Suchergebnisse

This dissertation studies the determinants of political institutions and their impact on economic development in various historical contexts. The first chapter asks: Why did the Catholic Church's power decline earlier in Northwestern Europe than in the East and South? I argue that differential demand for collective security in the face of the possible invasion by the "infidels" was an important factor in the Church-state relations. Catholic states had to cooperate to achieve military success and, therefore, delegated legal and fiscal authorities to the Church. To measure the Church's political power, I have assembled a novel dataset on appointments of bishops between 1198 and 1517. I find that in the dioceses located closer to the "infidels," bishops were differentially more likely to be selected by the pope or cathedral chapters than by secular rulers.The second chapter examines the economic origins of discrimination against Jewish entrepreneurs in the Russian Empire. Several changes in government policy between 1889 and 1894 freed large amounts of domestic private capital that now had to be reinvested in the equity market. I explore the relationship between anti-Jewish restrictions in the equity market, that began in 1890, and capital intensity of manufacturing industries. Using the RUSCORP database of all manufacturing corporations created in 1891–1902 and novel data on all Russian factories in 1890, I find a positive association between capital intensity and the probability of restrictions.In the third and final chapter, I study the role of labor mobility restrictions, that existed under serfdom, in shaping economic development. In the Russian Empire, twenty-three million people, who were serfs in 1858 and were not allowed to move to cities, were freed by 1870. I develop a structural model of rural-urban migration incorporating restrictions on mobility, features of the countryside and cities, and the travel costs. I estimate this model using novel detailed data on peasants, cities, and railroads in 1811–1910. The estimated parameters suggest that construction of railroads was the single most important factor explaining rural-urban migration. This is likely because allocation of rural labor was not efficient historically, independently from the impact of serfdom.

This Report is a follow-up study on "How to create a transnational party system" (2010); it illustrates recent challenges and opportunities at EU level concerning the emergence of: i) transnational parties and a transnational party system; ii) constraints and opportunities for representative democracy. The main areas addressed in the report are: (a) voting coherence of the EP Party Groups after the Euro-crisis; (b) regulation of political parties at European level (PPELs); (c) role of political foundations at European level (PFELs).

International terrorism became a major concern to Nigeria with the emergence of the Boko Haram Islamist group from around 2009, and the escalation of attacks on the country by the sect. The group has bases in neighbouring countries of Chad, Niger, and Cameroon. This made the governments of Presidents Goodluck Jonathan and Mohammadu Buhari to be involved in negotiations, dialogues, shuttle diplomacy, and the usage of other tools of foreign relations with these contiguous countries. The Multinational Task Force (MNTF) was established in 1993 by Lake Chad Basin Commission and had to be resuscitated and invigorated by the governments of Jonathan and Buhari. However, the insurgency lingered despite these concerted efforts. This paper attempts to investigate why several foreign and security policy initiatives of the Nigerian government have failed to find lasting solutions to the insurgency. Secondary data, qualitative research methods, and content analysis were used as a methodology in this research. Findings showed that inefficiencies of government, poverty, and porous borders made it easier for Boko Haram terrorists to recruit members from these neighbouring countries. It was also revealed that this insurgency has made Nigeria lose foreign direct investment (FDI) because some Multinational Corporations (MNCs) relocated from the country. Therefore, the study advocates a wider approach that incorporates economic programs that would reduce poverty among the local populace and stronger border controls, among others.

Performance management is usually presented as a technical tool to monitor policies and programmes. Performance indicators are presented as neutral and as having been developed in pursuit of economy, efficiency and effectiveness. According to this approach, if properly conceptualised and constructed, performance indicators illuminate the extent to which agencies or services are achieving goals and provide accountability. In contrast, understanding performance indicators as political requires examination of their social as well as their technical aspects. From this perspective, the effectiveness of an indicator as a means to measure performance is not as important as other roles, such as embedding policy and shaping practice. Accordingly, performance management represents a significant technology of control over social work. It acts as a powerful determinant of which forms of practice are approved by deciding which of them are drawn into the accountability framework and are therefore authorised.

The political 'convergence theorem' argues that, in countries where there are two main parties or coalitions, their policies tend to converge. In Economic Affairs, January‐March 1985, Professor Josef Molsberger traced the rise and fall of the social market in Germany. With the ascent in Britain of the Social Democratic Party and the demise of Labour, Lord Bruce‐Gardyne and Dick Taverne reflect on the prospects for convergence between SDP and Conservatives, on policies to liberalise the British economy. Both are Treasury Ministers.

Cover; Half Title; Title Page; Copyright Page; Table of Contents; List of illustrations; List of contributors; Acknowledgements; 1. Privacy and surveillance in the streets: An introduction; Introduction; The nature of public space; Concepts, distinctions, and the search for boundaries; Conclusion; Notes; References; 2. In the privacy of our streets; Introduction; The street and the public sphere; Privacy and its value; Privacy in the streets; Conclusion; Acknowledgement; Notes; References; 3. Building ivory surveillance towers: Transformations of public space in higher education; Introduction

ABSTRACTAs the world has grown more interconnected, many political science
programs have added courses on international law, international
organizations, the laws of war and peace, international human
rights, and comparative judicial politics. While in many cases these
are relatively new offerings within international studies, all of
these subjects have long been part of the law school curriculum.
There is, therefore, a long pedagogical history to be examined in
terms of the techniques and content used in law schools to teach
these courses. This paper examines a number of these techniques and
discusses how they may be used in political science courses to
enhance student learning opportunities.