NATIONAL PROJECTS IN CIVILIAN TECHNOLOGY

National projects in civilian technology initiated and implemented by the federal government generally cost in excess o f $1 billion and often extend beyond the political lifetime of a particular presidential administration. The authors explore the consequences of the U.S. political and administrative system on government-sponsored technology development by examining four such national projects: the SST, civilian nuclear power, synfuels, and the supercomputer. They relate the absence of planning and often tortuous course that characterizes these cases to the functioning–for better or worse–of American pluralistic politics.     

Catalysts and barriers: Explaining electoral reform in Western Europe

Most accounts of electoral system change tend to consider it as being driven by purely partisan interests. Political parties are expected to change the electoral rules as a way to maximise gains or minimise losses. However, little work has been done on the question of why electoral reforms are so scarce in spite of these potential benefits. In this study, a wide range of both factors that may foster (‘catalysts’) and ones that may hinder (‘barriers’) the change of electoral institutions are investigated. A statistical analysis is performed of 16 West European countries from 1975 to 2005, covering 23 reforms of the proportionality of their electoral systems. It is found that procedural barriers are more effective for explaining the likelihood of electoral reforms than (most of) the catalysts. Additionally, there are indications that courts may play a more active role in triggering reform than previously thought.