Learning to Think the Unthinkable: Lessons from India’s Nuclear Tests

This article examines the impact that national economic policies adopted during Indira Gandhi's final term in office (1980–84) had on four “national” social groups, namely the big industrialists, the middle class, the rich peasantry, and the poor. The study argues that the Congress (I) chose the former two as its major allies, while the rich peasantry and the poor were relegated to a secondary position. In the process, the focus of India's strategy of development shifted from the agrarian to the industrial sector, and from the rural to the urban world.     

Why preferences and institutions change: A systematic process analysis of credit rating in Germany

This article argues that a within‐case analysis of the causes and patterns of the institutionalisation of rating in the German financial system offers fresh insights into change in the major socioeconomic institutions of advanced capitalism. Using the method of systematic process analysis, the article explores the expansion of credit rating in the German banking system from three perspectives: historical (power), sociological (diffusion) and behavioural institutionalism (prospect theory). It demonstrates that the proliferation of credit rating resulted from a change of preference on the part of large banks. With Germany as a least likely case for successfully implementing rating, the study's main lesson is that institutional analysis may benefit from incorporating behavioural institutionalism into the analysis of preference change because this cites economic motivations as causes of preference shifts and institutional changes.     

Interpreting the Chinese Dream: An Exercise of Political Hermeneutics

Using an approach described as political hermeneutics, this paper interprets the Chinese Dream as a discourse that is historically and politically situated and contextualized within a number of other ongoing narratives and policies in China. This approach is especially apt because, in many respects, the purpose of the Chinese Dream is to round out while also reframe and reemphasize the Party’s longstanding vision of Chinese political and economic development, and to do so ahead of difficult reforms and transitions. Thus, we show how the Chinese Dream should be understood as being a part of a larger historical discourse and pressing needs for change. Consequently, we assemble and discuss the broader narratives that surround and suffuse the Chinese Dream and illustrate how it aims to function as a metanarrative—one that attempts a discursive “reset” under a new leader. As a positive discourse, the Chinese Dream aims to express official visions of the past, present and future; but it must also be understood as part of a web of activities designed to advance Party interests and the various challenges these face. Accordingly, we interpret the Chinese Dream in tandem with discussions of other recent developments, including what appears to be a national rectification campaign as Xi Jinping continues to consolidate power, curtail Party factions and corruption, discipline critics, and prepare the Party and nation for some measure of reform and, likely, some measure of more of the same.     

Exploring gender issues in the development from conduct disorder in adolescence to criminal behaviour in adulthood

Using results from a large Norwegian follow-up study of former adolescent psychiatric in-patients we have traced the progression from mental disorders requiring hospitalisation in adolescence to registered criminal behaviour in adulthood, particularly highlighting gender differences. A nationwide representative sample of 1095 adolescent psychiatric inpatients (46% females) was followed up 15–33 years after admission to the National Centre for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry in Oslo, Norway. In adolescence 45% fulfilled the DSM-IV criteria for a disruptive behaviour disorder. At follow-up, 63% of the males and 39% of the females had a criminal record. Among females, psychoactive substance use disorder in adolescence seemed to be a sine qua non for later registered criminality, with intravenous drug use a potent risk factor for life-course-persistent criminality. The same strong association between drug use and criminality was not found in males. Factor analysis demonstrated that while the DSM-IV Conduct Disorder criteria structure was similar across genders, the prevalence of the various forms of expression was different in males and females. The differences between individuals with violent and non-violent crimes were more substantial in males than in females. There were marked gender differences in the criminal profiles observed, with the females' criminal career developing in a less serious manner than in males: females had later criminal debut, a lower number of acts on record, less diverse criminal behaviour, and an escalation in the severity of offences over time was less frequently encountered. However, secular trend analyses indicated that gender differences had diminished over the last several decades, with females “catching up” with their male counterparts. Overall, the results demonstrated important qualitative and quantitative gender differences in the criminal behaviour of former adolescent psychiatric in-patients. The results may be of use in prevention.     

Proof of concept centers: accelerating the commercialization of university innovation

Innovation drives economic growth. Economic growth leads to longer, healthier lives by transforming yesterday’s luxuries into better, cheaper, and more efficient goods and services. University research is a key component of our nation’s innovative capacity. In an increasingly dynamic and global economy, the institutional infrastructure is inefficient at moving university innovations to the marketplace. University researchers often face convoluted procedures with insufficient guidance to commercialize their innovations. As angel investors and venture capitalists increasingly invest in later stage enterprises (See PricewaterhouseCoopers, and National Venture Capital Association. MoneyTree™ survey report. 2007. and VentureOne, “Venture Capital Industry Report.” DowJones 2006), researchers face difficulty finding early stage funding to develop and test prototypes and conduct market research. In order to fill this funding gap and accelerate the commercialization of university innovations, a new type of organization has emerged—the proof of concept center. An analysis of the Deshpande Center at MIT and the von Liebig Center at UCSD provides valuable insight into how proof of concept centers can facilitate the transfer of university innovations into commercial applications.

The political economy of local government financialization and the role of policy diffusion

By analyzing why English local governments have made extensive use of long-term market loans with embedded derivatives, this paper seeks to contribute to the growing literature on local government financialization. Using an original, large-N panel dataset for the period from 1998 to 2014, we show that the configuration of the local political economy is an important driver of financialization processes: a Labour Party majority as well as fiscal and economic stress make it more likely that councils adopt risky financial instruments. As the use of financial innovations has also diffused geographically, policy diffusion impacts local governments as well. Highlighting the conditional effect of finance sector power, which only increases the use of financial innovations in very large councils, as well as the temporal dimension of fiscal and economic stress, we create ample avenues for further research.