Interpenetration versus Einbettung

The debate with the economy and with economics is an important focus of the works of Talcott Parsons. Parsons’s economic sociology has been, however, perceived rather critically by the new economic sociology. This article discusses these critiques and asks whether they did justice to Parsons’s economic sociology. I show that the critiques concentrate mostly on structural functionalism. Hardly any attention is given to the theory of expressive-symbolic communication of affect that Parsons developed later as part of systems-functionalism. This theoretical development, however, connects directly to the concept of social embeddedness as the core term of the new economic sociology. A connection to this part of Parsons’s theory could help to develop a basis in action theory that is still wanting in the new economic sociology.     

Towards productive functions? A systematic review of institutional failure,its causes and consequences

Policy Sciences - Recognised as an integral part of the political process, the topic of institutional failure has recently received increased attention in the literature, particularly with respect...     

Rewarding the Top: Citizens' Opposition to Higher Pay for Politicians

The rewards of politicians are a key part of the implicit contract between politicians and citizens, and the effect of these rewards on democratic legitimacy and political recruitment is a central concern in public debate and democratic theory. Using a survey experiment, we show how citizens respond to hypothetical changes in politicians’ pay. The results indicate that citizens express lower levels of trust in the politicians when these politicians award themselves higher pecuniary rewards. However, our results also show that a devious strategy in which the rewards for politicians are less transparent ensures lower opposition from citizens than open and transparent strategies. Based on this, we outline a reinvigoration of the research agenda on “rewards at the top.”     

Does Direct Democracy Hurt Immigrant Minorities? Evidence from Naturalization Decisions in Switzerland

Do minorities fare worse under direct democracy than under representative democracy? We provide new evidence by studying naturalization requests of immigrants in Switzerland that were typically decided with referendums in each municipality. Using panel data from about 1,400 municipalities for the 1991–2009 period, we exploit Federal Court rulings that forced municipalities to transfer the decisions to their elected municipality councils. We find that naturalization rates surged by about 60% once politicians rather than citizens began deciding on naturalization applications. Whereas voters in referendums face no cost of arbitrarily rejecting qualified applicants based on discriminatory preferences, politicians in the council are constrained to formally justify rejections and may be held accountable by judicial review. Consistent with this mechanism, the increase in naturalization rates caused by switching from direct to representative democracy is much stronger for more marginalized immigrant groups and in areas where voters are more xenophobic or where judicial review is more salient.     

Beliefs,social identity,and the view of opponents in Swedish carnivore management policy

Policy Sciences - In the policy sciences, the intractability of disputes in natural resource governance is commonly explained in terms of a “devil shift” between rival policy...     

Intelligence expertise in the age of information sharing: public–private ‘collection’ and its challenges to democratic control and accountability

The emergence of a more elusive and uncertain threat environment has transformed the nature of intelligence, increasing its reliance on civil society partners. Once the work of an insular and carefully select few, intelligence production is now a networked, partially open and extensively public–private enterprise. Most poignantly, new practices of public–private ‘collection’ face Western intelligence services with novel questions about control and accountability – questions to which the services have responded with hopes that by standardizing ‘methodologies’, central command may be retained. Suggesting a more complex picture, this article argues that ‘managing uncertainty’ imply forms of interpretation and choices which cannot be pre-empted by rule-regulation: more than Weber’s ideal of the procedural and rule-bound, it may be his (once central, yet largely marginalized) emphasis on institutional and individual capacities for critical ‘judgment’ that is of relevance today.     

Moving the campaign from the front door to the front pocket: field experimental evidence on the effect of phrasing and timing of text messages on voter turnout

Despite the widespread scholarly attention given to get-out-the-vote tactics the recent one and a half decade, few have studied the effect of short text messages (SMS) on voter turnout, and no previous such study has been conducted outside the US. We analyze four SMS experiments with more than 300,000 voters conducted in relation to two elections in Denmark and find intention-to-treat (ITT) effects between 0.33 and 1.82 percentage points with a pooled effect of 0.74 percentage points. Furthermore, we vary the timing and the content of the messages to test existing theories of text messages as mobilization tools. In one experiment, we find messages delivered before Election Day to have a higher effect than those delivered on Election Day, while we find no additional effect of delivering multiple messages. We also vary message content and in general find no significant differences from sending different messages.     

Opposition dynamism under authoritarianism: the case of Yemen, 1994–2011

In contrast to the empirical conditions in large parts of the authoritarian world, the systematic literature on political opposition under authoritarianism either treats the opposition as a static entity or fails to comprehensively address its dynamic character. On the basis of a critical literature review and an ensuing analysis of the Joint Meeting Parties, a cross-ideological opposition alliance that gradually evolved to become the main competitor of the Salih regime in Yemen, we suggest that political opposition in electoral authoritarian regimes is an intrinsically dynamic institution in terms of its organizational shape, its goals and its modes of contestation. We also show that, while authoritarian structures do set the basic conditions defining opposition action, much of what motivates this action and contributes to opposition dynamism emerges from within the opposition. In addition, our findings on the Yemeni case suggest that opposition dynamism peaks when the strength of the opposition is nearly on par with that of the regime.     

Examining the impacts of grants on senior citizen beneficiaries in Kiboga District,Uganda

This article presents the main findings of a study about the Senior Citizens Grant programme (SCG) piloted in Kiboga District, Uganda. Recognising elderly persons’ vulnerabilities and acknowledging their capabilities is essential to motivate elderly beneficiaries of social grants towards self-sustenance rather than increasing dependency on such grants. Findings indicate that indigenous support systems, such as family members and agriculture directly influenced grant expenditure patterns and thus determined the well-being of grant beneficiaries. Old age vulnerability as the main criterion for eligibility and implementation casts shadows on older persons’ capabilities needed to support their own lives, and hence impacts their well-being.     

A FOCUS ON EMOTION IN MEDIATION TRAINING

Trainee mediators must learn to understand their own emotions and the emotional reactions of mediation participants to intervene effectively in conflict. Training techniques developed for family and divorce mediation may also apply to training for other types of conflict. Visualization and observation exercises developed a "meta-perspective" on the dynamics of conflict, which can help traines manage their own emotional reactions and think strategically at the same time. Responding to videotaped or role-played emotional reactions from participants can desensitize trainees to conflict. Directing trainees toward information available on the process of divorce or other prolonged conflict can help them respond with more empathy to participants. Attention paid to these emotional issues in mediation training may prevent mediator stress and burnout.