bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Bad News, Bad Governance
Authors: PATTERSON THOMAS E.
Published: March 2007

There has been a quiet revolution in news reporting during the past few decades. The traditional descriptive style of reporting has given way to an interpretive style that empowers journalists by giving them more control over content. One consequence is a form of news coverage that focuses on the negative aspects of politics. This development contributes to the public's dissatisfaction with its political leaders and institutions and makes it more difficult for officials to govern effectively. The news media's version of reality is exceedingly narrow and cannot be justified by either the journalists' knowledge of political relationships or their position in the political system. The problem would be lessened by a model of reporting that subordinates the voice of the journalist and aims for a more balanced portrayal of the workings of the political system.
Contributions of Casino-Style Gambling to Local Economies
Authors: EADINGTON WILLIAM R.
Published: March 2007

This study examines the underlying economic and political dynamics that have led to the rapid proliferation of permitted gambling in the United States and other countries over the past decade. It notes that much of the justification for gambling has come from an attempt to exploit the economic rents and spillover benefits that accompany the legalization of gambling, and little is accorded the value that accrues to consumers of the commodity. A framework is developed to evaluate the impact of such considerations on the community and the region where gambling is permitted. Different types of casino-style gambling—destination resort casinos, urban casinos, and widely dispersed gaming devices—are evaluated in light of their relative impacts.
Television and the Informational and Educational Needs of Children
Authors: HUSTON ALETHA C. , WRIGHT JOHN C.
Published: March 2007

The Children's Television Act of 1990 requires broad-casters to air programming that meets the informational and educational needs of children. Despite a massive amount of evidence that educational programming has positive effects on the social, intellectual, and educational development of young children, and recent evidence that such viewing experience during the preschool years fosters both increased school readiness for kindergarten and superior high school grades in English, science, and math, there is still a large number of teachers and parents who believe that television viewing in general is harmful to children. Evidence to the contrary is reviewed, and the conditions under which the medium has a positive effect on children's educational progress are examined. A heavy diet of commercial, broadcast, entertainment television made for general audiences does indeed have some of the alleged harmful effects, but educational programming for children between the ages of 2 and 5 years has the opposite effects.
Children's Use of VCRs
Authors: MARES MARIE-LOUISE
Published: March 2007

This study relies on a national survey of parents and children and interviews with children to assess the extent and nature of use of videocassette recorders (VCRs) by children and adolescents. It reports on developmental changes in the use of VCRs for repeated viewing of videos, as well as children's descriptions of when and why they rewind and fast-forward videos.
“Just the Facts, Ma'am”: Political Facts and Public Opinion
Authors: KUKLINSKI JAMES H. , QUIRK PAUL J. , SCHWIEDER DAVID W. , RICH ROBERT F.
Published: March 2007

An important dimension of the future of fact is the status of political facts in research on public opinion. Analyzing the public's factual knowledge about public policy is central to addressing citizen competence yet more problematic than scholars have acknowledged. To show this, the authors first summarize a study of theirs that uses typical measures of citizens' information. In a survey of Illinois citizens, they measured factual perceptions about welfare policy. They found that citizens are not only uninformed about welfare but often misinformed—confident in erroneous perceptions. Such misinformation apparently has significant effects on attitudes toward welfare. The authors then consider some conceptual difficulties in research on citizens' information about policy. If the purpose is to ascertain how much information citizens possess, then the researcher must stipulate the relevant facts about an area of policy. But political facts are in large part politically determined, and the researcher often cannot identify precisely what the true and relevant facts are. Finally, the authors suggest a research approach in which citizens, in effect, choose the relevant facts themselves.
The Legal and Ethical Limitations of Factual Misrepresentation
Authors: COWAN GEOFFREY
Published: March 2007

Using examples from journalism, nonfiction books, theater, television, and film, this article examines the ways in which truth has been distorted in the name of storytelling. It briefly reviews the law (and the limits of the law) that governs such distortions and then offers some possible ethical guidelines. There is, in the author's view, an unwritten contract between the writer (as well as the editor, publisher, producer, and distributor) and the audience. Although some aspects of that contract are spelled out in the law, the First Amendment dictates that most of its provisions rely on the ethical sensibilities of the participants. A reasonable approach, it is argued, would be based on a continuum, calling for more accuracy and balance for the daily news media; somewhat less for columnists, journals of opinion, and docudramas that deal with contemporary events; and less still for historical dramas and novels based on fact.
Working With and Conducting Research Among American Indian Families
Authors: STUBBEN JERRY D.
Published: March 2007

Acquiring and using cultural competence in service delivery or research is a process in which the service provider or researcher must acknowledge cultural differences, develop awareness of personal cultural values, understand cross-cultural interactions, learn the family's culture, and adapt the program or research project to fit the culture. Recently, American Indian communities have begun to assume a major role in the control of service delivery and research efforts in their communities due to their special status as sovereign nations and their efforts to protect the cultural integrity of the program or research. This article will outline and offer insight into the cultural, historical, social, and spiritual issues that must be learned prior to and when conducting service or program delivery or research among American Indian communities.
A Longitudinal Analysis of the International Telecommunication Network, 1978-1996
Authors: BARNETT GEORGE A.
Published: March 2007

The current structure of the international telecommunications network and how it has changed since the late 1970s are examined. Consistent with world-systems theory, the net-work may be described as one large interconnected group of nations arrayed along a center-to-periphery dimension. At the core are the United States, Canada, and Western Europe. At the periphery are the poorer nations and the former Soviet republics. The network may be subdivided into eight regional blocks, what Huntington labels civilizations. Over time, the network has become denser and more highly integrated and centralized. Recently, however, there has been a significant reversal in centralization. Furthermore, the rate of change among 39 wealthier nations appears to be accelerating.
Mapping the “Worlds” of the World Wide Web
Authors: BRUNN STANLEY D. , DODGE MARTIN
Published: March 2007

The World Wide Web is barely 10 years old and already spans the globe, comprising more than a billion public pages and 3 million servers. It is a decentralized information space, created and controlled by many different authors, and has much lower barriers to entry than conventional information media. The authors analyze the connections between 180 different Internet “nations” using data on the number of Web pages and hyperlinks gathered from a commercial search engine in 1998. They also analyze and describe the geography of the hyperlinks, revealing the most and least connected regions and countries, with a particular focus on African and Central Asian countries. A metric is created, the Hyperlink Index, which is similar to the Export-Import Index common in economics and used to measure the flows of physical goods.
Job Mobility between Government and other Social Structures
Authors: Glaser William A.
Published: March 2007

Professions and occupations, as well as government, are considered as hierarchic structures of statuses. Job switching between professions and gov ernment positions can be analyzed in terms of status sequences. Computer simulation is ideal for such studies. Some key problems of political theory depend for their solution upon knowledge of patterns of occupational inter change. This article originally appeared, in somewhat different form, as Publi cation No. A-289 of the Bureau of Applied Social Research, Columbia University.
On the Study of Politics
Authors: Friedman Julian R.
Published: March 2007

Despite its progress, political science is held to be out of touch with much of contemporary politics. The author lays the blame on the concept of the state, which pervades the thinking of political scientists to the extent that they cannot adequately come to terms with the widespread political situations in which anarchy, instability, discontinuity, and disorder prevail. Political science should instead "focus primarily on the political process in the dynamics of human existence."
Is the Senate's Foreign Relations Research Worthwhile?
Authors: Halperin Morton
Published: March 2007

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee has made an ambitious attempt to tap the academic community for information and advice on foreign policy. The twelve studies that resulted have certain drawbacks as social science, yet they also can have some influence upon the content of American foreign policy and upon future methods of shaping polic y. The author is presently a Research Fellow at Harvard's Center for International Affairs.
Communications Research and the Social Sciences
Authors: Carter Roy E.
Published: March 2007

The interests of the communications researcher often bring him onto common ground with other social scientists. The long-range, cumulative effects of the mass media are of common concern, as is the study of the communicator himself. Com munications research has some familiar problems of method, and also some techniques such as content analysis that could be redirected to provide a new way for studying social and selective aspects of perception. Multidisciplinary team research may not live up to its billings, but interdisciplinary appreciation is always worth seeking. The author is Director of the Research Division of the University of Minnesota's School of Journalism; this article is based on a talk he gave at the University of Oregon in March 1960.
New Soviet Doctrines on Underdeveloped Areas
Authors: Janos Andrew C.
Published: March 2007

Confronted with the realities of social change in underdeveloped areas, the theorists and policy-makers of the Soviet world find it increasingly difficult to draw operational inferences from classic Marxist generalizations, which were derived from European historical experience, about the stages of social development. Two recent Soviet articles that reveal this, one stating a new doctrinal interpretation, the other applying the interpretation to Latin America, are abstracted here, followed by com ments on each. Andrew Janos is on the staff of Princeton University's Center of Inter national Studies.
The Game Bag
Authors: Oppenheim Felix E.
Published: March 2007

Comment: A philosopher clarifies some usages in the Jacob-Flink work on Values and Decisions, and a lawyer-psychologist offers his experience to illuminate Touster's article on Law and Psychology.
Middlemen in Science Utilization: Some Notes Toward Clarifying Conversion Roles
Authors: Lundberg Craig C.
Published: March 2007

Mr. Lundberg, a Lecturer in Organization Theory and Behavior at Cornell University's Graduate School of Business and Public Administration, delineates the problems of roles in the conversion of scientific resources to pragmatic use in the social sciences.
The Human Relations Area Files Index
Authors: Morrison Donald
Published: March 2007

A computer-generated index to the Human Relations Area Files offers a needed tool for accessing the vast amounts of information in the Files. Donald Morrison is a graduate student in Applied Mathematics and is a Research Associate for the Council for Intersocietal Studies, Northwestern University.
Institutional Change and the Health Politics of the 1990s
Authors: PETERSON MARK A.
Published: March 2007

In the 1970s, Canada implemented its new health care financing system while the United States considered reform but failed to act. Reform debate in the 1990s must be informed by the correct lessons of the 1970s and an understanding of the subsequent changes in American government. The different Canadian and U.S. experiences had more to do with prevailing institutional arrangements than enduring societal characteristics. Since then, U.S. institutions—reflecting the way private power is represented and public authority is organized—have been dramatically transformed. These changes, along with the election of a president committed to reform, create a policy environment more conducive to health care reform than was true in the 1970s. The medical, insurance, and business alliance opposed to reform has been disrupted and lacks the means to prevail. Achieving reform remains a major challenge, but there is now an opportunity for bold policy action.
Effective Health Message Design
Authors: RATZAN SCOTT C. , PAYNE J. GREGORY , MASSETT HOLLY A.
Published: March 2007

The greatest health communication challenge of the 20th century—preventing the spread of HIV and curtailing the AIDS epidemic—threatens the health of citizens for the next century despite governmental efforts to limit the spread of the deadly disease. The authors analyze a governmental media campaign, the America Responds to AIDS campaign waged by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, outlining strengths and shortcomings of the effort. This article applies the workable integrative negotiation (WIN[UNKNOWN]) principles of COAST[UNKNOWN] (communication, options, alternatives, standards, and trust) in a descriptive analysis of a specific national marketing communication effort by the government. The authors concur on the necessity of a comprehensive approach of individually adapting health care messages to advance the overall quality of media campaigns and the health of America in general.
Community Collaboration and Public Policy Making
Authors: FREDERICKSEN PATRICIA J.
Published: March 2007

The management of conflict in organizations and communities is intrinsic to the policy development process. Many communities across the United States are searching for more effective ways of building consensus and managing conflict. A variety of training programs in conflict management are available, but there is little evidence either supporting or disputing the long-term utility of these interventions. Will an intensive training effort in collaborative conflict management influence the personal styles of community leaders in addressing the variety of contentious issues facing their communities? Much of the existing research on conflict management styles and personal attitudes toward conflict has been conducted in lab/experimental settings. Because the context of community is often either artificial or nonexistent in such controlled settings, methodologies such as the fieldwork-based comparative case study may provide valuable, additional evidence for researchers to consider in this area. This article examines the methodological issues raised in a multiple-case framework spanning a 2-year longitudinal analysis of attitudes and self-reported behaviors related to a community training intervention in which collaborative conflict management training was experienced by 150 community leaders representing public, nonprofit, and private organizations.
Tales From the Grave
Authors: HAGER MARK , GALASKIEWICZ JOSEPH , BIELEFELD WOLFGANG , PINS JOEL
Published: March 2007

Competing theories of organizational behavior offer a variety of reasons why organizations cease to exist. Some reasons are internal to the organization, such as losing control over financial matters and being unable to routinize procedures. Other reasons are environmental, such as changing market conditions, lacking social capital, outside regulation, and not being perceived as legitimate by external power holders. The authors interviewed representatives from dead nonprofit organizations to determine the extent to which these theoretical explanations match with respondent understandings of why their organizations closed. Respondents were more likely to attribute death to their smallness, youth, financial difficulties, personnel turnover, being perceived as unimportant, or decreased demand for their services. Organizations that said they were “too young” or “too small” were more likely to say that they were too disconnected from other organizations in the community, thus shedding light on why youth and smallness are such a liability for organizations.
Student Diversity Requires Different Approaches To College Teaching, Even in Math and Science
Authors: NELSON CRAIG E.
Published: March 2007

It now appears that all traditionally taught college courses are markedly (though unintentionally) biased against many non-traditional students, and, indeed, against most students who have not attended elite preparatory schools. Thus, when we teach merely in traditional ways we probably discriminate strongly on grounds quite different from those we intend (assuming that we intend only effort and merit). Easily accessible changes in how we teach have been shown repeatedly to foster dramatic changes in student performance with no change in standards—in some cases, no students now earn failing grades. Similarly dramatic improvements have been shown in the uniformity of outcomes. For example, the gap between Black performance and the performance of other groups can be entirely eliminated, even in “hard” courses such as calculus.
The Political-Media Complex at 50
Authors: SWANSON DAVID L.
Published: March 2007

Placing the 1996 presidential campaign in its broader historical and institutional context reveals changes taking places in the “political-media complex.” These changes include a shift in control of political communication away from mainstream news media in what might be described as a progressivist reformation; the inability of mainstream news media to resolve both their commercial needs and their professional needs, leading to a decline in their influence; and the need for both candidates and journalists to respond to public dissatisfaction with campaigns and campaign news coverage.
Public Administration and the Public Interest
Authors: MARSHALL GARY S. , CHOUDHURY ENAMUL
Published: March 2007

This article analyzes how the concept of the public interest has been articulated in the field of public administration. It traces the intellectual development of the term and highlights the differences between a definition of the public interest that emphasizes a “community of meaning” and a definition that emphasizes the “objective control of administration.” The article then goes on to discuss how the current debates concerning the postmodern experience inform a definition of the public interest for the 21st century.
Apology and Pardon
Authors: HALEY JOHN O.
Published: March 2007

The author seeks to investigate particular elements of Japanese culture that may have contributed to the country's success in reducing crime rates since World War II. In particular, he argues that the fundamental importance of apology and pardon helps to explain this phenomenon. But despite the apparently unique role of apology and repentance in Japanese culture, the author argues that these concepts, although perhaps more readily evident in Japan, are also present to a degree in American communities. He believes that through a consideration of Japan, the United States can learn to incorporate these ideas into American criminal justice. Finally, the author points out the preliminary success of experimental programs in the United States that seek to incorporate the ideas of apology and pardon.
Joining the Nazi Party
Authors: AULT BRIAN , BRUSTEIN WILLIAM
Published: March 2007

The relative strength of competing explanations of Nazism is examined by using a sample of Nationalist Socialist German Workers' Party (NSDAP) members joining from 1925 to 1933, culled from the Berlin Document Center. Results of a national multivariate model, regressing NSDAP membership rate at the Kreise (county) level on key indicators of competing theories, lends support to what recent analysts have concluded about the Nazi electorate. The NSDAP is best characterized as a catchall party with strongest membership support found in Bavaria and Northwest Germany. Tests for spatial autocorrelation reveal spatial clustering. A spatial-effects model is estimated and results support the political-confessionalism thesis, with mass-society and lower-middle-class explanations invalidated. The spatial lag term is significant, which may represent the importance of preexisting networks to Nazi mobilization and the likelihood that the joining process was one of hierarchical diffusion. Finally, results from regional models emphasize the varied political geography of Nazi membership.
National Currencies and National Identities
Authors: HELLEINER ERIC
Published: March 2007

In what ways do national currencies contribute to a sense of national identity? Building on the insights of 19th-and early 20th-century observers, the author suggests that national currencies might foster national identities in five ways: (a) providing a vehicle for nationalist imagery that constructs a sense of collective tradition and memory, (b) acting as a common medium of social communication that may facilitate the “communicative efficiency” of members of the nation and encourage similar frameworks of thought, (c) creating collective monetary experiences that can bolster the feeling of membership in a national community of shared fate, (d) contributing to a sense of popular sovereignty, at least insofar as the national currency is managed in a way that corresponds with the people's wishes, and (e) strengthening the kind of quasi-religious faith that is associated with nationalism, especially when the currency is managed in a stable manner.
Conducting a Complex Sociological Survey in Rural Mali
Authors: SCHOOLER CARMI , DIAKITE CHIAKA , VOGEL JEROME , MOUNKORO PIERRE , CAPLAN LESLIE
Published: March 2007

The authors describe a cross-cultural collaborative attempt between American and Malian investigators to apply standard sociological survey techniques to three generally preliterate, nonindustrial ethnic groups in rural Mali—the Dogon, Peulh, and Bozo. The study examines how socioenvironmental factors (e.g., occupational conditions, migration, exposure to Western culture) affect values, orientations to self and others, psychological distress, coping mechanisms, and AIDS-related attitudes and behaviors. Other medical dependent variables include HIV, other sexually transmitted diseases, clinical depression, and psychosis. The authors depict this cross-cultural collaboration from the points of view of its three types of investigators: American behavioral scientist, Malian medical researcher, American Africanist. Preliminary statistical analyses strongly suggest that the quality of both the data and the coding are more than satisfactory. The authors have not, however, analyzed the data to the point of publishable substantive findings. The article remains a promissory report on an ambitious work in progress.
Maximizing Evolvability
Authors: HUSTON JAN
Published: March 2007

For teaching or consulting in the area of futures studies, the author developed an approach called the theory of evolving systems. This approach is based on the author's personal quest to understand the future in a way that avoids the arbitrary and relative nature of many futures-related activities. The evolving-systems approach is a science-based framework that enables students or clients to use their knowledge in a nested evolutionary context to discern a finite number of high-probability generic alternative futures. Furthermore, this approach enables students or clients to differentiate alternatives futures that can maximize evolvability from those that are dystopian or devolutionary.
Prophets of a High-Tech Age
Authors: HALAL WILLIAM E.
Published: March 2007

A summary is provided of one futurist's career, noting the significance of various issues in the study of the future. A major theme running through the analysis is that futurists can be effectively understood as high-tech equivalents of the ancient prophets. Like prophets, they are usually motivated by a compelling vision of how the world is changing and how these changes can be best achieved. They frequently suffer from indifference and criticism when presenting results of their work and expressing their personal views. Because the study of the future is a somewhat marginal role, they often try to assimilate into ordinary professions and the power structure. Finally, they occasionally find great satisfaction in seeing their forecasts realized.
Resolving Moral Dilemmas in Business: A Multicountry Study
Authors: Priem Richard L. , Shaffer Margaret
Published: March 2007

This comparative field study evaluated the choices made by U.S., Portuguese, and Hong Kong Chinese evening MBA and graduating university business students when resolving business-related moral dilemmas. The authors developed hypotheses at the country level based on Hofstede’s ratings of each country’s national culture dimensions of power distance, uncertainty avoidance, individualism, and masculinity. The more individualistic U.S. respondents resolved the dilemmas with choices indicating less self-interest and more concern for unidentified others than did their Portuguese and Hong Kong Chinese counterparts, who are from more collectivist societies. The authors discuss implications for future cross-cultural research on business dilemmas and for cooperative interactions among managers from these and other countries.
The Development of Modern Marketing in Hungary
Authors: Marber Allen S.
Published: March 2007

Western businessmen should recognize that the countries of Eastern Europe are in different stages of economic development. Hungary has shown a remarkable degree of economic independence by emulating Western marketing techniques. Competition, much like Western "free enterprise," has been prominent in the Hungarian economy since the Revolution of 1956.

The three sectors of the Hungarian economy (state; semi-private, composed of farm, industrial, and service cooperatives; and private) have shown various degrees of marketing sophistication in applying modern marketing concepts. The political uncertainty inherent in this socialist society has caused the development of a precarious marketing culture.
The Corporate Social Performance and Corporate Financial Performance Debate
Authors: Griffin Jennifer J. , Mahon John F.
Published: March 2007

This article extends earlier research concerning the relationship between corporate social performance and corporate financial performance, with particular emphasis on methodological inconsistencies. Research in this area is extended in three critical areas. First, it focuses on a particular industry, the chemical industry. Second, it uses multiple sources of data-two that are perceptual based (KLD Index and Fortune reputation survey), and two that are performance based (TRI database and corporate philanthropy) in order to triangulate toward assessing corporate social performance. Third, it uses the five most commonly applied accounting measures in the corporate social performance and corporate financial performance (CSP/CFP) literature to assess corporate financial performance. The results indicate that the a priori use of measures may actually predetermine the CSP/CFP relationship outcome. Surprisingly, Fortune and KLD indices very closely track one another, whereas TRI and corporate philanthropy differentiate between high and low social performers and do not correlate to the firm's financial performance.
Environmental Regulation and Firm Level Innovation
Authors: Sanchez Carol M.
Published: March 2007

Many analysts argue that environmental regulation is a barrier to innovation in business firms. A competing view holds that environmental regulation contributes to firm level innovation. This article attempts to partially reconcile these two views. The article argues that organizational and individual level variables moderate the effect of environmental regulation generally on the radicalness of innovation at the firm level. It proposes that four moderating variables the degree to which information analysis about environmental issues is centralized, firm size, the intensity and integration of research and development (R&D) units within the firm, and whether regulation is perceived as an opportunity change the sign of the relationship between environmental regulation and the radicalness of firm level innovation. Empirically testable propositions are presented and a regulation innovation profile is suggested. Directions for future research and implications for practicing managers are highlighted.
The Interface of Organizational Effectiveness and Corporate Social Performance
Authors: Lachman Ran , Wolfe Richard A.
Published: March 2007

Though they have much in common, the fields of organizational effectiveness (OE) and corporate social performance (CSP) have developed independently. Although both areas deal with organization-environment interactions, each focus is different-OE focuses on how an organization "manages" its environment for its own ends whereas CSP focuses on an organization's responsibilities to, and performance vis-a-vis, its environment. Scholars within the two fields, therefore, have tended to take parallel, nonintersecting paths and, thus, have overlooked potential synergies. In calling attention to potental conceptual and empirical development at the intersection of OE and CSP, the authors examine similarities and differences between the two domains, propose a framework for analyzing congruity between an organization's functional and social performance, present illustrative cases to demonstrate the benefits of considering the OE-CSP interface, and suggest guidelines for conducting research at the OE-CSP interface.
Creatures, Corporations, Communities, Chaos, Complexity
Authors: Frederick William C.
Published: March 2007

The corporation's social role is usually presented as a cultural phenomenon in which the corporation learns socially acceptable behaviors through voluntary social responsibility, government regulations/public policies, and/or acceptance of ethics principles. This article presents an alternative view of corporationcommunity relations as a natural phenomenon based on complexity-chaos theory and a biological-physical conception of corporate values. Corporation and community are depicted as interacting nonlinear adaptive systems having unpredictable futures, the corporate social role is depicted as largely indeterminate, and competing values are depicted as key factors driving change in corporationcommunity linkages. Normative duties of corporate and community leaders are described.
Measuring Political Culture in Multiethnic Societies
Authors: SILVER BRIAN D. , DOWLEY KATHLEEN M.
Published: March 2007

Comparative studies of mass political culture based on surveys, such as the World Values Survey (WVS), typically leap to using aggregate-level statistics for the entire population. No previous analyses of the WVS have examined the value differences associated with a common source of cleavage: ethnicity. The authors test for ethnic differences on 10 democratic values in 16 WVS countries from 1990 to 1993. Ethnic differences within countries on these indicators are often far larger than the aggregate differences between countries. Of 259 paired comparisons between the majority and the minority groups within the 16 countries on the 10 indicators, by chance alone the authors should have found about 13 statistically significant differences; instead, they found 134. Thus, the differences in support for democratic values between ethnic groups within countries are far from just a random phenomenon.
Comparative Democratization
Authors: Bunce Valerie
Published: March 2007

Comparative studies of democratization have produced two types of generalizations: those having nearly universal application and those applying to a range of countries within a region. In the first category are such arguments as the role of high levels of economic development in guaranteeing democratic sustainability, the centrality of political elites in establishing and terminating democracy, and deficits in rule of law and state capacity as the primary challenge to the quality and survival of new democracies. In the second category are contrasts between recent democratization in post-Socialist Europe versus Latin America and southern Europe—for example, in the relationship between democratization and economic reform and in the costs and benefits for democratic consolidation of breaking quickly versus slowly with the authoritarian past. The two sets of conclusions have important methodological implications for how comparativists understand generalizability and the emphasis placed on historical versus proximate causation.
Democracy and Indigenous Rebellion in Latin America
Authors: CLEARY MATTHEW R.
Published: March 2007

This article investigates the structural causes of ethnic rebellion among the indigenous populations of Latin America. It aims to fill three important gaps in the current understanding of ethnic violence. First, the article's geographical focus brings a broad theoretical literature to a region with which it has had little experience. Second, the article acknowledges and incorporates Fearon and Laitin's argument that theories of ethnic violence should also explain instances of peace and cauterization. Third, the article offers evidence suggesting that democracy reduces the probability of rebellion. This and competing hypotheses are evaluated qualitatively with evidence gathered from secondary sources and historiographical accounts and, quantitatively, with Ted Robert Gurr's Minorities at Risk Phase III Dataset. Based on the finding that regime type is a strong predictor of ethnic violence in Latin America, the author calls for a reevaluation of the link between regime type and violent political behavior.
The Invisible Hand of Democracy
Authors: LAKE DAVID A. , BAUM MATTHEW A.
Published: March 2007

Despite considerable normative support, analysts have failed to identify any systematic effects of democracy on domestic policy outputs. Building on a theory of the state as a monopoly producer of public services and establishing a common foundation for studying variations in regimes and their policy consequences, the authors hypothesize that democratic states will earn fewer monopoly rents and produce a higher level of services than autocracies. They test this hypothesis both cross-sectionally and over time for a variety of public health and education indicators. The statistical results strongly support their hypotheses. The authors conclude that democracy has real, substantively important effects on the daily lives and well-being of individuals around the globe.
Secessionist Rebellion in the Former Soviet Union
Authors: LAITIN DAVID D.
Published: March 2007

The level of ethnic violence increased in Eurasia after the Soviet collapse. Two theories are tested to account for this increase. Horowitz's theory emphasizes psychological mechanisms affecting self-esteem. An alternative theory by Fearon and Van Houten, based on Brubaker's “triadic configuration,” and relying on a commitment logic, emphasizes the level of an external homeland's support for a minority population in a nationalizing state. Tests of these theories are performed on new data collected by the author from six post-Soviet republics (Estonia, Latvia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Moldova, and Azerbaijan), only two of which experienced secessionist rebellion. The data do not support the predictions that would follow from Horowitz's theory. The commitment theory, however, is consistent with the data and the historical record.
Causal Inference in Historical Institutional Analysis
Authors: LIEBERMAN EVAN S.
Published: March 2007

Although emerging streams of historical institutional (HI) analysis have generated substantial insights in the field of comparative politics, this scholarship has lacked a self-conscious approach to methodology. This article specifies the comparative historical methods that many HI scholars have implicitly used for estimating the causal effect of political institutions on key policy and other political outcomes. It demonstrates how various periodization strategies are deployed to sort out the influence of a host of hypothesized and rival explanatory factors. In addition to explicating these methods, the article critically examines recent works of HI scholarship, highlighting the analytical leverage generated through studies that might ordinarily seem to suffer from the problem of small samples. More explicit deployment of these methods would both improve the quality of HI analysis and make its findings more transparent for further evaluation and emulation.
The Crisis of German and Japanese Capitalism
Authors: VOGEL STEVEN K.
Published: March 2007

German and Japanese opinion leaders demand a decisive move toward the liberal market model, yet their governments have been slow to act. Why can't Germany and Japan reform? To unravel this puzzle, we must understand how the German and Japanese models of capitalism bind the potential winners from liberal reform, such as competitive manufacturing exporters, to the potential losers, such as workers and protected service industries. Competitive exporters are reluctant to embrace reforms that might undermine valued relationships with workers, financial institutions, and other business partners. Moreover they cannot forge a strong reform coalition because they must work through industry associations and political parties that represent both competitive and protected sectors. As a result, Germany and Japan proceed cautiously with reform; they package delicate compromises, often compensating the potential losers; they design reforms to preserve core institutions; and they seek novel ways to build on the strengths of these models.
Old and New Research Designs for Studying the World-System
Authors: CHASE-DUNN CHRISTOPHER K. , PALLAS AARON M. , KENTOR JEFFREY
Published: March 2007

This research note reviews four previously used research designs for testing propositions about the processes of the world-system. It points out the utility of models which incorporate more than one unit of analysis (multilevel models) and examines the advantages and pitfalls of two research designs for testing such multilevel models.
Political Repression and Economic Doctrines
Authors: PION-BERLIN DAVID
Published: March 2007

Recent studies linking political repression to free-market economic policy have failed to explain fully the relationship. To uncover important theoretical linkages, this article will examine the principles behind policy and argue that increases in governments' use of force are principally a function of: (1) shifts in economic stabilization doctrines from structuralist to orthodox, which are prompted by severe economic crises, and (2) strengthened alliances between ruling elites and international financial institutions partial to orthodox deflationary strategies. Multiple regression analysis on time-series data from Argentina over a 23-year period provides a strong statistical confirmation for these suppositions, even when holding constant for particular regime types. A historical narrative has been provided to buttress these results by establishing the precise timing and sequence of events that precipitated the use of coercion by state leaders.
The Conjoncture of Ideas and Interests
Authors: WILSFORD DAVID
Published: March 2007

This essay argues that Tocqueville's explanation of the French Revolution, the disjuncture between social and political institutions and social realities, lacks an intervening variable providing the connection between disjuncture and revolution. Drawing on Bendix's (1978) argument that ideas have an impact on social and political action and on Weber's exploration of how these ides are linked to the expression of interests, I propose the spread and impact of ideas as this intervening variable. Critiquing Moore's (1966), Anderson's (1974), and Skocpol's (1979) explanations of the French Revolution—all grounded in material conditions— I argue that interests and ideas must both be present before revolution or other political action occurs. If correct, the argument suggests the importance of ideas in the study of revolution and, more broadly, all social and political movement and change.
Tactical Advantages Versus Administrative Heter Ogeneity:
Authors: WILSFORD DAVID
Published: March 2007

The argument examines two contrasting views of state authority in France and reopens the question of “strong” versus “weak” states. To do so, it explores the traditional Rousseauian view of the strong state and contrasts it to an opposing view that emphasizes administrative heterogeneity even in so-called strong states. The argument applies these views to the French state and develops a reconciliation of them. I argue that it is useful to conceive of state authority and structures in terms of “tactical advantages” that states may or may not have at their disposal in relations with civil society. State traditions structure over time the tactical advantages states may have. Strong state structures and the tactical advantages these give to the state enable it to shape politics by employing more effectively policy instruments to induce and constrain political behavior and policy outcomes. The state's tactical advantages influence what interest groups do politically and their effectiveness. Thus the French state possesses tactical advantages that enable it to structure the role interest groups play. The “weaker” American state, by contrast, does not possess tactical advantages that give it a comparable capacity to dictate inducements and enforce constraints on politics. But there are also important limits to the French state's strength. One of the most important of these is the French state's vulnerability to direct action, or exit from normal politics.
The Structural Constraints of the World-Economy on National Political Development
Authors: GONICK LEV S. , ROSH ROBERT M.
Published: March 2007

This study asserts that there are no unilinear patterns of political or economic development common to the states of the world. We seek to illustrate, using a pooled time-series analysis, that there are at least three distinct paths of politico-economic development. These paths correspond to the successive, asymmetric integration of different clusters of states into the World-Economy. Along each trajectory of development we find that the constellation of internal political and economic relationships is defended by employing an ideology of political or economic democracy.
Political Centralization and State Interests in Britain
Authors: KING DESMOND S.
Published: March 2007

This article addresses contemporary state theory by examining the role of state interests and the constraints upon state autonomy in recent central-metropolitan relations in Britain. The abolition of the Greater London Council and six Metropolitan County Councils in Britain in 1986 is analyzed by reference to liberal, Marxist, and statist propositions about state autonomy and state interests. Three versions of the statist perspective are delineated, and it is argued that an understanding of central state interests is necessary for a complete account of the 1986 abolition.
The Anatomy of the Directive Capacity of the Socialist State
Authors: KAMINSKI BARTLOMIEJ
Published: March 2007

This article discusses the problem of the directive capacity of the socialist state, defined as the ability to identify opportunities available within both the domestic and international political economy and to develop and implement policies. The focus is not on how the directive capacity of the socialist state is actually used by the elites but on the identification of basic mechanisms shaping it. The following questions are addressed: What is the relationship between politics and economics in state socialism, and how does it determine directive capacity? What are the underlying structures that shape the socialist state/economy interaction? What mechanisms have developed within the framework of state socialism that compensate for lack of pressures toward higher efficiency? What are the system's limitations and what strategies are available to increase the directive capacity?
Global News Flows
Authors: MEYER WILLIAM H.
Published: March 2007

This article seeks to test certain hypotheses drawn from structural communications theory, hypotheses that tend to support the call for a New World Information Order (NWIO). Structural theorists such as Johan Galtung and NWIO advocates from the Third World have charged that developing nations are dependent upon the West for international news. News dependency, in turn, is said to lead to the adoption of Western news values and subsequent cultural imperialism in the South. Finally, news dependency is said to be neocolonial in the sense that information flows through “vertical” channels (from North to South) and within distinct spheres of communication hegemony. These claims are tested with a news flow study drawn from African and Latin American dailies. Results of the empirical tests show that the Third World is dependent on Western agencies for the bulk of its international news, and that Third World newspapers reflect the news values of Western prestige dailies. Nonaligned newswires, however, are shown to be more resistant to journalistic westernization, as their coverage is markedly different from that of the Western wire services. Finally, news flow patterns do exhibit a pronounced neoimperial character. Agencies from the United States, Great Britain, and France each hold sway over their own regional domains within the Third World.
Entering International Society
Authors: DIEHL PAUL F. , GOERTZ GARY
Published: March 2007

This article seeks to predict and explain when the process of national independence is accompanied by military conflict. In order to account for military conflict in 121 cases of national independence from 1816-1980, a LISREL model (with multiple indicators) with the following variables is employed: (a) the intrinsic importance of the territory gaining independence, (b) the specific importance of the territory to the former sovereign, (c) the relative power decline of the former sovereign, and (d) international norms at the time of the independence. All variables but the first are statistically significant, and the model accounts for half of the variation in the incidence of military conflict. The international norms variable was found to be the strongest predictor of military conflict. Implications for theory and policy are discussed.