Partition as a Solution to Wars of Nationalism: The Importance of Institutions

2007 ◽  
Vol 101 (4) ◽  
pp. 677-691 ◽  
Author(s):  
THOMAS CHAPMAN ◽  
PHILIP G. ROEDER

Civil war settlements create institutional arrangements that in turn shape postsettlement politics among the parties to the previous conflict. Following civil wars that involve competing nation-state projects, partition is more likely than alternative institutional arrangements—specifically, unitarism, de facto separation, and autonomy arrangements—to preserve the peace and facilitate democratization. A theory of domestic political institutions as a constraint on reescalation of conflict explains this unexpected relationship through four intermediate effects—specifically, the likelihood that each institutional arrangement will reinforce incompatible national identities, focus the pursuit of greed and grievance on a single zero-sum conflict over the allocation of decision rights, empower the parties to the previous conflict with multiple escalatory options, and foster incompatible expectations of victory. The theory's predictions stand up under statistical tests that use four alternative datasets.

2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy M Peterson ◽  
Shaoshuang Wen

Abstract In this paper, we reconcile divergent theories linking trade to conflict—opportunity costs and costly signaling on the one hand versus dependence and coercion on the other hand. We argue that variation in domestic political institutions and state capabilities can condition how international trade affects conflictual or cooperative political relationships. When institutions result in a more nationally representative constituency, trade has a relatively more negative association with conflict, whereas deviation from this institutional arrangement reduces the pacifying impact of trade. The presence of greater military capabilities incentivizes leaders to use trade as a lever to advance other state interests. As such, for more powerful states, trade is associated with relatively more conflict and cooperation. We find support for our expectations in statistical tests spanning 1994–2012.


Author(s):  
Shaun Bowler

This chapter analyzes to what extent variation in political institutions affects political support. The chapter observes that the existing research is not always clear on which institutions should produce what kind of effect, although a general expectation is that institutional arrangements improve political support when they give citizens an increased sense of connection to the political process. In general then, we should expect institutions that strengthen the quality of representation to strengthen political support. This general expectation is specified in six hypotheses that are tested using data from the ESS 2012. The chapter demonstrates that electoral systems that provide voters with more choice about candidates, multiparty governments, and “responsive” legislatures, correlate positively with political support. However, compared to other macro-level factors and individual characteristics, the effects of political institutions on political support are modest. The chapter concludes that the prospects for institutional reform to strengthen political support are limited.


2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (17) ◽  
pp. 129-146
Author(s):  
Martin Krause

Corporate governance focuses its attention on the structure of the firm and the allocation of decision rights between owners and managers basically, plus other stakeholders. The field has developed extensively during the last decades inspiring reforms and practices as well as learning from them. Most of the analysis though takes into consideration the XXth Century firm, rightfully so since CG is a very practical field in the overlapping map of law, economics and finance. The firm has probably been one of the most successful institutional innovations of the last centuries. Five hundred years ago only a few of them existed, today they are pervasive. Nevertheless, we cannot expect the firm to be the same a hundred years from now as it is today. And if companies are going to be different, how will their corporate governance be affected? The present article does not expect to give an answer to such question. It only attempts to provoke debate and speculation about a possible evolution of the firm based on one single aspect of change: the increased use of dispersed knowledge. After suggesting some development and analyzing present innovations in that direction, we will open up to consideration how those potential changes may affect corporate governance. Of course, there are no specific conclusions, just a call to open our minds to future possible scenarios.


2018 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 112-128 ◽  
Author(s):  
Débora Follador ◽  
Fábio Duarte ◽  
Mario Carrier

In theory, shifts in institutional arrangements result in new public policies. This articles focuses on Curitiba, Brazil, an international flagship city of urban planning recognized for its technocratic government. The 2012 municipal elections and the 2013 nationwide political upheaval led to a change in the city's institutional arrangement. As a consequence, the 2014 Master Plan was conceived with the tagline of more public participation. This paper analyzes whether the changes in institutional arrangements influenced the city's planning process and the Master Plan.


2013 ◽  
Vol 107 (2) ◽  
pp. 294-325 ◽  
Author(s):  
NICHOLAS SAMBANIS ◽  
MOSES SHAYO

When do ethnic cleavages increase the risk of conflict? Under what conditions is a strong common identity likely to emerge, thereby reducing that risk? How are patterns of social identification shaped by conflict? We draw on empirical results regarding the nature and determinants of group identification to develop a simple model that addresses these questions. The model highlights the possibility of vicious and virtuous cycles where conflict and identification patterns reinforce each other. It also shows how processes of ethnic identification amplify the importance of political institutions and traces the effects of national status and perceived differences across ethnic groups. Finally, we demonstrate how a small but sufficiently potent group of ethnic radicals can derail a peaceful equilibrium, leading to the polarization of the entire population. We reexamine several historical cases as well as empirical correlates of civil wars in light of these results.


2009 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephanie Jones ◽  
Nickie Charles ◽  
Charlotte Aull Davies

In the devolved legislative assemblies of Scotland and Wales the proportion of women representatives is approaching parity. This is in marked contrast to Westminster where one in five MPs are women. In this paper we explore the extent to which the masculinist political cultures characterising established political institutions are being reproduced in the National Assembly for Wales or whether its different gendering, both in the numbers of women representatives and in terms of its institutional framework, is associated with a more feminised political and organisational culture. Drawing on interviews with half the Assembly Members, women and men, we show that the political style of the Assembly differs from that of Westminster and that Assembly Members perceive it as being more consensual and as embodying a less aggressive and macho way of doing politics. AMs relate this difference to the gender parity amongst Assembly Members, to the institutional arrangements which have an ‘absolute duty’ to promote equality embedded in them, and to the desire to develop a different way of doing politics. We suggest that the ability to do politics in a more feminised and consensual way relates not only to the presence of a significant proportion of women representatives, but also to the nature of the institution and the way in which differently gendered processes and practices are embedded within it. Differently gendered political institutions can develop a more feminised political culture which provides an alternative to the masculinist political culture characterising the political domain.


2018 ◽  
Vol 40 (3) ◽  
pp. 404-418 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erica Frantz

Violent crime rates have increased dramatically in many parts of the world in recent decades, with homicides now outpacing deaths due to interstate or civil wars. Considerable variations exist across democracies in their violent crime rates, however: different autocratic experiences help explain why this is the case. Democracies emerging from military rule have higher homicide rates because they typically inherit militarized police forces. This creates a dilemma after democratization: allowing the military to remain in the police leads to law enforcement personnel trained in defense rather than policing, but extricating it marginalizes individuals trained in the use of violence. The results of cross-national statistical tests are shown to be consistent with this argument.


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