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The authors propose a synthesis of power resources theory and welfare production regime theory to explain differences in human capital formation across advanced democracies. Emphasizing the mutually reinforcing relationships between social insurance, skill formation, and spending on public education, they distinguish three distinct worlds of human capital formation: one characterized by redistribution and heavy investment in public education and industry-specific and occupation-specific vocational skills; one characterized by high social insurance and vocational training in firm-specific and industry-specific skills but less spending on public education; and one characterized by heavy private investment in general skills but modest spending on public education and redistribution. They trace the three worlds to historical differences in the organization of capitalism, electoral institutions, and partisan politics, emphasizing the distinct character of political coalition formation underpinning each of the three models. They also discuss the implications for inequality and labor market stratification across time and space.

Local government in Malaysia occupies the third and lowest level after federal and state governments. Under the Malaysian federal constitution (paragraphs 4 and 5 of the Ninth Schedule), local government is the responsibility of the states, but the federal government also exercises considerable power and influence over local government, especially in peninsular Malaysia. The dynamic of the Malaysian federal system is such that it has shifted the balance of power to the centre.Local government accounts for only 1% of GDP. There are 144 local authorities divided into cities (major administrative and commercial centres), municipalities (other urban areas), and districts (chiefly rural areas). Executive powers rest with the Mayor (cities) or President, supported and/or overseen by a system of committees. Currently, local councils in Malaysia are not elected: councillors are appointed by the state government for 3-year terms (with the option of re-appointment) and in most cases come from the ruling coalition.

Neorealists argue that Japan's response to the rise of China has been to draw closer to the United States in order to balance Chinese power. In practice, the Koizumi and Abe administrations differed in their responses to the growth of Chinese power in East Asia. While Prime Minister Koizumi sought to consolidate the US-Japan alliance, Prime Minister Abe adopted a dual-track approach, combining enhanced bilateralism with enhanced regionalism. Although buttressing the US-Japan alliance, this strategy aimed to balance China by building a containment coalition with other Asia-Pacific states. Japan's signing of a security declaration with Australia in March 2007 was an important element of Abe's strategy, and marked a subtle shift in Japanese security policy from exclusive bilateralism to modest minilateralism. Although congruent with US strategic interests, this move supported Prime Minister Abe's ambition to exercise more autonomous influence over the regional security order. Adapted from the source document.

The 50th edition of this work offers a comprehensive overview of the military capacities of 170 nations, presenting a wealth of both quantitative & qualitative data from North America; Latin America & the Caribbean; Europe; Russia; the Middle East & North Africa; Sub-Saharan Africa; Central & South Asia; & East Asia & Australasia. Individual countries are compared in terms of military force levels, commitments, & economics. Developments in international military affairs are examined, focusing on operations by the US & its coalition allies in Iraq & by NATO & its allied forces -- particularly the International Security Assistance Force -- in Afghanistan, two areas of prominent conflict in 2008. Internal conflict across Africa is also explored, along with international interventions in this area. Analysis also includes the global defense industry; military modernization efforts; arms orders, deliveries, & transfers; military expenditures & budgets; military personnel, staffing, recruitment, & drafts; advances in military technologies (eg, unmanned aerial vehicles); military activities of nonstate groups & affiliates; terrorism, insurgency, & counterinsurgency. Tables, Maps. K. Hyatt Stewart

Effort is a crucial element of the legislative process - writing bills, forming coalitions, crafting strategies, and debating. We develop a model in which legislative decisions are the product of competitive effort by two teams, one trying to pass new legislation, and the other to block it. Teams choose effort levels based on preferences over the policy outcome, political rewards for effort, and opportunity costs, and the team that produces more effort wins. We apply this model to four cases of major legislation from the pre-cloture Senate: passage of the Federal Reserve Act in 1913, the Ship Purchase Act of 1915, the Ship Arming bill of 1917, and the adoption of the Senate cloture rule in 1917. These cases demonstrate the value of looking beyond legislative voting and the rules that structure it, and of including effort as a key element of the legislative game. [Reprinted by permission of Sage Publications Ltd., copyright 2008.]

"Public policy programmes in the field of working life reforms may be
needed, but they cannot do more than supplement the genuine dynamics
of the working life. They can influence people's perceptions of the problems
and the work forms applied in organizing development. Power relations
in private and public organizations, as results of business and societal
trends, are obstacles to innovative and anthropocentric oriented reforms
in working life. The more participative elements funded projects have
been integrated, the more robust are their outcomes. National programme
structures have to strive for the establishment of persistent local-level development
coalitions, and to support collaboration of all actors concerned
in development processes. International networking is possibly a learning
facilitator.
The implementation of, and learning from, reform programmes from the
1970s to our time is analyzed, with a focus on personal experiences from
research, project management and evaluation of Scandinavian and German
programmes." (author's abstract)

La Stern Review constitue à ce jour la synthèse la plus complète et la plus didactique sur l'économie du changement climatique. Malgré les apparences, elle ne constitue pas un simple manuel de référence. Son intérêt majeur est le parti pris de l'auteur en faveur de l'action face au changement climatique. Sa principale recommandation est la mise en place d'un marché international de permis d'émission permettant de coordonner l'action conduite par les différents pays. Un tel dispositif qui n'est pas celui recommandé en situation d'incertitude par l'analyse économique classique, semble être le seul qui puisse être accepté par une coalition suffisamment large d'acteurs. Pour être efficace un tel marché ne doit être que l'un des volets d'une politique plus générale qui agisse également sur l'innovation technologique, la solidarité avec les pays du Sud et le financement des infrastructures collectives, notamment en matière d'urbanisation, de transports collectifs et d'adaptation aux conditions climatiques de demain.

Résumé La courte histoire des institutions et des politiques d'environnement en Europe est marquée par la réorientation radicale de ces politiques, dont les promoteurs s'étaient inspirés initialement du modèle classique de l'État-gendarme. À partir des années 1990, ces dispositifs de contrôle administratifs sont de plus en plus critiqués de nouvelles coalitions d'experts, proches des grandes entreprises, qui prônent désormais une régulation négociée sur la base d'incitations financières. C'est en analysant la genèse et les recompositions de cet espace d'expertises qui se construit autour de Bruxelles dans la concurrence entre des modèles d'intervention politique, inscrits dans des histoires nationales, que l'on peut saisir les raisons, tant internes qu'externes, de ce revirement. En effet, les renversements d'alliance sont facilités par l'hétéronomie de cet espace-carrefour, où se retrouvent des agents nationaux qui, de surcroît, sont issus de milieux aussi opposés que le militantisme radical, le monde académique, la bureaucratie ou les entreprises multinationales.

Months after Mexico's independent electoral institute had
validated the July 2, 2006, presidential elections, and weeks after the
autonomous electoral court had certified National Action Party (PAN)
candidate Felipe Calderón as president, runner-up Andrés
Manuel López Obrador continued to cry foul. Days before the
court's final September 5 ruling, López Obrador (known widely
as "AMLO"), representing the Party of the Democratic
Revolution (PRD) and the Coalition for the Good of All, decided to disband
the mobilizations blocking some of Mexico City's main transportation
arteries, but to continue protesting indefinitely, and to name a
"shadow cabinet," to press Calderón. López
Obrador lost the election by a hair (a mere 233,831 votes, out of over
41,700,000 cast—the final certified number after electoral court
rulings), but he did lose, and in a "free and fair" contest
organized by one of the world's more respected electoral
institutions.