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The Multidimential Impact Of Proportionality: Electoral Districts And Deficit Spending, Charles Robert Hankla
The Multidimential Impact Of Proportionality: Electoral Districts And Deficit Spending, Charles Robert Hankla
Political Science Faculty Publications
Why might a democratically elected government choose to run a sustained fiscal deficit in the face of many potential drawbacks? In this paper, I contribute in two important ways to our understanding of the political causes of fiscal outcomes. First, I develop a theoretical argument that democracies with a few large districts will have greater political incentives to provide balanced budgets than democracies with many small districts. Second, I test my theory (and, preliminarily, other theories) with a much broader empirical model than those generally used in the literature. The project helps bring to light the multidimensional impact of electoral …
A Goal For Reform: Make Elections Worth Stealing, Todd Donovan
A Goal For Reform: Make Elections Worth Stealing, Todd Donovan
Political Science Faculty Publications
No abstract provided.
Reasoning About Institutional Change: Winners, Losers And Support For Electoral Reforms, Todd Donovan, Shaun Bowler
Reasoning About Institutional Change: Winners, Losers And Support For Electoral Reforms, Todd Donovan, Shaun Bowler
Political Science Faculty Publications
This study assesses how the mass public reasons about political institutions by examining the effects of winning and losing on support for several electoral reform proposals. The national sample survey identified majorities supporting proposals for major changes in America's electoral institutions, and that suggested electoral losses may have a modest effect in reducing losers' satisfaction with how democracy works. Random assignment experiments that tested hypotheses derived from theories of risk perception were conducted. It was found that people who saw themselves as winners and losers in the electoral arena reasoned differently when proposals for change were framed in terms of …
Canada-Us Information Sharing And The Case Of Maher Arar, Bidisha Biswas
Canada-Us Information Sharing And The Case Of Maher Arar, Bidisha Biswas
Political Science Faculty Publications
This article discusses the controversy related to the detention and rendition by US authorities of Maher Arar, a Canadian citizen. The Arar case is particularly significant because of the intense publicity, debate, and mobilization that it has engendered in Canada. This case illustrates problems posed by the expectations and practices of information sharing in Canada – US security cooperation.
Iraq The Vote: Retrospective And Prospective Foreign Policy Judgments On Candidate Choice And Casualty Tolerance, Jason Reifler, Christopher Gelpi, Peter Feaver
Iraq The Vote: Retrospective And Prospective Foreign Policy Judgments On Candidate Choice And Casualty Tolerance, Jason Reifler, Christopher Gelpi, Peter Feaver
Political Science Faculty Publications
In this article, we model the effect of foreign policy attitudes on both vote choice and casualty tolerance, using survey data collected during the 2004 election. We show that prospective judgments of the likelihood of success in Iraq and retrospective judgments of whether the war in Iraq was right are significant determinants of both vote choice and casualty tolerance. The prospective judgment of success is key in predicting casualty tolerance, while retrospective judgment of whether the war was right takes precedence in determining vote choice. In addition, there is an important interaction between the two variables, so the effect of …
The 2007 Provincial Election And Electoral System Referendum In Ontario, Andrea M.L. Perrella, Steven D. Brown, Barry J. Kay, David C. Docherty
The 2007 Provincial Election And Electoral System Referendum In Ontario, Andrea M.L. Perrella, Steven D. Brown, Barry J. Kay, David C. Docherty
Political Science Faculty Publications
Ontario’s general election in Oct. 10, 2007, was unprecedented for several reasons. The election was held on a date fixed by legislation and not one set by the premier or his caucus, something new to Ontario and relatively new to Canadian politics. Turnout declined to 53%, the lowest ever in Ontario history. The incumbent Liberals won a second consecutive majority government, something the party had not achieved since 1937. And finally, the election featured a referendum question that asked voters in Ontario to approve reforms to the electoral system, a proposal that was overwhelmingly rejected. This article explores each of …
Explaining Aboriginal Treaty Negotiations Outcomes In Canada: The Cases Of The Inuit And The Innu In Labrador, Christopher Alcantara
Explaining Aboriginal Treaty Negotiations Outcomes In Canada: The Cases Of The Inuit And The Innu In Labrador, Christopher Alcantara
Political Science Faculty Publications
From 1921 to the early 1970s, the federal government refused to negotiate any new land claims agreements with aboriginal peoples in Canada. In 1973, in Calder, a majority of the Supreme Court of Canada affirmed the existence of aboriginal title. The Court ruled that aboriginal title was not a creation of the Crown, but rather stemmed from aboriginal possession of ancestral lands from time immemorial (Macklem, 2001: 268–269). Six months after Calder, the federal government invited aboriginal groups who had not yet signed a treaty with the Crown to enter into negotiations with them under a new federal comprehensive land …
Explaining Bureaucratic Optimism: Theory And Evidence From U.S. Executive Agency Macroeconomic Forecasts, George A. Krause, Kevin Corder
Explaining Bureaucratic Optimism: Theory And Evidence From U.S. Executive Agency Macroeconomic Forecasts, George A. Krause, Kevin Corder
Political Science Faculty Publications
We offer a theory of intertemporal bureaucratic decision making which proposes that an agency’s forecast optimism is related to the extent to which it discounts future reputation costs associated with bureaucratic incompetence. Agency forecasts of the distant future are more likely to be optimistic than short-term forecasts. We claim that unstable organizations will discount reputation costs at a steeper rate than stable organizations, and therefore will produce more optimistic forecasts. We test our theory using macroeconomic forecasts produced by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the Social Security Administration (SSA) across six forecast horizons from 1979 to 2003. …
Enforcing New Property Rights In Sub-Saharan Africa: The Ugandan Constitution And The 1998 Land Act, Sandra F. Joireman
Enforcing New Property Rights In Sub-Saharan Africa: The Ugandan Constitution And The 1998 Land Act, Sandra F. Joireman
Political Science Faculty Publications
A convincing case has been made in both academic studies and policy circles for clearly defined private property rights as a means to economic development. Perhaps best characterized by the recent work of Hernando De Soto, well-defined private property rights are thought to be critical not just for economic growth, but also as tool to alleviate poverty. The argument that the poor have capital that need only be put to efficient use through the creation of institutional structures that will allow them to access it is compelling. De Soto's work follows decades of policy advice provided by the international financial …
What Are International Institutions, John S. Duffield
What Are International Institutions, John S. Duffield
Political Science Faculty Publications
International institutions are a central focus of international relations scholarship as well as of policymaking efforts around the world. Despite their importance, our scholarly literature lacks a widely accepted definition of just what they are. Instead, scholars have employed a range of largely nonoverlapping conceptions, contributing to a fragmentation of the literature and hindering theoretical cumulation. This essay seeks to remedy this unsatisfactory state of affairs. It first reviews the principal ways in which international institutions have been conceptualized and identifies their shortcomings. It then develops a definition that promises to be inclusive of what are commonly regarded as the …
Dual Enrollment Between High Schools And A Metropolitan University, Steve Bullock, Gregory A. Petrow, Daniel Patrick O'Dell
Dual Enrollment Between High Schools And A Metropolitan University, Steve Bullock, Gregory A. Petrow, Daniel Patrick O'Dell
Political Science Faculty Publications
Concurrent/dual enrollment programs at postsecondary educational institutions have rapidly proliferated across the country during the last several years with wide variations in the structure and composition of such programs. Having recently completed a pilot phase of its first dual enrollment program, the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO) has enjoyed great success due to a relatively unique partnership formed between the university and Omaha area school districts.