The 2010 election was one of the most competitive campaigns of recent decades. The first televised leaders' debates along with the rise of online social networking led to renewed speculation about the potential influence of the media in campaigns. By contrast the press appeared to revert to pre mid-1990s form with strong support for the Conservatives and personal attacks on their opponents. Thi…
Much of the 2010 election was fought around the issue of the recession and the public borrowing deficit. However, whilst economic policy was highly salient, there was little fundamental difference between the parties over what needed to be done. All three of the major parties accepted the need to cut the deficit through reducing public expenditure. What the response to the crisis did reveal was…
This article examines the main aspects of the UK's foreign and security policy across the 2005–2010 Parliament. It begins by discussing the highpoint of foreign policy during the period, and goes on to consider the evolution of the UK's foreign policy doctrine, looking in particular at whether Brown established a world view that was distinctive from his predecessor. The analysis then turns to t…
What impact did immigration and European integration have on the 2010 general election campaign and result? We explain why immigration was a salient campaign issue, while European integration barely figured. We show that the Conservatives learned to speak less about European integration and immigration as part of their re-evaluation of campaign strategy following three successive defeats. For d…
The authors study the conflict mediation problem, sometimes called “shuttle diplomacy,” when the mediator acts as a go-between and must gather information from the disputants. In the context of a general model of information mediation, they show that the incentive that disputants have to lie to the mediator undoes any advantage that might be gained by adding communication with a third party. In…
A flurry of recent studies indicates that candidates who simply look more capable or attractive are more likely to win elections. In this article, the authors investigate whether voters’ snap judgments of appearance travel across cultures and whether they influence elections in new democracies. They show unlabeled, black-and-white pictures of Mexican and Brazilian candidates’ faces to subjects …
This article contributes to the political economic literature regarding the effects of industrial relations institutions on national economic outcomes. Based on an econometric analysis of the determinants of wage moderation in sixteen industrialized countries between 1974 and 2000, it argues that the organizational characteristics of trade unions have a significant impact on wage dynamics. Cont…
Existing theories of change in campaign strategies predict cross-national convergence in candidates’ linkages to voters and the degree of policy focus and cleavage priming in their appeals. However, the prevailing national patterns of electioneering in Chile, Brazil, and Peru have actually diverged from one another since their transitions from authoritarian rule. Based upon content analysis of …
The study draws on evidence from South Asia to explore how union partisan ties condition industrial protest in the context of rapid economic change. It argues that unions controlled by major political parties respond to the economic challenges of the postreform period by facilitating institutionalized grievance resolution and encouraging restraint in the collective bargaining arena. By contra…
While there is growing interest among researchers and practitioners concerning the risks that emerging REDD+ regimes pose to rural livelihoods, there has been little scholarly analysis of specific policies that could be applied to guard against these risks. We argue that for REDD+ regimes to avoid negative impacts on local populations, social safeguard policies will need to overcome the signifi…
Environmental justice is often defined in terms of the distribution (or maldistribution) of environmental goods and bads. Activists and scholars have also focused on issues of cultural recognition and political participation. This article posits a capabilities-based conception of environmental justice. We argue that environmental challenges raised by indigenous communities demonstrate a broad, …
We have seen a worldwide increase in new nonstate, multi-stakeholder organizations setting standards for socially and environmentally responsible behavior. These standard-setting arenas offer new channels for political participation for NGOs. Scholars have drawn attention to the rise and the role of NGOs in global politics, but there is less research on the power and long-term implications of N…
Automobility, the global system of human movement built around petroleumfueled cars, clearly has significant negative environmental consequences. Yet transforming this system presents a nearly overwhelming technological, cultural, and political challenge. The production of oil and cars is fundamental to modern capitalism and is a source of geopolitical power, while the consumption of these good…
Energy supplies are central to human ecology and key to the sustainability of human communities, but the decline of fossil fuel resources is largely ignored in global environmental politics. Most political analysis of energy focuses on state-centered “energy security” while largely overlooking discourses of environmental or ecological security. Yet energy and the environment are intimately conn…
This article explains why the significant changes in the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) for the 2013–2020 phase were adopted in 2008. The combination of a more stringent EU-wide cap, allocation of emission allowances for payment, and limits on imports of credits from third countries have strengthened the system for the post-2012 period. This will promote reduction in greenhouse gases comp…
Research into rural livelihoods shows that food security will not be achieved unless women farmers are treated as economic agents in their own right. While farmers often seek to increase their influence through collective action, this avenue is only of limited use to women, since most rural organisations are male-dominated and marginalise women's voices. This article looks at the National Feder…
This article examines food security, nutrition, and women's agricultural livelihoods in Western Province, Zambia. It draws on data from field research supported by Concern Worldwide UK. The research aimed to explore links between food procurement, livelihoods and care at the household level, and recognises the role of institutions and access to assets in shaping livelihood choices by women. Wom…
In Bangladesh, Helen Keller International (HKI) is known for its homestead food production (HFP) programme, which promotes small-scale agriculture among women, specifically to improve women's and children's nutrition outcomes, including dietary diversity and knowledge of maternal self-care and infant-young child feeding practices. To achieve these aims, the programme focuses on women's empowerm…
In the future, more food will be needed to feed a growing world population. High-yielding crop varieties will play a key role in meeting this challenge. This article draws on research undertaken by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center in La Frailesca in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas. Both agricultural and social processes influence women's and men's preferences for new o…
The concept of the 'nutrition transition' is widely used to explain the recent, rapid rise in overweight and obesity, and the co-existence of under- and over-nutrition, in low-income populations in 'middle-income' developing countries. This article provides an overview of the changes occurring in diets, physical activity, and nutritional status among children and adults in nutrition transition …