From Control to Conflict: A Spectrum and Framework for Understanding Government-Militia Relationships

Does the military strength of rebel movements affect conflict-related sexual violence by pro-government militias (PGMs)? Existing studies on PGMs show the significant role that PGMs can have in shaping conflict dynamics and outcomes. What remains understudied is how the variation in power capabilities between conflict actors and the sources of support for PGMs influences civilian victimization by militia groups. We argue that strong rebels tip the balance of power against the state, making the state more susceptible to authorizing or allowing sexual violence by PGMs. In addition, the level of autonomy of PGMs from the government is likely to influence their sexual violence, conditional on rebel strength. When rebels are militarily strong, states are likely to order or tolerate sexual violence by PGMs that they train and/or provide resources to, thereby resulting in sexual violence by state-dependent PGMs. Examining all civil conflicts from 1989 to 2009 and using newly collected data on state-dependence of PGMs, our empirical findings provide evidence that PGMs are associated with higher levels of conflict-related sexual violence when the government faces strong rebels. Results also show that the likelihood of sexual violence by state-dependent PGMs increases when rebels exhibit strong military capabilities.

In his pathbreaking 1984 book The New Politics of Inequality , Tom Edsall warned about "a major shift in the balance of power in the United States," reflecting an erosion of political influence "of the bottom half of the economic spectrum" and a significant increase in the political cohesion and effectiveness of the wealthy. Edsall traced the conversion of the Democrats to more business funding and the decline of labor and working-class voting. He predicted that "as long as the balance of political power remains so heavily weighted towards those with economic power, national economic policy will remain distorted regardless of which party is in control of the federal government." The imbalance in power and its "distorted" effect on policy that alarmed Edsall twenty-seven years ago was a small tumor compared to the metastasized cancer that now threatens our democracy. Jacob Hacker and Paul Pierson's Winner-Take-All Politics is the best book on the American political economy since Edsall's. It is also the essential guide to how the United States went from New Deal egalitarianism—in the thirty years after the Second World War the incomes of the poorest 20 percent of American families actually increased a bit faster than the income of the richest 20 percent—to our present day American plutocracy.

The debate over the legalisation of voluntary euthanasia is most often seen to be the result of three changes in society: individualisation, diminished taboos concerning death and changes in the balance of power in medicine. The fact that these changes occurred in many western countries but led to legalisation in only a few makes this claim problematic. I examine whether socio-legal propositions, with respect to the emergence of laws which focus on social control, offer a better approach to understanding the development of rules allowing and governing euthanasia. After a short sketch of the history of the Dutch law regulating euthanasia, I discuss these three societal changes in the light of shifts in the social control of medical behaviour that shortens life. I show that the Dutch relaxation of the prohibition of euthanasia goes together with new forms of social control: doctors' self control is complemented with second-party control (by patients), professional third-party control and governmental control. My work calls attention to the fact that bioethics is part of larger systems of social control.

The balance of power in the longstanding struggle between populist and establishment forces in American politics has shifted, which has resulted in a dramatic change in the conditions that had produced the Pentagon Papers settlement. To better recognize the legitimate claims of populist and establishment forces, we should therefore rethink the untrammeled power of the government to punish low-level officials who reveal government secrets and question the media’s practical immunity from government controls. The questions posed by the shift in forces need to be addressed in the way policy questions are best resolved—that is, humbly, pragmatically, and experimentally, with careful attention to empirical outcomes, a balancing of competing interests, and a recognition that no solution will be perfect or will last forever. This essay argues for such a practical, not constitutional, approach and, more specifically, proposes an end to press immunity, more robust defenses for leakers in criminal prosecutions, and improved whistleblower protection.

The rapid growth in size and strength of the trade union movement has been one of the most revolutionary developments on the North American continent during the past ten to fifteen years. The very size and scope of this movement, and the tremendous impact which it has had on the national economies of the United States and Canada, have given rise to widespread agitation for greater governmental intervention and control in industrial relations.This agitation has created a serious dilemma. There is as yet no clear and consistent body of principles by which to determine in what manner and to what degree governments should seek to regulate labour-employer relations. There is little agreement as to what the primary objective of governmental policy should be. Should it concentrate on reducing strikes and lockouts to the absolute minimum? Or (which is not the same thing by any means) should it be concerned primarily with encouraging collective bargaining as a means of achieving stable and harmonious day-to-day relations? Should it seek to bring about an exact “balance of power” between organized labour and employers by an equal distribution of legal privileges to and equal restrictions upon each party? Or is its primary duty to protect the rights and liberties of individuals against the possible abuse of power by either or both parties?

SummaryThe Covid‐19 pandemic has highlighted vulnerabilities in the agri‐food system and wider society. The elderly, in particular, have been overrepresented in intensive care units. The resulting economic crisis and accelerating geopolitical shifts will change the agri‐food system, but it is unclear how this will play out in detail. Two factors are important to consider: will societal priorities change and will the state become more interventionist? We examine these uncertainties via four scenarios from a Dutch perspective. ‘Business as usual’ is realistic if the crises are short and manageable. ‘Government Control’ is more state interventionist, after several decades of neo‐liberalism, with a greater focus on the economy and employment as the agri‐food system is confronted with a long recession. ‘Regional Communities’ is where there is a long period of echo‐pandemics, in which a flourishing community spirit, the attention to nature and a healthy living environment with healthy food are permanent and short supply chains and multifunctional agriculture gain ground. In ‘Green High‐Tech Transformation’, the most extreme scenario, the state and technical innovation take on a much larger role in society and our views on our lifestyle change. These trends reinforce each other and the government is tasked with creating a new economy. The scenarios are not predictions but can be used to structure thought and discussion on the way forward.

The rise of China has transformed the global power balance and made the US-China relationship increasingly strategic and complicated. While some Americans are anxious about what China’s great power aspiration means for US interests, many Chinese are concerned about the US intention to keep China down. In this context, many in Beijing believe that the Obama administration’s strategic rebalance toward the Asia-Pacific is bent on hindering China’s rise as a great power. To what extent is the strategic rebalance about China? Is it part of the US strategy to contain China’s rise? Can the US and China function in relative power equality and build a balance of power to maintain peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific? Seeking answers to these important questions, this article argues that the strategic rebalance is a continuation of the long-standing struggle of the US to define its interests in the region. China remains a centerpiece in the rebalance not only because building a cooperative relationship with China is the key for its success, but also because the rebalance has to address the rapidly shifting balance of power in the region where China has emerged as an ever-more influential power. It is in US interests to work with its partners as well as China to construct a regional order based on the balance of power, and rules and institutions capable of allowing China to grow and be secured but not use its new might arbitrarily.

With continuous improvement in the development level of China's information technology, e-government services outsourcing market is gradually taking shape, and is playing an increasingly important role in e-government construction of China. Based on the survey of 93 different government departments in Chengdu, this paper used AHP to establish the evaluation model of the e-government services outsourcing, and sorted the factors which affect e-government services outsourcing. The results showed that the will of the government was the key influence factor to e-government services outsourcing, followed by cooperation relationship, management and contractor selection factors.

Objective. I seek to assess the quality of relations between labor unions and environmental organizations and to identify economic, political, and organizational factors that influence those relations. Methods. A survey of state labor leaders was conducted in order to determine the quality of relations between unions and environmental organizations around the United States. Ordinary least squares regression is used to identify associations between state level economic and political indicators and the quality of labor‐environmental relations. Results. Relations between labor unions and environmentalists are generally positive. Except for the timber industry, there is no evidence of hostility between environmentalists and unions in industries that may be threatened with job loss due to environmental measures. Republican control of state government and labor‐industry cooperation are associated with poor labor‐environmental relations. Conclusions. Popular beliefs about entrenched “jobs versus the environment” conflict are largely unfounded. Instances of conflict between unions and environmental advocates are rare and largely isolated in certain employment sectors. Although unions and environmentalists share certain interests, Republican political control reduces cooperation between these two constituencies. Unions can be seen as situated between employers and environmentalists in regard to environmental issues. Cooperation with employers results in poorer relations between unions and environmentalists.

In the view of ecological civilization, the incentive contract between government and enterprise to cooperate and build ecological economy is built by introducing value preference parameter into the classical principal-agent model. Model equilibrium has been analyzed and a numerical example verifies the validity of conclusion. Research results prove that value preference parameter can effectively coordinate interest relationship between government and enterprise and control incentive cost. Value preference parameter of government, marginal output and risk avoidance attitude of enterprise can influence the change of incentive contract.

The Political Will and Its Effect Upon the Deterioration of the Land Compensation Value

This paper evaluates the problem of medical debt in Kenya during the COVID-19 pandemic. The medical debt problem is compounded during pandemics such as COVID-19 when patients seek treatment and end up in insurmountable debt because illnesses related to the pandemic are not covered by the Kenyan National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF), the public health coverage body under government control. As a result, discharged patients may be detained in hospitals and dead bodies are locked away in mortuaries, until relatives and friends fundraise and clear the bills. Apart from causing vulnerability, fear, and emotional stress among the poor, this practice leads to a growing lack of trust in the healthcare system, with patients deliberately avoiding hospitals whenever they suspect they have COVID-19. The resulting vicious cycle makes healthcare more inaccessible by limiting the choices that people may have. User fees, which were introduced in all public health facilities by the Kenyan government as part of a World Bank prescription for cost-sharing, normally affect more women than men. Although Kenya has implemented a general waiver system in public hospitals for those who cannot pay their medical bills, the process of obtaining this waiver can be burdensome, demeaning, and dangerous for the health of the patients. This undermines the government's commitment to the provision of equitable and affordable health care for the citizens. In this article, the problem of medical debt in Kenya is addressed as a multi-faceted problem drawing on issues of justice and fairness, human dignity, good governance, the interplay between global and local policies, as well as politics and law. It argues that it is in the best interest of Kenya and other African countries to ensure that public health coverage covers pandemics so that the majority poor can afford and access healthcare.

The internationalization paradox: Untangling dependence in multinational state hybrids

We use the tools of transaction cost politics (TCP) developed from transaction cost economics and economic analysis, to analyze the business relationship building between the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC), the largest and most successful foreign bank in China, and the Chinese government between 1949 and 1978. We demonstrate the value of the TCP-based approach to evaluating the specialized governance structure of commitment built on mutual dependency. In particular, we identify several transaction attributes that give rise to hazards: transaction uncertainty, the role of the government in the economy, and the strength of the supporting coalition. Our analysis also confirms that commitment built on the mutual dependency between the international company and the local authorities and between the international company's home country authorities and the local authorities did reduce the company's transaction costs by guarding against the local authorities' opportunism.

We use the tools of transaction cost politics (TCP) developed from transaction cost economics and economic analysis, to analyze the business relationship building between the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC), the largest and most successful foreign bank in China, and the Chinese government between 1949 and 1978. We demonstrate the value of the TCP-based approach to evaluating the specialized governance structure of commitment built on mutual dependency. In particular, we identify several transaction attributes that give rise to hazards: transaction uncertainty, the role of the government in the economy, and the strength of the supporting coalition. Our analysis also confirms that commitment built on the mutual dependency between the international company and the local authorities and between the international company's home country authorities and the local authorities did reduce the company's transaction costs by guarding against the local authorities' opportunism.