Number of results to display per page
Search Results
72. Estimating Income / Expenditure Differences across Populations: New Fun with Old Engel's Law
- Author:
- Lant Pritchett and Marla Spivack
- Publication Date:
- 08-2013
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Center for Global Development
- Abstract:
- How much larger are the consumption possibilities of an urban US household with per capita expenditures of 1,000 US dollars per month than a rural Indonesian household with per capita expenditures of 1,000,000 Indonesian Rupiah per month? Consumers in different markets face widely different consumption possibilities and prices and hence the conversion of incomes or expenditures to truly comparable units of purchasing power is extremely difficult. We propose a simple supplement to existing purchasing power adjusted currency conversions.
- Topic:
- Development, Economics, Political Economy, Political Theory, Social Stratification, and Socialism/Marxism
- Political Geography:
- United States and Southeast Asia
73. Corporate Social Responsibility when Ethical Beliefs and State of Public Governance vary
- Author:
- Jens Chr.1 Andvig
- Publication Date:
- 08-2013
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Norwegian Institute of International Affairs
- Abstract:
- This is a conceptual paper that seeks to dig out some of the distinct understandings of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and relate them to basic economic and ethical choices and theories. Most of the discussion is focused on enterprise choice of tax payment in a context where both enterprise production activities as well as their tax payment may be allocated between constituencies where the state of public governance and poverty levels may differ widely. The presentation is non-formal, but mostly stylized and empirical information is mostly presented in the footnotes.
- Topic:
- Economics, International Trade and Finance, Markets, Poverty, Political Theory, and Governance
74. Informal Institutions in Autocracies: Analytical Perspectives and the Case of the Chinese Communist Party
- Author:
- Patrick Köllner
- Publication Date:
- 08-2013
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- German Institute of Global and Area Studies
- Abstract:
- Analyses of the shape and functioning of systems of political rule need to address informal institutions, which exist alongside and can relate to formal institutions in various ways. In this paper, I first discuss some analytical foundations of the study of such institutions. I then suggest that a focus on political regimes – understood as the configuration of formal and informal institutions shaping and reflecting the access to and the exercise of political power – can be particularly useful for analysing the shape and functioning of autocracies. Finally, I use such a regime focus to study the Chinese Communist Party and its leadership succession process, which is characterised by increasing institutionalisation and complementary as well as substitutive relations between formal and informal institutions.
- Topic:
- Communism, Political Economy, Political Theory, and Governance
- Political Geography:
- China and Israel
75. Civil wars: a very short introduction
- Author:
- Florence Gaub
- Publication Date:
- 10-2013
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- European Union Institute for Security Studies
- Abstract:
- The civil war in Syria is not the first of its kind to be extraordinarily complex, violent and difficult to settle. Lasting ten times longer than international wars (on average 7 years), civil wars are the longest, and tragically, the bloodiest of all forms of human conflict. Although 2% of countries in the world are undergoing some form of civil war at any given time, the phenomenon is less studied than international wars – in part because it is so much more complex to understand, prevent and bring to an end, as the Syrian example shows.
- Topic:
- Conflict Resolution, Political Violence, Arms Control and Proliferation, Human Welfare, Peace Studies, War, Political Theory, Armed Struggle, and Counterinsurgency
- Political Geography:
- Syria
76. What Drives Interstate Balancing? Estimations of Domestic and Systemic Factors
- Author:
- Pascal Abb
- Publication Date:
- 10-2013
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- German Institute of Global and Area Studies
- Abstract:
- This paper reviews contending realist assumptions about domestic and systemic impulses for balancing behavior, derives a set of corresponding hypotheses for state actions and submits them to a statistical large‐n analysis for testing. A total of 18 highly conflict‐prone dyads of states are observed over lengthy periods of time in order to gather data for a regression analysis of the effects of different impulses on both the external and internal balancing behavior of the weaker states. In accordance with the results, it is argued that domestic (or unit‐level) factors are highly important in explaining the scope of balancing and often exert a stronger influence than do power gaps between states. As moderating factors, they are especially crucial in clarifying apparent cases of over‐ and underbalancing.
- Topic:
- Economics, Political Theory, Power Politics, and Governance
77. America's Patriotic Assimilation System Is Broken
- Author:
- John Fonte and Althea Nagai
- Publication Date:
- 04-2013
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Hudson Institute
- Abstract:
- Quantitative analysis of Harris Interactive Survey reveals that the patriotic assimilation of immigrants to American identity is weak and ambivalent. As Congress debates immigration reform legislation many argue that "our immigration system is broken and needs to be fixed." Perhaps. This quantitative analysis of Harris Interactive survey data however (originally commissioned by the Bradley Foundation Project on American National Identity) suggests that our patriotic assimilation system is also broken and needs to be fixed.
- Topic:
- Civil Society, Political Theory, and Immigration
- Political Geography:
- America and Germany
78. Walking a Thin Line: The Role of Think Tanks in Arab Transitions and Foreign Support
- Author:
- Pol Morillas
- Publication Date:
- 02-2013
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- IEMed/EuroMeSCo
- Abstract:
- This policy brief reflects upon the results of the workshop “Rethinking the Role of Think Tanks and Research Institutes and EU Policies towards the Mediterranean”, held in Madrid on 14th December 2012 and organised in collaboration with Real Instituto Elcano and FRIDE. It argues that Arab think tanks can shape political transformations in the region by informing, convening and advocating democratic reform. It also presents a set of recommendations for external powers such as the European Union in support of Arab think tanks.
- Topic:
- Civil Society, Democratization, Education, and Political Theory
- Political Geography:
- Europe, Middle East, and Arab Countries
79. The Evolving Ruling Bargain in the Middle East
- Author:
- Center for International and Regional Studies
- Publication Date:
- 01-2013
- Content Type:
- Special Report
- Institution:
- Center for International and Regional Studies: CIRS
- Abstract:
- Middle East experts, scholars, and laymen were equally caught off guard by the startling political upheaval that rippled through the Arab world like a contagious disease in early 2011. While the situation is still in flux and one cannot draw conclusions as to what will ultimately emerge, the unexpected nature of these Arab uprisings has certainly provoked debate around some of the existing assumptions about the domestic politics of the region. Over the years, a robust body of scholarship has developed focusing on the durability of authoritarian rule in the Middle East, and the remarkable resilience of the regimes in power. Much of this analysis has been based on the rigorous study of the patterns of socio-political behavior in the Middle East, both at the regional level of analysis as well as that of individual states, and, in particular, on the carefully crafted “ruling bargains” between regimes and their citizens.
- Topic:
- International Affairs and Political Theory
- Political Geography:
- Middle East
80. Gendering Global Conflict: Toward a Feminist Theory of War
- Author:
- Laura Sjoberg
- Publication Date:
- 08-2013
- Content Type:
- Book
- Institution:
- Columbia University Press
- Abstract:
- Laura Sjoberg positions gender and gender subordination as key factors in the making and fighting of global conflict. Through the lens of gender, she examines the meaning, causes, practices, and experiences of war, building a more inclusive approach to the analysis of violent conflict between states. Considering war at the international, state, substate, and individual levels, Sjoberg's feminist perspective elevates a number of causal variables in war decision-making. These include structural gender inequality, cycles of gendered violence, state masculine posturing, the often overlooked role of emotion in political interactions, gendered understandings of power, and states' mistaken perception of their own autonomy and unitary nature. Gendering Global Conflict also calls attention to understudied spaces that can be sites of war, such as the workplace, the household, and even the bedroom. Her findings show gender to be a linchpin of even the most tedious and seemingly bland tactical and logistical decisions in violent conflict. Armed with that information, Sjoberg undertakes the task of redefining and reintroducing critical readings of war's political, economic, and humanitarian dimensions, developing the beginnings of a feminist theory of war.
- Topic:
- International Relations, Gender Issues, War, International Security, and Political Theory
- Political Geography:
- Global Focus
- Publication Identifier:
- 9780231520003
- Publication Identifier Type:
- ISBN