Suchergebnisse

Two decades of turnover data were collected for the national legislature of 25 industrialized countries. After a discussion of turnover's significance, we compare turnover rates across countries. A set of variables expected to influence turnover rates is described & multiple regression is used to test the hypotheses developed. Results show that frequency of elections, opportunity for double listings, electoral volatility, & legislative institutionalization have statistically significant effects on turnover. In addition the type of electoral system (majoritarian vs proportional representation) is shown to have a statistically & substantively significant effect, with turnover much greater in the latter. Possible explanations for this effect are explored. 3 Tables, 1 Appendix. Adapted from the source document.

Veto institutions are often dominated by government opponents with rival electoral and policy interests (e.g. \divided government"). I investigate the tradeoff between policy control and policy blockade when both the government and the veto party may cater to opposing special interests. The value of an opposition veto depends on whether electoral accountability can discipline bad type politicians. When this is not the case, a veto is beneficial only if the government's special interests are expected to be harmful. In contrast, when bad types care about (re-)election, a veto always increases expected welfare, providing a new rationale for the frequent occurrence of "divided government". Without policy rivalry, an opposition veto fares even better.

Solidarity Electoral Action (SEA), the most successful center-right grouping to emerge in post-1989 Poland, illustrates the varying fortunes of the center-right in postcommunist Eastern Europe. The most powerful approaches to explaining the grouping's success appear to be those that focus on microinstitutional factors such as the importance of party origins together with agency approaches that emphasize the failure of SEA's political leadership to overcome the grouping's ideological & personality divisions & structural weaknesses. In particular, SEA's leadership failed to use key opportunities such as the run-up to the Sept 1997 election to create a more cohesive organization & durable ideological profile for the grouping. 4 Tables. Adapted from the source document.

For months, the candidates for president of the United States have pushed back and forth over the appropriate role of the United Nations and the international community as a whole, in the current conflict in Iraq. The election may well hinge on how voters respond to each man's argument. One of the nation's most prominent international scholars, Professor Ruth Wedgwood of Johns Hopkins University, frames the question differently. As she sees it, the question is more fundamental. Can the U.N., with its carefully promulgated rules about when and under what circumstances military solutions are permissible, even cope with what's really happening in the world today? A summary of the event is available here.

The September 9 bomb attack in front of the Australian embassy in Jakarta signals a comeback of the Southeast Asian terror network, Jemaah Islamiyah, that had suffered setbacks in its struggle with Indonesian security forces in 2003 and that some had already pronounced dead. Much as with the March 2004 Madrid train bombings, the timing of the assault prior to Indonesia's presidential and Australia's parliamentary elections betrays an intention to influence democratic processes. In more general terms, both Indonesia and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have been affected by investigative and cooperative deficits that threaten to weaken regional cohesion and to turn Southeast Asia into an object of contention among neighbouring great powers. (SWP Comments / SWP)

The election in Bolivia in June 2002 revealed the plight of South America's poorest country trapped between the needs of its own population and external pressures to 'modernise' its economy in-line with overseas interests. After years of experiencing the impact of neo-liberal reforms, 'anti-system' sentiments are starting to challenge the ability of traditional politicians to represent their interests. The success of an outsider Eva Morales, holding a broadly socialist stance, represents a new departure for indigenous peoples who appear impatient with traditional political slogans. It holds the potential to unleash a new social dynamic into the political landscape of Bolivia, a landscape often compromised by outside interference and internal corruption.

This article explores the region-level impediments to the process of party formation in Russia during 1993–2002. The design of Russia's national electoral system produces parties because they are entitled to contest the proportional part of legislative elections. Once produced in this way, parties are motivated to penetrate into the regions. However, the article empirically demonstrates that the parties' attempts to penetrate the peripheries of the country have failed throughout the period. Region-level factors that impede the process of party formation include the dominant modes of separation of power, electoral systems, and the patterns of intra-elite conflict in the regions. In turn, the lack of territorial penetration makes national political parties unsustainable.

This article challenges the widespread belief that the recent success of Jean-Marie Le Pen and the Front National is due to a 'protest vote' on the part of the French electorate, a vote which thus lacks any 'core identity' and is therefore unsustainable in the long term. Through a geographical and sociological breakdown of the 2002 presidential and legislative elections the article first shows the extent to which support for Le Pen is clearly not a 'protest' but has a clear and recognisable base. Following this, the article aims to situate the notion of the 'protest vote' in the wider context of the continued 'moving right show' in contemporary social democracy.

This article explores the implications for female politicians of the gendered nature of news coverage. An analysis of the language used in television news coverage of the English-language leaders' debates in the Canadian federal elections of 1993, 1997 and 2000 confirms that the debates are framed in stereotypically masculine ways as battles, sporting events or back street brawls. When the news coverage is compared with the leaders' actual behaviour in the debates, it is clear that the coverage focuses disproportionately on combative displays of behaviour by female party leaders, but tends to ignore the women when they adopt a more low-key style, especially when the novelty of a female leader has worn off.

Abstract

News


WAS EMPLOYER'S VISIT TO EMPLOYEE WEB SITE LAWFUL?


UNIONS PUSH BACK RIGHT‐TO‐WORK BILLS


NLRB GENERAL COUNSEL REPORTS ON WHEN LAWSUITS MAY BE UNFAIR LABOR PRACTICES


From the Editor


THREATS OF JOB LOSS AND WORK SITE CLOSURE


Campaign Workshop


NO‐SOLICITATION RULE WAS UNLAWFUL


EXPLAINING STRIKERS' RIGHTS DURING ELECTION CAMPAIGNS


DISTRIBUTING PRO‐COMPANY MATERIALS MUST BE DONE BY THE RULES


VIDEOTAPING PRO‐UNION EMPLOYEES


THE IMPORTANCE OF MARKING BALLOTS PROPERLY


Supervisor's Workshop


GENERAL GUIDELINES FOR RESPONDING TO UNION ORGANIZING—PART ONE


Union Tactics


JOBS WITH JUSTICE WEB SITE


UNION RE‐ENTRY FEES


STEELWORKERS STRIKE OUT AT SIEMENS


Decertification Notes


QUESTIONS ABOUT DECERTIFICATION VOTE AT VINEYARDS