Fuel,feed and the corporate restructuring of the food regime

The agrofuel boom has brought about some of the most significant transformations in the world food system in recent decades. A rich and diverse body of agrarian political economy research has emerged that elucidates the conflicts and redistributional shifts engendered by these transformations. However, less attention has been given to differences within agri-food capital. This paper contributes to the existing literature on agrofuels, by showing how one cluster of agri-food corporations and farmers within the US has benefited from soaring ethanol production at the expense of another cluster. More specifically, I delineate and chart the pecuniary trajectories of two corporate-led distributional coalitions that have vied over the course taken by the US ethanol sector: the ‘Agro-Trader nexus’ and the ‘Animal Processor nexus’. My main finding is that the US ethanol boom has been a vector of redistribution: increasing the earnings of the Agro-Trader nexus and corn growers while reducing the earnings of the Animal Processor nexus and livestock farmers. This finding points to the limits and contradictions of agrofuels capitalism and the acute tensions that exist at the heart of the corporate food regime.     

The Coexistence of Different Welfare Regimes in the Same Country: A Comparative Analysis of the Brazilian Municipalities Heterogeneity

Abstract

This paper demonstrates that heterogeneous countries such as Brazil have vast differences in welfare arrangements at the sub-national level. A number of social policies (social insurance, education, health and social assistance) were analysed in 5,565 Brazilian municipalities along five dimensions: expenditure, coverage, share of private spending, family structure and poverty. The grade of membership method was used to cluster municipalities and identify the main differences in their welfare regimes. Factor analysis was also used to explore which dimensions are most relevant in characterizing these sub-national regimes. The results show highly heterogeneous institutional forms of social protection across municipalities, which are classified as social assistance, quasi-social assistance, corporative, quasi-corporative, family insurance and intermediary welfare regimes.     

Combating Domestic Abuse in Jordan from the Top-Down: Liberal and/or Democratic Statebuilding?

ABSTRACT

This article explores how liberal statebuilding can produce unexpected results by examining Jordan's campaign against domestic abuse. Jordan's Family Protection Initiative exemplifies the executive's implementation of externally-supported measures promoting women's empowerment. However, ambiguities over its central mission have resulted in the state pressuring victims to reconcile with abusive family members. I argue that the Initiative reflects regime survival strategies, designed to deflect international calls for democratic reform, co-opt the Jordanian women's movement, and circumvent Islamist and tribal opposition. Critics' accusations that the Initiative is ‘foreign’ are largely veiled criticisms of the executive for politically marginalising them and/or usurping their authority in family matters.     

Observing incumbent abuses: improving measures of electoral and competitive authoritarianism with new data

Electoral and competitive authoritarian regimes have become a major focus of comparative research. Yet, finding measures that distinguish these regimes from democracies is challenging, especially for scholars conducting large-N cross-national research, as this conceptual distinction rests on incumbent abuses that are difficult to systematically observe. This article reviews common measures that simply utilize extant regime indicators to draw the line with democracy, demonstrates their poor performance in mirroring a benchmark from case-based measurement, and illustrates the adverse implications for theory building. The article then shows how data on incumbent abuse from the National Elections Across Democracy and Dictatorship (NELDA) and Varieties of Democracy (VDEM) projects can be utilized to construct alternative measures. A NELDA-based measure far outperforms extant alternatives in mirroring the case-based benchmark. The article then discusses why a VDEM-based alternative should be a superior option once data is available and how one might be constructed.     

Intergovernmental Organizations,Interaction, and Member State Interest Convergence

This article presents a general theory of how the interaction of state agents within intergovernmental organizations (IGOs) leads to a convergence in member state interests over time. The theory is based on the notion that, all else being equal, IGOs that facilitate more interaction between individuals from various states are conducive to greater member state interest convergence over time because there are more opportunities for agents from one or more member states to persuade agents from other member states to accept new ideas that affect how they define their states’ interests. I argue that such persuasion does not necessarily have to involve a shift in state identities but can also involve a diffusion of ideas about cause-and-effect relationships. Also, by focusing on IGOs as structures within which state agents interact, I argue against a narrow focus on socialization defined as the induction of new members into community norms. I present three hypotheses regarding which institutional attributes are conducive to member state interest convergence and test them using an original IGO data set. The findings are supportive of my general theory but provide some interesting support for existing theory that runs counter to one of the hypotheses presented here.     

Elite Co-optation,Repression, and Coups in Autocracies

This article provides an explanation for the significant variation in coups in autocracies. The existing theoretical literature focuses on the strategies that leaders use to thwart mass mobilization and survive in power. However, most autocratic leaders lose power through a coup, indicating that the main threats to political survival in autocracies emerge from insiders and not from outside the incumbent coalition. This article focuses on leaders’ strategies to mitigate elite threats and argues that autocrats’ strategies of co-optation and repression within the ruling elite and the armed forces affect the risk of coups in opposite ways. Elected authoritarian legislatures are instruments that leaders employ to co-opt members of the incumbent coalition and are expected to decrease the likelihood of coups. In contrast, purges of insider actors constitute a repressive strategy that depletes bases of support and increases the risk of coups. We find empirical support for these hypotheses from a sample of all authoritarian regimes from 1950 to 2004.     

Licensing,Accreditation and Quality Improvement

This article provides an explanation of why consideration is needed of historical practice issues when designing new regulatory regimes. It also suggests some practice techniques that can be applied both to existing and new regulatory regimes to enhance the effectiveness of the regulation. It does so by exploring the problems faced by existing service providers and regulators following the introduction of a new regulatory regime intended to raise the standard of out‐of‐home care services in NSW. This involved agencies making the transition from a licensing regime based on minimum standards under the Children (Care and Protection) Act 1987 to accreditation, employing optimum practice standards, under the Children and Young Persons (Care and Protection) Act 1998.     

The National Governance and Policy Context of Social Impact Bond Emergence: A Comparative Analysis of Leaders and Skeptics

Abstract

Proponents of the Social Impact Bond (SIB) model put forward a value-for-money case for SIBs based on new resources, efficiency enhancements and innovation for social service delivery, suggesting broad potential for SIB uptake in varying national contexts. SIB use has however been concentrated in Anglo-Saxon liberal market economies. This paper analyses the possibility that SIBs are proceeding given their alignment with particular governance and policy regimes, as opposed to any universal superiority from a cost-effectiveness or efficiency perspective. A comparative analysis is undertaken of the United Kingdom and the United States, leaders in SIB implementation, with France and Germany. A range of indicators representing the adoption of neoliberal governance approaches are reviewed and linked to their complementarity with the SIB model. Policy implications for SIB governance are then explored.     

美国律师管理制度对中国的借鉴——以法律服务市场准入为视角

美国的律师管理制度以行业自律为主。美国律师协会在法律服务市场准入中负责制定管理律师的行业规则和纪律。相比之下,中国律师协会的自律管理薄弱,未能在中国法律服务市场准入中发挥主导作用。美国的律师管理制度有许多值得我国借鉴的地方。     

宗教视野里的传媒化生存

在信息时代,具有一定宗教背景的媒介受众通过特定的媒介信息来维持宗教信仰;媒介控制者根据自己的宗教信仰来制定信息的议程和框架以达到预定目的;新闻从业人员依赖自身的宗教信念选择报道内容。从一定程度上来说,媒介具有宗教性。从生存环境来看,媒介具有一个宗教皮肤,就能吸引相同宗教背景受众的注意力,且受众对这一媒体具有极高的忠诚度;宗教是本体,文化是表现形式,不同文明间的冲突深层上是不同宗教的冲突。