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Majorities with a quorum
Based on a general model of the ‘quaternary’ voting rule, sensitive to voters’ choices between four different options (abstaining, voting ‘yes’, voting ‘no’ and staying at home), we systematically study different types of majority and quorum. The model allows for a precise formulation of majority rules and quorum constraints. For such rules four types of majority can be defined. We also conside…
- Edition
- Vol. 23 no. 2, April 2011.pp. 241-259
- ISBN/ISSN
- 09516298
- Collation
- -
- Series Title
- Journal of Theoretical Politics
- Call Number
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On the buyability of voting bodies
We study vote buying by competing interest groups in a variety of electoral and contractual settings. While increasing the size of a voting body reduces its buyability in the absence of competition, we show that larger voting bodies may be more buyable than smaller voting bodies when interest groups compete. In contrast, imposing the secret ballot is an effective way to fight vote buying in the…
- Edition
- Vol. 23 no. 2, April 2011.pp. 260-287
- ISBN/ISSN
- 09516298
- Collation
- -
- Series Title
- Journal of Theoretical Politics
- Call Number
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Cross-Cutting Issues and Party Strategy in the European Union
Has European integration affected national electoral politics beyond the margins? Experts describe its main impact as empowerment of radical voices. Mainstream parties avoid European Union (EU) issues that divide their left-or right-based organizations; extreme parties attack the EU and the center’s silence. But EU issues also generate important dynamics inside mainstream parties. The authors t…
- Edition
- Vol. 44 no. 4, April 2011.pp. 383-411
- ISBN/ISSN
- 00104140
- Collation
- -
- Series Title
- Comparative Political Studies
- Call Number
- -
Capitalist Systems, Deindustrialization, and the Politics of Public Education
Recent years have seen a number of studies on the determinants of educational spending. Almost all of the existing work emphasizes the importance of left-wing governments as a motor of expansion because such expansion allegedly ensures both redistribution and the facilitation of a supply-side economy. The existing literature thereby corroborates the power resource theory. Against this common wi…
- Edition
- Vol. 44 no. 4, April 2011.pp. 412-435
- ISBN/ISSN
- 00104140
- Collation
- -
- Series Title
- Comparative Political Studies
- Call Number
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Remote Control : How the Media Sustain Authoritarian Rule in China
This study examines the role of the media in sustaining regime stability in an authoritarian context. The article engages the recent work on authoritarian resilience in comparative politics but goes beyond the standard focus on elections to other important institutions, such as the media and courts, that are used by authoritarian leaders to bolster legitimacy. The authors find that the Chinese …
- Edition
- Vol. 44 no. 4, April 2011.pp. 436-467
- ISBN/ISSN
- 00104140
- Collation
- -
- Series Title
- Comparative Political Studies
- Call Number
- -
To Call or Not to Call? Political Parties and Referendums on the EU’s Const…
Why did some political parties in the EU member states support and others oppose a facultative referendum on the Constitutional Treaty? The authors argue that electoral competition played a major role in determining how parties positioned themselves with respect to the desirability of a referendum. Parties that expected electoral gains supported and those that expected electoral losses opposed …
- Edition
- Vol. 44 no. 4, April 2011 .pp. 468-492
- ISBN/ISSN
- 00104140
- Collation
- -
- Series Title
- Comparative Political Studies
- Call Number
- -
Homing in on excellence : Dimensions of appraisal in Center of Excellence pro…
Excellence has become a watchword for goal setting and assessment in science and technology policy. While the concept has been around for many years in its commonsense meaning, it is now explicitly used for science governance; however, so far little work has been done to detail, operationalize and systematize the dimensions of value present in academic evaluators’ use of the concept. This artic…
- Edition
- Vol. 17 no. 2, April 2011.pp. 117-131
- ISBN/ISSN
- 13563890
- Collation
- -
- Series Title
- Evaluation
- Call Number
- -
Synthesis in policy impact assessment
Impact evaluators of large-scale and multi-domain policy proposals have had difficulties in aggregating detailed assessment results into summative evaluative conclusions. Assumptions about how to aggregate impacts from micro to macro level across multiple evaluation domains (economic, social, natural environment) differ and different approaches produce different end results. An aggregation prob…
- Edition
- Vol. 17 no. 2, April 2011.pp. 133-150
- ISBN/ISSN
- 13563890
- Collation
- -
- Series Title
- Evaluation
- Call Number
- -
The limited scope of policy appraisal in the context of referendum democracy …
The article investigates how the specific political system context shapes the effectiveness of policy appraisals. Based on a single case study on Regulatory Impact Assessment (RIA) in Switzerland, we argue that the meager impact and success of the RIA is due to its institutional context, namely Swiss semi-direct referendum democracy. Direct democratic involvement and the division of power in th…
- Edition
- Vol. 17 no. 2, April 2011 .pp. 151-163
- ISBN/ISSN
- 13563890
- Collation
- -
- Series Title
- Evaluation
- Call Number
- -
The logic of evaluation professionalism
This article draws on the sociological literature to (i) explore the intersection between evaluation and professionalism; (ii) identify the extent to which evaluation fulfills the main attributes of professionalism; (iii) apply logical models of professionalism to the practice of independent and self-evaluation; and (iv) speculate about the future of the discipline. It rests the case for evalua…
- Edition
- Vol. 17 no. 2, April 2011.pp. 165-180
- ISBN/ISSN
- 13563890
- Collation
- -
- Series Title
- Evaluation
- Call Number
- -
Realistic evaluation as an avenue to learning for development NGOs
The rise of evidence-based policy-making has created pressures on the evaluation activities of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs). In tandem with the demands from outside, NGOs themselves have improved their evaluation activities due to their own desire to learn. This article was motivated by the reflections of Finnish development NGOs on their need to elaborate new approaches. The NGOs have…
- Edition
- Vol. 17 no. 2, April 2011.pp. 181-192
- ISBN/ISSN
- 13563890
- Collation
- -
- Series Title
- Evaluation
- Call Number
- -
The welfare of now and the green (post) politics of the future
This paper examines how key differences in the very manner in which the environment/welfare nexus is experienced and understood in both the global North and the global South are managed in favour of the former over the latter. We show how in the case of the global North — the more affluent world, such as Britain — environmental issues have been usually construed as post-materialist and/or post-…
- Edition
- Vol. 31 no. 2, May 2011.pp. 174-193
- ISBN/ISSN
- 02610183
- Collation
- -
- Series Title
- Critical Social Policy
- Call Number
- -
How do radical climate movements negotiate their environmental and their soci…
This is a case study of the Camp for Climate Action, which has held several high-profile protest events in the UK since its inception in 2006. It analyses the Camp as a contested space where different emphases on environmental and social priorities have to be negotiated by its activists. The article considers areas of contestation where concerns over climate change meet questions of social just…
- Edition
- Vol. 31 no. 2, May 2011.pp. 194-215
- ISBN/ISSN
- 02610183
- Collation
- -
- Series Title
- Critical Social Policy
- Call Number
- -
Flood risk, vulnerability and environmental justice : Evidence and evaluation…
Flooding has only relatively recently been considered as an environmental justice issue. In this paper we focus on flooding as a distinct form of environmental risk and examine some of the key evidence and analysis that is needed to underpin an environmental justice framing of flood risk and flood impacts. We review and examine the UK situation and the body of existing research literature on fl…
- Edition
- Vol. 31 no. 2, May 2011.pp. 216-240
- ISBN/ISSN
- 02610183
- Collation
- -
- Series Title
- Critical Social Policy
- Call Number
- -
Environmental justice in Cuba
‘Environmental justice’ refers to the human right to a healthy and safe environment, a fair share of natural resources, access to environmental information and participation in environmental decision-making. Some analysts have argued that environmental justice is undermined by the political economy of capitalism. This paper builds on this analysis by evaluating the environmental justice situati…
- Edition
- Vol. 31 no. 2, May 2011.pp. 241-265
- ISBN/ISSN
- 02610183
- Collation
- -
- Series Title
- Critical Social Policy
- Call Number
- -
Who bears the brunt? Distributional effects of climate change mitigation poli…
Climate change scholars generally urge that CO2 emissions need to be cut rapidly if we are to avoid dangerous risks of climate change. However, climate change mitigation policies are widely perceived to have regressive effects — that is, putting a higher financial burden as a proportion of household income on poor than on rich households. This is one of several major barriers to the adoption of…
- Edition
- Vol. 31 no. 2, May 2011 .pp. 285-307
- ISBN/ISSN
- 02610183
- Collation
- -
- Series Title
- Critical Social Policy
- Call Number
- -
Bridging sustainability and the social economy : Achieving community transfor…
Sustainability and the social economy are two approaches that provide critiques of mainstream economic growth based on the failure to integrate environmental and social concerns. This article explores the potential for community transformation by bridging these two approaches — bringing more environmental considerations into the social economy and using the social economy to advance equity conc…
- Edition
- Vol. 31 no. 2, May 2011.pp. 308-324
- ISBN/ISSN
- 02610183
- Collation
- -
- Series Title
- Critical Social Policy
- Call Number
- -
Discrimination, Mastery, and Depressive Symptoms Among African American Men
Purpose: This study examines the influence of discrimination and mastery on depressive symptoms for African American men at young (18—34), middle (35—54), and late (55+) adulthood. Method: Analyses are based on responses from 1,271 African American men from the National Survey of American Life (NSAL). Results: Discrimination was significantly related to depressive symptoms for men ages 35 to 54…
- Edition
- Vol. 21 no. 3, May 2011.pp. 269-277
- ISBN/ISSN
- 10497315
- Collation
- -
- Series Title
- Research on Social Work Practice
- Call Number
- -
Correlates of Psychological Distress and Major Depressive Disorder Among Afri…
This study examines the demographic correlates of depressive symptoms, serious psychological distress (SPD), and major depressive disorder (MDD; 12-month and lifetime prevalence) among a national sample of African American men. Analysis of the National Survey of American Life (NSAL) data set provides first-time substantiation of important demographic differences in depressive symptoms (measured…
- Edition
- Vol. 21 no. 3, May 2011 .pp. 278-288
- ISBN/ISSN
- 10497315
- Collation
- -
- Series Title
- Research on Social Work Practice
- Call Number
- -
Prevalence, Comorbidity, and Course of Depression Among Black Fathers in the …
Black men are disproportionately exposed to adverse social and economic factors that may be linked to depression. Little is known about depression among Black fathers, although depression is a significant health problem and detrimental to the instrumental and affective support of their families. The authors use data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study to estimate the prevalence,…
- Edition
- Vol. 21 no. 3, May 2011 .pp. 289-297
- ISBN/ISSN
- 10497315
- Collation
- -
- Series Title
- Research on Social Work Practice
- Call Number
- -
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