Suchergebnisse

Most social psychological studies of coalition formation involve the assignment to subjects of different quantities of some resource such as weights or votes. Most coalition theories assume that these resources, or "sources of entitlement" as they are referred to here, call into play appropriate norms of distribution (such as parity) which determine the outcome of the game. There has been, however, little work on the effect of the competition of such norms when individuals may make competing claims on the basis of the possession of different sources of entitlement. The research reported here represents an initial attempt to assess such effects. Subjects in a three-person coalition game were asked to act as representatives of groups which differed in size, the collective effort of its members, and its ability to increase the total payoff to a coalition. Two studies are reported; one employed responses to a questionnaire, and the second involved role-playing by participants. The results of the questionnaire supported the hypothesis of strength in weakness for the effort and size factors, but those results did not, in general, carry over into the experimental bargaining. In neither study did weakness in economic entitlement benefit a subject. It was concluded that the strength in weakness hypothesis has limited applicability and seems to apply only in those cases where an actor's weakness can be effectively translated into a benefit for a potential partner. Minimum resource theory was seen to be a special case of that hypothesis.

This thesis seeks to better understand the formation and implementation of the restrictions that the EU and EU member states have imposed on exports of military and security equipment. Specifically, the thesis develops two norms-based theoretical frameworks for understanding how and why particular restrictions become integrated in states' national and collective export controls, why others are rejected, and the different ways this integration occurs. To develop these frameworks this thesis carries out two case studies comparing aspects of Sweden's, the UK's and the USA's arms export controls and examining the emergence of the EU's export control 'regime', conducts a review of past research on export controls, produces a historical narrative summarizing the evolution of states' restrictions on exports of military and security equipment, and draws from key aspects of the literature on norms in the fields of international relations and organizational theory. The first theoretical framework posits that the process of adopting particular restrictions on exports of military and security equipment can be best understood as a competition between different constitutive and regulative norms. Applying this 'competing norms' framework creates a better understanding of why certain efforts to impose restrictions fail while others succeed. The second theoretical framework is informed by the concept of organized hypocrisy and helps explain the outcomes that can emerge when different norms support and oppose the adoption of particular restrictions. Applying this 'organized hypocrisy' framework shows how export controls can be viewed as consisting of 'talk', 'decision' and 'action' and that each aspect can be adjusted in response to the pressures exerted by different norms. The thesis applies these theoretical frameworks in two case studies that explore recent processes of revising aspects of Sweden's arms export controls and the EU's export control regime. This thesis makes several novel contributions to the study of the trade ...

This article examines how political parties choose their candidates in Canada's decentralized multilevel setting. We examine the selection practices of the leading federal parties, focusing on the formal and informal rules relating to the eligibility and mobilization of voters and candidates, the distribution of power within the party, and representational outcomes. In doing so, we highlight how Canadian parties have approached the trade-off between competing democratic norms as each party attempts to find a delicate balance between grassroots authority and central party involvement. Despite typically being considered a local affair, the selection of candidates is highly influenced by the central party apparatus—both formally and informally. This central party authority, however, often results in considerable tension that erupts in public conflict. We suggest that while centralization may undermine membership participation, grassroots autonomy, and responsiveness, central party involvement may also enhance the democratic values of fairness, representation, and in some instances even participation.

Meist wird der Staat in Afrika, wie auch anderswo, als Träger von Ordnung, Fortschritt und Disziplin gesehen, da er über die Autorität verfügt, Gesetze zu erlassen und deren Einhaltung zum Wohl der Gesellschaft zu sanktionieren. Dieser Band untersucht die Bedeutung der staatlichen Gesetzgebung für die Bevölkerungen im subsaharischen Afrika und setzt diese in Beziehung zu bereits existierenden lokalen Normen, mit denen die neuen Gesetze konkurrieren müssen.

This article uses the normative framework provided by the concept of autonomy grounded in subordination to view competing institutional pressures in three government agencies (the Office of Management and Budget, the General Accounting Office, and the Department of Justice). This framework suggests that the proper perspective for viewing an agency in a government of separate but shared powers is one of balancing responsibility to multiple masters. The use of the subordinate autonomy framework fosters an attitude that embraces the ambiguity and tensions of governance, and will heighten awareness of what it means to practice administrative statesmanship.

China has lived with the Internet for nearly two decades. Will increased Internet use, with new possibilities to share information and discuss news and politics, lead to democracy, or will it to the contrary sustain a nationalist supported authoritarianism that may eventually contest the global information order? This book takes stock of the ongoing tug of war between state power and civil society on and off the Internet, a phenomenon that is fast becoming the centerpiece in the Chinese Communist Party's struggle to stay in power indefinitely. It interrogates the dynamics of this enduring cont