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Abstract Despite considerable interest in comparative fiscal policy in general, and the high salience of tax policy and tax reform in the industrialized democracies, there are relatively few cross–national studies of the economic and political correlates of revenues over time. We undertake a cross–national time series study of revenue growth in fourteen OECD countries between 1958 and 1990.We test a number of political and economic hypotheses about revenue change, including political business cycle, 'fiscal illusion', elasticity, and ideological theories. For the 1958—1990 period, we find that all countries, regardless of revenue structure, experience higher real revenue growth as a result of inflation, but that revenue growth is more responsive to unemployment in countries that rely more on direct taxes compared to countries with less direct–tax reliance. We find that this effect is most pronounced in the post–1972 period. We also find that revenue tends to increase in the years following elections, consistent with the idea that governments try to minimize the political fallout from tax increases by separating them as much as possible from election campaign periods; this effect, too, is most pronounced in the post–1972 period. We find no support for 'fiscal illusion' and ideological theories of revenue growth.

Abstract This is a comparative study of the three main roles of the state in industrial relations: the state as employer in the public sector, state intervention in private–sector–wage bargaining, and the procedural role of defining a legal framework for industrial relations. Based on data from 20 OECD countries, the article's analytical focus is twofold. For each of these roles, the paper examines whether there is a convergence towards neoliberal regulation in response to the shift from demand–side to supply–side policies, and whether neoliberalism is superior to alternative regulation forms in terms of performance. No evidence of such dominance of neoliberalism can be found. The upshot is that developments of state regulation are as much path–dependent as its socioeconomic effects are contingent on a country's context.

Abstract.This paper surveys the strengths and weaknesses of three widely–discussed egalitarian standards of interpersonal comparison:welfare, resource, andcapability. We argue that welfare egalitarianism is beset by numerous serious problems, and should be rejected. Capability and resourcist standards conform with egalitarian convictions more closely, but each faces distinctive problems. We itemise a set of desiderata which a fully adequate account of interpersonal comparison would satisfy. We conclude that the choice between capability and resourcist standards turns on the relative importance of such an account being able to accommodatereasonable pluralismand identify inequality in apublicly verifiablemanner.

Abstract.This article presents feminist comparative policy (FCP) as a new field of study. It argues that FCP scholars have successfully developed a distinct approach to doing political research and a significant scientific community which follows this approach. In doing so, FCP scholars, particularly since the early 1990s, have moved this area of study into a new stage of institutionalization and influence. These achievements are documented in a discussion of first, the development and major features of the FCP approach and second, the individuals and research infrastructure that comprise the FCP community. The conclusion considers the successes of FCP in the context of speculations about its contributions to non feminist political science.

Abstract. In a relatively short period of time, Romanian political science has made considerable progress, moving from virtual obscurity to unchallenged local prominence. This article examines the efforts to date to institutionalize political science as a separate teaching and research discipline by presenting recently established political science university–level programs, the major groups of authors carrying out research on political phenomena and the recurrent themes emerging from relevant literature. Though the present article is concerned mainly with current developments, occasional references to the political science's position during the communist period are also made.

Abstract. The article examines four recent studies, which represent the scholarly divisions in and the strengths and the weakness of current research on migration, citizenship and race in Europe and, to a lesser degree, the USA. Organising the review around three themes — the causes of post–war migration, integration and race, and the relationship between citizenship and state sovereignty, it reviews the studies in the context of broader debates about postnational citizenship, the decline of state sovereignty and the role of theory in the study of citizenship. It argues that the studies of postnationalism (Jacobson) and race and racism (Solomos & Back) suffer from faults common to macro–sociological approaches and unfocused attempts to blend normative theory and causal explanation, while the studies of integration (Favell) and citizenship, immigration and the state (Joppke) are exemplars of approaches that successfully pair an interest in theory with detailed causal analysis. The article concludes by suggesting that the debate between 'nationalists' and 'postnationalists' can now be transcended. Postnationalism, it concludes, contains two theses, not one: an empirical and a causal. The empirical thesis — that universal personhood has decoupled rights and identity – is incontrovertible; the causal — that this development resulted from the 'internationalisation' and 'universalisation' of human rights legislation and discourse — is, in the light of Joppke's and other's research, false. The sources of third–country nationals' social and economic status, the foundations of the distinction between rights and identity, are domestic.

Abstract. Discussion of new forms of party organisation have largely focused on the ways in which institutionalised parties have adapted to pressures towards 'catch–all' or 'electoral–professional' behaviour. This article examines the ways in which new parties respond to these pressures. A model of the 'party as business firm' is generated from rational choice assumptions and it is suggested that such a model can emerge when new party systems are created in advanced societies. Two cases of political parties which resemble the business firm model in important ways are analysed in order to gauge the consequences of this type of party organisation: UCD in Spain and Forza Italia in Italy. On the basis of this analysis it is argued that business firm parties are likely to be electorally unstable and politically incoherent, and also prone to serving particularistic interests.

Abstract. Claims have been made that national institutions influence public preferences, as well as structuring patterns of social division. This article analyses attitudes to redistribution and financial cheating in Norway and the USA. On the aggregate level the results show that there are striking differences between the two countries regarding attitudes to redistribution and confidence in the state, while similar attitude patterns are found regarding cheating with taxes and benefits. Results endorse arguments emphasising that the design and scope of welfare state policies shape and determine their own legitimacy. There is less support for political trust arguments, which emphasise that the efficacy of political decision–making institutions promotes beliefs about trust in the state and views on government responsibilities. Similarly, arguments proposing that advanced welfare statism has undesirable effects on civic morality, such as cheating on taxes and benefits, are not supported empirically. Finally, while conflicts over redistribution are similarly structured in the USA and Norway, divisions over financial cheating are less clear–cut and vary cross–nationally.

Abstract. The central question addressed by this article is whether the absence of active competition changes the forces that shape the institutional landscape at the parliamentary level, and thereby the landscape itself. Based on a transaction cost approach, the study investigates whether the bolstering of parliamentary oversight procedures occurs in situations in which there is no credible alternative to the incumbent government, and whether opposition impotence contributes to the development of oversight institutions. The article argues that the strengthening of parliamentary oversight procedures is most likely to occur when there is a minority government but the opposition MPs are not in a position to form or envisage a credible alternative. An analysis of changes in oversight arrangements in Norway during 1993—1996 strongly supports this argument.

Abstract. In recent years, pooled time–series cross–section data analysis has been advocated as a method for overcoming the 'small N, many variables' problem in comparative political economy in order to derive valid inferences from statistical comparisons of nation states. Moreover, the approach seemed promising in handling both comparisons among different countries and developments over time. However, due to the complex structure of pooled data sets, this approach cannot simply be regarded as a convenient way of increasing the number of cases and getting more significant results. This paper exemplifies the fallacies of pooled data sets by reanalyzing a study done by Paul Boreham and Hugh Compston on the effect of labour participation in policy formation on unemployment. Reanalysis of their data set controlling for the panel structure of the data by using 'panel corrected standard errors' and a more detailed analysis of the bivariate relationships show that the causal effect is less clear–cut than suggested and becomes considerably weaker during the 1980s. These dynamics are simply averaged out by pooled analysis. This leads to the conclusion that the currently most popular approach to pooled time–series cross–section analysis in comparative political economy — the constant–coefficients model — neither solves the small–N problem nor draws attention to dynamics over time. Thus, the article concludes that a sensitive interpretation of the findings obtained by advanced statistical methodology in comparative political economy is still dependent on small–N comparative analysis.

Abstract. This article poses three questions related to the current revision of democratic citizenship in plurinational states. The first question focusses on the analytical limits of the term 'multicultural' and on the question of where nationalist movements stand within cultural pluralism. The second question asks whether it is possible to overcome the inherent difficulties in the traditional concept of liberal–democratic citizenship in plurinational states. Finally, the third question asks whether federalism is an adequate framework to regulate a revised concept of democratic citizenship in plurinational states. These three questions are developed in three sections. In the first I put forward a typology that allows us to identify four kinds of cultural pluralism movements that are present within the current liberal democracies. In the second section I identify some of the shortcomings of the traditional concept of citizenship with respect to the plurinational integration of some democracies, making special reference to the standard liberal version by Rawls. I defend the right of the minority liberal nationalisms to be included in a revision of the concept of democratic citizenship for the next century. Finally, I discuss the role of federalism, paying special attention to the case of Catalonia and Spain within Europe, and to possible 'asymmetrical' reforms to the concept of democratic citizenship.

Abstract. This paper discusses (1) the extent to which the partisan composition of government affects economic policies and macroeconomic outcomes, and (2) the interrelationship between public spending, taxation and economic growth. These two issues are connected. Since target variables and instruments affect each other reciprocally, the specification of the partisan model should encompass both a reaction function and an outcome function. A pooled vector autoregressive model suggests that during the last century left–wing governments in the United States, Britain and Canada have reinforced the growth of both public spending and GNP. Only public sector expansion is affected by partisanship in Denmark, Norway and Sweden. In the Anglo–American countries changes in spending occur before changes in economic growth in terms of a lagged crowding out effect. Spending and revenues appear to affect each other reciprocally. By contrast, public sector expansion in Scandinavia stimulates growth, while taxation leads spending.

Abstract. In advanced democracies, are local political decisions determined by local events? Or are they really shaped by national forces? For the United States case, the evidence on this question is mixed. For the French case, the focus here, the evidence is also mixed, but less hard. In fact, for cantonal elections, in many ways archtypical local affairs, relevant systematic findings are virtually absent. We ask whether the cantonal elections of the Fifth Republic can be better understood as national, rather than local, contests. Our analysis leads us to the conclusion that the basic answer is, 'yes'. There appear several theoretical reasons for this, which we give an account of. Further, we go on to show that cantonal races can actually serve as barometers to forecast upcoming national races.

Abstract This paper uses cross–national data for 21 OECD nations to examine whether there is evidence of a connection between measures of political and fiscal decentralization and the major, long–term, performance parameters of the post–war political economy. Findings of what is necessarily an exploratory analysis of a wide range of policy outcomes suggest that federalism and the proliferation of constitutional veto–points have inhibited the expansion of the socially protective state and that a low level of fiscal centralization appears to have restrained post–war inflationary pressures and gone along with higher rates of post–war economic growth. No evidence is found to connect either political or fiscal measures with postwar labour market performance.