Politics & Society recent issues

The Social Foundations of Institutional Order: Reconsidering War and the "Resource Curse" in Third World State Building

Kurtz, M. J. — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 08:53:32 PST

This manuscript departs strongly from conventional accounts that ascribe a central role to war and the threat of war in Third World state building. Similarly, it challenges the conventional wisdom that abundant exportable natural resource wealth is likely to provoke institutional atrophy. Instead, it argues that a set of logically prior conditions—the social relations that govern the principal economic sectors and the pattern or intraelite conflict or compromise—launch path-dependent processes that help determine when, and if, either strategic conflict or resource wealth contribute to, or impede, institutional development. The argument is tested in the comparative analysis of the state-building process in two Andean neighbors (Chile and Peru), both of which are situated in similar strategic and natural resource environments but which produced qualitatively different outcomes in terms of state capacity or "strength."

Industrial Policy in the United States: A Neo-Polanyian Interpretation

Schrank, A., Whitford, J. — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 08:53:32 PST

The conventional wisdom holds that U.S. political institutions are inhospitable to industrial policy. The authors call the conventional wisdom into question by making four claims: (1) the activities targeted by industrial policy are increasingly governed by decentralized production networks rather than markets or hierarchies, (2) "network failures" are therefore no less threatening to industrial dynamism than market or organizational failures, (3) the spatial and organizational decentralization of production have simultaneously increased the demand and broadened the support for American industrial policy, and (4) political decentralization is therefore likely to improve the functioning of industrial policies designed to combat network failures.

Globalization and Working Time: Working Hours and Flexibility in Germany

Burgoon, B., Raess, D. — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 08:53:32 PST

This article challenges popular wisdom that economic globalization uniformly increases working time in industrialized countries. International investment and trade, they argue, have uneven effects for workplace bargaining over standard hours and over work-time flexibility, such as use of temporary or fixed work contracts. The authors explain how such globalization will tend to more substantially decrease standard hours than it does work-time flexibility. And they explain how works councils and union-led collective bargaining alter the way globalization affects both aspects of working time.The analysis of German enterprise data supports these expectations. Measures of globalization diminish standard working hours but yield more temporary work, fixed-contract work, and flexible working arrangements. Works councils and collective bargaining, however, mediate these effects in contrasting ways. Among enterprises without works councils or collective agreements globalization triggers more standard hours, but among firms with such representation globalization triggers fewer hours. With respect to flexibility, however, globalization increases use of temporary or fixed-term contracts more strongly where works councils or collective bargaining are present than when they are not. In short, economic openness has uneven consequences for working time, and firm-level labor representation channels those consequences in ways that highlight political agency in how people respond to globalization.

Deliberative Democracy and Inequality: Two Cheers for Enclave Deliberation among the Disempowered

Karpowitz, C. F., Raphael, C., Hammond, A. S. — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 08:53:32 PST

Deliberative democracy grounds its legitimacy largely in the ability of speakers to participate on equal terms. Yet theorists and practitioners have struggled with how to establish deliberative equality in the face of stark differences of power in liberal democracies. Designers of innovative civic forums for deliberation often aim to neutralize inequities among participants through proportional inclusion of disempowered speakers and discourses. In contrast, others argue that democratic equality is best achieved when disempowered groups deliberate in their own enclaves (interest groups, parties, and movements) before entering the broader public sphere. Borrowing from each perspective, the authors argue that there are strong reasons to incorporate enclave deliberation among the disempowered within civic forums. They support this claim by presenting case study evidence showing that participants in such forums can gain some of the same benefits of deliberation found in more heterogeneous groups (e.g., political knowledge, efficacy and trust), can consider a diversity of viewpoints rather than falling into groupthink and polarization, and can persuade external stakeholders of the legitimacy of the group’s deliberations.

Virtue out of Necessity? Compliance, Commitment, and the Improvement of Labor Conditions in Global Supply Chains

Locke, R., Amengual, M., Mangla, A. — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 12:27:34 PDT

Private, voluntary compliance programs, promoted by global corporations and nongovernmental organizations alike, have produced only modest and uneven improvements in working conditions and labor rights in most global supply chains. Through a detailed study of a major global apparel company and its suppliers, this article argues that this compliance model rests on misguided theoretical and empirical assumptions concerning the power of multinational corporations in global supply chains, the role information (derived from factory audits) plays in shaping the behavior of key actors (e.g., global brands, transnational activist networks, suppliers, purchasing agents, etc.) in these production networks, and the appropriate incentives required to change behavior and promote improvements in labor standards in these emergent centers of global production. The authors argue that it is precisely these faulty assumptions and the way they have come to shape various labor compliance initiatives throughout the world—even more than a lack of commitment, resources, or transparency by global brands and their suppliers to these programs—that explain why this compliance-focused model of private voluntary regulation has not succeeded. In contrast, this article documents that a more commitment-oriented approach to improving labor standards coexists and, in many of the same factories, complements the traditional compliance model. This commitment-oriented approach, based on joint problem solving, information exchange, and the diffusion of best practices, is often obscured by the debates over traditional compliance programs but exists in myriad factories throughout the world and has led to sustained improvements in working conditions and labor rights at these workplaces.

Commissioning Legitimacy: The Global Logics of National Violence Commissions in the Twentieth Century

Keller, M. R. — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 12:27:34 PDT

Based on an analysis of the reports of twenty-eight national-level public commission inquiries into events involving ethno-national violence—drawn from five national contexts and arrayed over the course of the twentieth century—this article demonstrates the strikingly transnational character of these investigatory bodies’ attempts to authoritatively explain episodes of collective violence and to thereby restore governing legitimacy in the wake of violent crises. One of four distinct "logics," or core explanatory frameworks, each associated with a particular mode of "racial power," characterized a diverse cross-national pool of violence commission reports during defined periods of the twentieth century. In revealing globally encompassing logics to what has often been framed as a national or case-specific phenomenon, the author shows how global ideational currents compose a key dimension of national political dynamics.

Democracy in the Globalizing Indian City: Engagements of Political Society and the State in Globalizing Mumbai

Weinstein, L. — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 12:27:34 PDT

Transformations under way in Indian cities have begun to alter the opportunities for democratic participation among the urban poor. Highlighting efforts to promote globally oriented urban developments in Mumbai, this article examines the state’s engagement with groups directly impacted by these efforts. Based on ethnographic research and interviews with key stakeholders in the Dharavi Redevelopment Project (DRP), the article traces the character of such engagements over the project’s four-year planning process. It finds that the state undertook an unusually inclusive process, consulting with resident and activist groups at points throughout this period. The article posits that this novel engagement is an unintended consequence of pressures to promote rapid development and ease investor concerns. Situating this case in the recent literature on political shifts in the globalizing Indian city, it concludes that the state may be engaging more with the urban poor than many of these accounts suggest.

Terrorist Violence and Popular Mobilization: The Case of the Spanish Transition to Democracy

Sanchez-Cuenca, I., Aguilar, P. — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 12:27:34 PDT

The hypothesis that terrorism often emerges when mass collective action declines and radicals take up arms to compensate for the weakness of a mass movement has been around for some time; however, it has never been tested systematically. In this article the authors investigate the relationship between terrorist violence and mass protest in the context of the Spanish transition to democracy. This period is known for its pacts and negotiations between political elites, but in fact, it was accompanied by high levels of terrorist violence and popular mobilization. To test the hypothesis, the authors have created two data sets, one on victims of terrorism and another on participation in demonstrations. The data clearly confirm that terrorism erupted in Spain when participation in demonstrations started to decline. This result sheds new light on the nonstructural conditions associated with the onset of terrorist violence.

The American Century? Migration and the Voluntary Social Contract

Moses, J. W. — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 12:27:34 PDT

This piece argues that free migration was a central if implicit part of the liberal social contract and that America’s founders were both aware of this and exploited it to legitimate their new state. The piece begins by describing this uniquely American contribution to liberal political thought. It then juxtaposes this contribution against the nature of our own international order, to show just how foreign the American Century has become. The piece closes with a short depiction of what an American Century would look like today—were it true to this early ideal—and comments on its feasibility.

New Slants on the Slippery Slope: The Politics of Polygamy and Gay Family Rights in South Africa and the United States

Stacey, J., Meadow, T. — Thu, 14 May 2009 13:46:24 PDT

This article investigates the often cited and dismissed, but rarely examined, relationship between legalizing same-sex marriage and polygamy. Employing a comparative historical analysis of U.S. and South African jurisprudence, ideology, and cultural politics, we examine efforts to expand, restrict, and regulate the gender and number of legally recognized conjugal bonds. South African family jurisprudence grants legal recognition to both same-sex marriage and polygyny, while the United States prohibits and resists both. However, social and material conditions make it easier to practice family diversity in the U.S. than in South Africa. Our analysis of the very different histories of polygamy and same-sex marriage in the two societies suggests the centrality of racial politics to marriage regimes, yielding paradoxical narratives about the implications of legal same-sex marriage for the future of polygamy and sexual democracy. If there is a slippery marital slope, we argue, it does not tilt in a singular or expected direction.

Union Democracy Reexamined

Levi, M., Olson, D., Agnone, J., Kelly, D. — Thu, 14 May 2009 13:46:24 PDT

Trade union leaders serve dual, seemingly contradictory roles. They must command militant organizations in conflicts with employers. Simultaneously, they must be accountable and democratically responsive to their members. Few unions possess the institutions or leadership to accomplish both. This article analyzes the practices of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU), in which effective contract negotiation (including leadership during strikes) and an informed, active rank-and-file democracy are mutually supportive. We offer an alternative to standard accounts of union democracy. While the claims are based on a detailed case study, the theoretical model and its insights hold for labor unions and organizations more broadly.

The Transformation of French Industrial Relations: Labor Representation and the State in a Post-Dirigiste Era

Howell, C. — Thu, 14 May 2009 13:46:24 PDT

Despite continued social protest, something quite fundamental has changed in the regulation of class relations in France. This article explores two paradoxes of this transformation. First, a dense network of institutions of social dialogue and worker representation has become implanted in French firms at the same time as trade union strength has declined. Second, the transformation has involved a relaxation of centralized labor market regulation on the part of the state, yet the French state remains a central actor in the reconstruction of the industrial relations system. Institutional reform of industrial relations could not take place without the active intervention of the state because employers and trade unions alone were unable to create durable industrial relations institutions. The collapse of trade unionism meant the need for new actors on the labor side and only the state could both create and confer legitimacy upon those new actors.

Renegotiating the Swedish Social Democratic Settlement: From Pension Fund Socialism to Neoliberalization

Belfrage, C., Ryner, M. — Thu, 14 May 2009 13:46:24 PDT

Steering a middle course between the strong neoliberalization thesis and arguments that deny that neoliberalization has occurred, this article accounts for the complex and hybridic shift in Sweden from pension reform through share ownership as a socialist strategy to an as-of-yet incomplete and contradictory neoliberal process. Noting the broader significance of Sweden for the international debate over pension reform, the article unpacks the concept of "mass investment culture" to discern the significant headway toward neoliberalization in Swedish pension savings and provision while still noting profound sources of crisis tendencies.

Mobilizing the State: The Erratic Partner in Brazil's Participatory Water Policy

Neaera Abers, R., Keck, M. E. — Thu, 14 May 2009 13:46:24 PDT

Studies of participatory governance generally examine the input (deliberation, participation) and/or output (accountability) side of policy processes. Often neglected is the throughput: Does the state have the political and technical capacity to implement the decisions that deliberative bodies make? In this study of Brazilian river-basin committees, the authors find that activists inside and outside the state often must collaborate to overcome resistance to change and provide state officials with resources they lack. They argue that this does not constitute the transfer of state responsibility to private actors but rather the mobilization of a state's capacity to defend the public interest.

Yes We Can? The New Push for American Health Security

Hacker, J. S. — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 13:06:58 PST

What are the prospects for meaningful reform of U.S. health care? To answer this question requires understanding why previous reform efforts (and in particular the 1993 Clinton health plan) failed—the combination of deep structural biases against large-scale public provision and the inherited constraints posed by the rise of employment-based insurance. Generally, the context is more favorable today than it was fifteen years ago. But the prospects for change hinge on learning the right lesson of history: Politics comes first. Putting politics first means avoiding the overarching mistake of the Clinton reformers: envisioning a grand policy compromise rather than hammering out a real political compromise. It also means addressing the inevitable fears of those who believe they are well protected by our eroding employment-based framework. And it means premising political strategies on the contemporary realities of hyperpolarized politics, rather than wistfully recalled images of the bipartisan politics of old.

Introduction

Wood, E. J. — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 13:06:58 PST

Sexual Violence in Europe in World War II, 1939--1945

Burds, J. — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 13:06:58 PST

Focusing in particular on the German-Soviet war in the East, this article explores variations in patterns of sexual violence associated with armed forces in Europe during and immediately after World War II. Besides soldier violence perpetrated against civilian populations, a significant role was also played by irregular forces: most notably, by partisan guerrillas and civilian vigilantes. Ethnic nationalist partisan forces perpetrated especially brutal sexual violence against women and girls of "enemy" nationalities. Likewise, after liberation civilian reprisals were fairly common throughout Europe against so-called "sexual collaborators"—that is, against women excoriated for providing "sexual comfort" to the enemy during the German occupation.

Digging in the Archives: The Promise and Perils of Primary Documents

Leiby, M. — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 13:06:58 PST

This article explores the methodological obstacles to research on wartime sexual violence and the extent to which they can be overcome with archival research. It discusses issues of concept formation, counting victims of human rights abuse, and coding violations. It compares figures from the Peruvian Truth and Reconciliation Commission's final report, an analysis of the Commission's published materials, and an analysis of the primary documents and finds that (1) the number of reported cases of sexual violence is significantly higher than the 538 cited by the Commission, (2) men were more often the targets of sexual violence than previously thought, and (3) sexual humiliation and sexual torture were common practices during the war.

Front and Center: Sexual Violence in U.S. Military Law

Hillman, E. L. — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 13:06:58 PST

Military-on-military sexual violence—the type of sexual violence that most directly disrupts operations, harms personnel, and undermines recruiting—occurs with astonishing frequency. The U.S. military has responded with a campaign to prevent and punish military-on-military sex crimes. This campaign, however, has made little progress, partly because of U.S. military law, a special realm of criminal justice dominated by legal precedents involving sexual violence and racialized images. By promulgating images and narratives of sexual exploitation, violent sexuality, and female subordination, the military justice system has helped to sustain a legal culture that reifies the connection between sexual violence and authentic soldiering.

Armed Groups and Sexual Violence: When Is Wartime Rape Rare?

Wood, E. J. — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 13:06:58 PST

This article explores a particular pattern of wartime violence, the relative absence of sexual violence on the part of many armed groups. This neglected fact has important policy implications: If some groups do not engage in sexual violence, then rape is not inevitable in war as is sometimes claimed, and there are stronger grounds for holding responsible those groups that do engage in sexual violence. After developing a theoretical framework for understanding the observed variation in wartime sexual violence, the article analyzes the puzzling absence of sexual violence on the part of the secessionist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam of Sri Lanka.