scholarly journals Why Do States Intervene in the Elections of Others? The Role of Incumbent–Opposition Divisions

Author(s):  
Johannes Bubeck ◽  
Kai Jäger ◽  
Nikolay Marinov ◽  
Federico Nanni

Abstract Why do states intervene in elections abroad? This article argues that outsiders intervene when the main domestic contenders for office adopt policy positions that differ from the point of view of the outside power. It refers to the split between the government's and opposition's positions as policy polarization. Polarization between domestic political forces, rather than the degree of unfriendliness of the government in office, attracts two types of interventions: process (for or against democracy) and candidate (for or against the government) interventions. The study uses a novel, original data set to track local contenders’ policy positions. It shows that the new policy polarization measurement outperforms a number of available alternatives when it comes to explaining process and candidate interventions. The authors use this measurement to explain the behavior of the United States as an intervener in elections from 1945 to 2012. The United States is more likely to support the opposition, and the democratic process abroad, if a pro-US opposition is facing an anti-US government. It is more likely to support the government, and undermine the democratic process abroad, if a pro-US government is facing an anti-US opposition. The article also presents the results for all interveners, confirming the results from the US case.

1918 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 96-126 ◽  
Author(s):  
Denys P. Myers

The shade of distinction sought to be shown by the title of this paper may require explanation. Imperfect wording involves either carelessness or ignorance; bad faith indicates dishonesty; nonexecution or disregard implies laxness in the government, if not carelessness; adverse or hostile municipal or judicial action connotes lack of coordination between the internal and external affairs of the State. It follows that such adverse action may be considered from a practical point of view as almost a normal kind of violence against international contracts. It is not to be excused on that account, but it may be considered as a frictional incident almost inseparable under some conditions from the existence of a State. Given either a government of definitely separated elements, such as the United States, or a government without much stability, or a State founded on a type of civilization different from the European order, and this sort of violation of treaty may be forecasted with certainty. Fortunately, however, the instances that cause contractual friction of this sort are of the grosser kinds of personal violence, or are commercial; they are not of a political character, cannot be said to involve policy, and only by a stretch of the imagination involve the tweedledum and tweedledee of international relations, “national honor and vital interest.” They are consequently extremely susceptible to simple and orderly solution.


2008 ◽  
Vol 35 (4) ◽  
pp. 539-571 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian Tyrrell

The article compares attitudes towards and laws regulating the use of alcohol and opium in the United States (US) colonial possession of the Philippines. Forces within the United States and missionary groups in the field in the Philippines fought to have the supply of alcohol to American troops restricted by abolition of the military canteen system, and to eliminate use of alcohol among the indigenous population. To achieve these aims, they developed highly skilled networks of political lobbying led by Wilbur Craft's International Reform Bureau. Temperance, church and missionary groups differed among themselves over the relative seriousness of the two drugs’ impact in the Philippines, but skillfully adapted their tactics in the light of experience in the colony to focus on opium. They developed a tacit coalition with the US government, using the Philippines opium policy to distinguish the United States as a morally superior colonial ruler. By lobbying the government to oppose opium use in the East Asia region, they served to promote an American regional hegemony, and provided an important departure point for modern US drug poalicies.


Author(s):  
Erin Heidt-Forsythe

In this book, I undertake the first comprehensive theoretical and empirical analysis of the politics of the “wild west” of egg donation in the United States. If egg donation is so publicly recognizable and evokes such social interest, why does the U.S. system fail to regulate it? This book challenges conventional thinking around egg donation politics, exploring answers to how egg donation is defined, debated, and regulated in the United States, as well as exploring the logic of why the U.S. system of politics is organized the way it is around egg donation. Building upon theories of normative femininity in reproduction and scientific research, this book examines the relationships between subnational politics and policy in contemporary egg donation. I use three interdisciplinary areas of inquiry—policy framing, body politics and morality politics, and representation by gender and political party to answer long-standing questions about egg donation and politics in the fields of women’s and gender studies, political science and policy studies, and bioethics. Employing case studies, qualitative narrative analysis, and quantitative public-policy analyses of an original data set of over eight hundred state-level public policies around egg donation, this book clarifies the ways that gender, race, and class, as well as political institutions and actors, create systems of egg donation politics and regulation, particularly at the subnational level.


2014 ◽  
Vol 68 (4) ◽  
pp. 913-944 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicholas L. Miller

AbstractBuilding on the rationalist literature on sanctions, this article argues that economic and political sanctions are a successful tool of nonproliferation policy, but that selection effects have rendered this success largely hidden. Since the late 1970s—when the United States made the threat of sanctions credible through congressional legislation and began regularly employing sanctions against proliferating states—sanctions have been ineffective in halting ongoing nuclear weapons programs, but they have succeeded in deterring states from starting nuclear weapons programs in the first place and have thus contributed to a decline in the rate of nuclear pursuit. The logic of the argument is simple: rational leaders assess the risk of sanctions before initiating a nuclear weapons program, which produces a selection effect whereby states highly vulnerable to sanctions are deterred from starting nuclear weapons programs in the first place, so long as the threat is credible. Vulnerability is a function of a state's level of economic and security dependence on the United States—states with greater dependence have more to lose from US sanctions and are more likely to be sensitive to US-sponsored norms. The end result of this selection effect is that since the late 1970s, only insulated, inward-looking regimes have pursued nuclear weapons and become the target of imposed sanctions, thus rendering the observed success rate of nonproliferation sanctions low. I find support for the argument based on statistical analysis of a global sample of countries from 1950 to 2000, an original data set of US nonproliferation sanctions episodes, and qualitative analysis of the South Korean and Taiwanese nuclear weapons programs.


1960 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 577-578 ◽  

From its 874th through its 876th meetings the Security Council considered the complaint of the government of Cuba that that country had been subjected by the government of the United States to “repeated threats, harassments, intrigues, reprisals and aggressive acts.” The discussion was opened by Mr. Raúl Roa, Cuban Minister for Foreign Affairs, who began by asserting that Cuba had been under no juridical obligation to bring its complaint to the Organization of American States (OAS) before submitting it to the Council. He then traced the history of United States hostility to the revolutionary government of Cuba, hostility based, in his opinion, on opposition to the Agrarian Reform instituted by that government and culminating in the recent drastic curtailment of the Cuban sugar quota. In his reply to Mr. Roa, Mr. Lodge (United States) assured the Cuban government that the United States had no aggressive purposes against Cuba, and deplored the removal of the controversy between the two nations from its rightful forum in OAS to the Security Council. He also indicated, after a summary of Cuban-United States relations during the preceding year and a half from the United States point of view, that the reduction of the Cuban sugar quota had been no act of economic aggression, but rather a justifiable measure of self-protection on the part of the United States to ensure its needed supply of sugar in the face of acts by the Cuban government which made this supply extremely insecure. In conclusion, Mr. Lodge stated his belief that someday, somehow, Cuba and the United States would again be friends.


2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-23
Author(s):  
Muhamad Bayu Saputra

The purpose and goal of this research is to know what the response taken by the US government to Raul Castro, the changes in the foreign relations of both countries, presence idiosyncratic factors of Raul Castro to the foreign relations of both countries. The method used is descriptive analysis techniques. Most of the data collected through literature and website searches. These results indicate that the factor of idiosyncratic Raul Castro in changes in foreign relations between Cuba and the United States. The conclusion from this study is the change that occurs in the foreign relations between the two countries, the changes occurring in the country of Cuba after Raul became president of Cuba, as well as the response taken by the US government against the government of Raul Castro well with the reopening of diplomatic relations between both countries, and issued a foreign policy that is intended to drive the Cuban economy, the type of personality that is owned by Raul Castro based on idiosyncratic theory is influential


PEDIATRICS ◽  
1979 ◽  
Vol 63 (2) ◽  
pp. 352-352
Author(s):  
Timur Sumer

It is hard to disagree with Dr. Fisher about the problem of continuing medical education for foreign medical graduates (FMG) after they return to their countries (Pediatrics 61:133, January 1978). However, the other side of the coin should be exposed before expecting any action from the government on this matter. As it looks from the FMG's point of view, the new immigration rule that limits the FMG's stay in the United States to two years is a reflection of the government's self-serving attitude.


2007 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 150-153
Author(s):  
M. A. Muqtedar Khan

On 4 December 2006, the American Muslims’ national leadership met withkey senior American government officials to discuss Islamophobia in thecountry and American-Muslim relations. The conference, organized by theBridging the Divide Initiative of the Saban Center at the Brookings Institution,was co-sponsored by the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding(ISPU) and the Association of Muslim Social Scientists (AMSS).As conference chair, I had to bring together two parties that did not seeeye-to-eye on this issue. While American Muslim leaders and participantsargued that Islamophobia was not only a reality but also a rapidly growingphenomenon in the United States, the government’s position was that whilethere have been increased incidences of anti-Muslim episodes in the country,the word Islamophobia deepens the divide between the two sides. Other government representatives also suggested that the fear to which Muslimswere referring was not that of Islam, but rather that of Muslim terrorism, asmanifested on 11 September 2001.Stephen Grand (director, United States-Islamic World program) welcomedall participants and launched the conference. The government wasrepresented by the Department of State, the Department of HomelandSecurity, and associated agencies. The morning keynote address was deliveredby Alina Romanowski (Deputy Assistant Secretary of State forProfessional and Cultural Affairs). She was introduced by AmbassadorMartin Indyk (director, the Saban Center), who proclaimed the importanceof such dialogues at a time when the gap between the United States and theMuslim world appears to be widening ...


2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert D. Evans ◽  
Irina Petropavlovskikh ◽  
Audra McClure-Begley ◽  
Glen McConville ◽  
Dorothy Quincy ◽  
...  

Abstract. The United States government has operated Dobson Ozone Spectrophotometers at various sites, starting during the International Geophysical Year (July 1, 1957 to December 31, 1958). A network of stations for longterm monitoring of the total column content (thickness of the ozone layer) of the atmosphere was established in the early 1960s, and eventually grew to sixteen stations, fourteen of which are still operational and submit data to the United States of America’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Seven of these sites are also part of the Network for the Detection of Atmospheric Composition Change (NDACC), an organization that maintains its own data archive. Due to recent changes in data processing software the entire data set was reevaluated for possible changes. To evaluate and minimize potential changes caused by the new processing software, the reprocessed data record was compared to the original data record archived in the World Ozone and UV Data Center (WOUDC) in Toronto, Canada. The history of the observations at the individual stations, the instruments used for the NOAA network monitoring at the station, the method for reducing zenith sky observations to total ozone, and calibration procedures were re-evaluated using data quality control tools built into the new software. At the completion of the evaluation, the new data sets are to be published as an update to the WOUDC and NDACC archives, and the entire data set is to be made available to the scientific community. The procedure for reprocessing Dobson data and the results of the re-analysis on the archived record is presented in this paper. A summary of historical changes to fourteen station records is also provided.


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