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1351. Dynamics of Political Polarization

Author:
Peter Bearman and Delia Baldassarri
Publication Date:
09-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Institute for Social and Economic Research and Policy at Columbia University
Abstract:
This article accounts for two puzzling paradoxes. The first paradox is the simultaneous absence and presence of attitude polarization, the fact that global attitude polarization is relatively rare, even though pundits describe it as common. The second paradox is the simultaneous presence and absence of social polarization, the fact that while individuals experienced attitude homogeneity in their interpersonal networks, their networks are characterized by attitude heterogeneity. These paradoxes give rise to numerous scholarly arguments. By deploying a formal model of interpersonal influence over attitudes in a context where individuals hold simultaneous positions on multiple issues we show why these arguments are not mutually exclusive and how they meaningfully refer to the same social setting. It follows that the results from this model provide a single parsimonious account for both paradoxes. The framework we develop may be generalized to a wider array of problems, including classic problems in collective action.
Topic:
Politics, International Affairs, and Political Theory

1352. Advancing Reforms in Philippine Election Administration and Management: Toward a Comprehensive Approach

Publication Date:
10-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Academy of Political Science
Abstract:
In response to an invitation issued by the president of the Republic of the Philippines, IFES and its CEPPS partners, composed of international development and political party specialists from the International Republican Institute and the National Democratic Institute, deployed a team of representatives in early March 2004 to the Philippines to assess the political situation leading up to the May 10 Presidential and Legislative Elections. As previous IFES projects have outlined, the electoral situation in the Philippines is particularly if not unusually complex, partly due to its long and turbulent history of democracy and its associated electoral process. The team found that the 2004 election cycle was particularly flawed. COMELEC's plans and programs for the May 10 elections were disrupted by the late release of funds by Congress and the Supreme Court's decisions to stop the automation of polling, counting, and transmission of results from taking place. Transition to a computerized central voter registry was similarly abandoned only days before the election and election officers reverted to using manual voters' lists and voter records. Voter education efforts were uncoordinated and poorly implemented. The training of polling officials was done through parallel training programs developed by the Department of Education, COMELEC, and civil society. COMELEC's training was judged to be the least effective of the three and the most poorly organized.
Topic:
Democratization, Government, and Politics
Political Geography:
Israel, Asia, and Philippines

1353. Report on Bosnia and Herzegovina Observation Mission

Author:
Mastora Stanikzai, Zikria Barakzai, and Mohammad Hashim
Publication Date:
12-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Academy of Political Science
Abstract:
After IEC establishment in 2005 the main objectives have been the capacity building of IEC staff. IEC is actively taking major steps toward this objective with cooperation of different international organizations (UNDP, IFES, TAF).
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, Democratization, Government, and Politics
Political Geography:
Bosnia, Herzegovina, and Balkans

1354. Electoral Management Bodies as Institutions of Governance

Author:
Rafael López-Pintor
Publication Date:
12-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Academy of Political Science
Abstract:
This paper presents two major arguments about electoral management bodies (EMBs). First, they are increasingly developing worldwide as commissions that are both permanent and independent of the executive. Second, electoral administration that relies on permanent and professional staff is more cost-effective than ad hoc electoral bodies that use wholly temporary personnel. Empirical evidence from 148 countries is gathered here to support both these ideas.
Topic:
Civil Society, Democratization, Government, Political Economy, and Politics

1355. Urbanization and poverty reduction - Subsidies to a research agenda and beyond

Author:
Jorge Wilheim
Publication Date:
02-2006
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Wilson Center
Abstract:
I shall try to describe the importance of establishing links between short term and long-term projects intended to reduce poverty, illustrating these issues with the recent experiences of São Paulo, Brazil. I shall start with a short commentary on mobile societies, the global economy and the meaning of sustainable development. As our main and final aim is the elimination of poverty and not just its reduction, I shall then outline the links between long-term objectives and urgent short-term strategies. Finally, I will reflect upon poverty reduction efforts undertaken in São Paulo by Mayor Marta Suplicy during her 2001-2004 term when I served as Planning Secretary. Based on this experience, I shall propose some topics for the research agenda on poverty and urbanization.
Topic:
Health, Human Welfare, Politics, and Poverty
Political Geography:
Brazil

1356. Changes in the Constitutional Structure of Bosnia and Herzegovina

Author:
Henry L. Clarke
Publication Date:
02-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Wilson Center
Abstract:
The constitutional structure of Bosnia and Herzegovina is complex, emerging as it did from a peacemaking process between Serb forces of Republika Srpska and a coalition of Bosniak (or Muslim) and Croat forces under the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Most of the fundamental obligations of the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina and its two subordinate Entities, Republika Srpska (RS) and the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FBiH), arise from the General Framework Agreement for Peace (GFAP) in Bosnia and Herzegovina and its Annexes, often called the Dayton Accords, signed in Paris on December 14, 1995. The Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina is Annex 4 of the General Framework Agreement.
Topic:
Democratization, Government, and Politics
Political Geography:
Europe, Bosnia, and Herzegovina

1357. Election Observation Missions: Making them Count

Author:
Joe Clark
Publication Date:
01-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Wilson Center
Abstract:
An Introduction from Africa Program Director HowardWolpe and Canada Institute Director David Biette: In October of 2004, The Right Honorable Joe Clark, former prime minister of Canada and a public policy scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, led the Commonwealth Election Observation Mission to Cameroon. On April 29, 2005 he hosted “Election Observation Missions: Making Them Count,” a conference sponsored jointly by the Africa Program and the Canada Institute, which focused on the follow-up phase of international election observation. Conference participants were asked to consider how the role of international election observation missions might be strengthened, so as to serve as an effective practical means of promoting and advancing democracy. In this paper, Joe Clark, drawing on the contributions of conference participants, provides an overview of the debate on effective election observation missions.
Topic:
Democratization, Government, and Politics
Political Geography:
Africa

1358. Corporate Governance in Canada and the United States: A Comparative View

Author:
Edward J. Waitzer and Jay W. Lorsch
Publication Date:
04-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Wilson Center
Abstract:
Drawing on expertise from both sides of the Canada-U.S. border, the One Issue,Two Voices series is designed to stimulate dialogue on policy issues that have a significant impact on the bilateral relationship. This fifth issue in the series provides an up-to-date snapshot of how corporate governance practices differ between Canada and the United States. Authors Jay Lorsch of the Harvard Business School and Edward Waitzer of the Canadian law firm Stikeman Elliott are leading experts on corporate governance.Together they give us a comparison of the way our countries have responded to changes mandated by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) passed by the U.S. government in 2002.
Topic:
Civil Society, Economics, and Politics
Political Geography:
United States, Canada, and North America

1359. Divided Government European Style? Electoral and Mechanical Causes of European Parliament and Council Divisions

Author:
Philip Manow and Holger Döring
Publication Date:
12-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
European Research Papers Archive
Abstract:
Voters who participate in elections to the European Parliament tend to use these elections to punish their domestic governing parties. Many students of the EU therefore claim that the party-political composition of the Parliament should systematically differ from that of the Council. This study, which compares empirically the party-political centers of gravity of these two central political actors, shows that opposed majorities between Council and Parliament may have other than simply electoral causes. The logic of domestic government formation works against the representation of politically more extreme parties, and hence against more EU-skeptic parties in the Council. At the same time, voters in EP elections vote more often for these more extreme and more EU-skeptic parties. The different locations of Council and Parliament in the pro-/contra-EU dimension may thus be caused by two – possibly interrelated – effects: a mechanical effect, due to the translation of votes into seats and then into ‘office’, and thus also into Council representation, and an electoral effect in elections to the European Parliament. The paper discusses the implications of this fi nding for our understanding of the political system of the EU and of its democratic legitimacy.
Topic:
Government, Politics, and Regional Cooperation
Political Geography:
Europe

1360. Constructivist Approaches in International Relations Theory: Puzzles and Promises";

Author:
Antje Wiener
Publication Date:
12-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
European Research Papers Archive
Abstract:
By raising the question of what made constructivism possible the paper discusses the puzzle and promises of constructivist scholarschip in IR. It is argued that the communicative style which coined constructivism as a movement provides the key. Two puzzles are the focus, first, a lack of epistemological overlap, secondly, a disciplinary culture of consecutive debates which reached their high point of non-communication with the so-called Third Debate. However, while the constructivist movement gathered influence as a reference frame in the late 1990s, it is neither genuine to international relations theory nor does it originate in the 1990s. Why and how did constructivism manage to bring such a diverse group of scholars to one table? Section 2 of the paper develops the argument and introduces the concept of framing to understand the puzzle of conversation in IR. Section 3 recalls the emergence of constructivism, identifies the theoretical discussions and the significant conceptual moves. Section 4 summarizes the value-added and flags 'norms' research as the core of constructivist political science.
Topic:
International Relations, Development, Education, and Politics