Constituting 'the public' in public participation

The emphasis on public participation in contemporary policy discourse has prompted the development of a wide range of forums within which dialogue takes place between citizens and officials. Often such initiatives are intended to contribute to objectives relating to social exclusion and democratic renewal. The question of ‘who takes part’ within such forums is, then, critical to an understanding of how far new types of forums can contribute to the delivery of such objectives. This article draws on early findings of research conducted as part of the ESRC Democracy and Participation Programme. It addresses three questions: ‘How do public bodies define or constitute the public that they wish to engage in dialogue?’; ‘What notions of representation or representativeness do participants and public officials bring to the idea of legitimate membership of such forums?’; and ‘How do deliberative forums contribute to, or help ameliorate, processes of social inclusion and exclusion?’     

Identity and fear: A survey study of the Arab East

This article explores the concepts of social identity and fear in the Arab East, namely in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, and among Palestinians living in these countries. Its theoretical framework is composed of two major conceptions: individuals’ perceptions of their social and political identity-affiliation and inter-intra-group relations. It is asserted that the feeling of fear and antipathy in the Arab East creates or supports confessional individual identity and group affiliation. The findings, which are construed through survey analysis, support the arguments that secterian groups are basic actors in the politics of the Arab East and that all political analysis that negates their influence as identity units is superficial. The survey results discredit the argument that the feeling of belonging to confessional groups is anomalous, anachronistic, and evanescent. On the contrary, the minority identity has never been obliterated in the Arab East, and these minorities carry the potential of asserting a real threat to regime stability and to the political order. These threats, though they seem dormant at times, are very much alive and should not be discounted. Michel G. Nehme is an assistant professor at American University of Beirut, Department of Political Studies and Public Administration, PO Box 11-0236, Beirut, Lebanon     

Examining the Canadian Government's Resistance to Including Socioeconomic Concerns in Genetically Modified Seeds Regulation: A Policy Transfer and Multilevel Approach

In 2011, Canadian Members of Parliament refused to transfer a regulatory initiative taken from Argentina that would have required an analysis of potential harm to export markets before authorizing the sale of any new genetically modified seed. This was the purpose of Bill C‐474, which was defeated in the House of Commons. After exploring Argentina's regulatory framework as a source of transfer, this paper combines a multilevel analysis with a typology of policy transfer mechanisms in order to address the complexities underlying this unsuccessful attempt. We explore how the mechanisms of competition and coercion might have impeded the transfer of such an initiative at the international and the macro‐state levels. Moreover, while a policy transfer network in support of the bill called on previous experiences with genetically modified seeds, their efforts appear to have been outweighed by another network using arguments based on the mechanisms of competition, coercion, and mimicry.     

Globalization,state, and innovation: An appraisal of networked industrial policy

One of the most pressing questions in comparative social science is whether, and to what extent, the rapid advance of globalization has negatively affected states’ capacity to initiate successful economic and social policies. This paper puts forward the notion that states continue to be relevant because they have the potential to build and sustain networks of production and learning, which are sorely needed in the current era of globalization when productive arrangements are dominated by decentralized production networks. The paper argues that government efforts aimed at building and sustaining such networks, labeled as “networked industrial policy,” have become predominant. The study features a series of fixed‐effects time series cross‐section (TSCS) regressions linking innovation performance to several networked industrial policies in 17 countries from western and central Europe. The study finds that several of the policies have a robust effect on innovation performance and technology competitiveness, even after controls are included. These findings constitute considerable support for the notion of networked industrial policy. However, the results of the present study must be treated less as a definitive answer to the research question and more as a first step in an ongoing research process.     

Elections and Deceptions: An Experimental Study on the Behavioral Effects of Democracy

Traditionally, the virtue of democratic elections has been seen in their role as means of screening and sanctioning shirking public officials. This article proposes a novel rationale for elections and political campaigns considering that candidates incur psychological costs of lying, in particular from breaking campaign promises. These nonpecuniary costs imply that campaigns influence subsequent behavior, even in the absence of reputational or image concerns. Our lab experiments reveal that promises are more than cheap talk. They influence the behavior of both voters and their representatives. We observe that the electorate is better off when their leaders are elected democratically rather than being appointed exogenously—but only in the presence of electoral campaigns. In addition, we find that representatives are more likely to serve the public interest when their approval rates are high. Altogether, our results suggest that elections and campaigns confer important benefits beyond their screening and sanctioning functions.     

Transition to the single currency in europe and its implications for financial institutions

This paper discusses the changeover to single currency in the European Union and provides a preliminary analysis of the timing and nature of the steps to be taken by financial institutions. It uses data from the literature and a recent survey of financial institutions operating in Europe to provide an overall view on conversion issues that both these institutions and policy-makers are facing. This paper could therefore serve as a background for future studies that pertain to the strategies of individual financial institutions, their competitive positioning for the long term, and their attempts to minimize their cost of conversion in the short term. The European Currency Unit, by virtue of its design, is a viable candidate for use as the single currency. Its current status in member countries shows that it meets the basic “money” criteria but that legal obstacles have kept it from wider use. However, these legal obstacles are being lifted. Financial institutions should start planning for potential implementation problems. The analysis of conversion costs categorized by product/service and by function shows that the move to single currency requires financial institutions to modify selected functions within a very short period of time. A lengthy dual currency period on all functions would cause duplication of efforts and large losses to banks. There are other intangible costs and benefits that are social and political, which are associated with the changeover. These are touched upon and discussed briefly in the context of the motivation behind the European Monetary Union.