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502. How NATO Is Adapting to a More Dangerous World
- Author:
- Rose Gottemoeller
- Publication Date:
- 04-2017
- Content Type:
- Commentary and Analysis
- Institution:
- The Ambassadors Review
- Abstract:
- NATO is adapting rapidly to an evolving security situation by strengthening our deterrence and defense, and by working with our partners to project stability be
- Topic:
- International Affairs
- Political Geography:
- Global Focus
503. The Accountability Sequence: From De-jure to De-facto Constraints on Governments
- Author:
- Valeriya Mechkova, Anna Lührmann, and Staffan I. Lindberg
- Publication Date:
- 11-2017
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Varieties of Democracy Institute (V-Dem)
- Abstract:
- Accountability is one of the cornerstones of good governance. Establishing accountable governments is a top priority on the international development agenda. Yet, scholars and democracy practitioners know little about how accountability mechanisms develop and thus can be supported by international and national actors. The present study tackles the questions of how, and in what sequence accountability sub-types develop. We consider not only vertical (elections and political parties) and horizontal accountability (legislature, judiciary and other oversight bodies), but also diagonal accountability (civil society and media) in both their de-jure and the de-facto dimensions. By utilizing novel sequencing methods, we study their sequential relationships in 173 countries from 1900 to the present with data from the new V-Dem dataset. Considering the long-term dimensions of institution building, this study indicates that most aspects of de-facto vertical accountability precede other forms of accountability. Effective institutions of horizontal accountability – such as vigorous parliaments and independent high courts – evolve rather late in the sequence and build on progress in many other areas.
- Topic:
- International Affairs and Governance
- Political Geography:
- Global Focus
504. Eroding Regimes: What, Where, and When?
- Author:
- Michael Coppedge
- Publication Date:
- 11-2017
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Varieties of Democracy Institute (V-Dem)
- Abstract:
- The political world lately seems to be filled with unexpected erosions of democracy. What is the most useful way to describe these phenomena? Do they all belong to a common syndrome? Certainly there are different degrees of erosion, but are there also different types? How common are such erosions in the world today? Is this a new phenomenon, or are there close parallels with events in the past? If we detect early warning signs of erosion, how concerned should we be that it will continue and culminate in the breakdown of democracy? This paper argues that there are two distinct erosion paths. First, there is a classic path of growing repression of speech, media, assembly, and civil liberties, combined with deteriorating political discourse. The second path involves the concentration of power in the executive at the expense of the courts and the legislature, similar to what Guillermo O’Donnell called “delegative democracy,” which entails the erosion of horizontal accountability. Venezuela emerges as the most extreme and most fully articulated instance of erosion along this second path
- Topic:
- International Affairs and Regime Change
- Political Geography:
- Global Focus
505. Gender Diversity on High Courts
- Author:
- Nancy et al Arrington
- Publication Date:
- 11-2017
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Varieties of Democracy Institute (V-Dem)
- Abstract:
- ncreasing the diversity of political institutions is believed to improve the quality of political discourse and, subsequently, the quality of political outcomes. Moreover, the presence of diverse officials in positions of power signals the openness and fairness of political institutions. These benets of diversity should be particularly acute in the judiciary, where judges are tasked with the symbolically and substantively powerful duty of interpreting and defending constitutional values. Extant scholarship suggests that well-designed appointment process can promote diversity without explicitly gendered goals, much less quotas. If correct, these proposals raise the possibility of promoting greater diversity without having to resolve politically charged debates about quotas. Yet, scholars disagree about the effects of particular design choices. Worse, estimating causal effects of institutions in observational data is particularly difficult. We develop a research design linked to the empirical implications of existing theoretical arguments to evaluate the effect of institutional change on the gender diversity of peak courts cross-nationally. Speciffically, we consider the effect of an increase (or a decrease) in the number of actors involved in the appointment process. We find mixed results for any existing claim about the role of appointment institutions play in increasing diversity. Yet we also find that any institutional change seems to cause an increase in the gender diversity of peak courts.
- Topic:
- Gender Issues and International Affairs
- Political Geography:
- Global Focus
506. Multiple Measurements, Elusive Agreement, and Unstable Outcomes in the Study of Regime Change
- Author:
- Hans Lueders and Ellen Lust
- Publication Date:
- 11-2017
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Varieties of Democracy Institute (V-Dem)
- Abstract:
- This comprehensive analysis of regime change indicators reveals that problems of conceptualization and measurement are major reasons why current research fails to draw compelling conclusions that foster cumulative knowledge. The paper first argues that even though the literature discusses the conceptualization of regime types at length, there is little attention to defining regime change. Furthermore, quantitative studies of regime change largely elide conceptual and measurement challenges. Second, although indicators of regime type are highly correlated, agreement between indicators of regime change is extremely low. Third, focal points such as elections and coups drive agreement among these indicators, suggesting that such measures often reflect notable events instead of regime change per se. Finally, a robustness check of nine articles on regime change published in top journals demonstrates that findings are often not robust to alternative indicators, implying that indicator choice influences the results of quantitative studies.
- Topic:
- International Affairs
- Political Geography:
- Global Focus
507. State Capacity, Incumbent Turnover and Democratic Change in Authoritarian Elections
- Author:
- Carolien van Ham and Brigitte Seim
- Publication Date:
- 09-2017
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Varieties of Democracy Institute (V-Dem)
- Abstract:
- Under what conditions do elections lead to democratization or conversely, sustain authoritarianism? State capacity may be a crucial intervening variable affecting the democratizing power of elections in authoritarian regimes. In regimes with limited state capacity, manipulating elections, co-opting elites, and repressing opposition is more difficult than in regimes with more extensive state capacity, rendering turnover in elections more likely in weak states. Yet, while increasing the chances of turnover, if the new incumbent has limited capacity to deliver public services and make policy changes after coming to power, democratic change is unlikely to be sustainable. Hence, state capacity may be a double-edged sword. This paper tests these expectations using Varieties of Democracy data for 460 elections in 110 authoritarian regimes from 1974 to 2012, and finds that state capacity is negatively associated with incumbent turnover but positively associated with democratic change after incumbent turnover in electoral authoritarian regimes.
- Topic:
- International Affairs
- Political Geography:
- Global Focus
508. Information and Revolution
- Author:
- Stephen Lloyd Wilson
- Publication Date:
- 06-2017
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Varieties of Democracy Institute (V-Dem)
- Abstract:
- How does the Internet affect authoritarian regimes? This article argues that while the Internet has made mass mobilization easier than ever, its spread has also counter-intuitively allowed savvy authoritarian regimes to become more stable than ever. For the population, higher technical literacy means a demonstrable decrease in transaction costs and thus a greater incidence of collective action. However, higher regime technical literacy gives authoritarians the capacity to monitor their populations and solve the dictator’s information problem, thus keeping their populations satisfied without needing to liberalize. The article compiles a new and original data set of measures of technical literacy across all states since the year 2000, and used a factor analysis approach to construct latent measures of population and regime technical literacy for all country-years. A large-n, cross-country empirical approach finds strong evidence of the theorized relationship between technical literacy and revolution.
- Topic:
- International Affairs
- Political Geography:
- Global Focus
509. The Autocratic Trust Bias: Politically Sensitive Survey Items and Self-censorship
- Author:
- Marcus Tannenberg
- Publication Date:
- 06-2017
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Varieties of Democracy Institute (V-Dem)
- Abstract:
- Because of the perceived risk of repression some survey questions are likely sensitive in more autocratic countries while less so in more democratic countries. Yet, survey data on potentially sensitive topics are frequently used in comparative research despite concerns about comparability. In a novel approach to test the comparability of politically sensitive questions I employ a multilevel-analysis with more than 80 000 respondents in 36 African countries to test for systematic bias when the survey respondents believe (fear) that the government has commissioned the survey, as opposed to an independent research institute. The findings indicate that fear of the government induces a substantial and significant bias on questions regarding the citizen-state relationship in more autocratic countries, but not in more democratic countries. This has practical implications for the comparative use of survey data.
- Topic:
- International Affairs
- Political Geography:
- Global Focus
510. The V-Dem Party Institutionalization Index: a new global indicator (1900-2015)
- Author:
- Fernando Bizzarro, Allen Hicken, and Dari Self
- Publication Date:
- 06-2017
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Varieties of Democracy Institute (V-Dem)
- Abstract:
- Because levels of party institutionalization may affect the availability of good data, existing datasets have limited reliability and coverage. To overcome these problems, we introduce the V-Dem Party Institutionalization Index, the first global country-level index on the issue. It covers – as of May 2017 – 173 countries for 116 years (1900-2016). Its geographical coverage, timespan, and conceptual reach are larger than any existing alternative. We offer an additive index that measures the scope and depth of party institutionalization in a country every year. Scope is measured by the proportion of parties that reach a threshold of minimal institutionalization, while the linkages party establish with the masses and the elites define the depth. Exploring a set of well-known cases, we show that: the index has extensive face validity, is consistent across regime types, and is comparable to other established indicators of institutionalization.
- Topic:
- International Affairs
- Political Geography:
- Global Focus