scholarly journals Does Collective Responsibility for Performance Alter Party Strategies? Policy-Seeking Parties in Proportional Systems

2012 ◽  
Vol 43 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-23 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Adams ◽  
Lawrence Ezrow ◽  
Samuel Merrill ◽  
Zeynep Somer-Topcu
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Electoral System ◽  
Collective Responsibility ◽  
Parliamentary Democracy ◽  
Generalized Model ◽  
Policy Positions ◽  
Party Strategies ◽  
Party Elites ◽  
Policy Objectives ◽  
Foreign Policy Crises

AbstractAdams and Merrill have developed a model of policy-seeking parties in a parliamentary democracy competing in a PR electoral system, in which party elites are uncertain about voters’ evaluations of the parties’ valence attributes such as competence, integrity and charisma. This article extends that model to situations where voters hold coalitions of parties collectively responsible for their valence-related performances, such as how voters evaluate governing parties’ competence in handling issues like the economy, crime and foreign policy crises. It may also be relevant to voters’ evaluations of proto-coalitions of opposition parties. Computations suggest the central substantive conclusions reported in Adams and Merrill extend to this generalized model, and that collective responsibility enhances coalition members’ incentives to converge to similar policy positions but depresses their prospects of achieving their policy objectives.

Government Formation and Endogenous Parties

1993 ◽  
Vol 87 (1) ◽  
pp. 34-47 ◽  
Author(s):  
David P. Baron
Keyword(s):  
Formal Theory ◽  
Electoral System ◽  
Collective Responsibility ◽  
Proportional Representation ◽  
Government Formation ◽  
Policy Positions ◽  
Electoral Incentives ◽  
System A ◽  
Parliamentary Systems ◽  
The Government

I provide a formal theory of government for a political system characterized by a proportional representation electoral system, a parliamentary government that exercises collective responsibility, and a government formation process. Political parties are assumed to be policy-oriented and to serve the interests of those who vote for them. Parties choose policy platforms that determine their representation in parliament; and given that representation, the parties bargain over the government to be formed and the policies that government will implement. The model yields equilibria with the property that parties choose dispersed policy positions. Thus, electoral incentives in proportional representation parliamentary systems need not lead to policy convergence. The theory provides predictions of party locations such as those developed in the manifesto project.

How government-controlled media shifts policy attitudes through framing

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-16
Author(s):  
Jennifer Pan ◽  
Zijie Shao ◽  
Yiqing Xu
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Public Opinion ◽  
Authoritarian Regimes ◽  
Policy Positions ◽  
Policy Issues ◽  
Composite Measures ◽  
Policy Attitudes ◽  
Tv News

Abstract Research shows that government-controlled media is an effective tool for authoritarian regimes to shape public opinion. Does government-controlled media remain effective when it is required to support changes in positions that autocrats take on issues? Existing theories do not provide a clear answer to this question, but we often observe authoritarian governments using government media to frame policies in new ways when significant changes in policy positions are required. By conducting an experiment that exposes respondents to government-controlled media—in the form of TV news segments—on issues where the regime substantially changed its policy positions, we find that by framing the same issue differently, government-controlled media moves respondents to adopt policy positions closer to the ones espoused by the regime regardless of individual predisposition. This result holds for domestic and foreign policy issues, for direct and composite measures of attitudes, and persists up to 48 hours after exposure.

Freedom Tide? Ideology, Politics, and the Origins of Democracy Promotion in U.S. Central America Policy, 1980–1984

2014 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 60-109 ◽  
Author(s):  
Evan McCormick
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Latin America ◽  
Central America ◽  
Reagan Administration ◽  
Democracy Promotion ◽  
The Political ◽  
History Of ◽  
Policy Objectives ◽  
Dramatic Shift

The Reagan administration came to power in 1981 seeking to downplay Jimmy Carter's emphasis on human rights in U.S. policy toward Latin America. Yet, by 1985 the administration had come to justify its policies towards Central America in the very same terms. This article examines the dramatic shift that occurred in policymaking toward Central America during Ronald Reagan's first term. Synthesizing existing accounts while drawing on new and recently declassified material, the article looks beyond rhetoric to the political, intellectual, and bureaucratic dynamics that conditioned the emergence of a Reaganite human rights policy. The article shows that events in El Salvador suggested to administration officials—and to Reagan himself—that support for free elections could serve as a means of shoring up legitimacy for embattled allies abroad, while defending the administration against vociferous human rights criticism at home. In the case of Nicaragua, democracy promotion helped to eschew hard decisions between foreign policy objectives. The history of the Reagan Doctrine's contentious roots provides a complex lens through which to evaluate subsequent U.S. attempts to foster democracy overseas.

Opposition Growth in Dominant Party Systems: Coalitions in South Africa

2013 ◽  
Vol 49 (2) ◽  
pp. 290-312 ◽  
Author(s):  
Danielle Langfield
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Party System ◽  
Cape Town ◽  
Party Systems ◽  
Western Cape ◽  
Western Cape Province ◽  
Dominant Party ◽  
Party Strategies ◽  
Party Elites ◽  
Dominant Parties

What is responsible for the decline of democratically dominant parties and the corresponding growth of competitive party systems? This article argues that, despite a ruling party's dominance, opposition forces can gain by winning important subnational offices and then creating a governance record that they can use to win new supporters. It focuses on South Africa as a paradigmatic dominant party system, tracing the increased competitiveness of elections in Cape Town and the surrounding Western Cape province between 1999 and 2010. These events show how party strategies may evolve, reflecting how party elites can learn from forming coalitions.

Searching for an Exit: The Effects of Context, Process and Structure on Crisis Negotiation

2019 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 371-406
Author(s):  
Michael J. Butler
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Conflict Management ◽  
Empirical Analysis ◽  
International Crises ◽  
High Stakes ◽  
Crisis Negotiation ◽  
Foreign Policy Crises ◽  
Crisis Situations

Abstract By virtue of their defining criteria, international crises would seem unlikely candidates for conflict management and resolution. However, negotiations among crisis protagonists are not uncommon. Such behavior may reflect a desire to ‘exit’ the crisis dynamic. This article takes up the question of when and in what circumstances actors engaged in crisis situations turn to negotiation. Through an empirical analysis of over 1000 cases of foreign policy crises occurring between 1918 and 2015, this research examines a set of potential contextual, processual and structural correlates of crisis negotiation. The results of this analysis indicate that negotiation is less likely to occur in complex, high stakes, and especially violent crises, suggesting that negotiation is an unlikely and perhaps ill-suited response to more intense and severe crises.

Power-loss or power-transition? Assessing the limits of using the energy sector in reviving Russia’s geopolitical stature

2010 ◽  
Vol 43 (3) ◽  
pp. 263-274 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Mohsin Hashim
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Energy Sector ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Power Transition ◽  
Paper Briefly ◽  
Strategic Resources ◽  
Global Power ◽  
Oil And Natural Gas ◽  
Policy Objectives ◽  
Gorbachev Era

The paper seeks to evaluate the scope and limits of the Russian state’s capacity to use oil and natural gas as strategic resources to revive Russia’s fortunes as a credible global power. It offers an analysis of the evolution of state-markets interactions in the energy sector from the late Gorbachev era to the present day. The paper briefly documents how Russian foreign policy became more assertive using energy as a strategic resource, particularly in crafting its relations with the European Union. Subsequently, the paper analyzes Russia’s limits of using energy as leverage in securing foreign policy objectives. Finally, it points to the impediments to normalizing a Russo-EU energy dialog.

What Biden may bring to the Eastern Mediterranean Region

2021 ◽  
Vol 23 (Winter 2021) ◽  
Author(s):  
Muhammad Soliman Al-Zawawy
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
International Organizations ◽  
Mediterranean Region ◽  
Eastern Mediterranean ◽  
Eastern Mediterranean Region ◽  
Election Campaign ◽  
Bilateral Approach ◽  
Policy Objectives ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The U.S

This paper aims to forecast the route that Joe Biden, will take in his foreign policy toward the Eastern Mediterranean, by trying to analyze the content of his speeches and rhetoric before and shortly after taking office. In this context, America’s relation to Turkey will be pivotal in order to gauge the impact of any change in U.S. course. After four years of Trump’s doctrine of ‘America First’ and his bilateral approach, there are many expectations that the newly elected president will follow a more multilateral approach and will put more importance on international organizations and alliances across the Atlantic. Those expectations are more like wishes, however, when it comes to the Eastern Mediterranean, which is on the verge of a critical standoff between Turkey and its neighbors. There are some speculations that Biden will take a more affirmative stance against Turkey. Indeed, Biden has stressed the value of cooperating with allies to achieve foreign policy objectives. But despite the harsh language, Biden used during his election campaign to describe Turkey’s leadership, it is still unclear whether Biden will place the U.S. on a collision course with Turkey.

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