Human Rights Violations,Corruption, and the Policy of Repression

Quantitative cross‐national research on human rights violations and repression has made considerable progress in identifying and eliminating economic and political factors that influence the use of torture and killing by governments. Warfare tends to increase violations, democracy—notably full democracy—and trade tends to inhibit violations. Where motives have been considered, this research has generally assumed a strategic motivation for government use of repression. Repression is employed to counter threats from the opposition as represented by the presence of warfare. Less attention has been given to the effect of implementation on levels of repression. Theory suggests that agents are likely to make a substantial independent contribution to the level of repression, if given the opportunity. In this article we develop this argument and present cross‐country comparative evidence that suggests that agents’ opportunities for hidden action measured by perceived levels of financial corruption substantially influences the incidence of torture in a political system, after controlling for the strategic motive of governments and the other factors found influential in earlier research. We show that the results are robust and not sensitive to alternative modeling, measurement, and research‐design decisions.     

Explaining the Intensity of the Arab Spring

Politicians and pundits are quick to say that the Arab Spring has been caused by everything from an ominous “youth bulge” in the region's population to the spread of social media like Facebook and Twitter. Other observers blame the recent unrest on high levels of unemployment or on the government corruption endemic to the region. While there is a certain logic or intuitive sense to any or all these explanations, they have yet to be rigorously tested. Moreover, we do not know if these same factors explain intraregional variation in levels of unrest, or if, instead, factors specific to each particular country have caused some regimes to succumb to the violence while others have emerged unscathed. This article tests the conventional wisdom of the Arab Spring. We find some support for the notion that perceptions of government corruption and sudden price increases correlate with higher levels of unrest, although our confidence in these findings is limited by the small number of countries in our sample. Meanwhile, we find almost no evidence that population pressure or other forms of economic hardship are significant causes of intraregional variation in the intensity of unrest. Most strikingly, despite being touted as the “Twitter Revolution,” we find no evidence that unrest correlates with Internet access, cell phone use, or the use of social media such as Facebook and Twitter. These findings, such as they are, invite political observers and social scientists to search for other, case‐specific causes of civil unrest and regime instability.     

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.     

How Turkey’s democratic backsliding compromises the international dimension of democratization

Previous research suggests that linkage to the West can have a strong democratizing influence on transitioning states. Yet, Western linkage and leverage lost much of their democratizing force by the early twenty‐first century. Turkey's political trajectory over the last decade furnishes a representative case study of the waning power of the West as an anchor for democratization in high‐linkage countries. Despite Turkey's robust ties to the West, competitive authoritarianism has been further entrenched and signs of a drift toward full‐fledged authoritarianism emerged since the failed coup of July 2016. We argue that in a context where the European Union and the United States’ willingness to support democracy declined considerably the AKP’s distancing from the West in foreign policy and balancing the Western powers with its new economic and political relations with autocratic regimes have served to stifle the democratizing pressure of Western linkage by lowering the cost of autocratic behavior for the AKP government and facilitating Turkey's illiberal turn.     

Topping Off and Bottoming Out: Setting Budget Priorities Through Executive Power

This article examines the role of the institutional power of executives in public budgeting; specifically, how executives change spending on particular budget items. Leveraging extant theories of the policy process concerning preference expression, attention, and institutions, we argue that executives deepen large cuts and boost large increases in budgetary change. The strictures of the budgetary process force trade-offs for executives in preference expression such that increases to preferred categories typically require decreases in other categories. Literatures in public policy and political representation suggest that all executives would like to express fiscal preferences, thereby contributing to categorical budget oscillations; however, not all executives are created equal. We employ quantile regression to examine whether the institutional strength of governors determine cuts, stasis, and expansion in spending across all budget functions in the American states between 1985 and 2009. Our model includes a host of political and economic variables found in the literature of fiscal policymaking, such as partisanship and divided government. The desire to change policy may be widely shared across executives, but we find that the ability to “top off” categorical increases and bottom out categorical decreases is a function of an executive's capacity to call attention to preferred categories via agenda-setting power and to secure those changes via veto power. The findings show strong governors are well positioned to influence public policy through the budgetary process.     

Who Can Govern? Comparing Network Governance Leadership in Two Norwegian City Regions

What social and structural mechanisms determine where hands-on leadership of city-region governance networks is anchored? In this article, we discuss the origin of city-region governance leadership in two Norwegian city regions. Based on empirical analysis, we argue that variations in terms of leadership practices cannot be fully explained in terms of levels of trust, social capital and institutional set-up. Issues related to how power is institutionalized needs to be explored and explained in order to improve our understanding of processes associated with the construction of leadership of governance networks. We also recognize that where this type of leadership is anchored can have important implications for both regional economic development as well as defining the qualities of local democracy.     

Locating Critical Components of Regional Human Capital

Enormous attention has been devoted recently to the contributions of human capital in the strategic and competitive success of different regions. These advances by macroeconomists and trade theorists have important implications for understanding the influence of economic development programs in a rural environment. Drawing upon this research we argue that human capital concepts may offer a more effective basis for assessment of strategic resource needs and use within a rural setting. An approach using direct elicitation methods is outlined for developing human capital measures. One significant advantage of a human capital approach is the potential for creating indicators that bridge the interests of economic development and environmental programs.     

Intrastate federalism in Australia

The article applies a distinction often used in the study of Canadian federalism—intra‐versus interstate federalism—to the Australian federal system. The intrastate federalism model focuses on the representation of state, regional and local interests directly within central government institutions. On the surface the model appears to have little applicability to Australia. However, the examination of selected Commonwealth institutions and arenas, primarily the cabinet and party system, indicates that intrastate practices may in fact be much more pronounced in Australia than what is generally supposed. There are networks of influence at work outside the confines of standard intergovernmental arenas, networks that at times can be used to advantage by state governments or by state or local interests, at other times by the Commonwealth to enhance centralised control or even to undermine the status of state governments as legitimate actors within the Australian federal system.     

Reregulating for Freshwater Enclosure: A State of Exception in Canterbury,Aotearoa New Zealand

In this paper, we argue that democracy is increasingly indistinguishable from authoritarianism, in a process that is entangled with neoliberalisms. To build this argument, we examine a case study of central government intervention in regional environmental decision making in Aotearoa New Zealand through the lens of Agamben's “state of exception”. The intervention—unprecedented and unconstitutional—squeezed democratic spaces for decision making about freshwater and sought to smooth the way for capital accumulation. The audacity of government actions indicate, we argue, an abandonment of efforts to disguise neoliberal encroachments on democracy, known as the double truth tactic. Yet we also argue that in identifying this as a state of exception, we can examine it as part of a process and therefore demonstrate the possibilities for counter‐hegemonic actions to emerge.     

Economic effects of recent experiences of federalism: Analysis of the regionalization process in Spain

Setting limits on government action is critical to economic development. Some forms of government organization, such as market-preserving federalism, seem effective to protect property rights in the long term with good results for economic efficiency. Spain endowed its regions with “Statutes of Autonomy” in the 1980s thus moving from a centralized to a decentralized form of government. It renewed and expanded some of the statutes in the 2000s. This article investigates whether these two waves of regionalization, which had their own characteristics in each region, had led to positive effects on economic performance. Using a novel autonomous region/country-matched balanced sample for the period 1950–2016, we apply the synthetic control method and compare the economic growth trajectories of Spanish regions with their synthetic control groups not affected by the regionalization process. We show that the first wave of “Statutes of Autonomy” had a positive but temporary economic growth impact. By contrast, the second wave of regionalization of the 2000s is associated with a negative growth impact.     

Regional Competitiveness in Central European Countries: In Search of a Useful Conceptual Framework

The goal of this discussion paper is to examine the relevance of selected influential theoretical and conceptual approaches to regional competitiveness for specific geographical and institutional contexts of Central European (CE) regions. We argue that strategic documents and policies (both nation- and region-wide) in CE countries are based on un-critical applications of a few popular concepts of competitiveness that were originally proposed and mainly applied in Western European and US regions. Existing empirical evidence documents a strong role of exogenous factors of competitiveness in CE regions, the in-house character of firm innovations and weak demand for innovations, and other impediments of R&D collaboration. We suggest that these (and other factors) limit the applicability of concepts such as regional innovation systems and Porterian clusters in the context of many CE regions. On the other hand, we argue that some other concepts such as the global production networks perspective or related variety and economic complexity can provide some relevant and inspiring frameworks for analysing regional competitiveness in CE countries.     

Establishing a Liberal Political Order Through a Constitution: The Papua New Guinea Experience

The experience with the independent constitution of Papua New Guinea is examined in this article to argue that, while constitutions are able to set up institutions and define their jurisdiction, they are less effective in establishing values and norms. Constitutions establish broad frameworks for politics but are rarely successful in determining the dynamics of politics or the conduct of parties, which depend principally on social and economic circumstances. The parliamentary system in PNG has been influenced more by traditional notions of clan leadership and reciprocity than by any Westminster convention. In PNG, the courts and other institutions for discipline and control of administration have been more effective than in many other developing countries, principally due to the weakness of the state-political system. Nevertheless, there remains considerable tension between the Rule of Law and democracy as it has developed in PNG.     

High Court Review 2006: Australian Federalism—Implications of the WorkChoices Decision

This year's High Court Review focuses exclusively on the WorkChoices decision, in which the federal government's new industrial relations regime was upheld by the High Court as within the Commonwealth's powers under s. 51(xx) of the Constitution, the corporations power. The implications of the judgement are potentially momentous for Australian federalism. Thus, we begin with an overview of changes in Australian federalism over time, including its fortunes in the High Court of Australia. We then consider the WorkChoices decision itself, outlining the most important aspects of the decision. We argue that the decision is the most important High Court decision on the constitutional division of federal powers since 1983, especially in the context of the corporatisation of policy delivery in the past few decades. Moreover, it reinforces the dominance of an orthodoxy in constitutional interpretation, thus confirming the demise of ‘activist’ tendencies. Finally, the judgement demonstrates the Court's preparedness to confirm changes to the workings of Australian federalism that, the evidence suggests strongly, would not pass at referendum. However, this view of the centralist implications of the decision is mediated by a consideration of the workings of intergovernmental relations. An examination of the potential changes in this area reveals a more complicated outcome, one with important implications for the manner in which intergovernmental negotiations might be conducted in future.     

Recognition or imposition? Federalism,national minorities,and the Supreme Court of Canada†

ABSTRACT. This paper makes two main arguments. First, federalism in Canada, properly conceived, is a system which evolves as a result of struggles over the norms of mutual recognition between territorially based groups. Second, if federalism is to work as a way of accommodating national minorities, the role of the judiciary in adjudicating this relationship must be taken into account, because it plays an integral role in the continuing contestation of the arrangement. I begin with the ‘problem’ of national minorities in the nation‐state system and why federalism is espoused as a solution for alleviating tensions, focusing on Canada. I then turn to review the relevant jurisprudence of the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) in adjudicating the federal arrangement. Finally, considering this jurisprudence, I reflect on why it is important to account for the role of the Court when promoting federalism to accommodate national minorities. I go on to argue that a dialogical approach to federalism, as opposed to a monological one, is best suited to do this.     

Approaching regimes: Australia,Canada, and environmental policy

Study of regimes has become an increasingly important feature of empirical studies of the bases of world order. Much research has focused on the dynamics and internal working of regimes in a number of different policy areas. The determinants of the approaches of states to regimes, however, have been relatively neglected. Using findings from Australian and Canadian approaches to the international environmental regime, this paper explores seven sets of factors that are argued to be crucial to understanding responses: the ecological‐economic milieu of states, the developmental attributes of a regime, bureaucratic politics within national governments, the influence of governmental structures such as federalism, interest group activity, the foreign policy orientations of states, and the regime capabilities of states. Regimes are an enduring feature of international society, but neglect of the complexity and variety of national approaches can lead to ineffectual policy recommendations.     

Government institutions and the dynamics of urban growth in China

Economic growth in China in recent decades has largely rested on the dynamism of its cities. High economic growth has coincided with measures aimed at improving the efficiency of local governments and with a mounting political drive to curb corruption. Yet the connection between government institutions and urban growth in China remains poorly understood. This paper is the first to look into the link between government efficiency and corruption, on the one hand, and urban growth in China, on the other hand and to assess what is the role of institutions relative to more traditional factors for economic growth in Chinese cities. Using panel data for 283 cities over the period between 2003 and 2014, the results show that the urban growth in China is a consequence of a combination of favorable human capital, innovation, density, local conditions, foreign direct investment, and city‐level government institutions. Both government quality—especially for those cities with the best governments—and the fight against corruption at the city level have a direct effect on urban growth. Measures to tackle corruption at the provincial level matter in a more indirect way, by raising or lowering the returns of other growth‐inducing factors.     

Policy coordination and selective corruption control in China

In autocracies facing widespread corruption, the allocation of the scant attention available for fighting corruption strongly affects corruption control. Although research has found that authoritarian regimes tend to fight corruption selectively, it is unknown whether and how autocracies allocate attention across different policy areas to combat corruption. We propose that single-party authoritarian regimes can steer anticorruption attention to the policy domains prioritized by the central authority through the mechanism of cross-organizational policy coordination. Using original datasets compiled from Chinese governmental and procuratorial policy papers from 1998 to 2016, we demonstrate that Chinese prosecutors direct anticorruption attention to the policy domains accentuated in the central government's major reforms. Our field interviews support this finding and reveal possible disruption of anticorruption efforts in policy domains falling off the central government's top list. Thus, we extend the research on political influence over anticorruption agencies and show that single-party regimes can instrumentalize anticorruption to serve the government's policy agenda, driving the allocation of limited anticorruption attention across policy areas.     

Competitive federalism and workers’ compensation: do states race to the bottom?

This article builds on the competitive federalism literature by examining the role federalism plays in determining policy trajectories with consequences for public welfare in individual jurisdictions. It examines the argument that federalism encourages a ‘race to the bottom’ using the case of workers’ compensation benefits for injured workers in Australia. It finds state systems have been characterised by a downward slide in the protections afforded injured workers since the late 1970s, and this has been associated with policy makers’ real or rhetorical concerns around interstate competition for business investment.     

The impacts of education and institutional trust on citizens’ willingness to report corruption: lessons from Papua New Guinea

Educated citizens are often considered more likely to report corruption; this belief shapes anti-corruption campaigns. However, we know little about how other factors may interact with education’s impact on willingness to report corruption. This article examines data from a household survey undertaken in Papua New Guinea. We find considerable support for the notion that education encourages a greater willingness to report various types of corruption to officials. While our results indicate that this is especially the case when respondents believe that corruption would be addressed by the government, they also show that secondary and post-secondary levels of education can have a positive impact even among those who do not have much faith in reporting institutions. However, the results also suggest that academics and policy-makers should be sensitive to the way trust in the state impacts educated citizens’ willingness to report different kinds of corruption.     

A study of social‐market interventions in the shaping of the field of cultural production

A social analysis based on extensive evaluation of the Dance and Drama Awards programme reveals the social‐market political paradigm underpinning the formation of cultural policy in the UK underthe New Labour government. This specific intervention in the field of cultural production is placed in the context of broader government interventions in the cultural domain that seek to give respect to undervalued social and cultural groups. There is a political analysis of the characteristics of the social‐market political formation that underpin New Labour’s “affirmative” actions, and the political strategies informing the government’s “access” and “inclusion” agendas and their impact on the cultural and creative industries. The authors argue that the construction of a “social‐market” position in New Labour’s cultural policy represents an attempt to bridge or “hyphenate” the contradictory claims of social democracy, on the one hand, and economic fatalism, on the other. Despite the rhetoric of social and cultural “transformation”, the authors argue that a “faith” in the market prevents New Labour from transforming the political‐economic and cultural structures that generate economic and cultural injustices.