bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Women as a Force in Electoral Politics
Authors: Burns Nancy , Jardina Ashley , Yadon Nicole
Published: May 2017

This chapter examines the study of gender and electoral behavior. Early gender scholars took on the challenge of countering the literature’s portrait of women’s passivity and minority status. They provided analyses and data that could speak to the possibility that women were in fact participating, clear-eyed, and political. We begin with an overview of this early work, and outline the trajectory of research on gender and electoral politics through the present day, where women are now seen as a political force in American politics. Scholars have built on these groundbreaking efforts, re-centering attention more squarely on both women and men, gaining access to data they themselves shaped, and drawing on theoretical tools with a wider array of observable implications to shift understandings of sameness, difference, and the processes that give rise to these outcomes.
Push, Pull, and Fusion
Authors: Einwohner Rachel L. , Leamaster Reid J. , Pratt Benjamin
Published: May 2017

Women’s activism has focused not only on state institutions, such as the military, electoral politics, and education, but also on religious institutions. At the same time, participation in organized religion has helped women develop organizational and leadership skills that they can then draw on for their activism, both in movements directed toward religious institutions and in other, non-religious movements. Further, religion provides cultural frames that can be used in making sense of activism and in recruiting others for various causes. This chapter presents an overview of research on women’s activism and religious institutions, with a focus on U.S. activism. It discusses research on the ways in which participation in religious institutions provides resources for women’s activism, including organizational skills and resonant framings. Finally, it notes how women’s activism may exist in tension with religious institutions and identities, but that these tensions may be addressed by what the authors call “fusion.”
Women’s Activism in the Modern Movement for Black Liberation
Authors: Upton Aisha A. , Bell Joyce M.
Published: May 2017

This chapter examines women’s activism in the modern movement for Black liberation. It examines women’s roles across three phases of mobilization. Starting with an exploration of women’s participation in the direct action phase of the U.S. civil rights movement (1954–1966), the chapter discusses the key roles that women played in the fight for legal equality for African Americans. Next it examines women’s central role in the Black Power movement of 1966–1974. The authors argue that Black women found new roles in new struggles during this period. The chapter ends with a look at the rise of radical Black feminism between 1974 and 1980, examining the codification of intersectional politics and discussing the continuation of issues of race, privilege, and diversity in contemporary feminism.
Latinas in U.S. Social Movements
Authors: Pardo Mary
Published: May 2017

Latinas, members of the largest ethnic/racial group in the United States, often have been omitted from social movement accounts or dismissed as politically passive, hindered by traditional cultural values. Like other women of color, Latinas have faced sexism and racism and class bias in social science accounts and social movements (civil rights, labor rights, and women’s rights). This chapter begins by problematizing the pan-ethnic label “Latina,” drawing from conceptual frameworks, including Anzaldúa’s “borderlands,” Crenshaw’s “intersectionality,” social movement theories of identity, and decolonial feminist theory. It provides a brief historical overview of Latinas in U.S. social movements to illustrate the significance of conquest and colonization as the critical context for generating Latina activism. The chapter concludes with a closer look at two social movements, environmental rights and immigrant rights, where Latinas were prominent participants who utilized ethnic, class, and gender identities as movement strategies to make claims and to mobilize constituents.
American Women’s Environmental Activism
Authors: Stover Kayla , Cable Sherry
Published: May 2017

Women have played instrumental, often leading, roles in the twentieth-century environmental movement. The sparse literature on women’s activism in the early twentieth century indicates that both White and Black women in the racially segregated, middle-class women’s club movement pursued urban reforms. But White women additionally adopted conservationism, while Black women led the struggle for racial justice. The more robust literature focuses on women’s participation in the environmental movement originating in the 1960s. Marked by class, gender, and racial divisions, the movement consists of three sectors. Whites and men far outnumber Blacks and women in the middle-class professional and radical movement segments that center on conservationism. In contrast, White and Black women dominate leadership and membership in community, anti-contamination organizations representing the working-class environmental justice movement. Research findings identify three themes: women’s motivations for becoming activists, their experiences of participating as activists, and the individual impacts of being activists.
Women’s Activism in U.S. Labor Unions
Authors: Fonow Mary Margaret , Franzway Suzanne
Published: May 2017

This chapter reviews the history and practices of women’s mobilization, within and through the trade union movement, aimed at the reconfiguration of structures and relations of power to achieve economic justice and labor rights for women. While there is a long history of women’s activism in the labor movement, the chapter focuses on the post–World War II period to the present in order to capture the impact of structural changes in the global economy on women’s work and labor activism. Women, the LGBT community, immigrants, and men of color are at the forefront of the activism that is revitalizing the U.S. labor movement. Activists are working to expand the scope of labor issues beyond the workplace by borrowing discourses from other social movements, developing new mobilizing networks, organizing strategies and repertories of action, and forging coalitions and alliances across movements and even across national boundaries.
Intersectionality
Authors: Roth Benita
Published: May 2017

Intersectionality has become the dominant form of feminist social science analysis. This chapter first examines the origins of intersectional analysis—which conceives of gender, race, class, and sexuality interacting forms of oppression—in the work of U.S. feminist academics in the 1980s, following the lead of feminists activists of color in the 1960s and 1970s who conceptualized their struggles in complex terms. The next section traces how intersectionality has widened into “intersectionality studies,” as the concept has traveled and definitions of intersectionality have proliferated. The author concludes that, despite its possible limitations, an intersectional sensibility is useful for those engaged in movement studies, because it helps scholars to conceptualize the relationships between voluntary action on the part of movement participants and social structures they inhabit/encounter, and because intersectionality’s view of oppositional communities as coalitions dovetails well with work that seeks to examine how movements are formed and operate as coalitions.
Contemporary Feminism and Beyond
Authors: Reger Jo
Published: May 2017

Feminism in the United States has been declared dead or in serious decline repeatedly throughout its history. This chapter examines contemporary, or “third wave,” feminism and examines whether or not it is in a state of decline, the identities embraced by contemporary feminists, and the coexistence of different feminist generations. It investigates contemporary issues of racial-ethnic identity, sexual orientation, and transgender inclusion and exclusion in the movement. By juxtaposing the tactics, strategies, and tools of previous feminist generations with the goals and concerns of contemporary activists, this chapter provides a corrective to those who announce the death of feminism, while detailing the issues that continue to plague feminist organizations and activism.
Mobilizing the Faithful
Authors: Rohlinger Deana A.
Published: May 2017

In this chapter, we examine how conservative and right-wing organizations mobilize predominately White, religious women to action. We begin by outlining the importance of networks to mobilization efforts. Then, we discuss how conservative and right-wing women’s groups use religious doctrine as well as gendered assumptions regarding women’s and men’s roles in society to move women from their armchairs to the streets. The second half of the chapter explores the role that celebrity leaders play in attracting new members and highlights the importance of mass media to right-wing and conservative women’s mobilization efforts. Throughout the chapter we discuss the potential barriers that conservative and right-wing organizations face as younger activists with less conservative views and more diverse backgrounds become politically involved. We conclude the chapter by outlining avenues for further research, particularly as it relates to conservative mobilizations targeting women of color.
The Historical Roots of a Global Feminist Perspective and the Growing Global Focus among U.S. Feminists
Authors: Rademacher Heidi E. , Fallon Kathleen M.
Published: May 2017

This chapter examines the emergence and existence of a global feminist perspective within the United States. The authors argue that the foundation of the relationship between U.S. feminists and global understandings is rooted in women’s international organizing and activism. Examining U.S. feminists’ involvement in international women’s movements from the end of the nineteenth century until post Beijing 95 (the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, China), the chapter explores the influence of activism on the evolution of feminist thinking in the United States. The authors conclude by discussing the opportunities, obstacles, and challenges of women’s movements, global feminism, and contemporary feminist scholarship, as it currently affects women and girls within the United States and across the globe.
Systems Contexts for Designing Culturally Adapted Prevention Interventions
Authors: González Castro Felipe , Bautista Tara G. , Hombrados Mendieta Maria Isabel , Oviedo Ramirez Sandra , Heydarian Nazanin M. , Hughes Allyson S.
Published: May 2017

In the field of prevention science, evidence-based interventions (EBIs) are validated intervention programs “that work” in preventing targeted social or health problems. This chapter reviews fundamental aspects of EBIs and their mechanisms of effect. It offers considerations and steps for conducting culturally relevant modifications of an original EBI. Such modifications can incorporate one or more cultural factors for making the adapted EBI more culturally relevant. The chapter uses a general systems perspective to examine multilevel influences on the well-being of Hispanic and other international migrant populations. These influences include the process of acculturation, cultural stress, changing family dynamics, and challenging social conditions. Each of several factors can be considered in the design and development of an adapted EBI that exhibits both cultural fit and scientifically based effectiveness. A summary of key issues, future direction, and emerging principles and guidelines for cultural adaptation is also presented.
Latent Networks and Spatial Networks in Politics
Authors: Dorff Cassy , Minhas Shahryar , Ward Michael D.
Published: May 2017

Network analysis is a growing field in political science, with topics ranging from the study of individual actors in congressional networks to international war between countries. This chapter briefly summarizes the history of network analysis, the barriers facing previous approaches, and current innovations, with an emphasis on latent variable approaches. These approaches provide an organic link to the consideration of spatial networks, also discussed in detail. These innovations expand researchers’ ability to capture the many different facets of network-motivated questions, including how networks evolve or how spatial proximity determines network ties. The chapter concludes with a brief comparison of two major types of latent variable models and their relation to other network approaches commonly used in political science.
Biological and Psychological Influences on Interpersonal and Political Trust
Authors: Cawvey Matthew , Hayes Matthew , Canache Damarys , Mondak Jeffery J.
Published: May 2017

Levels of interpersonal and political trust undoubtedly ebb and flow in response to external stimuli. Despite the variability in one’s environment, there is good reason to believe that interpersonal and political trust also originate from individual characteristics. In this chapter, we focus on the impact of biology and personality on trust. Biological factors and personality traits constitute relatively stable individual differences that influence perceptions, evaluations, and orientations toward the social and political world. Research on trust has examined both of these influences, and we review this literature below. The first section considers the role of biology in shaping trust, and the second examines trust as a dimension of personality and as an individual orientation that can be shaped by personality. We then present a brief statistical analysis of the impact of personality traits on interpersonal and political trust. The last section summarizes the discussion and suggests avenues for future research.
Foundations of Political Trust
Authors: Listhaug Ola , Jakobsen Tor Georg
Published: May 2017

Research on political trust has been through a period of strong growth and now constitutes an important field within political behavior. The research growth is driven at least partly by access to new sources of data, which are relevant for testing many of the explanations of political trust discussed in the research literature. Research has moved in several directions. Overall, we observe that research on political trust is strongly integrated into mainstream research on political behavior with an emphasis of attitudes and other political psychology constructs. Complementing the micro-level approach, there is also a movement toward macro-level studies, with strong links to institutions. The institutional approach is primarily linked to electoral institutions and serves to test main hypotheses about differences between electoral systems.
Trust and Corruption
Authors: You Jong-sung
Published: May 2017

Trust and trustworthiness reinforce each other, while perceptions of fairness are closely linked to trust. Corruption in the form of untrustworthy behavior, a betrayal of entrusted power, and a breach of interactional or formal justice negatively affects people’s perceptions of fairness and generalized trust. Corruption can be understood as a collective action problem, and social trust can help solve such collective action problems. Empirical studies have found considerable evidence for the reciprocal causal relationship between social trust and corruption. On the one hand, there seems to be a vicious circle of low trust, high corruption, and high inequality, thus creating an inequality trap. On the other hand, there is a virtuous circle of high trust, low corruption, and low inequality, resulting in multiple equilibria. This relationship appears to be very strong in democracies, but not in authoritarian countries.
Trust and Minority Groups
Authors: Wilkes Rima , Wu Cary
Published: May 2017

In this chapter we consider the patterns of social and political trust on the basis of ethnoracial identification. Concerning social trust, the vast majority of individuals in ethnoracial minority groups trust less than majority group members. Although a large body of research attributes this to institutional rather than cultural effects, in practice these are very difficult to disentangle. However, in matters of political trust, the findings are more mixed. Whereas black Americans generally have lower political trust, other groups such as immigrants tend to have higher political trust. In the case of black Americans, political trust appears to be low in part because is more diffuse in nature and because of demographic underrepresentation.
Neurobiology of Reproduction in Molluscs
Authors: Di Cristo Carlo , Koene Joris M.
Published: May 2017

Ultimately, the outcome of successful reproduction—fertilization of eggs and production of surviving offspring—is relevant for how these processes evolve. However, a thorough understanding of the underlying, proximate mechanism is essential for interpreting evolutionary outcomes properly. Comparing neuroendocrine processes across different species, with different sexual systems, is one way of uncovering similarities and differences in regulation of their reproductive processes. Here, we provide an overview of the neuroendocrine control of reproductive processes in molluscs. In doing so, we also illustrate that it is relevant to consider the sexual system when addressing the neurobiology of reproduction. For example, our overview indicates that hermaphroditic molluscs seem to regulate their male and female reproduction via largely nonoverlapping neurobiological wiring and neuroendocrine substances, whereas this is not necessarily the case for separate-sexed molluscs. Clearly, this has implications for the available degrees of freedom within sexual systems in terms of evolutionary pathways.
The Classification of Eating Disorders
Authors: Gordon Kathryn H. , Holm-Denoma Jill M. , Douglas Valerie J. , Crosby Ross , Wonderlich Stephen A.
Published: May 2017

The purpose of this chapter is to elucidate the key issues regarding the classification of eating disorders. To this end, a review of nosological research in the area of eating disorders is presented, with a particular focus on empirically based techniques such as taxometric analysis, latent class analysis, and factor mixture modeling. This is followed by a section outlining areas of overlap between the current Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders–Fifth Edition (DSM-5) eating disorder categories and their symptoms. Next, eating disorder classification models that are alternatives to the DSM-5 are described and critically examined in light of available empirical data. Finally, areas of controversy and considerations for change in next version of the DSM (i.e., the applicability of DSM criteria to minority groups, children, and males; the question of whether clinical categories should be differentiated from research categories) are discussed.
Mobile Device Applications for the Assessment and Treatment of Eating Disorders
Authors: Darcy Alison , Sadeh-Sharvit Shiri
Published: May 2017

Mobile devices and applications (apps) are increasingly used in clinical practice, offering reconceptualization of and novel avenues to tracking symptoms and delivery of more personalized interventions. This chapter reviews the burgeoning approaches to the integration of mobile in screening and treating individuals with eating disorders. Promising methods of data collection such as ecological momentary assessments enhance the capabilities of detecting symptoms and recognizing patterns—both are fundamental to the screening, evaluation, and monitoring of eating disorders and lay the foundations for better treatment design. More recent advances in machine learning allow ecological momentary interventions to be delivered and continuously optimized at the individual level in real time. This chapter explores what this means for the future of personalized treatment for eating disorders, referring to apps that integrate these mechanisms. Finally, the chapter provides a framework for evaluating mobile device mental health apps in clinical care.
Copyright
Authors: Ginsburg Jane
Published: May 2017

This chapter offers an overview of copyright in general in common law and civil law countries, with an emphasis on the United States (US) and the European Union (EU). It addresses the history and philosophies of copyright (authors’ right), subject matter of copyright (including the requirement of fixation and the exclusion of “ideas”), formalities, initial ownership and transfers of title, duration, exclusive moral and economic rights (including reproduction, adaptation, public performance and communication and making available to the public, distribution and exhaustion of the distribution right), exceptions and limitations (including fair use), and remedies. It also covers the liability of intermediaries, and new copyright obligations concerning technological protections and copyright management information. It concludes with some observations concerning the role of copyright in promoting creativity and free expression.
Rights in Data and Information
Authors: Beverley-Smith Huw
Published: May 2017

This Chapter examines intellectual property rights in data and information in the European Union and major common law systems. It outlines the principal forms of legal protection or compilations of data and analyzes the competing doctrinal and economic bases for rights in information. The practical legal, economic, and theoretical issues in granting property rights to collections of factual data in major legal systems are examined in the context of European harmonization efforts. The chapter further examines the protection of data and information under the laws of confidentiality and trade secrets, and informational privacy under the common law and statutory data protection laws. Finally, the chapter outlines the scope of data exclusivity rights in respect of pharmaceuticals and the challenges in accommodating the conflicting interests of market participants in data driven economies.
Conclusion
Authors: Carter Gregory L. , Fisher Maryanne L.
Published: May 2017

This handbook has presented a wide range of theoretical perspectives on the motivations, attitudes, and behaviors involved in female competition. Using a metatheoretical framework, the contributors have examined how, when, and why women compete. This conclusion articulates the book’s main themes, beginning with evidence regarding women as active, competitive individuals and the value of mating information, addressing topics such as women’s competitive choices regarding mate copying, mate poaching, and mate retention. It then considers the role of intrasexual aggression in adolescence in relation to dating and reproduction, the importance of Operational Sex Ratio (OSR) to female competition, the concept of cooperative mothering or allomothering, and infanticide. It also discusses women as competitors in both traditional and novel social arenas as well as the role of women’s physiology in their competitive behaviors. Finally, it suggests directions for future research on topics that warrant further scrutiny.
Positive Psychology for Children and Adolescents
Authors: Allen Jason Van , Kirschman Keri J. Brown , Seegan Paige L. , Johnson Rebecca J.
Published: May 2017

The goal of this chapter is to provide an updated review of positive psychology as it relates to child and adolescent development. Rather than focusing on psychopathology and negative outcomes, positive psychology examines the strengths and positive assets of individuals across developmental stages. Researchers have noted the importance of identifying individual strengths versus deficits, which has led to an increase in research examining positive psychology concepts. Although there has been an increase, the relative dearth of positive psychology studies in youth compared to adults suggests additional research is warranted. This chapter examines positive psychology constructs (i.e., hope, optimism, quality of life, and benefit finding/post-traumatic growth) and outlines how these concepts relate to children and adolescents. In addition to providing a general overview, this chapter highlights developmental considerations, measurement and future research directions, prevention and promotion, and settings for the delivery of positive psychology to children and adolescents.
Goal-Directed Actions
Authors: Hommel Bernhard
Published: May 2017

Personal causation relies on translating goals into goal-directed behavior. This chapter addresses how humans generate a goal-directed behavior, that is, how they initiate and control intentional, goal-directed actions. In particular, it discusses how anticipated action effects are integrated with motor patterns, so to guide future effect-driven actions, and how action intentions struggle with overlearned habits. It argues that intentional and conscious processes typically precede, rather than accompany, intentional actions, and that the experience of personal agency and the identification of action errors are based on a comparison between expected and actual action effects. A final outlook addresses the implications of increasing insight into cognitive embodiment and of increasing interdisciplinarity for the study of human action control and personal causation.
Inferring Causal Relations by Analogy
Authors: Holyoak Keith J. , Lee Hee Seung
Published: May 2017

When two situations share a common pattern of relationships among their constituent elements, people often draw an analogy between a familiar source analog and a novel target analog. This chapter reviews major subprocesses of analogical reasoning and discusses how analogical inference is guided by causal relations. Psychological evidence suggests that analogical inference often involves constructing and then running a causal model. It also provides some examples of analogies and models that have been used as tools in science education to foster understanding of critical causal relations. A Bayesian theory of causal inference by analogy illuminates how causal knowledge, represented as causal models, can be integrated with analogical reasoning to yield inductive inferences.
Intuitive Theories
Authors: Gerstenberg Tobias , Tenenbaum Joshua B.
Published: May 2017

This chapter first explains what intuitive theories are, how they can be modeled as probabilistic, generative programs, and how intuitive theories support various cognitive functions such as prediction, counterfactual reasoning, and explanation. It focuses on two domains of knowledge: people’s intuitive understanding of physics, and their intuitive understanding of psychology. It shows how causal judgments can be modeled as counterfactual contrasts operating over an intuitive theory of physics, and how explanations of an agent’s behavior are grounded in a rational planning model that is inverted to infer the agent’s beliefs, desires, and abilities. It concludes by highlighting some of the challenges that the intuitive theories framework faces, such as understanding how intuitive theories are learned and developed.
Space, Time, and Causality
Authors: Buehner Marc J.
Published: May 2017

This chapter explores how the understanding of causality relates to the understanding of space and time. Traditionally, spatiotemporal contiguity is regarded as a cue toward causality. While concurring with this view, this chapter also reviews some boundary conditions of this approach. Moreover, temporal information goes beyond merely helping to identify causal relations; it also shapes the types of causal inferences that reasoners draw. Recent developments further show that the relation between time and causality is bi-directional: not only does temporal information shape and guide causal inferences, but once one holds a causal belief, one’s perception of time and space is distorted such that cause and effect appear closer in space-time. Spatiotemporal contiguity thus supports causal beliefs, which in turn foster impressions of contiguity.
Causation in Legal and Moral Reasoning
Authors: Lagnado David A. , Gerstenberg Tobias
Published: May 2017

Causation looms large in legal and moral reasoning. People construct causal models of the social and physical world to understand what has happened, how and why, and to allocate responsibility and blame. This chapter explores people’s common-sense notion of causation, and shows how it underpins moral and legal judgments. As a guiding framework it uses the causal model framework (Pearl, 2000) rooted in structural models and counterfactuals, and shows how it can resolve many of the problems that beset standard but-for analyses. It argues that legal concepts of causation are closely related to everyday causal reasoning, and both are tailored to the practical concerns of responsibility attribution. Causal models are also critical when people evaluate evidence, both in terms of the stories they tell to make sense of evidence, and the methods they use to assess its credibility and reliability.
Causal Models and Conditional Reasoning
Authors: Oaksford Mike , Chater Nick
Published: May 2017

There are deep intuitions that the meaning of conditional statements relate to probabilistic law-like dependencies. In this chapter it is argued that these intuitions can be captured by representing conditionals in causal Bayes nets (CBNs) and that this conjecture is theoretically productive. This proposal is borne out in a variety of results. First, causal considerations can provide a unified account of abstract and causal conditional reasoning. Second, a recent model (Fernbach & Erb, 2013) can be extended to the explicit causal conditional reasoning paradigm (Byrne, 1989), making some novel predictions on the way. Third, when embedded in the broader cognitive system involved in reasoning, causal model theory can provide a novel explanation for apparent violations of the Markov condition in causal conditional reasoning (Ali et al, 2011). Alternative explanations are also considered (see, Rehder, 2014a) with respect to this evidence. While further work is required, the chapter concludes that the conjecture that conditional reasoning is underpinned by representations and processes similar to CBNs is indeed a productive line of research.
Later Historical Archaeologies of the North Atlantic
Authors: Lucas Gavin
Published: May 2017

This chapter examines the North Atlantic as a historical entity or domain, tracing specific themes from c. 1500 to the present day. Defined broadly by the area between western Norway and the eastern coast of Canada, it addresses a series of interlocking themes from the local to the regional. From a European or North American perspective, the area is typically regarded as marginal; yet it is precisely its liminal status that forces us to consider it on its own terms. Themes such as subsistence activities from farming to whaling are addressed alongside issues of trade, consumption, and modernity. Case studies draw on such themes in relation to groups such as the Inuit and Icelanders, alongside more general explanatory frameworks such as environmental history and capitalism. The chapter aims to introduce the breadth of work conducted in the region and key research issues, and to present some of its unique aspects.
The Matter of Sectarianism
Authors: Weiss Max
Published: May 2017

This chapter provides an introduction to the problem of sectarianism in the modern Middle East. Although the focus is on the Eastern Mediterranean from the mid-nineteenth century through the present, scholars of North Africa, southeastern Europe, South Asia, and many other world-historical contexts face similar conceptual challenges in accounting for manifestations of not only sectarian but also ethnic and religious difference. Rather than accepting primordialist conceptions of sectarian phenomena, and without reducing the sectarian to instances of violence, this chapter argues that that there is a dialectical relationship between the matter of sectarianism in the modern Middle East and the scholarly research questions and journalistic lines of inquiry that contribute to its definition and, in many instances, its spread.
The Fragmentation of Gender in Post-Invasion Iraq
Authors: Ali Zahra
Published: May 2017

This chapter explores the evolution of gender and women’s rights struggles in Iraq since the establishment of the Personal Status Code in 1959 and shed light on the ethnosectarian fragmentation of women’s legal rights in post-invasion Iraq. The chapter argues that in order to explore women’s rights and conditions of lives in Iraq it is essential to explore the evolution of women’s rights and gender issues historically and through a complex lens of analysis rather than applying a predefined argument involving an undifferentiated “Islam” or age-old gender-based violence. It seeks to show that gender issues have been entangled with issues of nationhood, religion, and with the nature of the political regime since the very foundation of the Iraqi Republic in 1958. First, the chapter examines the debates and mobilizations around women’s legal rights in Iraq. Secondly, it highlights the development of political, economic, and military violence since the 1980s and its impact on gender norms and relations. Finally, it analyzes the specific context of ethnosectarian fragmentation in which Iraqi women have lived and mobilized since 2003.
Race and the Law in the Genomic Age
Authors: Kar Robin Bradley , Lindo John
Published: May 2017

Despite the ‘Age of Genomics’, many scholars who study race and the law resist biological insights into human psychology and behaviour. Contemporary developments make this resistance increasingly untenable. This chapter synthesizes recent findings in genomics and evolutionary psychology, which suggest cause for concern over how racial concepts function in the law. Firstly, racial perceptions engage a ‘folk-biological’ module of psychology, which generates inferences poorly adapted to genomic facts about human populations. Racial perceptions are, therefore, prone to function in ways more prejudicial than probative of many issues relevant to criminal and civil liability. Secondly, many folk biological inferences function automatically, unconsciously, and without animus or discriminatory intent. Hence, current equal protection doctrine, which requires a finding of discriminatory intent and is a central mechanism for guaranteeing people equal treatment under the law, is poorly suited to that task. These facts support but complicate several claims made by Critical Race Theorists.
Economics of Litigation
Authors: Kobayashi Bruce
Published: May 2017

This chapter examines the basic model of the law and economics of litigation, focusing on private civil litigation, in particular the litigation value of a lawsuit and the incentives for filing a suit. It begins with the one-stage single plaintiff/single defendant investment model of litigation, and describes the conditions for filing, default, settlement, and litigation. It examines the effects of litigation cost- and fee-shifting and the effects of percentage contingency fee arrangements within the standard one-stage model. The model is modified to take into account sequencing and option value. It is shown how litigation with multiple stages and the revelation of information alter the investment value of litigation, and the effects of litigation reform proposals such as fee-shifting. The chapter discusses third party or external effects and how these complications affect the outcome of litigation, the viability of a lawsuit, and the predictions of the standard model of litigation.
The Design of Constitutions
Authors: Ginsburg Tom
Published: May 2017

Constitutions have been a central topic for the economic analysis of law since Buchanan and Tullock (1961) introduced the discipline of constitutional political economy. From the outset economic analysis has been deployed for both positive and normative ends. Their project was normative, but economic analysis provides tools to critique real world constitutions and to analyze their attributes. Optimal design of constitutions in theory is rarely matched in practice, but this is no hindrance to understanding the form, duration, and impact of actual constitutions. This chapter reviews the ends of constitutional design. It offers a positive theory of constitutional bargaining which can be used to inform normative design questions. Whether particular institutions ought to be included in a constitution depends on the extent to which such texts make a difference, which is an empirical question subject to some scrutiny. A review of the empirical literature on constitutional design concludes.
Democratic Rulemaking
Authors: de Figueiredo John M. , Stiglitz Edward H.
Published: May 2017

This chapter examines to what extent agency rulemaking is democratic. It identifies four major theoretical approaches to administrative rulemaking: the unitary executive theory, emphasizing presidential control and accountability; the structure and process school of thought, emphasizing congressional control; the insulation perspective, holding that the public interest and democratic values are often best advanced by limiting political control over administrative agencies; and the deliberative perspective, arguing that rulemaking is the “best hope” for achieving a vision of deliberative democracy. Each theory is evaluated in light of two normative benchmarks: a “democratic” benchmark based on voter preferences, and a “republican” benchmark based on the preferences of elected representatives. It then evaluates how the empirical evidence lines up in light of these two approaches. The chapter concludes with a discussion of avenues for future research.
Guns and Crime
Authors: Braga Anthony A.
Published: May 2017

Thousands of Americans are killed by gunfire each year, and hundreds of thousands more are injured or threatened with guns in robberies and assaults. The burden of gun violence in urban areas is high and concentrated among a small number of criminally active people and occurs in a small number of places within cities. This chapter reviews varied criminal justice interventions to deny criminal access to firearms and reduce criminal possession, carrying, and use of firearms. The research suggests that criminals acquire guns from a variety of sources including illegal diversions from legitimate firearms commerce. While more evaluation evidence is needed, supply-side interventions are promising in reducing criminal access to firearms. The evaluation evidence on the effects of sentencing enhancements on gun crime is mixed. A growing body of research evidence shows that hot spots policing programs and focused deterrence strategies to control repeat gun offenders can reduce gun violence.
Economics of International Law
Authors: Guzman Andrew , Sykes Alan O'Neil
Published: May 2017

This chapter begins with a discussion of the architecture of international law. The economic analysis of international law, like virtually all writing on international law, tends to focus on the state as the key unit. As states pursue their individual goals they will inevitably create externalities that affect other states, creating a gap between what is optimal for an individual state and what is globally efficient. The business of international cooperation and international law can be conceived of as an attempt to close that gap. Central to the international legal system are formally binding agreements among states. States enter into what amounts to contracts in an effort to address externalities created by their actions. The remainder of the chapter deals with economic issues in international law (trade, environment, human rights and humanitarian law, use of force, and investment).
Enforcement of International Law
Authors: Stephan Paul B.
Published: May 2017

This chapter examines the issue of international law enforcement. The absence of an international state means that international law relies principally on complex enforcement mechanisms, as opposed to a single powerful law enforcer. The focus is thus on the design and operation of enforcement mechanisms under conditions of decentralized power and authority. The chapter first considers the distinction between formal and self-enforcement of international law. It reviews debates over the use of both permanent and ad hoc institutional enforcers and the array of enforcement mechanisms that these institutions may use. It then examines informal enforcement and explores the question of whether formal and informal mechanisms are complements or substitutes. Next, it looks at the trade-offs between state and private enforcement of international law. Finally, it considers questions of optimal international law enforcement, including supracompensatory remedies.
International Finance and Sovereign Debt
Authors: Gulati Mitu , Trebesch Christoph , Zettelmeyer Jeromin
Published: May 2017

Sovereign borrowers differ from private borrowers. Among other differences, creditors lack strong legal enforcement rights against sovereigns, and there is also no bankruptcy to ensure a collectively-binding debt adjustment. Because of these differences, the academic literature on sovereign debt tends to downplay the relevance of law and legal techniques. In particular, the literature does not pay much attention to the terms of sovereign loan contracts. The assumption seems to be that contract terms do not matter without strong legal enforcement rights. Yet this assumption is at odds with the evidence from practice. For hundreds of years, sovereign borrowers and their lenders have negotiated detailed loan contracts as if the terms matter. Drafters have also revised loan contracts to account for changes in the political, economic, and legal climate. This chapter explores the role that contracts play in the market for sovereign debt, focusing on clauses found in sovereign bonds.
Optimal Constitutional Structure
Authors: Epstein Richard A.
Published: May 2017

The optimal constitution is classical liberal in form with a commitment to private property and limited government. These principles are not absolutes, and must yield to the need for the public control of force, fraud, and monopoly. This distribution of public and private rights is best understood by comparison to organizations like corporations and planned unit developments. This chapter identifies the mechanisms that corporate organizers and property developers use to attract and keep outside capital, noting the role structural protections and protections for individual rights. It examines how these mechanisms carry over to political institutions along two key axes—one dealing with the difference between unitary and federalist systems, and the other between presidential and parliamentary systems. It concludes that developing any general theory about the structural constitution as regards individual rights depends on the size, shape, and ethnic and regional differences within the polity.
Bounded Rationality, Behavioral Economics, and the Law
Authors: Jolls Christine
Published: May 2017

Behavioural economics has become a leading force in applied economics, including in economic analysis of law. At the heart of behavioural economics is the concept of bounded rationality. Bounded rationality suggests that humans face important limitations in knowledge and decision-making capability. Such limitations have clear importance to both the understanding and the improvement of the legal system. Knowledge limitations present a particularly compelling area for legal analysis. Two case studies of debiasing through law in response to knowledge limitations reveal the potential mechanisms by which law may ease such limitations among boundedly rational actors. In such cases of debiasing through law, empirical evidence plays a pivotal role, as this evidence both identifies the existence of knowledge limitations in the first instance and provides a means by which to assess whether a given legal rule allays such limitations.
Experimental Psychology and the Law
Authors: Wilkinson-Ryan Tess
Published: May 2017

Experimental psychology has become an increasingly reliable and available tool for legal scholars the research of which implicates human behaviour and cognition. This article considers areas of legal scholarship that have used experimental psychology in different ways. These areas include tort law and settlement (e.g. assessing fairness, punishment, and compensation); contracts (e.g. assessing the social, moral, and practical meanings of promissory obligations for ordinary people); dispute resolution, intellectual property, and studies on the differential effects of certain manipulations on different cultural sub-groups. Using these areas as case studies, it is possible to unpack the resonances, implications, and limitations of an experimental psychology approach to legal questions. The article concludes with an example of how experimental psychology has been used to uncover and explain a real-world effect, in this case in the bankruptcy context.
Optimal Redistributional Instruments in Law and Economics
Authors: Sanchirico Chris William
Published: May 2017

This article discusses three strands of the literature on optimal redistributional instruments. The first strand concerns what is sometimes referred to as the ‘tax substitution argument’, which supports the proposition that distributional goals should generally be pursued exclusively through taxes (and subsidies) on labour earnings. The argument rests the controversial assumption that, controlling for labour earnings, all individuals are identical. The second strand, a response to the first, attempts to counter the view that labour earnings exclusivity for redistributional policy is the natural lesson of the economic literature on ‘optimal taxation’. This second subliterature examines the consequences of removing the tax substitution assumption while retaining, arguendo, the optimal tax and policy framework. The third strand of the literature, concerning ‘policy uncertainty’, steps outside the bounds of the conventional model of optimal tax and policy. It first arises as a kind of alternative defence of labour earnings exclusivity in light of the challenge posed by policy eclecticism. Even if the conventional optimal tax and policy model sans tax substitution assumption points toward eclecticism, the defence proceeds, policymakers lack adequate information about the proper direction and scale of distributionally motivated adjustments to other policy instruments. Given the risk of perverse unintended consequences, policymakers should refrain from distributionally motivated tinkering.
Value-Driven Behavior and the Law
Authors: Tyler Tom R.
Published: May 2017

This article discusses an alternative approach to gaining compliance with the law. The approach involves motivating people through appeals to their values. Values reflect people's assessments of what is right or appropriate to do in a given situation; this involves people's feelings of obligation and responsibility to others. There are two arguments for value-based motivation. First, we gain the benefits of a value-based approach, e.g. increasing voluntary cooperation. Second, we avoid the problems associated with instrumental approaches. To gain these advantages we need to move to a system in which value-based motivations are the primary motivation tapped, and instrumental motivations are the backup for a small group that have to be dealt with instrumentally because they are unable or unwilling to act on their values.