High Political Instability Research Articles

Deciphering the Dutch drop: ten explanations for decreasing political trust in The Netherlands

The Netherlands has always been the odd case out regarding trust in public institutions. In the 1980s and 1990s, contrary to international trends, trust in government remained high and even increased. Suddenly, from 2002 onwards, public trust in government declined dramatically. In this article we examine the plausibility of ten explanations, embedded in the international scholarly literature, and explore whether they are empirically supported or rebutted in case of the Dutch drop. We find that because most of the literature concentrates on the cross-national erosion of political support over a long period within Western democracies, explanations tend to focus on gradual, long-term demographic, social, and political trends. Sudden dips in trust levels, however, require different sets of explanatory factors; they are better explained by political or economic contingencies, such as sudden political or economic crises. In the case of the Dutch drop, the most plausible explanation is a combination of an economic decline, combined with high political instability and contestation during the first Balkenende cabinets. As of 2007, with a new cabinet in office, and an economic recovery in place, trust figures are on the rise again. Points for practitioners Sudden dips in public trust in government are better explained by political or economic contingencies, such as political or economic crises, than by a deterioration in government performance or by long-term demographic, social, and political trends. In the case of the sudden drop in trust in The Netherlands, the most plausible explanation is a combination of an economic decline, combined with high political instability and contestation during the first Balkenende cabinets. As of 2007, with a new cabinet in office, and economic recovery in place, trust figures are on the rise again.

Future water institutions in Palestine

The Palestinian water sector organizations operate under severe constraints: poor capacities, high political instability and uncertainty, and inadequate funds and sources of funding. A new centralized water systems management option is proposed, which can lead to optimized water resource development and a more reliable, safer and cost effective water supply and sanitation services and systems within a clear legal framework. The proposed approach provides four units of management, resources, administration and water supply and sanitation, which would be in charge of strategic and everyday decision making and integration of water sector management in Palestine. The proposed future institutional reforms are conditional on several legal-administrative, technical and financial considerations within the Palestinian National Authority but more importantly on the continuation of the Israeli military occupation of the Palestinian land and natural resources.

The National-Bolshevik Party and Arctogaia: two neo-fascist groupuscules in the post-Soviet political space

Mathyl examines two representatives of the Russian groupuscular right-Arctogaia and the National-Bolskevik Party-and their emergence after the collapse of the Soviet system in 1991, in the context of the radicalization of Russian nationalism that took place during the inter-Russian power struggle of 1992-3. The ideological arsenal of these groups consists principally of a politico-historical reconciliation between western (neo-)fascism and authoritarian nationalist Russian and Soviet traditions, in which those traditions are intensified and synthesized into a new kind of 'national Bolshevism'. The success of neo-fascist groupuscules demonstrates how potentially explosive the fascist diagnosis of the status quo can behaving been preserved virtually intact since 1945-when it meets with a new situation of high political instability and is employed in intensive political propaganda, as was the case in post-perestroika Russia. Following the nationalists' military defeat in October 1993, the Russian groupuscular right attempted both to maintain the revolutionary impetus and, through a variety of cultural-political activities, to contribute to the gradual enlargement of the nationalist-imperialist project, thereby demonstrating its close connection to the New Right and its strategy of struggling for cultural hegemony. Since the end of the 1990s, there has been, within the groupuscular right, both an increasingly apparent ideological transfer from East to West, and evidence of the growing influence of national Bolshevism on western third-positionist groups.

Corruption in a model of growth: Political reputation, competition and shocks *

The article tries to incorporate "political corruption" (top level corruption) into economic growth analysis. We propose a microeconomic framework. An agent of the public sector, who wants to optimize his cash flow resulting from budget misappropriations, will be highly sensitive to the instability related to his office. The natural equilibrium for the politician will be to fall into a 'high political instability - low growth' trap, in which corruption appears endemic. However, the control of corruption by society will be possible. We consider a model in which alternative politicians compete with the incumbent politician but benefit from a common political reputation. It is shown that this situation leads to "dynamic collective reputation", which should restrain misappropriation practices. This theoretical framework will be useful in defining a "sustainable" degree of political competition and in understanding the asymmetric effects of extrinsic shocks on the growth process.

Why are Latin America's savings rates so low? An international comparative analysis

This paper presents a theoretical and empirical assessment of the determinants of savings rates, with special emphasis on Latin American savings rates. The study is based on international comparisons, using data from 36 countries for 1970–1992. A distinction is made between private and public savings. The later are endogenously determined by economic and political variables. Per capita income growth is the most important determinant of private and public savings; public savings are lower in countries with higher political instability; public savings crowd out private savings, but less than proportionately. Low Latin American savings are due to the magnitudes of their determinants, rather than structural differences.

Variation in central bank independence across countries: Some provisional empirical evidence

In this paper seven hypotheses to explain variation in central bank independence across countries are tested. The predictions based upon the theory that delegation of authority by politicians to the central bank is used as a commitment device are not supported: central bank independence is not higher the larger the employment motivated inflationary bias, the higher political instability or the larger the government debt. Central bank independence is positively related to historical inflation experience and negatively with political instability. We do only find limited support for the view that countries with a universal banking system and countries whose central banks do not regulate financial institutions have more independent central banks.

DANISH FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENTS IN TURKEY

Looks at how cultural barriers presented many problems in the initial forming of many organizations′ partnerships between Denmark and Turkey. Danish investments in the Turkish marketplace also suffered many casualties due to the same culture gap and Turkish family influences. Looks at the high inflation rates and political instability as contributors to unstable partnerships. There appears to be a real need for professional managers to build up strong relationships if business collaboration is to achieve mutual success.