bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Nation‐States and Immigrant Societies
Authors: Walzer Michael
Published: October 2005

This paper presents an alternative to William Kymlicka’s approach for the integration or accommodation of ethnocultural groups in democratic states. It contends that there are different types of states, and that the differences need to be described before their consequences can be argued. The thicker the ‘national’ culture, the more likely it is that large groups of immigrants will have to be accommodated as national minorities rather than as hyphenated nationals. Or, alternatively, multiculturalism may have to take a more corporatist form when the dominant culture is strongly supported by the state.
New Democracies in the Old World: Remarks on Will Kymlicka's Approach to Nation‐Building in Post‐Communist Europe
Authors: Tsilevich Boris
Published: October 2005

This paper argues that liberal democratic values provide clear markers for acceptable approaches to minority policies, which is lacking in East Central European countries. Two main trends are evident in the elaboration of international legal standards for handling ethnic diversity: the elaboration of new instruments on minority rights, and the half-hearted acceptance of this effort by ‘old’ and ‘new’ democracies. Simply put, although nation-states realize the urgency of addressing these issues, they are not eager to undertake serious obligations towards their minorities.
Some Doubts About ‘Ethnocultural Justice’
Authors: Ossipov Alexander
Published: October 2005

This paper presents some criticisms against Kymlicka’s ideas on ‘ethnocultural justice’. It argues that many of Kymlicka’s suggestions do not apply to the realities of the former Soviet Union, particularly Russia. It identifies fundamental problems to Kymlicka’s approach: that his basic assumptions are arbitrary and disputable, the internal logic seems contradictory, potential gains are overestimated, and some potentially undesirable effects are not considered.
Reflections on Minority Rights Politics for East Central European Countries
Authors: Dimitras Panayote , Papanikolatos Nafsika
Published: October 2005

Most East Central European (ECE) countries are very reluctant, if not hostile, to apply the liberal and democratic approach to ethnocultural diversity. This democratic process is immobilized by the transformation from one authoritarian model based on a socio-economic ideology to another authoritarian model based on the explosion of an aggressive nationalism of the majority versus minorities and neighbouring peoples. As long as ECE states continue to cultivate the myth of belonging to the founding historic nations, the evolution to ‘multination’ or ‘multicultural’ states to accommodate ethnocultural diversity will be viewed as tantamount to undermining the foundation of these nations.
Territorial Autonomy as a Minority Rights Regime in Post‐Communist Societies
Authors: Kolstø Pål
Published: October 2005

Political leaders in post-Communist Eastern European states have rejected ethnic minority leaders’ calls for territorial autonomy (TA). Two reasons are given for this rejection: TA is viewed as a stepping stone to secession, and that the putative minority homeland is no more culturally homogeneous than is the state as a whole. The validity of these two objections to TA is discussed within the context of the history of TA in the Soviet Union, and actual experiences of TA in successor states.
Nation‐Building and Beyond
Authors: Kis János
Published: October 2005

This paper argues that although the multination state is closer to meeting the standards of ethnocultural justice than the one-nation state, the alternatives to nation-building cannot be neglected. It analyses the claim that if ethnocultural justice requires that the one-nation state give way to the multination state, then ethnocultural justice also requires that exclusive jurisdiction give way to overlapping jurisdictions. It also shows, using the example of recent developments in Hungarian nationalism, that the change in the international environment has impacted the perception of political alternatives.
Definitions and Discourse: Applying Kymlicka's Models to Estonia and Latvia
Authors: Pettai Vello
Published: October 2005

This paper raises a number of points in relation to the basic concept of ‘ethnocultural justice’ and Kymlicka’s five models of ethnopolitical conflict. It argues that while ‘ethnopolitical justice’ has become the focus of debate on all five of these contexts, a critical causal puzzle piece remains missing if these definitions are not complemented with the discourses ethnocultural groups use to wage their ethnopolitical struggles. The cases of Estonia and Latvia are examined.
Perspectives on a Liberal‐Pluralist Approach to Ethnic Minorities in Ukraine
Authors: Fesenko Volodymyr
Published: October 2005

The main problem of Ukrainian ethnic policy is balancing Ukrainian majority nation-building with respect for ethnic minority rights. This explains a paradoxical, but logical mixture of liberal and illiberal elements in the nation-building process. The more illiberal elements are rooted in a post-colonial ‘Russian syndrome’, which drives Ukrainians to distances themselves from Russia. At the same time, the policy of nation-building in Ukraine is moderate and open to compromise, reflecting the balance of forces between the political elite of the country and the country’s different regions and main ethnocultural groups.
Nation‐Building, Culture, and Problems of Ethnocultural Identity in Central Asia: The Case of Uzbekistan
Authors: Djumaev Aleksandr
Published: October 2005

New and complex problems in inter-ethnic and international relations emerged following the independence of Central Asian republics. These include serious divergences among Central Asian states in their understanding of issues; contradictions between the process of nation-building and traditional Central Asian management of multi-ethnicity, ethnocultural diversity, and multiculturalism; and deepening of ethnocultural differences. This is especially true of urban civilization in Uzbekistan, to which both Tajiks and Uzbeks lay claim. This paper examines each of these problems in detail.
Reply and Conclusion
Authors: Kymlicka Will
Published: October 2005

This paper presents Will Kymlicka’s response to the commentaries on his paper on ethnic relations. It addresses four general concerns on liberal pluralism: the role of elites in defining and manipulating minority claims, the problem of intolerant minorities, the relative priority of democratic consolidations vis-a-vis minority rights, and the appropriateness of territorial autonomy. It is argued that in the absence of external pressure, prospects are bleak for significant progress in ethnic relations in Eastern and Central European countries. The roles of international organizations are discussed, and general reflections on the role of East-West and Old World-New World comparisons in the area of nationalism and minority rights are presented.
Introduction
Authors: Björk Tomas
Published: October 2005

This introductory chapter starts off the discussion on financial derivatives by explaining the European call option. It formulates the two main problems that will be the focus of the entire volume: What is a “fair” price for the contract? How does one protect (hedge) against the financial risks resulting from the sale of a derivative? The definition of financial derivative is then presented.
The Binomial Model
Authors: Björk Tomas
Published: October 2005

This chapter discusses the binomial model — the simplest nontrivial model of a financial market. It begins with the period version of the model, then the model is extended to an arbitrary number of periods. Practice exercises are included.
Stochastic Integrals
Authors: Björk Tomas
Published: October 2005

This chapter discusses the modelling of asset prices as continuous time stochastic processes. Diffusion processes and stochastic differential equations are used as building blocks to obtain the most complete and elegant theory. Practice exercises are included.
Differential Equations
Authors: Björk Tomas
Published: October 2005

This chapter examines whether there exists a stochastic process X, which satisfies the stochastic differential equation (SDE) d X t = μ (t, X t) d t + σ (t, X t) d W t, X 0 = x 0. The standard method for proving the existence of a solution to the SDE is to construct an iteration scheme of Cauchy-Picard type. Although the construction can be carried out, the proof requires some hard inequalities. Thus, only the result is given. Practice exercises are included.
Portfolio Dynamics
Authors: Björk Tomas
Published: October 2005

This chapter derives the dynamics of (the value of) a so-called self-financing portfolio; the price dynamics of various assets (e.g. stocks, bonds, financial derivatives) is considered as a given. A model is first studied in discrete time. The length of time is then tended to zero to obtain the continuous time analogs. A practice exercise is included.
Arbitrage Pricing
Authors: Björk Tomas
Published: October 2005

This chapter examines a special case of the general model derived in Chapter 6. It derives the model of a financial market, and then analyses the pricing of financial derivatives, specifically the European call option. Black formulas are derived for options written on a futures contract. Practice exercises are included.
The Martingale Approach to Arbitrage Theory
Authors: Björk Tomas
Published: October 2005

This chapter analyses a market model made up of N + 1 a priori given asset price processes S0, S1, ..., SN. Typically, the model is specified by giving the dynamics of the asset price processes under the objective probability measure P. The main problems are: Under what conditions is the market arbitrage free? Under what conditions is the market complete? These problems are addressed using the “martingale approach” to financial derivatives.
The Mathematics of the Martingale Approach
Authors: Björk Tomas
Published: October 2005

This chapter presents the two main workhorses of the martingale approach to arbitrage theory: the Martingale Representation Theorem and the Girsanov Theorem. The Martingale Representation Theorem shows that in a Wiener world, every martingale can be written as a stochastic integral w.r.t, the underlying Wiener process. The Girsanov Theorem gives complete control of all absolutely continuous measure transformations in a Wiener world. Practice exercises are included.
Black–Scholes from a Martingale Point of View*
Authors: Björk Tomas
Published: October 2005

This chapter discusses the standard Black-Scholes model from the martingale point of view. The probability space (Ω, □, P, □-) carrying a P-Wiener process W-, where the filtration □- is the one generated by W-, i.e. □ t = □ t W-. On this space, the model is defined by d S t = α S t D t + σ S t d W- t, d B t = r B t d t. The Black-Scholes model is proven to be arbitrage free and complete.
Multidimensional Models: Classical Approach
Authors: Björk Tomas
Published: October 2005

This chapter generalizes the Black-Scholes model to the case where, apart from the risk free asset, there are several underlying risky assets. The analysis is carried out using the “classical” delta-hedging approach. Practice exercises are included.
Incomplete Markets
Authors: Björk Tomas
Published: October 2005

This chapter examines derivative pricing in incomplete markets. It focuses on a particular type of incomplete market, namely a “factor model” — a market where there are some nontraded underlying objects. Practice exercises are included.
Dividends
Authors: Björk Tomas
Published: October 2005

This chapter examines pricing problems for contingent claims which are written on dividend paying underlying assets. The study of dividends is of practical importance since in real life, the majority of all traded options are written on stocks with at least one dividend left before the expiration date of the option. The theory developed in this chapter will be used in the study of currency derivatives and future contracts. Practice exercises are included.
Currency Derivatives
Authors: Björk Tomas
Published: October 2005

This chapter examines a model which incorporates not only the usual domestic equity market, but also a market for the exchange rate between the domestic currency and a fixed foreign currency, as well as a foreign currency market. Financial derivatives defined in such situations are commonly known as quanto products. It begins with a study of derivatives written directly on the exchange rate X, and then proceeds with the study of pricing (in domestic currency) contracts written on foreign equity. Practice exercises are included.
Stochastic Optimal Control
Authors: Björk Tomas
Published: October 2005

This chapter analyses the stochastic optimal control problem. The problem considers an economic agent over a fixed time interval [0, T]. At time t = 0, the agent is endowed with initial wealth x0, and the agent’s problem is how to allocate investments and consumption over the given time horizon. The agent must choose a portfolio-consumption strategy that will maximize the total utility over [0, T]. Practice exercises are included.
Bonds and Interest Rates
Authors: Björk Tomas
Published: October 2005

This chapter examines the specific problems associated with the application of arbitrage theory to the bond market. It focuses on zero coupon bonds, also known as pure discount bonds, of various maturities. Practice exercises are included.
Short Rate Models
Authors: Björk Tomas
Published: October 2005

This chapter examines the problem of how to model an arbitrage free family of zero coupon bond price processes. It assumes a market for T-bonds for every choice of T, and that the market is arbitrage free. For every T, the price of a T-bond has the form p (t, T) = F (t, r, (t) ; T), where F is a smooth function of three real variables. Practice exercises are included.
Martingale Models for the Short Rate
Authors: Björk Tomas
Published: October 2005

This chapter analyses the martingale modelling approach for the short rate of interest rate model. It considers an interest rate model where the P-dynamics of the short rate of interest are given by d r (t) = μ (t, r (t)) dt + σ (t, r(t)) d W-. The term structure (i.e., the family of bond price processes), as well as the prices of all other interest rate derivatives are determined by specifying the r-dynamics under the martingale measure Q, a procedure known as martingale modelling. Practice exercises are included.
Change of Numeraire
Authors: Björk Tomas
Published: October 2005

This chapter discusses numeraire changes. It considers a pricing problem for a contingent claim χ, in a model with a stochastic short rate r. In most concrete cases, r and χ are not independent under the risk neutral martingale measure Q. This is because under Q, the stock will have r as its local rate of return, thus introducing a Q-dependence. A general pricing formula with a forward neutral measure QT is presented. Practice exercises are included.
Forwards and Futures
Authors: Björk Tomas
Published: October 2005

This chapter discusses forward and futures contracts. It considers a fixed simple T-claim, □, at a time t. It shows that forward and futures contracts have the same claim □ as their underlying object, but differ from the standard contract by way in which payments are made. Practice exercises are included.
Development Economics
Authors: Hayami Yujiro , Godo Yoshihisa
Published: October 2005

This book provides a comprehensive, coherent, and optimistic overview on development economics, with an emphasis on East Asia. It is a fully revised and updated third edition, building on the strengths of the previous editions and providing up to date analyses of several recent changes and newly emerged problems relevant to the global economy. These include coverage of crises in Latin America; the recovery of East Asia from the 1997-98 financial crisis; the development of the 'Post-Washington Consensus' and the Millennium Development Goals; and the stalemate around the Kyoto Protocol.
Introduction
Authors: Hayami Yujiro , Godo Yoshihisa
Published: October 2005

The main issues of the book are discussed. The main focus is the development of low-income economies towards catching up with high-income economies, which includes discussion on the major cultural and social changes involved, the choice of economic system – discussing the optimum combination of market, state and community and issues such as the role of technology borrowing as a major means for low-income economies to catch up with advanced ones and identifying the possible means to facilitate this process. While special focus is placed on low-income economies, ‘developing economies’ at various stages of development are covered in broad terms.
A Theoretical Framework for Economic Development
Authors: Hayami Yujiro , Godo Yoshihisa
Published: October 2005

As a basic framework of this book, development of the social system is considered a process of interactions between the economic subsystem and the cultural-institutional subsystem. The former consists of activities combining economic resources (labour, capital, and natural resources) through technology to produce goods and services useful for human living. These economic activities are coordinated and controlled by the latter, which consists of institutions (the rules of society) and culture (people's value system). A model is developed to conceptualize how technological and institutional changes interact with each other, how they respond to changes in resource endowments, and how such responses are governed by cultural traditions.
A Comparative Perspective on Developing Economies
Authors: Hayami Yujiro , Godo Yoshihisa
Published: October 2005

Aims to develop a bird's eye view on current status and growth potential of developing economies by means of highly condensed international comparative statistics in order to postulate broad hypotheses for the analyses in the subsequent chapters. The data suggest that wide differences in economic growth performance among developing countries are due little to differences in natural resource endowments, but may instead be explained by investment in both physical and human capital. Such broadly defined capital formation depends not so much on the level of per capita income as it does on institutions and policies.
Population Growth and the Constraint of Natural Resources
Authors: Hayami Yujiro , Godo Yoshihisa
Published: October 2005

The causes of 'population explosion' in developing economies today are identified in the light of demographic histories in both developed and developing economies in order to make future predictions. Further, the development theories of classical economists such as Malthus and Ricardo to modern theorists, who tried to incorporate population as an endogenous variable in the economic system, are examined.
Breaking the Natural Resource Constraint
Authors: Hayami Yujiro , Godo Yoshihisa
Published: October 2005

The world has so far avoided dismal predictions by Malthus and Ricardo on the inexorable consequences of population growth with the application of science to the development of technology geared towards maximizing the intensity of land use for agricultural production. The mechanism by which this 'science-based agriculture' has been transferred from developed to developing economies and how this process can further be strengthened are investigated.
Capital Accumulation in Economic Development
Authors: Hayami Yujiro , Godo Yoshihisa
Published: October 2005

Reviews theoretical justifications and economic consequences of a development strategy adopted, commonly by newly independent developing countries in a few decades after the Second World War, which advocated maximizing capital accumulation in the industrial sector by means of government planning and command. The general failure of this strategy, which had become evident by the 1980s, produced a conviction that accumulated capital cannot be an effective basis for economic development unless it is combined with appropriate technology and manpower under appropriate institutions.
Patterns and Sources of Technological Progress
Authors: Hayami Yujiro , Godo Yoshihisa
Published: October 2005

The institutional conditions by which appropriate technology and human resources are effectively combined with capital accumulation for promoting industrial development are examined in this chapter. Accumulation of intangible capital created by the government’s investment in scientific research and school education is critically important in the initial phrase of industrialization. Still it is a necessary but not the sufficient condition. Sustained industrial development requires the organization of competitive markets that facilitate innovations by Schumpeterian entrepreneurs.
Income Distribution, Poverty, and Environmental Problems
Authors: Hayami Yujiro , Godo Yoshihisa
Published: October 2005

Growing inequality and environmental degradation are two serious problems that developing economies will have to face in their economic growth processes geared for reducing absolute poverty. These problems are closely interrelated. For example, the importation of labour-saving industrial technologies from high-income countries tends to increase returns to capital relative to labour, thereby increasing the incomes of the property-owning rich relative to the poor owning no other productive means other than their own labour. Such technologies are adopted often without accompanying adequate investment in pollution control, resulting in horrible environmental pollution. Institutional innovations are needed to prevent income inequality and environmental degradation from rising, while sustaining the growth of developing economies.
Market and State
Authors: Hayami Yujiro , Godo Yoshihisa
Published: October 2005

The question of what kind of institutional set-up would be appropriate for promoting economic development is approached in terms of combination between market and state. The traditional debates on the choice of development strategy between free trade and infant industry protection is examined with reference to the historical experiences of developed economies as well as recent confrontations between import substitution industrialization and the IMF-World Bank structural adjustment policies. The nature and significance of market failures versus government failures are illustrated in terms of comparisons between the Latin American Debt Crisis in the 1880s and the Asian Financial Crisis in the 1990s. The choice of the market versus the state, as well as growth versus equity, is discussed in reference to the changing paradigms in the IMF-World Bank.
The Role of Community in Economic Development
Authors: Hayami Yujiro , Godo Yoshihisa
Published: October 2005

The community is considered the third pillar of the economic system in addition to the market and the state. The market is an organization coordinating competition among people seeking profits by impersonal means of prices, and the state intervenes in matters of resource allocations through the use of coercive power. In contrast, the community organizes collective actions based on mutual trust within a small group characterized by intensive interactions. The community's role in conserving and improving common-property resources is well known. In addition, its role in supporting market development by its power to enforce trade contracts among transacting parties belonging to the community network is emphasized. This role is especially important in the early development stage.
Tradition and Modernization: A Concluding Remark
Authors: Hayami Yujiro , Godo Yoshihisa
Published: October 2005

What should be the right combination of community, market, and state? It depends not only on the stage of economic development but also on the cultural tradition. Under the different value systems in different societies, different combinations of the three organizations are chosen as the mechanisms to control resource allocations. Evolution of different economic systems under different cultural traditions is illustrated through comparisons between Western and Asian countries, especially Japan, in its modernization process. The book concludes with the argument that if developing economies today are to catch up with developed economies, they must develop effective economic systems each suitable to their unique cultural and social traditions.
Psalmody and Prayer in the Writings of Evagrius Ponticus
Authors: Dysinger OSB Luke
Published: October 2005

This book explores the writings of Evagrius Ponticus. It seeks a connection between the seemingly disparate aspects of Evagrius’ mystical theology by approaching the relationship between psalmody and prayer from three perspectives. First, Evagrius’ life, works, and spiritual doctrine are presented, followed by a description of the monastic discipline of psalmody as practised by Evagrius and his contemporaries; Evagrius texts on the interrelationship between psalmody and prayer are then considered. Second, Evagrius’ recommendations on the usefulness of psalmody in healing of the passions are discussed. Finally, the biblical scholia are studied, which facilitate what Evagrius called ‘undistracted psalmody’, that is, contemplation by means of the words used in psalmody of the person of Christ and of Christ’s salvific work within creation.
Introduction
Authors: Dysinger OSB Luke
Published: October 2005

This introductory chapter begins with a discussion on the debates surrounding the influence of Evagrius Ponticus’ writings in the Christian East and West. The main thesis of this volume is then described, namely, the analysis of Evagrius’ practice of the discipline of psalmody. A connection between the seemingly disparate aspects of Evagrius’ mystical theory is sought by approaching the relationship between psalmody and prayer from three perspectives: Evagrius’ life, works, and spiritual doctrine; his recommendations concerning the usefulness of psalmody in the healing of the passions; and Evagrius’ ‘undisclosed psalmody’.
The Monastic Discipline of Psalmody
Authors: Dysinger OSB Luke
Published: October 2005

In the fourth century, the Book of Psalms gradually displaced other biblical texts used in so-called ‘canonical prayers’. Among the monks, psalmody was one of the exterior ascetical practices which, together with fasting, keeping vigil, and restraint of speech, were recommended by almost all the desert fathers of the late fourth century. John Cassian was one of the most important witnesses to the practice and spirituality of psalmody. The practice and spirit of psalmody are discussed.
Evagrius on Exegesis and Psalmody
Authors: Dysinger OSB Luke
Published: October 2005

Psalmody and the recitation of other biblical texts served as the gateway to gnostike, the perception of the inner purposes of God beneath the letter of the text. Evagrius believed that the art of biblical exegesis, which is part of the gnostike, has its own methodology, just as the progressive vigilant study of the soul, which pertains to the praktike, has its proper methodology. This chapter discusses the five texts in which Evagrius reflects on the purpose and the goal of psalmody. These are De oratione 82, 83, 85, and 87; and Praktikos.
Psalmody as Spiritual Remedy
Authors: Dysinger OSB Luke
Published: October 2005

In De oratione 83, Evagrius presents his belief that psalmody serves as a spiritual remedy, a means by which the passions are calmed and the body’s disharmony is rectified. The basis of his faith in the efficacy of psalmody as spiritual remedy is his conviction that it is above all Christ who is encountered in the psalter. This chapter explores Evagrius’ understanding of the therapeutic power of psalmody, particularly its efficacy with regards to the healing of thumos, in light of his regular use of medical imagery, theory, and the title ‘Christ the physician’. Because of their significance as sources for Evagrius’ spiritual doctrine, the use of these categories by Origen and the Cappadocian fathers is emphasized.
The Psalter as Spiritual Weapon
Authors: Dysinger OSB Luke
Published: October 2005

Evagrius believed that the spiritual benefits of chanting the psalms went beyond the calming effect of psalmody on the passions. The soul is in continuous warfare against demons that employ logismoi (tempting thoughts) to prevent humans from praying or perceiving God. The Book of Psalms is a valuable weapon that provides models of spiritual progress, as well as a means by which prayer and contemplation may be attained. Evagrius recommends the practice of psalmody in the Praktikos, Antirrhetikos, and De oratione. Psalms in the Antirrhetikos and antirrhetic texts in the Scholia on Psalms are discussed.
Conclusion
Authors: Dysinger OSB Luke
Published: October 2005

This chapter presents a synthesis of the writings of Evagrius Ponticus discussions in this volume. It argues that the monastic discipline of psalmody reflects the Evagrius’ vision of the spiritual life. The underlying rhythm of spiritual progress consists of the movement between poles of praktike, physike, and theologike; that is, progress from concern with moral and spiritual improvement to perception of God in and beyond creation.
The European Voter
Authors: Thomassen Jacques
Published: October 2005

The purpose of this book is to describe and explain the changes in electoral behaviour that occurred in six West-European countries in the second half of the twentieth century. Two alternative theoretical approaches are systematically tested in an attempt to explain these changes. The first approach is deduced from modernisation theory. Modernisation theory implies that over time, the explanatory power for electoral behaviour of more or less stable structural variables such as social class and religion will yield to more short-term factors. The second and alternative theoretical approach predicts that changes and variations in patterns of voting behaviour are not due to secular processes in voting behaviour, but to variations in the political-institutional context, both between countries and within countries between different elections. In contrast to much of the authoritative literature, chapter after chapter of this book shows that there is little empirical evidence supporting modernization theory. Electoral behaviour is primarily political behaviour that is shaped by the political context of elections as much as by autonomous processes in society. In this respect, not much has changed during the period covered. The political context was never irrelevant for voting behaviour. No matter how divided a society is in terms of religion and/or social class, as long as these differences are not politicised, voters cannot be mobilised on this basis. Also, if voters do not see the policy differences between the political parties competing for their votes — as was increasingly the case in the second half of the 1980s and the 1990s in some of the countries in this study — one should not be surprised to find low correlations between voters’ policy preferences and their party choice.
1 Introduction
Authors: Thomassen Jacques
Published: October 2005

This introductory chapter begins with a description of main purpose of this book, which is to describe and explain the electoral changes in Western Europe in the second half of the 20th century. It then discusses political change in Europe, modernization and political change, declining voter turnout, and party choice. An overview of the chapters in this volume is presented.
Political Parties and Party Systems
Authors: Klingemann Hans‐Dieter
Published: October 2005

This chapter offers a historical description of the development of the national party systems of the countries represented in the book. First, it provides an overview of the political parties in the various countries and classifies them by party family. Second, it deals with three aspects of inter-party competition which have been singled out as important by previous research efforts: (1) the number of political parties (fragmentation), (2) the ideological distance between parties (polarization), and (3) the degree of electoral change (volatility). Measures of these characteristics allow a basic description of the structure and dynamics of party systems.
3 Electoral Turnout1
Authors: Aarts Kees , Wessels Bernhard
Published: October 2005

According to modernisation theory, electoral participation should become less important in modern democracies. “Modern” citizens feel more capable of handling their own political affairs, thus they will decide for themselves when and how to get involved in political action, and consequentially will not automatically cast their vote. This view has in recent years often been rephrased into the expectation that electoral turnout in Western societies will decrease. However, this expectation is at odds with current knowledge about the development of the most important individual characteristic associated with electoral participation — i.e. the level of education — thus giving rise to a “puzzle of turnout”. This chapter addresses the turnout puzzle and provides an alternative explanation of varying turnout figures: the political context of the election. The political context (polarisation, degree of alienation and of indifference) is shown to account for trends and fluctuations in turnout in the six European democracies for up to 40 years.
Social Structure and Party Choice1
Authors: Oskarson Maria
Published: October 2005

This chapter explores the explanatory power of the social cleavage model presented by Lipset and Rokkan in the 1960s. According to most of the dominant literature, the explanatory power of this model has declined over time. This trend is confirmed in this chapter. However, the findings in this chapter also show that social cleavage voting must be seen as the result of an interaction between groups in society on the one hand, and the political parties on the other. Changes in party appeal or party strategies are important factors to consider to understand the evolution of social cleavage voting.
5 Party Identification and Party Choice
Authors: Berglund Frode , Holmberg Sören , Schmitt Hermann , Thomassen Jacques
Published: October 2005

This chapter tests the validity of two alternative theoretical perspectives on the evolution of party identification. According to the first perspective, which is based on the theory of modernization, one should expect a secular decline of the level of party identification. The reason is that modern, well educated citizens do not need the cue of party identification anymore. The second perspective focuses on political rather than social correlates of party identification, and predicts less linear developments. Adversary politics is supposed to be favourable for the development of partisanship, while a broad political consensus across the major parties is expected to suppress the development of party identification. Whereas the first perspective predicts a linear decline of partisanship, the second one does not. The empirical evidence with regard to the first perspective is mixed. Although party identifiers have become less numerous over time, this development is anything but monotonous in most countries. Moreover, the micro-theory underlying the theory of modernisation is not corroborated. Contrary to expectations, cognitive mobilisation does not lead to a lower level of party identification. However, the evidence supporting the second perspective is equally ambivalent. The political correlates of the development of party identification are modest at best, and cannot fully explain what is going on in the six West European countries under study.
Value Orientations and Party Choice
Authors: Knutsen Oddbjørn , Kumlin Staffan
Published: October 2005

The general hypothesis of the book is that the power of long-term factors to explain party choice has gradually become weaker. Since value orientations can be considered as long-term factors, one should expect the explanatory power of value orientations to decline over time. However, the empirical evidence in this chapter suggests that the impact of values is regulated by the political context. This contextual factor includes the extent to which citizens learn to make use of ideological labels and concepts, the extent to which they receive ideological cues in order to choose on the basis of values, as well as the affective strength with which values are endorsed. The apparent decrease in perceived party polarisation in the 1990s led to a decline of the extent to which extremely economic left-right values matter for party choice.
7 Left–Right Orientations and Party Choice
Authors: van der Eijk Cees , Schmitt Hermann , Binder Tanja
Published: October 2005

Just like in the case of value orientations, one might expect a gradual decrease of the power of left-right orientations to explain party choice. However, no such monotonic decline can be observed. Voters’ left/right positions still are strongly related to party choice, but the strength of this association varies between countries and over time, without any particular kind of clearly discernable trend. The over-time variation in this association is strongly correlated with the degree of party polarization on the left/right continuum.
8 Issue Voting
Authors: Aardal Bernt , van Wijnen Pieter
Published: October 2005

The main research question in this chapter is to what extent and how voters’ perceptions of important issues affect the outcome of the election. The analyses clearly demonstrate that issue voting matters. If a voter thinks that a certain issue is salient, this has a considerable positive effect on the probability that he or she will vote for the party that is regarded as the ‘owner’ of the issue. Despite thelimitations of the measurements and data used, it is argued that issues do matter in modern elections. However, contrary to expectations based on modernisation theory, no secular increase in issue voting over time was found. The notion that policy preferences — or issues — have “replaced” social background as prime determinants of voting tends to overlook the fact that even the traditional models of voting behaviour were not devoid of political context. In this perspective, the analysis in this chapter confirms that election campaigns are still fought over issues that both politicians and voters perceive as important. If a party owns an issue, it has far better chances in an upcoming election, only if the voters — and the media — agree with the party that this particular issue deserves particular attention.
9 Retrospective Voting1
Authors: Listhaug Ola
Published: October 2005

This chapter demonstrates that the European voter is also an economic voter in the sense that negative evaluations of the economy hurt the electoral fortunes of incumbent parties. For those who expected that economic voting would be on the rise, the empirical results are disappointing. Systematic trends towards an increase in economic voting were not observed. Political events and institutional factors account for some of the variations in economic voting. For instance, the weak and irregular effects in Norway can be explained by the dominance of minority governments, a weak opposition, and the EU issue which dominated over economic concerns and probably reduced Labour’s ability to benefit from the first stage of the economic recovery in the 1993 election. Similarly, under a different institutional context, the British Conservative party in 1997 had less success than Labour four years later in taking advantage of an improving economy. These examples may suggest that institutions as well as embedded effects of political events influence the impact of economic evaluations on the vote.
10 Party Leaders and Party Choice
Authors: Curtice John , Holmberg Sören
Published: October 2005

Elections are widely believed to have become beauty contests in which voters decide who to vote for on the basis of which party leader they like most, rather than which party they think has the best policies or will best represent their interests. Scant evidence was found in support of this proposition. Voters’ evaluations of party leaders appear to be as important or unimportant now as they were when they were first measured. Part of the reason for this appears to be the fact that the importance of leaders is constrained by the political structure in which elections take place. There is strong evidence that leaders matter when a parliamentary election comes closest to mimicking a presidential contest. That is, when the next head of government is likely to be the leader of whichever of two large parties can win the most votes without the need to engage in significant post-election coalition bargaining.
11 Modernization or Politics?
Authors: Thomassen Jacques
Published: October 2005

This chapter summarises the discussions on the development of patterns of voting behaviour in European countries, and the validity of the two alternative theoretical approaches to explaining the changes in electoral behaviour. The analyses will be done separately for the two successive decisions voters have to make at election time. First, the decision on whether they will vote at all, and second, which party of candidate they will vote for.
Speaking My Mind
Authors: Bar-On Dorit
Published: October 2005

This book motivates and develops a novel view of avowals and self-knowledge that attempts to give systematic answers to standing questions concerning our ability to know our own minds. Drawing on resources from the philosophy of language, the theory of action, epistemology, and the philosophy of mind, the author offers original and systematic answers to these questions. She proposes a Neo-Expressivist view according to which an avowal is an act through which a person directly expresses, rather than merely reports, the very mental condition that it tells of. She argues that this expressivist idea, coupled with an adequate characterization of expression and a proper separation of the semantics of avowals from their pragmatics and epistemology, explains the special status we assign to avowals. As against many expressivists and their critics, she maintains that an expressivist explanation is consistent with a non-deflationary view of self-knowledge and a robust realism about mental states. The view that emerges preserves many insights of the most prominent contributors to the subject, while offering a fresh perspective on our special relationship to our own minds.
Introduction: The Special Security of Some “I” Talk
Authors: Bar-On Dorit
Published: October 2005

Introduces the primary problem to be dealt with in the book, namely, how to account for the special security of some first-personal ascriptions of mental states (’avowals’). Relatedly, the book aims to answer whether avowals constitute privileged self-knowledge of mental states, and generally, what such knowledge might consist of. What’s more, the author wants to answer these questions while retaining the view that, though avowals exhibit epistemic asymmetries with other ascriptions, they are also ’semantically continuous’ with ordinary empirical reports (as against the Wittgensteinian expressivist view that fully assimilates an avowal like ’I’m in pain’ to mere crying). The chapter then lists a number of desiderata on an adequate view of avowals’ special security, and ends with an overall plan of the book, and a few terminological notes.
Using “I” ‘as Subject’: Cartesian Reference or No Reference?
Authors: Bar-On Dorit
Published: October 2005

The uniquely secure status of avowals apparently has something to do with the special way an avowing subject refers to herself by the pronoun ‘I’, as opposed to referring to herself by some description. However, the author argues in this chapter that excessive focus on the way ‘I’ refers has led people astray. In particular, she criticizes the view that we must see ‘I’ as referring to some special object, a Cartesian ego, as well as Anscombe’s view that ‘I’ in fact, does not refer at all. Both accounts fail to respect the Semantic Continuity of avowals with other empirical reports.
“I”-Ascriptions: The Semantic and the Epistemic
Authors: Bar-On Dorit
Published: October 2005

A more promising account of the way ‘I’ refers, which derives from the works of Sidney Shoemaker and Gareth Evans, is discussed in Ch. 3. This account, the ’Reference without Identification’ view, preserves Semantic Continuity while explaining various epistemic asymmetries between avowals and other ascriptions. The observation is that uses of ‘I’ are immune to error through misidentifying the referent, and it is so because no identification of the referent is needed when ‘I’ is used. In connection with this view, the author also critiques the alternative explanations of immunity to error through misidentification given by Shoemaker and Evans.
Content Externalism, Skepticism, and the Recognitional Conception of Self-Knowledge
Authors: Bar-On Dorit
Published: October 2005

This chapter examines a much-discussed puzzle about how the security of avowals (specifically, the security of avowals that specify one’s mental contents) can be reconciled with so-called ’externalism’ about content. It has been argued that if externalism is true, then we face a form of scepticism about content, analogous to scepticism about the external world. However, the author argues that this reasoning relies on a ’recognitional conception’ of knowledge of content, which ought to be rejected. She further suggests that self-ascriptions of mental content are protected from sceptical arguments precisely because they do not involve or require a separate recognition of those contents.
The Distinctive Security Of Avowals: Ascriptive Immunity to Error
Authors: Bar-On Dorit
Published: October 2005

The author develops further the idea, introduced at the end of Ch. 5, that avowals do not involve or require a recognition of one’s own mental state. The notion of ‘ascriptive immunity to error’ is introduced by analogy to the notion of immunity to error though misidentification. So-called ’self-verifying’ avowals of occurrent thoughts best illustrate this idea, where it seems most plausible to say that there is no separate recognition of one’s thought contents. Nevertheless, the author also suggests that all avowals have ‘ascriptive immunity’ as well. This is to be explained by the expressive character of avowals.
Avowals: ‘Grammar’ and Expression
Authors: Bar-On Dorit
Published: October 2005

This chapter and the next develop a Neo-Expressivist view of avowals, according to which avowals are seen as expressive performances that serve directly to express the self-ascriber’s mental condition, rather than merely to report it. But unlike purely natural expressions (cries, groans), avowals ascribe to the subject the very state the subject expresses. The view is compared and contrasted with Wittgenstein’s ’simple expressivist’ view of avowals, as well as with ethical expressivism.
Avowals: Expression, Content, and Truth
Authors: Bar-On Dorit
Published: October 2005

The author begins this chapter with an account of how linguistic expressions, and in particular, mental ‘I’-ascriptions, could acquire an expressive role similar to the role played by natural expressions, despite the dissimilarities between avowals and natural expressions. This is done by explaining how mental self-ascriptions could emerge in the order of acquisition. In addition, the last part of the chapter answers the question how avowals are truth-evaluable (despite their similarity with non-truth-evaluable natural expressions), and how avowals are governed by a special presumption of truth.