scholarly journals Determinants of Government Membership at the Subnational Level: Empirical Evidence from Large Cities in Germany (1999–2016)

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-17
Author(s):  
Martin Gross
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Evidence ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Party Affiliation ◽  
Political Systems ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
Large Cities ◽  
Coalition Governments ◽  
Institutional Settings ◽  
Multinomial Choice

Abstract Coalition governments prevail at the European subnational level. Although some studies explain the formation of subnational government coalitions, we know little about the determinants of individual parties' likelihood of joining such coalitions. This article aims to fill this gap in empirical and theoretical ways. It shows that an important institutional constraint matters for political actors' strategies when forming subnational coalitions: the party affiliation of the directly elected head of the executive. Being the party of the head of the executive or being ideologically close to that party significantly increases a party's likelihood of joining a coalition. The empirical evidence results from multinomial choice models using a novel data set on subnational parties' likelihood of joining 92 coalition governments at the local level in Germany between 1999 and 2016. The findings have substantive implications for subnational institutional settings resembling ‘mixed’ political systems (i.e. neither purely presidential nor purely parliamentarian).

Drawing the Lines

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicholas R. Seabrook
Keyword(s):  
Large Data ◽  
Congressional Elections ◽  
Long Term Results ◽  
Party Affiliation ◽  
Political Debate ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
Legal Studies ◽  
Democratic Principles

Radical redistricting plans, such as that pushed through by Texas governor Rick Perry in 2003, are frequently used for partisan purposes. Perry's plan sent twenty-one Republicans (and only eleven Democrats) to Congress in the 2004 elections. Such heavy-handed tactics strike many as contrary to basic democratic principles. This book uses a combination of political science methods and legal studies insights to investigate the effects of redistricting on U.S. House elections. It concludes that partisan gerrymandering poses far less of a threat to democratic accountability than conventional wisdom would suggest. Building on a large data set of the demographics of redrawn districts and subsequent congressional elections, the book looks less at the who and how of gerrymandering and considers more closely the practical effects of partisan redistricting plans. It finds that the redrawing of districts often results in no detrimental effect for district-level competition. Short-term benefits in terms of capturing seats are sometimes achieved but long-term results are uncertain. By focusing on the end results rather than on the motivations of political actors, the book seeks to recast the political debate about the importance of partisanship. It supports institutionalizing metrics for competitiveness that would prove more threatening to all incumbents no matter their party affiliation.

Different Levels of Government, Different Levels of Political Competence?

2018 ◽  
Vol 52 (2) ◽  
pp. 256-260
Author(s):  
Mark Chou
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Local Politics ◽  
Local Level ◽  
The United States ◽  
Political Systems ◽  
Federal Level ◽  
Large Cities ◽  
Different Levels

ABSTRACTIn federal political systems such as the United States, there has long existed a view that citizens should be more politically competent at the local level than at the federal level of government. Recent studies have challenged this view. This article argues that these findings may reflect only one part of the broader picture. Through a review of two recent studies, I contend that research in this realm must consider more than only the level of government. Odd as this sounds, assumptions about varying levels of political competence at different levels of government have always been premised on the notion that local-level politics is smaller and less complex than federal-level politics. However, when local politics takes place today against the backdrop of small villages and towns as well as in large cities, these are assumptions that must be reevaluated.

Electing the Senate

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wendy J. Schiller ◽  
Charles Stewart III
Keyword(s):  
Original Data ◽  
State Legislators ◽  
Internal Conflict ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Senate Elections ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
The Public ◽  
Seventeenth Amendment ◽  
The People ◽  
Election Process

From 1789 to 1913, U.S. senators were not directly elected by the people—instead the Constitution mandated that they be chosen by state legislators. This radically changed in 1913, when the Seventeenth Amendment to the Constitution was ratified, giving the public a direct vote. This book investigates the electoral connections among constituents, state legislators, political parties, and U.S. senators during the age of indirect elections. The book finds that even though parties controlled the partisan affiliation of the winning candidate for Senate, they had much less control over the universe of candidates who competed for votes in Senate elections and the parties did not always succeed in resolving internal conflict among their rank and file. Party politics, money, and personal ambition dominated the election process, in a system originally designed to insulate the Senate from public pressure. The book uses an original data set of all the roll call votes cast by state legislators for U.S. senators from 1871 to 1913 and all state legislators who served during this time. Newspaper and biographical accounts uncover vivid stories of the political maneuvering, corruption, and partisanship—played out by elite political actors, from elected officials, to party machine bosses, to wealthy business owners—that dominated the indirect Senate elections process. The book raises important questions about the effectiveness of Constitutional reforms, such as the Seventeenth Amendment, that promised to produce a more responsive and accountable government.

Corruption and Political Order

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hazel Gray
Keyword(s):  
Public Finance ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Economic Transformation ◽  
Political Order ◽  
Capital Flight ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Political Settlement ◽  
The Way

This chapter contrasts the way that the political settlement in both countries shaped the pattern of redistribution, reform, and corruption within public finance and the implications that this had for economic transformation. Differences in the impact of corruption on economic transformation can be explained by the way that their political settlements generated distinct patterns of competition and collaboration between economic and political actors. In Vietnam corrupt activities led to investments that were frequently not productive; however, the greater financial discipline imposed by lower-level organizations led to a higher degree of investment overall in Vietnam that supported a more rapid economic transformation under liberalization than in Tanzania. Individuals or small factional networks within the VCP at the local level were, therefore, probably less able to engage in forms of corruption that simply led to capital flight as happened in Tanzania, where local level organizations were significantly weaker.

Does Tax Increment Financing Pass the “But-for” Test in Missouri?

2019 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
pp. 187-202
Author(s):  
Ahmed Rachid El-Khattabi ◽  
T. William Lester
Keyword(s):  
Economic Development ◽  
Kansas City ◽  
Time Series Data ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Conclusive Evidence ◽  
Series Data ◽  
Tax Increment Financing ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Development Indicators ◽  
The Impact

The use of tax increment financing (TIF) remains a popular, yet highly controversial, tool among policy makers in their efforts to promote economic development. This study conducts a comprehensive assessment of the effectiveness of Missouri’s TIF program, specifically in Kansas City and St. Louis, in creating economic opportunities. We build a time-series data set starting 1990 through 2012 of detailed employment levels, establishment counts, and sales at the census block-group level to run a set of difference-in-differences with matching estimates for the impact of TIF at the local level. Although we analyze the impact of TIF on a wide set of indicators and across various industry sectors, we find no conclusive evidence that the TIF program in either city has a causal impact on key economic development indicators.

scholarly journals Vielfalt and diversité: how local actors in France and Germany evaluate immigration and socio-cultural heterogeneity

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Schiller ◽  
Christine Lang ◽  
Karen Schönwälder ◽  
Michalis Moutselos
Keyword(s):  
Local Politics ◽  
Original Data ◽  
National Politics ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Large Cities ◽  
Cultural Heterogeneity ◽  
Societal Actors ◽  
Local Actors ◽  
Urban Level ◽  
And Migration

AbstractIn both Germany and France, perceptions of immigration, diversity and their societal consequences have undergone important transformations in the past two decades. However, existing research has only partially captured such processes. The “grand narratives” of national approaches, while still influential, no longer explain contemporary realities. Further, analyses of national politics and discourses may not sufficiently reflect the realities across localities and society more broadly. While emerging in different national contexts, little is known about how diversity is actually perceived by political stakeholders at the urban level. Given the key role of immigration and diversity in current conflicts over Europe’s future, it is imperative to assess present-day conceptualisations of migration-related diversity among important societal actors.This article investigates perceptions and evaluations of socio-cultural heterogeneity by important societal actors in large cities. We contribute to existing literature by capturing an unusually broad set of actors from state and civil society. We also present data drawn from an unusually large number of cities. How influential is the perception of current society as heterogeneous, and what forms of heterogeneity are salient? And is socio-cultural and migration-related heterogeneity evaluated as threatening or rather as beneficial? Based on an original data set, this study explores the shared and contested ideas, the cognitive roadmaps of state and non-state actors involved in local politics.We argue that, in both German and French cities, socio-cultural heterogeneity is nowadays widely recognized as marking cities and often positively connoted. At the same time, perceptions of the main features of diversity and of the benefits and challenges attached to it vary. We find commonalities between French and German local actors, but also clear differences. In concluding, we suggest how and why national contexts importantly shape evaluations of diversity.

Does policy motivation drive party activism? A study of party activists in three Asian democracies

2020 ◽  
pp. 135406882090802
Author(s):  
Sejin Koo
Keyword(s):  
Survey Data ◽  
Local Community ◽  
Election Campaigns ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
Party Activist ◽  
Party Activists ◽  
Party Characteristics ◽  
Positive Effect ◽  
Policy Motivation

Studies of party activism highlight that party activists are driven by various motivations and that these affect their level of activism. However, it remains unclear whether policy-motivated activists are more engaged in party activities than those motivated by other incentives and whether the motivation–activism link varies with party characteristics. This article investigates these questions by focusing on political actors linking parties and voters in the local community. I use a party activist survey data set collected during recent national election campaigns in three Asian young democracies: Taiwan, Korea, and Mongolia. The results demonstrated the prominence of policy motivation as an impetus for activists’ intraparty commitment. I also found that the positive effect of policy motivation is especially robust in small parties, while it is muted in large parties and that party membership increases the probability of intraparty commitment, challenging the widely held belief that formal membership is pointless in Asian parties.

How is Government Stability Affected by the State of the Economy? Payoff Structures, Government Type and Economic State

2017 ◽  
Vol 54 (2) ◽  
pp. 280-308 ◽  
Author(s):  
Johan Hellström ◽  
Daniel Walther
Keyword(s):  
Proportional Hazards ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Cox Proportional Hazards ◽  
The State ◽  
General Effect ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Economic Changes ◽  
Coalition Governments ◽  
Cox Proportional Hazards Models ◽  
State Of The Economy

To what extent are incumbent governments affected by the state of the economy when it comes to premature dissolution? This article investigates this research question using a data set on parties and governments for 18 West European countries for the period 1945–2013. In addition to investigating the general effect of the state of the economy on government termination, we hypothesize that macroeconomic conditions affect cabinet termination in different ways depending on the type of government that is in power. Using Cox proportional hazards models to estimate how different government types are impacted by the same changes in the economy, our results indicate that economic changes do matter, but that they mainly affect coalition governments. Our results also indicate that there is a difference between minority and majority governments when it comes to the type of termination. Minority coalition governments resolve to early elections, not replacements, presumably because a minority government does not survive defection. Majority coalition governments, in contrast, show sensitivity towards both types of terminations.

scholarly journals REFORMASI MENUJU LOCAL GOVERNMENT COUNCIL YANG BERKUALITAS (REFORM TOWARD QUALITY OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT COUNCIL)

2016 ◽  
Vol 2 (02) ◽  
Author(s):  
Amirul Mustofa
Keyword(s):  
Local Government ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Rent Seeking ◽  
New Order ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
Political Performance ◽  
Old Order ◽  
The Status ◽  
Local Government Level

Political reform has occurred in Indonesia, namely when the regime transition of power from the old order to new order, and when the transition toward the new order has yet to reform the order form is of very local government councils. Local government councils according to the opinion of the writer has never showed good political performance, they simply just as political actors who seek personal gain or rent seeking, either the status quo as well as rent-seeking hunters.In connection with these conditions the local government councils is a form of democracy at local government level is very importance role in accommodating the aspirations of the community and promote development at the local level. Referring to this idea the authors approach the study of reform as the basic options that can be found those items essential for local government reform towards a quality council. Variables of important reforms that opinion writer are:  minimize the number of political parties; amendment to the constitution need to be rethinking;political education to be a prerequisite determination of local government councils; and scope of work development of local government council.Key words: local government councils, policy reform, political parties

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