When do Citizens Demand Punishment of Corruption?

Under what conditions do citizens demand punishment of corrupt government officials or actions? Citizens' demands complement and motivate government actions. Studies suggest, however, that citizens' demands are weak and not credible. This paper considers that credible demands are the outcomes of strategic interaction between citizen groups. The results from experimental surveys in Australia and the United States show citizens' demands are credible across various conditions, including size of participants or groups, and regardless of whether they suffer losses from corruption, or whether other participants suffer losses from corruption. This paper makes three contributions. Firstly, it delineates a theoretical model that predicts concerted action. This is a useful alternative to extant treatments that generally report outcomes where coordination problems and free-ridership undermine citizens' concerted action and credibility. Secondly, experimental results clarify several conditions under which citizens' demands are credible, that is, when citizens act in concert to demand punishment. Thirdly, the consistent results across Australia and the US where individualism is high provide useful baselines for further studies.

公民们在什么情况下会要求惩治腐败的政府官员和腐败行为？研究证明,公民的要求虚弱而不可靠。本文认为可靠的要求来自公民群体间的战略互动。澳大利亚和美国的实验调查表明,公民的要求可靠与否取决于诸如参与者或群体规模等条件,而不论他们是否从腐败中受损,或别人是否从腐败中受损。本文有以下三点贡献。第一,勾画了预测腐败的模型。目前的方法报告了协调问题和免费搭车消弱公民协调行动和工信度的结果。该模型可为替代方法。第二,实验结果表明在一些情况下公民的要求是可靠的,那就是,当公民协调一致要求惩治腐败的时候。第三,个人主义发达的澳大利亚和美国的调查结果可以成为进一步研究的基点。     

Post-Communist Corruption: In a League of its Own?

Conventional wisdom has it that the post-communist countries are in a league of their own with regard to corruption. At first sight, the levels of corruption are, indeed, particularly high in both presently communist and formerly communist countries. However, this generalization dissolves as a mirage when the proper control variables are included into the explanatory model. Countries with a communist past or a communist presence are as corrupt as one would expect based on other structural characteristics such as the level of economic development, a Protestant cultural tradition and the dependency on natural resources. Ceteris paribus, then, the communist legacy has no direct effect on contemporary levels of corruption. At most, it is possible to argue that it has an indirect effect working through the variable of economic development.     

Owning Valence Issues: The Impact of a “Culture of Corruption” on the 2006 Midterm Elections

The 109th Congress commenced with a huge ethical cloud hanging over the Capitol. In January 2005, prominent Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff admitted conspiring to defraud Native American tribes and corrupt public officials. As a result, the Democratic Party chose to adopt corruption as a central theme of their 2006 congressional campaign. They argued that the scandal resulted from a “culture of corruption” fostered by Republicans, who controlled Congress. Although past research shows that voters do punish at the polls congressional incumbents under criminal investigation, little is known about whether the mere appearance of wrongdoing can be assigned to an entire party and cost its candidates votes. Utilizing data from a variety of sources, we find that systemic efforts by House Democratic leaders to frame Republicans as “owning” the scandal—whether individual members actually received Abramoff funds or not—were largely successful in the polls and at the ballot box. These findings suggest that scholarly views of the influence of corruption may have been overly restrictive and that voters are willing, at least in this case, to punish public officials who “appear” to be corrupt.     

Le grand mal de l'époque: Tocqueville on French Political Corruption

During the years he was involved in French parliamentary politics, Alexis de Tocqueville was obsessed with the issue of political corruption. This article presents the first sustained analysis of Tocqueville’s speeches and writings on French corruption. It examines Tocqueville’s initial encounter with corruption during his run for parliamentary office, his sophisticated account of the sources of corruption, and his strategies for reforming French politics. The article contends that taking seriously Tocqueville’s struggle against corruption has the effect of complicating several conventional interpretations of his thought. In his speeches and writings on corruption Tocqueville shows himself remarkably willing to compromise with, even to work with, centralisation. And he argues that in a nation like France which lacks substantial local self-government, a vibrant parliamentary politics could be an effective means for promoting energetic civic participation.     

Can Institutional Reforms Reduce Corruption? Economic Theory and Patron–Client Politics in Developing Countries

The ‘anti‐corruption consensus’ of the dominant development paradigm sees corruption as a governance failure and maintains that graft can be reduced or eradicated through appropriate institutional reforms, such as strengthening the judiciary, designing corruption‐proof regulatory regimes, and establishing anti‐corruption agencies. This article aims to cast doubt on the theoretical rationale of this family of anti‐corruption interventions. The neo‐classical paradigm that informs the consensus is based on a set of unsatisfactory idealizations, which undermine the explanatory power of mainstream economic models of corruption. Drawing on insights from economic sociology and anthropology, the article develops an account of the relationship between corruption, cultural norms and patron–client politics in developing countries. This account shows that corruption is embedded in socio‐cultural structures that are endemic to the process of transition to industrial capitalism — a transition that all developing countries are arguably undergoing, however haltingly. This insight clarifies the theoretical limitations of mainstream corruption economics and provides a framework for constructing more empirically adequate explanations of corruption levels in specific countries. It also suggests that substantially reducing, let alone eradicating, corruption in the developing world may not be possible without fundamentally rethinking the existing set of anti‐corruption strategies and techniques.     

Corruption European Style: The 1861 Frémont Scandal and Popular Fears in the Civil War North

Union General John C. Frémont excited considerable controversy during the Civil War, and not just due to his dubious military competence and early advocacy of emancipation. Many republican‐influenced citizens suspected Frémont of the corrupt misuse of power, and undermining the essential moral basis of the republic. While ultimately his ineffectual generalship might have reassured Northerners that “the Pathfinder” was hardly likely to succeed in his suspected schemes, it is striking that even during the war for national survival, citizens remained deeply concerned with the possible threat of power (particularly in the hands of corrupt, designing men) to liberty.     

Thirty Years of Criticism of the Works of Florencio Sánchez

Through John Kronik's insights on self-conscious art, in particular his essay "Galdosian Reflections: Feijóo and the Fabrication of Fortunata," this article examines the self-conscious dimension of contemporary neorealist texts, in particular the use and role of the video game in the novel Ático, by Gabi Martínez.     

The Micro-foundations of Regional Branching—the Case of Digitization of Publishing

Abstract

Theorizing within evolutionary economic geography on regional branching of industries has so far been depicted as evolving through routine replication among different economic actors that hold various degrees of relatedness. Methodologically, related variety and unrelated variety have been studied quantitatively, treating relatedness between economic agents as pre-defined industrial classifications. This represents a need for a complementary qualitative and in-depth understanding of how knowledge is re-combined in various settings. Based on a qualitative case study in the publishing industry, whose technological platforms and business models are currently facing severe challenges associated with digitization, this paper seeks to improve our understanding of how knowledge is re-combined and re-applied in various ways. The paper explores and discusses how this industry branches out into new activities, and reflects upon the channels through which these processes unfold. How is the old and the new in the economy bridged? How is the relationship between specialization and diversification played out? In this sense, the paper seeks to contribute to improving our understanding of the epistemic micro-foundations for regional branching and economic development.     

Painting of Rahula of The Qing Period ——Collections of Tibet Museum

Among the collections of the Tibet Museum is a cloth tangka painting produced in the 51st year of the reign of Qing Dynasty Emperor Qian-long. Measuring 82.5 cm long and 53.5 cm wide, it depicts Rahula. As one of the 10 major disciples of Sakyamuni and one of the 16 Arhats, Rahula was a son of Sakyamuni before he entered Buddhism. When Sakyamuni became a Buddha, Rahula was asked to take in charge of Buddhist affairs at Qinglanyuan.     

Does Bevir's The Logic of the History of Ideas Improve Our Understanding of Hegel's Philosophy of Right?

Mark Bevir's The Logic of the History of Ideas has received considerable attention recently. This article highlights a new problem with his weak intentionalism. Bevir's weak intentionalism holds that on occasion the meanings readers ascribe to texts may trump the meanings the authors express in texts. The article uses the example of Hegel's theory of punishment. The received wisdom is that Hegel is a pure retributivist. Yet, this strays far from his text and stated views. We might think we should keep to this text to uncover Hegel's views. However, Bevir's weak intentionalism has us side with how he has been read over what Hegel has said. This view is problematic as our meanings may well stray far from the texts, words or spirit. Thus, Bevir's weak intentionalism can fall victim to straying from the text when trying to interpret it.     

Leonor of England,Plantagenet queen of King Alfonso VIII of Castile,and her foundation of the Cistercian abbey of Las Huelgas. In imitation of Fontevraud?

In 1187 Alfonso VIII of Castile and his queen, Leonor of England, founded a Cistercian nunnery, Santa Maria Regalis de Las Huelgas, on the outskirts of Burgos. Despite the clear allegiance of the foundation to the Cistercians from the outset, the idea that the abbey was inspired by and even modelled on the nunnery of Fontevraud in Anjou is an encroaching commonplace in accounts of medieval Spanish history and art history around 1200. This study re-evaluates the arguments for that perception and puts forward a different reading of the early years of Las Huelgas, not as a foreign importation but as a peculiarly Iberian, even Castilian, institution.     

Analysis of the Story of an Hour——From the Perspective of Feminism

The Story of an Hour is a short story written by Kate Chopin on April 19,1894,and originally published in Vogue on December 6,1894.By describing series of emotions that Louise Mallard endures after hearing of the death of her husband,it reveals the heroine——Mallard's pursuit of freedom and enlightenment of feminist thought.The Story of an Hour successfully created a female image of desiring for freedom,longing for a new life even at the expense of life in a patriarchal society.     

The future of the Arctic: cauldron of conflict or zone of peace?

The forces of climate change and globalization are transforming the Arctic, tightening the links between this seemingly remote region and the world at large with regard to matters of environmental protection, sustainable development, and the pursuit of peace. This has triggered an explosion of both popular and scholarly interest in the far north. Much of the resultant literature is marked by persistent expectations that the Arctic will become the scene of escalating jurisdictional conflicts, resource wars, a new great game and even armed clashes during the coming years. Yet as the books considered in this review article make clear, these expectations are greatly exaggerated; there is much to be said for the proposition that armed conflict is less likely to occur in the Arctic than in most other parts of the world anytime soon. What is needed is an alternative paradigm to provide a basis for understanding the significance of the profound changes now eroding the old order in the Arctic and establishing a basis for framing innovative governance arrangements capable of ensuring the future of the Arctic as a zone of peace.     

The writings of Ademar of Chabannes,the Peace of 994, and the ‘Terrors of the Year 1000’

The belief that apocalyptic expectations existed at the turn of the first millennium is no longer widely held, even though some recent scholars have suggested they did. This paper seeks to confirm the notion that, at least in the monastic milieu, belief that the Last Judgement was imminent did exist in the decades around the year 1000. To support this argument, this paper will examine the writings of the monk, Ademar of Chabannes. In his work of history and the sermons he wrote near the end of his life, Ademar reveals his own eschatological mentality. His history, it will be argued, contains numerous accounts of prodigies and signs that indicated Ademar and his contemporaries thought that they were living in the Last Days. Ademar's apocalypticism is revealed even more fully in his sermons, which were organised along the lines of salvation history. His account in the sermons of the Peace of God council of 994, which also appears in the history, clearly demonstrates his eschatological sensibility. His record of this council, written over 30 years after the event, it will be argued, is apocalyptic in both form and content. The structure of his account is arranged in the tradition of apocalyptic literature, and the events he records are described in language drawn from the Revelation of John and the book of Isaiah. Ademar also drew on the idea of the refreshment of the saints found in the writings of Jerome and of Bede in his explanation of the events of 994. Ademar's writings, therefore, reveal the existence of apocalyptic expectations at the turn of the first millennium.