Abstract
(a) Central institutions /Institutions centrales
69.3612 AMIRPUR, Katajun —
My aim in this paper is to show that the Iranian constitution, with respect to women's rights, is vague and ambiguous. If one only looks at the text of the constitution and its current interpretation, both cannot be considered as guaranteeing women's rights in the sense of modern human rights. But one can still ask the question: Could it not be the case that this arbitrary character of the constitution can be exploited? This is where the actual role of the people comes in, which is not the topic of this paper but its most important context. [R] [See Abstr. 69.3681]
69.3613 ANCKAR, Carsten —
The traditional conception of semi-presidentialism stipulates that powers are shared by a popularly elected president and a prime minister, who is responsible to parliament. An increasingly popular strategy has become to disregard the power dimension and define semi-presidentialism only with regard to whether the president is popularly elected or not. Based on a principal-agent framework the present study sets out to test the relationship between the mode of election and the powers of the president in democratic republics where the government is dependent on the legislature for survival. Findings indicate that although powerful presidents most often are popularly elected there are also instances where a non-popularly elected president shares executive powers with the prime minister. [R,abr.]
69.3614 ASHRAF, Ali; ISLAM, Shafiqul —
This article employs the 3-i framework to explore the institutions, ideas, and interests that have shaped the Bangladesh government's policy choices for implementing the Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant, the first such plant in the country. The logic behind three choices — vendor country, reactor model, and spent fuel management — are analyzed. The findings reveal an interactive policy process, involving various domestic and international institutions, whose ideas regarding project funding, reactor safety, technical expertise and calculation of financial, organizational and political interests have played a key role in shaping the choices of Bangladesh. [R]
69.3615 BÄCK, Hanna; TEORELL, Jan; LINDBERG, Staffan I. —
Why are some states more corrupt than others? Drawing on the literature on governance in parliamentary democracies, we suggest that the degree of corruption depends on the ability of key political actors to control ministers who have been delegated power. We argue that the Prime Minister has incentives to limit corruption within the cabinet and has the ability to do so when there are certain “control mechanisms” at hand. One such mechanism is the PM's ability to fire or demote ministers who are not behaving in accordance with his or her wishes. We hypothesize that governmental corruption will be lower in systems where the constitution grants the PM strong powers. We analyze corruption in 26 West and East European democracies over the post-war period and find support for our hypothesis. [R,abr.]
69.3616 BANERJEE, Mouli —
Using the January 2018 Press Conference by the four Supreme Court Justices as an entry point, the paper proposes that Parliamentary discourse, an oft-ignored pulse of the political narrative, is a relevant window into studying how the legislature perceives the judiciary, and the Supreme Court in particular. It analyzes through various examples, how the institutions — the Supreme Court of India, and the Parliament of India, perceive themselves and therefore each other, assuming that in a rhetorical network of what constitutes a democracy, these intersubjective interactions between the institutions matter. Using the theoretical framework of discursive institutionalism, the paper analyzes the symbolic and rhetorical relationship established between the Parliament as a symbolically representative institution and the Supreme Court of India, in order to decode whether the Supreme Court of India is in a crisis. [R,abr.] [See Abstr. 69.3624]
69.3617 BATTAGLINI, Marco, et al.—
We experimentally investigate the informational theory of legislative committees [W. T. Gilligan and K. Krehbiel, “Asymmetric information and legislative rules with a heterogeneous committee”, ibid. 33(2),May 1989: 459-490; Abstr. 40.70]. Two committee members provide policy-relevant information to a legislature under alternative legislative rules. Under the open rule, the legislature is free to make any decision; under the closed rule, the legislature chooses between a member's proposal and a status quo. We find that even in the presence of biases, the committee members improve the legislature's decision by providing useful information. We obtain evidence for two additional predictions: the outlier principle, according to which more extreme biases reduce the extent of information transmission; and the distributional principle, according to which the open rule is more distributionally efficient than the closed rule. [R,abr.]
69.3618 BATURO, Alexander; ELGIE, Robert —
First, we reexamine the fortunes of bicameralism in all democracies and dictatorships from 1945 to 2016. Second, we look under the hood of the observed trend and take stock of over a hundred cases of the introduction, removal, or reintroduction of second chambers. We find that democracies rarely reform bicameralism and, when they do, it is typically in the context of a transition period. By contrast, the change in dictatorships is much more frequent. Second chambers provide patronage opportunities to authoritarian leaders, which, in turn, may influence regime stability. Drawing from survival analysis, we find that dictatorships with partly or fully appointed senates are more durable. In general, we argue that it is important to bring the experience of change in nondemocratic regimes into the discussion about second chamber reform. [R,abr.]
69.3619 BENETTI, Julie —
Under the falsely univocal banner calling for a new or “Sixth” Republic, two different constitutional options can be distinguished which both claim to attack the unbridled presidentialism of our institutions. The first offers to consolidate the president's power vis-à-vis the Prime minister in a French-style presidential regime, while the second would like to neutralize it on the model of the European prime-ministerial regimes. But both derive from an illusion, namely that a genuine change of regime could take place without a reform of the mode of election of the head of State. [R] [See Abstr. 69.3630]
69.3620 BENTELE, Keith Gunnar; SAGER, Rebecca; AYKANIAN, Amanda —
Since 2008 the volume of state-level legislation regulating abortion has dramatically increased, with nearly 300 restrictive laws passing in 33 states. While the character of these laws is varied, many have the potential to significantly limit access to abortion for some women. Using a multilevel modeling approach, we investigate a wide variety of state-level factors associated with these developments. We find that a larger number of anti-abortion policies have passed in states under full Republican control, with fewer female Democratic legislators, and states with a stronger presence by the conservative Evangelical movement within state governments. We also examine more substantive restrictions on clinics, abortion-seekers, and funding in a separate analysis, and symbolic restrictions and those intended to discourage women seeking abortions in another. [R,abr.]
69.3621 BERTOLINI, Elisa —
The Italian experience offers some interesting insights when dealing with the state of exception and emergency situations. The 1948 Constitution does not provide for any emergency section. Nevertheless, it provides for instruments to enact whenever a situation of necessity and urgency occurs. What is peculiar to the Italian experience is the misuse (or abuse) of the law decree, which has established a governmental legislation. A more recent practice has been to resort to emergency instruments even in situations that are not properly emergencies, but rather just difficult to handle, where the connection to the extraordinary character of the situation is lacking. This anomaly has been criticized by courts, thereby leading the Parliament to amend the legislation. [R,abr.] [See Abstr. 69.3409]
69.3622 BOUBAKRI, Amor —
The Arab Spring has subsided, leaving only Tunisia's democracy in place. Yet, the wave of democratization has been a learning experience in many regards. In addition to participating in electoral and parliamentary processes, the people in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region have observed constitutional frameworks and debated about them. Constitutional changes have taken different forms largely due to distinct historical legacies, regime dynamics, and deliberative processes. [R]
69.3623 BOX-STEFFENSMEIER, Janet M.; CHRISTENSON, Dino P.; CRAIG, Alison W. —
Why do some pieces of legislation move forward while others languish? We address this fundamental question by examining the role of interest groups in Congress, specifically the effect of their legislative endorsements in Dear Colleague letters. These letters provide insights into the information that members use to both influence and make policy decisions. We demonstrate that endorsements from particularly well-connected interest groups are a strong cue for members with limited information early in the legislative process and help grow the list of bill cosponsors. As bills progress, such groups have less direct weight, while legislation supported by a larger number of organizations and a larger number of cosponsors is more likely to pass. [R,abr.]
69.3624 CHANDRA, Aparna; HUBBARD, William; KALANTRY, Sital —
There has been a national debate raging in India about the system of appointments for Supreme Court and High Court judges. At the founding of the Indian Supreme Court, the executive had primary authority over judicial appointments. In 1993, the Supreme Court created a new system of appointments known as the collegium system, whereby the Chief Justice of India and senior judges of the Supreme Court make new appointments to the Supreme Court as well as the High Courts. In 2014, Parliament amended the Constitution and passed a bill to create a commission to appoint judges, but the Indian Supreme Court declared the law unconstitutional. We ascertain whether the nature of the appointments procedure impacts the biographical and other characteristics of the judges that are eventually selected. We compare the biographical characteristics of judges appointed [under both] systems. [R,abr.] [First article of special issue on “The Indian Supreme Court in crisis?”. See also Abstr. 69.3616, 3646, 3675]
69.3625 CHANG, Chun-chih; CHAO, Chien-min —
This article [examines] whether the National People's Congress (NPC), China's law-making body, is becoming more specialized and thereby losing its rubber-stamp image. The exploration of the composition of the NPC's permanent committees demonstrates that specialization is indeed a discernible trend. More and more social elites have been co-opted onto them. The empirical results further attest to the usefulness of the information efficiency theory. Unfortunately, specialization has yet to give the Chinese legislature more autonomy. Only 30% of committee members are privileged to serve more than one five-year term. The influence of the Party-state core and the lack of membership stability have put additional restraints on the NPC's autonomy. [R]
69.3626 CLINTON, Joshua D.; RICHARDSON, Mark D. —
Given pervasive gridlock at the national level, state legislatures are increasingly the place where notable policy change occurs. Investigating such change is difficult because it is often hard to characterise policy change and use observable data to evaluate theoretical predictions; it is subsequently unclear whether law-making explanations focusing on the US Congress also apply to state legislatures. We use several measures of state policy outcomes to examine lawmaking in state legislatures across nearly two decades, and we argue for using simulation studies to connect theoretical predictions to empirical specifications and help interpret the theoretical relevance of estimated correlations. [R,abr.]
69.3627 CONWAY, Nicholas D.; JORDAN, Soren; URA, Joseph Daniel —
To inform international discourse about judicial countermajoritarianism, we assess whether decisions enhancing gay rights by Canadian courts increase the media's attention to homosexuality and related topics. We first collect a data-set of monthly counts of relevant articles published in two prominent Canadian newspapers and then estimate Markov-switching models to evaluate whether increases in media attention to homosexuality are coincident with judicial decisions enhancing gay rights in Canada. Each of five landmark gay rights decisions is coincident with a period of heightened media attention to homosexuality. The data show that Canadian newspapers publish nearly twice as many relevant stories during these “active” regimes compared to “inactive” periods. Canadian courts can increase attention to issues in the national media. [R,abr.]
69.3628 DARDANELLI, Paolo; MUELLER, Sean —
This article studies dynamic de/centralization in Switzerland since 1848 and accounts for the patterns observed. Overall, there has been a wide-ranging process of legislative centralization, whereas the cantons have retained considerable administrative and, especially, fiscal autonomy. The principal instrument of dynamic centralization has been constitutional change, followed by the enactment of framework legislation by the federal government. The process has unfolded primarily through frequent steps of a small magnitude and occurred throughout the 160-year life of the federation. Modernization, market integration, changing patterns of collective identification, and expectations concerning the role of government appear to have played a particularly important causal role. [R,abr.] [See Abstr. 69.3284]
69.3629 DEMIRALP, Seda; DEMIRALP, Selva —
This study provides empirical analysis to show increasing pressures over the Central Bank of Turkey (CBT) throughout the past decade where the CBT gives into such pressures, despite the Central Bank Law, which ensures tool independence. The study suggests that the relations between the government and the CBT reflect recent political changes where the government increased its control over state institutions, following rising costs of losing office. However, this trend not only has economic costs such as a restricted capacity to achieve price stability and sustainable growth but it also limits horizontal accountability of state institutions. [R]
69.3630 DUHAMEL, Olivier —
Emmanuel Macron wants to be the president of a Fifth Republic that has reverted to its Gaullist roots, led by a transformative president embodying the country beyond right and left. But the Fifth Republic has survived only by contradicting De Gaulle's original illusion. The General lambasted the party system, yet he strengthened it, albeit under the domination of a presidential system that the eighth president is perpetuating without significant change. The Gaullist vision of the institutions which Macron has embraced could prove to be another illusion. [R] [First article of a thematic issue on “La Ve République — nouveaux regards (“The [French] Fifth Republic — new perspectives)”. See also Abstr. 69.3619, 3642, 3662, 3664, 3669, 3680, 3686, 3850, 3944, 4295]
69.3631 EL HOUSSI, Leila —
The question of women became one of those fundamental issues used by North African nations in order to demonstrate to Western countries just how “democratic” they were. In this regard, the legislation in favor of women's emancipation in Tunisia undoubtedly reveals an important peculiarity. In 1956 Tunisia underwent an important modernization following the independence obtained from France. This produced a social emancipation not found in other Islamic countries, resulting in the acquisition of women's rights, for example, the abolition of polygamy. Since the 1970s, women have felt as if they are hostages to politics and, through some feminist associations, denounce inequalities despite enjoying certain rights, becoming aware of their subordination in a male-dominated society. This paper seeks to stimulate debate on the issue in the context of post-colonial studies through a social-historical perspective. [R] [See Abstr. 69.3681]
69.3632 FARRELL, David M; SUITER, Jane; HARRIS, Clodagh —
Ireland has become something of a trail-blazer in the use of deliberative methods in the process of constitutional review. It is the first case in which the process has been employed a second time: the Irish Citizens’ Assembly (2016-2018) followed upon the Convention on the Constitution (2012-2014). The creation of two mini-publics in quick succession and their significant role in supporting key referendums for constitutional change that followed (marriage equality in 2015 and abortion in 2018) suggests a degree of “systemization” of deliberation in the Irish process of constitutional review. This report sets out the basic details of the most recent Citizens’ Assembly — how it was set up, its agenda, its manner of operation, and its outcomes. [R,abr.]
69.3633 FEITSMA, Joram —
A behavioural insights community has emerged within a growing number of governments. While this community helps to make policies more behavioural science based, its frontstage role models tend to assume a straightforward, instrumental and apolitical view of the science-policy relationship that seems unrealistic. This article therefore examines what goes on backstage in this community, based on an ethnographic study of behaviour experts in Dutch central government. The article argues that their work consists of a complex palette of practices (that is, choice architecture; analysis; capacity building). Because these practices resemble typical knowledge brokerage work, the article pushes for an envisaging of ‘behaviour experts as knowledge brokers'. [R]
69.3634 FENNA, Alan —
This article studies the dynamics of Australian federalism since 1901. A constitution drafted in the 1890s left the majority of domestic governance responsibilities to the States. Within two decades, though, a process, continuing to this day, was underway whereby the financial power and the policy reach of the Commonwealth expanded in an apparently inexorable and irreversible fashion. This article charts those developments across both a broad sweep of policy domains and in respect of changing fiscal relations for the Australian case and provides a more systematic assessment of the extent, degree, and timing of change since Federation than previously attempted. It then relates the main patterns of change, over time and across policy domains, to the apparent mechanisms and, in turn, to a range of hypothesized causes. [R] [See Abstr. 69.3284]
69.3635 FERNANDES, Jorge M.; RIERA, Pedro; CANTÚ, Francisco —
Committee chairs are key positions in legislatures. Their holders are vested with important formal and informal powers. We make a comparative appraisal of the politics of committee chair assignment in Ireland and Spain. Using an original dataset that covers the past two decades in both countries, we make a twofold contribution. Based on G. W. Cox and M. D. McCubbins's partisan theory of US Congress, we first develop a framework for parliamentary democracies by showing that party leadership assigns legislators with low electoral vulnerability to committee chairs to buy their loyalty to the party. Results suggest that those legisla-tors are assigned to committee chairs to heighten their willingness to work for partisan public goods. Secondly, our contribution leverages electoral systems variation to show how different institutional environments produce similar outcomes. [R] [See Abstr. 69.3427]
69.3636 FÖRSTER, Annette —
Since the terrorist attacks on 11 September 2001, the US has been in a continuing state of emergency. The formal state of exception is one element of a two-headed development: the expansion of executive force accompanied by the reduction of democratic control mechanisms and legal protections from abuse. The balance of power between the branches has shifted and the limits of the legitimate exercise of state force have become blurred. In the process of re-balancing liberty and security in the face of an exceptional threat, fundamental principles of the US democratic system and of international law, such as the right to privacy, due process, or the prohibition of torture have been limited and violated. Are these measures necessary to counterterrorism effectively or do they jeopardize what shall be protected: the liberal democratic tradition and constitution of the US? [R,abr.] [See Abstr. 69.3409]
69.3637 GARDBAUM, Stephen —
It is sometimes suggested that one or another constitutional or supreme court is the “most powerful in the world.” And yet it is often far from clear what the measure of power is or should be, what the sources of judicial power are under the given measure, and what explains why some courts are more powerful than others. The US and Japanese supreme courts have roughly similar sets of legal powers overall, but while the former is often considered among the most powerful courts in the world, the latter is often considered among the weakest. We are in search of factors that help to explain why, for example, the US and Japanese courts use their powers in such different ways. [R,abr.]
69.3638 GARRIDO, Antonio; MARTÍNEZ, M. Antonia —
This article presents an original research based on a set of interviews that includes both almost all the chiefs of staff of the office of the President of Government and one of the previous presidents of the Spanish Government. It tries to understand, from this double point of view, the two vertexes of the relationship between the prime minister and his main adviser. The study deals with the profile, the emergence and expansion of this political figure and its evolution, with unpublished documents from Moncloa archives. It also shows the double power of exclusion and connection the chief of office has accumulated and it develops a comparative analysis of the power exercised by the various occupants of the post since the transition to democracy. [R]
69.3639 GATMAYTAN, Dante —
Democracy in the Philippines is in a state of decay. As with many other nations, the Constitution contains provisions allowing the Chief Executive to place the country or any part thereof in a state of exception in case of emergencies. This, however, is not a problem because the Constitution likewise ordained a system of checks and balances. To stave off abuse, the Judiciary, a co-equal branch of the Executive, was empowered to review any exercise by the President of its emergency powers. This paper provides an analysis of recent jurisprudence to illustrate the refusal of the Supreme Court to play this vital role and its concomitant effect on democracy. [R] [See Abstr. 69.3409]
69.3640 GOUGLAS, Athanassios; MADDENS, Bart —
The research note argues that legislative turnover can be decomposed into two main sources of newcomer entry into the legislature: entry by election and entry by selection. This is demonstrated using available data on political mandates in the lower chambers of Austria, Belgium, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom in the period 1945-2015. We observe that selection is the leading source of new member entry across country and across time. Most turnover happens prior to general elections. This appears to be a general rule characterizing the phenomenon. We speculate as to the reason why. The conditions under which election appears to overtake selection as a major source of new member entry are investigated. [R]
69.3641 GÖZTEPE, Ece —
This article examines the evolution of the normative regulations of the state of emergency in Turkey in the light of the jurisprudence of the Turkish Constitutional Court. Despite the constitutional restriction in Article 148 par. 1 that forbids the constitutionality control of the emergency decrees by the Constitutional Court, the Turkish Constitution of 1982 could have also been subordinated to the system of modern constitutional states. The article summarizes the interpretation of the restrictive constitutional norms by the Turkish Constitutional Court in the 1990s in a very progressive way. I analyze the content of the thirty-two state of emergency decrees as of the attempted coup d'état in 15 July 2016 and show the shift from the state of exception regime under the rule of law to the non-revolutionary constituent power without any legal restrictions. [R,abr.] [See Abstr. 69.3409]
69.3642 GUILLAUME, Marc —
The Constitution of the Fifth Republic has undergone twenty-four revisions. It has been and remains the text that organizes the government. Through these revisions, however, it is less so and has become the foundation of fundamental rights and liberties following the 1974 and 2008 revisions, which guarantee the justiciability of all constitutional provisions. [R] [See Abstr. 69.3630]
69.3643 HANSEN, Martin Ejnar —
This article presents an argument for committee assignments based not on the traditional congressional theories, but on elements central to parliamentary systems: government formation. The argument is that it is necessary to include the link between committees and cabinet governance for understanding parliamentary committees. This is tested on 40 years of committee assignments from the Danish parliament. The findings suggest that an approach inspired by a classic portfolio allocation model works best in explaining the distribution of seats and chairs between parties. Shadowing of coalition partners appears to matter little, if at all. [R] [See Abstr. 69.3427]
69.3644 HERTEL-FERNANDEZ, Alexander; MILDENBERGER, Matto; STOKES, Leah C. —
Legislative staff link Members of Congress and their constituents, theoretically facilitating democratic representation. Yet, little research has examined whether Congressional staff actually recognize the preferences of their Members’ constituents. Using an original survey of senior US Congressional staffers, we show that staff systematically misestimate constituent opinions. We then evaluate the sources of these misperceptions, using observational analyses and two survey experiments. Staffers who rely more heavily on conservative and business interest groups for policy information have more skewed perceptions of constituent opinion. Egocentric biases also shape staff perceptions. Our findings complicate assumptions that Congress represents constituent opinion, and help to explain why Congress often appears so unresponsive to ordinary citizens. We conclude that scholars should focus more closely on legislative aides as key actors in the policymaking process. [R,abr.]
69.3645 HOWARD, Cosmo —
The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has experienced several significant challenges in recent years, including a declining operating budget, criticisms of its technical capability and concerns about political interference. In-depth interviews were conducted with senior ABS and Treasury Department officials to obtain their perspectives on the causes of the agency's difficulties. Interview data were interpreted using frameworks from the political science literature on delegation, including the principal-agent paradigm, models of bureaucratic strategy and the public service bargains approach. The study finds that the principal-agent perspective does not help to explain the ABS's difficulties, but that problems of administrative strategy and tacit bargains between the government and the ABS have contributed significantly to the agency's challenges. [R,abr.]
69.3646 JOHN, Mathew —
By examining the organization and practice of religious freedom in the Indian Constitution, this paper argues that there is a parochial vision of the people ensconced in India's liberal Constitution that is disposed to conceiving the people by entrenching parochial identities like Hindus and Muslims. This problem of the institutional entrenching of identities is elaborated through the adjudication of the dispute over the Ram Janmabhoomi Babri Masjid dispute at Ayodhya. However, even while describing the entrenching of these parochial identities, the paper argues that this parochial imagination runs contrary to social intuitions on the nature of identity and identification in Indian society. [R,abr.] [See Abstr. 69.3624]
69.3647 KAISER, André; VOGEL, Stephan —
This article measures dynamic de/centralization in Germany since 1949 and explains the patterns observed. It shows stability in numerous policy fields as well as an overall marked centralization over time, especially in the fiscal and administrative spheres. The principal instrument of dynamic de/centralization has been the enactment of legislation in fields of shared responsibility, with constitutional change also being important. In the 1950s and 1960s, an incremental centralization occurred as political and administrative elites strongly favored uniform living conditions. In a context of Keynesian interventionism and a broad consensus about social planning, the Great Fiscal Reform of 1969 amplified this centralizing trend. The East-West unification of 1989-1990 increased the economic and fiscal heterogeneity of the Länder and challenged the cultural norm of uniformity. The resulting federalism reforms of 2006 and 2009 blended decentralizing and centralizing measures. [R,abr.] [See Abstr. 69.3284]
69.3648 KALETA, Krzysztof J. —
The article concerns limitations of the constituent power within the process of amending the constitution. The author points out that formal rigidity — which is acknowledged to be a feature defining the written constitution — is not the only limit of the constituent power. The axiologi-cal arguments expressed in the constitutional discourse to limit the constituent power are derived both of the idea of democracy (by referring to the nature and function of the constituent power) and from the principle of constitutionalism (by searching for an internal hierarchy of constitutional norms or by referring to supra-constitutional principles that express the substance of the rule of law. [R,abr.]
69.3649 KEMMERZELL, Jörg; HOFMEISTER, Anne —
Local climate policy is influenced by many factors. However, previous studies have barely considered the impact of trans-local activities on the diffusion of innovative climate policies. The article systematically examines the influence of structural contextual factors and political entrepreneurs as well as trans-local activities of cities. The analysis is conducted by means of a qualitative-comparative research design applying a two-stage crisp set QCA. The results show that structural factors can only partially explain the extensiveness of climate protection measures in major cities. The inclusion of trans-local action and policy entrepreneur-ship provides additional explanatory power as these factors may strengthen favorable and, on some occasion, substitute unfavorable structural conditions. [R]
69.3650 KINCAID, John —
Part of a project measuring dynamic de/centralization across twenty-two policy fields and five fiscal indicators in six federations from their founding to 2010, this study finds slow but continual US centralization in all fields followed by a mild centralization spurt during the 1930s and substantial acceleration during the 1960s and 1970s. Little fiscal centralization is found, except for increased conditions attached to federal aid. The principal instruments of centralization have been Congress and the Supreme Court; the principal political agents have been political parties and interest groups responding to opportunities created by exogenous forces such as market integration and technological change. [R] [See Abstr. 69.3284]
69.3651 KOLKMANN, Michael —
Since Donald Trump was elected president, the US political system of “checks and balances” has been facing previously unknown challenges. With no prior political experience, Trump over the last two years has tried to roll back the legislative successes of his predecessor Barack Obama and to implement his own political agenda. This essay focuses on the abilities and restrictions of the office of the US president. During his first two years in office Trump could rely on a “unified government”, i.e., on Republican majorities; in the next two years he faces a “divided government”, since the Republicans kept control of the US Senate, while losing their majority in the US House of Representatives. [R,abr.]
69.3652 KOO Bon Sang; KIM Junseok; CHOI Jun Young —
This paper aims to test two types of legislative shirking in a new democracy, South Korea. Using the lame-duck sessions of the Korean National Assembly, we test whether a legislator shirks in voting participation and in voting decisions. We weave two competing motivations of legislative shirking in voting participation — that to secure more leisure time and that to utilize the last, valuable voting opportunity — into a synthetic hypothesis and test it with two-part hurdle models. To test a shirking in voting participation hypothesis, we analyze legislators’ choices on bills that are supposedly related to the interests of constituents or political parties. Empirical results strongly support our shirking in voting participation claims, while only partial evidence is found on shirking in voting decisions. [R,abr.]
69.3653 KOPEČEK, Lubomír; BRUNCLÍK, Miloš —
The article deals with the influence of presidents in the government formation process (GFP). The authors propose an original classification of roles of presidents, reflecting real constitutional practice, with five categories based on real presidential influence on the GFP, from the weakest to the strongest: observer, notary, regulator, co-designer, and creator. This classification is applied to Czechia, where the formal constitution gives the president great opportunities to intervene in the GFP. The results of the analysis of all cases of GFP show a significant variety of roles the Czech presidents have played: from notary to creator. Two factors are particularly important. Firstly, the timing of elections proved significant. Secondly, it depends on the real power of parties, that is, their ability to act together as a cohesive parliamentary majority. [R,abr.]
69.3654 KRAUSE, Joachim —
It is a widely held belief that the parliament's ability to control the cabinet is a critical element for the functioning of a democracy. This article questions this hypothesis. The study of core theses of realistic democracy theory led to the conclusion that in notion of control where parliament as a whole stands opposite of the government is incongruous with the system of parliamentary government. Established control concepts reflect the rules of the game of political competition between parties, but are — in a narrow sense — no control. A new understanding of the role of parliamentary control must be developed, taking into consideration how the state apparatus can be controlled, how individual and political freedom can be protected and how parliamentary control over political debates can be reassumed. [R,abr.]
69.3655 LAGASSÉ, Philippe; SAIDEMAN, Stephen M. —
This study introduces a new type of oversight in civil-military and executive-legislative relations: community policing. Building on principal-agent theory, this type of oversight emphasizes trust rather than confrontation. The study examines how legislative oversight of military affairs operates in Belgium and New Zealand. Legislative defense committees in both countries rely on trust when overseeing the executive's handling of defense affairs. This allows these committees to perform their oversight function at low cost in terms of time and effort, but with a high degree of access to information. Community policing therefore combines the strengths of recognized “police patrol” and “fire alarm” oversight, while avoiding their respective weaknesses. However, since it relies on a higher degree of trust and cooperation between the principal and agent, community policing is inherently fragile. [R]
69.3656 LÁZARO REDRUELLO, Guillermo de —
The fragmentation and polarization of party systems in Europe is increasingly hindering the construction of government majorities. In Spain, the 2016 crisis has shown that it may be impossible to form an executive at the beginning of the legislature and that this situation may continue after a new election. It seems clear that our electoral system no longer encourages the concentration of the vote, and that our parliamentary regime is not prepared to assimilate certain electoral results, which facilitates the reproduction of blockades and long interim periods. All this entails a serious risk of delegitimization of the political system. This paper analyzes the errors of the constitutional regulation and the different factors that contribute to produce such institutional paralysis. [R,abr.]
69.3657 LECOURS, André —
Despite expectations that forces of modernization and globalization centralize federations, Canada's overall “federal balance” has remained largely stable since 1867. Early in the federation's life, there was decentralization in the fiscal realm and in a few policy fields (e.g., finance and securities as well as employment relations). The last several decades have witnessed decentralization in several policy fields, such as agriculture, citizenship, and immigration, and natural resource, but also centralization in such crucial ones as social welfare and language. The overall slight decentralist path of the Canadian federation occurred primarily through non-constitutional means. It is the territorial diversity of the country, primarily but not exclusively nationalism in Québec, along with the original centralized nature of the Canadian federation, that fundamentally accounts for why Canada has not centralized like so many other federations. [R,abr.] [See Abstr. 69.3284]
69.3658 LHOTTA, Roland —
Britain's constitution has radically changed. Long standing and firmly established principles of the former “political constitution” — like parliamentary sovereignty — are being questioned. The article traces some of the main developments up to the Brexit decision of the UK Supreme Court and shows that the shift towards a “legal constitution” has significantly re-arranged the separation of powers under the British constitution. The legal regimes of European integration and European Human Rights as well as a series of rather incoherent constitutional reforms have produced a constitutional dystopia where the British (senior) judiciary invokes new constitutional principles or re-invents them through a judicially designed “Common Law Constitutionalism”. By asserting its new role in the separation-of-powers-game the judiciary is becoming a more and more powerful actor under Britain's constitution in flux. [R,abr.]
69.3659 LOEWENBERG, Gerhard —
In the face of its historic, tragic discontinuity, the revival of German parliamentarism in the mid-20th c. shows that institutional development is not necessarily path-dependent. Contingent factors shaped the revival. One contributing factor were the Military Governors’ policies in Western Germany, who encouraged the reestablishment of Germany's self-government, licensed four political parties and promulgated a Basic Law significantly different from the Weimar Constitution. Another factor was that the new parliament comprised only three effective parliamentary groups, which developed practices that were shaped by a professionalized party leadership. When new parties entered the Bundestag early in the 1980s, it was to their advantage to accept these practices. At the beginning of 21st-c. practices in the Bundestag are considerably different from those before 1933. [R]
69.3660 MAJTÉNYI, Balázs; KOPPER, Ákos; SUSÁNSZKY, Pál —
This article discusses how an illiberal regime within the EU can hinder the mobilization of citizens and civil actors by creating an atmosphere of “ambiguity”. We first discuss the Hungarian constitution of 2011 and next show how this atmosphere of ambiguity is created. We argue that although there is no physical violence present, opponents of the regime are disheartened to act because of the general atmosphere relying on the logic of constitutional othering, dividing the world into its enemies and friends and shifting from the rule of law to ruling by law. While the regime's gaudy campaigns against immigrants, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), the Central European University, the EU or G. Soros are omnipresent, we aim to go deeper and highlight the mechanism through which the regime manages to discourage citizens from voicing their discontent. [R,abr.]
69.3661 MARAUCCI, Tina —
This paper tries to reconstruct the historical evolution of the Turkish-Ottoman debate on the subject of women's rights and emancipation through a cross-analysis of the three Republican-era constitutions. The analysis will refer to the narrative productions of female writers, both Muslim and secular, as an auxiliary source for inquiring legal effects at the sociocultural level with regard to the redefinition of gender relations. I will thus attempt to illustrate, on the one hand, the positions that countered the emergence of feminist discourse and, on the other, the ways in which women's claims took shape within the unique Turkish dialectic between secularism and Islam. [R] [See Abstr. 69.3681]
69.3662 MASTOR, Wanda —
More than any other, the question of decentralization is quintessentially political, and the competences granted to the regions have varied, sometimes significantly, according to which party was in power. Declared “indivisible”, until the upcoming and probable independence of New Caledonia and without forgetting the constitutionalizing of its “decentralized” organization, the Fifth Republic can also be described through the history of the relationship between the center and the regions. The centuries-old opposition between Jacobins and Girondists, even deprived of its revolutionary meaning, seems to have survived. A chronological approach to this great narrative allows us to see where each of the eight presidents have stood and to understand more clearly the “Girondist pact” which should be reflected in the next constitutional revision. [R] [See Abstr. 69.3630]
69.3663 MATTHEWS, Felicity —
Despite the significant attention devoted to their birth and death, the day-to-day operation of coalition government remains understudied. This article addresses this lacuna and sheds light on the dynamics of coalition governance by examining the interplay between macro-level institutions, meso-level values and micro-level practices. Focusing on the Conservative-Liberal Democrat Coalition that governed the UK between 2010 and 2015, this analysis reveals the extent to which the everyday practice of coalition governance is flexible, contingent, and proceeds through informal negotiation and accommodation. It also draws attention to the dilemmas faced by coalition actors in terms of reconciling competing loyalties and appeasing a wide range of audiences. [R,abr.]
69.3664 MOLFESSIS, Nicolas —
From the start, the Constitution concerned the sources of private law essentially because it defined the competences of laws and regulations. Since the beginning of the 1970s, it has gradually changed in nature and has become, through various procedural as well as substantial mechanisms, the source of private law. The Constitution has thus acquired a horizontal dimension. The constitutional argument has entered the courtrooms. However, this fundamental mutation has not occurred without difficulties. For private law, the Constitution remains a foreign body, which reception and acclimatization are still uncertain. [R] [See Abstr. 69.3630]
69.3665 PACELLE, Richard L., Jr., et al.—
We assess the influence of amicus curiae briefs on judicial behavior on the US Supreme Court. Our primary hypothesis is that amicus briefs have an impact on the justices across the ideological spectrum. Our secondary hypothesis is that this influence will be greater for justices nearer the ideological center. Our analysis is confined to the Roberts Court (2005 through 2014 terms, inclusive). The unit of analysis is the justice-vote in each of the 793 full-opinion decisions during this 10-term period; thus, our data set contains 7,135 observations. We employ logistic regression to test the impact of amicus filings on the ideological direction of the vote cast by each justice in each case. We control for the direction of the lower court decision, the ideological orientations of the justices, the presence of the federal government, [etc.]. [R,abr.]
69.3666 PANAO, Rogelio Alicor; DE LEON, Bea Xandra —
Extending the litigation selection hypothesis to labor regulations in fledgling democracies, we argue that distributive rules, such as social justice policies create a selection process in the litigation and resolution of workplace claims. Specifically, rules protective of labor increase the expectation of litigation success among otherwise resource-constrained parties, narrowing the suits actually brought to action to those that are close to the standard of labor legislations. The theory implies that workers in labor actions are more likely to win compared to corporations, a premise we test using a unique dataset of 3,601 Supreme Court decisions on labor issues from 1987 to 2016. [R,abr.]
69.3667 PAPP, Zsófia —
The article investigates whether or not the amount of work legislators carry out in parliament affects their chances of re-selection in a mixed-member electoral system. A unique dataset collecting Hungarian MPs’ publicly available electoral, socio-demographic and parliamentary activity data between 1998 and 2010 is analyzed. The study concludes that activity in parliament positively influences re-selection chances when selectors decide on party list nominations. Additionally, MPs whose parties do not count on as future Single Member District (SMD) candidates benefit from parliamentary work to a greater extent than prospective SMD candidates. At the same time, extra work in parliament does not bring MPs closer to SMD nominations. Results confirm that selectors evaluate MPs along how well they carry out the tasks dedicated to their groups. [R]
69.3668 PERI, Rosita di —
Despite the constitutional provisions that sanction the equality of all Lebanese, women's rights in Lebanon are subject to different constraints. In a system characterized by a complex and often perverse interweaving of state norms, religious tribunal norms, society structure and politics, women's rights have received little to no attention or protection. This is the result, we argue, of the institutionalization of the communities in the 1900s that has created, over the years, a system of power that has increasingly aimed to exclude state sovereignty from specific areas. The creation of autonomous spaces of power exempt from constitutional dictates and state laws has given religious leaders enormous decision-making (and contractual) power that has contributed to creating systems parallel to the state to manage individuals’ lives. [R] [See Abstr. 69.3681]
69.3669 PORTELLI, Hugues —
The founding fathers of the 1958 Constitution wanted to relegate Parliament to a secondary role within the institutions and they have durably succeeded in doing so. Both the constitutional framework (the Constitution and its interpretation) and the electoral rules (voting system and schedule) have made sure that the two chambers would respect the precedence of presidential power. The practice of parliamentary actors, both in the usage they have made of their powers and their inability to use the resources of bicameralism, has ensured the long-term sustaina-bility of this subordination. [R] [See Abstr. 69.3630]
69.3670 REBESSI, Elisa; ZUCCHINI, Francesco —
If we examine the current literature, no study on policy agenda has so far addressed the agenda of a Constitutional Court in a country that has recently experienced crucial changes in its political system. The present contribution on the Italian Constitutional Court seeks to bridge this gap. We aim at assessing the role the Italian Court plays in the policy process in both the First and the Second Republic. We found that in both Republics Court's agenda is significantly more concentrated than Parliament's agenda, and it does not broadly offer an alternative access point to the policy-making for new or neglected issues. [R] [See Abstr. 69.4375]
69.3671 ROBERTS, Robert —
From the late 20th c. through today, the relationship between the administrative state and the judiciary has undergone major changes. The same period has seen presidential administrations seek to make use of bureaucratic power to implement their public policy initiatives without having to obtain the approval of Congress. After reviewing the evolution of judicial oversight of the administrative state, the essay argues that the federal courts now make use of an ad hoc approach for determining the scope of judicial oversight of the administrative process. The essay argues that the use of this ad hoc approach has done serious damage to the administrative state, providing insufficient guidelines for presidential administrations to make use of bureaucratic power to implement public policy initiatives. [R]
69.3672 SCHINDLER, Danny —
This study investigates the power relations within the Bundestag by drawing on MPs’ own assessments of parliamentary party groups chairpersons’ strength. Capturing the MPs’ views is extremely valuable since they should be able to provide better insights than outside observers. The influence socially ascribed to chairpersons can also be regarded as a source of power sui generis if the reputation of power leads to anticipatory adaptations. Almost all parliamentarians, irrespective of criteria like seniority or leadership affiliation, attribute considerable power to the chairpersons’ role. Moreover, this perception corresponds with the chairpersons’ self-perception. Given their importance for the functioning of parliamentary democracy, there is much need for more detailed investigations on their steering capacities and leadership behavior. [R,abr.]
69.3673 SCHMIDT-JORTZIG, Edzard —
The comprehensive digitization of communication does not exclude parliamentarism. It encroaches on its working methods as well as on its operation mode. Authenticity, directness and originality of parliamentarian debates are declining. Integrity and self-confidence of the representatives is suffering. Even the democratic parliamentary process is damaged as the informing function of parliament becomes vulnerable, the manner of discourse may vulgarize and parliamentarian problem-solving is subjected to simplification. Taken together all these factors will lead to changes of the playing field, the framework and sounding board of parliamentarism. [R]
69.3674 SIEFKEN, Sven —
The committees of the Bundestag are often understood as the place where the real work of parliament takes place. Surprisingly, they have not been studied very thoroughly in empirical political science. This is, in part, due to their work not being public. Here the relevance of committees along the policy cycle are discussed and numerous approaches for deeper investigation are introduced. Better data-access and new analy-sis methods will facilitate this. The committees have a great relevance throughout the policy process, but they are neither mere actors nor arenas. Instead they are institutions that structure the separation of labor in policy-making. [R]
69.3675 SINDHU, Jahnavi; NARAYAN, Vikram Aditya —
Today, the Indian Supreme Court serves as a constitutional court, a regular appeals court and as an equal partner in governance of the country. This year, questions over the administration of the Court repeatedly arose in public discourse, particularly with respect to the Chief Justice's discretionary power in listing cases. This paper closely examines the manner in which the listing practices are employed to fulfill the various roles of the Supreme Court, and argues that the Court would perform better if the responsibility for its administration vested with the institution rather than the Chief Justice alone. [R,abr.] [See Abstr. 69.3624]
69.3676 SINGH, Ajay Kumar —
This article measures dynamic de/centralization in India since its founding in 1950 and accounts for observed patterns in terms of changes over time. India's federation was considerably centralized at birth across its legislative, administrative, and fiscal dimensions. It has since undergone further cumulative centralization in the legislative sphere, while little change has occurred in the other two spheres. The principal instruments of dynamic centralization have been constitutional change and court rulings. Several aspects of India's constitutional framework have facilitated the further accretion of legislative powers to the center. Centralization has been driven by a desire for policy uniformity and an emphasis on national interests and security. The transformation in the party system since the 1970s has not had a discernible impact on the system's degree of de/centralization. [R,abr.] [See Abstr. 69.3284]
69.3677 SOBACI, Mehmet Zahid; MIŞ, Nebi; KÖSEOĞLU, Özer —
The system of government in Turkey shifted from a parliamentary to an intrinsic presidential system, in which the president solely employs the executive power granted from the constitution, after the elections held on June 24, 2018. Following the elections, the central government was reorganized in quite a short time. While the reorganization process will continue for a certain period, it seems that the main policymaking actors and their role in the new system have substantially emerged. This study provides a legal and institutional analysis of how the public policy process and the roles and responsibilities of policy actors changed as a result of the restructuring of Turkey's central government under the new presidential system. [R]
69.3678 STURM, Roland —
This is a paradox. Political science literature has often rung the death bell for Second Chambers. They have been declared as no longer being of importance, or even lacking legitimacy. In Ireland, Italy, Canada and the UK the political parties had decided to reform the national Second Chambers, or to even dissolve them. The referenda in Ireland and Italy saved the Second Chambers from extinction; in Canada the Supreme Court blocked a substantial reform and in Britain party political conflict allowed only incremental changes. This shows that political science research has so far underestimated the resilience of Second Chambers. Even if Second Chambers are marginalized they can find a comfortable place in politics. [R]
69.3679 TAYLOR, Andrew J. —
This paper examines revolutionary changes in the federal procurement regime that have taken place over roughly the past thirty-five years. The procurement process has long been formalized, but contractors were dispersed across the country and tended to furnish tangible goods in singular and discrete transactions. As a result of technology, global competition and security threats, ideological shifts, and fiscal changes, procurement spending exploded after 9/11 [2001] and today the regime forms “information communities” in which private companies exert both political and economic influence and supply staffing and information to the federal government within a continuous and seamless relationship where lines demarcating responsibilities and personnel are blurred. [R]
69.3680 THIERS, Éric —
Doctrine is not put aside in the constitutional revision process. It feeds it abundantly in complex ways that remain to be identified. Intellectual history can help us do that. The article takes into consideration the actual mode of production and dissemination of ideas through the maze of spaces, environments and networks inhabited by constitutionalists, and it tries to highlight this process by focusing on the role played by journals such as Pouvoirs around two issues: the introduction of the priority preliminary ruling on constitutionality and the function of the committees in charge of preparing constitutional reforms. [R] [See Abstr. 69.3630]
69.3681 TOLINO, Serena —
I analyze how the political changes that were triggered by the Egyptian Revolution of 2011 affected women's rights on the constitutional level. Through a longue durée perspective, I look at women's rights starting from the 1923 Constitution. I then focus particularly on the two post-revolutionary constitutions (2012 and 2014) and on what they meant for gender equality. Even though the different constitutional texts represent the main source of this article, constitutions are social contracts and, as such, cannot be analyzed without taking into account the historical context in which they were drafted and enacted. For this reason, I will also offer some input on the woman question and Egyptian feminism during the same period. [R] [First article of a special issue on “Gender equality and women's rights in the constitutions of the Middle Eastern and North African countries”, edited and introduced, pp. 127-139,by the author. See also Abstr. 69.3612, 3631, 3661, 3668, 3815]
69.3682 WAWRO, Gregory J.; SCHICKLER, Eric —
The recent moves by senators to impose majority cloture for nominations provides a unique opportunity for advancing our understanding of the evolution of the Senate into a super-majoritarian institution. We integrate discussion of alternative theoretical perspectives on Senate development and path dependence to shed new light on mechanisms of stability and change, concluding that the perspective that Senate majorities have generally maintained supermajority procedures because they preferred them to the alternative of majority rule has more explanatory power than does the perspective that Senate majorities were “locked in” to these procedures by previous institutional choices. [R]
69.3683 WILLUMSEN, David M.; STECKER, Christian; GOETZ, Klaus H. —
This paper analyzes how the size and socio-economic diversity of their electorate affect parliamentarians’ legislative behavior. We study the Australian senate, which wields considerable legislative influence and is marked by large differences in the size and socio-economic makeup of the districts that senators represent. We demonstrate that as the size of their district increases, senators ask more questions and introduce more bills and amendments. By contrast, senators become less active as the diversity of their electoral district increases. The paper thus establishes that size and diversity of electorates have significant effects on legislative behavior. [R]
69.3684 WOOD, Abby K. —
Campaign finance disclosure is the last (somewhat) robust regulation we have in American campaign finance, and it is under threat. We urgently need more research on disclosure. Regulatory complexity makes studying campaign finance disclosure daunting. It also creates so-called dark money and anonymous speech online. Scholars must understand the existing regulatory loopholes as they plan studies to avoid biased estimates and understand the conditions in which their results generalize to a broader population. The court's disclosure jurisprudence is thin and based on largely unproven assumptions. As the research on campaign finance disclosure matures, scholars should take a broad view of the costs and benefits of disclosure, rather than the narrow, court-led focus many studies have had until now. I explain the doctrine and review existing studies, highlighting opportunities to expand the literature. [R,abr.]
69.3685 WULLWEBER, Joscha —
The article develops the concept “chain of liquidity” in order to explore the monetary politics by the central banks which allow non-banks to create money for the first time in history. The concept describes a complex institutional arrangement which enables specific credit claims to become money or to come closer to taking on the form of money The contribution contends that while different forms of credit with varying degrees of liquidity are created through internal financial market processes, the creation of money and quasi-money is only possible as a result of political processes which generate a general standard of value from an asset through (state) institutionalized liquidity chains. As the global financial crisis escalated in 2008, the liquidity chains existing between banks and central banks at the time did not suffice to contain its impact. [R,abr.]
69.3686 ZALC, Claire —
How can one understand the failures of the constitutional revision announced by François Hollande in the aftermath of the November 2015 terrorist attacks? The article re-examines this episode by offering a historian's reading presented according to different temporalities. By doing so, it raises the issue of the dialogue between history and power, around the confrontation between past and present initiated by this event. [R] [See Abstr. 69.3630]
69.3687 ZEH, Wolfgang —
After the 2017 Bundestag election, the Bundestag consists of 709 members. In the public's opinion this number has been criticized for being too high. The article sets out to determine the criteria for a “correct” number of members of parliaments in a given political system. In order to do so, the sizes of parliaments in German history are compared [to] the sizes of other parliaments. Next, the terms of reference for parliaments in a pluralistic society are dealt with and, finally, the relative expenses for a parliament in the national budget are described. The results do not yield any rational criteria by which a specific size of parliaments could be accepted as the right size. [R]
69.3688
Articles by Jan WAWRZYNIAK, “Problematyka zmiany konstytucji Re-publiki Włoskiej (On amending the constitution of the Republic of Italy)”, pp. 56-72; Dorota LIS-STARANOWICZ, “Zmiana konstytucji Stanów Zjednoczonych Ameryki (wybrane zagadnienia (Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America (selected issues)”, pp. 73-87; Katarzyna KUBUJ, “Problematyka zmiany konstytucji V Republiki Francuskiej (Amending the Constitution of the Fifth French Republic)”, pp. 88-100; Piotr CHYBALSKI, “Problematyka zmiany Ustawy Zasadniczej RFN (Amending the German Basic Law)”, pp. 101-114.
(b) State, regional and local institutions/Institutions locales et régionales
69.3689 ALM, Jens; STORM, Rasmus K. —
This article aims to explain why Danish municipalities usually choose to comply with stadium requirements from the Danish Soccer Association (DBU) even though, in most cases, they do not have the supporter base that could fill the renovated or new stadiums to their capacities. Using institutional theory as a theoretical framework, the article shows that coercive forms of isomorphism are part of the homogenization process leading to the municipalities’ compliance. It also suggests that mimetic forms of isomorphism are present in the sense that municipalities believe that if they comply with these requirements they will strengthen the conditions of their local clubs. In turn, they have encouraged other municipalities to follow suit. [R,abr.]
69.3690 BEAUVAIS, Edana —
After public opposition shut down the City of Vancouver's first planning proposal for the Grandview Woodland neighborhood, the City engaged residents in drafting a new plan in a novel way: Canada's first “citizens’ assembly” for urban planning. The Grandview Woodland Citizens’ Assembly (GWCA) was novel because it relied largely on a single consultation instrument — the assembly — to draft policy proposals on a diverse range of planning issues. This begs the questions: can a single consultative instrument such as a citizens’ assembly provide a useful forum for high-quality deliberation about a wide scope of policy issues? Was the citizens’ assembly more cost-effective than typical, megaconsultation processes? Did the GWCA re-instill faith in the planning process and municipal government? This study triangulates data from a novel, natural survey experiment, government reports, the author's [direct] observations. [R,abr.] [See Abstr. 69.3745]
69.3691 CAMPRAG, Nebojsa —
This comparative study on the urban re-imagineering performed through large-scale urban refurbishment focuses on the specific post-socialist and post-conflict contexts of former Yugoslavia. Through the analysis of legislative and planning documents, expert interviews, reports, and media coverage, this study shows how initiatives for the implementation of grandiloquent urban megaprojects (UMP) in the capital cities of Serbia and Macedonia became extreme examples of national image reconstruction, carried out through autocratic state-led interventions that disregarded public input. The two main insights that the study provides classify these cases as rather particular in the European framework. [R,abr.]
69.3692 CARINI, Cristian; GIACOMINI, Davide; TEODORI, Claudio —
The article aims to explore the perception of local government (LG) financial officers on the users, the uses, and the utility of the consolidated financial report in Italy, since it was one of the first countries to expressly provide for compulsory adoption. A questionnaire was sent to a statistical stratified sample of LG, collecting 133 responses (response rate 17%). The results, tested through the structural equation model we observe that social legitimization pressure rather than accountability patterns or performance analysis drive more the adoption process. The evidence indicates that the report is perceived as a potential tool for pursuing performance assessment strategies in a group context. However, this potentiality depends on the coordination effort made by the LG. [R,abr.]
69.3693 CHAMON, Marcos, et al.—
We exploit a discontinuity in the rules of Brazilian mayoral elections to investigate whether political competition has a causal impact on fiscal policy choices. In municipalities with fewer than 200,000 voters, mayors are elected under a plurality voting system. In all other municipalities, a runoff election takes place between the top two candidates if neither achieves the majority of votes. Our results suggest that political competition induces more investment and less current expenditures, particularly personnel expenditures. The impact is larger when incumbents can run for re-election, suggesting incentives matter insofar as incumbents can themselves remain in office. [R]
69.3694 EINSTEIN, Katherine Levine; GLICK, David M.; PALMER, Maxwell —
Most studies of policy diffusion attempt to infer the processes through which policies spread by observing outputs (policy adoptions). We approach these issues from the other direction by directly analyzing a key policymaking input — information about others’ policies. Moreover, we do so by investigating policy diffusion in cities rather than states. Using a survey of US mayors, more specifically, mayors’ own lists of cities they look to for ideas, we find evidence that distance, similarity, and capacity all influence the likelihood of a policy maker looking to a particular jurisdiction for policy information. We also consider whether these traits are complements or substitutes and provide some evidence for the latter. Specifically, we find that, at times, mayors eschew similarity and distance to look to highly respected “high capacity” cities but that there is no tradeoff between distance and similarity. [R]
69.3695 ELKHDARI, Maria —
The Moroccan central government follows a formula-based approach when it redistributes the Value Added Tax (VAT) revenues to local municipalities. Using a unique panel dataset on Moroccan municipalities from 2005 to 2009, this paper investigates the determinants of unconditional transfers. The results suggest that socio-economic variables are significant, implying that there is an underlying system of equalization with an important bias toward urban municipalities. Political factors do also play an important role in this redistribution process, and this supports the hypothesis of a tactical redistribution rather than a targeted redistribution. [R,abr.]
69.3696 GOERRES, Achim; FUNK, Evelyn —
The organization of the electoral counting process is a complex task that, in Germany, is delegated to local authorities. This article presents novel data from a representative survey of local communities in North Rhine-Westphalia, to describe and to explain the variation of the ways in which the electoral count for major elections is organized. The findings are: (1) local communities differ greatly in the ways they recruit poll workers for election day and in the ways the counting teams are composed; (2) the inclusion of parties in the recruitment of poll workers, the only main prescription in the legal framework, is not heeded by one third of all local communities, and (3) actual election results co-vary with the ways in which local authorities organize the counting process — a pattern that should not exist. [R,abr.]
69.3697 JUKIĆ, Tina; SVETE, Blaž —
The paper [examines] the usage of Facebook as the most popular social networking site among Slovenian municipalities. The methodology of research is based on 21 indicators measuring usage, engagement, multichannel features, multi-media content, and the existence of a social networks usage strategy. The measurement has been performed in each of the 212 Slovenian municipalities. Their Facebook interaction has been observed in a period of six months, from November 2015 to May 2016. The analysis results reveal that only 36% of the Slovenian municipalities were present on Facebook in 2016, with almost a quarter having a zero interaction rate on their Facebook pages/profiles in the observed six-month period. [R,abr.]
69.3698 KAUFMANN, David; MEILI, Rahel —
Small and medium-sized towns (SMSTs) contribute to the economic performance of whole metropolitan regions. However, the variety of factors that influence the economic development of SMSTs is understudied and the impact and relevance of their local policies are especially unclear. This article studies local policies of SMSTs within the metropolitan region of Zurich (Switzerland) and the impact of local policies on the economic specialization of these towns. Switzerland serves as an interesting context in which to study SMSTs, particularly those in metropolitan regions, due to their constant growth and the high local autonomy enjoyed by Swiss local governments. We find that the economic specialization of SMSTs can mainly be explained by factors that are exogenous to local policy-making such as the town's location and its connectivity. [R,abr.]
69.3699 LIU Zezhao —
Social Stability Risk Assessment (SSRA) sponsored by the local administration is perceived as a socially defined risk-coping initiative since it became mandatory in China. This article observes and unravels SSRA practices by selecting Xuzhou municipality as a sample case. Findings show that local SSRA is operated by the tridimensional mechanism and antecedents of its effectiveness in enforcement are linked with multiple elements of administrative supports. The findings contribute to a full understanding of SSRA in mainland China where there is no electoral democratic regime, and provide implications for developing countries alike. Some recommendations are proposed as a potential driver of these results. [R]
69.3700 MODLIN, Steve —
In states with heavy oversight of local government finances, alternate levels of control orientation exist based on county government budget formulation and financing practices. However, previous research indicates a possible trend toward policy orientation. Using survey data from North Carolina counties, initial findings indicate high levels of finance officer budget formulation discretion as well as county manager agreement with budget decisions. Additional logit models suggest that while stakeholder influence is still present along with remnants of policy orientation, the state financial oversight mechanism along with the background, knowledge of departmental financial needs, and frequent departmental appropriation dissemination by the finance officer, continue to sustain control orientation. [R]
69.3701 MORA, Leonor; DELGADO, María Luisa; RIVERO, José A. —
This work assesses the capacity of the regulatory framework on issue-transparency to achieve the sought-after transparency in the management of public administrations. To this end, the existing literature focused on international experiences is reviewed, identifying works looking at one law or set of laws and measure the degree of transparency at a date after their entry into force. Subsequently, we analyze the case of big Spanish municipalities in connection with Act 19/2013 on Transparency, Access to Public Information and Good Governance. We thus use the levels of transparency published, mainly by the SIELOCAL Index for 2014 (year when the law came into force) and 2017. These data are also checked against the index prepared and published by Transparency International Spain. [R,abr.]
69.3702 OTERO-HERMÍDA, Paula; BOUZAS LORENZO, Ramón —
The study suggests a framework to check the adoption of a gender mainstreaming focus in local employment policies and highlights outcomes regarding the relationship between gender issues and local government policy implementation. Using both quantitative (survey) — qualitative (case study) research techniques, data gathered from 198 Spanish middle size towns have been analyzed. This research underlines the shortfalls of local employment policies and the limitations of the local authorities’ role. It also demonstrates that local governments use to take after the policy-making of higher level public administrations such as regional or central governments. As it is shown, within the framework of a multilevel policy, local governments do not use to play a particular role, therefore breaking down any potential advantage gained from proximity to users. [R,abr.]
69.3703 PARKS, Darcy —
Smart city experiments have the potential to reshape urban climate change governance. Smart city initiatives have been supported by international technology companies and the European Union for many years and continue to be promoted by national and municipal governments. In relation to sustainability and climate change, such initiatives promise more efficient use of resources through the use of information and communications technology in energy infrastructure. Experiments with smart city technologies such as urban smart grids have shown the potential to restructure relationships between energy utilities, energy users and other actors by reconfiguring the dynamics of energy supply and demand. But do urban experiments lead to institutional change? The aim of the article is to provide a better understanding of how smart city experiments reshape the urban governance of building energy use. [R,abr.] [Part of a thematic issue on “Urban experimentation and sustainability transitions”. See also Abstr. 69.3704]
69.3704 TIRADO BALLESTEROS, Juan Gabriel; HERNÁNDEZ HERNÁNDEZ, María —
For many European rural areas, the rural development programmes based on the LEADER approach constitute the main policy for promoting tourism. Going a step further than a rural development programme, LEADER represents an ideal method for overcoming some of the challenges involved in rural tourism development, such as the integration of tourism supply through public-private organizations or the coordination of multi-level policies. Despite its potential, there are difficulties involved in putting this approach into practice. This article aims to provide in-depth understanding of the challenges faced by some managers responsible for developing tourism strategies through the LEADER approach. [R,abr.] [See Abstr. 69.3703]
69.3705 WU Xiaolin; YAN Huiqi; JIANG Yongxi —
Through interviews and comparison of practices in two Chinese cities, this article argues that local governments are forced to shift some of their excessive responsibilities to new actors. This produces a limited kind of pluralism: government organizations remain in charge of community governance. [R]