Comparative Political Studies Research Articles

Die Politisierung der europäischen Integration. Nationale Parlamentsdebatten zur Europäischen Union im Bundestag und House of Commons

Zeitschrift für Parlamentsfragen contains articles on political issues dealing with representation and legitimation of the political system. The articles provide a broad overview of the functioning of national and regional parliaments as well as a forum for comparative analysis of international parliaments. One stress is on the parliamentary development of different countries. Indices are provided in every issue which makes the ZParl an outstanding reference book for institutional and comparative political studies. Website: www.zparl.nomos.de

Machen Frauen den Unterschied? Parlamentarierinnen als Repräsentantinnen frauenspezifischer Interessen im Deutschen Bundestag

Zeitschrift für Parlamentsfragen contains articles on political issues dealing with representation and legitimation of the political system. The articles provide a broad overview of the functioning of national and regional parliaments as well as a forum for comparative analysis of international parliaments. One stress is on the parliamentary development of different countries. Indices are provided in every issue which makes the ZParl an outstanding reference book for institutional and comparative political studies. Website: www.zparl.nomos.de

Die Rolle der Parlamente beim Auslandseinsatz deutscher und britischer Streitkräfte

Zeitschrift für Parlamentsfragen contains articles on political issues dealing with representation and legitimation of the political system. The articles provide a broad overview of the functioning of national and regional parliaments as well as a forum for comparative analysis of international parliaments. One stress is on the parliamentary development of different countries. Indices are provided in every issue which makes the ZParl an outstanding reference book for institutional and comparative political studies. Website: www.zparl.nomos.de

Parteimitgliedschaften im Jahre 2010

Zeitschrift für Parlamentsfragen contains articles on political issues dealing with representation and legitimation of the political system. The articles provide a broad overview of the functioning of national and regional parliaments as well as a forum for comparative analysis of international parliaments. One stress is on the parliamentary development of different countries. Indices are provided in every issue which makes the ZParl an outstanding reference book for institutional and comparative political studies. Website: www.zparl.nomos.de

Das Baltikum: Stabilität in der Instabilität. Die fünften Parlamente in Estland, Lettland und Litauen

Zeitschrift für Parlamentsfragen contains articles on political issues dealing with representation and legitimation of the political system. The articles provide a broad overview of the functioning of national and regional parliaments as well as a forum for comparative analysis of international parliaments. One stress is on the parliamentary development of different countries. Indices are provided in every issue which makes the ZParl an outstanding reference book for institutional and comparative political studies. Website: www.zparl.nomos.de

Ohne Moos nix los. Neuere Publikationen zu den bundesstaatlichen Finanzbeziehungen

Zeitschrift für Parlamentsfragen contains articles on political issues dealing with representation and legitimation of the political system. The articles provide a broad overview of the functioning of national and regional parliaments as well as a forum for comparative analysis of international parliaments. One stress is on the parliamentary development of different countries. Indices are provided in every issue which makes the ZParl an outstanding reference book for institutional and comparative political studies. Website: www.zparl.nomos.de

Föderalismus in Deutschland und der Welt: gelungener Überblick

Zeitschrift für Parlamentsfragen contains articles on political issues dealing with representation and legitimation of the political system. The articles provide a broad overview of the functioning of national and regional parliaments as well as a forum for comparative analysis of international parliaments. One stress is on the parliamentary development of different countries. Indices are provided in every issue which makes the ZParl an outstanding reference book for institutional and comparative political studies. Website: www.zparl.nomos.de

Curious Cases: Small Island States' Exceptionalism and its Contribution to Comparative Welfare Theory

While the size of states and the significance of ‘islandness’ have been of mild interest within the comparative study of politics and economics, the theoretical frameworks that operate within contemporary comparative analyses of welfare and social policy rest upon a largely unremarked assumption that population size does not matter. Explanations of and predictions for the development of welfare relations are undertaken in the belief that it is the ideological essence of welfare states that is important, and this national ‘character’ is established through concentration on the politics of class, sometimes gender, and occasionally ethnicity. However, it is often from the study of the small that important insight is generated and variation in universals can be found. Focusing on exemplars of the smallest national units, Cyprus, Iceland and Jersey, this article explores the significance of size and ‘islandness’ in welfare analysis. The findings of these country case studies expose aspects of the relationship between economics, geo-political strength and weakness, welfare state exceptionalism and hybridity and the social basis of welfare regime types which are less visible when size is not featured as an explanatory variable.

Regime change in the Yugoslav successor states: divergent paths toward a new Europe

In the 1990s, amid political upheaval and civil war, the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia dissolved into five successor states. The subsequent independence of Montenegro and Kosovo brought the total number to seven. Balkan scholar and diplomat to the region Mieczyslaw P. Boduszynski examines four of those states-Croatia, Slovenia, Macedonia, and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia-and traces their divergent paths toward democracy and Euro-Atlantic integration over the past two decades. Boduszynski argues that regime change in the Yugoslav successor states was powerfully shaped by both internal and external forces: the economic conditions on the eve of independence and transition and the incentives offered by the European Union and other Western actors to encourage economic and political liberalization. He shows how these factors contributed to differing formulations of democracy in each state. The author engages with the vexing problems of creating and sustaining democracy when circumstances are not entirely supportive of the effort. He employs innovative concepts to measure the quality of and prospects for democracy in the Balkan region, arguing that procedural indicators of democratization do not adequately describe the stability of liberalism in post-communist states. This unique perspective on developments in the region provides relevant lessons for regime change in the larger post-communist world. Scholars, practitioners, and policymakers will find the book to be a compelling contribution to the study of comparative politics, democratization, and European integration.

Party politics, religion and elections in Western democracies

In the field of the comparative study of religion and politics, much has been written about Christian Democracy but rather little about the religious cleavage, which according to most studies of the party family underlies it. This paper addresses the issues of the characteristics of the religious cleavage in Western democracies in the transition from the twentieth to the twenty-first century and the role of religious parties. Beginning with a critical review of the concepts of secularization and cleavage politics the argument is advanced that the religious cleavage remains a force in party politics and voting behaviour, yet is undergoing a change in light of cultural and political differentiation processes. There are signs that denominational voting decreases in most Western democracies; at the same time, differences between religiously oriented and secular voters, though also slightly declining, remain rather robust at a higher level than denominational voting. A new element is added by the growing importance of non-Christian minorities in most of these countries. These developments have profound consequences for the position and identity of Christian Democracy and other confessionally oriented parties.

Social Networks, Informal Accountability, and Public Goods Provision in Rural China: A Reassessment

Few political scientists would deny the centrality of institutions in comparative political studies. Institutions, conceptualized as “the rules of the game in society” (North 1990, 3), impose constraints on people’s behavior and shape their strategies of interaction. These humanly devised constraints, according to North’s conceptualization (North 1990; Mantzavinos et al. 2004), can be either formal, such as written rules, or informal, such as shared conventions and customs. In this study, we focus on the informal institutions.

Data Usage in Quantitative Comparative Politics

The quantitative study of comparative politics is often described as a data-driven enterprise. Employing an original dataset of comparative politics articles published in leading academic journals between 1989 and 2007, this article offers the first empirical analysis of data usage in comparative research. Tracing potential biases induced by data dependence, it assesses the structure of quantitative comparative research (by year, research design, geographic focus, and subject area), the use of country-specific and region-specific datasets, the introduction of original data, and the degree of concentration in data usage. Its empirical findings question cherished assumptions about the structure of the discipline.

Wird alles anders? Oder viel Lärm um nichts? Die britischen Parlamentswahlen vom 6. Mai 2010

Zeitschrift für Parlamentsfragen contains articles on political issues dealing with representation and legitimation of the political system. The articles provide a broad overview of the functioning of national and regional parliaments as well as a forum for comparative analysis of international parliaments. One stress is on the parliamentary development of different countries. Indices are provided in every issue which makes the ZParl an outstanding reference book for institutional and comparative political studies. Website: www.zparl.nomos.de

Territory and Power: Critiques and Reassessments of a Classic Work

AbstractThis introduction to the special issue provides an exploration of the scholarly analysis of Jim Bulpitt's Territory and Power in the United Kingdom: An Interpretation. It first addresses the principal theoretical concerns and the historical interpretation that Bulpitt pursued in Territory and Power. It discusses the main lines of criticism that have been laid against the book and how in turn these have been rebutted. The article then assesses how the contributions made in this special issue provide fresh reflection on the book's contribution to the study of UK and comparative politics before suggesting how Territory and Power could shape the agenda of future research.

BIG BUSINESS AND INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION LOBBYING IN CHINA: THE PARADOX OF CONTRASTING STYLES

In spite of China's continued authoritarian political system, there is growing recognition that business lobbying is an integral part of the country's policy process at both the local and national levels. As thousands of economic regulations and laws have become key determinants of the fate of industry, all types of companies - state-owned and private, Chinese and foreign - have become active in every stage of the policy process, from setting the agenda to identifying policy options and shaping regulatory implementation. Whereas interacting with officialdom used to be the responsibility of an enterprise's senior leader, it is increasingly common for companies to have a defined position or team in charge of government affairs. ' The number of trade associations representing domestic and foreign companies has grown rapidly, with the greatest expansion recently seen in the proliferation of branches of municipal chambers of commerce outside their home localities (yidi shanghui (ProQuest: ... denotes non-USASCII text omitted.)). 2 Chinese Mainland scholars and journalists previously only used the term "lobbying" (youshui (ProQuest: ... denotes non-USASCII text omitted.)) to refer to the behavior of companies in capitalist countries or multinational companies (MNC) in China, but it is now associated with domestic companies' behavior at home.3 The discussion of "interest groups" (liyi jituan (ProQuest: ... denotes non-USASCII text omitted.)) is even more common.4 Not only has engagement of officialdom risen but, equally importantly, there is growing sentiment that lobbying pays off. Policies for different sectors and the broader economy have been shaped by corporate influence.5 In some sectors, such as energy, it appears that the basic trajectory has been determined less by a coherent government plan than by companies who have manipulated the government to adopt policies consistent with their interests.6 Lobbying affects both domestic and foreign economic policies, and companies lobby successfully for greater protection from imports and for increased liberalization.7 Nevertheless, although we know that industry is active and shapes policy, there is much less information about how industry engages policymakers. Companies lobby, both directly and through associations, but we have only a rudimentary knowledge of the actual strategies and tactics which they employ and of their rate of success. Some observers have emphasized the importance of personal connections (guanxi (ProQuest: ... denotes non-USASCII text omitted.)); but guanxi can be manifested in multiple ways.8 Recent private-sector analyses report that guanxfs currency is less valuable than in the past.9 Yet if so, what other tools are being utilized? Do different kinds of companies or associations engage government differently, and with different results? This article takes a step forward in developing a more comprehensive and systematic way to analyze business lobbying in China to increase our understanding of the tactics and strategies which companies and associations employ as they seek to influence national Chinese public policy. In so doing, we adapt the theoretical framework and methods used to study corporate political activity in advanced economies to the Chinese context. In particular, we report the results of recently conducted surveys of very large companies and national industry associations in China about their lobbying strategies vis-a-vis national government economic policies. The findings indicate surprising commonalities in lobbying behavior across a wide variety of companies, yet identify equally unexpected differences between companies and business associations. In the next section, we review the extant research on government-business relations in China to identify progress to date and the reason for continuing gaps in our knowledge. We then outline our research strategy, with a description of the overarching framework, the design of the surveys and the composition of the sampled companies and associations. …

Territory and Power: Jim Bulpitt and the Study of Comparative Politics

Territory and Power: Jim Bulpitt and the Study of Comparative Politics

Political Scale and Electoral Turnout: Evidence From the Less Industrialized World

This article attempts to bring the politics of scale back into the study of comparative politics. Explicitly focusing on the question of electoral turnout in the less industrialized world, it explores the impact of variations in community size relative to other influences on citizen participation. The findings, which draw on both aggregate and individual-level data at the subnational level of analysis, offer considerable evidence that electoral participation declines with community size, but for reasons largely neglected by most prior literature on electoral turnout. The central theoretical conclusion is that future comparative research needs to address the role of political scale more directly and systematically.

States against migrants: deportation in Germany and the United States

In this comparative study of the contemporary politics of deportation in Germany and the United States, Antje Ellermann analyzes the capacity of the liberal democratic state to control individuals within its borders. The book grapples with the question of why, in the 1990s, Germany responded to vociferous public demands for stricter immigration control by passing and implementing far-reaching policy reforms, while the United States failed to effectively respond to a comparable public mandate. Drawing on extensive field interviews, Ellermann finds that these crossnational differences reflect institutionally determined variations in socially coercive state capacity. By tracing the politics of deportation across the evolution of the policy cycle, beginning with anti-immigrant populist backlash and ending in the expulsion of migrants by deportation bureaucrats, Ellermann is also able to show that the conditions underlying state capacity systematically vary across policy stages.

Human Relations special issue call for papers: Beyond the enterprise: Broadening the horizons of international HRM

The study of International Human Resource Management (IHRM) has focused mainly on the policies, practices and strategies of Human Resource practitioners in individual multinational firms. The goal of this special issue is to move beyond this narrow focus at the enterprise level and situate HRM within wider economic, organizational, political and institutional contexts. HRM differs across countries but to date the comparative literature has tended to focus on cultural issues. Research that systematically analyses socio-economic, institutional and societal contexts and their impact on HRM remains underdeveloped and there is a significant opportunity for work which draws on theory from adjacent fields – e.g. the varieties of capitalism literature, theories of cross-national organization and research in comparative political studies and economic geography all offer potentially useful frameworks. Companies are socially embedded on different levels; local economies, regional districts, national institutions, international networks and transnational regulation are all aspects of the social, organizational and economic structures in which companies are situated. Opening up the research agenda of IHRM to this wider social and economic environment also points to the role of actors beyond the company in shaping HRM including charities and NGOs, European Works Councils, the European Union and the International Labour Organization. The market and regulatory context is also being re-shaped through developments such as NAFTA. These social and economic actors and contexts create opportunities and constraints for companies with implications for HRM.

A fully general index of political competition

As Selb [A deeper look at the proportionality-turnout nexus. Comparative Political Studies, forthcoming] observes, the standard measure of (posterior) competitiveness in elections used in plurality contests, namely the difference between the winner and the second place finisher, has no “self-evident counterpart in multi-member PR districts”. Following lines similar to Taagepera and Grofman [2003. Mapping the indices of seats–votes disproportionality and inter-election volatility. Party Politics 9, 659–677] we identify six properties that any index of competition should satisfy and then offer a new measure that satisfies all six properties which is applicable to virtually any electoral rule. We then apply our new and more fully general index of political competition to data from PR elections in Switzerland to see the extent to which the index of competition is correlated with levels of voter turnout.