Number of results to display per page
Search Results
72. Unequal and Unrepresented: Political Inequality and the People’s Voice in the New Gilded Age, Kay Lehman Schlozman, Henry E. Brady and Sidney Verba
- Author:
- Spencer Piston
- Publication Date:
- 07-2019
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Political Science Quarterly
- Institution:
- Academy of Political Science
- Abstract:
- Who participates in American democracy? In particular, is it those with high levels of resources who most often vote, protest, contact elected officials, and discuss politics with friends? How unequal is political participation? Political scientists Kay Lehman Schlozman, Henry E. Brady, and Sidney Verba have contributed important answers to these questions over the past few decades. In their first book, Voice and Equality (1995) these scholars traced associations between resource possession and political participation, finding extensive evidence of inequalities in political voice. In their second book, The Unheavenly Chorus (2012), the authors reiterated and updated the analyses of the first. The authors also extended Voice and Equality in a number of ways, primarily by examining organizational-level as well as individual-level participatory inequalities, and by assessing the likely efficacy of various reform strategies. This third volume, Unequal and Unrepresented, “distill[s] two substantial books into a relatively short one…” (p. ix), repeating the core themes of the two earlier volumes. The presentation of the book is slightly different, foregrounding substance (even) more than before by relegating methodological details to footnotes. Thus, the book is perhaps best suited to an undergraduate audience.
- Topic:
- Politics, Inequality, Book Review, and Political Science
- Political Geography:
- North America and United States of America
73. Discussing Climate Change Action with Former Swiss Ambassador Therese Adam
- Author:
- Therese Adam and Meagan Torello
- Publication Date:
- 09-2018
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- The Journal of Diplomacy and International Relations
- Institution:
- School of Diplomacy and International Relations, Seton Hall University
- Abstract:
- A conversation with former Swiss ambassador Therese Adam.
- Topic:
- Climate Change, Diplomacy, Gender Issues, Inequality, and Economy
- Political Geography:
- Europe, Switzerland, and Global Focus
74. Integral Human Development Through the Lens of Sen’s Capability Approach and the Life of a Faith Community at the Latin American Urban Margins
- Author:
- Séverine Deneulin
- Publication Date:
- 04-2018
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Kellogg Institute for International Studies
- Abstract:
- The concept of integral human development is central to the Catholic social tradition. Yet, it remains under-explored with regard to its integrating components and their implications. What does taking an integral human development perspective mean for social analysis and action? The paper seeks to answer this question on the basis of the four encyclicals in which the idea of integral human development is treated, and in combination with two other sources: 1) the literature on “human development” in the multidisciplinary social science field of international development studies and its conceptual foundations in Amartya Sen’s capability approach; and 2) the life of a faith community in a marginalized Latin American urban neighborhood. Based on a combination of these sources, the paper concludes by proposing an understanding of “integral human development” that it calls a spirituality-extended capability approach to the progress of peoples.
- Topic:
- Civil Society, Development, Education, Poverty, Religion, Inequality, Youth, Violence, Christianity, and Catholic Church
- Political Geography:
- Argentina, South America, and Latin America
75. Can Conditional Cash Transfer Programs Improve Collective Action? Lab-in-the-Field Evidence on Coordination and Social Norms
- Author:
- Sandra Polanía-Reyes
- Publication Date:
- 12-2018
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Kellogg Institute for International Studies
- Abstract:
- This study tests an unintended benefit of a conditional cash transfer program in Colombia: the ability to overcome coordination failures. Participants interact with fellow beneficiaries, which gives rise to a coordination device. Beneficiaries participate in a minimum effort coordination game. Those enrolled in the program for over a year are exerting the highest level of effort. The improvement in coordination is not due to potential confounds such as willingness to cooperate or connectivity. A structural choice model illustrates that when beliefs about other’s behavior are sufficiently high the Pareto- dominant equilibrium holds. The findings support nascent initiatives to influence beliefs through policy interventions.
- Topic:
- Civil Society, Development, Political Economy, Poverty, Communications, Governance, Inequality, Economic growth, Public Policy, and Institutions
- Political Geography:
- Colombia, South America, and Latin America
76. How Social Inequalities Affect Sustainable Development: Five Causal Mechanisms Underlying the Nexus
- Author:
- Bettina Schorr
- Publication Date:
- 01-2018
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Postgraduate Program on Sustainable Development and Social Inequalities in the Andean Region (trAndeS)
- Abstract:
- Since the publication of the Brundtland Report in 1987, social inequality has been a topic of concern for the international development community. In the last decade, given the rise of global inequality the subject gained even more prominence as several international organizations (UNDP, World Bank, OECD) began emphasizing the negative impact of social inequality on human well-being. The Agenda 2030, the current development strategy adopted by the United Nations in 2015, elevated “reducing inequality” to one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (Goal No. 10). This paper connects with this growing concern over the impact of social inequalities on the opportunities for sustainable development. It proposes a research agenda for the social sciences to contribute to the debate by identifying the causal mechanisms that constitute the nexus between social inequalities and sustainable development. The focus on these intermediary steps is important in order to understand in more detail the barriers that social inequalities pose for more sustainable social, economic and ecological arrangements. This is especially necessary when it comes to designing or implementing strategies (political or technological) that aim to promote sustainable development, above all in highly unequal societies.
- Topic:
- Development, Economics, Inequality, Sustainable Development Goals, Sustainability, and Ecology
- Political Geography:
- Argentina, Latin America, and Chile
77. Inequality in the Twenty-First Century: A Review on Rockstars of the Realm
- Author:
- Martyna Berenika Linartas
- Publication Date:
- 01-2018
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Postgraduate Program on Sustainable Development and Social Inequalities in the Andean Region (trAndeS)
- Abstract:
- Not only has been economic inequality on the rise, but also the research agenda on inequality has moved decisively from the fringes to the center of policy and academic interest. This new concern and concentration in respect to this topic, data records, and methodological approaches have given rise to a vast amount of literature. It is for this reason that I review the most important recent works engaging with the origins of economic inequality – a debate which remains highly controversial. The usual categorization to explain the different storytelling – “to be or not to be neoliberal” – seems inappropriate. In this review on “the rockstars of the realm” (Thomas Piketty, Anthony Atkinson, Branko Milanovic and Walter Scheidel), I argue that the question and reason behind different approaches is instead: politics or the economy, which is the master that defines the space for action? The gradually established allegory of “the mirrored hourglass of inequality” illustrates the salience of this cleavage.
- Topic:
- International Political Economy, Political Economy, Capitalism, Inequality, Neoliberalism, and Economic Inequality
- Political Geography:
- Global Focus
78. Latin America’s Shifting Politics: Mexico’s Party System Under Stress
- Author:
- Kenneth F. Greene and Mariano Sanchez-Talanquer
- Publication Date:
- 10-2018
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Journal of Democracy
- Institution:
- National Endowment for Democracy
- Abstract:
- On 1 July 2018, leftist Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) won a decisive victory in Mexico’s presidential election, while a coalition led by AMLO’s National Regeneration Movement (MORENA) claimed majorities in both houses of Congress. AMLO’s calls for change resonated with voters frustrated by chronic poverty and inequality, rising violence, and corruption, and his win has called into question the stability of Mexico’s party system. Yet AMLO, who strove to assemble a “big tent” coalition, is ultimately more a product of the system than a disruptive outsider. Moreover, clear programmatic differences among Mexico’s major parties persist, as do the institutional advantages they enjoy. It is thus most probable that MORENA’s ascent augurs a recomposition of the party system rather than a process of partisan dealignment.
- Topic:
- Poverty, Elections, Democracy, Inequality, and Political Parties
- Political Geography:
- Latin America, North America, and Mexico
79. Do Trade and Investment (Agreements) Foster Development or Inequality?
- Author:
- Pierre Kohler and Francis Cripps
- Publication Date:
- 10-2018
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Global Development and Environment Institute at Tufts University
- Abstract:
- This paper proposes to revisit the debate on trade and investment agreements (TIAs), development and inequality, looking at the role of Global Value Chains (GVCs) and trans- national corporations (TNCs). It first presents stylized facts about trade and investment (agreements), declining global economic growth and rising inequality under the latest round of globalization. It then provides a long-run perspective on the mixed blessings of external opening, summarizing some key contributions of the mainstream literature, which are converging with long-standing research findings of more heterodox economists, and the eroding consensus today. Based on this stock-taking, it takes a fresh critical look at the TIAs-GVCs-TNCs nexus and their impact. Using data on value-added in trade and new firm-level data from the consolidated financial statements of the top 2000 TNCs going back to 1995, it examines whether the fragmentation of production along GVCs led to positive structural change or rather stimulated unsustainable trends in extractive and FIRE sectors. It then turns to the role of TNC-driven GVCs as a vehicle for economic concentration. Finally, it presents evidence linking TIAs and their correlates to rising inequality. Key findings include the fact that the ratio of top 2000 TNCs profits over revenues increased by 58 percent between 1995 and 2015. Moreover, the rise in top 2000 TNCs profits accounts for 69 percent of the 2.5 percentage points decline in the global labour income share between 1995 and 2015, with the correlation coefficient between annual changes in both variables as high as 0.82. The paper concludes by calling for a less ideological policy debate on TIAs, which acknowledges the mixed blessings of external financial and trade opening, especially their negative distributional impact and destabilizing macro-financial feedback effects, which both call for policy intervention. As an alternative to short-sighted protectionism, it further discusses possible options for anticipating undesirable effects arising from TIAs (e.g. rising carbon emissions, economic instability, inequality, etc.) and addressing those in TIAs themselves.
- Topic:
- Inequality, Investment, Trade, and transnationalism
- Political Geography:
- Global Focus
80. Citizens Engage Local Government: Social Mobilization
- Author:
- Neil Webster
- Publication Date:
- 12-2018
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Danish Institute for International Studies
- Abstract:
- The Policy Brief presents the findings and recommendations from a new study of social mobilisation activities in Nepal. The study suggests that the new local government bodies can make a significant difference in bringing better and more inclusive public services and in enabling stronger local economic development. Increased government budgets, better human resources and not least new local elections have changed the conditions for the population. But locally elected representatives need to engage more with citizens and citizens need to engage more with local government. The study suggests that recent experiences with social mobilisation and local governance in Nepal offer important lessons for leaving no one behind in the new context. This policy brief presents the case made by the study, its core findings and the recommendations these give rise to.
- Topic:
- Development, Poverty, Governance, and Inequality
- Political Geography:
- South Asia and Nepal