bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Which Lessons Matter?: American Foreign Policy Decision Making in the Middle East, 1979–1987. By Christopher R. Hemmer. Albany, NY: SUNY Press, 2000. 217p. $17.95 cloth, $55.50 paper.
Authors: Quandt William B.
Published: April 2008

At least since Ernest May's influential (1973) ‘Lessons’ of the Past, students of American foreign policy have been conscious of the powerful hold that some analogies seem to have on the minds of decision makers. All of us can think of “Munich” and “Vietnam” as shorthand for a whole series of judgments that we rely on to work through the maze of foreign policy calculus. In the aftermath of the World Trade Center attack in September 2001, we heard reference to “Pearl Harbor.” And we can now anticipate that “9-11” will take its place as a marker for a set of lessons concerning the struggle against terrorism.
Madison v. Hamilton: The Battle Over Republicanism and the Role of Public Opinion
Authors: SHEEHAN COLLEEN A.
Published: April 2008

This article examines the causes of the dispute between James Madison and Alexander Hamilton in the early 1790s. Though Hamilton initially believed that Madison's opposition to the Federalist administration was probably motivated by personal animosity and political advantage, in later years he concluded what Madison had long argued: the controversy between Republicans and Federalists stemmed from a difference of principle. For Madison, republicanism meant the recognition of the sovereignty of public opinion and the commitment to participatory politics. Hamilton advocated a more submissive role for the citizenry and a more independent status for the political elite. While Madison did not deny to political leaders and enlightened men a critical place in the formation of public opinion, he fought against Hamilton's thin version of public opinion as “confidence” in government. In 1791–92 Madison took the Republican lead in providing a philosophic defense for a tangible, active, and responsible role for the citizens of republican government.
Regulatory Regimes, Agency Actions, and the Conditional Nature of Congressional Influence
Authors: SHIPAN CHARLES R.
Published: April 2008

Political bureaucracies make the overwhelming majority of public policy decisions in the United States. To examine the extent to which these agency actions are responsive to the preferences of elected officials, in particular, Congress, I develop a spatial model of oversight. The most important insight of this theory is that agencies make policy decisions within givenregimesand may be constrained by the preferences of different political actors at different times. To test the theory, I collect and analyze data on the monitoring activities of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). I find that under certain conditions, the FDA is responsive to the preferences of committees and floors in Congress, but under other conditions the agency can act autonomously.
Bureaucratic Capacity, Delegation, and Political Reform
Authors: HUBER JOHN D. , McCARTY NOLAN
Published: April 2008

We analyze a model of delegation and policymaking in polities where bureaucratic capacity is low. Our analysis suggests that low bureaucratic capacity diminishes incentives for bureaucrats to comply with legislation, making it more difficult for politicians to induce bureaucrats to take actions that politicians desire. Consequently, when bureaucratic capacity is low, standard principles in the theoretical literature on delegation no longer hold. We also use the model to examine the issue of political reform in polities with low bureaucratic capacity. The model indicates that politicians in such polities will be trapped in a situation whereby they have little incentive to undertake reforms of either the bureaucracy or other institutions (such as courts) that are crucial for successful policymaking.
Ambivalence, Information, and Electoral Choice
Authors: BASINGER SCOTT J. , LAVINE HOWARD
Published: April 2008

Conventional wisdom views voter choice in House elections as preordained by party identification, incumbency, and perceptions of national conditions. In an analysis of voter behavior in House elections between 1990 and 2000, we find instead that voters are quite heterogeneous. Voters who hold ambivalent partisan attitudes, who typically constitute 30% of the electorate, reduce their reliance on party identification; this effect is entirely independent of the strength of identification. Individuals holding ambivalent partisan attitudes that both lack political knowledge and are presented with little campaign stimulus are more likely to engage in economic voting. Individuals holding ambivalent partisan attitudes that either are knowledgeable about politics or are presented with stimulating campaigns are more likely to engage in ideological voting. Thus, campaign competition and national partisan competition each play a role in assuring that ordinary voters may participate meaningfully in the political process.
Civic Engagement and Mass–Elite Policy Agenda Agreement in American Communities
Authors: HILL KIM QUAILE , MATSUBAYASHI TETSUYA
Published: April 2008

We test propositions about how different forms of civic engagement are related to democratic representation in American communities. Our data are for the samples of communities, their citizens, and their leaders originally examined by Verba and Nie inParticipation in America(1972). Our analyses of those data indicate that membership in bridging social–capital civic associations is unrelated to democratic responsiveness of leaders to the mass public but that bonding social–capital membership is negatively associated with such responsiveness. We also demonstrate that bonding social–capital civic engagement weakens the democratic linkage processes inherent in elections.
Madison's Opponents and Constitutional Design
Authors: ROBERTSON DAVID BRIAN
Published: April 2008

Understanding what James Madison's opponents sought and won at the U.S. Constitutional Convention revises our understanding of the founders' original intentions for the durable framework that has structured American political development. The Constitution is the by-product of expedient accommodations forced on Madison. Madison sought broad national authority independent of state governments and a swift victory for population-based congressional representation. Delegates from economically disadvantaged states opposed these plans, seeking instead to nationalize only selective public goods, to maintain most state policy autonomy, and to minimize contingencies imposed by other governments. Connecticut's delegates, particularly Roger Sherman, played a pivotal role in spoiling Madison's agenda and altering his substantive plans for Constitutional design. Madison's Convention opponents are responsible for a Constitution that nationalized only enumerated public goods and imposed potentially high transaction costs on any further nationalization of policy authority. They helped make federalism a lasting political weapon used to win substantive policy outcomes.
Do Get-Out-the-Vote Calls Reduce Turnout? The Importance of Statistical Methods for Field Experiments
Authors: IMAI KOSUKE
Published: April 2008

In their landmark study of a field experiment, Gerber and Green (2000) found that get-out-the-vote callsreduceturnout by five percentage points. In this article, I introduce statistical methods that can uncover discrepancies between experimental design and actual implementation. The application of this methodology shows that Gerber and Green's negative finding is caused by inadvertent deviations from their stated experimental protocol. The initial discovery led to revisions of the original data by the authors and retraction of the numerical results in their article. Analysis of their revised data, however, reveals new systematic patterns of implementation errors. Indeed, treatment assignments of the revised data appear to be even less randomized than before their corrections. To adjust for these problems, I employ a more appropriate statistical method and demonstrate that telephone canvassingincreasesturnout by five percentage points. This article demonstrates how statistical methods can find and correct complications of field experiments.
Reforming Reformed Religion: J. S. Mill's Critique of the Enlightenment's Natural Religion
Authors: DEVIGNE ROBERT
Published: April 2008

John Stuart Mill's writings on religion, a neglected topic in the secondary literature, deserve careful examination because they challenge the long-standing view that liberalism opposes conceptions of the best life. Mill himself considers religion responsible for perfecting the individual and a crucial dimension of his moral theory. In his view, developing a conception of the best life will be difficult in England because it requires broaching a sensitive issue that the Anglo-Scottish Enlightenment did not comprehend: namely, that the Enlightenment's reformed Christianity is too great a compromise with traditional or revealed Christianity. If English liberalism is to generate a comprehensive morality for the future, argues Mill, reformed Christianity must be further reformed to create a culture that fosters human flourishing. A comparison of Mill's views of Christianity with those of Kant and Hegel provides a window for viewing their different visions of the morality of the future. The contrast provides further evidence that liberalism, in Mill's view, is not nearly as narrow a moral outlook as many commentators on liberalism, whether admirers or critics, believe.
Ethics and Incentives: A Political Approach
Authors: GRANT RUTH W.
Published: April 2008

Understood within an economic framework as a form of trade, incentives appear inherently ethical; understood as a form of power, incentives seem ethically suspect. Incentives, along with coercion and persuasion, are among the ways in which some people get others to do what they want them to do. This paper analyzes incentives as a form of power in order to develop criteria for distinguishing legitimate from illegitimate uses of them. Whereas an economic approach focuses on voluntariness as the sole criterion in judging incentives, this political approach yields three standards: purpose, voluntariness, and effect on the character of the parties involved. The paper explores issues that arise in applying these standards. Framing the problem of incentives as a problem of power reveals the ethical issues with greater depth and complexity than placing incentives in an economic frame of reference.
“Plata o Plomo?”:Bribe and Punishment in a Theory of Political Influence
Authors: DAL BÓ ERNESTO , DAL BÓ PEDRO , DI TELLA RAFAEL
Published: April 2008

We present a model where groups attempt to influence policies using both bribes (plata, Spanish for silver) and the threat of punishment (plomo, Spanish for lead). We then use it to make predictions about the quality of a country's public officials and to understand the role of institutions granting politicians with immunity from legal prosecution. The use of punishment lowers the returns from public office and reduces the incentives of high-ability citizens to enter public life. Cheaperplomoand more resources subject to official discretion are associated with more frequent corruption and less able politicians. This predicts that violence in a country will typically go together with corruption and worse politicians. Moreover, the possibility of punishment changes the nature of the influence game, so that even cheaperplatacan lower the ability of public officials. Protecting officials from accusations of corruption (immunity) willdecreasethe frequency of corruption if the judiciary is weak and may increase the quality of politicians. These predictions cannot emerge from a traditional model where only bribes are used.
Lobbying as Legislative Subsidy
Authors: HALL RICHARD L. , DEARDORFF ALAN V.
Published: April 2008

Professional lobbyists are among the most experienced, knowledgeable, and strategic actors one can find in the everyday practice of politics. Nonetheless, their behavioral patterns often appear anomalous when viewed in the light of existing theories. We revisit these anomalies in search of an alternative theory. We model lobbying not as exchange (vote buying) or persuasion (informative signaling) but as a form of legislative subsidy—a matching grant of policy information, political intelligence, and legislative labor to the enterprises of strategically selected legislators. The proximate political objective of this strategy is not to change legislators' minds but to assist natural allies in achieving their own, coincident objectives. The theory is simple in form, realistic in its principal assumptions, and counterintuitive in its main implications. Empirically, the model renders otherwise anomalous regularities comprehensible and predictable. In a later section, we briefly bring preferences back in, examining the important but relatively uncommon conditions under which preference-centered lobbying should occur.
The Influence of Oral Arguments on the U.S. Supreme Court
Authors: JOHNSON TIMOTHY R. , WAHLBECK PAUL J. , SPRIGGS JAMES F.
Published: April 2008

We posit that Supreme Court oral arguments provide justices with useful information that influences their final votes on the merits. To examine the role of these proceedings, we ask the following questions: (1) what factors influence the quality of arguments presented to the Court; and, more importantly, (2) does the quality of a lawyer's oral argument affect the justices' final votes on the merits? We answer these questions by utilizing a unique data source—evaluations Justice Blackmun made of the quality of oral arguments presented to the justices. Our analysis shows that Justice Blackmun's grading of attorneys is somewhat influenced by conventional indicators of the credibility of attorneys and are not simply the product of Justice Blackmun's ideological leanings. We thus suggest they can plausibly be seen as measuring the quality of oral argument. We further show that the probability of a justice voting for a litigant increases dramatically if that litigant's lawyer presents better oral arguments than the competing counsel. These results therefore indicate that this element of the Court's decisional process affects final votes on the merits, and it has implications for how other elite decision makers evaluate and use information.
Wage Arrears and Economic Voting in Russia
Authors: RICHTER KASPAR
Published: April 2008

This paper revisits the issue of economic voting in the context of the 1996 Presidential Election in Russia. The election was branded as a fundamental choice between capitalism and communism, yet voters were also grappling with a large crisis of personal finances: about one in two workers experienced nonpayments of wages at the time of the elections. The analysis exploits a rich nationally representative household panel dataset to identify the impact of wage arrears on the second-round election outcome. Wage arrears reduced the vote for the incumbent President Yeltsin among workers from around 65% to 49%, which amounts to a drop of 4% in the Yeltsin vote in the second round. Support for Yeltsin vote declined with the amount of wage arrears at the time of the vote and with wage arrears in 1995. Wage arrears led more voters to believe the government to be noncaring and to favor income restrictions for the rich. Political attitudes of working men changed more than those of working women.
Contain the Wealthy and Patrol the Magistrates: Restoring Elite Accountability to Popular Government
Authors: McCORMICK JOHN P.
Published: April 2008

Modern republics neglect to establish formal institutions that prevent wealthy citizens from exerting excessive political influence and they abandon extra-electoral techniques traditionally employed to keep office-holders accountable. Inspired by Guicciardini's and Machiavelli's reflections on the Roman, Venetian, and Florentine constitutions, this article highlights three forgotten practices that facilitate popular control ofbotheconomic and political elites: magistrate appointment procedures combining lottery and election, offices or assemblies excluding the wealthy from eligibility, and political trials enlisting the entire citizenry in prosecutions and appeals. I present a typology of regimes that evaluates the wealth containment potential of various magistrate selection methods, and propose a hypothetical reform supplying the U.S. Constitution with a “Tribunate” reminiscent of elite-accountability institutions in pre-eighteenth-century popular governments.
Electoral Institutions and the Politics of Coalitions: Why Some Democracies Redistribute More Than Others
Authors: IVERSEN TORBEN , SOSKICE DAVID
Published: April 2008

Standard political economy models of redistribution, notably that of Meltzer and Richard (1981), fail to account for the remarkable variance in government redistribution across democracies. We develop a general model of redistribution that explains why some democratic governments are more prone to redistribute than others. We show that the electoral system plays a key role because it shapes the nature of political parties and the composition of governing coalitions, hence redistribution. Our argument implies (1) that center-left governments dominate under PR systems, whereas center-right governments dominate under majoritarian systems; and (2) that PR systems redistribute more than majoritarian systems. We test our argument on panel data for redistribution, government partisanship, and electoral system in advanced democracies.
Deliberation, Preference Uncertainty, and Voting Rules
Authors: AUSTEN-SMITH DAVID , FEDDERSEN TIMOTHY J.
Published: April 2008

A deliberative committee is a group of at least two individuals who first debate about what alternative to choose prior to these same individuals voting to determine the choice. We argue, first, that uncertainty about individuals' private preferences is necessary for full information sharing and, second, demonstrate in a very general setting that the condition under which unanimity can support full information revelation in debate amounts to it being common knowledge that all committee members invariably share identical preferences over the alternatives. It follows that if ever there exists an equilibrium with fully revealing debate under unanimity rule, there exists an equilibrium with fully revealing debate under any voting rule. Moreover, the converse is not true of majority rule if there is uncertainty about individuals' preferences.
Competing Visions of Parental Roles and Ideological Constraint
Authors: BARKER DAVID C. , TINNICK JAMES D.
Published: April 2008

This paper explores the etiology of ideological constraint in the United States. In an effort to gain understanding of the ideational elements of political socialization, we concentrate on a provocative new theory put forward by cognitive linguist George Lakoff. Lakoff argues that many people reflexively envision proper power relations between citizens and government based on their understanding of proper power relations between children and parents: “nurturant” visions of parental roles engender egalitarian and humanitarian political values, whereas “disciplinarian” visions of proper parenting predict political individualism and traditionalism. Using data obtained from the 2000 National Election Study, we consider the empirical mettle of this account.
Esotericism and the Critique of Historicism
Authors: MELZER ARTHUR M.
Published: April 2008

“The relation of history to reason,” observes Jurgen Habermas, “remains constitutive for the discourse of modernity—for better or worse” (1987, 392). The worse of it is: the modern premise of reason's imbeddedness in history means that unless we can demonstrate—through an increasingly suspect “grand narrative” of “reason in history”—that history is fundamentally rational, we must accept that reason is fundamentally historical and that all our “knowledge” is merely temporary, local, and arbitrary.

To avoid this collapse into historical relativism, we must reassess the crucial premise: reason's historicity. Why is the modern mind so utterly captivated by the idea that every mind is a prisoner of its times? This question receives its most probing treatment in the work of Leo Strauss. His rediscovery of the theory of esotericism—which is the premodern understanding of the relation of reason to history—poses important new challenges to the whole historicist paradigm. It points the way to a “posthistoricist” relegitimation of reason through a return to Socratic rationalism.
A Pivotal Voter from a Pivotal State: Roger Sherman at the Constitutional Convention
Authors: DOUGHERTY KEITH L. , HECKELMAN JAC C.
Published: April 2008

Robertson (2005) and Rakove (1996) argue that Roger Sherman was surprisingly influential at the Constitutional Convention. Using empirically estimated ideal points, we show that Sherman was a pivotal voter from a pivotal state. We also demonstrate that if the votes were tallied by individual delegates, rather than being grouped by the home state, then Sherman would have been less pivotal. This suggests that the voting procedures adopted at the Constitutional Convention may have affected Sherman's ability to get his interests enacted. Such institutions might have been more responsible than his legislative ability for making Sherman effective.
Islamic Foundations for a Social Contract in non-Muslim Liberal Democracies
Authors: MARCH ANDREW F.
Published: April 2008

In this article I take up John Rawls's invitation to investigate the capacity of a given comprehensive ethical doctrine to endorse on principled grounds the liberal terms of social cooperation. In the case of Islamic political ethics, however, far more is at stake in affirming citizenship in a (non-Muslim) liberal democracy than state neutrality and individual autonomy. Islamic legal and political traditions have traditionally held that submission to non-Muslim political authority and bonds of loyalty and solidarity with non-Muslim societies are to be avoided. In this article, I examine the Islamic foundations for affirming on principled grounds residence, political obligation, and loyalty to a non-Muslim state. My research shows not only that such grounds exist even in classical Islamic legal discourses, but also that the concerns of Islamic scholars vindicate political liberalism's claim to successfully accommodate the adherents of certain nonliberal doctrines by refraining from proclaiming controversial metaphysical truthclaims.
Pericles at Gettysburg and Ground Zero: Tragedy, Patriotism, and Public Mourning
Authors: STOW SIMON
Published: April 2008

What does the choice of the Gettysburg Address as a eulogy for the September 11 dead reveal about public mourning in the polity that made it? Tracing the genealogy of the Address back to Pericles' Funeral Oration, this essay argues that Thucydides provides two models of public mourning: one based on the Oration alone, the other on the rituals surrounding the Festival of Dionysia. Each generates a particular patriotic perspective: one unquestioning and partial, the other balanced and theoretical. Using Plato'sMenexenusto distinguish the models, the essay employs them as a lens to view two moments of American public mourning linked by the Gettysburg Address. Suggesting that 1863 saw a Dionysian approach; and 2002, one based on the Oration alone, it traces the beneficial impact of the 1863 choice for American politics, and considers the possible consequences of the 2002 reading in light of American and Athenian historical experience.
What's at Stake in the American Empire Debate
Authors: NEXON DANIEL H. , WRIGHT THOMAS
Published: April 2008

Scholars of world politics enjoy well-developed theories of the consequences of unipolarity or hegemony, but have little to say about what happens when a state's foreign relations take on imperial properties. Empires, we argue, are characterized by rule through intermediaries and the existence of distinctive contractual relations between cores and their peripheries. These features endow them with a distinctive network-structure from those associated with unipolar and hegemonic orders. The existence of imperial relations alters the dynamics of international politics: processes of divide and rule supplant the balance-of-power mechanism; the major axis of relations shift from interstate to those among imperial authorities, local intermediaries, and other peripheral actors; and preeminent powers face special problems of legitimating their bargains across heterogeneous audiences. We conclude with some observations about the American empire debate, including that the United States is, overall, less of an imperial power than it was during the Cold War.
Candidate Quality, the Personal Vote, and the Incumbency Advantage in Congress
Authors: CARSON JAMIE L. , ENGSTROM ERIK J. , ROBERTS JASON M.
Published: April 2008

Most political observers agree that incumbent legislators have a considerable advantage over nonincumbents in modern congressional elections. Yet there is still disagreement over the exact source of this advantage and the explanation for its growth over time. To address this debate we utilize a unique set of historical elections data to test for the presence of an incumbency advantage in late-nineteenth-century House elections (1872–1900). We find a modest direct effect of incumbency and a substantial candidate quality effect. Moreover, the cartel-like control of ballot access by nineteenth century political parties created competition in races that the modern market-like system simply does not sustain. Our results suggest that candidate quality is a fundamental piece of the puzzle in understanding the historical development of the incumbency advantage in American politics.
Life history traits ofAedes caspius(Diptera: Culicidae): a laboratory study of larval stages
Authors: Carron A. , Bichaud L. , Platz N. , Bicout D.J.
Published: April 2008

The larval survival and development times ofAedes caspius(Diptera: Culicidae) were examined in the laboratory. These life history traits were estimated using life tables constructed for two populations, one of which had been subjected to a long-term larvicide control program. Traits were evaluated for eight different population densities. The effects of population, larval stage and larval density were investigated using a general linear model. Density was positively correlated with larval survival but did not affect development time. The fourth instar and pupae had the lowest larval survival rates. First and fourth instar larvae had the longest development times. These traits were not significantly different between the two populations. The effect of larvicide control on these traits is discussed.
Effects of forest-dune ecotone management on the endangered heath grasshopper, Chorthippus vagans (Orthoptera: Acrididae)
Authors: Hochkirch A. , Gärtner A.-C. , Brandt T.
Published: April 2008

Dry, oligotrophic ecosystems are highly threatened in Europe due to massive changes in land use and eutrophication. The conservation of these xeric habitats has received much attention, whereas the ecotones between xeric habitats and other habitat types are often disregarded. One species which mainly inhabits the transition zone between pine forests and adjacent xeric habitats is the heath grasshopper, Chorthippus vagans. This species is endangered in large parts of Europe. One of the largest populations in northern Germany is found on a degraded inland dune near Hanover. This population is threatened by dense growth of deciduous trees and litter accumulation. We analyzed changes in the distribution of this population after the implementation of conservation measures (thinning out the forest and removal of leaf litter). Moreover, we examined dispersal distances of the species in order to assess its colonization potential. We also studied the microhabitat preferences of C. vagans to assess key factors influencing its local distribution. Our data show a substantial growth in population size, which might be a consequence of the conservation measures. New patches on the dune were colonized, promoting dispersal between the subpopulations. We propose that restoration of forest-dune ecotones should be considered more often in landscape planning and conservation management.
Rethinking Retrenchment: North American Social Policy during the
Early Clinton and Chrétien Years
Authors: Bashevkin Sylvia
Published: April 2008

Since the mid–1990s, comparative research on welfare state evolution has
contrasted the contours of postwar social policy expansion with the
parameters of contemporary programme retrenchment. Paul Pierson's 1994
account of pension, housing and income support policies in the United
Kingdom and the United States during the Thatcher and Reagan years
proposed two core arguments with this literature: first, welfare state
expansion and contraction were governed by fundamentally different
dynamics; and second, even conservative, ideologically committed
political executives found it hard to impose radical social policy
changes. Because “the welfare state has proved to be far more resilient
than other key components of national political economies.” Pierson has
maintained, “retrenchment is a distinctive and difficult political
enterprise.”
Globalization, Four Paths of Internationalization and Domestic
Policy Change: The Case of EcoForestry in British Columbia, Canada
Authors: Bernstein Steven , Cashore Benjamin
Published: April 2008

Governments appear increasingly constrained in their ability to make
independent policy choices in an era of global economic finance and
communication. As a result, scholars are more closely examining how
actors, institutions and economic forces that extend beyond state
borders can influence domestic public policies and politics. This
scholarship on “globalization” and “transnational
relations” serves as a corrective to a comparative public policy literature that has tended to
treat external pressures as either exogenous shocks, or as simply other
interests to which the state must respond.
Persuasion, Domination and Exchange: Adam Smith on the Political
Consequences of Markets
Authors: Lewis Thomas J.
Published: April 2008

Adam Smith argued that division of labour was the basis of wealth: the
greater the division of labour the greater the wealth. He also held that
the extent of the division of labour was determined by the opportunity
to exchange, or by the size of the market. Although Smith understood
market exchange to be constrained by distance and natural impediments,
he insisted that public policy should not add additional artificial
obstacles to market exchange. Thus, in general, he argued that
governments should be committed to “free trade.”
A Simple Difference of Opinion? Religious Beliefs and Gender Gaps in Public Opinion in Canada
Authors: O'Neill Brenda
Published: April 2008

This article criticizes two aspects of the current research on Canadian gender gaps: first, the focus on issues in which women reveal more liberal attitudes than men at the expense of other issues; second, the implicit and unstated assumption that when women and men think alike on an issue, it is for very similar reasons. Examining data from the 1993 Canadian Election Study, the author argues that religious beliefs must be accorded a greater role in determining gender gaps, a conclusion drawn from extending analysis to a broader set of issues. In addition, the evidence suggests that even on questions on which women and men appear to agree, their reasons for holding these similar opinions sometimes differ.
Justifying the End of Official Bilingualism: Canada's North-West Assembly and the Dual-Language Question, 1889-1892
Authors: Aunger Edmund A.
Published: April 2008

During a three-year period beginning in 1889, Canada struggled through a bitter identity crisis as militant English-Canadian nationalists rallied support for their vision of a homogeneous English-speaking country. In the eye of this storm was a NorthWest Legislative Assembly determined to abolish official bilingualism and assimilate its French-speaking minority. This article examines the origins of the North-West's ''dual language question'' and critically evaluates justifications given for the suppression of the French language. In their debates, the North-West legislators grappled with enduring issues of national unity, economic efficiency, majoritarian democracy and political legitimacy.
Presidential Veto Power in Post-Communist Russia, 1994-1998
Authors: Chandler Andrea
Published: April 2008

This article examines the use of presidential veto power in Russia from 1994 to 1998. Russia's 1993 constitution enables the president to veto legislation, but allows the bicameral Federal Assembly to overturn vetoes with a two-thirds majority. President Boris Yeltsin was a controversial figure in Russia's difficult post-communist transition, and although he had considerable executive powers, his power to veto legislation has rarely been examined as an independent variable which shapes Russian politics. This article looks at patterns of presidential vetoing in Russia within their comparative and historical context, and argues that unpredictable vetoing has become a substantial issue that has aggravated executive-legislative relations. Increasingly, the parliamentary opposition challenged presidential vetoes, with profound implications for the future constitutional order in Russia.
Beyond Liberalism: The Moral Community of Rousseau's Social Contract
Authors: Froese Katrin
Published: April 2008

This article argues that Rousseau's Social Contract both upholds and transcends liberal concepts of political right. Rather than maintaining a distinction between public right and public good, Rousseau tries to collapse the division between the two in order to effect a transition from a bourgeois society to a moral community. In his view, individuals are best protected from each other by participating in the formation of a community of equals. Rousseau's conception of morality is not based on absolutes, but is a process whereby individuals consciously integrate themselves into the community. This presupposes a desire to belong on the part of individuals, and recognizes their propensity to distance themselves from the social order. Rather than trying to eradicate the tension between individuality and integration, Rousseau affirms that the effort to reconcile this tension is the foundation of morality.
Représentations sociales des droits de l'homme et des droits des peuples autochtones chez des membres de la nation montagnaise ou innu du Québec
Authors: Herrera Monica , Doise Willem
Published: April 2008

This research studies the social representations of human rights and of Aboriginal rights among members of the Montagnais or Innu nation in three communities of Quebec. In these representations we have noted a distinction between the two families of rights in relation to their institutional definitions. However, as in scholarly thought, links between the two systems of rights are equally present in lay thinking. Also analyzed are beliefs about responsibility and efficacy of different authorities in having rights respected, as well as denunciation of discrimination and unfairness.
Canadian Federalism and Disability Policy Making
Authors: Prince Michael J.
Published: April 2008

This article examines two types of collaboration in Canada between the federal and provincial governments in the disability policy sector and assesses their implications for the citizenship rights of persons with disabilities. One type of collaboration is across the levels of order in Canada and notable examples are the 1997 multilateral framework agreement on Employability Assistance for People with Disabilities and the 1999 Social Union Framework Agreement. The Provincial/Territorial Council on Social Policy Renewal, a structure established in 1995, illustrates the second type. This study suggests that each intergovernmental arrangement has a particular working model of citizenship associated with it. Contrary to the conventional view in the literature, the article argues that, for disability groups, the first form of federalism is enhancing political rights of citizenship along with the economic and social dimensions of membership in society. Further, the second kind of intergovernmental relations is more than just a fleeting movement of provincialism; it exhibits the potential to play a greater sustained role in shaping Canada's welfare state.
L'État post-providence: de nouvelles politiques sociales pour des parents-producteurs. Une perspective comparée
Authors: Dufour Pascale
Published: April 2008

Rebuilding of the welfare state in post-industrialized societies is no longer organized around the male worker but around the parent-producer figure. This shift in the focus of social policies results in a greater mix between employment policies and policies towards families and children. In Quebec, this change appears as a fundamental one; the core of social public action is redefined by federal and provincial governments. By comparison, in France the fight against unemployment is still dominant.
Reconciliation in Post-Commission South Africa: Thick and Thin Accounts of Solidarity
Authors: Nagy Rosemary
Published: April 2008

The meaning of reconciliation in South Africa remains ambiguous and contested. A distinction is drawn between moral and political approaches to reconciliation that invoke thick and thin accounts of solidarity. The discourses of forgiveness and healing are "too thick" because they demand public coherence at the cost of private difference. The promotion of deliberative democracy protects difference, but is "too thin" to enable a substantial basis for reconciliation. Apology, as the fullest expression of "shared history," furnishes the moral transformation necessary for the democratic culture to take root. In this model, reconciliation strikes a balance between solidarity and plurality.
Local Economies, Local Policy Impacts and Federal Electoral Behaviour in Canada
Authors: Cutler Fred
Published: April 2008

The fortunes of local, regional and provincial economies have often been linked to geographical variation in electoral outcomes, and nowhere more so than in Canada. This article examines economic localism in Canadian voting behaviour by estimating a model of voters' decisions in the 1993 and 1997 federal elections. Individual-specific determinants of the vote measured in the Canadian Election Study are supplemented by measures of voters' local economies and of the local impacts of policy changes. Voters punish the federal government for bad times in their locale and for policy changes that hurt the local economy. This effect is independent of what voters think about their own finances and about the provincial and national economies. The electoral impact of the local economy does not depend on whether government is acknowledged as a potent economic actor, or on the voter's level of political information. However, the relevance of the local economy for national-level electoral behaviour can be "primed" by campaign events, just like any other criterion of voting choice. The response to local economic conditions is part of a broader explanation for geographic patterns of electoral support in Canada.
The Impact of Issues and the Economy in the 1997 Canadian Federal Election
Authors: Blais André , Nadeau Richard , Gidengil Elisabeth , Nevitte Neil
Published: April 2008

This article examines the impact of issues and the economy in the 1997 Canadian election among voters outside Quebec. The authors show that both factors affected individual vote choice and provide estimates of how much difference the issues and the economy made in the election. It appears that the issues were decisive for 9 per cent of the voters and the economy for 4 per cent. Issues mattered more than the economy for individual vote choice. The net impact of both the issues and the economy on vote support for the different parties was practically nil. The findings indicate that the Liberal victory cannot be imputed to the economy or the issues.
The Politics of Naming, Blaming and Claiming: HIV, Hepatitis C and the Emergence of Blood Activism in Canada
Authors: Orsini Michael
Published: April 2008

The term ''blood activism'' describes the range of collective challenges that arose among victims of Canada's tainted-blood scandal in the 1990s. This article examines the emergence of blood activism in Canada from the perspective of social movement theory, paying particular attention to the tensions between victims who contracted HIV through tainted blood and those who contracted Hepatitis C, the so-called ''forgotten victims'' of the tragedy. This study discusses how changes in the ''political opportunity structure''—loosely defined in the literature as aspects of the movement's external environment—influenced the nature of political action pursued by victims of tainted blood, the negotiation of the movement's collective identity and policy outcomes.
La dimension régionale du vote économique canadien aux élections fédérales de 1988 à 2000
Authors: Godbout Jean-François , Bélanger Éric
Published: April 2008

Recent works on economic voting have shown that the economy's impact on electoral behaviour could sometimes be mediated by differences in political conditions. This article specifies and tests the mediating role of one such factor, namely regionalism, on economic voting in Canada. The potential effect of two structural factors is tested: the regional configuration of the federal party system (clarity of available alternatives), and the regional structure of the economy. The data used come from the last four Canadian Election Studies (1988 to 2000). The results show that economic voting slightly differs among regions according to the presence or not of strong regional political parties, Quebec being the region where the relationship between the economy and the vote is the weakest. Even more significant differences in economic voting behaviour can be observed between ''have'' and ''have not'' regions, the shape of economic voting in the Atlantic provinces being distinct from the one in Ontario and the West.
Ideological Reconciliation in the Thought of Harold Laski and C. B. Macpherson
Authors: Lamb Peter , Morrice David
Published: April 2008

Both Harold Laski and C. B. Macpherson attempted to reconcile elements of liberalism and Marxism in their work. Macpherson offered a clearer and more precise argument about the ways in which capitalist market relations frustrate freedom, equality and the development of the individual. Laski provided a clearer and more consistent account of human nature, which is necessary to sustain such an argument. Macpherson, in turn, reformulated the distinction between negative and positive liberty, which had remained an unresolved problem in Laski's account of human nature. The respective strengths of Laski and Macpherson may be combined to provide a coherent and cogent ideological position.
Repeat Litigators and Agenda Setting on the Supreme Court of Canada
Authors: Flemming Roy B. , Krutz Glen S.
Published: April 2008

The expanding public policy role of high courts heightens concerns over whether societal and political inequalities affect the outcomes of litigation. However, comparative research on this question is limited. This article assesses whether status inequalities between parties and differences in the experience and resources of attorneys influence the selection of cases for judicial review in the Supreme Court of Canada. A series of statistical models reveal that governments are more likely than other parties to influence whether leave is granted but that the experience and resources of lawyers, unlike in the United States, have little impact. The decentralized, low volume and high access features of the Canadian process may explain this finding.
Institutional Experiments in the Restoration of the North American Great Lakes Environment
Authors: Sproule-Jones Mark
Published: April 2008

The article reports the findings of a study of the 43 institutional arrangements in the most severely polluted bays, harbours, river mouths and connecting channels in the Great Lakes of North America. These arrangements were designed by the governments of Canada and the United States and their respective provinces and states, in order to formulate and implement Remedial Action Plans (RAPs) to restore impaired beneficial uses. The RAPs were conceived, adopted and monitored by the International Joint Commission. The theory of common property resources is used to develop a conceptual framework to assess the effectiveness of the RAPs. Success at the planning stages is associated with a representative and inclusive process of ''stakeholder'' agenda setting, and success at an implementation stage with a system of pooled interdependencies among implementing organizations. There are, however, competing incentives for the bureaucratic organizations that design RAPs, and evidence suggests that these can be more powerful than the RAP programme itself. The success of the RAPs is thus mixed.
Positive Political Theory and Politics in Contemporary India: An Application of a Positive Political Model in Non-Western Politics
Authors: Nikolenyi Csaba
Published: April 2008

This article argues against the apparent aversion to apply positive political models in the comparative literature on non-Western politics. To provide an example of the utility of such models, the article draws on Peter Van Roozendaal's game theoretical model of cabinet stability to account for the instability of coalition governments in India. It argues that government durability in this non-Western democracy can be modeled as the function of the motivations and incentives of two sets of key actors, the dominant and the central parties, the same way as it can in a Western context.
The Politics of Recognition at an Impasse? Identity Politics and Democratic Citizenship
Authors: Maclure Jocelyn
Published: April 2008

According to several authors, the politics of recognition are at an impasse. The politicization of identity, they claim, relies on a hermetic and essentialist conception of culture. Although this critique hits the target in some specific circumstances, nevertheless it misrepresents the more general process of intercultural mediation triggered by the politics of recognition. That said, the emphasis on the end-state of substantive recognition does seem to lead to an impasse. The struggles for recognition, and the identities that underlie these struggles, are too plural, convoluted and fluid to be theorized as quests for definitive recognition. Thus, identity politics ought also to be seen as agonic games of mutual disclosure which participate in the ongoing reconfiguration of the norms of public recognition inherent in democratic politics.
Above the Fray: Rural Women Leaders on Regional Development and Electoral Democracy in Atlantic Canada
Authors: Carbert Louise
Published: April 2008

This article reports on a subset of results from a field-based research project that interviewed rural women community leaders in Atlantic Canada about their experiences and perceptions of leadership, public life and running for elected office. The project is motivated in part by an effort to understand why relatively few women are elected to public office in rural regions in general, and in Atlantic Canada in particular. This article focuses on a theme that emerged consistently and intensely during the interviews: participants' moral disapproval of, and aversion to, political life as they understand it in their local environment. Interviewees in all four Atlantic provinces describe deeply entrenched networks of patronclient relations that are played out in the administration of regional economic development programmes, and identify deterrents to their own electoral ambitions therein. These results are brought to bear on the question of what distinguishes the nature of political representation in rural communities from that in urban centres.