Dynamic Elections and Ideological Polarization

2017 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 505-534 ◽  
Author(s):  
Salvatore Nunnari ◽  
Jan Zápal
Keyword(s):  
Infinite Sequence ◽  
The Other ◽  
Political Polarization ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Ideological Polarization ◽  
Multiple Issues ◽  
Two Measures ◽  
Ideal Points ◽  
Empirical Implications

How does political polarization affect the welfare of the electorate? We analyze this question using a framework in which two policy and office motivated parties compete in an infinite sequence of elections. We propose two novel measures to describe the degree of conflict among agents: antagonism is the disagreement between parties; extremism is the disagreement between each party and the representative voter. These two measures do not coincide when parties care about multiple issues. We show that forward-looking parties have an incentive to implement policies favored by the representative voter, in an attempt to constrain future challengers. This incentive grows as antagonism increases. On the other hand, extremism decreases the electorate’s welfare. We discuss the methodological and empirical implications for the existing measures of political actors’ ideal points and for the debate on elite polarization.

Law’s Contradictions

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nimer Sultany
Keyword(s):  
The Other ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
Political Conflicts ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
The Law ◽  
The One

This chapter analyzes concrete Egyptian and Tunisian cases that showcase the interplay between continuity and rupture. These cases illustrate the lack of a systemic relation between law and revolution. On the one hand, the judiciary that interprets and applies the law is part of the very social and political conflicts it is supposed to resolve. On the other hand, the law is incoherent and there are often resources within the legal materials to play it both ways. Thus, the different forces at work use both continuity and rupture to advance their positions. Furthermore, legitimacy discourse mediates the contradictions between law and revolution in the experience of different legal and political actors. This mediation serves an ideological role because it presupposes a binary dichotomy between continuity and rupture, papers over law’s incoherence by reducing it to a singular voice, and reduces revolution to an event rather than a process.

scholarly journals From militant voices to militant irony: Examining identity, memory and conflict in the Basque country

2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 548-558
Author(s):  
Ignacio Brescó de Luna
Keyword(s):  
Collective Memory ◽  
Basque Country ◽  
The Other ◽  
History Teaching ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
The Past ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Plural Societies ◽  
The One ◽  
Basque Conflict

Collective memory and identity so often go hand in hand with conflicts. Alongside the use of violence, conflicts unfold against the backdrop of different narratives about the past through which groups constantly remind themselves of the supposed origin of the conflict, and consequently, what position individuals are expected to take as members of the group. Narratives – as symbolic tools for interpreting the past and the present, as well as happenings that have yet to occur – simultaneously underpin, and are underpinned by, the position held by each warring faction. Drawing on previous works, this paper compares different versions of the 2016 truce period in the Basque Country stemming from three subjects identified, to varying degrees, with the main political actors involved in that conflict. These three cases have been selected from a total of 16 participants who were asked to define the Basque conflict and to provide an account of the 2006 truce period by using 23 documents taken from different Spanish newspapers. On the one hand, the results show two narratives reproducing the versions of two of the main political actors involved in the conflict, and on the other hand, a narrative characterized by a more personal and ironic appropriation of those versions. Results are discussed vis-à-vis the use of irony in history teaching in increasingly plural societies.

Efficiency of Output in Self-Paced Work, Machine-Paced Rest

1982 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
pp. 395-410 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. W. Gustafson
Keyword(s):  
Productive Efficiency ◽  
The Other ◽  
Work Time ◽  
Repair Service ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Worker Performance ◽  
Average Work ◽  
Resting Time ◽  
Two Measures ◽  
Output Volume

The jobs of the modern-day telephone operator and repair service attendant afford instances in which work operations are self-paced but the rest intervals between successive cycles are machine controlled. The productive efficiency of workers in such jobs can be measured either by the volume of output generated per unit time (OPU) or by the average work time (AWT) consumed in producing that output volume. Intuitively, the two measures seem equivalent and traditionally have been so regarded. On the other hand, the resting time between work cycles is excluded when computing AWT and is included when calculating OPU. Thus, if the amount of resting time itself were a determinant of AWT, it is possible the two measures would exhibit dissimilar behavior. A model of worker performance analogous to the Weber-Fechner paradigm in psychophysics is developed to illustrate this dissimilarity.

scholarly journals Who Leads Leitkultur?

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 312-330
Author(s):  
Ernst van den Hemel
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Identity ◽  
The Other ◽  
New Right ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
The West ◽  
Christian Democracy ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
The Public ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
The One

Abstract A widely shared but understudied characteristic of the rise of right-wing conservative populism (the New Right) is the emphasis on religious-cultural identity of the West. Using phrases like ‘Judeo-Christianity’, ‘Christian values’, or ‘Christian Leitkultur’ a variety of political actors have claimed that religious-cultural identity needs to be safeguarded and enshrined in policy. As this frame is gaining traction, the question arises what this emphasis on the public importance of religion entails for those who tend to see themselves as the guardians of religious-cultural identity. In particular this article focusses on the challenges this development creates for Christian Democratic political actors. On the one hand the emphasis on the importance of ‘christian traditions’ resonates with the historical position of christian democrats, on the other hand, there are important differences between traditional christian democracy and how the New Right speaks of religion. The main aim of this article is to outline how the rise of the New Right has created a contestation about what it means to represent christian cultural identity.

Permanently Temporary

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joanne Randa Nucho
Keyword(s):  
Property Rights ◽  
Collective Memory ◽  
The Other ◽  
Refugee Camps ◽  
Temporary Housing ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
Other Hand

This chapter focuses on the permanently temporary housing regimes of two Armenian refugee camps in Bourj Hammoud—Sanjak and Arakadz—in order to examine the various technologies that municipality and political actors use to mobilize notions of belonging to the “community” through informal property. While Sanjak is slated for destruction, and more than half of it has already been demolished, there has been little public outcry or discussion in Bourj Hammoud. Arakadz, on the other hand, while not necessarily protected from the possibility of eventual destruction, circulates as an image of nostalgia, an important locus of collective memory for Lebanese Armenians. Both Sanjak and Arakadz are informal neighborhoods where the municipality has granted Armenians only temporary property rights, but what accounts for this difference? How do some people and neighborhoods get excluded and others included through the mobilization of notions of authenticity, community, and belonging and the temporary regimes of informal property?

scholarly journals The Depth of the Financial System: A Comparison of Developed and Less Developed Countries

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 109-118
Author(s):  
Halil D. Kaya
Keyword(s):  
Central Bank ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Financial System ◽  
Income Level ◽  
High Income ◽  
The Other ◽  
Financial Systems ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Two Measures ◽  
The Impact

This paper summarizes the arguments and counterarguments within the scientific discussion on the issue of how countries’ income levels are related to the depth of their financial system. The main purpose of the research is to determine whether high-income countries have deeper financial systems when compared to other countries. We also examine whether high-income OECD member countries have a deeper financial system when compared to high-income non-OECD member countries. Our contribution is threefold: First, our study has a wider scope than most of the previous studies (i.e. 203 countries in total). Second, we examine both the impact of OECD membership and the actual income level on “depth”. The OECD members and the non-members differ in terms of their cultures, their resources, and their infrastructure, therefore we expect differences between their financial systems. Third, our study goes deeper than most of the previous studies (i.e. we examine twenty different variables on “depth”). The examination of several variables on “depth” allows us to see the dimensions in which one group of countries perform better than the other group. While one group can perform better in certain dimensions of “depth”, the other group can perform better in other dimensions of “depth”. In our empirical analyses, we find that high-income countries tend to have a deeper financial system (in all measures except for “Central bank assets to GDP (%)”) when compared to other countries. When we compare high-income OECD-member countries to high-income non-OECD-member countries, we find that OECD-member countries tend to have a deeper financial system (in most measures). Interestingly, with respect to the two measures, non-OECD-member countries have better “depth” measures. These two measures are “Stock market total value traded to GDP (%)” and “Gross portfolio debt assets to GDP (%)”. Overall, our results indicate that when an economic or financial crisis is expected, middle and low-income countries will be more vulnerable when compared to high-income countries, because in most aspects, their markets are not as deep. On the other hand, high-income countries will be more vulnerable if their Central bank needs to use their assets to protect their system. Similarly, non-OECD members will be more vulnerable when compared to OECD-member countries, because in most aspects, their markets are not as deep. On the other hand, OECD-member countries are weaker with regard to the depth of their stock markets and the number of debt securities held in investment portfolios. Therefore, we can conclude that a country’s income level and OECD-membership should help determine the precautions that policymakers need to take if a crisis is on the horizon. Keywords: depth, financial system, OECD, income level.

scholarly journals Contributions of working memory and inhibition to cognitive flexibility in Nigerian adolescents

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tochukwu Nweze ◽  
Wisdom Nwani
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Cognitive Flexibility ◽  
Switch Cost ◽  
The Other ◽  
Negatively Associated ◽  
Memory Processes ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Novel Approach ◽  
Two Measures ◽  
Current Rule

This study used a novel approach that combined the latency and accuracy scores to examine the relative involvement of inhibition and working memory in two measures of cognitive flexibility - mixing cost and switch cost in 110 Nigerian adolescents. Results showed that inhibition was significantly associated with switch cost. On the other hand, working memory was negatively associated with mixing cost. These findings support the assumptions that cognitive flexibility skills are dependent on inputs from inhibition and working memory processes. Inhibition is involved in the deactivation of irrelevant stimuli during switching trials while working memory is essential to maintain the current rule in sets that require no shifting.

scholarly journals ARE THE IMPLICATIONS OF THE FINANCIAL GROWTH CYCLE CONFIRMED FOR SPANISH SMES?

2012 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 637-665 ◽  
Author(s):  
Javier Sánchez-Vidal ◽  
Juan Francisco Martín-Ugedo
Keyword(s):  
Trade Credit ◽  
Growth Cycle ◽  
The Other ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Pecking Order ◽  
Long Period ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Financial Growth ◽  
Manova Analysis ◽  
Empirical Implications

The aim of this paper is to analyze whether some of the empirical implications of the financial growth cycle hold in a sample of Spanish SMEs. We use a sample of 5,944 observations for the year 2007 and test several hypotheses using MANOVA analysis. The results show that companies tend to have different financing structures depending on their age and size. Hypotheses about trade credit, short term debt and risk are confirmed with respect to age, as the younger companies tend to use proportionally more trade credit and short term debt, and are riskier. Size is also associated in the expected way with trade credit, relative trade credit and relative short-term financial debt. On the other hand hypotheses about equity and the financing deficit are not confirmed. The effect of a pecking order behaviour over a long period of time may provide an explanation of why these two hypotheses are not confirmed.

The Generalized Rank of Trace Languages

2019 ◽  
Vol 30 (01) ◽  
pp. 135-169
Author(s):  
Michal Kunc ◽  
Jan Meitner
Keyword(s):  
Infinite Sequence ◽  
Fixed Number ◽  
The Other ◽  
Direct Products ◽  
Commutative Monoids ◽  
Free Products ◽  
Free Monoids ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Rational Series ◽  
Regular Sets

Given a partially commutative alphabet and a set of words [Formula: see text], the rank of [Formula: see text] expresses the amount of shuffling required to produce a word belonging to [Formula: see text] from two words whose concatenation belongs to the closure of [Formula: see text] with respect to the partial commutation. In this paper, the notion of rank is generalized from concatenations of two words to an arbitrary fixed number of words. In this way, an infinite sequence of non-negative integers and infinity is assigned to every set of words. It is proved that in the case of alphabets defining free commutative monoids, as well as in the more general case of direct products of free monoids, sequences of ranks of regular sets are exactly non-decreasing sequences that are eventually constant. On the other hand, by uncovering a relationship between rank sequences of regular sets and rational series over the min-plus semiring, it is shown that already for alphabets defining free products of free commutative monoids, rank sequences need not be eventually periodic.

On the paradox of grounded classes

1955 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 140-140 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Montague
Keyword(s):  
Natural Number ◽  
Set Theory ◽  
Infinite Sequence ◽  
Axiom Of Choice ◽  
The Other ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
The Family ◽  
The One ◽  
The Axiom Of Choice ◽  
Regular Classes

Mr. Shen Yuting, in this Journal, vol. 18, no. 2 (June, 1953), stated a new paradox of intuitive set-theory. This paradox involves what Mr. Yuting calls the class of all grounded classes, that is, the family of all classes a for which there is no infinite sequence b such that … ϵ bn ϵ … ϵ b2ϵb1 ϵ a.Now it is possible to state this paradox without employing any complex set-theoretical notions (like those of a natural number or an infinite sequence). For let a class x be called regular if and only if (k)(x ϵ k ⊃ (∃y)(y ϵ k · ~(∃z)(z ϵ k · z ϵ y))). Let Reg be the class of all regular classes. I shall show that Reg is neither regular nor non-regular.Suppose, on the one hand, that Reg is regular. Then Reg ϵ Reg. Now Reg ϵ ẑ(z = Reg). Therefore, since Reg is regular, there is a y such that y ϵ ẑ(z = Reg) · ~(∃z)(z ϵ z(z = Reg) · z ϵ y). Hence ~(∃z)(z ϵ ẑ(z = Reg) · z ϵ Reg). But there is a z (namely Reg) such that z ϵ ẑ(z = Reg) · z ϵ Reg.On the other hand, suppose that Reg is not regular. Then, for some k, Reg ϵ k · [1] (y)(y ϵ k ⊃ (∃z)(z ϵ k · z ϵ y)). It follows that, for some z, z ϵ k · z ϵ Reg. But this implies that (ϵy)(y ϵ k · ~(ϵw)(w ϵ k · w ϵ y)), which contradicts [1].It can easily be shown, with the aid of the axiom of choice, that the regular classes are just Mr. Yuting's grounded classes.

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