Ungleichheit, Sozialstaat und demokratische Repräsentation: Marktkorrigierende Politik durch den Medianwähler?

2017 ◽  
Vol 63 (4) ◽  
pp. 483-515 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ursula Dallinger
Keyword(s):  
Social Policy ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Median Voter ◽  
Policy Research ◽  
Electoral System ◽  
The Political ◽  
Welfare Programs ◽  
Political Factors ◽  
Income Disparities ◽  
Government Responsiveness

AbstractPolitical economy of redistribution and comparative social policy research view the median voter as the political force, which demands marketregulating social policy in periods of increased income disparities and to which governments – to be re-elected – must respond. However, government responsiveness has been questioned, especially the responsiveness for political demands of low-income households. Are even the preferences of the median voter only selectively addressed through politics? If the median voter is actually influential, its redistributive preferences should explain the outcome of government action, e.g. size of redistribution. Is this true? Based on a pooled dataset with observations between 1980 and 2012 for 13 OECD-countries it is shown that the political position of the median voter alone has no impact. Rather mediating political factors like a proportional electoral system and left parties with wider welfare programs provide for broader representation and more redistribution.

scholarly journals Advocacy research and social policy

2015 ◽  
Vol 35 (3/4) ◽  
pp. 239-251 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenneth McLaughlin
Keyword(s):  
Social Policy ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Policy Research ◽  
Government Funding ◽  
Social Constructionist ◽  
The Political ◽  
National Society ◽  
Advocacy Groups ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Theoretical Concepts

Purpose – Much social policy research today is commissioned, published and publicised by organisations with direct involvement in that particular aspect of policy. Whilst much good can result from such “advocacy research”, at times the tactics employed by some groups have been criticised for exaggerated claims making and sensationalist reporting as they attempt to get their particular issue into the political and public domain and also generate more government funding and/or increase public donations. The purpose of this paper is to investigate such claims. Design/methodology/approach – In this paper the author wishes to look at some of the tactics utilised by advocacy groups in order to establish the legitimacy of their particular concern. The author focuses on material published by Action for Children and the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children and between 2010 and 2012 in relation to child maltreatment, critically analysing them from a social constructionist standpoint and drawing on aspects of moral panic theory. Findings – The paper concludes by warning of the dangers for both social policy and related practice that can arise from uncritically accepting the claims of contemporary moral entrepreneurs. Originality/value – This paper uses theoretical concepts to analyse contemporary campaigns by two charity organisations.

scholarly journals FINANCIAL CRISES AND STRUCTURAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE ECONOMY

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ana Radulovic ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Economic Performance ◽  
Financial Crises ◽  
Structural Characteristics ◽  
Policy Research ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Political ◽  
Economic Changes ◽  
Income Disparities ◽  
Political Implications ◽  
Management And Development

Economic structures are a major cause of long-term growth or stagnation. Different economic structures have different ranges of structural learning, innovation, and different effects on income distribution, which are key determinants of economic performance. Through theory about economic structures it is explained why institutions work differently in space and time. This paper shows using a case study in the United States, that the source of recent financial crises rests on the structural characteristics of the economy. Constant deindustrialization is increasing inequality, and a debt-intensive credit boom has emerged to offset the deflationary effects of this structural change. The strong application of the austerity system in Europe and other parts of the world, even after the evidence points to less frugal policies, illustrates the theory of power it has over public policy. The economic structure should be put at the center of analysis, to better understand the economic changes, income disparities and differences in the dynamics of political economy through time and space. This paper provides a critical overview of the rapidly developing comparative studies of institutions and economic performance, with an emphasis on its analytical and political implications. The paper tries to identify some conceptual gaps in the literature on economic growth policy. Emphasis is placed on the contrasting experiences of East Asia and Latin America. This paper argues that the future investments in this field should be based on rigorous conceptual difference between the rules of the game and the game, and between the political and institutional, embedded in the concept of management. It also emphasizes the importance of a serious understanding of the endogenous and distributive nature of institutions and steps beyond the narrow approach of property law relations in management and development. By providing insights from the political channels through which institutions affect economic performance, this paper aims to contribute to the consolidation of theoretically based, empirically based and relevant to policy research on political and institutional foundations of growth and prosperity.

Congruent Representation: Election Cycle in Poland 2009-2011

2014 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 4-17
Author(s):  
Waldemar Wojtasik
Keyword(s):  
Local Government ◽  
Presidential Election ◽  
Median Voter ◽  
Political Representation ◽  
Electoral System ◽  
The Political ◽  
Representation Election ◽  
Election Cycle ◽  
Parliamentary Elections ◽  
The Right

Abstract The article presents the results of research on the congruence of the political representation formed in elections held in the years 2009-2011 in Poland. The election cycle included the European Parliamentary elections in 2009, the Polish presidential election, elections to local government in 2010, and the parliamentary elections in 2011. The median citizen, median voter, and their positions on the left-right scale were used as tools for examining congruence. Studies have proven that in Poland, the median citizen and the median voter are positioned on the right side of the left-right scale. The legislature and executive authorities chosen in the elections are located left of the median citizen and the median voter. Studies have not demonstrated the existence of any impact of the electoral system on the positioning of the median citizen and the median voter.

How the Cultural, Economic, and Political Contexts Shape Social Policy

2020 ◽  
pp. 13-21
Keyword(s):  
Social Policy ◽  
Social Welfare ◽  
Cultural Context ◽  
The Political ◽  
Social Programs ◽  
Welfare Programs ◽  
Cultural Economic ◽  
Economic Context ◽  
Social Welfare Programs ◽  
Western Democracies

This chapter examines the development of social welfare programs in Western democracies and notes that they are influenced by cultural, economic, and political contexts. The chapter argues that in order to understand how social policies and social programs are developed, the cultural, economic, and politician contexts must be considered. The chapter, therefore, seeks to examine the cultural context that influenced the development of social policy, the economic context that influenced the development of social policy, and the political context that influenced the development of social policy.

2018 Fiji Election Results: Patterns of Voting by Provinces, Rural-Urban Localities, and by Candidates

2020 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Haruo Nakagawa
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Electoral System ◽  
Interesting Case ◽  
The Political ◽  
Quantitative Analyses ◽  
Election Results

Akin to the previous, 2014 event, with no data on voter ethnicity, no exit polls, and few post-election analyses, the 2018 Fiji election results remain something of a mystery despite the fact that there had been a significant swing in voting in favour of Opposition political parties. There have been several studies about the election results, but most of them have been done without much quantitative analyses. This study examines voting patterns of Fiji’s 2018 election by provinces, and rural-urban localities, as well as by candidates, and also compares the 2018 and 2014 elections by spending a substantial time classifying officially released data by polling stations and individual candidates. Some of the data are then further aggregated according to the political parties to which those candidates belonged. The current electoral system in Fiji is a version of a proportional system, but its use is rare and this study will provide an interesting case study of the Open List Proportional System. At the end of the analyses, this study considers possible reasons for the swing in favour of the Opposition.

Per Pinstrup-Anderson, Alan Berg and Martin"Forman (eds.). International Agricultural Research and Human Nutrition. Washington, D.C.: International Food Policy Research Institute, and Rome: UN Administrative Committee on Coordination/ Sub-Committee on Nutrition. 1984. xvii+326 pp.Paperback edition.

1987 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 222-224
Author(s):  
Sohail Jehangir Malik
Keyword(s):  
Industrial Development ◽  
Food Policy ◽  
Agricultural Research ◽  
Policy Research ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Agricultural Technology ◽  
Political Factors ◽  
Income Elasticities ◽  
Increase Productivity ◽  
Land Saving

During the last few decades there has been a sharp transition in economic doctrine, within the context of economic growth, on the relative contributions of agriculture and industrial development. There has been a shift away from the earlier 'industrial fundamentalism' to an emphasis on the significance of growth in agricultural productivity and production. The focus, especially in the context of the present-day less developed countries like Pakistan, has sharpened with the rapid growth in demand for food, resulting from the increasing growth in population and the high income-elasticities of the demand for food. Coupled with this is the transition from resource-based agriculture to science-based agriculture. Agricultural economists are unanimous in the view that by the end of this century all increases in world food production will come from higher yields, i.e. increased output per hectare. This increasing emphasis on 'land-saving' technology to increase productivity and production has resuited from the growing population pressures on land and declining land-man ratios. Agricultural research has come to the fore in providing technologies that increase productivity and production. However, these technologies do not explicitly take into account the equity aspects of the problem. The extent to which the poor gain or lose from the introduction of a new agricultural technology depends on a host of complex and interrelated socio-economic and political factors such as the existing distribution of productive resources, access to modem inputs, the structure of the market, etc.

scholarly journals Local Candidates, Place-Based Identities, and Electoral Success

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julia Schulte-Cloos ◽  
Paul C. Bauer
Keyword(s):  
Social Identity ◽  
Local Community ◽  
Unique Feature ◽  
Causal Effect ◽  
Large Body ◽  
Electoral System ◽  
Local Communities ◽  
The Political ◽  
Electoral Success ◽  
Matching Strategy

AbstractWhile a large body of literature empirically documents an electoral advantage for local candidates, the exact mechanisms accounting for this effect remain less clear. We integrate theories on the political geography of candidate-voter relations with socio-psychological accounts of citizens’ local attachment, arguing that citizens vote for candidates from their own local communities as an expression of their place-based identity. To test our argument, we exploit a unique feature of the German mixed-member electoral system. We identify the causal effect of candidates’ localness by relying on within-electoral-district variation coupled with a geo-matching strategy on the level of municipalities ($$\hbox {N}=11175$$ N = 11175 ). The results show that voters exhibit a strong bias in favor of local candidates even when they are not competitive. More than only expecting particularistic benefits from representatives, citizens appear to vote for candidates from their own local community to express their place-based social identity.

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