Troubles' entered the voting population. To explore this phenomenon, this article examines the Eurobarometer data from 1982 to 1991. Voters for four political parties (two Nationalist and two Unionist) are compared. It was found that voters for the Nationalist parties were significantly more likely to be post materialists. It was also found that Sinn Féin, a militant Nationalist party, attracted the highest percentage of post–materialists. Two explanations are offered: (1) the post–materialist index is unsuitable for use in Northern Ireland, and (2) the value change was driven by forces other than the experience of physical and economic security.     

Deconstructing decentralization in China: fiscal incentive versus local autonomy in policy implementation

This article examines the congruent and conflicting effects of fiscal decentralization and power devolution—two main types of decentralization in post‐reform China—in order to tackle the insufficient distinction between them in current academic analyses. Derived from the two types of decentralization respectively are fiscal incentive and local autonomy, which influence local states' policy implementation in turnover taxation. By uncovering the unique logic of either factor, this article argues that contrary to what is widely presupposed, local autonomy is not necessarily congruent with fiscal incentive in affecting local compliance with centrally imposed policy rules during policy implementation. When power devolution and fiscal decentralization follow an internally consistent logic of decentralization as a whole by proceeding at the same pace and favoring the same specific locality, they inevitably generate conflicting effects on local states' implementation strategies. Congruent effects arise only if incoherent evolution occurs between the two types of decentralization. This paradox highlights the contradiction inveterate in the dynamics of decentralization. This argument is first developed through theoretical reasoning, and then substantiated by an empirical comparison between Guangzhou and Shanghai during 1984–1988 and 1992–1995.     

Demographics, Religion, and the Future of Europe

Immigration and changing demographic trends mean that Europe will in the very near future inevitably be transformed, culturally and politically. As in the Cold War, it again represents a critical theater for rivalry, but this time it is between Christianity, Islam, and secularism. European nations will either be the sites of religious conflict and violence that sets Muslim minorities against secular states and Muslim communities against Christian neighbors, or it could become the birthplace of a liberalized and modernized Islam that could in turn transform the religion worldwide. We urgently need to understand the developing contours of European religious beliefs and practices, and not just as they apply to Muslims, for the outcome of the rivalry there will have profound implications for the United States.     

Neither Here Nor There: Temporary Admission to the UK

This article considers the lacunae in international and Europeanlaw for the protection of those who do not, or do not yet, havetheir refugee status recognised, or whose claim for asylum hasbeen refused. It examines the position of such people in theUK, where they are ‘temporarily admitted’ underprovisions of the general immigration legislation. This meansthat although their physical presence is recognised and notunlawful, they are legally considered not to have entered thecountry. Whilst historically this was a favourable positionthat might itself often lead to naturalisation, the legal positionof those on temporary admission has changed rapidly and drasticallyover the past decade as rights to work and to social securityhave been withdrawn and a programme of mass detention instigated.These developments have in turn led to attempts by those ontemporary admission to use international and European law toattain or reinstate rights and to resist removal. This articleexamines the changes to UK law and policy since the first primarylegislation dealing with asylum in 1993, in the light of internationaland European law, and suggests that they will lead a new categoryof undocumented sans-papiers in the UK.