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202. Markets, Rights and Power: The Rise (and Fall?) of the Anglo-American Vision of World Order, 1975-2005
- Author:
- James Cronin
- Publication Date:
- 01-2008
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University
- Abstract:
- The so-called “special relationship” has been a fixture of international relations since at least 1940, but it seemed of declining significance during the 1960s and 1970s. It has nevertheless been revived, even refounded, since then; and it has served as the strategic base on which a new Anglo-American vision of the world has been articulated. At the core of the new connection, and the vision to which it gave rise, is a strong preference for the market and a set of foreign and domestic policies that privilege markets and see their expansion as critical to peace, prosperity and the expansion of democracy. This essay examines the origins of this new paradigm as a response to a set of interrelated crises in the 1970s, its elaboration and application during the 1980s under Reagan and Thatcher, its curious history since the end of the Cold War, and the way it evolved into the failed policies of the post-9/11 era.
- Topic:
- International Relations, Cold War, and Political Theory
- Political Geography:
- America and Europe
203. Hawk and handsaws: What can France learn from the "Nordic Model"?
- Author:
- Éloi Laurent and Jean-Paul Fitoussi
- Publication Date:
- 01-2008
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University
- Abstract:
- In this paper, we try to point out some important weaknesses of the contemporary French social-economic model, focusing on relevant elements of comparison with Nordic countries. In doing so, we rely on the idea that large and small countries differ in terms of growth and governance strategies. Hence, while a look at the “Nordic model” can be a good way to reveal of some of France's major problems, it is also an ambiguous template for reform. The paper starts by examining the question of growth strategy (macroeconomic management and structural reforms), then goes on to investigate governance strategy (trust, confidence, governance quality) and finally explores the issues of diversity and integration policy.
- Topic:
- Economics, Markets, Political Economy, and Political Theory
- Political Geography:
- Europe
204. Fragile States
- Author:
- Mark McGillivray, Wim Naudé, and Amelia U. Santos-Paulino
- Publication Date:
- 03-2008
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- United Nations University
- Abstract:
- Many of the world's poorest countries can be described as “fragile states” wherein governments cannot or will not provide an environment for households to reduce, mitigate or cope with poverty and other risks to well-being. Many of these states are in conflict or just emerging from conflict. The UNU-WIDER project “Fragility and Development” explored state fragility and its relationship to household vulnerability, noting that there is a lack of research on the economic dimensions of conflict, aid and development in fragile states. This research brief provides a summary of the various contributions made by this project, including case studies on Iraq, Kosovo, Palestine and Somalia. It also addresses a number of pertinent questions. When are states fragile? What are the costs that fragile states impose on their people and the international community? Should the sovereignty of fragile states be reconsidered? And how can aid flows to fragile states be made more effective?
- Topic:
- Government, Politics, Post Colonialism, and Political Theory
- Political Geography:
- Iraq, Palestine, Kosovo, and Somalia
205. Governance through Civil Society Engagement in Asia
- Author:
- Vesselin Popovski, G Shabbir Cheema, Cameron Lowry, and Mark Notaras
- Publication Date:
- 07-2008
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- United Nations University
- Abstract:
- Scholars and development practitioners recognize the centrality of governance capacity to achieve sustainable peace and development objectives, including the eradication of extreme poverty, access to services and livelihoods, promotion of economic growth, environmental protection and gender equality among others. With these in view, developing countries are emphasizing the need to improve governance systems and processes to promote people-centered sustainability. The United Nations, development banks, bilateral donors and private sector foundations have been supporting these efforts through governance assistance programs.
- Topic:
- Civil Society, Government, and Political Theory
- Political Geography:
- Asia
206. Organizing the (Un)Common
- Author:
- Crystal Bartolovich
- Publication Date:
- 11-2008
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Institute on Globalization and the Human Condition, McMaster University
- Abstract:
- Imagine this scene, if you will: orchestra members gather for a rehearsal. They chat amiably as they find seats and tune their instruments. Then they get down to work: in their last session they had decided to interpret a Vivaldi score and selected a Baroque specialist from among their number to serve as concert-master. In the meantime, everyone had carefully studied the score as a whole and brought with them ideas of how to work with it. To get the rehearsal underway, the concert-master talks to them a bit about the difficulties she sees in the piece and a lively discussion ensues about possible approaches. Together they make a preliminary general plan, and then the sections—wind, strings, etc—meet in their smaller groups to decide on precedence and strategies within each. Finally, the whole orchestra reassembles to play together. They seat themselves so that they can see each other—and begin. After a few bars, the newly-elected first chair violinist stops them and comments that the tempo seems off. To illustrate, he plays at a speed that seems more appropriate to him. A discussion ensues. Various musicians experiment: “how about this?” they ask. Finally, after trying out several options, they come to an agreement, and begin to play again at the new tempo. They watch each other closely as they play, responding to bodily cues and meaningful glances that help them collaborate effectively. At various points, a performer stops the group to make a suggestion or ask a question. A new discussion ensues, a new decision is made, and the orchestra tries again. It is slow, absorbing, challenging work. Sometimes group members will step out for a bit to seat themselves in the concert hall to listen from an audience position and comment on the effect of the performance as the orchestra works on, struggling at times through dissonance. Nerves can fray. Disagreements occasionally get heated, and a few personal antagonism s manifest themselves, but in the end, music is made: passionate, coherent, supremely skillful—and all without a conductor.
- Topic:
- Political Economy, Politics, and Political Theory
- Political Geography:
- Russia
207. The Evolution of Authoritarian Organization in Russia under Yeltsin and Putin
- Author:
- Lucan A. Way
- Publication Date:
- 12-2008
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Kellogg Institute for International Studies
- Abstract:
- This paper uses the case of Russia in the 1990s to demonstrate the utility of approaching transitional regimes not just as emerging democracies but as failed or unconsolidated authoritarian regimes. Even for many competitive or democratic regimes, it is essential to focus not just on the development of constitutions, civil society, or party systems, but on the success or failure of efforts to build institutions to eliminate opposition and maintain political control. I examine the evolution of state and party organizational strategies by Yeltsin and then Putin to consolidate power and the impact of these strategies on regime competitiveness. First, I demonstrate how state and party weakness under Yeltsin in the early 1990s promoted political contestation in important ways. In turn, stronger state and party organization under Putin undermined political competition. Next, I show how organizational strategies taken reflected a logic of learning by trial and error. The failure of initial organizational forms to reduce contestation led to adoption of new approaches, culminating in Putin's decision to create a highly centralized state structure and single ruling party.
- Topic:
- Civil Society, Democratization, Politics, and Political Theory
- Political Geography:
- Russia
208. Honor in International Relations
- Author:
- Shashank Joshi
- Publication Date:
- 12-2008
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- School of Diplomacy and International Relations, Seton Hall University
- Abstract:
- The concept of honor has an extensive and distinguished lineage in the study of international relations, although contemporary theory has lost sight of its importance. This study begins to remedy that situation. It does so by first setting out the place of honor in relation to a number of other related concepts, like prestige and status. It then outlines a theory of "negative honor," and situates this in relation to existing theoretical and empirical accounts of honor-related variables. This theory draws on extant work in social psychology, anthropology, economics, political science, and other fields, to set out hypotheses on why, how, and when political leaders of states might respond to certain kinds of challenges in a way that constitutes honor-seeking behavior. The second part of the paper tentatively sets out one way to empirically evaluate these hypotheses. While unsuccessful, this provides a blueprint for further research and a number of soon-to-be-implemented refinements.
- Topic:
- International Relations, Foreign Policy, Diplomacy, Economics, and Political Theory
- Political Geography:
- China
209. Colonial Land Tenure, Electoral Competition and Public Goods in India
- Author:
- Abhijit Banerjee and Lakshmi Iyer
- Publication Date:
- 02-2008
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, Harvard University
- Abstract:
- Social scientists have long emphasized the importance of institutions in nurturing economic growth and development. Douglass C. North defines institutions as the “rules of the game in a society” which limit the set of choices for individuals and argues that institutions, both formal ones such as laws and constitutions, as well as informal ones such as social norms, are important in determining the transaction costs of production and exchange, and thereby have an impact on economic growth. He goes on to discuss the mostly incremental nature of institutional change and highlights the difficulties in implementing radical institutional change. This line of argument therefore suggests that the impacts of institutions are likely to be felt for a very long time, and hence points to the need for detailed historical analysis over long periods in order to quantify the impact of institutions.
- Topic:
- Economics, Political Theory, and Social Stratification
- Political Geography:
- India and Asia
210. The Essential Role of Pair Matching in Cluster-Randomized Experiments, Application to the Mexican Universal Health Insurance
- Author:
- Kosuke Imai, Gary King, and Clayton Nall
- Publication Date:
- 01-2008
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, Harvard University
- Abstract:
- A basic feature of many field experiments is that investigators are only able to randomize clusters of individuals — such as households, communities, firms, medical practices, schools, or classrooms — even when the individual is the unit of interest. To recoup some of the resulting efficiency loss, many studies pair similar clusters and randomize treatment within pairs. Other studies (including almost all published political science field experiments) avoid pairing, in part because some prominent methodological articles claim to have identified serious problems with this “matched-pair cluster-randomized” design. We prove that all such claims about problems with this design are unfounded. We then show that the estimator for matched-pair designs favored in the literature is appropriate only in situations where matching is not needed. To address this problem without modeling assumptions, we generalize Neyman's (1923) approach and propose a simple new estimator with much improved statistical properties. We also introduce methods to cope with individual-level noncompliance, which most existing approaches assume away. We show that from the perspective of, among other things, bias, efficiency, power, or robustness, and in large samples or small, pairing should be used in cluster-randomized experiments whenever feasible; failing to do so is equivalent to discarding a considerable fraction of one's data. We develop these techniques in the context of a randomized evaluation we are conducting of the Mexican Universal Health Insurance Program.
- Topic:
- Health, Political Theory, and Socialism/Marxism
- Political Geography:
- Latin America