From Machiavelli to Ms: differences in male-female power styles

While the concept of power has always been a concern to students of political science and public administration, it has been examined only peripherally in the last few years. Recent work by McClelland has indicated that power may be a very important variable in explaining managerial behavior and organizational effectiveness. Starting with a definition of power provided by McClelland, this paper develops a conceptual framework for analyzing power-related behavior in an organizational setting. The framework is then applied to a problem area of particular interest to the authors--the question of whether or not women managers can be expected to behave differently than their male counterparts because of possible differences in their orientations toward power. We conclude that differences in power needs will not impede the effectiveness of female managers, but women may be at a disadvantage in the work environment due to possible differences in the way they express these needs.     

Evolutionarily stable preferences in contests

We define an indirect evolutionary approach formally and apply it to (Tullock) contests. While it is known that the direct evolutionary approach in the form of finite population ESS yields more aggressive behavior than in Nash equilibrium, it is now shown that the indirect evolutionary approach yields the same more aggressive behavior, too. This holds for any population size N, if the evolution of preferences is determined by behavior in two-player contests. The evolutionarily stable preferences (ESP) of the indirect approach turn out to be negatively interdependent, thereby “rationalizing” the more aggressive behavior.     

德国医疗卫生改革：行为体、利益与立法过程分析——以《加强法定医保竞争法》（2007）为例

2007年3月德国《加强法定医保竞争法》（GKV-WSG）出台。本文分析了该法出台前后德国医疗卫生改革所带来的新的行为体格局以及2009年1月1日起生效的改革内容。笔者认为,《加强法定医保竞争法》在多个方面承袭了“渐变”的发展模式,但同时该法也带来了德国医疗卫生体制的深刻变革,尤其在行为体格局方面。因此本文主要探讨实验治理的新形式、对立的利益格局、艰难的谈判进程以及倾向于否决的行为体结构。     

IMF conditionality: An approach based on the theory of special interest politics

Financial assistance provided by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and other International Financial Institutions (IFIs) aims to help member countries reduce their economic policy distortions. Because these distortions are endogenously generated, it is important to understand how IFI assistance interacts with the domestic political economy. In this paper, we review recent models of IFI conditional assistance that are based on the theory of special interest politics (Grossman and Helpman 2001). In these models, governments adopt inefficient economic policies and instruments because of lobbying by interest groups. IFI assistance helps reduce these inefficiencies, at least under perfect and symmetric information, and provided IFIs are representative of the general public in creditor and debtor countries. Factors limiting the effectiveness of conditional assistance as an incentive system are also identified. These are related to information asymmetries, the potential for political instability in debtor countries, and the IFIs’ own financial solvency.

Towards parliamentarisation of foreign and security policy?

Abstract

It is customary to argue that foreign policy is very much dominated by the executive, with parliaments wielding limited influence. However, with the exception of the US Congress, legislative?executive relations in the realm of foreign and security policy have attracted remarkably little scholarly attention. Drawing on a principal?agent framework, this collection scrutinises the conventional wisdom of ‘executive autonomy’ in foreign affairs, indicating that even though parliaments have arguably become more involved in foreign and security policy over time, any notions of parliamentarisation need to be treated with caution. While expectations of consensus in the name of the national interest continue to play an important role in foreign policy decision-making, the papers highlight the role of party-political contestation structuring parliamentary debates and votes in this increasingly politicised issue area. This introductory paper introduces the analytical framework and hypotheses guiding the contributions in this collection, summarises their main findings and suggests avenues for future research.     

Digital media and political opposition in authoritarian systems: Russia’s 2011 and 2016 Duma elections

The ability of authoritarian regimes to maintain power hinges, in part, on how well they are able to manipulate the flow of information to the masses. While authoritarian states have had success controlling traditional media, the growth of social media over the last decade has created new challenges for such regimes. The Russian experience offers an example of how an authoritarian regime responds to this potential threat. Because of the massive demonstrations surrounding the 2011–2012 Duma elections, the ruling Russian government suspected that social media provided a significant impetus for the demonstrations. Social media, through its dissemination of opposition blogs, could have helped drive negative attitudes about the governing party. As such, the government responded by employing strategies to tighten their grip on the digital flow of information. We use survey data to demonstrate that exposure to blogs via social media at the time of the demonstrations led many to believe that the elections were fraudulent. Ultimately, we contend that Russian fears concerning the importance of social media for the fomenting of opposition movements is well grounded. Social media can drive support for opposition in an autocratic state.     

Windenergieanlagen und Freiraumschutz

Zusammenfassung  In Deutschland sind gegenw?rtig über 19.000 Windenergieanlagen installiert. Dies ist klimaschutz- und energiepolitisch zu Recht als Erfolg gewertet worden, hat aber auch erhebliche Konflikte mit dem Immissions-, Natur- und Landschaftsschutz hervorgebracht. Auf die Problemlage hat der Gesetzgeber insbesondere durch Schaffung verbesserter rechtlicher M?glichkeiten für eine r?umliche Konzentration von Windenergieanlagen reagiert. Durch verschiedene h?chstrichterliche Entscheidungen sind die rechtlichen Anforderungen an den Planungsvorbehalt des § 35 Abs. 3 S. 3 BauGB als Korrektiv der gesetzlichen Privilegierung der Errichtung von Windenergieanlagen (§ 35 Abs. 1 Nr. 5 BauGB) mittlerweile in hohem Ma?e pr?zisiert worden. Die M?glichkeiten, das Anliegen des Fl?chensparens auch in die Windenergieplanung zu integrieren, sind aber durch die gegenw?rtige Rechtsetzung noch nicht ausgesch?pft.     

Black and white complainants and the police: A comparison of individual and contextual characteristics

Citizens have always had an important role in the crime control process; they are most often responsible for the detection of crime. It is imperative, therefore, that citizens perceive police officers to be competent and just in the execution of their duties; in the absence of such confidence, the process suffers. Ironically, the groups which are most often the victims of crime hold the most negative attitudes toward the police. Minorities in urban communities, particularly blacks, fit this pattern. These attitudes appear to be linked to the perception of negative, differential experiences with the police, experiences which often lead to the filing of a formal complaint. Using a data set from the complaint files of a large American city, this article explores the relationship between the attitudes of blacks toward the police, experiences with the police, and complaints lodged against the police.