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32911. Political Disaffection and Democratization: History in New Democracies

Author:
Mariano Torcal
Publication Date:
10-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Kellogg Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
This paper focuses on the analysis of political disaffection. After discussing and defining this notion, the article shows that disaffection affects more widely, though not exclusively, third-wave democracies. The close link between levels of disaffection and the history of democratization in each country explains its higher incidence among new democracies. For this very reason, political disaffection could also run high among more established democracies. However, regardless of its incidence in each particular country, political disaffection reveals a distinctive nature in new democracies because of the absence of a democratic past in many of these cases. Thus, disaffection constitutes a key element to explain the lower propensity of citizens of new democracies to participate in every dimension of political activity.
Topic:
International Relations, Government, International Political Economy, and Politics
Political Geography:
Europe

32912. Informal Institutions and Comparative Politics: A Research Agenda

Author:
Gretchen Helmke and Steven Levitsky
Publication Date:
09-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Kellogg Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
During the 1990s, comparative research on political institutions focused primarily on formal rules. Yet recent studies suggest that an exclusive focus on formal rules is often insufficient, and that informal institutions, ranging from bureaucratic and legislative norms to clientelism and patrimonialism, often have a profound—and systematic—effect on political outcomes. Neglecting these informal institutions thus risks missing many of the “real” incentives and constraints that underlie political behavior. This article seeks to move informal institutions from the margins to the mainstream of comparative politics research. It develops an initial framework for studying informal institutions and, importantly, integrating them into comparative institutional analysis. In the conceptual realm, the article attempts to clarify what is meant by “informal institution” and then develops a typology of four patterns of formal-informal institutional interaction: complementary, accommodating, competing, and substitutive. In the theoretical realm, the article examines two issues that have been largely unexplored in the literature on informal institutions: the question of why and how informal institutions emerge, and the sources of informal institutions stability and change. A final section explores some of the practical challenges inherent in research on informal institutions, including issues of identification, measurement, and comparison.
Topic:
International Relations, Government, International Political Economy, and Politics

32913. La Posguerra Colombiana: Divagaciones Sobre la Venganza, La Justicia y la Reconciliación

Author:
Iván Orozco
Publication Date:
05-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Kellogg Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
This essay explores the relationships between vengeance, justice and reconciliation in contexts of war and transitions towards democracy, with a special emphasis and interest on the Colombian situation. It aims at easing, at least partly, the tensions facing peace makers and human rights activists who deal with the issue of “impunity” for atrocious crimes perpetrated by the state and other political organizations. It does so by distinguishing between vertical and horizontal processes of victimization and by distributing functions between peace makers and human rights activists in accord with this distinction. Based upon the premise that transitional Justice always entails a compromise between punishment, truth and reconciliation, the paper argues for a certain priority of punishment in contexts of vertical victimization and for a partial precedence of reconciliation in contexts of horizontal victimization. The notion of “gray areas” where the distinction between victims and perpetrators, best represented by certain kinds of “collaborators” and, “avengers” collapses, lies at the heart of the logics of forgiveness and reconciliation. After characterizing the Colombian conflict as a case of horizontal victimization—i.e., symmetric barbarism—the paper proposes a model of transitional justice for Colombia built on the primacy of truth and forgiveness for the inhabitants of gray zones and punishment for the engineers and managers of barbarism.
Topic:
Democratization and Government
Political Geography:
Colombia and South America

32914. Policy Making Under Divided Government in Mexico

Author:
Benito Nacif
Publication Date:
03-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Kellogg Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
Without a majority in the Congress, the president's party looses the ability to direct policy change. With only one-third of the vote, the president's party can prevent any initiative from turning into law. Individual opposition parties gain influence under divided government but lack the power to veto policy change. Contrary to what critics of Presidentialism have argued, political parties in presidential regimes do not lack in incentives to cooperate and build policymaking coalitions. Coalition building depends on the potential gains of cooperation that both the president's party and the opposition parties can capture if they modify the status quo. Two sufficient conditions for coalition building can be identified: an extreme position of the status quo, and the location of the president's party at the median position. This explains law change and the size of lawmaking coalitions under divided government in Mexico.
Topic:
Government and Politics
Political Geography:
North America and Mexico

32915. When Capital Cities Move: The Political Geography of Nation and State Building

Author:
Edward Schatz
Publication Date:
02-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Kellogg Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
Capital relocation (i.e., the physical move of the central state apparatus from one location to another) is an unusual tool for nation and state building. Yet, it is used more frequently than we might expect. Thus, when Kazakhstan shifted its capital city in 1997 from Almaty to Astana the move was unique in that post-Soviet region, but not as uncommon in other post-colonial cases. This paper examines the move of the capital in Kazakhstan suggests that this move was designed to address particularly acute nation-and state-building challenges. If the Kazakhstan experience seems strange in de-Sovietization, this tells us much about the different nature of post-Soviet space versus other post-colonial contexts. The relative in frequency of capital moves implies that the challenges of nation and state building in the ex-USSR—as daunting as they have proved to be—are generally not as acute as in those of other post-colonial contexts.
Topic:
Government and Politics
Political Geography:
Russia, Central Asia, and Kazakhstan

32916. ¿Crisis en el Sindicalismo en América Latina?

Author:
Francisco Zapata
Publication Date:
01-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Kellogg Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
Economic adjustment policies, trade liberalization, privatization of State enterprise and transformation of labor markets and labor market institutions relate to a process of transition between a model of import substitution industrialization and a "new economic model" characterized by the transnationalization of Latin American internal markets. All these elements contribute to change the premises of the organization of unions and to weaken their role in the negotiation of salaries and working conditions, their intervention in the regulation of employment and their participation in the administration of social security and health benefits. On the basis of the cases of Brazil, Chile and Mexico, the presentation will provide a context in which to pose the question of the crisis of Latin American labor and examine some of the alternatives that are available for trade unions in the new economic conditions.
Topic:
Industrial Policy and International Trade and Finance
Political Geography:
Brazil, South America, Central America, North America, Mexico, and Chile

32917. Individual Unemployment Accounts

Author:
Lawrence Brunner and Stephen M. Colarelli
Publication Date:
10-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Independent Institute
Abstract:
The unemployment compensation system in the United States is out of date and in trouble. The system has four fundamental problems: (1) during recessions, it often cannot meet its financial obligations without federal aid or deficit spending; (2) it is out of step with the structural and cultural realities of the modern workforce; (3) it encourages layoffs and unemployment; and (4) it operates in isolation from other programs related to employment and financial security. We propose an alternative unemployment policy based on the individual unemployment account (IUA). The IUA would be a mandatory and portable individual trust to which the employer and employee contributed. It shifts control and responsibility from the employer and the state government to the employer and the employee, and it is compatible with the realities of a twenty-first-century economy. We begin by providing an overview of how the current unemployment insurance system works and discussing its problems. We then describe an alternative unemployment policy based on IUAs and discuss the benefits of such a policy.
Topic:
Economics, Government, and Human Welfare
Political Geography:
United States

32918. ICAR Newsletter, Volume 13, Number 1

Author:
Dennis J.D. Sandole, Kevin Avruch, Jannie Botes, Sandra I. Cheldelin, Sara Cobb, Daniel Druckman, Ho-Won Jeong, Linda Johnston, Michelle LeBaron, Christopher Mitchell, Daniel Rothbart, Richard Rubenstein, and Wallace Warfield
Publication Date:
12-2003
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution at George Mason University
Abstract:
The Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution is commemorating a number of historic milestones in this academic year. Among the reasons for celebration is that ICAR recently surpassed the 20 year mark since the Center for Conflict Resolution, ICAR's forerunner, opened its doors. Moreover, ICAR's doctoral program in conflict analysis and resolution, in existence since 1988, now counts nearly 30 Ph.D.s on its roll.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, Security, Human Rights, and Peace Studies

32919. Space and Security Policy in Europe

Publication Date:
10-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Istituto Affari Internazionali
Abstract:
The evolution of a European space policy is encouraged by the recent EU decision to develop the Galileo project. This decision confirms the willingness to pursue a policy in the space technologies that goes beyond the national level, even if national visions are still predominant. A new security concept is emerging. The evolution of the foreign, security and defense policy (CFSP, ESDP) and the protection of population requires integrated approach.
Topic:
Security
Political Geography:
Europe and Middle East

32920. The Impact of the Iraq Crisis on Mediterranean Dynamics Implications for EU-Turkey Relations

Author:
Roberto Aliboni
Publication Date:
10-2003
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Istituto Affari Internazionali
Abstract:
This paper deals with the impact of the Iraqi crisis on Mediterranean dynamics. Four such dynamics are taken into consideration, assuming their particular significance: (a) the Israeli- Palestinian conflict and, more broadly, the opposition between Israel and the Arab-Muslim countries; (b) the stability of regional regimes and their transition to democracy; (c) the development of the EU Mediterranean policies and their relevance in the region; (d) Turkey's national and regional interests.
Topic:
Security
Political Geography:
Iraq, Turkey, Middle East, and Arabia