Suchergebnisse

Examines recent political developments in CA that are part of a right-wing, antiimmigrant, anti-civil-rights, & antieducation agenda. It is asserted that CA's recession, misguided spending priorities, & a growing income gap between the wealthy few & the working many have created an atmosphere in which African Americans, Asian Americans, Latinos, & women are blamed for decreasing opportunities for white males. Proposition 187, passed in 1994, but currently enjoined by the courts, targeted government services for illegal immigrants, but it is asserted that people will continue to immigrate to the US in search of economic opportunity, regardless of the availability of social services. Proposition 184, the so-called "three strikes & you're out" measure also passed in 1994, actually contributes to criminal activity by failing to address the root causes of crime, while taking limited funds away from education, job training, & other critical social programs. The proposed CA Civil Rights Initiatives locates the source of inequality in the supposed lack of individual merit of women & minorities, but masks the real social problem of a systematically racist & sexist society confronted with restricted resources & opportunities. M. Greenberg

Lobbyists frequently join forces to influence policy, yet the success of active lobbying coalitions remains a blind spot in the literature. This article is the first to test how and when characteristics of active coalitions increase their lobbying success. Based on pluralist theory, one can expect diverse coalitions, uniting different societal interests, to signal broad support to policy makers. Yet, their responsiveness to this signal (i.e., signaling benefits) and contribution incentives within the coalition (i.e., cooperation costs) are likely to vary with issue salience. This theory is tested on a unique data set comprising 50 issues in five European countries. Results reveal a strong moderating effect of salience on the relationship between coalition diversity and success: On less salient issues, homogenous coalitions are more likely to succeed, whereas the effect reverses with higher salience, where diverse coalitions are more successful. These findings have implications for understanding political responsiveness and potential policy capture.

Partial contents: The three major parties; Institutional reform; Italy's economy.

Every schoolboy knows that 'England does not love Coalitions'; yet the briefest acquaintance with the history of British politics in the present century would reveal that Britain has been governed by self-styled coalitions for more than a third of the period, although the ministries which can be regarded as coalitions for the purposes of this essay cover a much shorter span: the Asquith coalition (May 1915-December 1916); the Lloyd George coalitions of December 1916-December 1918, and December 1918-October 1922; the MacDonald national government (August 1931-September 1932), and the Churchill coalition (May 1940-May 1945). It is also the case that, on the fifteen occasions since 1943 when Gallup Polls have questioned the electorate about their views on coalition government, the proportion of those regarding such ministries as desirable has never fallen below 22 per cent. If these magnitudes are not evidence of love, at least it is clear that the electorate is on some occasions prepared to engage in mild flirtation, and their politicians in not too-infrequent marriages of convenience.

AbstractMultiparty governments are based on delegation and compromises but, at the same time, coalition parties have at their disposal several legislative instruments to keep tabs on their partners. Whereas previous studies focused on policy divisiveness and issue salience as main factors able to explain parliamentary scrutiny, in this article we suggest uncertainty as a complementary factor. In particular, we theorize that the use of parliamentary questions (PQs) is a function not only of policy characteristics but also of actors involved in coalition governance. When ministers increase intra-coalition uncertainty, cabinet parties use PQs to extract information from ministers and to reduce uncertainty in policy implementation. Statistical analyses of all written and oral parliamentary questions in the Italian Chamber of Deputies between 2006 and 2018 support our main hypothesis that when intra-coalition uncertainty increases, coalition parties ask more questions of 'hostile' ministers.

With a vote share of just 20.5 percent, the Social Democrats' (SPD)
2017 Bundestag election result was a disaster. Despite initially deciding not to
continue the Grand Coalition (GroKo), when negotiations on forming a
Jamaica coalition failed, the Social Democrats found themselves back in coalition
talks they never wanted. Although a strong minority of party members
remained opposed, in the end the coalition agreement proved to be the best
strategic alternative and is a Social Democratic success, especially concerning
the level of social expenditures. In light of the election outcome, the success
of the new GroKo is highly important for the coalition parties, as well as for
Germany and its people.