Political Institutions Research Articles

The role of government integrity in the impact of environmental taxes on comparative advantage in environmental goods and climate change in emerging markets

The goal of this study is to examine how environmental taxes influence the comparative advantage in environmental products and carbon emissions within emerging economies. To gain a better understanding, we examine whether this impact changes depending on the level of government integrity. This study utilizes panel autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) techniques and a two-step generalized method of moments (GMM) dynamic panel model to ensure accuracy. The results indicate that increased environmental taxes mitigate the comparative advantage in environmental goods for emerging markets. However, for countries with high levels of government integrity, higher environmental taxes enhance their competitive edge in environmental goods. Additionally, our findings show that although a rise in environmental taxes is associated with higher carbon emissions, raising such taxes results in a reduction in carbon emissions for emerging economies with solid government integrity. These findings suggest that robust political institutions are crucial in promoting the comparative advantage of emerging markets in environmental goods and mitigating climate change. In the absence of substantial confidence in political or governmental institutions, the efficient implementation of climate taxes poses considerable challenges. Furthermore, we observe that an increase in the comparative advantage of environmental goods results in a decrease in carbon emissions.

Searching for an Optimal Model for the Renewal of the Constitutional Court to Avoid a Constitutional Crisis: Dream or Reality?*

The failed renewal of the Constitutional Court in Lithuania was not the first in Europe, and will not be the last. The appointment of constitutional judges, usually undertaken with the involvement of the political institutions, became a very sensitive issue closely linked to their independence. After a sequence of unsuccessful attempts to renew the composition of constitutional courts, some states fall into a deep democratic backsliding, while some take the initiative to reform the existing appointment procedure, seeking to prevent the politicisation of constitutional control institutions. A universal and standardised one-size-fits-all model does not exist, as each particular national context must be considered. However, certain lessons are to be learned and certain pitfalls to be avoided. Constitutional courts must correspond to the criteria of the tribunal established by law, as disclosed in international jurisprudence. For this purpose, the proper law is needed. This article analyses the advantages and shortcomings of some elements of the proposed and partly realised Slovak reform on the appointment of constitutional judges that Lithuania and other states could benefit from. This allows for the conclusion that the explicit criterion of professional reputation might prevent arbitrary nominations and ensure that the best judge for the court and the society would be appointed. Contrary to most convictions, a larger majority in the Parliament is not necessary to keep this procedure in line with the principle of the rule of law. The only requirement is that the law must be clear, unambiguous and provide for the steps to be taken if the rotation fails.

Trust and Distrust in Political Institutions

Trust and Distrust in Political Institutions

Issues and Debates Surrounding the Cold War era in Africa

This paper examines the issues and debates surrounding the Cold War era in Africa, examining the impact of superpower rivalries on the political and social atmosphere of the continent. The research problem centers on understanding how Cold War politics impacted state-building processes and governance in African states. The primary objectives are to analyze the influence of U.S. and Soviet support on authoritarian regimes, assess the implications for human rights and democracy, and investigate the enduring legacy of these interventions in post-colonial Africa. The research argues that external interventions prioritized geopolitical interests over local sovereignty, fostering corruption and political instability. Utilizing historical methodology, the study relies on secondary sources, including books, journals, and online resources, to provide analysis. The findings reveal that Cold War patronage not only entrenched dictatorial regimes but also hindered the development of independent political institutions, leading to persistent challenges in governance. The paper concludes that understanding the implications of Cold War for Africa is germane for addressing contemporary issues of democracy, human rights, and development, emphasizing the need for a reassessment of external influences in influencing African political trajectories.

Constitutional design preferences: An experimental approach

Abstract A rich literature links the survival of national constitutions to their legitimacy among citizens. However, most studies examine constitutions as a bundle of rights and institutions, and few test the micro-foundations of constitutional preferences explicitly. This article examines how individuals evaluate both the content and flexibility of discrete constitutional elements using a conjoint experiment in Japan. Respondents were asked to rate twenty-six hypothetical constitutions that varied randomly in their enumeration of twelve rights and institutions. We find that citizens generally prefer constitutions that enumerate more provisions, with greater weight placed on human rights than political institutions. This result largely confirms theoretical expectations from earlier work on comparative constitutional design. In addition, political factors, such as partisanship, moderate preferences on issues that have long divided progressives and conservatives in Japan, such as constraints on the military and establishing national emergency provisions. By contrast, socioeconomic characteristics such as income, age, and education do not, suggesting broad demographic consensus on the merits of distinct provisions. Importantly, we further demonstrate that citizens do not trade off constitutional detail and flexibility, as suggested by existing research. Respondents who prefer the enumeration of more provisions do not necessarily want a lower amendment hurdle to facilitate adaptation to new circumstances. Preferences about constitutional flexibility appear to be based on strategic imperatives, notably the desire to cement preferred provisions and prevent changes by future majorities.

Brain health and national neurological societies: Results of the European Academy of Neurology survey on brain health awareness and areas of implementation for European countries.

The European Academy of Neurology (EAN) has adhered to the global plan for reducing the burden of neurological disorders and promoting brain health launched by the World Health Organisation (WHO), the WHO Intersectoral Global Action Plan on Epilepsy and Other Neurological Disorders. This study reports the results of an EAN survey among national neurological societies (NNSs) on their awareness of brain health policies. The EAN survey on the current state of national brain health policies was conducted among the 47 presidents of the NNSs affiliated with the EAN, with the aim of developing the best strategy for close collaboration among stakeholders. From June 2023 to February 2024, 36/47 responses (77%) were collected. Among respondents, 67% were in contact with their Ministry of Health and 78% were aware of and in contact with one or more national neurological patient organisation, while 17% had no contacts with any association. Ninety-two percent declared a high to medium degree of awareness of the need to support brain health and of brain health plans and strategies in their country. Our findings suggest good awareness of the importance of brain health and of the strategies implemented at the national level among the EAN-affiliated NNSs and representatives. Efforts towards improvement may be directed towards cooperation between NNSs and political institutions, as well as patient organisations, to optimise brain and global public health and neurological care in each country.

The multiple patterns of factional influence: Evidence from the 2021 LDP presidential election

AbstractTraditionally, factions and seniority determined who became President of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and, thus, Japan's Prime Minister. Since the electoral reform of 1994, however, some scholars have argued that the role of factions has declined, and this has led to ongoing debates over the extent to which factions and other factors have helped determine who will become the leader of Japan's LDP. Using data from the 2021 LDP Presidential election, we find that it is not policy but factional affiliations that matter for LDP members in selecting their leader. In addition to this finding, we disaggregate faction and show that the influence of this political institution in LDP Presidential elections varies across different factions. We also find that electorally weaker LDP incumbents are more likely to support a candidate who is more popular among Japanese voters in general.

No need to look, trust me! Mutual trust and distrust in the European arrest warrant system

Abstract No cooperative scheme in EU law has displayed bigger tensions between mutual trust and fundamental rights protection than the EAW system. Despite the requirement developed by the CJEU for national courts to trust each other and recognise each other’s arrest warrants, the reality on the ground has shown high levels of distrust between national courts regarding Member States’ alignment with core EU values. In this contribution, we analyze how the CJEU has managed such tensions in the EAW system. To that effect, we first put the Court’s EAW case law into context by examining the broader language of mutual trust used by the Court in other fields of EU law. In doing so, we point out how the Court has espoused different levels of lawful distrust to be exercised in different circumstances under the scope of application of mutual trust. Given that broader context, it is contradictory for the Court to mainly view mutual trust as a requirement rather than a reality in need of permanent and continuing justification between national authorities. The latter conception of mutual trust is more apt to be the basis of EU horizontal cooperation, which must be value-based and sincere according to the Treaties. Therefore, we propose a bidimensional account of mutual trust as a legal principle, one that accommodates both trust and distrust as tools for managing the uncertainty and dynamic nature of trust-based cooperation. Finally, we explore how such account of mutual (dis)trust can be concretised by the Court and other political institutions.

LITURATERRA [Entrevista: 2024, 3] A política contra o destino: o modo de pensar as alternativas

Brazilian philosopher Roberto Mangabeira Unger, a professor at Harvard University (USA) for over forty years, presents and discusses his perspective on politics in this interview. In it, he discusses elements of his social and political theory, one of the highlights of which is his treatment of institutional issues in an original way that differs from conventional institutionalism. He begins by defining the distinction between right and left in contemporary circumstances. It defines the possible types of politics. He deals with the fundamental concepts of his theory of institutional alternatives, explaining the nature of his experimentalist proposal. It approaches the organization of powers with a different emphasis from the dominant reflection on political institutions, always uncritically focused on the issue of stability, and proposes that the main objective of politics is to provide structural transformations. It argues that the democratic regime should have its center of gravity focused on majorities and not minorities. And he suggests that the central cause of the current crisis in democratic societies is of a programmatic nature: we have not yet been able to clear away the rubble of bankrupt social democracy. The general theme discussed was a new institutional model that would enable liberal societies to overcome the dead end in which they find themselves. The interview took place on May 22, 2022, in the district of Araras, in the municipality of Petrópolis (RJ).

Using punctuated equilibrium theory to explain changes in policy outputs: The case of the United States Coast Guard

AbstractThis article explores the utility of punctuated equilibrium (PE) theory in explaining revolutionary organizational change in the public sector and its effects on policy implementation, with a focus on the United States Coast Guard. We illustrate our model using data from in‐depth interviews with current and former senior Coast Guard officers and enlisted personnel, as well as secondary sources such as historical accounts and budget data. Through content analysis, we argue that PE theory begins with a change in the public sector organization's external environment, which then affects organizational strategy, structure, power distribution, and outputs. Punctuated equilibrium theory proves to be a valuable lens for understanding policy outputs in relation to organizational change.Related ArticlesKwon, Sung‐Wook, and Sylvia Gonzalez‐Gorman. 2019. “Influence of Local Political Institutions on Policy Punctuation in Three Policy Areas.” Politics & Policy 47(2): 300–25. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12295.Neill, Katharine A., and John C. Morris. 2012. “A Tangled Web of Principals and Agents: Examining the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill through a Principal–Agent Lens.”Politics & Policy 40(4): 629–56. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1747‐1346.2012.00371.x.Peng, Peiwen, and Tangzhe Cao. 2023. “Attention, Institutional Friction, and Punctuated Equilibrium in China's Budget: Changes in Social Security and Employment Expenditure.” Politics & Policy 51(2): 256–82. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12523.

Studying a women’s collective from a politics of commoning perspective: the case of Skouries, Greece

ABSTRACT We live in a period of multiple crises, including economic, environmental, and social emergencies. The prioritisation of capitalist economic growth by most political institutions is among the most critical drivers of these crises in a never-ending loop. Against this context, commoning, perceived as collective care, presents an alternative political strategy to respond to those crises. In this paper, we investigate how an anti-mining community in Skouries, Greece, opposes the imposition of a large-scale mining project by forming a commons. Our commons is a women’s collective that sought a sustainable economic alternative to large-scale mining and a model that could influence different political values much needed for politics in a crisis-ridden framework. We argue that commoning can enrich the politics of our times. Commoning highlights the importance of caring collectively for developing collective identities and relations between humans and the environment, which can benefit local, national, and international politics.

Business deserts politics under weak institutions: evidence from Russia, 2003–2010

Abstract Businesspeople are expected to invest in political connections when the institutions are weak. Using an original dataset from Russia in 2003–2010, we document changes in political connections of the richest businesspeople and show that within the institutional environment of a fledgling autocracy political engagement stops paying off, and the businesspeople retreat from politics. The businesspeople’s political disengagement reveals their insider assessment of the quality of Russian political institutions, indicating that as autocracy consolidated in Russia, its political institutional structure was in decay. This finding contributes to our understanding of authoritarian institutions, suggesting that even though autocracies nowadays might be institutionalized to a much higher degree, in the short-run autocracy is still detrimental to institutionalization.

RUSSIA’S HYBRID WARFARE IN THE WESTERN BALKANS: GEOPOLITICAL STRATEGIES AND PROXY ACTORS

This paper examines Russia’s hybrid warfare tactics against the Western Balkans, focusing on using direct and indirect methods to exert influence in the region. The study delves into Russia’s strategic use of media manipulation, cyberattacks, and disinformation campaigns, alongside its employment of proxy state and non-state actors such as Serbia, Republika Srpska, and the Serbian Orthodox Church. Leveraging historical, cultural, and religious ties, Russia seeks to destabilize the Western Balkans and prevent closer integration with NATO and the European Union. Special attention is given to the geopolitics of elections, where Russia manipulates electoral processes in countries like Montenegro and North Macedonia to favour pro-Russian or anti-Western political forces. By analyzing key case studies, this paper explores how Russian hybrid warfare exploits regional vulnerabilities—such as ethnic divisions and weak political institutions—while employing tactics of soft power and military cooperation. The findings indicate that Russia’s hybrid warfare, including electoral manipulation, poses a significant threat to regional stability and international security, underscoring the need for strengthened Western engagement to counter Russian influence. This study offers critical insights into the evolving nature of hybrid warfare and its implications for the geopolitical landscape of Southeast Europe.

Media politics in Japan: News journalism between interdependence, integrity, and influence

AbstractAlthough Japan is generally considered a liberal democracy with a free press, concerns about media independence have repeatedly been raised. The World Press Freedom Index ranks Japan last among G7 nations. One of the major reasons for its performance lies in a deep-rooted entanglement of the mainstream media with the political establishment, which is said to promote a climate of self-censorship and impede courageous, critical journalism. While the government-approved reporters’ clubs (“kisha clubs”) are often cited as lying at the heart of the problem, there are other relevant structural and historically grown factors hindering the improvement of press freedom: Despite theoretical constitutional protection, media governance in Japan does not provide an adequate framework for journalistic independence; furthermore, revolving door politics, editorial interventions and informal arrangements are well-established practices inside the sphere of media and politics. Nevertheless, there have been those critical moments when the mainstream media, in fact, influenced the course of politics. Setting out from the present condition of media democracy in Japan, this article traces back the historical roots of the seemingly firmly ingrained relationship between journalism and the state. Thereby, it portrays the ambivalent interdependence between the media and politics, and the dilemmatic tension between journalistic integrity, economic interests, and political influence. Finally, it explains why the current hegemony of the legacy media in the public sphere may eventually face a silent, but profound transformation in light of digitization and advancements in artificial intelligence.

Bridging the gap: Political engagement and trust as mediators of racial health inequities and vaccine reluctance

This paper investigates how political engagement and trust can reduce health disparities in the context of COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy. It posits that active participation in the political process and trust in political institutions enable communities, especially marginalized ones, to advocate for equitable health policies, leading to more inclusive healthcare services. The study employs a multidisciplinary approach to understand how politics influence individual and collective health behaviors and decision-making. The research uses t-tests and logistic regression to analyze the relationship between political factors (like interest and participation) and trust in political and federal systems on COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy. The t-test examines disparities in vaccine hesitancy across racial groups, revealing significant differences and emphasizing the impact of race on health behaviors. Logistic regression, controlling for variables such as partisanship and media influence, further explores these relationships, showing a consistent negative correlation between trust in federal institutions and vaccine hesitancy across racial groups. The study also finds that this correlation varies by race, with trust in the political system and political participation influencing vaccine hesitancy to different degrees among racial groups. These findings underscore the complex interplay between political engagement, trust, and health behaviors, highlighting the role of politics in shaping public health outcomes.

The impact of capital flight on economic development: An empirical analysis from Palestine

This study focused on the function of capital flight to ascertain the true impact of the phenomenon of capital flight on economic development in Palestine and aimed to analyze the short- and long-term dynamic relationship between capital flight and economic development, including other affected variables. This research employed a quantitative research design and the descriptive analysis method. The analysis uses quarterly data from 2004 to 2022. This study employed the autoregressive distribution lag (ARDL) bound testing approach. Actual data from Palestine spanning the years 2004-2022 yielded significant findings. Based on heteroskedastic dynamic regression as an ARDL panel model, important findings were reached. First, both local country fundamentals and global variables have an impact on economic development and its rates over the long term, but in the near term, global forces may be predominantly recognized as drivers. Second, the variable of interest, capital flight, has a favorable impact on tax advantages. The empirical findings revealed that the short- and long-run analyses are consistent with each other. This necessitates putting into practice a variety of tactics, from creating efficient judicial and political institutions to encouraging economic development through managing macroeconomic issues. This study provides a fresh insight for policymakers to evaluate the impact of capital flight on economic development factors when coordinating fiscal and monetary policy in Palestine. The monetary and fiscal authorities should create an efficient policy framework. Palestine must reduce and stop the outflow of cash from inside its borders to improve its capacity to pay back its loans and debts to foreign creditors.

Formation of a Unified Educational Space of the Union State from the Perspective of the Policy of Patriotic Education

Introduction. Awareness of the commonality of geopolitical and civilizational challenges of the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus pushes for deepening integration cooperation in different directions. Close attention is paid to the problem of security, interpreted in an expanded way. Its provision correlates with the strengthening of the humanitarian dimension of the Union State, including the formation of a unified educational space. In modern conditions, its correlation with the consolidation of the policy of patriotic education in the integration field is being actualized. The purpose of the article is to identify the specifics of their coupling, taking into account the dynamics of union construction. Materials and Methods. The research is based on the methods of binary comparison, traditional and discourse analysis of official texts. An additional method is a formalized correspondence expert survey. The key materials are normative legal acts of the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus, interstate, intergovernmental and integration agreements, information content of the web resources of the Union State. The theoretical and methodological foundations of the research are a new political institutionalism, a multidimensional model of social action, and the paradigm of “political unification”. Results. The article describes the normative foundations of state policy in the field of education and integration guidelines in the cultural and humanitarian plane within the framework of the movement towards the Union educational space. The demanded categories of the axiological plan are revealed, referring to the relationship between education and upbringing. The key lines of discursive practices at the sites of the union institutions are shown. The understanding of the need to adapt education systems to the requirements of the time and the linking of patriotic education with the protection and preservation of common historical memory are emphasized. Discussion and Conclusion. The results of the study and expert assessments suggest the articulation of not only positive changes, but also urgent vectors for improving national approaches and integration solutions. They correspond to the elimination of conflicts, the development and adoption of new documents at the level of the Union State, the implementation of value categories and new areas of unified policy. The results obtained may be of interest to public authorities and union institutions, participants in patriotic education in the territory of the Union State.

RUSSIA’S HYBRID WARFARE IN THE WESTERN BALKANS: GEOPOLITICAL STRATEGIES AND PROXY ACTORS

This paper examines Russia’s hybrid warfare tactics against the Western Balkans, focusing on using direct and indirect methods to exert influence in the region. The study delves into Russia’s strategic use of media manipulation, cyberattacks, and disinformation campaigns, alongside its employment of proxy state and non-state actors such as Serbia, Republika Srpska, and the Serbian Orthodox Church. Leveraging historical, cultural, and religious ties, Russia seeks to destabilize the Western Balkans and prevent closer integration with NATO and the European Union. Special attention is given to the geopolitics of elections, where Russia manipulates electoral processes in countries like Montenegro and North Macedonia to favour pro-Russian or anti-Western political forces. By analyzing key case studies, this paper explores how Russian hybrid warfare exploits regional vulnerabilities—such as ethnic divisions and weak political institutions—while employing tactics of soft power and military cooperation. The findings indicate that Russia’s hybrid warfare, including electoral manipulation, poses a significant threat to regional stability and international security, underscoring the need for strengthened Western engagement to counter Russian influence. This study offers critical insights into the evolving nature of hybrid warfare and its implications for the geopolitical landscape of Southeast Europe.

‘Towards a modern democracy’? The constitutional politics of the 1990s British left

ABSTRACT This article argues that a ‘constitutional lens’ sheds light on British political contestation in the 1990s. It is commonly suggested that 1990s politicians merely consolidated the hegemony of ‘Thatcherism’. Yet, this struggles to encompass the decade’s political volatility, from the Conservatives’ descent into internecine warfare over the Maastricht Treaty to the fraught Irish peace process. Though varied, these developments shared a key theme: controversy over the constitution of the United Kingdom. To illustrate its case, this article applies the constitutional lens to the 1990s left. Existing accounts emphasise Labour’s concessions to Conservative opponents. By 2001, however, the first Blair government had enacted contentious constitutional changes: devolution, proportional voting systems, and a Human Rights Act. These policies reflected a dynamic, new, liberal-left politics of constitutional reform. From the 1980s, liberals, social democrats and Marxists forged a new constitutional agenda, responding to trends since the 1960s—growing ‘popular individualism’, agitation for ‘human rights’, European integration, and Scottish nationalism—and to the end of the Cold War. By the 1990s, campaigners had developed a bold programme for ‘modernising the constitution’, which influenced Labour’s programme. Through New Labour’s governments, this agenda profoundly reshaped the institutions of British politics in the twenty-first century.

From agents of the people to agents of authority? How illiberal populism impacts interactions between regulatory agencies and external stakeholders

AbstractThe decline in democratic quality and the increasing electoral popularity of illiberal populist parties are among the most notable global phenomena in the past 20 years. This article builds a bridge between the growing body of political science literature addressing how democratic backsliding impacts linkages between governments and organized interests and the public administration literature exploring how illiberal populists reshape the bureaucracy. Focusing on regulatory agencies in four post‐communist countries that have recently experienced varying degrees of democrating backsliding, we explore whether and how interactions between bureaucrats and interest groups have changed amid democratic decline. We find that even in the context of backsliding, professionalization (i.e. internal organizational development) and expertise provision are strong positive predictors of interest groups' access to regulators. However, our analysis unequivocally shows that exclusion by illiberal populist incumbent parties has a profound and negative effect on organizations' ability to reach bureaucracies. We draw on a new survey dataset, which grasps relationships between organized interests and political institutions (i.e. governments, parties, regulatory agencies, parliaments) in the region.