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1021. Addicted to the Physician Payment "Fix"

Author:
Bryan E. Dowd
Publication Date:
11-2009
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research
Abstract:
Congressional mismanagement of Medicare is a bipartisan project in which Democrats and Republicans set aside the rancor of party politics and ideological differences and work hand in hand to run the program into the ground. The latest attempts to "fix" physician payments by replacing a sizeable cut in Medicare fees with a small increase provide the evidence.
Topic:
Debt, Health, Markets, and Politics

1022. In Memoriam—Irving Kristol

Author:
Christopher DeMuth
Publication Date:
10-2009
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research
Abstract:
AEI senior fellow Irving Kristol—godfather of the neoconservative movement and one of the towering intellectual figures of the twentieth century—died peacefully on September 18 at the age of eighty-nine. Mr. Kristol's connection to AEI began long before he became a full-time scholar at the Institute in 1988. In 1973, he gave the first of AEI's Distinguished Lectures on the Bicentennial of the United States. The lectures were delivered at historic sites around the country, and Mr. Kristol's lecture, “The American Revolution as a Successful Revolution,” was given at St. John's Church in Washington, where many of the nation's presidents have worshipped. We reprint excerpts from it below after a tribute to him written by Christopher DeMuth, the D. C. Searle Senior Fellow at AEI.
Topic:
Cold War, Politics, International Affairs, and Political Theory
Political Geography:
United States and Washington

1023. Empirische Deliberationsforschung

Author:
Gary S. Schaal and Claudia Ritzi
Publication Date:
09-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies
Abstract:
The theory of deliberative democracy has strongly influenced philosophical work on democracy over the past twenty years. On at least a theoretical basis, deliberative democracy offers a promising way to improve both the legitimacy and the quality of political decisions at once. This prospect has motivated political scientists and politicians all over the world to implement and analyze a multitude of deliberative forums at all levels of the democratic decision-making process. But the question remains: Can real deliberations fulfill the promise of the theory? Empirical research on deliberation may provide the answer. In our paper, we first discuss the challenges that such studies present to deliberative theory. We then take a critical look at the empirical work that has been done so far on verifying deliberative democratic theory. Comparing different studies on this topic can be quite a frustrating experience, because their results tend to be disparate and sometimes even contradictory. We argue that in order to improve this situation, empirical scientists should pay more attention to the subjects of deliberation. For example, we believe that one of the keys to a successful deliberative process lies in how the topics of the discourse are framed.
Topic:
Democratization, Politics, and Political Theory

1024. Representative versus Responsible Government

Author:
Peter Mair
Publication Date:
09-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies
Abstract:
The changing circumstances in which parties compete in contemporary democracies, coupled with the changing circumstances in which governments now govern, have led to a widening of the traditional gap between representative and responsible government. Although it is generally seen as desirable that parties in government are both representative and responsible, these two characteristics are now becoming increasingly incompatible. Prudence and consistency in government, as well as accountability, require conformity to external constraints and legacies. This means more than just answering to public opinion. While these external constraints and legacies have become weightier in recent years, public opinion, in its turn, has become harder and harder for governments to read. Hence we see the growing incompatibility. Meanwhile, because of changes in their organizations and in their relationship with civil society, parties are no longer in a position to bridge or “manage” this gap, or even to persuade voters to accept it as a necessary element in political life. This growing incompatibility is one of the principal sources of the democratic malaise that confronts many Western democracies today.
Topic:
Democratization, Government, Politics, and Governance

1025. The Emergence of the 'Government's Perspective on the Kurdish Issue

Author:
Ümit Cizre
Publication Date:
10-2009
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Insight Turkey
Institution:
SETA Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research
Abstract:
The AK Party's chronic 'political insecurity' may have passed a threshold as the ruling party resurfaces as an actor taking advantage of its pro-European Union sentiments to begin a 'grand negotiation' with Turkey's thus-far publicly shunned Kurdish leaders after decades of bloodshed. This new window of opportunity could not have emerged without the explosion of the Ergenekon incident, which has offered a persuasive critique of the closed, dark, intolerant and secret communities friendly with the military bureaucracy and state officials but insidiously devoted to destroying the government. In the post-Ergenekon era, the new democratic opening represents a significant departure from a military solution to the Kurdish issue which has blocked civilian imaginations by declaring the Kurdish identity demands as a security threat to the officially proscribed Turkish identity. The real issue at stake now for the AK Party government is a redefinition of the locus and space where the phenomenon of real political power takes place in Turkey.
Topic:
Government and Politics
Political Geography:
Turkey and Kurdistan

1026. EU and GCC Strategic Interests in the Mediterranean: Convergence and Divergence

Author:
Roberto Aliboni
Publication Date:
12-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Istituto Affari Internazionali
Abstract:
While sharing a number of interests in the Mediterranean and Middle East region, the EU and the Gulf Cooperation Council have pursued different patterns of strategic concerns and relations. Nevertheless, a potential for developing common EUGCC perspectives exists, as the Mediterranean and Middle East region are both part of the EU and the GCC neighbourhood and are a common location for investment. Diplomatic convergence on a number of issues could contribute to improving security and political cooperation as well, despite the fact that this is stymied by divergent views on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Topic:
Security, International Cooperation, and Politics
Political Geography:
Europe, Middle East, Israel, Palestine, and Arabia

1027. Leadership in the 21st Century: CNN White House Correspondent Suzanne Malveaux '91JRN Speaks with Columbia Student Leaders

Author:
Suzanne Malveaux
Publication Date:
03-2009
Content Type:
Video
Institution:
Columbia University World Leaders Forum
Abstract:
Suzanne Malveaux, CNN White House correspondent, will join Columbia students for a discussion on leadership moderated by President Lee C. Bollinger.
Topic:
Education, Politics, and International Affairs
Political Geography:
United States and South Asia

1028. Walk with Us and Listen: Political Reconciliation in Africa

Author:
Charles Villa-Vicencio
Publication Date:
09-2009
Content Type:
Book
Institution:
Georgetown University Press
Abstract:
No abstract is available.
Topic:
Political Economy, Politics, and Post Colonialism
Political Geography:
Africa

1029. Burg: The Holocaust is Over: We Must Rise from Its Ashes; and Peleg: Israeli Culture between the Two Intifadas: A Brief Romance

Author:
Simona Sharoni
Publication Date:
09-2009
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal of Palestine Studies
Institution:
Institute for Palestine Studies
Abstract:
The Holocaust Is Over: We Must Rise from Its Ashes, by Avraham Burg. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008. vii + 242 pages. Notes to p. 246. Index to p. 253. $26.95 hard; $16.00 paper. Israeli Culture between the Two Intifadas: A Brief Romance, by Yaron Peleg. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2008. 148 pages. Bibliography to p. 151. Index to p. 156. $60.00 hard. Simona Sharoni, associate professor of gender and women's studies and chair of the Gender and Women's Studies Department at the State University of New York, is the author of Gender and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: The Politics of Women's Resistance (Syracuse University Press, 1995)
Topic:
Politics
Political Geography:
New York and Israel

1030. Introduction

Author:
Yitzhak Benbaji
Publication Date:
12-2009
Content Type:
Journal Article
Institution:
Carnegie Council
Abstract:
This symposium is comprised of three key articles from a 2008 conference to honor Michael Walzer. Each article discusses one of the most fundamental aspects of Walzer's philosophy: the moral significance of statehood.
Topic:
Politics