Suchergebnisse

This book is a groundbreaking international history of Palestinian refugee politics. Anne Irfan demonstrates that refugee groups are important actors in global politics, not simply aid recipients, and recasts modern Palestinian history through the lens of refugee camps and communities

Whereas economic growth can be measured with some precision, development policy choices continue to constitute an inadequately defined and residual category. This article compares development policy since the 1970s within two very different policy systems: the Southeastern American state of Alabama, and the Western Caribbean island of Jamaica. It singles out state policy toward private enterprise, and public-private sector interaction, as primary points of departure for an exploration of comparative development policy choice and implementation

Over the past 50 years, an increasing amount of political authority has been delegated to the regional government level in Europe. This paper analyses regional demands for involvement in policy-making by focusing on the preferences of top-level regional civil servants ("regio-crats"). A survey (n=347) of regio-crats in 60 regions of 5 European Union member states serves as the empirical basis for the analysis of regional demands for policy involvement in the multilevel system. The data reveal differential patterns of demands. By and large, regio-crats emerge as being conservative, incremental and modest in their wishes for greater policy involvement, except where the regional contexts are characterised by substantial emancipatory political ambitions or cultural distinctiveness. Regional demands for policy participation in the multilevel system are pragmatic, patch-worked and incremental, and more conservative than transformative.

The article is dedicated to the problem related to the process of the formation of the political elite of Ivano-Frankivsk region. The main political actors of the regional political elite were specified by the formal features (their influence on the strategic political decisions) and its main groups were investigated (national deputies of Ukraine, heads of local governments and state authorities, heads of regional organizations of leading political parties, business elite, ideological and communicative elite, etc.). The main focus of the study was on the formation through elections and appointments of deputies (Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, regional council), as well as public authorities (regional state administration and its structures), which allowed to identify and analyze the main procedures and mechanisms of elite formation in the region, reflecting the complex processes of its change/reproduction on its own basis, renewal through the involvement of new members of society. Based on the analysis of a broad empirical base, the correlation of the process of elite formation of IvanoFrankivsk region with the general tendencies of transformation of the political system of Ukraine, the influence of the center-peripheral paradigm is confirmed. Thus, in the conditions of formation of a hybrid political regime, despite the significant dynamics of renewal of the main institutions of power in the region, this process at the turn of the XX−XXI centuries took place mostly in the form of circulation or reproductive circulation − a limited, formal process of renewal of the political elite, which was under the influence of leading political and economic groups. There was a gradual narrowing of institutional channels for recruiting political elites in the region, which turned it into a social group with incomplete social representation. Significant weight in the process of forming the political elite of Ivano-Frankivsk region "closed" procedures and nomenclature mechanisms, frequent changes during the elections and appointments of leading political actors, which did not always happen with heredity, significantly reduced the overall potential of the regional political elite, which is still not realized in the full measure. Key words: regional political elite, Ivano-Frankivsk region, formation of political elite.

The article discusses the origins, functions and future of one particular national regulatory regime, the Norwegian press subsidy system, and asks what the prospects are for this type of specific national policies? The press subsidies were introduced in 1969 with the rather vague intention of maintaining a diverse newspaper structure. Despite the fact that the system is politically controversial and has only partly worked to secure the existence of economically weak newspapers, it has been protected by an alliance of political parties until the present day. Nevertheless, political controversy around the subsidy system is increasing, both because the political justifications of the system need revision, and because the existing regulations are being undermined by the development of the newspaper structure, by the development of the media market and the media economy, and by technological developments.

In a Perspective, Hilary Seligman and Sanjay Basu discuss future scenarios of food assistance programs to improve population health in a changing political environment.

In a Perspective, Hilary Seligman and Sanjay Basu discuss future scenarios of food assistance programs to improve population health in a changing political environment.

Uncertainty concerning South Africa's future political development prevailed during the period of transition to majority rule. A new political playing field was created by the elections held in 1994 for the National Assembly and the Provincial Legislatures. These were the first inclusive elections in South Africa based on the principle of universal franchise. The old regime lost its ruling power and its long-time enemies were now the rulers. The party system of the South African polity experienced an influx of new actors. With the new actors came new actions, interactions and alignments among the various political parties, but also new interactions with the electorate and government. Many questions were raised concerning future changes and trends in the party system once the actors had settled. (...) Identifying changes and trends in voter participation, fractionalisation, the number and spectrum of political parties, the radical and functional orientation, as well as the polarisation of the party system and voter volatility provide important information on the political situation in South Africa as well as future prospects for the South African polity. (Politeia/DÜI)

How does the structure of America's constitutional system affect the process and quality of U.S. war making? Ambiguities in the U.S. Constitution have long served as an "invitation to struggle" over executive and congressional war making powers. How should these powers be shared between the executive and legislative branches to structure policy processes for both effective and legitimate war making? This age old problem is compounded by the fact that the United States is in a state of semi-war in today's tumultuous and conflict-ridden world. Never have the threats confronting the United States been more complex, lethal, omnipresent, and insoluble-ranging from the potential for nuclear holocaust to small wars of unprecedented variety, complexity, and intractability. In addition to the current checks-and-balances system, three alternative regimes of executive-legislative war-making roles-presidential supremacy, parliamentary, and congressional supremacy-are analyzed. Although structurally flawed in terms of its inefficiencies and political frictions, the existing checks-and-balances system is better than its alternatives in terms of its appropriateness for shaping effective and legitimate war making in today's international environment.

Based on data on state level party activists; suggests that greater ideological polarization among activists has occurred as the Republican party developed into a competitive force, and that much of this "sorting process" pre-dated significant partisan changes of the 1980s and 1990s.

AbstractRecently, awareness of the importance of health in explaining political participation has grown considerably. Studies have focused on individual participation forms but not on broader participation modes. Furthermore, analyses of the mechanisms explaining the health effects have been lacking. Here, structural equation models are employed to study the relationship between health, political trust, and institutional and non-institutional participation using data from Finland. Poor health is related to increased non-institutional participation, while good health boosts traditional institutional participation, although the latter relationship is very weak. These observations are explained by differences in political trust. Those in good health have stronger trust in the political system, while poor health is connected with reduced trust. These differences manifest themselves in varying behaviour. Poor health decreases trust which leads to increased non-institutional participation, while good health leads to a high trust and institutional activities.

This survey reviews how a recent political economy literature helps explaining variation in governance, competition, funding composition and access to credit. Evolution in political institutions can account for financial evolution, and appear critical to explain rapid changes in financial structure, such as the Great Reversal in the early XX century, unlike time-invariant legal institutions or cultural traits. Future research should model the sources and consequences of financial instability, and to predict how major redistributive shocks will shape regulatory choices and financial governance.