Accountability from the perspective of the forum: citizens’ attitudes towards accountability in Europe

The aim of this article is to analyse citizens’ attitudes towards governmental accountability in 24 European countries and to examine the influence of contextual and individual factors on perceptions of accountability. Using as a dataset the 2012 European Social Survey, the results show that citizens respond positively when the media provides reliable information on which to judge the government, when individuals perceive that governments perform well, when individuals live in more extensive and generous welfare states and when they live in countries where the rule of law is firmly established. In addition, the findings also provide evidence that compared to politically left-wing citizens, right-wing supporters have, on average, a higher perception of governmental accountability. In particular, the findings show strong positive evaluations of right-wing governments by right-wing voters in comparison with left-wing governments by left-wing voters.     

Charting informal engagement between de facto states: a quantitative analysis

Although being considered illegal entities and largely ignored, de facto states have received some extent of acceptance such as foreign representations short of embassies located in their capitals. This paper examines the conditions which lead to this informal engagement measured by the number of foreign representations to the contested states. We study the position of non-recognised states in the international system and the factors that condition this position. Using fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis, this paper establishes sufficient and/or necessary conditions that lead to more informal diplomacy between established states and their non-recognised counterparts using data from eight cases.     

Dysfunctional state institutions,trust, and governance in areas of limited statehood

Areas of limited statehood where the state is absent or dysfunctional are rarely ungoverned or ungovernable spaces. The provision of rules and regulations, as well as of public goods and services – governance – does not necessarily depend on the existence of functioning state institutions. How can this be explained? To begin with, we identify functional equivalents to state institutions that fail to govern hierarchically. Moreover, we focus on informal institutions based on trust that are endogenous to areas of limited statehood. Personalized trust among community members enables actors to overcome collective action problems and enhances the legitimacy of governance actors. The main challenge in areas of limited statehood, which are often characterized by social heterogeneity and deep social and cultural cleavages (particularly in post‐conflict societies) is to move to generalized trust beyond the local level and to “imagined communities among strangers,” despite dysfunctional state institutions. We propose two mechanisms: First, the more group‐based identities are constructed in inclusive ways and the more group identities are cross‐cutting and overlapping, the more they lead to and maintain generalized trust. Second, experiences with fair and impartial institutions and governance practices – irrespective of whether state or non‐state – also lead to generalized trust beyond the local level and allow for the upscaling of governance.     

Greenland from a Commonwealth Perspective

A Commonwealth perspective provides a useful comparative framework for understanding Greenland’s contemporary situation. There are parallels between the constitutional evolution of the Commonwealth, particularly in relation to the British dominions, and Greenland’s autonomous status within the Kingdom of Denmark. There is also a useful Commonwealth perspective on the issue of whether financial support from a metropole continues or becomes less in the event of an autonomous territory moving to full independence. Greenland’s situation also warrants comparison with the many small states within the Commonwealth, given that an independent Greenland would be very much a small state in population terms. As a predominantly indigenous Inuit society, Greenland can also be compared with ‘developed’ Commonwealth countries such as Australia, Canada and New Zealand where indigenous issues are important even though indigenous peoples are in a minority. Going beyond the comparative perspective, Greenland is relevant to specific Commonwealth countries, most notably Canada and the United Kingdom; other Commonwealth countries such as Singapore, India and Australia also have some interests relating to Greenland. Also beyond the comparative perspective Greenland is significant not just for the Commonwealth but for the whole world because of its position in relation to climate change.     

Introduction: claiming social citizenship

Social citizenship in the classical sense of T.H. Marshall has been declared to be eroded and to have lost its significance. The introduction to this special issue challenges this assumption and argues that recent anthropological work on social citizenship in post-colonial, post Cold War and post-socialist states have shown that social citizenship is relevant and is being claimed by citizens of these states. Historical notions of citizenship as well as claiming rights to state support in return for having worked for the state are at work here. Furthermore the contributions to this issue illustrate how notions and practices of social citizenship compete and sometimes replace other practices of claiming citizenship on the basis of ethnicity, nationality or cultural ties.     

A revised list of independent states since the congress of Vienna

We examine the criteria for membership in the international system as applied in the widely employed system membership list maintained by the Correlates of War Project. Some problems with existing classifications are illustrated and some analytical and empirical consequences of these problems are detailed. Using updated criteria and information, we develop a revised and updated list of the composition of the international system of nation state actors in world politics from the Congress of Vienna to the present.     

The Fate of the State Revisited

The State, which during the three and a half centuries since the Treaty of Westphalia (1648) has been the most important and the most characteristic of all modern institutions, appears to be declining or dying. In many places, existing states are either combining into larger communities or falling apart; in many places, organizations that are not states are challenging them by means fair or foul. On the international level, we seem to be moving away form a system of separate, sovereign, legally equal, states towards less distinct, more hierarchical, and in many ways more complex political structures. Inside their borders, it seems that many states will soon no longer be able to protect the political, military, economic, social and cultural life of their citizens. These developments are likely to lead to upheavals as profound as those that took humanity out of the middle ages and into the modern world. Whether the direction of change is desirable, as some hope, or undesirable, as others fear, remains to be seen.     

Rescuing constructivism from the constructivists: a critical reading of constructivist interventions in Southeast Asian security

Abstract

Constructivist contributions to the study of Southeast Asian security raise much-needed awareness of identity concerns and introduce conceptual and methodological innovations into the study of identity. However, their shared rationalist proclivity to couple subjectivity with sovereignty revives the enduring problem of treating agency as ultimately pre-given. Contrary to their professed aim to restore to security studies an appreciation for history and practice, the contributions of many Southeast Asia constructivists are quite tellingly essentialist, particularly their concessions to state-centrism and ideational/normative determinism, both due partly to an uncritical emulation of rationalist constructivist perspectives in International Relations (IR) theory. In granting ontological priority to states, Southeast Asia constructivists cannot fully transcend reification because their denaturalizing of international anarchy or regions comes at the expense of a reified state. In reifying either the state or ideas/norms, their claim to privilege practice in their analyses of Southeast Asian security becomes suspect. But if process and practice are to be taken seriously, then Southeast Asia constructivists must avoid presuming a preordained subjectivity that invalidates their claim to study social construction.     

Not a Curse at All: Why Middle Eastern Oil States Fail and How it can be Prevented

Western scholarship has often noted that oil states in the Middle East are affected by the ‘resource curse’. Thus, such states are to eventually fail due to their plundering of resources and their neglect of the social contract with their citizens. However, this is not the case, as oil states are neither failed states, nor fully democratic. They hover in a middle ground in which they assure security through coercion, but lack representation and legitimacy. Due to the events of the Arab Spring, a pragmatic, insightful and comprehensive review of oil states in the region is necessary. Although oil states in the region thus far have remained stable, change can be expected in the future. How will oil states deal with the pressures of a more demanding society and an ever-challenging economic atmosphere? Furthermore, what can history teach us so that state failure can be averted?     

Federal Support for Adoption Subsidies

ABSTRACT

Federal Title IV-E Adoption Assistance is an essential resource for states moving children from foster care to adoption. Secondary analyses indicate that federal funds support nearly half the costs of all adoption subsidies. Due to variations in eligibility, federal matching rates, and states' use of the program, the proportion of total subsidy costs supported by Title IV-E funds ranges from 25 to 72 percent among states. Multivariate analyses of recent adoptions demonstrate the importance of Title IV-E utilization for adopted children and their families, in that Title IV-E-eligible children are more likely to receive subsidies and to receive larger subsidies, compared to children who are not Title IV-E eligible. Variations in Title IV-E utilization have potential impacts on children, adoptive families and state child welfare agencies.