Finance capital and peasants in Colonial West Africa: A comment on Cowen and Shenton

The presence of finance capital in colonial West Africa was predicated on the presence of imperial administration and merchant capital. From these it derived its profits. Cowen and Shenton suggested finance capital was seeking to diversify its sources of profit by engaging cocoa farmers in credit. While this may have been true for the period of cocoa boom before the First World War, it is argued in this piece that in 1938‐more than 20 years later ‐ the banks’ motivation was entirely defensive. No diversification was intended, and the action was directed at salvaging current business. This comment does not question Cowen and Shenton's ‘Fabianism’ thesis but substitutes merchant for finance capital as being in conflict with Colonial Office attitudes.     

Constitutionalism and federalism in the ‘future of Europe’ debate: the German dimension

This paper examines some of the constitutional aspects of the ‘Future of Europe’ reform process in the light of interactions between German and ‘European’ federalism. Many aspects of the traditions of German federalism and German post-war constitutionalism have been influential, if not to say formative, for the evolution of the EU. These aspects are set out as a frame for the paper, before more detailed analysis of the constitutional process and a particular focus on the division of competences. The constitutional outcome reveals clear German ‘fingerprints’, though that finding needs to be balanced by a recognition of the constitutional debate as multi-perspectival, involving all member states both separately and collectively.     

Mixing Habermas with Bayes: Methodological and Theoretical Advances in the Study of Deliberation

Two challenges stand out in the study of deliberation: the development of appropriate methodological tools and the development of more unified analytical frameworks. On the one hand, analysing deliberative processes is demanding and time‐consuming; hence we tend to have only few and non‐randomly selected cases at the group or context level. In addition, the real world of deliberation presents us with a complex matrix of nested, cross‐classified, and repeated speakers. This article shows that Bayesian multi‐level modelling provides an elegant way to tackle these methodological problems. On the other hand, we attempt to enrich comparative institutionalism with individual characteristics and psychologically relevant variables (such as group composition). Focusing on Swiss and German parliamentary debates we show that institutional factors ‐ in particular, consensus systems ‐, the gender composition of committees and plenary sessions, and age matter for the quality of deliberation. Furthermore, we also show that partisan affiliation ‐ government or opposition status of MPs ‐ affects deliberative quality and can refine institutional arguments. We conclude that a multi‐level approach to deliberation focusing on contextual and actor‐related characteristics and using Bayesian hierarchical modelling paves the way toward a more advanced understanding ‐ and methodological handling ‐ of deliberative processes.     

Strikes are more common in countries with majoritarian electoral systems

Strikes are more common in those OECD countries where the legislature is elected in single member districts (SMD) than in those where it is elected by proportional representation (PR). Furthermore, more working days are lost due to industrial conflict in countries with SMD. I suggest a politico-economic explanation for these rarely noticed empirical regularities. Further empirical testing – including controls drawn from previous strike research – reveals that they hold up in a variety of econometric specifications.     

Globalization and institutional competitiveness

Only dead institutions do not change and only rarely do institutions change by themselves. To maintain performing institutions takes institutional entrepreneurs who are willing to take risks and who possess the capacity and the talent to innovate. A regulation discourse, in contrast to a marketization discourse, would not picture the relationship between globalization and institutional change as a deterministic one. Rather, it would expect that all kinds of actors play a large number of different roles in the course of ongoing institutional change. The result of such complex institutional change, at the level of welfare states, multinational businesses, public administration, and training systems, to mention just a few of the empirical areas covered in this special issue, cannot be fully understood by applying an overly rigid, static, and dualistic approach to modern capitalist economies. The concept of institutional competitiveness, on the contrary, allows for institutional entrepreneurship and institutional hybrids constituting pulsating polities.     

Religious Conflicts in Cyberage

The rise of the Internet has a profound impact on the way conflicts are carried out and the faithful practice their religions. This article explores new dimensions of religious conflicts by theoretically reflecting on new developments in cyberage and by substantiating this with an empirical case study—the Moluccan conflict (Eastern Indonesia). Due to the exponential growth of Internet access worldwide, religions and their followers are increasingly expanding into the online world as a new “marketplace” for religious symbols and identities that fosters religious transnationalism. At the same time conflict actors worldwide have been making increasing use of the Internet to expand their networks, plan actions and fight their enemies. While scholars have so far primarily focused on more globalized online terrorism, this paper analyses a conflict that has mainly been fought out between Christians and Muslims in a remote part of this world, but then expanded into cyberspace. Local conflict actors have used the Internet as a global stage for their cause, to connect to and seek support from their transnational religious communities, but also to manipulate the outside world's perception of the Moluccan conflict. Researching the online projects and identity politics of these actors and their offline contexts, it becomes clear that the Internet has helped to essentialize (religious) identities and to influence the conflict at the local level through the networking and mobilization of people worldwide.     

Healthy and maladjusted Type A behavior in adolescents

The dimensions of Type A behavior were studied in 990 randomly selected adolescents and their conceptualization was clarified in terms of achievement striving, self-concept, and sense of control. The methods used were the AFMS to evaluate Type A behavior, the Nowicki-Strickland Locus of Control Scale, and Coopersmith's Self-Esteem Inventory. Achievement striving was assessed using the questionnaire designed for this study. It was revealed that Type A consisted of two independent dimensions, both adding an equal contribution to the total score. One was an impatient, aggressive competitiveness related to a low self-esteem, low self-set achievement standards, and external locus of control. The other Type A exhibited competitiveness related to a sense of responsibility, leadership, social activity, high achievement striving, and high self-esteem. These factors may distinguish maladjusted competitiveness from healthy ambition and suggest that it is important to distinguish risk Type A individuals from Type A's who are potential leaders in society.Received Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of Helsinki, Finland. Her major research interest is psychosomatic medicine.     

Norway's Full-Employment Oil Economy - Flexible Adjustment. or Paralysing Rigidities?1

Two stones may be told about Norwegian macroeconomic management since 1973. The first one is the flexible-adjustment story: Norway defended full employment using oil revenues to manage structural change. to keep manpower in the primary sectors and create new employment opportunities in the welfare state. The second is the paralysing-rigidifies story: Norway used oil revenues to shelter its manufacturing industries and low-productivity agriculture from competition, and to expand the welfare state which created numerous crowding out mechanisms. The first section below reviews some strong statements of these stories. while the following two sections review contemporary debates on the notions of flexibility and rigidity, relating also to the question of Norway's ‘democratic corporatism’. The final two sections attempt to take a more detached look at the events about which the two stories are told. Five phases are distinguished, and the two ‘consumption booms’ (1973-77 and 1984-86) and the following austerity phases (1977-81, 1986-) are compared.