Country's Political Institutions Research Articles

EVOLUTION OF THE BASIC EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM IN THE DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO

The DRC's education system will play an important role in rebuilding the country's political institutions, stimulating growth and correcting inequalities. The DRC is emerging from a long economic and political crisis which has had serious consequences on the education system. The main objective of this study is to help us identify the priorities of educational policy; options for the development of the education system are presented in order to help the government to establish its educational strategy. This study presents the issues relating to the basic education system (primary and secondary education) of the DRC, in particular on its evolution, its characteristics, its organization and management as well as the difficulties encountered and challenges to be overcome.

Institutional Trust by Gender: Personal Indicators of Confidence in Political Institutions in Countries with Different Gender Gaps

Güven kavramı, siyaset bilimi literatüründe çok farklı bağlamlarda ve farklı türleri ile ele alınmıştır. Kurumsal güven bireylerin yaşadıkları ülkenin kurumlarına duydukları güvene işaret eder ve siyasal sistemlerin devamlılığı açısından da demokratikleşme bağlamında da etkili bir faktör olarak öne çıkmaktadır. Kurumsal güvenin belirleyicileri tartışmasında öne çıkan argümanlardan biri de toplumdaki dezavantajlı grupların kurumlara yönelik daha düşük güvene sahip olduklarıdır. Bu çalışma, bahsi geçen argümandan hareketle, kadınların erkeklere göre daha düşük kurumsal güvene sahip olup olmadığını sorgulamayı amaçlamaktadır. Bu sorgulamayı Dünya/Avrupa Değerler Araştırmalarının birleştirilmiş son dalgalarından gelen veri ile yapmaktadır. Bu noktadaki beklenti en azından cinsiyet eşitsizliğinin yüksek olduğu ülkelerde bu beklentinin doğrulanmasıdır. Ancak bulgular, kadınlar ve erkekler arasındaki farkın göz ardı edilebilecek kadar küçük olduğunu, bunun yerine literatürde işaret edilen iki önemli faktörün - siyasal sistemden memnuniyet ve toplumsal güven - öne çıktığını göstermektedir.

Types, Characteristics, Organization and Management of Primary and Secondary Schools in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

The education system in the DRC will play an important role in rebuilding the country's political institutions, stimulating growth and correcting inequalities. The management of an education policy consistent with general political and economic objectives is essential for the formulation of a comprehensive policy for the development of the country.The Congolese education system continues to develop slowly at all levels, despite the failure of public finances over the past two decades, economic chaos, political instability and war. Disorder and conflict in the second half of the nineties seem to have hindered primary education more than other levels of education. Enrolment growth has been the fastest in higher education. The growth of private institutions has far outpaced that of public institutions at all levels. However, this growth is relative to very low initial enrolment, so the public sector continues to be predominant at all levels, especially thanks to the free basic education advocated by the current Head of State.This study presents the types and characteristics of primary and secondary schools in the DRC in the current socio-economic context with a view to its improvement in the coming days and analyses recent trends and the current state of management of different levels of education in the DRC; highlighting both national characteristics and differences between provinces and social groups. It also presents a simulation of the financial implications of different education policy options, which may be useful for undertaking more precise planning of the sector. Keywords: primary education, secondary education, basic education Management, organization DOI: 10.7176/JEP/13-6-07 Publication date: February 28 th 2022

Homeland Political Trust Among Emigrants: The Case of Finland-Swedes

How does emigrating affect one's political trust for their native country's political and state institutions? This question is increasingly relevant as a result of growing migration in the wake of globalization and the willingness to widen electoral laws and channels for participation to also include emigrated citizens in homeland politics. Despite the research conducted on homeland politics and voting from abroad in political science, the question of homeland political trust among emigrants has not been given sufficient attention. This could be seen as surprising from the perspective of trust research, which has exhaustively analyzed political and social trust. This paper seeks to map the effect of migration on political trust by comparing the trust in Finnish political and state institutions of emigrated Swedish-speaking Finns, also known as Finland-Swedes, and Finland-Swedes living in Finland. The Finland-Swedes are a resourceful minority with a sizeable diaspora, which in relative terms is comparable to nations with a renowned diaspora. The paper analyzes the political trust of migrants and residents with two high quality random surveys and using two methods, linear regression and propensity score matching, with analysis of average treatment effects to counter potential endogeneity of political trust and migrating citizens. The analyses show emigrants have on average significantly higher homeland political trust. Comparing the linear regression analysis and the average treatment effects after matching we get similar results, although the linear regression analysis that controls for potentially endogenous factors seems to somewhat exaggerate the effect of migration.

Liberal Democracy and Education-Based Inequality in the Post-Cold War Era

A widely held belief about democracy is that it contributes to greater equality among citizens. We challenge this view by arguing that certain features of liberal democracy, including voluntary participation and protection of private rights, may exacerbate a particular form of inequality based on educational attainment. To substantiate this claim, we analyze two major cross-country, multi-year surveys matched to regime-level characteristics. Using both a within-country estimator and an instrumental variables approach, we find that the difference in emotional and material well-being between the more educated and less educated becomes substantially larger as a country's political institutions converge to the liberal democratic model. We provide further evidence on the posited mechanisms by showing that liberal democracy fosters a greater participation gap and more polarized economic attitudes between high- and low-education groups. We discuss the normative implications of our findings and their relevance for understanding the current wave of global populism.

To engage or not to engage with host governments: Corporate political activity and host country political risk

Research summary: We analyze how a host market’s institutional context can influence a multinational enterprise’s (MNE’s) senior management’s choice and deployment of corporate political activity (CPA). First, we argue that a non‐engaged approach to CPA is likely to be chosen when senior management perceives high host country political risk, arising not only from host country political institutions, but also from the distance between home and host government relations. Second, we propose that the deployment of this approach can require active adaptation through four political strategies: low visibility, ensuring a minimal degree of general attention from other actors; rapid compliance, entailing high speed actions to obey the rules; reconfiguration, involving rearranging the MNE’s structure and processes for competitiveness; and anticipation, implying the prediction of public policy and analysis of interest groups to anticipate responses. Managerial summary: Senior managers of multinational enterprises often examine when and how to engage, or not to engage, with host governments. We argue that senior managers are likely to choose to evade engagement with a host government when they perceive high host country political risk, not only through public political risk ratings, but also via their home and host government relations. We show that this choice can require senior managers to lead active adaptation through four strategies: low visibility, enabling the MNE to operate under the radar of host governments; rapid compliance, entailing high speed actions to obey the rules; reconfiguration, involving rearranging the MNE’s structure and processes for competitiveness; and anticipation, implying the prediction of public policy and analysis of interest groups to anticipate responses.A video abstract is available at https://youtu.be/DL1LlQEhGU0.

« Les fondements de la liberté et de la civilisation » : le rapport Durham, les institutions municipales et le libéralisme

RésuméCet article propose une nouvelle lecture des recommandations formulées dans le rapport Durham au sujet de la création d'administrations municipales au Canada. Il situe le document dans le contexte des débats soulevés par les réformes constitutionnelles et administratives revendiquées en Grande-Bretagne durant les années 1830. Certaines analyses avancent que Durham s'appuyait sur la conception libérale de la municipalité, que leurs auteurs retrouvent dans les écrits de Jeremy Bentham et de John Stuart Mill. Elles en déduisent que le libéralisme réduit nécessairement la municipalité à une institution intégrée à un État centralisé et hiérarchisé. Cet article démontre que malgré certaines similarités avec le radicalisme philosophique, le rapport présente une conception des institutions municipales qui s'inscrit dans la doctrine de la constitution équilibrée, à laquelle souscrivaient alors les whigs réformistes comme Durham. Ce texte conclut que l’étude du rapport permet d'apprécier l'hétérogénéité de la conception de la municipalité produite par le libéralisme.

Antecedents and Outcomes of Political Tie Intensity: Institutional and Strategic Fit Perspectives

Although international nonmarket strategy research has highlighted the importance of political ties, it is still unclear why some foreign subsidiaries are more politically active than others and what conditions may render political practices beneficial in a host country. We argue that foreign subsidiary political tie intensity—the extent to which senior managers provide time and resources in informally dealing with government officials for nonmarket purposes—will be influenced by political institutions in their parent's home country, especially when the MNE parent attempts to protect foreign subsidiary resources. Additionally, we assert that fit between a parent's home country political institutions and foreign subsidiary political tie intensity will positively affect subsidiary performance. We employ primary data collected from 181 foreign subsidiaries in the Philippines and find support for our hypotheses. This study advances international nonmarket strategy research by highlighting how an MNE's home country political institutions shape subsidiary political networking and strategic performance outcomes in host country environments.

Country Resources, Country Image, and Exports: Country Branding and International Marketing Implications

ABSTRACTA country's economic, political, and socio-cultural institutions have always been regarded as important determinants of a company's exports and international marketing strategies. With the recent thinking about countries becoming more like a brand, these factors should impact a country's marketing and branding strategies. There has been a call for more research on how countries can use their institutions and resources to enhance their globalization efforts. This study intends to fill this gap by examining the relationships between country institutions and resources, country image, and exports based on institution theory and resource advantage theory. Both archival and primary data for 24 countries over 12 years (1995–2006) were used to assess a random-effects panel data model. The results reveal the significance of economic development and communication infrastructure on exports. In addition, country image was found to indirectly affect exports. The theoretical and practical implications on country branding and international marketing conclude the article.

Does Brain Drain Lead to Institutional Gain?

AbstractA country's endowment of human capital affects its institutions through various channels. This raises the possibility that skilled emigration can leave its mark on a country's institutional development. We explore the impact of emigrant human capital on home country's institutional quality. Using geographical and genetic distance‐based instrumental variables for emigration and a dynamic panel estimation method, we find that human capital emigration helps the home country's political institutions, but hurts economic institutions. The conventional ‘brain drain’ argument, therefore, needs to incorporate the institutional changes due to skilled labour emigration.

Firm growth and political institutions

Using a large sample of firms from 46 countries, we investigate the impact of political institutions on firm growth. We find that tighter political constraints stimulate firm growth and that this positive impact is more pronounced in weak legal environments. Our results are economically significant and robust to a number of sensitivity tests, including alternative proxies for political institutions, alternative measures of firm growth, additional controls, firm- versus country-level regressions, as well as when we address the endogeneity of political constraints. Our results suggest that reforms aimed at improving a country's political institutions can significantly impact firm growth, and that it is indeed through improved political institutions that firms are incentivized to invest in profitable projects.

Before the Roar: U.S. Unemployment Relief after World War I and the Long History of a Paternalist Welfare Policy

Soon after assuming leadership of a federal initiative to encourage unemployment relief in communities across the country, the former U.S. Army colonel Arthur Woods turned to the Saturday Evening Post to exhort his fellow citizens to action. With millions out of work in the fall of 1921 and with winter fast approaching, Woods warned that indifference to the plight of the jobless threatened everything from the country's political institutions to what he characterized as the nation's masculine essence. Through persistent joblessness, he contended, the “useful, employed member of the community is transformed into a frank and virtually unashamed public ward.” While at first “a man who has just lost his job is seldom a burden on his fellows,” with time the unemployed lose “their self-dependence and have admitted to themselves and their neighbors that they are the public's charge.” These types of men, Woods explained, “you see them in bread lines, in municipal lodging houses, and on the bitter cold nights they occupy park benches, surely beds of anarchy. Their coverlets are grim philosophy and old newspapers.”1

Impartiality, friendship-networks and voting behavior: Evidence from voting patterns in the Eurovision Song Contest

What is the extent to which a country's political institutions impact aggregate voting behavior in a comparative perspective? More specifically, are citizens in some countries more inclined vote on the basis of ‘quality’ or ‘merit’ over ‘friendship’ or ‘loyalty’, and if so, why? This paper seeks to address how the extent to which a country's political institutions are impartial (treats all citizens equally, free from corruption, strong rule of law) impact aggregate citizen behavior. When political institutions are more (less) impartial, success in society is more often on the basis of merit (patrimonial ties). This test cases is voting in the Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) from 1975 to 2012 among pairs and blocs of ‘voting friends’. The theory elucidates that given that certain pairs or blocs exhibit systematic voting bias for one another over time, the bias will be considerably less among impartial states than those with highly partial institutions. Using several measures of ‘friendship’, I find strong empirical evidence for this claim, even when controlling for myriad alternative factors and taking into account various voting regimes. The analysis gives us new insights on how political institutions condition aggregate citizen behavior in general and that although there is much bias in ESC voting, not all bias is equal among friend-countries.

Discipline without democracy: military dominance in post-colonial Burma1

After five decades in which military dominance defined post-colonial politics, Burma has recently embarked on a long-delayed process of political reform. The gradual democratisation of the country's political institutions has meant that the history of its two twentieth-century coups is increasingly overlooked. This article presents a focused study of military interventionism in Burma and offers explanations for the successful entrenchment of military rule. The mindset of the military leadership and its success at sidelining opponents is explored alongside a preliminary consideration of the role that international support has played. Crucially, military leaders have been exasperated by what they consider feeble (and foreign-controlled) civilian authorities that have been incapable of preventing national fragmentation. This mindset, plus effective repression and support by neighbouring countries such as China, formed the basis of the military's rule. Therefore, the prospects of future democratisation efforts will rely on a fuller understanding of the processes that led the armed forces to exert consistent dominance.

Greece: the persistence of political terrorism

Greece has one of the most sustained problems of political terrorism anywhere in the world. From the mid-1970s to the present, the country's political and socioeconomic institutions have been confronted by systematic terrorist violence mainly at the hands of revolutionary guerrilla groups. The long story of Greek terrorism was thought to have ended in the summer of 2002 with the collapse of the country's premier terrorist group and one of Europe's longest-running gangs, the notorious Revolutionary Organization 17 November (17N). 17N's dismantling and imprisonment, rather than demoralizing and emasculating the country's armed struggle movement, led instead to the emergence of new urban guerrilla groups and an increase and intensification of revolutionary violence. In consequence, the article places Greek extremist violence in a broader political and cultural perspective and explains why it has become a permanent fixture of national public life. Language: en

States in the Customs House: Institutional Reforms and Structural Change in Mexican Trade Policy1

How constituent interests influence policy outcomes depends on a country's political institutions. The examination of Mexican trade policy in two different institutional settings demonstrates that electoral systems influence who receives preferential treatment by politicians. Specifically, when electoral institutions make politicians beholden to territorially specific constituencies, the political clout of an industry stems from its importance within the political jurisdictions that it inhabits. The centrifugal influence of Mexican electoral reforms and the emergence of divided government increased the political salience of subnational economic interests. Where political clout once stemmed from an industry's importance in the national economy, the political clout of an industry now depends heavily on its importance to subnational economies.

Schooling, Political Participation, and the Economy

Abstract We investigate how the link between individual schooling and political participation is affected by country characteristics. Using individual survey data, we find that political participation is more responsive to schooling in land-abundant countries and less responsive in human capital–abundant countries, even while controlling for country political institutions and cultural attitudes. We find related evidence that political participation is less responsive to schooling in countries with a higher skill premium, as well as within countries for individuals in skilled occupations. The evidence motivates a theoretical explanation in which patterns of political participation are influenced by the opportunity cost of engaging in political rather than production activities.

The context of control: A cross‐national investigation of the link between political institutions, efficacy, and collective action

Most research on efficacy and participation in collective action has focused on single country samples with little attention paid to the relationship between efficacy and country-level structural factors. Drawing on value expectancy theory, we theorize a link between macro-level political institutions and micro-level efficacy. To address the previous limitations in the efficacy and collective action literature, we use multi-level, cross-national data, and present results from a series of hierarchical models testing whether efficacy increases collective action cross-nationally, whether political institutions affect efficacy, and whether the effect of efficacy on collective action is conditional on political institutions. We find that efficacy increases collective action, that certain political institutions increase efficacy, and that the effect of efficacy on collective action is partly conditional on the inclusiveness of a country's political institutions. These findings suggest the insufficiency of purely structural as well as social psychological explanations of collective action.

Democracy, Rule of Law, Corruption Incentives, and Growth

AbstractWe bridge the gap between the standard theory of growth and the mostly static theory of corruption. Some public investment can be diverted from its purpose by corrupt individuals. Voters determine the level of public investment subject to an incentive constraint equalizing the returns from productive and corrupt activities. We concentrate on two exogenous institutional parameters: the “technology of corruption” is the ease with which rent‐seekers can capture a proportion of public spending. The “concentration of political power” is the extent to which rent‐seekers have more political influence than other people. One theoretical prediction is that the effects of the two institutional parameters on income growth and equilibrium corruption are different according to the constraints that are binding at equilibrium. In particular, the effect of judicial quality on growth should be stronger when political power is concentrated. We estimate a system of equations where both corruption and income growth are determined simultaneously and show that income growth is more affected by our proxies for legal and political institutions in countries where political rights and judicial institutions, respectively, are limited.

Reforming medical governance in Europe. What is it about institutions?

This article presents a cross-national analytical framework for understanding current attempts to reform medical governance - in particular, those by third parties to control the practice of medicine. The framework pays particular attention to the ways in which institutions shape policy reform. The article also outlines the main comparative findings of case studies of selected reforms and associated processes of negotiations in Denmark, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom. These four countries were selected because they are characterised by theoretically interesting variations in the institutional contexts of medical governance. The analysis suggests that although all the four countries have pushed for more control over the way in which doctors practise medicine, in response to similar imperatives, each country differs in the path it has taken. More specifically, the instruments and techniques brought to bear in each case vary considerably and are directed by a country's political institutions towards a unique path.