Political Bargaining Research Articles

Consent or coordination? assemblies in early medieval Europe

The standard political economy narrative of representative assemblies in Western Europe is one of political bargaining and credible commitments. Monarchs sought to bargain with the leading men of the realms, exchanging their commitments on various policies for revenues and other resources. This narrative has been forcibly challenged by Boucoyannis (2015, 2021) who points out that, in the High Middle Ages, it was strong monarchs who were able to compel the leading men of their realms to assemblies She argues that strong monarchs were able to leverage their subjects’ demand for adjudication (justice) to compel their attendance; and then extract their promises of resources. In this paper, I add to the discussion of the origins of representative institutions. Prior to the High Middle Ages, assemblies were ubiquitous but scarcely democratic. I provide a coordination model of assemblies that provides a compelling account of these early medieval assemblies. Similar to arguments put forth by Hardin (1989, 1999), Ordeshook (1992), Weingast (1997), Weingast (2005), and Hadfield and Weingast (2014) regarding modern de jure constitutions, I argue that assemblies allowed monarchs to provide focal point around which they could coordinate their leading men. There was relatively little meaningful bargaining at these assemblies; rather, monarchs provided ceremony and spectacle meant to focus their leading men on their agendas.

Importance and challenges of science education in the development of Ilorin and its environ: Some policy implications

The study focused on the assessment of science education in Nigeria (Ilorin metropolis in particular), its importance to the conurbation development, challenges of science education in the area and some policy suggestions. The researcher observed political and economic issues as major challenges hindering the development of science education in Ilorin and it environ. One of the major policies is that all science subjects’ teachers should be exposed to necessary tools in order to enhance science teachings, and adequately trained on its utilization on regular basis so as to make teaching-learning more effective. Recommendations were suggested that science teachers should be employed based on merit, government and well-meaning people of the city should release fund into education especially science education to motivate its citizens to science education and more scholarship for the science students without political bargain among others.

The Global South and global human rights: international responsibility for the right to development

Human rights are typically understood as governing the behaviour of states towards the people within their borders. In this article, I argue that this domestic formulation of human rights is not universal, but came about through political bargaining and contestation. From at least the early twentieth century, a range of actors from the Global South developed an understanding of individual and collective rights that emphasised international responsibility, especially of wealthy, powerful states towards people in poorer, weaker states. I show that this foundational understanding served as an important basis for the how the Global South engaged with economic and social rights within the United Nations before, during and after the adoption of the Universal Bill of Rights. It eventually manifested in the campaign for the human right to development. Through an exploration of the drafting history of the Declaration on the Right to Development, I show how international responsibility was kept out of the declaration by the Western states that stood to be held responsible. Examining this alternative understanding of human rights recovers a forgotten contribution of the Global South, while shedding light on obstacles to contemporary political projects like the campaign for international slavery reparations.

MACEDONIAN ELECTION RULES: CITIZENS VIS-À-VIS POLITICAL PARTIES

The Macedonian election rules, i.e. the setting of the electoral system, produce a double effect, an effect on the voter, and an effect on the party system. Therefore, each change in the electoral regulations would not only alter the voters’ comportment but also impact the political parties. Considering these effects, the paper aimed to compare the attitudes of the citizens and political parties regarding the electoral legislature (both for the parliamentary and local elections); and produce adequate electoral solutions as a corrective for the detected shortcomings of the current regulations. The paper relied on content analysis of theoretical literature and research, empirical qualitative research based on citizens’ focus groups from each region in Macedonia, questioned political parties, and additional data analysis. The ultimate findings propose a way to promote the equal value of each vote, proportional regional representation, and MPs' accountability at the parliamentary elections. For the local elections, the proposed solution referred to reducing the election cost, the possibility of political bargaining, and preserving the legitimacy of elected mayors.

Towards a Sustainable Metamorphosis of a Small Island Tourism: Dynamizing Capacity Building, Alternating Governance Arrangements, and Emerging Political Bargaining Power

This study examines how local agents (non-profit-seeking actors and residents of Pahawang Island) developed empowering methods to address ecological problems during the island’s transformation from a small, secluded island to a tourist destination. Building capacity through grassroots initiatives, bottom-linked collaboration, and improved political bargaining power were critical components, constituting the conceptual framework to analyse the data. The socio-spatial shift in Pahawang Island reflects the nature, degree of involvement, and participation of multiple stakeholders. Slowly and gradually, bottom-up and later bottom-linked institutional efforts were implemented to lay the groundwork for a more sustainable ecology, social economy, and political transformation. Capacity building was dynamized by including it in a social innovation process, bottom-linked governance, and stimulated empowerment, which altered the governance, political bargaining power and policymaking power balance. Under these conditions, collaborative grassroots learning and action efforts can be a virtuous panacea for improving the sustainable governance of small islands, which is frequently disregarded in a neoliberal society.

Constitutional civil–military dynamics in Southeast Asia

Abstract In Thailand, Indonesia, and Myanmar, the military’s participation in politics and governance remains commonplace. These militaries occupy bureaucracies, manage elections, and occasionally even oust governments. Yet, these militaries are not rulers with iron fists: they never fail to adopt or participate in the drafting of constitutions, and constantly appeal to political actors embodying non-democratic notions of legitimate rule for support. So why do these militaries do so, and how do those constitutions affect their participation in politics thereafter? This article explores the relationship between militaries, legitimate rulers, and constitutions in Southeast Asia. It finds that constitutions are adopted to formalize political bargains between militaries and legitimate rulers, and that those constitutions then shape the militaries’ role in politics according to their provisions until political circumstances fundamentally change. The constitutional civil–military dynamic identified herein complements existing accounts in civil–military relations and comparative constitutional scholarship, by showing how constitutions can affect the militaries’ political role in non-democratic regimes.

Culture of Corruption Politicians' Behavior in Parliament and State Official During Reform Government Indonesia (Genealogical Study)

This study aims to assess and analyze the Culture of Corruption Politicians' Behavior in Parliament and State Official During Reform Government Indonesia (Genealogical Study) This study is genealogical research based on the literature, journals and reporting publications of Indonesian corruption culture. The result of the study concluded that culture corruption behavior of politicians in the parliament and bureaucracy in the reform era in Indonesia is still ongoing corruption can be said as a culture of corruption that has been so severe, that Indonesia is almost categorized as a kleptocracy country, and as a country ruled by thieves (klepto) and even has been spread of viral infections or COVID-19.. This crime could even be called state organized crime in a corrupt government. This crime is based on the achievement of individual interests, groups or political parties and retains the power. The lack of success of Indonesian government in resolving the case of state officials or politicians involved in corruption, collusion and nepotism rapidly lightly court decisions, many cases delayed in its prosecution process, even termination of the case of important officials state to be an indication the weakness of law enforcement against white-collar criminals in Indonesia. This happens due to the severity of conflict of interest so the solution is often based on the interests or political bargaining and abuse of power.

Who governs? state versus jihadist political order in Somalia

Why has the Somali government failed to provide public order and essential services, while Al-Shabaab has had relatively more success in its governance objectives? To explain this variation in governance success, we offer a political economy explanation of wartime order-making based on the competing bargains that governing actors create to uphold their power. We identify two key political bargains in Somalia: (1) an elite deal, forged among members of the Somali Federal Government (SFG) and Federal Member States (FMS); and (2) a civilian deal, which Al-Shabaab directly establishes with the citizens under its control. Looking at these two deals, we examine how access to foreign support can affect a governing actor’s taxation impetus, and subsequently its commitment to governance. Our results reveal that not only can foreign support undermine the normal taxation-protection relationship between citizen and state, but it can also inadvertently provide jihadists with an opportunity to establish alternative forms of order.

SPLIT IN THE RUSSOPHILE CIRCLES AND THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE RUSSIAN AGRARIAN PARTY

The activity of the Russophile party restored in the interwar period, which remained true to its own ideological orientations, declaring the longevity of its historical tradition and succession to the pre-war institution, is studied. Competing for influence in the political arena, this party, with its inherent conformism, was able to gain the support of the Polish government and regain control of its societies: Stauropegion, «People’s House», «Halychyna-Ruthenian Matica». The problem of fighting for the right to the «People’s House» – the only society for which government commissioners were appointed – has long gripped all Ukrainian politics, becoming the cause of inter-party conflicts and intra-party quarrels of Russophiles, the issue of political bargaining between parties and government in election battles, an indicator of relations with the state and one of the main public discourses. It is shown that the struggle for the «People's House» was an important prerequisite for the split of the «Russian People's Organization» (RPO) in 1926. A group of people led by M. Bachynskyi, L. Cherkavskyi, and O. Lysiak left the RPO and founded the Russian Agrarian Party (RAP), explaining this by the desire to create a «healthy opposition» to the Russophile leadership and more actively defend the rights of the peasantry. RAP members enlisted the support of Polish government officials to seize the «People’s House» and win seats in the 1928 and 1930 elections. In the elections to the Sejm and the Senate in 1928, with the assistance of the Polish government, the RPO and the RAP united, but never received a single mandate. In the 1930 election campaigns, the RAP ran on the same electoral list as the pro-government BB party and won two seats. An attempt is made to please the Polish authorities with the head of the RAP M. Bachynskyi, who declared the difference between the ideology of his political force and all Russophilia, positioning its members as «Ruthenians» who, unlike the RPO, did not seek unification with Russia (but at the same time they continued to profess the idea of the unity of the «Russian» people and used the term «Russian» to mean Ukrainians of Halychyna). M. Bachynskyi's anti-Ukrainian position on complex aspects of Ukrainian-Polish relations is highlighted. This Russophile figure negatively assessed the patriotic Ukrainian forces, including the GCC, which he accused of not stopping the Polish-Ukrainian war of 1918–1919 by its clergy. He also did not condemn the «pacification» carried out by the Polish government against the Ukrainian population, opposed the introduction of national identifiers «Ukrainian», «Ukraine» and others. For the first time, the archives of the Stanislav Voivodeship show attempts by the Polish authorities to support Russophiles from the RAP, calling the members of this party «Ruthenians», just as the Poles called the entire Ukrainian people. It was the agreement policy and unpopularity among the masses that led to the liquidation of the RAP (since 1931 – RAO) in 1934. Its members joined the «Russian Peasant Organization» (RPO)

Eleven Winters of Discontent: The Siberian Internment and the Making of a New Japan by Sherzod Muminov

Reviewed by: Eleven Winters of Discontent: The Siberian Internment and the Making of a New Japan by Sherzod Muminov James D. J. Brown Eleven Winters of Discontent: The Siberian Internment and the Making of a New Japan. By Sherzod Muminov. Harvard University Press, 2022. 384 pages. ISBN: 9780674986435 (hardcover; also available as e-book). The history of Japanese imperialism and the end of World War II in East Asia can seem like a competition between victimhood narratives. Within this contest, the [End Page 355] Siberian internment usually loses out to other tales of woe. Even when not neglected, the story of the 600,000 Japanese former soldiers and civilians interned within the Soviet Union after 1945 is too often told with trite uniformity. Some accounts give the impression that every Japanese internee was an innocent victim, slaving away in a frigid Siberian wilderness, where temperatures fell to minus fifty degrees Celsius, and surviving on a diet of three potatoes a day. Sherzod Muminov's Eleven Winters of Discontent: The Siberian Internment and the Making of a New Japan is a welcome corrective to this literature of wailing melancholy as the author sets out to "challenge the popular perception that the internment was only about suffering, injustices, and deprivation" (p. 80). Muminov highlights nuance at every turn and takes an international rather than a national perspective. He also makes use of internees' memoirs in Japanese, as well as Russian-language files from the Soviet archives. The result is an excellent account that enables the reader not only to understand the details of the Siberian internment but to reflect on its significance to the Cold War and the development of postwar Japan. The book's particular merit is in treating the internees as participants in their predicament rather than mere victims. However, it also covers the basics well. The story begins with Joseph Stalin's secret decree of 23 August 1945. This ordered the People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs (Narodnyi komissariat vnutrennikh del, or NKVD) to select up to half a million Japanese "physically fit to work in the conditions of the Far East" and to transport them to the Soviet Union (p. 2). This position was a reversal of the one from 16 August, when the Soviets had expressed their intention not to intern Japanese on Soviet territory. Stalin's decree also ignored Article 9 of the Potsdam Declaration, which, in setting the terms of Japan's surrender, promised: "The Japanese military forces, after being completely disarmed, shall be permitted to return to their homes with the opportunity to lead peaceful and productive lives" (p. 26). In assessing the reasons for Stalin's decision, Muminov considers economic motivations, including the need for labor to make use of the enormous quantities of "trophy equipment"—primarily industrial machinery—that Soviet forces expropriated in Manchuria and used to equip their own factories. He also takes account of the internees' value as political bargaining chips, which is indeed how they were used during the talks that led to official Japan-Soviet ties being restored in October 1956. Muminov even draws readers' attention to the conspiracy theory that Japan's Kwantung Army offered Japanese soldiers to the Soviet Union as a workforce during a meeting held at Zharikovo on 19 August 1945. However, ultimately the author concludes that the decision to intern the Japanese soldiers was not a premeditated move. Instead, it was Stalin's instinctive response to US president Harry Truman's rejection of the Soviet request for an occupation zone on Hokkaido. Denied the chance to occupy any of the Japanese main islands, Stalin chose to occupy Japanese personnel instead. In addition to clearly charting the origins of the Siberian internment, the book does a fine job of communicating its scale. Soviet documents reveal that 639,776 [End Page 356] Japanese army service personnel were taken prisoner. These included humble farmhands but also Konoe Fumitaka, the Princeton-educated eldest son of former prime minister Konoe Fumimaro. Uno Sōsuke, who briefly served as prime minister in 1989 before resigning because of an affair with a geisha, was also among those interned. There were also more than 30,000 Koreans, Chinese, and Mongols, as...

Distributing the European structural and investment funds from a conflicting claims approach

In order to support economic development across all European Union regions, €351.8 billion –almost a third of the total EU budget– has been set aside for the Cohesion Policy during the 2014–2020 period. The distribution of this budget is made through five main structural and investment funds, after long and difficult negotiations among the EU member states. This paper analyzes the problem of allocating the limited resources of the European Regional Development Fund as a conflicting claims problem. Specifically, we attempt to show how the conflicting claims approach fits this actual problem, and we propose alternative ways of distributing the budget via (i) claims solutions or (ii) the imposition of bounds (guarantees) to each of the regions. By applying this approach we also show that there is a claims solution that performs better than the others by reducing inequality and promoting convergence to a greater degree. It is clear that political bargaining will always be part of the allocation process. However, having an intuitive initial proposal may help politicians to find the best agreement. To that effect, we propose the use of a claims solution as a way to find an initial proposal for future policy changes concerning the allocations of the EU structural funds.

The institutional evolution of central banks

This article contributes to the literature on central banks’ institutional rationale and evolution by analyzing the early development of the Bank of England as a case study. The history of the Bank is scrutinized under the framework of entangled political economy, revealing its origins in a process of bank and political bargains. The account clarifies the process by which the political and economic order becomes increasingly intertwined throughout the banking system, via political bargains under incomplete contracts. The analysis suggests that entanglement allows governments and non-profit organizations to transmit some of their features to banking organizations in exchange for financial benefits. Transmitting nonmarket characteristics through recurrent bargains leads a for-profit bank to gradually transform into a central bank. The article proposes an alternative rationale for the unintended emergence of central banks, providing evidence in favor of their politically oriented development, rather than their alleged intrinsic nature.

A CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS OF A POLITICAL TALK SHOW ON THE 2019 INDONESIAN PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

Political discourse on the 2019 Indonesian presidential election has been studied from a variety of linguistic viewpoints. However, the pros and cons discourse on Joko Widodo's coalition with Prabowo in spite of their rivalry has not been examined through critical discourse analysis. This study aims to explore the text structure, social cognition, and social context of the pros dan cons discourse as the theme of Mata Najwa talk show. This is a kind of qualitative analytical research using van Dijk’s (1996, 2015) critical discourse analysis framework. The data comprised utterances of the talk show participants examined through three levels of analysis: description of text structure, interpretation of social cognition, and explanation of social context. The study found the use of macrostructure, superstructure, and microstructure as textual elements that support the discourse theme. Meanwhile, the theme selection is influenced by the host’s ideology that serves the theme's pro-coalition stance. The social context underlying the discourse production is the representation of Joko Widodo, who utilized his power to forge a coalition with the opponents through political bargaining. The implication of this study is to increase public awareness on the importance of critically viewing political news so that the negative excesses of political propaganda do not easily provoke them through mass media.

American Enterprise Institute Roundtable: Government Policies Reshape the Banking System

The U.S. federal government response to the 2008 financial crisis, including new laws, prudential regulations, and Federal Reserve monetary policies, has left a lasting impact on the U.S. banking industry. Along with a nearly 50% drop in the number of independent depository institutions since 2000, the industry has become much more concentrated in a few large “systemically important” institutions. At the same time, the largest banks have responded to incentives provided by increased regulatory requirements and the Fed's zero interest rate policy by reducing their lending to the private sector and increasing both their real estate holdings and their reliance on deposits to fund them.For the five well‐known banking scholars who take part in this AEI‐organized discussion, such recent changes have troubling consequences for both the industry and the broader economy. After economic historian Richard Sylla describes a 100‐year movement of U.S. banking toward a system characterized by a few large banks with extensive branch systems, bank authority Alex Pollock points to the growing role and influence of the Federal Reserve and government‐sponsored enterprises in the “banking credit system.” And bank consultant Bert Ely points to a number of large and growing industry risks. Along with their unprecedented real estate holdings, Ely notes the massive holdings of U.S. government debt by both the Fed—which is identified as having an enormous interest rate mismatch and exposure—and the banks it supervises. At the same time, low interest rates have been squeezing banks’ margins and reducing their capital cushions to absorb losses that may arise from the pandemic.Charles Calomiris, who recently stepped down as Chief Economist of the OCC, views such extreme consolidation as an unhealthy trend—one that, along with banks’ growing dependency on deposits (and hence government guarantees and support) and reliance on real estate lending have become the main components of a “three‐legged stool” that are making large banks and banking systems throughout the world ever more subject to government influence. As a result of such dependence, the U.S. banking system is becoming more vulnerable to economy‐wide “shocks” such as the expected effects of a sharp increase in interest rates or a sudden plummeting of real estate prices. As Calomiris argued in his famous book (with Stephen Haber), U.S. banks—and indeed banks in most nations, thanks to “political bargains” with their governments that seem inevitable—appear to be becoming ever more “fragile by design.”

Radical-right cooptation of feminism in Israel: a case study

ABSTRACT This article explores how purportedly feminist and far-right commitments are at times in alignment with each other and how political bargaining between feminist agendas and racist radical-right agendas creates new alliances. This unusual alliance advances the radical-right ethnonationalist objective that further undermines the civil and political rights of an already disenfranchised population: Palestinian men and women.

Analysing Factors Affecting the Nabire Regent's Accountability Report (LKPJ) Nabire Regency

This study applied qualitative approach through the process of finding, understanding, explaining and obtaining an overview of social phenomena and public phenomena regarding the Synergy of Relations between the Legislative and Executive arms of regency government carrying out the authority of the Accountability Statement Report (LKPJ) of the Regent of Nabire Regency. Data collection techniques applied were; observation, interviews and questionnaires. The data analysis technique applied were qualitative data analysis technique to describe the facts obtained from the results of field studies and literature reviews to clarify the picture of the research results. The results of interviews related to the theory of institutional relations, found a negative and conflicting relationship existing between the two; legislative and executive parties, a position that build a political bargain that benefits each party so that it gives birth to political commitments and deals in the Regent's LKPJ agreement caused by the sectoral ego of each party. The executives consider themselves as having more understanding than the legislature and vice versa. Another problem is the lack of experience, education and the emergence of election winners as leaders/Chairmen of the Regional People's Representative Council which is a political party under the leadership of the executive/regent who has an emotional relationship in the form of family relations with the Regent. Suggestions from researchers from the executive side to carry out the Annual LKPJ to the Legislature on time and the need to strengthen the DPRD's supervisory function on the performance of local governments in order to create good governance. The Nabire DPRD critically and carefully supervises the LKPJ of the Regent of Nabire Regency based on the vision, mission, RPJM and RPPD in a transparent, responsive, efficient, effective, accountable, participatory, measurable, fair and sustainable manner. Publicization of the Regent's LKPJ document and strengthening of the legislative function through training, comparative studies, as well as the availability of funding to finance experts who can assist with legislative tasks is required.

Sports Law in Montenegro: Origins and Contemporary Development

This article represents a contribution to debates on national sport-related legislation noting that academic engagement in the Balkan region has been silent on this matter. That said, the aim of this article is to present the historical developments of sports law in Montenegro, and to locate major developmental changes and dynamics within the contemporary setting. The end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century marked the first regulatory mechanisms for sports in Montenegro, adopting its organizational structure, internal regulations and procedures. The major changes occurred during the socialist period vis-à-vis organizational setting with the introduction of the delegate system with democratization and decentralization as the core principles. The decline of socialism has led to the dissolution of Yugoslavia resulting in the liberalization of the sports system dismantling the concept of physical culture. In contemporary developments, institutional setting and legal framework are more subject to political bargaining with strong state intervention and centralization in terms of policy planning and implementation.

Constitutional locks

Abstract Legal designers use different mechanisms to entrench constitutions. This article studies one mechanism that has received little attention: constitutional “locks,” or forced waiting periods for amendments. We begin by presenting a global survey, which reveals that locks appear in sixty-seven national constitutions. They vary in length from nine days to six years, and they vary in reach, with some countries “locking” their entire constitution and others locking only select parts. After presenting the survey, we consider rationales for locks. Scholars tend to lump locks with other tools of entrenchment, such as bicameralism and supermajority rule, but we argue that locks have distinct and interesting features. Specifically, we theorize that locks can cool passions better than other entrenchment mechanisms, promote principled deliberation by placing lawmakers behind a veil of ignorance, and protect minority groups by creating space for political bargaining. Legislators cannot work around locks, and because locks are simple and transparent, lawmakers cannot “break” them without drawing attention. For these reasons, we theorize that locks facilitate constitutional credibility and self-enforcement, perhaps better than other entrenchment mechanisms.

Navigating gender in elite bargains: Women's movements and the quest for inclusive peace in Colombia

AbstractA growing body of scholarship connects the participation of women and the inclusion of gender provisions to the sustainability of peace settlements. But how do women's groups navigate gender power structures and gendered forms of violence within complex and fragile political bargaining processes aimed at ending large-scale conflict? The 2016 Colombian peace agreement, internationally applauded for its inclusion of strong gender provisions and women's participation as negotiators and peace advocates, is a significant case for examining these questions. Drawing on original case material, including interviews of key actors on different sides of the conflict – this article analyses the political bargaining dynamics within and among women's movements, the Santos government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia, FARC). We argue that the inclusion of women was pivotal in transforming the elite bargaining process and power structures of Colombian society enabling a gender-based approach to the substantive peace agenda addressing transitional gender justice for sexual violence survivors and gender-equal redistribution through land and rural reform programmes. The study suggests that deeply situated political bargaining analysis is essential to navigating gender in elite bargains rather than a one-size-fits-all approach to inclusive peace.

VI. The Brazilian civil code of 1916: principles, method and institutional conditions of private law modernization

Abstract The article analyzes the elaboration of the Brazilian civil code of 1916 as part of a broader political project of Republican modernization, focusing on the relation between private law, politics and economics in Brazil at the turn of the 20th century. The basic argument is that the consolidation of the Republican regime during the presidency of Campos Sales (1898–1902) provided the institutional conditions that paved the way for the codification of civil law. From the political perspective, parliamentary debates indicate that the civil code draft quickly turned into an instrument of political bargain and opposition to the president’s authority. From the legal point of view, the paper argues that, contrary to the prevailing view in Brazilian private law scholarship, the code represented a real attempt to break with the old order and create the conditions for a private law system based on equal juridical freedom. Finally, the paper explores the connections between the reform of legal methodology and legislative modernization, pointing both at the normative principles guiding the civil code elaboration and at the opposition it was faced with in Brazilian society.