Japan and China: A Fresh Start in a Difficult Era

No relationship is more important to the future of Asia than the one between Japan and China. PM Abe’s visit to Beijing last month put the relationship back on a firmer footing. Yet diplomacy alone will not stabilize Sino-Japanese relations. Popular attitudes in both countries also matter, and will be shaped by the success or failure of leaders to manage the growing complexity of this relationship from food security to fisheries management to national defense and new solutions to China’s growing influence over the daily lives of Japanese. Across Asia too, Japan and China will need to coexist without impeding each other’s influence. Next year’s visit to Japan by President Xi offers ample opportunity for expanding the foundation of this latest round of diplomatic “fresh starts” in the Japan-China relationship. Uncertainty over the US role in Asia, however, has made this a more difficult task.     

The use of ‘privileges’ in political discourse in the early modern Low Countries

This article examines why the privileges occupied such a prominent place in Dutch rebel propaganda from the 1560s. It then considers whether these continued to be so highly regarded after the United Provinces gave up the search for a princely overlord to succeed Philip II in the late 1580s. It concludes by suggesting that with the emergence of provincial sovereignty, the privileges gradually lost their significance as one of the bastions of Dutch freedom.     

The Effect of Mandatory Seat Belt Laws on Seat Belt Use by Socioeconomic Position

We investigated the differential effect of mandatory seat belt laws on seat belt use among socioeconomic subgroups. We identified the differential effect of legislation across higher versus lower education individuals using a difference‐in‐differences model based on state variations in the timing of the passage of laws. We find strong effects of mandatory seat belt laws for all education groups, but the effect is stronger for those with fewer years of education. In addition, we find that the differential effect by education is larger for mandatory seat belt laws with primary rather than secondary enforcement. Our results imply that existing socioeconomic differences in seat belt use would be further mitigated if all states upgraded to primary enforcement.     

Western European party systems: On the trail of a typology

Existing typologies frequently fail to bring out the extent of the development which has occurred in West European party systems. The purpose of this article is to propose a construction which is specifically applicable to the parliamentary form of government and which is of use in non‐static conditions. Whilst admitting that problems of measurement exist, the principal argument is that a distinction can be made between two levels of cohesion in a party system, the governing and the societal references. Their independent variation provides a typology which is sensitive and well‐articulated. The four major types are discussed and illustrated and some conclusions are drawn concerning the apparantly predominant West European type.     

Integration in small steps: The European commission and member‐state aid to industry

Member states of the European Union traditionally have used a variety of aids to industry to develop national champions, rescue major enterprises in financial trouble, and to make industry more competitive internationally. Yet making the single European market operational and sustaining cohesion across member states with different abilities to aid their industrial enterprises requires that the European Commission monitor state aid closely. Most accounts of this tension point to the weak record of the Commission in rejecting aid packages proposed by member states. This article argues that the rate of rejection of aids by the Commission is a highly misleading indicator of the Commission's influence in this policy area. In fact, the Commission has developed substantial capacities to regulate state aid relative to the constraints within which it operates.     

The European Union and NATO enlargement debates in comparative perspective: A case of incremental linkage?

The end of the Cold War has led to growing pressures on the European Union and NATO to open up membership to the emerging democracies of East‐Central Europe. Following an initially cautious response to events in the region, both have developed enlargement policies, albeit in an ambiguous manner. Although there are no formal links between the two enlargement processes, it is argued in this article that ‘incremental linkage’ has occurred. Furthermore, although both institutions have formally commenced enlargement, there remain significant issues requiring attention.