Democrat Coalition Research Articles

Rebuilding the Democratic Coalition

Rebuilding the Democratic Coalition

The Making of Social Democracy: the Economic and Electoral Consequences of Norway’s 1936 Folk School Reform

Abstract Upon assuming power for the first time in 1935, the Norwegian Labour Party delivered on its promise for a major schooling reform. The reform raised minimum instruction time in less-developed rural areas and boosted the resources available to rural schools, reducing class size, and raising teacher salaries. We show that cohorts more intensively affected by the reform increased their education and experienced higher labor income. Our main result is that the schooling reform also boosted support for the Norwegian Labour Party in subsequent elections. This additional support persisted for several decades and was pivotal in maintaining support for the social democratic coalition in Norway. These results are not driven by the direct impact of education and are not explained by higher turnout, or greater attention or resources from the Labour Party targeted toward the municipalities most affected by the reform. Rather, our evidence suggests that cohorts that benefited from the schooling reform, and their parents, rewarded the party for delivering a major reform that was beneficial to them.

What Forms of Redistribution Do Americans Want? Understanding Preferences for Policy Benefit-Cost Tradeoffs

Political scientists agree that most Americans are “operationally liberal.” However, economic preferences have traditionally been measured as opinions on public spending, independent from the “costs” of public policies. In reality, redistributive economic policies often impose costs on some actors while delivering benefits to others. When a policy’s costs and benefits are both apparent, what types of redistribution do Americans prefer? This paper’s novel survey evidence shows that preferences for policy benefits are indeed sensitive to which subgroups would bear the policy’s costs (and vice versa). American majorities do support a wide range of redistributive economic policy packages—as long as the wealthy are footing the bill or the costs are hidden. When the size of the group facing the policy cost (e.g., tax) increases, overall support declines. Preference differences between Republicans of varying economic statuses are large, while divisions within the Democratic coalition are subtler but still clear on certain policies. Overall, this paper shows that measuring preferences for a policy's costs (e.g., taxation) are crucial to truly understanding voters’ holistic economic policy demands. Further, the lack of enactment by political elites of the forms of redistribution consistently supported by the public casts research on democratic representation in new light.

Rethinking the American Industrial Policy Debate: The Political Significance of a Losing Idea

AbstractIn the early 1980s “industrial policy” seemed to be emerging as the American left’s answer to supply-side economics. Yet soon after, supply-side economics was triumphant and industrial policy back in the political wilderness. This article investigates why the American left rejected industrial policy in the 1980s but appears to be reembracing it under the Biden administration. Via reviewing the history of the industrial policy debate, I argue that the American left rejected industrial policy proposals for several reasons including disunity within the Democratic party coalition, the growing strength of the venture capital industry, and the perceived incompatibility of industrial policy with American political institutions. Despite the defeat of industrial policy movement in the 1980s, however, I argue that a process of adaptation and reworking during the Clinton administration allowed industrial policy ideas to survive in “hibernation,” ultimately reemerging in the changed policy environment which followed the 2008 financial crisis.

Translation as a cultural tool for mediating conflict in queer and feminist grassroots democratic coalitions in Denmark, Germany and Sweden

In this article, I present the findings of a three-year qualitative research project studying feminist and queer activist groups that support refugees in Denmark, Germany and Sweden. My findings show how multilingual activists volunteered as linguistic interpreters to enable inclusive dialogue between refugees and host-country citizens in joint grassroots democratic coalition meetings. Based on interviews with different groups, I show that their linguistic-broker position gave these activists the leverage to challenge and bring to the attention of white-majority citizens the exclusionary dynamics of structural inequality and civic-status hierarchies that create tensions within supposedly open and inclusive joint meetings. By highlighting the critical, counter-hegemonic positionality of activist-translators in coalitions working on gender, the central contribution of my case study is to connect theories of translation and conflict mediation in transnational social movements with research that focuses on the dynamics of inclusion and exclusion in intersectional coalitions.

Expansion of Russia-China Duo in Asian Region and the Future of Democracy

The world has become multi-polar with the emergence of Russia and China into the forefront of world politics toward the beginning of the twenty-first century. Within a couple of decades, they have acquired considerable economic and military might. As part of fulfilling their expansionist ambitions both Moscow and Beijing have succeeded in establishing political and economic grips in many parts of the world including Africa and Asia. Apart from possessing economic and political clout, they have been offering an alternative model of governance instead of liberal democracy championed by the West. Critics claim that this phenomenon is detrimental to the future of democracy. However, the alternative models of governance along with their underlying principles seem to be more acceptable to many national governments across the globe. They consider them suitable and pragmatic for the local environment. The Asian region has become a pivotal area of the expansion of Russia and China. The West also tries to build a democratic coalition in the region to check the progress of Russia and China. Against this backdrop, the present paper discusses the impact of increasing Russian and Chinese footprints in the contemporary period on the prospect of democracy in the Asian region with a special focus on Central and East Asia. The paper is divided into two major sections. The first part will discuss the impact of China on democracy and the second section with deal with the Russian influence. Keywords: Democracy Promotion, Russia, China, Neo-Liberalism, Central Asia, East Asia

Food oppression in the United Kingdom: A study of structural race and income-based food access inequalities

In 2007, Freeman pioneered the phrase “food oppression” to capture the state’s perpetuation of socioeconomic and racial disparities in nutrient consumption and diet-related diseases in the United States. Amid an increasing awareness of the impact of intersecting identities in all facets of life, particularly in light of the COVID-19 pandemic and the Black Lives Matter movement, this article argues that food oppression is an equally applicable, and necessary, characterization of the unequal enjoyment of the right to food in the United Kingdom. Patterns of food insecurity—chiefly, the overrepresentation of Black households among food bank users—are tied back to the austerity measures enacted by the Conservative–Liberal Democrat Coalition Government in response to the 2007/2008 financial crisis. These findings illuminate the race- and class-based barriers to access to adequate food in the United Kingdom that predate the pandemic as a manifestation of racial capitalism yet have increased in prominence. The article concludes that the adoption of a rights-based approach to household food security by the state is necessary to formulate policies that target the commodification of food and ensure a nutritious diet is available to all without discrimination.

From Gender Equity to Gendered Assignments? Women and Cabinet Committees in Canada and the United Kingdom

Abstract This article explores women's access to ministerial power in an important but understudied arena of executive politics: cabinet committees. Specifically, we analyse the gendered patterns in the distribution of cabinet committee assignments in two ‘typical’ Westminster cases, Canada and the United Kingdom, and under two prime ministers, Justin Trudeau (2015–2021) and David Cameron (2010–2016), who both made explicit gender-equity pledges. Informed by previous research into gendered allocation of ministerial portfolios, we investigate the overall extent of women's committee assignments, the gendered dimensions of these assignments and the status of assignments, namely the ‘prestige’ of committee remits, whether committees were chaired by the prime minister and the allocation of chairing responsibilities across committees. In both cases, overall assignment broadly matched shares of women ministers at the cabinet level, but less so during the Conservative–Liberal Democrat coalition in the UK (2010–2015). Women's shares of committee assignments were likely to be lower on ‘masculine’ and ‘high-prestige’ committees compared to ‘neutral’, ‘feminine’ and ‘low-prestige’ committees, but commitment to gender equity is more evident in the Canadian case. While our aim is exploratory and descriptive, we offer several explanations for these patterns, including the supply of women ministers, departmentalism, party branding and the low public profile of cabinet committees.

NCSS: A global census of national positions on conflict, neutrality and cooperation

The ubiquity of ICT and the increase in cyber threats have pushed countries to view cybersecurity from a national perspective and draft appropriate national strategies on the topic. While containing similar terminology, these strategies are tailored to the national contexts and hence, differ across regions, cultures, and political contexts. Previous research of these documents has been focused on comparative analysis of countries that can either be considered well developed on this topic or for specific subtopics of cybersecurity. However, some of the subtopics have not been addressed, only now having become more prevalent due to current international conflicts and national / regional socio-political scuffles that have spilled into cyberspace. In our paper, we investigate all countries that have published a National Cyber Security Strategy - NCSS - (or any similar document under a different nomenclature, e.g., policy, decree, etc.), specifically in reference to their position on war, neutrality, and international cooperation. Countries maintaining an NCSS will first be identified using international databases, upon which further study of the aforementioned topics in the NCSSs will occur. We hypothesize, that while international cooperation will be present in most, if not all NCSSs, armed conflicts and neutrality will not be addressed at all nor in depth, in those that contain any reference to them. The resulting paper will present a near-global case study of these topics, which can then signify potential areas of improvement, capacity building, and strengthening of democratic coalitions, globally.

Germany: Political Developments and Data in 2022

AbstractAgainst the background of the Russian war on Ukraine, the new traffic light coalition of the Social Democrats (SPD), the Greens, and the Free Democrats (FDP) led by Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) called a new era (Zeitenwende) in German foreign and security policy. The discussions on military support for Ukraine significantly shaped public debate in Germany in 2022. While the Left Party and the Alternative for Germany (AfD) rejected arms deliveries, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU)/Christian Social Union (CSU) criticized the federal government for hesitating. In addition to the German presidential election that saw the re‐election of Frank‐Walter Steinmeier, there were four regional elections in Saarland, Schleswig‐Holstein, North Rhine‐Westphalia, and Lower Saxony.

Coalition policy in multiparty governments: whose preferences prevail

AbstractIn coalition governments, parties need to agree on a common policy position. Whose preferences prevail? The proportionality hypothesis, the idea that coalition partners’ influence on policy is proportional to their share of seats, has been used widely in the literature on democratic representation, ideological congruence, and coalition politics. In my analysis of competing theories aimed at determining what influences policy compromise in multiparty governments, I reject the proportionality hypothesis. My results suggest instead that coalition partners exert equal influence on policy compromises, independent of their number of seats. More extensive analysis also provides evidence for increased party influence on policies when the party is the formateur or closer to the parliamentary median, ceteris paribus. As a by-product of my analysis, I provide a simple and better proxy for measuring a government's position when this position is not directly observable.

The 2010–15 coalition government and the legacy of free schools in England

Free schools were a flagship policy of the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition (2010–15), aligned with the broader academisation programme, yet both consolidating and transcending New Labour’s educational narrative between 1997 and 2010. Driven by political ‘modernisers’ such as Prime Minister David Cameron and his Education Secretary Michael Gove, these schools were framed as an innovative and revitalised educational policy approach, aspiring to eclipse previous ‘failed’ policies of both left and right. They proposed greater autonomy and liberation from statist bureaucracy, incorporating non-state bodies as providers, while remaining within the broader state educational structure. Primarily exported from Scandinavia as ‘all-ability’ schools, and with a distinctive autonomous and communitarian element, yet analysis and measurement of the impact of free schools both internationally and domestically has since been mixed. The article seeks (with the benefit of added hindsight and perspective) to focus on the circumstances in which this policy was implemented from 2010, assessing various challenges it faced within a coalition government environment, while ultimately analysing its overall impact on the English educational system in subsequent years.

Europeanisation and Its Impact on Candidate Countries for EU Membership: A View from Ukraine

Background: The nature of the European Union (EU) as a global actor has long been the subject of diverse academic debates. Proponents of an understanding of the EU as a normative force believe that its greatest transformative power lies not in coercion but in a policy of enlargement that allows the EU to stimulate reforms in the candidate countries of the Central and Eastern European region, despite the crisis of enlargement. The aim of the article is to study the impact of the Europeanisation process on the legal systems of member states and candidate countries, in particular Ukraine, as well as the formulation of proposals for national institutions regarding the perception of the ‘Europeanisation’ impact of EU law on the legal system of Ukraine. Methods: The methodological basis of the work is interdisciplinary and comprehensive approaches. The interdisciplinary approach is based on the application of theoretical developments in jurisprudence, philosophy, political science, and the theory of international relations, which make it possible to study the process of Europeanisation in relation to member states and candidate countries as fully and comprehensively as possible. The comprehensive approach is aimed at identifying the multifaceted and multifactorial ontological determinants of the Europeanisation process of legal systems. These approaches determined the choice of appropriate general theoretical and special scientific methods: hermeneutic, dialectical, analysis, synthesis, etc. Results and Conclusions: As a result of the study of the political will, capacity, and legitimacy of the EU to defend the values proclaimed in the founding treaties, in cases of violations of the regulations of the EU law by the member states, the authors come to the conclusion that the EU may face negative consequences due to the display of democratic reformist coalitions in individual member states (Poland and Hungary ), as well as due to favouring (authoritarian) stability over uncertain (democratic) change. Concession to candidate countries for EU accession in terms of the fulfilment of the Copenhagen criteria in exchange for satisfying the interests of leading member states may undermine the credibility of the project of building a European identity based on the common values of the EU, as well as the loss of the reputation of the normative power of the European Union. Accelerating the process of Ukraine’s accession to the EU, which is connected with Ukraine’s acquisition of the status of a candidate for accession to the EU, requires the Europeanisation of the domestic legal culture as a prerequisite for the modernisation of all other elements of the legal system. This, in turn, implies the completion of the process of de-Russification of legal science and education, the development and approval of the Legal Education Development Program, and the modernisation of legal terminology.

Putting Bilateral Aid Where Their Mouths Are: Evaluating Democratic Coalition Commitment in the Russo-Ukrainian War

Putting Bilateral Aid Where Their Mouths Are: Evaluating Democratic Coalition Commitment in the Russo-Ukrainian War

Der Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011 in Großbritannien. Oder: Die Folgen eines verfassungspolitischen Blindflugs

When David Cameron wanted to become Prime Minister in 2010 he had to accept a Fixed-term Parliaments Act to cement the Conservative-Liberal Democratic coalition government . Under the rules of the Act the prime minister no longer had the authority to call elections at a time of his choosing . This power, on which his strong position in the Westminster democracy has rested in the past, was lost . This was one of the intentions of the advocates of the act . Furthermore, a fixed parliament was supposed to make British politics fairer, more inclusive, less confrontational, less tribal and less feeble . In the end the Act did not live up with these expectations . To some extent its flaws were responsible for the “Brexit Blunder” (Jo Murkens) . However, it also helped to frustrate any attempt by the Brexiteers to accomplish a no deal-Brexit . Part of this endeavor was the prorogation of Parliament which the Supreme Court adjudicated “unlawful” on 24 September 2019 . This judgment on the scope of the Royal prerogative is part of a transformation of the constitution that, accidentally, might have changed the role of the Crown in the constitutional fabric of the United Kingdom .

Public Opinions of Black Democrats in Texas: An Empirical Investigation

On August 25, 1979, a group of African-American leaders met at the Holiday Inn in Duncanville, Texas. Robert Malson, Assistant Director of Domestic Policy for the White House, was the speaker. The vision was enthusiastically embraced by those in attendance. As with most coalitions, the Texas coalition of black Democrats, which exists under the auspices of the Texas Democratic Party, benefits from certain advantages: with chapters in most counties in Texas, it certainly enjoys a large base of support, networks and connections and projects the image of strength in numbers among its members. In 2018, Black candidates stepped up across the State to lead. In Texas, Black Democrats running for office included: 18 candidates for US Congress, 9 candidates for statewide office, 34 candidates for Texas Legislature, and hundreds more Black Democrats for county & local offices. In 2020, the Coalition surveyed its members to determine what we were thinking as Black Texan Democrats. Therefore, the survey is an attempt to define an agenda to support our aggressive campaigns to serve as strong advocates for our community. The research concluded that in order to continue to be relevant in Texas politics, the coalition must grow and sustain its membership, continue to develop its agenda around issues that are central to the interests of its members as well as the agenda of the Democratic Party including justice, opportunity, equity and economic prosperity.

Labour policy in the face of the COVID-19 socio-economic crisis in Spain: institutional change and social pacts

PurposeThis study aims to analyse the institutional changes in the Spanish labour market in the light of the measures introduced to support workers during the COVID-19 crisis. Applying the theoretical framework the authors’ hypothesis is that the labour policy response to the crisis provoked by COVID-19 in Spain has ranged from strategy of preservation of the social democratic coalition to the anti-bourgeois bloc coalition with a greater presence of social pacts and the support of the social partners.Design/methodology/approachCombining the institutional theory of liberalisation trajectories, the four ideal-typical reform strategies and the social pacts literature, the authors analyse the change in the labour market policy orientation during the COVID-19 economic crisis in Spain.FindingsIn comparison to the Great Recession labour policy response, short-time work schemes and new benefits have characterised the 2020 labour policy strategy. Then, the labour policy response has oscillated between, on the one hand, a strategy of preservation of the social democratic coalition, which is characterised by measures to protect workers on the margins of the labour market without affecting the discretionary power of employers. On the other hand, a strategy of the anti-bourgeois bloc coalition, reflected in the employment safeguard clause that attempts to limit both external numerical flexibility and the increase in unemployment. Finally, the authors have analysed whether the labour policies after the COVID-19 crisis constitute a new round of social pacts in Spain and how this took place. They conclude that the main measures approved in the area of employment protection have been supported by social pacts and the social partners (trade unions and employers), as reflected in the signing of the Social Agreement in Defence of Employment (ASDE).Originality/valueTo the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is a significant contribution as it is the first article to point out that the labour policy represents a change in the trajectory of liberalisation, limiting the discretionary power of employers and re-regulating the labour market. The main measure of (re)regulation has been to safeguard employment and to avoid objective or unfair dismissals, which is the traditional form of adjustment. In other words, internal numerical flexibility has been promoted over external flexibility, thus significantly modifying the orientation of labour policy. Finally, the authors have found that social pacts have allowed for greater institutional coherence between legal changes and the behaviour of employers and workers.

Blue Notes 2.0: The Diachronic Resonance of Langston Hughes During the George Floyd Protests: A Foreword

Blue Notes 2.0: The Diachronic Resonance of Langston Hughes During the George Floyd Protests: A Foreword

DUALIST POPULAR CONSTITUTIONALISM A Reply to Michelman

DUALIST POPULAR CONSTITUTIONALISM A Reply to Michelman

Germany: Political Developments and Data in 2021

AbstractAgainst the background of the COVID‐19 pandemic, the federal parliamentary election as well as five regional elections in Baden‐Württemberg, Rhineland‐Palatinate, Saxony‐Anhalt, Mecklenburg‐Western Pomerania and Berlin were held in Germany in 2021. For the first time, Germany is now governed by a so‐called traffic light coalition of the Social Democrats (SPD), the Greens and the Free Democrats (FDP). After 16 years of Angela Merkel's (CDU) chancellorship, Olaf Scholz (SPD) became the new Chancellor. The issue of climate change gained particular traction in the election campaign after devastating floods hit Rhineland‐Palatinate and North Rhine‐Westphalia in July. In April, the Federal Constitutional Court had ruled the Climate Protection Act not to be far‐reaching enough to protect the rights of future generations, calling for a revision that the outgoing governing coalition completed in June.