A two‐tier conception of European Union peoplehood: A realist study of European citizens’ bonds of collectivity

The European Union (EU) struggles to legitimate its rule. This realist study develops a conception of peoplehood in the EU polity, because, in contemporary Europe, ‘the people’ remains the sole source of political legitimacy. From a realist perspective, a conception of peoplehood should yield a coherent story why EU citizens should accept, or at least acquiesce, to EU rule. This study explores the possibility of a pluralistic conception being either multi‐layered, multi‐faceted or both. Taking a practice‐dependent approach, I first analyse the institutional systems that structure relationships between EU citizens. I secondly propose conceptions of EU citizens’ bonds of collectivity. Thirdly, I develop a novel two‐tier conception of EU peoplehood in which individuals remain bound together as national peoples, while these peoples are in turn united by commercial and liberal bonds. I submit that this conception can lay the foundation for a convincing story to legitimate EU rule.     

Understanding and Measuring Consumption Motives in the Performing Arts

Currently, there is no common understanding of categorizing, conceptualizing, and measuring consumption motives in the performing arts. Study one presents the results of forty-seven semi-structured, in-depth interviews and deepens the understanding of consumption motives. A new framework consisting of cultural and social motives is introduced. This framework is tested in the second study. Here, a quantitative instrument is developed. The results of the principal components analysis refine the framework and demonstrate the following consumption motives: cultural aesthetics (with two dimensions: artistic value and enjoyment of beauty), cultural relaxation, cultural stimulation, social bonding, social attraction, social distinction, and social duty.     

Who Cuts Back and When? The Politics of Delays in Social Expenditure Cutbacks, 1980–2005

This article investigates the politics of delays in social spending cutbacks in OECD democracies. In the context of fiscal austerity, policymakers are assumed to have a strong incentive to manipulate the timing of cutbacks strategically. Applying event history analysis to small and large cutbacks in 21 mature welfare states, the authors test whether partisanship, electioneering and institutional constraints contribute to explain the timing of cutbacks. Macro-economic determinants such as worker productivity, economic growth and unemployment are found to be more important than these political variables. However, left-wing governments and welfare states with more institutional rigidity or a greater degree of contribution financing do tend to delay welfare cutbacks, while cabinets that have recently changed their party composition implement cutbacks earlier.     

New Public Management in Dutch Local Government

This article investigates the adoption of New Public Management (NPM) in Dutch local government. According to Hood's concept of NPM, it will show the extent to which Dutch municipalities have adopted businesslike instruments and styles. Following Pollitt's framework on studying public management changes, a distinction will be made between changes in ideology, instruments, practices and impacts. The article concludes that, unlike ideological and instrumental innovations, the evidence for NPM-like practices and impacts is limited. To put it crudely, a lot of apparent changes in Dutch local government seem to be only skin-deep.     

Everyday Fixers as Local Heroes: A Case Study of Vital Interaction in Urban Governance

This article exemplifies the importance of viable coalitions in processes of neighbourhood development and local governance. Elaborating on the notion of the ‘everyday maker’, discovered in Danish local politics by Bang and Sörensen, this article further explores the characteristics and conditions of organising capacity, using the case of the Neighbourhood Development Corporation in the Dutch city of The Hague as a paradigmatic case. This case shows that individual actors, ‘everyday fixers’ or ‘local heroes’, can make a real difference in local politics if they are well connected to a supportive structure and if they are sensitive to the logic of the situation at hand. Context matters, sometimes impedes, but smart individuals can also make it work.     

Internet applications in the political sphere: perceptions and views of political institutions in South Africa

Abstract

The study described in this article consisted of a survey that was conducted among a sample of South African political institutions and organisations, and that was aimed at investigating their views and perceptions with regard to the use of the Internet. The main research question posed by the current study was: What are the views of politically orientated institutions in South Africa on their use the Internet, and what are their perceptions on how the Internet could impact on democratic processes in the country? The aim of this exploratory research study was to obtain information that could cast light on the issue of how likely it was that the Internet would contribute to a deliberative democracy in South Africa. The survey revealed that the Internet was perceived to have a significant role to play with regard to political and democracy issues in South Africa. However, if certain problems (the lack of access, the lack of basic and computer literacy, and the lack of training) were not adequately addressed by means of an integrated government Internet strategy, the ability of the Internet to impact positively on democracy in South Africa would be very limited.     

Citizenship,enclaves and earnings: comparing two cool countries

This paper uses the Canadian 2006 Census and the Swedish 2006 register data to analyse the citizenship effect on the relative earnings of immigrants, using instrumental variable regression to control for citizenship acquisition. We ask: ‘Is there a citizenship effect and if any, in which country is it that we find the largest effect and for which immigrant groups?’ We add one further dimension, asking if the size of the co-immigrant population in the municipality has an effect on earnings. We find that the impact of citizenship acquisition is substantial in both Canada and Sweden. However, the place of birth of immigrants is important. In most cases, immigrant women in Sweden enjoy a higher citizenship premium than is the case for immigrant women in Canada. Amongst men the picture is more mixed. Most European groups receive a larger citizenship premium in Canada as compared to Sweden. Being in a city with more immigrants of the same background is better for earnings in Sweden than in Canada. However, being in a city with a lot of immigrants (regardless of origin) is better in Canada as compared to Sweden.     

Vaccine alliance building blocks: a conjoint experiment on popular support for international COVID-19 cooperation formats

The design principles of institutions that visibly and significantly affect citizens’ lives are likely to be politically salient. Popular support for these principles is in turn crucial for institutional viability and effectiveness. Transboundary pandemics are a case in point. Understanding citizens’ preferences regarding the design of international alliances set up to mass-produce and distribute vaccines is likely to determine citizens’ subsequent cooperation with vaccination campaigns. This study explores Germans’ preferences for international COVID-19 vaccine alliance design principles. We conducted a conjoint experiment at a recurring cognitive moment in many pandemics’ cycles, between the initial outbreak and a more devastating but still-unknown second wave, when infection rates were very low, yet no policy solutions had been developed. We analyzed preferences regarding four building blocks: (1) alliance composition (size; EU-centrism), (2) alliance distribution rules (joining cost; vaccine allocation), (3) vaccine nationalism (cost per German household; coverage in Germany) and (4) vaccine producer confidence (origin; type). Distribution rules, political ideology and personal perceptions of pandemic threat matter little. But a larger alliance size and dominant EU-country composition increase alliance support. And vaccine nationalism is key: support increases with both lower costs and larger coverage for own-nation citizens. Moreover, support goes down for Chinese and American producers and increases for Swiss and especially own-nation producers. In sum, a realist and technocratic outlook is warranted at the cognitive stage in pandemic cycles when no solutions have been found, yet the worst already seems to be over, as national self-interest reigns supreme in popular attitudes.