scholarly journals Percentage tax designation institutions. On Sugden’s contractarian account

2021 ◽  
Vol 68 (1) ◽  
pp. 101-130 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paolo Silvestri
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Third Sector ◽  
Freedom Of Choice ◽  
Fiscal Institutions ◽  
Basic Assumptions ◽  
Voluntary Exchange ◽  
Self Interest ◽  
Benefit Principle ◽  
Main Activity ◽  
Default Rules

Abstract“Percentage Tax Designation Institutions”, also known as “Percentage Philanthropy Laws”, are fiscal institutions through which taxpayers can freely designate a certain percentage of their income tax to organizations whose main activity is of public interest: churches, third-sector organizations, political parties, etc. A comprehensive explanation of such systems is still lacking. In The Community of Advantage, Robert Sugden provides an original theoretical account of the Italian “8 × 1000” institution as one of those forms of regulation that “would be justified as ways of expanding opportunity for mutually beneficial transactions” and, more particularly, as a liberal and “contractarian approach to the provision of public goods”. This article is an attempt to expand and deepen the understanding not only of the 8 × 1000 but also of the 5 × 1000 and 2 × 1000 institutions, by reflecting on and possibly refining Sugden’s contractarian account, at least with regard to the part that relies on and develops the voluntary exchange tradition (Wicksell, Lindahl and Buchanan). To remain faithful to two normative premises of Sugden’s approach—the opportunity criterion and the correlated freedom of choice—we must introduce some theoretical adjustments to take into due account the way in which taxpayers’ freedoms—not only freedom of choice but also autonomy—are affected by default rules and the related redistribution procedures. In addition, these institutions also go beyond the voluntary exchange tradition—insofar as they go beyond its basic assumptions: the benefit principle of taxation, taxpayers’ self-interest and the very logic of exchange—and, at the same time, they can be read as a new form of voluntary tax justice.

Consensus Gained, Consensus Maintained? Changing New Zealand's Electoral Law 1927-2007

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
James Christmas
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Legislative Process ◽  
Electoral Rules ◽  
Active Search ◽  
Self Interest ◽  
Electoral Change ◽  
Electoral Law ◽  
The Way

<p>In the eighty years between the passage of New Zealand's first unified Electoral Act in 1927, and the passage of the Electoral Finance Act 2007, the New Zealand Parliament passed 66 acts that altered or amended New Zealand's electoral law. One central assumption of theories of electoral change is that those in power only change electoral rules strategically, in order to protect their self-interest.1 This thesis is an investigation into the way New Zealand governments effect and have effected their desired changes to the electoral law through the legislative process, and the roles self-interest and the active search for consensus between political parties have played in that process. It argues that, while self-interest serves as a compelling explanation for a great deal of electoral law change in New Zealand, altruistic motivations and the development of parliamentary processes influenced behaviour to an equal, and perhaps even greater, extent.</p>

scholarly journals TEMPORAL CHANGES IN THE EVALUATION OF POLITICAL PARTIES: DOES EVALUATION OF POLITICAL PARTIES REFLECT ATTITUDINAL IDEOLOGIES?

1970 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 499 ◽  
Author(s):  
Boban Petrović ◽  
Janko Međedović
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Political Ideology ◽  
Temporal Stability ◽  
Principal Component ◽  
Time Points ◽  
Three Samples ◽  
Self Interest ◽  
Sources Of Authority ◽  
Democratic Parties ◽  
Over Time

Previous research has shown that since the beginning of the 1990s, differentiation in the ideological orientations of political parties in Serbia has been increased. Comparing three samples, we explored the temporal stability of relations between evaluations of Serbian political parties (DSS, DS, SRS, SPS, SNS, and LDP) and lexically derived ideological dimensions: Traditional and Religious Sources of Authority, Unmitigated Self-Interest, Communal Rationalism, and Subjective Spirituality. We hypothesize that: 1) political parties should be divided into conservative and socio-liberal parties, and this structure should become stable over time; 2) the evaluation of political parties should consistently reflect their political ideology orientation : conservative parties should be related to an indicator of conservative ideology, Traditional Religiosity, while socio-liberal parties should be related to a humanistic ideological orientation, Communal Rationalism. Data was collected in three time-points: 2010 (N = 102), 2014/15 (N = 358) and 2016 (N = 117) from university students in Serbia. In all three studies principal component analyses of evaluations of political parties showed that two components were extracted and interpreted as evaluations of the National-Conservative Parties and Socio-Liberal Parties (in 2010 and 2014), i.e. Democratic parties (in 2016). However, while the structure of evaluations of the National-Conservative Parties remained stable, the congruence of evaluations of the Socio-Liberal Parties decreased over time. Additionally, the results of regression analyses showed that evaluations of the National-Conservative Parties were rooted in Traditional and Religious Sources of Authority and Unmitigated Self-interest, but the percentage of explained variance decreased over time. The evaluations of the Socio-Liberal Parties had much weaker relations with ideological orientations throughout all three time-points. The findings suggested that there was some kind of ‘’ideological crisis’’ in Serbia, primarily regarding the Socio-Liberal Parties and their supporters.

Electoral Systems in the Making

2019 ◽  
pp. 193-218
Author(s):  
Daniel Bochsler
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Electoral Systems ◽  
Political Representation ◽  
Electoral System ◽  
Cultural Heterogeneity ◽  
Long Run ◽  
Self Interest ◽  
Electoral Reforms ◽  
History Of ◽  
Structural Theories

Most research on electoral systems deals with the effects of institutions on political representation. However, political parties design the electoral systems, and thereby navigate between self-interest and multiple, often nonreconcilable normative ideals. This chapter reviews the growing literature on the choice of electoral systems from different perspectives. Structural theories explain that the choice of electoral systems is closely linked to the history of suffrage extensions, cultural heterogeneity and the organization of the economy. Agency-based theories highlight how parliamentary majorities strategically pass electoral reforms in order to consolidate their power in the long run—for instance, in order to avoid future losses in elections. However, often lawmakers fail to predict their electoral fortunes and therefore pass reforms that turn out not to be in their favor, or they even contribute to undermining their own reforms later with strategic maneuvers. Finally, the chapter analyzes the choice of electoral system in the context of transitions toward democracies and in former colonies.

scholarly journals Consensus Gained, Consensus Maintained? Changing New Zealand's Electoral Law 1927-2007

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
James Christmas
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Legislative Process ◽  
Electoral Rules ◽  
Active Search ◽  
Self Interest ◽  
Electoral Change ◽  
Electoral Law ◽  
The Way

<p>In the eighty years between the passage of New Zealand's first unified Electoral Act in 1927, and the passage of the Electoral Finance Act 2007, the New Zealand Parliament passed 66 acts that altered or amended New Zealand's electoral law. One central assumption of theories of electoral change is that those in power only change electoral rules strategically, in order to protect their self-interest.1 This thesis is an investigation into the way New Zealand governments effect and have effected their desired changes to the electoral law through the legislative process, and the roles self-interest and the active search for consensus between political parties have played in that process. It argues that, while self-interest serves as a compelling explanation for a great deal of electoral law change in New Zealand, altruistic motivations and the development of parliamentary processes influenced behaviour to an equal, and perhaps even greater, extent.</p>

Nowhere to Go

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elihu Katz
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Public Opinion ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Small Group ◽  
Deliberative Democracy ◽  
Empirical Research ◽  
Group Discussions ◽  
Basic Assumptions ◽  
Small Group Discussions ◽  
Citizen Deliberation

This chapter raises three sorts of questions about the much-vaunted concept and practice of “deliberative democracy.” It asks, normatively, whether this form of governance is more desirable than, say “representative democracy.” Theoretically, it asks whether the small-group discussions that it implies are adequately theorized as part of a larger system of decision-making involving political parties, public opinion, parliaments, etc. Questioning the viability of some of the basic assumptions implicit in citizen deliberation, a partial review of relevant empirical research provides both positive and negative answers.

scholarly journals The Norwegian Cash-for-Care Reform. Changing behaviour and stable attitudes

2009 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lars Gulbrandsen
Keyword(s):  
Child Care ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Day Care ◽  
The Political ◽  
Care Centre ◽  
Freedom Of Choice ◽  
Day Care Centres ◽  
Day Care Centre

In 1998 Norway introduced a cash-for-care scheme. Parent with children aged one or two were offered a cash-for-care benefit if they did not make use of public funded day care centres. The reform was supported by political parties of the centre and right and strongly opposed by parties on the left. Since 1999 ever fewer parents have made use of the opportunity to claim the benefit and have instead sent their children to a day care centre. Attitudes towards the cash-for-care reform, however, have remained very stable up to now. The principle of freedom of choice appears to be strongly rooted among Norwegians. The political agreement on maximum prices made this freedom a reality even for parents who wanted to make use of child care centres.

scholarly journals Party over Pocketbook? How Party Cues Influence Opinion When Citizens Have a Stake in Policy

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-7
Author(s):  
RUNE SLOTHUUS ◽  
MARTIN BISGAARD
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Design ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Collective Bargaining ◽  
The Self ◽  
Public Employees ◽  
Naturally Occurring ◽  
Self Interest ◽  
Sharp Variation ◽  
Personal Stake

Do political parties influence opinion when citizens have a personal stake in policy? With an experimental design that exploits a naturally occurring, sharp variation in party cues, we study the effects of party cues during a collective bargaining conflict over the salary and work rights for public employees in Denmark. Even in this context—where the self-interest of public employees was strongly mobilized and where their party went against it—we find that party cues move opinion among partisans at least as much as in previous studies. But party cues do not lead citizens to go against their self-interest. Rather, we show that party cues temper the pursuit of self-interest among public employees by moderating the most extreme policy demands. These findings highlight an unappreciated potential of political parties to moderate—not fuel—extreme opinion.

Unity in Diversity

2019 ◽  
pp. 309-333
Author(s):  
Irfan Ahmad
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
International Relations ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
The Political ◽  
Freedom Of Choice ◽  
The Core ◽  
Unity In Diversity

This chapter analyses the manifestos of three political parties: AAP, BJP, and the Congress. Paying attention to their texts and visual symbolism, it argues that there were more similarities than differences among them. The discussion on similarity is organized under three headings: (a) Economy, Development, Religion; (b) Social Groups; and (c) International Relations and Security. The next section delineates minor differences unable to reflect dissensus, the core of the political for Rancière. It concludes with observations on the prevalent views that elections offer freedom of choice to show their limits, structural and theoretical. Following Rancière, it is argued that elections and their manifestos institute policies that inscribe the world differently as opposed to politics, which beckons to a possible different world.

Cicero

2020 ◽  
pp. 475-486
Author(s):  
Carlos Lévy
Keyword(s):  
Free Will ◽  
Individual Responsibility ◽  
Voluntary Action ◽  
Basic Assumptions ◽  
Philosophical Language ◽  
Self Interest ◽  
The World ◽  
Rational Explanation ◽  
Philosophical Life ◽  
The Masses

Epicurus confronted Cicero with a singular situation: a philosopher whom he thought had managed, despite professing erroneous doctrines, to live a philosophical life and thus overcome the incoherence of his doctrines. Schooled in Epicureanism in his youth and surrounded by Epicurean friends, Cicero nonetheless retained a strong aversion to Epicurean doctrines. Too many of the basic assumptions of Epicurus’s philosophy ran at cross-purposes with the deepest currents of his personality. Accepting Epicureanism would have required him to admit that society and ethics were grounded in the unstable vagaries of individuals’ desires for pleasure. So too, the Epicurean tendency to build everything upon self-interest appeared to deprive traditional Roman axiology of any true foundation. What is more, for him who had placed such importance on the concept of free will as a self-generated cause, the connection fashioned by Epicureans between voluntary action and the swerve of atoms governed by chance failed to provide a plausible rational explanation and, he thought, would inevitably act to dilute individual responsibility. Epicureanism, which counted immediate sense perceptions as necessarily true; rejected a philosophical language inaccessible to the masses; made its gods distant and indifferent yet all-too-visible; built an ethics so easy to grasp—and caricature; claimed to illuminate everything with a shining light; advertised its distrust for social and political hierarchies—all this was ultimately too distant, both intellectually and emotionally, from the conception of the world that was Cicero’s own.

scholarly journals The Death of Whiggery: Lower-Canadian British Constitutionalism and the tentation de l’histoire parallèle

2006 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 195-213 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael McCulloch
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Collective Identity ◽  
British Society ◽  
Political Society ◽  
Political Values ◽  
Lower Canada ◽  
Basic Assumptions ◽  
Cultural Image ◽  
Responsible Government ◽  
English Speaking

Abstract The Constitutional Act of 1791 was sought to create in Lower Canada a community whose social and political values reflected the basic assumptions of late-eighteenth-century Whiggery. These included representation of interest rather than of individuals, the importance of the "due" weight of property, and the organic nature of the British constitution. These values of "Liberty and Property" constituted the focus of the emotional and cultural image of the British Constitution. For the British Lower Canadians of the 1830s, these values were not fossilised remnants. Rather, they formed a coherent framework that made legitimate their conflict with the French-Canadian majority for control over politics. The influence of organised Constitutionalism did not disappear with the Act of Union of 1841. In the opening years of the union, anglophones identified with the Constitutionalist party which dominated both opposition and government in Canada East. They remained an influence until midcentury. Indeed, the final disintegration of Constitutionalism as a defensible basis for British Lower-Canadian politics was not the result of the inevitable triumph of La Fontaine's Responsible Government. Because they strongly identified, not simply with Britain, but with specific elements of British society, English-speaking Lower Canadians responded to changes in British political society. “La tentation de l'histoire parallèle” ensured that the Irish Repeal agitation and the Free Trade campaign would disrupt the assumption of a united British "interest." After the 1840s, the disproportionate power of British-Canadian élites in Lower Canada was based on their influence among the leaders of political parties rather than a collective identity rooted in the values of ''Whiggery.''

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