The Process of Famine: Causes and Consequences in Sudan

In the Sudan, where 200,000 children can die from diseases like diarrhoea and measles in a ‘normal’ year, the toll jumped to somewhere between 350,000 and 700,000 [in 1984]; in the next twelve months one million more could die — out of a total child population of only 6 million. UNICEF estimates that over six million sub-Saharan infants and children are endangered by famine.     

Causes and Consequences of Inequality in Egypt

This study presents an analysis of various facets of inequality in Egypt using a political economy approach to understand how inequalities are reproduced in the Egyptian economy. It examines the drivers of income and wealth inequality, and the impact of uneven taxation. The paper highlights how the mismeasurement of top incomes can skew the measurement of inequality, and shows how Egypt has one of the biggest wealth gaps in the world. It investigates educational, gender, and healthcare inequalities and how they are reproduced across generations. The paper also highlights the disparity between urban and rural areas, which further contributes to inequality. It assesses why economic growth in Egypt has had limited success in reducing poverty and inequality, and analyzes how state and military interference in markets hampers the growth of the private sector. The paper concludes by examining how inequality, combined with a number of challenges that Egypt is facing, including increased authoritarianism, climate change, demographic pressures, and water security will likely exacerbate many of the country’s socioeconomic and political problems. Overall, the study argues that inequality remains a key concern that, if left unaddressed, may lead to social unrest and instability in the long term.     

Representation in Congress and the Executive: Rethinking the Perspectives of James Madison

This article contributes to the development of a "revised" interpretation of James Madison's views on representation. I suggest that Madison's approach to representation is more complex than has been recognized. Specifically, Madison believed different "styles" of representation are necessary for the House, Senate, and President because of the unique functions served by each institution. "Style" refers both to the nature of the representative-constituency relationship (the "role" of the representative) and the character of the individual most likely to be selected as representative. In Madison's scheme, the proper functioning of each institution is guaranteed only if the method of selection insures the appropriate role is maintained and persons of proper character are selected. Throughout the essay, I note significant differences between the arguments which Madison put forward in the Constitutional Convention and those he defended in the Federalist essays.     

Global Utopias and Clashing Civilizations: Misunderstanding the Present

This is an edited text of the 23rd Martin Wright Memorial Lecture delivered at the Royal Institute of International Affairs on 14 October 1997 in which John Gray argues that international conflict does not come from 'clashes of civilization', but rather from the conflicting interests and policies of states. In order to cope better with such conflicts, we should understand that some conflicts are intractable.     

Executive Branch Management and Presidential Unilateralism: Centralization and the Issuance of Executive Orders

Despite the useful simplifying assumptions of recent work on unilateral power, archival analysis shows the issuance of executive orders is a process rife with transaction costs as presidents bargain with the bureaucracy over formulating their scope and substance. As a result, presidents must create what Williamson (1985) called “governance structures” to minimize those costs, with the Office of Management and Budget's clearance process at its heart. As with legislative policy formulation, presidents assert more centralized control over executive orders (EO) production on items that affect large numbers of departments, on matters of executive reorganization, and on significant matters. Political contexts are trumped by managerial concerns. Orders dealing with implementation of recently passed statutes or other presidential “clerkship” functions tend to follow a far less centralized formulation process.     

Checking Executive Power: A Simulation Model of Unilateral Executive Behavior

Abstract

What systematic influence does the court exert on unilateral authority? Though questions relating to the expansion and the exercise of unilateral executive power remain a perennial concern in political science, existing studies of the unilateral presidency generally focus on relations between the executive and the legislature, with less attention paid to the impact of the judiciary on executive behavior. Using a system of differential equations to model executive unilateralism and judicial constraints, simulation results identified four broad patterns of unilateral executive behavior and judicial influence. Overall, presidents strategically anticipate reactions from the courts and employ unilateral actions accordingly. Although they are cognizant of the court’s ability to strike down their actions, and thereby harming their preferred policy preferences and legacies, presidents nonetheless act unilaterally, albeit at a lower level. Results add to existing studies in separation of powers and constraints on unilateral executive behavior.     

Political Staff in Executive Government: Conceptualising and Mapping Roles within the Core Executive

Political advisers are attracting increasing attention in Westminster jurisdictions. Typically, scholars focus on the corrosive impact they allegedly have on elements of Westminster convention and practice. We argue that a concern with accountability detracts from other important matters, including understanding and theorising ministerial advisers' roles. In this article we address these issues using primary data from a survey of ministerial advisers in New Zealand. We draw on Maley's typology to classify advisers' activities according to the contribution they make to executive government policy-making. We then theorise these activities through the lens of the core executive. We conclude that ministerial advisers are increasingly important actors in governing environments characterised by complex resource dependencies, modes of operation that are as often relational as they are hierarchical, and bargaining relationships that are often positive and not zero-sum in nature.     

表象与本体——安克斯密特的历史表现理论

安克斯密特的历史表现理论与叙事实体理论一脉相承,都是历史学家构建的某种叙事性解释。历史表现理论认为,历史文本是对过去实在的一种模仿,是人们认识过去的一个途径。但在认识过去的过程中,由于手段逐渐成为目的,历史表象与历史本体的边界便模糊了。为了避免历史本体的消解,历史表现理论要求历史表现既要与历史本体相似,又要与之保持距离,这就使之陷入两难境地。安克斯密特认为,历史表现继承了叙事实体的整体性和实体性,是客观世界的真实存在,他强调表现与被表现者在本体论上的地位是相等的,甚至本体的存在和对于本体的认识均有赖于其表象。这超出了人们惯常接受的认识论范围,使历史研究者不必再为恢复历史的原有面貌而煞费苦心。     

Money,Manipulation and Misunderstanding on Manus Island

The treatment of asylum seekers at the Manus Island Regional Processing Centre in Papua New Guinea (PNG) has attracted much international attention, but there has been little analysis of its local and transnational impact. This article investigates the repercussions for the communities on Manus Island, on domestic affairs in PNG, and on the relationship between PNG and Australia. Overall, it concludes that the costs arising from the money, manipulation and misunderstanding generated by the centre seem likely to outweigh the purported benefits, particularly for Manusians and other ordinary Papua New Guineans.     

Reproduction, Representation and Authenticity: A Rereading

This essay argues for the moral necessity of retaining connections between the practices of representation and the ideal of authenticity. Using the example of racial representation, the author finds in the political philosophy of Charles Taylor and the cultural criticism of George Steiner resources for engaging in a creative dialogue with the history of our own tradition.