Who should be chef? The dynamics of valence evaluations across income groups during economic crises

In this paper, we investigate partisan rationalization in valence politics by trying to better specify the direct and indirect effects of the economy on government support. To do so, we examine how income levels moderate the influence of objective economic conditions on perceptions of which party is the best manager of the economy during a period of economic crisis, 2004–2010, in the United Kingdom. We find that low-income voters are more responsive in their assessments of the incumbent Labour government based on unemployment, as are high-income voters in terms of inflation. In addition, high-income voters tend to behave in a manner consistent with partisan rationalization, while low-income voters do not. These conclusions offer important implications for the effectiveness of electoral control of government policy, as well as the quality of representation.     

Accounting for failure in the nationalised enterprises — coal,steel and cars since 1970

This paper analyses the nature of the strategic miscalculations in nationalised British coal, steel and cars since the early 1970s. Specifically, it examines the extent to which the initial strategic miscalculations were caused by an uncritical use of return on investment (ROI) techniques and the extent to which subsequent operational retreat was determined by profit and loss considerations. The general conclusion is that financial (mis)calculation was a secondary problem in enterprises which did not identify their productive problems and could not solve their market difficulties. In our three cases, large-scale investment was futile when the state did not safeguard the market for the final product.     

British Pharmaceuticals: a cautionary tale

British pharmaccuticals is generally represented as a successful sector which illustrates the potential of knowledge-intensive, high-valve-added activities. This article presents a revisionist account based on evidence and argument. Pharmaceuticals is a small sector which combines high-value-added and average wages to benefit capital not labour. The knowledge base in the laboratory creates imitative product with marketing then applied to capture social expenditure. When product-market growth slows, the sector restructures defensively without solving its problems.     

Representation,neighboring districts,and party loyalty in the U.S. Congress

Legislative scholars often assume that legislators are motivated by concerns over re-election. This assumption implies that legislators are forward-looking and are motivated by a concern over what their re-election constituency will look like during their next electoral cycle. In this research, we show how the forward-looking nature of legislators motivates members of the U.S. House of Representatives to represent both their home district and their neighboring districts in their choices regarding when to support their own party. Using survey responses to the 2006, 2008, and 2010 Cooperative Congressional Elections Study to construct measures of Congressional District ideology, empirical analysis is strongly supportive of our claims. Legislators’ choices are strongly influenced both by the ideology of their home district and that of the districts that neighbor their home district. Thus, the electoral connection between citizens and representatives extends beyond a legislator’s own constituents to include the constituents in neighboring districts.     

Duverger's Law, Penrose's Power Index and the Unity of the UK

As predicted by Duverger's Law, the UK has had two-party competition for long periods in most electoral districts. However, there are different patterns of two-party competition in different districts and more than two effective parties in the Commons. Since 1874, parliament has always contained parties wishing to modify the Union and contesting seats only outside England. By calculating the Penrose power index for all parties in the House of Commons for all general elections since 1874, we identify when such parties were pivotal. We explain various legislative changes (for example the Crofters Act 1886, the first three Irish Home Rule Bills, the Parliament Act 1911) and non-changes (for example the failure to enact female suffrage before 1914) by reference to the Penrose index scores. The scores also explain how and why policy towards Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland changed and did not change in the 1970s.     

Medical rationing: the implicit result of Leadership by Example

The Institute of Medicine (IOM) has released the latest publication in its campaign to curtail medical error: Leadership by Example: Coordinating Government Roles in Improving Health Care Quality. In this publication, the IOM recommends that the government utilize its position as the country's largest purchaser of healthcare to institute unified performance standards, create appropriate incentives to improve quality of care, and develop a system to disseminate provider-specific quality information to the public. The author examines these recommendations and the contents of IOM's prior publications and concludes that necessary predicates of IOM's vision are rationing of care and a two-tiered system of healthcare. Thus, if the IOM's recommendations are carried out, the author envisions a healthcare system in which truly state-of-the-art care can only be purchased out of pocket. He concludes that, although Leadership by Example is a rational plan to address escalating healthcare costs, it is unclear both whether the American public would support it if the IOM were explicit about its ultimate impact, and whether the recommendations, in the long run, will prove to be a good thing.     

Love and Responsibility: a Political Ethic for Hannah Arendt

This paper argues that those critics of Hannah Arendt's thought who have protested at her disavowal of 'moral standards' as being appropriate in the judgment of political action have, in fact, misjudged the structure of her thought. My argument is, however, a constructive one: the paper seeks to demonstrate how Arendt arrives at her sweeping rejection of conventional standards of moral judgment, and what solution she proposes. I do this in three stages. First, I address Arendt's understanding of self as opposed to world : especially how the moral absolutes which may be claimed by the former may threaten the very structure of the latter. Second, I draw upon her model of action to discover the idea of a worldly ethics, one of principle . And third, I consider the fate of our goals when we act into the world, paying particular attention to the idea of responsibility and the on-going responsiveness to the world that belongs to action under a principle.     

Islam,immigration and group recognition 1

Islam generally, and Muslim immigrant communities in particular, have recently been targeted for criticism by Western academics and in popular Western media. This article explores the substance of these criticisms and weighs them against the beliefs and practices of Muslim immigrants in Western liberal democracies. The article addresses three distinct questions. First, what sorts of cultural adaptations is it reasonable for liberal democratic states and societies to expect immigrants to make, and what kinds of adaptation is it unreasonable to demand? Second, how vulnerable are Islamic beliefs and practices to the criticisms commonly leveled against them in the name of liberal democracy and gender equality? Finally, how strong are the parallels between the claims for political recognition and accommodation that issue from immigrant cultural communities and the claims for recognition and inclusion that issue from groups that have historically been marginalized within liberal democratic societies? Although the authors do not dismiss the notion that there may be tensions between the core commitments of liberal democratic societies and some Islamic practices, they conclude that these tensions are exaggerated by Western writers. Muslim communities generally pose no greater challenge to liberal societies than do other religious and immigrant communities. Western writers should be chary of rejecting their claims to toleration and accommodation too swiftly.     

Provincial agendas,local responses: the “common sense” restructuring of Ontario's municipal governments

Abstract: This article explores the application of the so-called “common sense” agenda of the Ontario government to the municipal sector in selected communities. By examining a range of restructuring proposals considered and/or adopted during 1995–97 in six municipalities in southern Ontario the study addresses two objectives. First, it delineates the manner in which the term “rationalize” has been understood by the province and the municipalities. Evidence suggests that the drive to “restructure” has evolved into a fairly simplistic strategy: amalgamate and eliminate units of municipal government and reduce the number of municipal councillors and staff. Second, it analyses the government's promise to “sit down with the municipalities” in this process. The Harris government, in fact, implemented a far-reaching conceptual agenda but forced municipalities to design the specific responses to it. Since 1995, municipalities large and small in all comers of the province have struggled -some in good faith, some with reluctance - to find ways to develop a local response to the province's restructuring agenda, all the while fearing that a failure to acquiesce would invite an imposed solution. Sommaire: Dans cet article, on explore I'application du «programme du bon sens» du gouvemement de l'Ontario au secteur municipal dans certaines communautés choisies. L'étude, qui examine toute une gamme de propositions de restructuration considérées ou adoptées en 1995–1997 dans six municipalités du Sud de l'Ontario, vise deux objectifs. On y définit tout d'abord la manière dont la province et les municipalités ont interprété le mot «rationaliser». I1 semblerait que l'effort de »restructuration° ait menéà une stratégie passablement simpliste: fusionner et éliminer des unités du gouvernement municipal et réduire le nombre de conseillers et de personnel municipaux. Deuxièmement, on analyse la promesse faite par le gouvemement s'asseoir autour de la table avec les municipalité« dans le cadre de ce processus. En réalité, le gouvernement Harris a mis en oeuvre un agenda conceptuel de très grande envergure mais il a forcé les municipalités à lui trouver des réponses spéci-fiques. Depuis 1995, les municipalités petites et grandes de tous les coins de la province s'efforcent, certaines de bonne foi mais d'autres avec récalcitrance, de formuler une réponse locale au programme restructurateur de la province, tout en craignant que, si elles manquent de s'y conformer, elles risquent de se faire imposer une solution.