Political Science Literature Research Articles

Political corporate social responsibility in authoritarian contexts

Political CSR emphasizes the need for the democratic governance of business conduct through public deliberation, and expects multinational enterprises (MNEs) to contribute to self-regulation and public goods provision to fill the gaps left by unwilling or unable governments. In the under-researched context of autocracies, however, political pluralism and participation are severely limited, which confronts MNEs with limited governance spaces for such activities. In this article, I deconstruct the assumptions on political–institutional context prevalent in political CSR and IB research on political and CSR activities of MNEs. Drawing on political science literature on state power and authoritarianism, I reconstruct political CSR in the political–institutional context of authoritarianism, using different autocracies across the globe as illustrative examples. I elucidate the boundaries and room for responsible business policies in autocracies drawing on a framework I developed that distinguishes between high- and low-capacity autocracies. My framework implies that MNEs face constraints in autocracies with regard to public deliberation and self-regulation, while there is considerable room for public goods provision. Finally, I explain why the normative desirability for the former two is high, whereas the normative desirability of public goods provision through MNEs in authoritarian contexts is lower given its implications for stabilization of autocratic rule.

The Role of Law in Enforcing Peace Agreements: Lessons Learned from Colombia

Abstract Peace agreements are frequently violated. These violations can result in the resumption of armed conflict. Yet, while there is an entire body of political science literature on the factors that influence the success or failure of peace agreements, there are only few legal scholars who deal with the implementation and enforcement of peace agreements. Law has the potential to play a critical role in peace agreement enforcement. At present, however, it is prevented from fulfilling this potential due to controversies on the legal nature of peace agreements, and the limited number of available legal enforcement mechanisms. This article will address some of these controversies on the basis of a Colombian case study. Compared to other contemporary peace agreements, the Colombian peace agreement of 24 November 2016 with the FARC is detailed and comprehensive. It created a range of monitoring mechanisms, such as two UN political missions, a comprehensive follow-up commission (CSIVI), and an international observation mechanism. Despite the abundance of these monitoring mechanisms, gaps in protection remain. An analysis of the mechanisms shows that some peace agreement violations could not be adequately addressed by any of the available mechanisms—be it due to their political nature, or due to their limited mandates. Bearing in mind the relative sophistication of the Colombian peace agreement, this is reason for concern. The article aims to demonstrate the role that law could play in enforcing peace agreements, while also discussing persisting systemic shortcomings in the applicable legal framework.

Dynastic rule in Syria and North Korea: Nepotism, succession, and sibling rivalry

Dynastic rule in republics is a global trend. Using a qualitative life-story-and-family-history method to compare two republican dynasties – the Assads of Syria and Kims of North Korea – this article examines how ruthless kin groups establish themselves in power, practice nepotism and corrupt republican institutions of government with dynastic succession. Focusing on sibling rivalry, a potentially destructive threat to dynasties, it contributes to an emerging political science literature on republican political families by exploring five factors that shape sibling conflict and cooperation.

The Political Crisis of the Early 1990s in the Urals: Theoretical Discourse of Ural Political Scientist

The article compares conceptualizations of events that took place in the early 1990s in the Ural region and were called the political crisis. It covered the Sverdlovsk and Chelyabinsk regions. The author notes that the study of the political crisis is of an interdisciplinary nature; representatives of different scientific fields consider the events of 1991–1993 in the Urals from different angles. For legal scholars, the political crisis in the Ural region is a special case of a political crisis in the country, culminating in an acute confrontation between the executive and legislative branches of government in October 1993. Representatives of historical science pay special attention to the study of the political process that took place in various regions of the Urals in 1991–1993. Political scientists focus on clarifying the prerequisites and causes of the political crisis in the Urals in the early 1990s and on the behavior of regional political elites. In the political science literature, the study of this problem is carried out through the prism of various theories. The study of the political crisis of the early 1990s in the Urals from the standpoint of political regionalism, ethnopolitics and elitology provides the greatest heuristic possibilities.

“ADMINISTRATIVE CONSTITUTIONALISM”: CONSIDERING THE ROLE OF AGENCY DECISION-MAKING IN AMERICAN CONSTITUTIONAL DEVELOPMENT

AbstractThe last decade or so has seen an explosion of scholarship by American law professors on what has become known as administrative constitutionalism. Administrative constitutionalism is a catchphrase for the role of administrative agencies in influencing, creating, and establishing constitutional rules and norms, and governing based on those rules and norms. Though courts traditionally get far more attention in the scholarly literature and the popular imagination, administrative constitutionalism scholars show that administrative agencies have been extremely important participants in American constitutional development. Section I of this essay identifies three different versions of administrative constitutionalism—(1) Engagement with Existing Constitutional Doctrine; (2) Resolving Questions of Statutory Meaning that Implicate Constitutional Questions; and (3) Shadow Administrative Constitutionalism—and provides examples from the scholarly literature to illustrate these distinct manifestations of administrative constitutionalism. Section II of this essay discusses the normative turn in administrative constitutionalism scholarship. Much of this normative literature is implicitly or explicitly premised on the notion that agencies are more likely to pursue progressive goals than are other government actors. Section III of this essay disputes the notion that agency constitutional decision-making is “democratic” and that agencies are naturally inclined to serve progressive goals. Finally, Section IV of this essay notes that scholars who support broad agency autonomy to work out and enforce their own constitutional visions have failed to consider how their work fits in with the economic and political science literature on agency behavior. One can predict, based on that literature, that agencies given broad autonomy under the guise of administrative constitutionalism will primarily be inclined to expand their scope and authority at the expense of countervailing considerations.

ПРОБЛЕМИ ДЕРЖАВНОГО УСТРОЮ ТА ДЕРЖАВНОГО УПРАВЛІННЯ В ПОЛІТИКО-ПРАВОВІЙ СПАДЩИНІ ПЛАТОНА

The purpose of this article is, based on the diverse political and legal heritage of the famous ancient Greek thinker and public figure Plato, domestic and foreign philosophical and political science literature, to reveal the methodological and conceptual approaches of the scientist to deep, creative understanding and solution of theoretical and practical problems of the state system and public administration and to show its significance for the development of modern effective models and forms of state formation in Ukraine. For two and a half thousand years, which separate us from the life and fruitful work of the great philosopher of ancient Greece, political science and the science of public administration have made significant adjustments to the Platonic model of the state, however, the urgent issues of the socio-political development of the Greek polis-states, the essence and meaning of which Plato pondered, are important, first of all, in the theoretical-methodological and ideological sense for modern researchers. The study used a set of logical methods (analysis, synthesis, inductive method), as well as general scientific approaches such as historical- genetic, dialectical, systemic-structural, biographical. The article provides a constructive and critical analysis of philosophical and political works of Plato, domestic and foreign socio-humanitarian literature on this issue, reveals the essence, components and features of the political concept of state system and public administration, which was formulated and comprehensively substantiated by the ancient Greek thinker. Its historical role, methodological and ideological significance for the modern state-building process in Ukraine are convincingly shown.

Argentina 2020: pandemia, deuda externa y la región a la derecha

This article examines the coalition supporting the government of Alberto Fernandez in Argentina against the Political Science literature on coalitions. It also analyzes major developments and trends in relation to three challenges before the new administration during its first year: the management of the COVID-19 pandemic, foreign debt renegotiations, and its relationship with neighbouring countries. These three areas show, with varying degrees of intensity, the diversity of preferences within the ruling coalition.

Democratic Backsliding in Poland and Hungary

How is it that Poland and Hungary, formerly regional leaders in democratic progress in east central Europe, have become widely cited cases of democratic backsliding? According to the political science literature on democratization, the path by which they exited communism should have favored stable democratic outcomes. This paper reexamines that literature and argues that it misses potential populist dangers inherent in the combination of accommodation and contention in the democratization process in both countries. The paper argues that changes in the structural conditions under which Polish and Hungarian democracy operated markedly improved the chances of success for populist actors in electoral competition, explaining the rise of PiS and FiDeSz. Particular attention is paid to the role of the global economic crisis of 2008 and the European refugee crisis of 2015.

Sistema de Controle Interno do Poder Executivo Federal: Mudanças e Agentes Políticos na Assembleia Nacional Constituinte de 1987

A Assembleia Nacional Constituinte de 1987 marcou o começo da redemocratização no Brasil. As disputas por um projeto de país tomaram diferentes formas e temas. E o mesmo não foi diferente com o sistema de controle interno. A trajetória deste fenômeno data o início do século XX e adentra o século XXI. Muito popular na literatura da Administração Pública, muitos estudos foram publicados sobre o controle interno, mas majoritariamente com uma perspectiva da gestão pública ou da contabilidade. Este artigo analisa quais foram as mudanças institucionais no sistema de controle interno do Poder Executivo Federal Brasileiro entre a Constituição de 1967 e 1988. À luz da teoria de mudanças institucionais este artigo pretende contribuir com a literatura das Ciências Sociais e da Ciência Política sobre os tipos de mudanças ocorridas, os tipos de agentes políticos envolvidos em tais mudanças, bem como interpretar a influência do contexto político na época sobre os resultados promulgados com a Constituição Federal Brasileira de 1988.

Clientelism from the Client’s Perspective: A Meta-Analysis of Ethnographic Literature

Mainstream political science literature on clientelism tends to focus on its supply side and on vote-buying, whereas ethnographic work often emphasizes client agency and incentives and paints a more diverse image of clientelism. We bridge the gap between these literatures by conducting a meta-analysis of ethnographic literature on clientelism from the client perspective. We code characteristics of clientelistic exchanges described in this work. We use cluster analysis and principal component analysis to systematize these data. Cluster analysis groups exchanges into three core subtypes of clientelism (“vote-buying”, “relational”, and “collective”); principal component analysis delivers two fundamental dimensions of clientelism: equal-unequal and individual-universal. We show that the two dimensions are associated with different aspects of client welfare and trade-offs from the client perspective. Our results reaffirm and reconcile existing deductive typologies of clientelism and can serve as a basis for a structured study of the demand side of clientelism.

Ultra-processed products industry operating as an interest group.

ABSTRACTThe participation of the ultra-processed products industry in efforts to reduce obesity and diet-related non-communicable diseases has been questioned, especially because there is evidence of its interference in policy-making processes. This article builds on the Collective Action Theory and the literature of political science to discuss the role of this sector as a special interest group that uses its significant economic power to influence government decisions in its favor. In Brazil, its participation occurs mainly with industry associations. However, it has not yet been established whether their interests prevail in the decision-making process. It has been suggested that research should be carried out to determine the degree of success of their actions, identifying the conditions associated with the convergence of policy results with their interests and indicating to what extent civil society organizations are able to make public interests override private ones.

The Economic Effects of International Administrations: The Cases of Kosovo and East Timor

Does the involvement of foreign third parties in the management of a country in the wake of a civil war have positive or negative economic effects? The approaches used to address this question in the social and political science literature are mostly qualitative and not sufficiently supported by quantitative evidence. This paper uses a quantitative analysis of the postconflict economic performance of Kosovo and East Timor under international administrations sponsored by the United Nations in the late 1990s. By using the synthetic control impact evaluation technique, we compute suitable counterfactual scenarios for each country to estimate the intervention effects of interest. We find a robust negative effect from the intervention on Kosovo, whereas the effect on East Timor is positive.

Can We Make the European Fundamental Freedoms Less Constraining? A Literature Review

AbstractThis article reviews the legal and political science literatures on the extensive interpretation of the European fundamental freedoms and on possible ways out. The common market rules were originally laid down in an international treaty, the Treaty of Rome. In functional terms, this treaty became ade factoconstitution, implying that its content, including the fundamental freedoms, were constitutionalised. We review how this constitutionalisation constrains legislators at the Member State and European levels. In order to identify possible ways out, we also review several reform options: institutional reforms of the European judicial system; the de-constitutionalisation of the fundamental freedoms; counterbalancing these freedoms with further strengthened social rights; and contestation of over-constitutionalisation within the given primary law framework. We conclude that reform options are available that could gradually free the legislators from the over-constitutionalisation of the common market rules. Such options should become part of the ‘Conference on the Future of Europe’ process and debates about EU reforms in general, as more flexibility is warranted in a heterogeneous EU.

Examining sources of land tenure (in)security. A focus on authority relations, state politics, social dynamics and belonging

This article reviews the current state of literature on the notion of security of tenure of land. This examination is topical as tenure security has become a key objective for land policies and development interventions. While tenure security is widely defined by people’s perceptions, land policies tend to address it through the registration and administration of land rights. The article argues that these practices ignore the complexity of the sources of tenure (in)security. Building on critical development literature of political ecology, social anthropology and political science, these sources are identified as stemming from the politics of land and linked to authority relations, state politics, social dynamics and belonging. The article concludes that their consideration enables us to contextualise perceptions of tenure security and to conceive practices for securing tenure.

Chevron, State Farm, and the Impact of Judicial Doctrine on Bureaucratic Policymaking

We explain how two landmark Supreme Court cases, Motor Vehicles Manufacturers Association of the U.S. v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co. (1983) and Chevron U.S.A., Inc., v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc. (1984), have constrained congressional and presidential control of the bureaucracy. We provide an overview of these cases, and we note how the dominant theories of bureaucratic policy making in the political science literature fail to account for judicial doctrine in a meaningful way. We illustrate the implications of these cases for recent debates regarding regulatory rollbacks in the Trump administration, and we argue that bureaucratic control over the past forty years has tilted in favor of the judicial branch of American national government.

No Justice, No Peace: Political Science Perspectives on the American Carceral State

AbstractThis essay explores four key dimensions of political science literature on the U.S. criminal legal system, by way of introducing articles in the special issue on criminal justice featured in the Journal of Racial and Ethnic Politics. We situate police as an institution of social control, rather than providing safety for people vulnerable to crime. The vast array of policy tools to surveil, track, and detain citizens, which lack commensurate restraints on their application, amount to a finely tuned carceral machine that can be deployed against groups newly identified as deviant. We therefore turn attention to this dynamic with our second theme: the criminalization of immigrants, the expansion of interior immigration enforcement, and the consequent targeting of Latinx people. We likewise discuss lessons for reform that can be drawn from research on representation and the political socialization that occurs as a consequence of involuntary contact with the system. We conclude with a brief discussion of directions for future research. The criminal legal system is a key force for persistent racial and class inequality. By turning attention to the politics of the criminal legal system, we forward a critical and understudied facet of American political life that intersects with all corners of the discipline.

Bureaucratic responsiveness in times of political crisis: The case of presidential impeachment

AbstractThe question of who controls the bureaucracy has been widely debated in the political science and public administration literatures. However, to whom bureaucrats are responsive and to what extent are relatively unknown, particularly outside the US. To understand how organizational behaviour changes according to external political environments, we leverage a unique setting, that of the 2016 presidential impeachment in South Korea. We analyse original experimental data from more than 1,000 civil servants, gathered as part of a nationally representative survey, in order to estimate the degree to which civil servants chose to incorporate the president's preferences into their policy decisions before and after her impeachment. We find that presidential impeachment has a differential impact on the responsiveness of civil servants across the formal ranks of the personnel, controlling for their political views and several other individual characteristics. While bureaucrats were similarly responsive to the President before impeachment regardless of their grades, senior civil servants were significantly more responsive to the President after impeachment than were lower‐ranking bureaucrats. Our study contributes to the literature on organizational theory and public management the evidence that civil servants' attitudes are shaped by the structure of bureaucratic organizations and change with external settings involving elected principals.

Transition towards sustainable pharmacy? The influence of public debates on policy responses to pharmaceutical contaminants in water

BackgroundDespite clear-cut scientific evidence for pharmaceutical contaminants causing adverse effects in aquatic life, the regulatory response in Germany has been weak. In principle, there are different policy approaches to address pharmaceutical contaminants: German water protection policies mostly follows a control approach, complemented by end-of-pipe solutions in some German states. The approach leaves the activities of key target groups, such as the pharmaceutical industry, largely unaffected. A stakeholder consultation initiated in 2016 by the German Federal Ministry of the Environment did not lead to significant changes in regulation. Empirical research in political science has shown that analysing the public debate can be helpful in explaining policy responses and, in particular, policy change. This study follows this approach and investigates whether the German policy response to pharmaceutical contaminants can be explained by characteristics of the public debate on the issue.ResultsA discourse network analysis based on newspaper reporting in Germany was conducted between 2013 and 2017 to investigate the public debate on pharmaceutical contaminants. German newspapers actually paid considerable attention to the issue. In fact, the debate was not controversial, and participating organisations expressed similar views with regard to the risk of the contaminants, the causes of contamination and the approaches to be taken to mitigate the release of contaminants to the environment. The main narrative in the debate was supportive to the current policy approach applied in Germany. There were no concerted efforts by organisations such as environmental organisations or ecological parties to mobilise for an alternative policy approach.ConclusionsThe low level of polarisation in the policy subsystem and the absence of a strong narrative mobilising a major policy change may explain the persistence of the policy approach to pharmaceutical contaminants applied in Germany. A significant change to the current approach in the near future seems unlikely. Nevertheless, literature in political science shows that a polarised public debate and a strong pro-change actor coalition often preceded policy change. Actors with an interest in stricter regulation might want to reconsider their mobilisation strategies.

Emerging scholars bring the case study approach back-in

This introduction to the special issue on case study research, which showcases cutting edge research by emerging scholars on France, describes the connection between these articles and current developments in political science methodology. SI contributors situate their analyses in thick description of France itself, demonstrating how modernity, rationality, common sense, citizenship, and democracy are inherently abstract concepts that only take on political meaning and significance within a specific national context. Simultaneously, these essays flesh out mid-level theories that are more amenable to cross-national generalization without losing rigor in the process, contributing to broader political science literature on experience versus reason, the European and Christian roots of secularism and how this contributes to contemporary discrimination, welfare state development, and political lawyering and the judicialization of politics.

Corruption and Anti-Corruption in Environmental and Resource Management

Corruption significantly affects the large majority of countries, and it has negative social and economic impacts. Its impacts on environmental and resource management (ERM) sectors are less well understood. We review corruption in the extractive industries, irrigation, agriculture, forestry, fisheries, and conservation activities with a focus on the management of protected areas and the wildlife trade. There is significant evidence that corruption in ERM sectors is systemic. Corruption in these sectors has significant negative environmental and economic impacts, which can be expected to result in negative social impacts. Many of the anti-corruption policies proposed for the ERM sectors draw on the principal-agent theory. The political science literature on corruption found that theory to have limited application when corruption is systemic and the principal is corrupt. The analysis of corruption and anti-corruption in countries with systemic corruption should draw to a greater extent on collective action theory to identify more effective policies. We highlight some anti-corruption policies relevant to ERM sectors.