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Empirical studies on representation have been based mainly on the descriptive analysis of levels of political or ideological congruence between MPs and voters. Very few studies focus on explaining congruence, and those that have done so do not explore all the explanatory dimensions. This article contributes to filling this gap by testing whether three theoretical models can explain left-right congruence among European parties. These models explore causality at the micro or individual level (the characteristics of voters and MPs), the meso level (party characteristics), and the macro or system level (party system and institutional characteristics). Based on data from the PIREDEU project, the study examines the party systems of the 27 countries of the European Union with reference to the 2009 European Parliament elections. The findings reveal that MP-voter congruence is best explained at the party level and by key MP candidate characteristics. [Reprinted by permission of Sage Publications Inc., copyright holder.]

Why run for reelection when the logic and incentives of the political system leave no doubt that running for other offices is a better option? This paper focuses on the factors that influence both the choice of career and the electoral success of those who run for reelection and those who attempt to obtain other offices, using Brazil as a case study, a typically fragmented, multiparty environment with a strong executive. We argue that legislators run for reelection because it is the safest bet for them. The probability of winning is higher for those who attempt reelection than for those running for any other office. Because static ambition is conditioned by election results and not by the intrinsic desire to develop a career in the legislative branch, career paths do not necessarily lead to improvements in legislative professionalization and institutionalization. This finding contradicts theories that relate career paths to legislative institutionalization. Adapted from the source document.

This paper analyzes the relationship between malapportionment and electoral bases of support for Brazilian senators. The conventional wisdom asserts that malapportionment contributes to the "politics of backwardness" -- that it facilitates clientelism and hinders issue-based campaigns, reducing electoral competition and producing geographically concentrated patterns of votes. Our study partially confirms, yet partially refutes this wisdom. Our research indicates that malapportionment affects the competitiveness of elections: senators from overrepresented states tend to dominate their key municipalities electorally, whereas senators from underrepresented states tend to share their core municipalities. In addition, overrepresentation reduces the likelihood that leftist candidates will be elected. These findings are consistent with the traditional understanding. However, contrary to the conventional wisdom, we find that senators from underrepresented states tend to exhibit geographically concentrated patterns of electoral bases, whereas those from overrepresented areas show much more scattered bases of support. Hence, our findings suggest that the relationship between malapportionment and elections may be more complex than commonly acknowledged. Adapted from the source document.

The initiative to establish a truth commission in the successor states of the former Yugoslavia (RECOM) presents a rich case study of the performance of the 'toolkit' that transitional justice professionals propose on a global scale: an inclusive package that offers truth, justice, reconciliation and stability. Whether these goals could be achieved is the subject of a critical debate that questions overly ambitious projects of truth commissions, especially their sensitivity to local understandings and practices of transitional justice. We aim to contribute to this debate by examining the reception of RECOM in Kosovo, where most local actors remain either noncommittal or outright opposed to RECOM. What these actors share is the conviction that their own narratives be taken seriously, even when this means refusing the suppression of 'truths' that can be divisive. We found that giving priority to 'the local' implies more than adapting the received professional 'toolkit': it might require abandoning it. [Reprinted by permission of Sage Publications Inc., copyright the American Council of Learned Societies.]

Focusing on the project of cultural work (munca culturala), involving hundreds of university students from different disciplines going to the countryside to study rural life and to aid its modernisation, this article examines the prominent role sociology played in King Carol II's Romania as a scientific tool for planning rural reform and as a practical project of mass social organisation. Designed and launched by the sociologist Dimitrie Gusti in 1934, cultural work competed with the fascist Legion of the Archangel Michael's work camps, providing an 'official' project of rural modernisation, meant to bridge the gap between the educated youth and the peasantry and increase support for the King. Largely ignored by scholars of this period, this project offers a new perspective on the country's social, political, and intellectual history, one that concentrates on the 'rise of the social' in Romania, to which the transformation of the peasantry was central. [Reprinted by permission of Sage Publications Inc., copyright the American Council of Learned Societies.]

The paper aims at contributing to discussion regarding the role of the civilian Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) missions. The EU intends to strengthen itself as a provider of international security, although its CSDP related capabilities are under constant criticism. The paper has two tasks: first, to provide information about the place of CSDP civilian missions in EU crisis management efforts, and second, identify the benefits provided by such missions to the goals of the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP). Presumably, the impact of the missions could be traced following the deve- lopments in the host countries assessed by internationally recognisable inde- xes. The study hints at some reasons why the missions are beneficial throw description of civilian EU crisis management procedures, information con- cerning the capability development, depiction of existing civilian missions and finally and, the most important, by attempts to assess the impact of some on-going CSDP civilian missions in particular areas.

This study examined elementary school teachers' experiences at a socioeconomically integrated school. Specifically we focused on the ways that teachers address privilege and promote friendships among economically diverse students and the challenges they face in doing so. Open‐ended interviews were conducted with teachers (N = 25) in prekindergarten through sixth grades. Results indicated that while socioeconomic status (SES) was the most frequently mentioned domain of student difference, teachers were unsure about how to effectively address SES in the classroom. Some teachers reported working (unsuccessfully) to mask SES differences among students, though this became increasingly difficult in the upper elementary grades. Additionally, teachers described challenges associated with having an economically heterogeneous student body including parents' differential power and involvement at the school and the lack of geographic proximity among students. Findings highlight the need for clear and specific classroom‐ and school‐based strategies to better address SES differences among students in socioeconomically integrated school settings. Implications for teacher practice are discussed.

To what extent do personal circumstances, as compared to ideological dispositions, drive voters' preferences on welfare policy? Addressing this question is difficult because a person's ideological position can be an outcome of material interest rather than an independent source of preferences. The article deals with this empirical challenge using an original panel study carried out over four years, tracking the labor market experiences and the political attitudes of a national sample of Americans before and after the eruption of the financial crisis. The analysis shows that the personal experience of economic hardship, particularly the loss of a job, had a major effect on increasing support for welfare spending. This effect was appreciably larger among Republicans than among Democrats, a result that was not simply due to a "ceiling effect." However the large attitudinal shift was short lived, dissipating as individuals' employment situations improved. The results indicate that the personal experience of an economic shock has a sizable, yet overall transient effect on voters' social policy preferences.

The study of regionalism is often characterised as too fragmented, plagued by disagreements over such fundamental matters as its ontological and epistemological premises, which also hinder efforts at substantive comparison of regionalisation processes. In this article it is argued that to overcome these problems, what is required is a more rigorous incorporation of such studies within relevant work in state theory and political geography. The key insight herein is that regionalism should not be studied separately from the state as these are interrelated phenomena. State-making and regionalisation are both manifestations of contested political projects aimed at shaping the territorial, institutional, and/or functional scope of political rule. Furthermore, the article also distils the lines of a mechanismic methodology for comparative regionalism. Its main advantage is in overcoming the implicit benchmarking of regional development we find in other approaches. The framework's utility is then demonstrated through a comparison of regional governance in Asia and Europe. Adapted from the source document.

According to the UN, the world's demographic profile will be radically different in the year 2100. Mid-range population projections predict that in 2100, Japan's population will have fallen to under 100 million, over 28 million less than today. In the same time period, Nigeria's population will have jumped to 700 million, an increase of $37.5 million. However, a demographic bright spot for Japan remains. The UN projects that Japan's life expectancy will lead the world at well over 90 in 2100, and an astounding 106.3 in the year 2300. The question of how the UN can, in good conscience, produce a study that predicts the state of the world 300 years into the future is intriguing, but the pressing issue for Japan is how to approach this massive projected population decline. Japan, as a whole, should adopt these same beliefs. Japan's image as the nation of the future has been tarnished in recent years with constant news of a stagnating economy. Adapted from the source document.

Interest groups differ in the strategies they use to influence public policy. Some mainly try to gain access (i.e., have direct contact with decision makers), whereas others tend to 'go public' by launching campaigns that aim to mobilise the broader public. In this article it is argued that group type -- namely the distinction between business associations, professional associations and citizen groups -- is a major determinant of the choice of strategy. The effect of group type, however, is conditional on the group's endowment with material resources and the issue context: the differences across group types are largest for resource-rich associations and associations active in distributive policy fields. Original data from surveys of national associations in five European countries (Austria, Germany, Ireland, Latvia and Spain) enable the assessment of this argument. The theoretical expectations are supported, with the results having relevance for the normative evaluation of political systems and the positive study of interest group influence. Adapted from the source document.