Campaign Promises,Democratic Governance,and Environmental Policy in the U.S. Congress

One important criterion for assessing the quality of democratic governance is the extent to which the policy process effectively translates citizen preferences into collective choices. Several scholars have observed a discrepancy between citizen preferences for strong environmental protection and weak policies adopted in the United States, indicating that the United States may fall short on this criterion. We examine one possible mechanism contributing to this discrepancy—legislator defection from campaign promises. Our data indicate that legislators in the U.S. Congress routinely defect from their campaign promises in environmental protection, undermining the link between citizen preferences and policy choice. We also find that legislators are much more likely to defect from pro‐environmental campaign promises, which moves government policy toward less stringent environmental programs. Finally, the propensity of legislators to defect from their campaign promises is systematic, with defection affected by partisanship, constituency influence, the influence of the majority party, and the likely consequences of defection for policy choice. These findings contribute empirical evidence relevant to the “mandate theory” perspective on how citizen preferences are translated into collective choices through the policy process. These findings may also complement research in comparative politics concluding that legislatures selected through single member districts adopt less stringent environmental policies than do legislatures chosen via proportional representation in that the mechanism for this effect may go through legislator defection from campaign promises.     

Perpetual Alleluia and Sacred Violence: An Afterword

This paper re-examines Paul Schroeder's thesis concerning the new international order after 1815 and argues that the practicalities of power projection were as important in shaping foreign policy as were diplomatic principles and practices. Highlighting Wellington's role in policy-making, it re-assesses British interventions in Portugal in the 1820s to argue that the exercise of British power resulted from a range of influences apart from the adherence to the Concert system. British interventionism was constrained by the limitations of military and naval power, difficulties in securing co-operation with the Portuguese, and the nature of Portuguese politics and the Portuguese state. The experience and legacy of the Peninsular War also made British ministers sceptical about the potential impact of foreign interventions in the region during the 1820s. Interventions in Portugal demonstrated that Britain could not project power on a global or significant scale in areas where it did not locally command substantial war-making resources, as in India. Schroeder's emphasis on Concert diplomacy and C.A. Bayly's on global-reach fail, therefore, to capture the appropriate range of influences on power projection.     

Introduction: In the Comfort of Perpetual Abandonment

Central to the notion of modernity has been a historical loss of meaning and a resulting state of melancholy. An abandoned classical landscape allows for repeated inspiration and the possibility of rebirth after the rupture. Archaeological field survey has shown that the Greek countryside has been stable in only one way, a perpetual cycle of abandonment and re-habitation from prehistory to the present. This rhythm of eternal return differs from the catastrophe of a single golden age. Rather than producing anxiety, the trope of endless abandonment annuls the drama of collapse and comforts the modern psyche. The Greek countryside, thus, provides unique fodder for modernity’s historical posturing.     

湖南会战:中国军队对日军"一号作战"的回应

湖南会战是1944年“一号作战”中交战时间最长、国民政府军队抵抗最为顽强的一次战役。以湖南会战为个案,具体而微地剖析国民党军的战略决策机制、情报信息系统、官兵素质、后勤补给、兵役军纪以及民众动员等情形,也许有助于从军事史的层面加深或纠正我们对抗战正面战场的既有认知。     

Insecure bodies/selves: introduction to theme section

This short piece introduces a three-paper theme section on the theme of ‘Insecure bodies/selves’, growing out of a conference session held in 2012. Using the brief example of a brain-injured soldier's ‘shattered world’, creating a thoroughly ‘unsecured’ self/body, attention is given to how contemporary human geography has gradually opened itself to engaging with the multiple spaces of insecure bodies/selves. The three papers are then formally outlined and situated within these new currents of geographical and trans-disciplinary scholarship.     

Iraq: The Military Campaign

This article draws together early military implications of a campaign where intensive operations lasted barely a month. The deeper insights will need much more time for the post operations reports to be written, detailed battle assessments to be made, and the key decision-makers to record their thinking. As far as is possible, the article deals with the purely military aspects of the campaign. The promise of a decade of development of high technology air power was expected by some to show a new way of fighting wars. The evidence from the campaign appears to give a more mixed message. Certainly, a higher proportion of air weapons was guided in this conflict than in any previous war. Strategic intelligence appears to have been less accurate than had been expected. The unexpected initial resistance by Iraqi forces, followed by later capitulation, required flexible coalition operations. The spectre of the use of chemical and biological weapons proved unfounded. The effectiveness of special operations will be one area for deeper study. The media strategy will need reviewing for future operations. At this stage, the article does no more than record the sequence of events, make broad judgements about the strategic and tactical approaches of both the Coalition and Iraqi forces, and highlights areas where further investigation may be useful to draw firmer conclusions.     

国共第三次“围剿”与反“围剿”探微

1931年国共在中央苏区展开的第三次“围剿”与反“围剿”,开场和结局都颇具戏剧性,整个“围剿”、反“围剿”进程,直接受制于国内外形势的变化。在国共两大主角的角力过程中,宁粤冲突和九一八事变,某种程度上成为国共武力斗争的搅局者。事实上,1930年代前后,国共之间的许多故事,都可以看到如是因素的介入,国共两大力量之外的“第三者”,为历史的走向增添了更多的变数。