Suchergebnisse

The article explores the rationale of the Romanian political community as defined by its successive constitutional layouts, since the first fundamental law of 1866, including the Communist constitutional settings, and concluding with the post-communist constitutional design. This consistency of the political community is tested by means of an analytical distinction between the Nation-State and the National State. The former is understood as the institutional underpinning of a community bearing a political project. The latter is seen as the institutional outcome of an ethnic group and the warrant of its political integrity. Such an examination of the Romanian constitutional production sheds light on the historical and unambiguous predominance of the National State, while the Nation State emerged briefly and warily in the Romanian setting in the form of the socialist nation state. By the same token, this approach questions the adequacy between democracy and this rationale of the Romanian political community. While the socialist Nation State, as it was constitutionally designed, failed to guarantee the effectiveness of popular democracy, the Romanian National State, as it was shaped by the successive constitutional texts, pre-communist and post-communist, was always unable to accommodate completely with democracy.

From the acclaimed comedy troupe The State comes the first-ever e-book edition of their cult classic book, a mock-travel guide that traverses the nation in the same irreverent, subversive and off-the-wall comedic style that fueled their MTV sketch show and subsequent movies and TV series

International investment agreements have provoked intense criticism in the policy debate during recent years. Particularly contentious has been their "ISDS" mechanisms, which enable investors to litigate against host countries. This paper examines whether host countries would be better off with state-state dispute settlement (SSDS), as often alleged, assuming that SSDS cause political/diplomatic litigation costs that are not present with ISDS. Two separate reasons why host countries might benefit from SSDS are identified, but neither provides a convincing argument for host countries to move to SSDS. The paper concludes that host countries should reduce the stringency of their agreements, rather than introduce imperfections in the dispute settlement systems to reduce their bite.

Transcript of annual speech given by Governor Mark Sanford to both houses of the state legislature in joint opening session to report on the condition of the state of South Carolina.

In this era of renewed federalism, state governments take center stage advancing ambitious legislative agendas, pioneering innovative public policy, and providing much needed political leadership. The "devolution revolution" of the 1990s transferred many of the nation's principal domestic programs from federal to state management, often without transferring the necessary funding. This combination of expanded responsibilities and deficient resources has left many states in financial turmoil-unable to fulfill policy promises. At the same time, escalating concerns over national security have pro

For decades, the Democrats have been viewed as the party of the poor, with the Republicans representing the rich. Recent presidential elections, however, have shown a reverse pattern, with Democrats performing well in the richer blue states in the northeast and coasts, and Republicans dominating in the red states in the middle of the country and the south. Through multilevel modeling of individual level survey data and county- and state-level demographic and electoral data, we reconcile these patterns. Furthermore, we find that income matters more in red America than in blue America. In poor states, rich people are much more likely than poor people to vote for the Republican presidential candidate, but in rich states (such as Connecticut), income has a very low correlation with vote preference. Adapted from the source document.

Introduction -- Federal floors and state ceilings -- Religion clause arguments -- Involuntary servitude, freedom of speech, search and seizure -- Alabama -- Alaska -- Arizona -- Arkansas -- California -- Colorado -- Connecticut -- Delaware -- Florida -- Georgia -- Hawaii -- Idaho -- Illinois -- Indiana -- Iowa -- Kansas -- Kentucky -- Louisiana -- Maine -- Maryland -- Massachusetts -- Michigan -- Minnesota -- Mississippi -- Missouri -- Montana -- Nebraska -- Nevada -- New Hampshire -- New Jersey -- New Mexico -- New York -- North Carolina -- North Dakota -- Ohio -- Oklahoma -- Oregon -- Pennsylvania -- Rhode Island -- South Carolina -- South Dakota -- Tennessee -- Texas -- Utah -- Vermont -- Virginia -- Washington -- West Virginia -- Wisconsin -- Wyoming.

Institutions have become the hallmark of development economics (e.g. Sokoloff and Engerman 2000, Acemoglu et al. 2002, Brunnschweiler 2008, Nunn 2008, Galor and Moav 2012, Voth and Voigtlander 2015). The state constitutes a crucial institution driving the development process. This can be seen by the strong parallels in human history between the emergence of mighty states on the one hand and economic, scientific and cultural progress on the other hand (e.g. Ancient Egypt, Classic Greece, Rome). Yet while a powerful state appears as a sine qua non condition of development broadly defined, it is not necessarily tantamount to economic progress and prosperity as exemplified by the numerous mighty autocracies that have undermined their countries' development in contemporary Sub-Saharan Africa. State power is therefore defined as the state's ability to broadcast power (military, police), and state capacity captures the capacity of the state to collect taxes and enforce property rights (e.g. Besley and Persson 2010). State power is necessary for a government to develop state capacity, yet it is not necessarily conducive to development-friendly institutions. This short note constitutes a first attempt to clarify the distinction between the two notions, and to hint at the drivers of state power, with a particular emphasis on geography.