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The Massachusetts currency of 1690 was the first inconvertible paper money to be supported solely by a legal tender law. The circumstances that led to its creation exceed the typical story of wartime specie shortage. Due to temporary political constraints of that turbulent period, the currency could be neither backed by land nor granted a full legal tender status, as was then standard. Instead, it had to be disguised from England as a simple, private-like IOU. By pleasing both its pay-demanding troops and England, the government maximized its probability of survival subject to the constraints.

The author draws on analytical and factual data to look into the entanglements in the political relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia that predated the emergence of two independent states—the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic (ADP) and the Armenian Republic—in 1918. Zakhida Alizade describes the national policy of the Provisional Government that set up a Special Transcaucasian Committee, the activities of the Transcaucasian Seym, and the thorny road leading to national statehood; she dwells on the ethnic cleansing the Armenians organized in the Irevan uezd and offers facts about the tragic events of March-April 1918 in Northern Azerbaijan.

This paper examines how politicians influenced social security policy in Germany. Using yearly data from the German Pension Insurance from 1957 to 2005, revenues as well as expenditures are analysed in linear regression models, respectively. In accordance with opportunistic political behaviour, revenues from contributions decreased in pre-election years. Most important, pension expenditures increased in election years. Interestingly, the CDU/FDP governments provided higher subsidies to the social security system than the grand coalition and the SPD/GR government. Overall, there is no evidence for the prospect, that left coalitions caused higher intergenerational redistribution than right governments.

Part analysis, part first-hand account, this assessment of Yasir Arafat's leadership of the Palestinian movement emphasizes the dual nature of his persona: guerrilla fighter and political pragmatist. With anecdotes drawn from his close association with Arafat dating back to the 1968 Battle of Karameh, the author attempts to untangle the Palestinian leader's mixed legacy over his forty-year career, from leading guerrilla operations against Israel, to entering into negotiations with it, to the Oslo period including the establishment of the Palestinian Authority, and finally the conduct of the al-Aqsa intifada.

The death of two Serb youths killed by machine-gun fire from unidentified assailants while on a bathing trip not far from the village of Goraždevac near Peć on 13 August 2003 (four further youths were seriously injured in the incident) marks the start of an even more brutal episode in the battle for Kosovo. The European Union and the USA need to respond promptly by stepping up their efforts to achieve a sustainable peace accord for the region. Otherwise, a political vacuum could build up, creating new opportunities for extremist forces. (SWP Comments / SWP)

Examines the argument of the anti-sweatshop movement that consumers are responsible for the injustices suffered by laborers through a structural connection involved in buying their products. This argument of political responsibility is different than the common concepts of blame & liability in the following ways: (1) Responsibility is not placed on identified individuals. (2) "Normal" conditions are challenged. (3) Solutions are sought by looking forward, rather than backward. (4) Responsibility is a shared condition. These arguments support the need to create institutions that could regulate the structural processes that produce injustice. L. A. Hoffman

Examines the patterns in social networks emerging in coalitions of environmental groups opposed to the road improvement initiative in Northern Ireland, the "M1/Westlink corridor." After identifying major actors involved in opposing the project -- reflecting individuals' multiple membership in various organizations -- their relations with organized sociopolitical groups committed to environmental/planning agendas in Northern Ireland are examined. As a broad mobilizing campaign with a polarizing sociopolitical impact, environmental issues help to build & reinforce new heterogeneous solidarities between traditionally conflictual Catholic-Nationalist vs Protestant-Unionist groups, & unite individuals with diverse cultural, political, & social backgrounds. 5 Tables, 17 References. J. Sadler

This article investigates an oft-alleged kinship between the political thought of Machiavelli and Thucydides concerning "virtue." In the background is the current debate over whether or not Machiavelli initiates "modern" thought with (among other things) a radically new teaching on "virtue." Machiavellianvirtùis reprised; Thucydidean attributions ofaretē, catalogued; observations proffered. Then Thucydides' assessment of the career of Nicias is discussed; this, to support the contention that when read in their proper contexts, contexts carefully crafted by Thucydides, Thucydidean attributions ofaretēdo not support the apparent kinship between Thucydides and Machiavelli: Thucydides is not a "Machiavellian."

With the end of the Fourth French Republic and the apparently effective performance of the Fifth Republic, France no longer provides an obvious touchstone for studies of "unstable" democracies. Perhaps as a result of the search for another such example, there has been an increase in American scholarly interest in Italy. Recent research—when combined with the studies of LaPalombara, Barnes, and Zariski, and with the studies conducted by Italian political scientists—provides a fund of organized and readily available information which may be used to test both general hypotheses and specific ones about Italian politics.

AbstractWe investigate the political bias of a large language model (LLM), ChatGPT, which has become popular for retrieving factual information and generating content. Although ChatGPT assures that it is impartial, the literature suggests that LLMs exhibit bias involving race, gender, religion, and political orientation. Political bias in LLMs can have adverse political and electoral consequences similar to bias from traditional and social media. Moreover, political bias can be harder to detect and eradicate than gender or racial bias. We propose a novel empirical design to infer whether ChatGPT has political biases by requesting it to impersonate someone from a given side of the political spectrum and comparing these answers with its default. We also propose dose-response, placebo, and profession-politics alignment robustness tests. To reduce concerns about the randomness of the generated text, we collect answers to the same questions 100 times, with question order randomized on each round. We find robust evidence that ChatGPT presents a significant and systematic political bias toward the Democrats in the US, Lula in Brazil, and the Labour Party in the UK. These results translate into real concerns that ChatGPT, and LLMs in general, can extend or even amplify the existing challenges involving political processes posed by the Internet and social media. Our findings have important implications for policymakers, media, politics, and academia stakeholders.

Dedication -- Contents -- List of Figures -- List of Tables -- Chapter 1: Political Institutions and Varieties of Capitalism -- Capitalism -- Diversity in Capitalist Systems -- Explanations of Capitalist Diversity -- Benefits and Limitations of the VOC Framework -- A New Theoretical Approach -- Conclusion -- Note -- References -- Chapter 2: A Political Approach to Explaining Variation in Capitalist Systems -- Academic Lineage -- Neocorporatism -- "Bringing the State Back In" -- The Rise of Global Business -- Europeanization -- Varieties of Capitalism -- Critiques of the Varieties of Capitalism Framework -- Questioning a Binary Dichotomy -- Questioning the Cause of Capitalist Diversity -- Political Regimes and Varieties of Capitalism -- Debating the Causal Arrow -- A Proposed Causal Process -- Independent Variables and Hypotheses -- Partisanship and Policy Legacies -- Effective Number of Political Parties -- Cabinet Structures -- Electoral Systems -- Constitutional Structures -- Dependent Variables -- Overarching Measures of Market Coordination -- Economic Arenas of Varieties of Capitalism -- Corporate Governance -- Industrial Relations -- Vocational Training and Education -- Inter-Firm Relations -- Conclusion -- Notes -- References -- Chapter 3: A Mixed-Method Approach to Capitalist Variation -- Mixed-Methods -- Quantitative Analysis -- Modeling Strategy -- Quantitative Case Selection and Time Frame -- Limitations of Quantitative Methods -- Qualitative Analyses -- Qualitative Case Selection and Time Frame -- Institutional Change on Economic Structures: New Zealand -- A Note on Qualitative Data -- Conclusion -- Notes -- References -- Chapter 4: Quantitative Analysis of Varieties of Capitalism -- Chapter Outline -- Cross-Sectional Analysis -- Political Institutions and Market Coordination -- Political Institutions and Economic Arenas

We study insider trading behavior surrounding the largest bank bailout in history: Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). In politically connected banks, insider buying during the pre‐TARP period is associated with increases in abnormal returns around bank‐specific TARP announcement; for unconnected banks, trading and returns are uncorrelated. Results hold across insiders within the same bank and are stronger for finance‐related government connections. Through a Freedom of Information Act request, we obtained the previously undisclosed TARP funds requested; the ratio of received to requested funds correlates both with abnormal returns and insider buying behavior in connected banks.

This study investigates the proposition that residents of the cities of Canada & the US differ in their political cultures. Methods. The analysis employs aggregated individual-level data on social trust, self-esteem, & liberalism provided to the authors after being aggregated at the city level & in subgroups of the population in each city (7 in Canada, 47 in the US). Results. There are significant differences in the levels of social trust expressed by the citizens of the cities of the two countries, with Canadians expressing the greater trust, but no significant differences on self-esteem & liberalism. When clustering cities using all three values, five of the Canadian cities group in a single cluster shared with no US cities. Generational effects emerge in the cross-national comparison of self-esteem & liberalism. Conclusions. On the basis of these city-level aggregated individual data, there remain significant differences between the cultures of Canada & the US. Moreover, little evidence suggests that the cultures of the two countries will become closer as the result of generational replacement. 4 Tables, 30 References. Adapted from the source document.

Democracy thwarted: the crisis of political authority in Thailand -- Foreword -- Executive Summary -- Introduction -- Phibunsongkhram and the First Failure to Establish a Democratic Order -- Sarit Thanarat and the Military-Monarchy Alliance -- From the October 14, 1973 "Revolution" to the "People's Constitution" of 1997 -- The Thaksin Interregnum -- A Welcome Coup? -- Junta Missteps -- Who Will Speak for Democracy? -- References.