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Full-Text Articles in Political Science

Pierre Bayle's Philosophical Commentary On The Words Of Jesus Christ: Compel Them To Come In, John Kilcullen, Chandran Kukathas Jan 2005

Pierre Bayle's Philosophical Commentary On The Words Of Jesus Christ: Compel Them To Come In, John Kilcullen, Chandran Kukathas

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

In this defence of religious toleration, Bayle discusses the words attributed to Jesus Christ in Luke 14:23, “And the Lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be full.” Bayle contends that the word compel cannot mean “force.” From this perspective, he constructs his doctrine of toleration based on the singular importance of conscience. Bayle argues that if the orthodox have the right and duty to persecute, then every sect will persecute since every sect considers itself orthodox. The result will be mutual slaughter, something God …


The Political Economy Of Polarized Pluralism, Salvatore Babones, Riccardo Pelizzo Dec 2004

The Political Economy Of Polarized Pluralism, Salvatore Babones, Riccardo Pelizzo

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

It is difficult to overestimate the importance of Sartori’s party system typology at least because, as Peter Mair recently pointed out, “there has been very little new thinking on how to classify systems since the seminal work of Sartori” (Mair, forthcoming). The first important party system taxonomy was proposed by Duverger in his Political Parties (1951). Duverger in this classic study identified three types of party systems: the one party system, the two party system and the multi-party system. By the early 1960s Sartori had become quite unhappy with this typology (Sartori, 1982). Sartori thought that both the one-party and …


Remembering The Future: Utopia, Empire And Harmony In 21st Century International Theory, William A. Callahan Dec 2004

Remembering The Future: Utopia, Empire And Harmony In 21st Century International Theory, William A. Callahan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Using a comparative approach to international relations theory, this article examines how ancient ideas are being recycled to describe world order in the 21st century. In particular, it provides a thick description of three models of utopia in global politics - Great Harmony and Harmony-with-difference from China, and Empire from Hardt and Negri. Using an unexplored set of Chinese-language texts, the article first excavates how Communist Party intellectuals in China have been writing about the ancient Confucian ideal of Great Harmony as a way of promoting the Peoples Republic of Chinas role as a Great Power in the 21st century. …


The Changing Political Economy Of Party Membership, Riccardo Pelizzo Nov 2004

The Changing Political Economy Of Party Membership, Riccardo Pelizzo

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

A recent survey conducted in a sample of 83 countries by the Inter-Parliamentary Union in collaboration with the World Bank Institute on the “Relations between the Legislature and the Executive in the Context of Parliamentary Oversight” allows cross-national comparison for the role of legislatures in the budgetary process. One of the survey’s most significant indications is that legislatures in presidential systems are generally more involved in the preparation of the budget than legislatures in either parliamentary or semi-presidential systems. The picture, however, is very different when we look at legislatures’ oversight of the budget. Parliaments are generally more involved in …


The Changing Political Economy Of Party Membership, Riccardo Pelizzo Nov 2004

The Changing Political Economy Of Party Membership, Riccardo Pelizzo

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Although few scholars would dispute from an empirical point of view the fact that parties change their electoral strategies, ideological stances and organizational structures over time, there is not much agreement on how these changes, above all party organizational change, have to be understood from a theoretical point of view. This is especially true with regard to the transformations that party organizations have undergone from the early 1970s on. In fact, although party organizational changes in the past three decades have generally been considered to be signs of the so called party crisis, the agreement on this analytical perspective is …


Models Of Electoral System Change, Kenneth Benoit Sep 2004

Models Of Electoral System Change, Kenneth Benoit

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Electoral systems are commonly treated as exogenous determinants of political party systems, yet our theoretical understanding remains limited as to how these institutions themselves are determined. Part of the problem lies with the subject matter itself: electoral system change is frequently idiosyncratic, often occurring during episodes of exceptional political change. Yet another aspect of the problem is that explanations of electoral system change frequently occur piecemeal in application to specific cases, without systematic or comparative development. Addressing both problems, I first survey the existing literature to develop a comprehensive typology of explanations of electoral system change and persistence. I then …


The Eu And The Npt: Testing The New European Nonproliferation Strategy, Clara Portela Jul 2004

The Eu And The Npt: Testing The New European Nonproliferation Strategy, Clara Portela

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Only a few years ago, the idea that the European Union (EU) could become a significant actor in the nuclear nonproliferation regime would have met with great scepticism. An organisation comprising nuclear weapon states (NWS) along with non-nuclear weapons states (NNWS) - some of who are disarmament-minded - would have been considered incapable of framing any common response to nuclear proliferation. And yet, today we find that the EU is establishing itself as an actor in the field of nonproliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD), and that it has even developed a Strategy to guide its endeavours.This article will …


The Case For Clumsiness, Michael Thompson, Marco Verweij Jun 2004

The Case For Clumsiness, Michael Thompson, Marco Verweij

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Most climatologists agree that by burning fossil fuels and engaging in other forms of consumption and production we are increasing the amount of greenhouse gases that float around in the atmosphere. These gases, in trapping some of the sun’s heat, warm the earth and enable life. The trouble is, some predict, that if we continue to accumulate those gases, over the course of the new century the average temperature on earth will rise and local climates will change, with possibly catastrophic consequences. Will this indeed happen? If so, should we do something about it? And if yes, what and when? …


Institutional Change And Persistence: The Evolution Of Poland's Electoral System, 1989-2001, Kenneth Benoit, Jacqueline Hayden May 2004

Institutional Change And Persistence: The Evolution Of Poland's Electoral System, 1989-2001, Kenneth Benoit, Jacqueline Hayden

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Electoral systems are uniquely distributive political institutions that shape political outcomes, yet are themselves endogenously shaped outcomes of political choices. In Poland, party system development has involved not only parties adapting to electoral institutions in each election, but also parties modifying these institutions prior to every election. We model electoral system change as driven by partisan self-interest in maximizing seat share and test it in five episodes of electoral system change in Poland from 1989 to 2001, comparing parties’ support for electoral law alternatives to their expectations of seat shares from those alternatives. Data consists of opinion polls, roll-call votes, …


Behind Closed Doors: Governmental Transparency Gives Way To Secrecy, Ann Florini Apr 2004

Behind Closed Doors: Governmental Transparency Gives Way To Secrecy, Ann Florini

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

A few years ago, I sat at a table in a Washington think-tank with a group of mid-level Japanese officials. They were spending several weeks in the United States on a study tour, and I was meeting with them to give a talk on governance and access to information. Japan had recently passed, but not yet implemented, a sweeping freedom of information law, and the bureaucrats were puzzled about how they were to implement it. Or even whether they should implement it. After all, as one earnest young woman asked, if the government starts giving people information, they might want …


Contextualism Reconsidered: Some Skeptical Reflections, Chandran Kukathas Apr 2004

Contextualism Reconsidered: Some Skeptical Reflections, Chandran Kukathas

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

A number of theorists have touted the merits of the contextual approach to political theory, arguing that a close examination of real-world cases is more likely to yield both theoretical insight and practical solutions to pressing problems. This is particularly evident, it is argued, in the field of multiculturalism in political theory. The present paper offers some skeptical reflections on this view, arguing the merits of a view of political theory which sees the contextual approach as less distinctive than its proponents imagine, and less useful than many would suggest. It maintains that there are serious limits to what political …


Is Global Civil Society A Good Thing?, Ann Florini Mar 2004

Is Global Civil Society A Good Thing?, Ann Florini

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Washingtons — Tanks in the streets of Seattle in 1999. Molotov cocktails in Prague in 2000. Gunfire in Genoa in 2001. A hundred thousand people gathering every winter in a World Social Forum to talk about how to improve the world. Global agreements on everything from human rights protections to banning weapons systems. Fifteen million people on the streets in cities around the world on a single day in 2003 to protest the Iraq war. These headlines reflect the rise of a force now so potent in world affairs that the New York Times has referred to it as “the …


Diasporic Tycoons, Outlaw States And Beijing Bastards: The Contingent Politics Of Greater China, William A. Callahan Mar 2004

Diasporic Tycoons, Outlaw States And Beijing Bastards: The Contingent Politics Of Greater China, William A. Callahan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

No abstract provided.


National Insecurities: Humiliation, Salvation And Chinese Nationalism, William A. Callahan Mar 2004

National Insecurities: Humiliation, Salvation And Chinese Nationalism, William A. Callahan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

While I was researching the South China Sea disputes between China, Vietnam, and the Philippines, I came upon an unlikely refer ence. In an otherwise hard-nosed analysis of the issue, a noted Chi nese expert cited a book called the Atlas of Shame. This odd juxta position of security studies, territoriality, and emotion piqued my interest, and I asked a friend in Beijing to track down this curious book. Once I got a copy of the Atlas of the Century of National Humili ation in Modern China, the correct title, I was fascinated by what seemed to be a unique …


Parliamentary Libraries, Institutes And Offices: The Sources Of Parliamentary Information, Robert Miller, Riccardo Pelizzo, Rick Stapenhurst Jan 2004

Parliamentary Libraries, Institutes And Offices: The Sources Of Parliamentary Information, Robert Miller, Riccardo Pelizzo, Rick Stapenhurst

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

No abstract provided.


A Regional Approach To Human Security In East Asia: Global Debate, Regional Insecurity And The Role Of Civil Society, James T. H. Tang Jan 2004

A Regional Approach To Human Security In East Asia: Global Debate, Regional Insecurity And The Role Of Civil Society, James T. H. Tang

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

The concept of human security as a new paradigm presents a particular challenge for East Asia. While the region experienced dramatic political, economic and social transformations in the last few decades, much of the region’s key security concerns are state-focused. In fact East Asian regional security structures that are products of the Cold War era have remained largely intact.


Tools For Legislative Oversight: An Empirical Investigation, Riccardo Pelizzo, Rick Stapenhurst Jan 2004

Tools For Legislative Oversight: An Empirical Investigation, Riccardo Pelizzo, Rick Stapenhurst

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Parliaments are the institutions through which governments are held accountable to the electorate. They have a wide range of tools with which to carry out this oversight function, but until recently little analysis had been undertaken on the characteristics or use of such tools. This paper uses data for 83 countries that was collected in 2001 to investigate whether the oversight potential relates to three variables, namely the form of government (presidential, semi-presidential, or parliamentary), per capita income levels, and the level of democracy. The paper finds that oversight potential is greatly affected by the form of government, per capita …


From Principle To Practice: Constitutional Principles And The Transformation Of Party Finance In Germany And Italy, Riccardo Pelizzo Jan 2004

From Principle To Practice: Constitutional Principles And The Transformation Of Party Finance In Germany And Italy, Riccardo Pelizzo

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

The paper investigates the development of party finance and party finance legislation in Germany and Italy. The main claim of the paper is that the differences between German and Italian party finance reflect differences in the party finance legislation enacted in the two countries, which, in their turn, are a result of how the German and the Italian constitutional principles were translated into practice.


Trends In Parliamentary Oversight: Proceedings From A Panel At The 2004 Southern Political Science Association Conference, Riccardo Pelizzo, David Olson, Rick Stapenhurst Jan 2004

Trends In Parliamentary Oversight: Proceedings From A Panel At The 2004 Southern Political Science Association Conference, Riccardo Pelizzo, David Olson, Rick Stapenhurst

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

No abstract provided.


Does The Parliament Make A Difference? The Role Of The Italian Parliament In Financial Policy, Carolyn Forestiere, Riccardo Pelizzo Jan 2004

Does The Parliament Make A Difference? The Role Of The Italian Parliament In Financial Policy, Carolyn Forestiere, Riccardo Pelizzo

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

A recent survey conducted in a sample of 83 countries by the Inter-Parliamentary Union in collaboration with the World Bank Institute on the Relations between the Legislature and the Executive in the Context of Parliamentary Oversight allows cross-national comparison for the role of legislatures in the budgetary process. One of the survey’s most significant indications is that legislatures in presidential systems are generally more involved in the preparation of the budget than legislatures in either parliamentary or semi-presidential systems. The picture, however, is very different when we look at legislatures’ oversight of the budget. Parliaments are generally more involved in …


Revisiting The Asian Values Argument Used By Asian Political Leaders And Its Validity, Chang Yau Hoon Jan 2004

Revisiting The Asian Values Argument Used By Asian Political Leaders And Its Validity, Chang Yau Hoon

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

No abstract provided.


Multiparty Split-Ticket Voting Estimation As An Ecological Inference Problem, Kenneth Benoit, Michael Laver, Daniela Giannetti Jan 2004

Multiparty Split-Ticket Voting Estimation As An Ecological Inference Problem, Kenneth Benoit, Michael Laver, Daniela Giannetti

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

The estimation of vote splitting in mixed-member electoral systems is a common problem in electoral studies, where the goal of researchers is to estimate individual voter transitions between parties on two different ballots cast simultaneously. Because the ballots are cast separately and secretly, however, voter choice on the two ballots must be recreated from separately tabulated aggregate data. The problem is therefore of one of making ecological inferences. Because of the multiparty contexts normally found where mixed-member electoral rules are used, furthermore, the problem involves large-table (R × C) ecological inference. In this chapter we show how vote-splitting problems in …


The Case For Open Immigration, Chandran Kukathas Jan 2004

The Case For Open Immigration, Chandran Kukathas

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

People favor or are opposed to immigration for a variety of reasons. It is therefore difficult to tie views about immigration to ideological positions. While it seems obviousthat political conservatives are the most unlikely to defend freedom of movement,and that socialists and liberals (classical and modern) are very likely to favor more openborders, in reality wariness (if not outright hostility) to immigration can be foundamong all groups. Even libertarian anarchists have advanced reasons to restrict themovement of peoples.


Nationalism And Multiculturalism, Chandran Kukathas Jan 2004

Nationalism And Multiculturalism, Chandran Kukathas

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

If any issue dominates contemporary political theory, it is how to deal with cultural diversity and the claims –moral, legal, and political – made in the name of ethnic, religious, linguistic, or national allegiance (Kymlicka,2001: 17). Today, governments are confronted by demands from cultural minorities for recognition, protection,preferential treatment, and political autonomy within the boundaries of the state. Equally, international societyand its political institutions, as well as states themselves, have had to deal with demands from various peoplesfor political recognition as independent nations, and for national self-determination. The turbulent politics ofthe contemporary world may account in part for this development: …


The Eu And The Non-Proliferation Of Nuclear Weapons: The Way To Thessaloniki And Beyond, Clara Portela Dec 2003

The Eu And The Non-Proliferation Of Nuclear Weapons: The Way To Thessaloniki And Beyond, Clara Portela

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

This paper discusses EU policies against the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD). The author states that at the beginning of the century, the EU began taking steps against the spread of nuclear weapons within its Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP). In June 2003, the European Council adopted its first draft strategy against the proliferation of WMDs. In order to assess the significance of the strategy, the paper presents and evaluates the Union’s record in the field, reviews the strategy and makes suggestions as to how it can be improved.


The Arms Trade In Russian-Chinese Relations: Identity, Domestic Politics, And Geopolitical Positioning, Robert H. Donaldson, John A. Donaldson Dec 2003

The Arms Trade In Russian-Chinese Relations: Identity, Domestic Politics, And Geopolitical Positioning, Robert H. Donaldson, John A. Donaldson

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Why would a declining power help arm a neighboring and once-hostile rising power? Current international relations literature cannot explain relationships in which one powerful country contributes directly to its long-term relative decline in order to make smaller, short-term gains. This study focuses on one example, the Treaty on Good Neighborly Friendship and Cooperation between the Russian Federation and the People's Republic of China, signed in Moscow on July 16, 2001. Presenting evidence that this alliance embodies a relationship that is based primarily on sales of arms from Russia to China, the authors argue that this association cannot be explained by …


Issue Definition And The Opinion-Policy Link: Public Preferences And Health Care Spending In The Us And Uk, Stuart N. Soroka, Elvin T. Lim Nov 2003

Issue Definition And The Opinion-Policy Link: Public Preferences And Health Care Spending In The Us And Uk, Stuart N. Soroka, Elvin T. Lim

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

This article explores the extent to which yearly changes in health spending reflect yearly changes in public preferences. Time series modelling suggests that health care spending is remarkably more responsive to yearly changes in public opinion in the US than in the UK.A content analysis of party manifestos suggests the significant role of ‘issue definition’ in accounting for this difference. Health care issues in the US have more often been viewed as problems of expenditure, while UK policy-makers have tended to focus on efficiency. Results suggest that the responsiveness of health care expenditures to public preferences in the US and …


For A Few Euros More: Campaign Spending Effects In The Irish Local Elections Of 1999, Kenneth Benoit, Michael Marsh Sep 2003

For A Few Euros More: Campaign Spending Effects In The Irish Local Elections Of 1999, Kenneth Benoit, Michael Marsh

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Although perceived by candidates and parties as important in affecting political outcomes, the link between spending and success in multi-candidate, multiparty election campaigns remains unproven. Not only are there relatively few studies of campaign spending effects in multi-party systems, there are none examining the effect under the Single Transferable Vote (STV) electoral system. Our study examines spending effects in the Irish local elections of 1999 using STV with district magnitudes between 3 and 7 seats, contested by a median of 10 candidates in each district. Using detailed data on 1,838 candidates from 180 local constituencies and 30 councils, we provide …


In Praise Of The Strange Virtue Of People-Smuggling, Chandran Kukathas Sep 2003

In Praise Of The Strange Virtue Of People-Smuggling, Chandran Kukathas

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Almost everyone is against people-smuggling. The refugee advocate excoriating the government for its mistreatment of asylum seekers, no less than the departmental official bemoaning the numbers of boat people landing on Australian shores, feels well-justified in insisting that, somehow, something must be done to put an end to this 'evil trade'. On the scale of virtue, the people smuggler appears barely a notch above (and for many, several notches below) the drug dealer, the child molester, or the gangster.


Responsibility For Past Injustice: How To Shift The Burden, Chandran Kukathas Jun 2003

Responsibility For Past Injustice: How To Shift The Burden, Chandran Kukathas

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

This article considers the question of the responsibility of present generations for injustices committed by previous ones. It asks whether the descendants of victims of past injustice have claims against the descendants of the perpetrators of injustice. Two modes of argument are examined: the individual responsibility approach, according to which descendants cannot have claims against other descendants, and the collective responsibility approach, according to which descendants do have strong claims. Both approaches are criticized, but for different failings. An alternative view, building on the individualist approach, is defended. This view argues that some people may have to bear responsibility for …