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201. Rewarding allegiance: Political alignment and fiscal outcomes in local government

Author:
Christa N. Brunnschweiler and Samuel K. Obeng
Publication Date:
07-2023
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Nottingham Interdisciplinary Centre for Economic and Political Research (NICEP)
Abstract:
We examine how local governments’ political alignment with central government affects subnational fiscal outcomes. In theory, alignment could be rewarded for example with more intergovernmental transfers, or swing voters in unaligned constituencies could be targeted instead. We analyze data from Ghana, which has a complex decentralized system that seeks to preclude political alignment effects. District Chief Executives (DCEs) are centrally appointed local administrators loyal to the ruling party, while district Members of Parliament (MPs) may belong to another party. A formula for central transfer distribution aims to limit the influence of party politics. Using a new dataset for 1994-2018 and a close election regression discontinuity design we find that despite this system, there is evidence of politically-motivated local fiscal outcomes. Aligned districts receive lower transfers and have lower district expenditure and internally generated funds, indicating swing-voter targeting. Results suggest that district fragmentations have weakened these effects. We also show strong electoral cycle effects, with mid-term peaks in fiscal outcomes.
Topic:
Elections, Fiscal Policy, Decentralization, and Local Government
Political Geography:
Africa and Ghana

202. How does democracy cause growth?

Author:
Vanessa Boese-Schlosser and Markus Eberhardt
Publication Date:
07-2023
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Nottingham Interdisciplinary Centre for Economic and Political Research (NICEP)
Abstract:
Recent empirical work has established that ‘democracy causes growth’. In this paper, we determine the underlying institutions which drive this relationship using data from the Varieties of Democracy project. We sketch how incentives and opportunities as well as the distribution of political power shaped by underlying institutions, in combination with the extent of the market, endogenously form an ‘economic blueprint for growth’, which likely differs across countries. We take our model to the data by adopting novel heterogeneous treatment effects estimators, which allow for non-parallel trends and selection into institutional change, and run horse races between underlying institutions. We find that freedom of expression, clean elections, and legislative executive constraints are the foremost drivers of long-run development. Erosion of these institutions, as witnessed recently in many countries, may jeopardise the perpetual growth effect of becoming a liberal democracy we establish for the post-WWII period.
Topic:
Development, Elections, Democracy, and Economic Growth
Political Geography:
Global Focus

203. Black empowerment and white mobilization: The effects of the Voting Rights Act

Author:
Andrea Bernini, Giovanni Facchini, Marco Tabellini, and Cecilia Testa
Publication Date:
07-2023
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Nottingham Interdisciplinary Centre for Economic and Political Research (NICEP)
Abstract:
The 1965 Voting Rights Act (VRA) paved the road to Black empowerment. How did southern whites respond? Leveraging newly digitized data on county-level voter registration rates by race between 1956 and 1980, and exploiting pre-determined variation in exposure to the federal intervention, we document that the VRA increases both Black and white political participation. Consistent with the VRA triggering counter mobilization, the surge in white registrations is concentrated where Black political empowerment is more tangible and salient due to the election of African Americans in county commissions. Additional analysis suggests that the VRA has long-lasting negative effects on whites’ racial attitudes.
Topic:
Race, Elections, Discrimination, Legislation, Voting Rights, Mobilization, Empowerment, and Political Participation
Political Geography:
North America and United States of America

204. Plebiscitarian Origins and Temptations of Liberal Democracy

Author:
Greg Yudin
Publication Date:
11-2023
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Liechtenstein Institute on Self-Determination, Princeton University
Abstract:
The current crisis of representative democracy has been vigorously addressed within political theory over the last decade. Both liberals and the left generally agree that the growing disengagement and estrangement from politics, low trust in representatives, and the rise of right-wing politicians have something to do with the dysfunction of representative democracy. At this point, it is safe to assert that there is an understanding that representative democracy is ailing –– an idea shared by a much wider audience in the liberal-democratic countries. Calls for either reforming the system or abandoning unrealistic hopes are increasingly pressing. What should replace the broken model? Arguably, the most appealing plea is to substitute representative democracy with “direct democracy,” understood as delegating decisions to the popular vote. If elites are corrupt, let the people rule! How this can be done seems pretty obvious, too: let’s take a vote and learn the will of the people! This concept has recently become an important agenda for political parties and movements worldwide and made them successful. Examples include the Five Star Movement in Italy, Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s campaign in Ukraine, and the Indignados Movement in Spain. In the United States, an initiative to institute national referenda in the Constitution enjoys considerable support: according to the polls (which are themselves a way to gauge swiftly the popular will), it is consistently approved by 2/3 of Americans.
Topic:
Politics, Elections, and Democracy
Political Geography:
Global Focus

205. Palestinian Democracy: Examining Barriers to Democratic Transition and How to Overcome Them

Author:
Pal-Think for Strategic Studies
Publication Date:
04-2023
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Pal-Think For Strategic Studies
Abstract:
The paper examines the obstacles to democracy in Palestine, most notably the Israeli occupation, which has distorted the structures of Palestinian society and its desired state and impeded the elections. In addition, the Palestinian division has also led to the absence of national consensus on the time and manner of holding the elections. The paper also presented internal and external factors obstructing the conduct of democratic transitions in Palestine. The paper concluded with a set of policy proposals to address these obstacles, such as holding local and general elections, turning to the international community to help the Palestinians build their democracy and hold elections, and consolidating the values of democracy through a social and political upbringing in the emerging Palestinian generation.
Topic:
Politics, Elections, Democracy, Occupation, and Democratic Transitions
Political Geography:
Middle East, Israel, Palestine, and Gaza

206. Governing in Hard Times Conference: The UK Economy

Author:
Colm Murphy, Seema Malhotra, Diane Coyle, and Jeevun Sandher
Publication Date:
06-2023
Content Type:
Video
Institution:
Mile End Institute, Queen Mary University of London
Abstract:
In the first of four thematic sessions on the urgent political and policy questions facing British politics ahead of the next general election, this panel considered how a centre-left government could maintain macroeconomic credibility, while also achieving its policy goals. It considered what institutional and political relationships it would have to renew - with trade unions, organised business, the City, and others - the appeal of 'Bidenomics' and how radical the next Chancellor of the Exchequer will be able to be. Chair: Dr Colm Murphy (Deputy Director of the Mile End Institute) Panel: Seema Malhotra MP (MP for Feltham and Heston and Shadow Minister for Business and Consumers) Professor Diane Coyle (Co-Director of the Bennett Institute for Public Policy at the University of Cambridge) Dr Jeevun Sandher (Labour Party Parliamentary Candidate for Loughborough)
Topic:
Politics, Elections, Economy, and Macroeconomics
Political Geography:
United Kingdom and Europe

207. In Conversation with the Shadow Foreign Secretary, David Lammy MP

Author:
David Lammy and Marie Le Conte
Publication Date:
03-2023
Content Type:
Video
Institution:
Mile End Institute, Queen Mary University of London
Abstract:
On Thursday 9 March, the Mile End Institute welcomed the Shadow Foreign Secretary, David Lammy MP, to ‪@QMUL‬. In a wide-ranging conversation with Marie Le Conte, David reflected on his early life, becoming the first black Briton to graduate from Harvard Law School and over two decades as the MP for Tottenham. He also took stock of the ongoing war in Ukraine, outlined his vision for the UK's foreign policy if the Labour Party win the next election, and reflected on being one of the few members of the Shadow Cabinet to have served in government before.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Government, Elections, Domestic Politics, and Labour Party
Political Geography:
United Kingdom and Europe

208. Breaking the Glass Chamber: Women's Political Careers in Britain and Around the World

Author:
Lyndsey Jenkins, Minna Cowper-Coles, and Sofia Collignon
Publication Date:
01-2023
Content Type:
Video
Institution:
Mile End Institute, Queen Mary University of London
Abstract:
2022 marks a series of historic anniversaries for women in British politics. Forty years since the election of Harriet Harman, the Mother of the House; thirty-five years since the election of the first Black woman MP, Diane Abbott; thirty years since the first woman, Betty Boothroyd, was elected Speaker of the House; and twenty-five years since the election of more than a hundred women MPs for the Labour Party. At its landmark Breaking the Glass Chamber conference from 15 to 17 September 2022, the Mile End Institute brought together historians, political scientists, and sociologists to explore what politics meant to and for women in the second half of the twentieth century. In this video, introduced by Dr Lyndsey Jenkins, Dr Sofia Collignon talks to Dr Minna Cowper-Coles about her comparative research on the motivations, challenges, and experiences of women political leaders around the world. Sofia highlights that women leaders are typically highly professionalised, highly skilled, and highly experienced, and notes that 63 per cent have a Masters degree or PhD.
Topic:
Elections, Women, Domestic Politics, and Representation
Political Geography:
United Kingdom, Europe, and Global Focus

209. Breaking the Glass Chamber: Mary Honeyball on the life and times of Edith Summerskill MP

Author:
Mary Honeyball
Publication Date:
01-2023
Content Type:
Video
Institution:
Mile End Institute, Queen Mary University of London
Abstract:
2022 marks a series of historic anniversaries for women in British politics. Forty years since the election of Harriet Harman, the Mother of the House; thirty-five years since the election of the first Black woman MP, Diane Abbott; thirty years since the first woman, Betty Boothroyd, was elected Speaker of the House; and twenty-five years since the election of more than a hundred women MPs for the Labour Party. At its landmark Breaking the Glass Chamber conference from 15 to 17 September 2022, the Mile End Institute brought together historians, political scientists, and sociologists to explore what politics meant to and for women in the second half of the twentieth century. In this video, the former Labour MEP, Mary Honeyball, presents her new biography of Edith Summerskill, the 'Pioneering Feminist Labour MP', who served in Clement Attlee's government and oversaw the creation of the National Insurance Scheme. Mary discusses how Summerskill's campaigning was instrumental in promoting women's causes throughout her life and reflects on her achievements in securing equal rights for housewives and divorced women over property.
Topic:
Politics, History, Elections, Women, and Domestic Politics
Political Geography:
United Kingdom and Europe

210. Breaking the Glass Chamber: Keynote by Khursheed Wadia - 'Becoming Muslim women becoming political'

Author:
Khursheed Wadia
Publication Date:
01-2023
Content Type:
Video
Institution:
Mile End Institute, Queen Mary University of London
Abstract:
2022 marks a series of historic anniversaries for women in British politics. Forty years since the election of Harriet Harman, the Mother of the House; thirty-five years since the election of the first Black woman MP, Diane Abbott; thirty years since the first woman, Betty Boothroyd, was elected Speaker of the House; and twenty-five years since the election of more than a hundred women MPs for the Labour Party. At its landmark Breaking the Glass Chamber conference from 15 to 17 September 2022, the Mile End Institute brought together historians, political scientists, and sociologists to explore what politics meant to and for women in the second half of the twentieth century. In this video, Professor Khursheed Wadia delivers a keynote lecture, entitled 'Becoming Muslim women becoming political'. Khursheed analyses women in the British Muslim community's political engagement through the postwar period and describes a 'hidden history' of Muslim women's activism on picket lines, in anti-poverty campaigns and in community networks. She argues that academics should pay more attention to community activism to fully capture the diversity of women's political engagement in the second half of the twentieth century.
Topic:
Elections, Women, Political Participation, Activism, and Muslims
Political Geography:
United Kingdom and Europe