Suchergebnisse

How do economic agents manage expected shifts in regimes? How do they try to influence or prevent the arrival of such shifts? This paper provides a selective survey of the analysis of regime shifts from an economic view point, with particular emphasis on the use of the tech-niques of optimal control theory and differential games. The paper is organized as follows. Section 2 gives an overview of the concepts of regime shifts, thresholds, and tipping points. Section 3 shows how unknown tipping points affect the optimal current policy of decision makers, with or without ambiguity aversion. Section 4.s focus is on political regime shifts in a two-class economy: how the elite may try to prevent revolution by using policy instruments such as repression, redistribution, and gradual democratization. Section 5 reviews models of dynamic games in resource exploitation involving regime shifts and thresholds. Section 6 reviews some studies of regime shifts in industrial organization theory, with focus on R&D races, including efforts to sabotage rivals in order to prevent entry. Section 7 reviews games of regime shifts when players can manage a Big Push. Section 8 discusses some directions for future research.

Abstract


Only in the last 25 years or so have interest groups in Sub‐Sahara Africa become a focus of academic research. This is mainly due to an increasing number of societies becoming more democratic. What earlier research was conducted on interests and interest group activity in the sub‐region, heavily favoured a corporatist perspective; but in recent years the emphasis has been on the role of civil society organizations (CSOs) in their relatively more autonomous role from the state. This paper examines the nature of interest group behaviour in Sub‐Sahara Africa and, in greater detail, in South Africa, focusing on the relationship between these groups and the state and society. The major premise presented is that democratization in the region since 1994 has weakened the corporatist hold of the state and has strengthened and expanded civil society.


South Africa is used as an example of a developing democracy in which interest group activity has increased as shown by the wide range of CSOs and has produced a unique system combining corporatism and pluralism. Several cases are presented, including the role of traditional authorities, education, women's groups and the interests involved in the HIV/AIDS crisis.

Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The "re-Islamization" of society in independent Uzbekistan has proven to be a complex process, generating conflict in the social, cultural and political spheres. Since the early 1990s, the regime of Islam Karimov has sought to undermine any manifestation of "unofficial" Islam via imprisonment of the leadership, implementation of repressive statutes governing religious activity, and other coercive means. Yet, since 1999 Uzbekistan has experienced more religious violence directed against government power structures by "extremists" than any other former Soviet republic in Central Asia. Important issues that should direct U.S. policy remain unresolved: How significant is the threat from radical Islam in Uzbekistan, that is, what are the chances of politicized, "fundamentalist" Islam emerging as a mass movement there? Has recent U.S. policy reduced or exacerbated the dynamics of conflict between the regime and the "radicals?" In order to effect resolution of this conflict, a new paradigm must be implemented in U.S.–Uzbek relations which moves the Uzbek regime toward democratization, while maintaining social stability. In addition, politicized Islam, in a non-radicalized form, should also figure into any policy strategy directed at long-term stability in Uzbekistan.

Entire overview of publications and research by Jurate Novagrockiene covers two different topics of investigation of democratization of political system, particularly party system, and transformation of security sector, particularly, the armed forces. On the other, the common denominator of the research is search for theoretical model and methodology of investigation of the Lithuanian case exploiting models and tools applied to research Western countries

Entire overview of publications and research by Jurate Novagrockiene covers two different topics of investigation of democratization of political system, particularly party system, and transformation of security sector, particularly, the armed forces. On the other, the common denominator of the research is search for theoretical model and methodology of investigation of the Lithuanian case exploiting models and tools applied to research Western countries

Entire overview of publications and research by Jurate Novagrockiene covers two different topics of investigation of democratization of political system, particularly party system, and transformation of security sector, particularly, the armed forces. On the other, the common denominator of the research is search for theoretical model and methodology of investigation of the Lithuanian case exploiting models and tools applied to research Western countries

Entire overview of publications and research by Jurate Novagrockiene covers two different topics of investigation of democratization of political system, particularly party system, and transformation of security sector, particularly, the armed forces. On the other, the common denominator of the research is search for theoretical model and methodology of investigation of the Lithuanian case exploiting models and tools applied to research Western countries

"Proposing a novel way to look at the consolidation of democratic regimes, this book presents important theoretical and empirical contributions to the study of democratic consolidation, legislative organization, and public opinion. Theoretically, Simone Wegmann brings legislatures into focus as the main body representing both winners and losers of democratic elections. Empirically, Wegmann shows that the degree of policy-making power of opposition players varies considerably between countries. Using survey data from the CSES, the ESS, and the LAPOP and systematically analysing more than 50 legislatures across the world and the specific rights they grant to opposition players during the policy-making process, Wegmann demonstrates that neglecting the curial role of the legislature in a democratic setting can only lead to an incomplete assessment of the importance of institutions for democratic consolidation. The Power of Opposition will be of great interest to scholars of comparative politics, especially those working on questions related to legislative organization, democratic consolidation, and/or public opinion"--

Why have so many attempts at democracy in the past half-century failed? Confronting this much discussed question, Jay Ulfelder offers a novel explanation for the coups and rebellions that have toppled fledgling democratic regimes and that continue to threaten many new democracies today. Ulfelder draws on an original dataset of 110 democratic failures spanning 1955–2007 and also presents analytic narratives for six cases (Cyprus, Fiji, Spain, Thailand, Ukraine, and Venezuela) to illustrate why some governments survive while others collapse. Focusing on political parties and the military as key players in the "democracy game," he sheds light on the pathways by which new democracies slide all too often from founding elections to polarization and breakdown

"Democracies across the globe are in crisis as authoritarian regimes rise and populist leaders emerge worldwide. Democracy in Crisis across the World weaves threads of history and politics in two parts to analyze how long this trend may last and what the future may bring"--

Hackers as vital disruptors, inspiring a new wave of activism in which ordinary citizens take back democracy. Hackers have a bad reputation, as shady deployers of bots and destroyers of infrastructure. In Coding Democracy, Maureen Webb offers another view. Hackers, she argues, can be vital disruptors. Hacking is becoming a practice, an ethos, and a metaphor for a new wave of activism in which ordinary citizens are inventing new forms of distributed, decentralized democracy for a digital era. Confronted with concentrations of power, mass surveillance, and authoritarianism enabled by new technology, the hacking movement is trying to "build out" democracy into cyberspace. Webb travels to Berlin, where she visits the Chaos Communication Camp, a flagship event in the hacker world; to Silicon Valley, where she reports on the Apple-FBI case, the significance of Russian troll farms, and the hacking of tractor software by desperate farmers; to Barcelona, to meet the hacker group XNet, which has helped bring nearly 100 prominent Spanish bankers and politicians to justice for their role in the 2008 financial crisis; and to Harvard and MIT, to investigate the institutionalization of hacking. Webb describes an amazing array of hacker experiments that could dramatically change the current political economy. These ambitious hacks aim to displace such tech monoliths as Facebook and Amazon; enable worker cooperatives to kill platforms like Uber ; give people control over their data; automate trust; and provide citizens a real say in governance, along with capacity to reach consensus. Coding Democracy is not just another optimistic declaration of technological utopianism; instead, it provides the tools for an urgently needed upgrade of democracy in the digital era