Formal Theory and the Institutions of Governance

Understanding governance in the world's democracies requires study of the political institutions — the chief executives, the bureaucracies, and the legislatures — most involved in national policymaking. There are many approaches to the study of these institutions. This article examines the potential of an approach which is relatively unfamiliar to most students of governance: the development of formal mathematical theories of political institutions. The costs and benefits of this approach are discussed, various types of formal theories are surveyed, and a variety of possible applications to some central problems of governance are described.     

Decoding Divergence in Software Regulation: Paradigms,Power Structures,and Institutions in the United States and the European Union

Both in the United States and the European Union, patent policy instruments in information and communication technologies are contested. Although current reform proposals would lead to a uniform patent eligibility for computer programs in both economic spheres, such an outcome is rather unlikely. In a theoretic perspective, contrasting policies in one of the most important technology sectors challenge the expectation of converging regulative regimes. In a view to reveal the structural causes for the persisting divergence, it is argued that incompatible underlying paradigms, differentiated patterns of power structure, and unsynchronized institutional arrangements may resist even strong pressures to harmonize regulative practices. The interaction between these elements will be addressed and discussed as a perspective to define restraints on the scope of convergence theories.     

Regional Differences in the Collateral Consequences of a Felony Conviction

The present study sought to determine if there are statistically significant regional differences in the number of restricted rights for a felony conviction. Significant differences were found, with the East South Central region restricting two to three times more rights than other regions. Nonsignificant rank-order correlations were found between the number of restricted rights and regional crime/prisoner rates per 100,000 population. A significant rank-order correlation was found, however, for the mean number of restricted rights and the percent voting for the 1988 Republican presidential candidate.     

BEYOND THE BELL CURVE: COMMUNITY DISADVANTAGE AND THE EXPLANATION OF BLACK‐WHITE DIFFERENCES IN ADOLESCENT VIOLENCE*

Disproportionate involvement in violent behavior among African American, versus white, adolescents is a major arena of debate in the social sciences. The individual difference approach draws attention to verbal ability as an explanation of black‐white differences in violence. Sociological theories stress variation in community and family socioeconomic disadvantage. We contrast these causal images of racial differences in serious violence using the National Longitudinal Survey of Adolescent Health and contextual modeling. Results indicate that verbal ability has an indirect effect on violence through school achievement, but does not account for the greater involvement in violence among black adolescents. The analysis is most consistent with a sociological model that views the race‐violence link as a spurious outcome of community context.