Workers' Councils and Political Stratification: The Yugoslav Experience

1978 ◽  
Vol 72 (1) ◽  
pp. 80-95 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sidney Verba ◽  
Goldie Shabad
Keyword(s):  
Citizen Participation ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Political Elite ◽  
Open Channels ◽  
Professional Status ◽  
The Political ◽  
Liberal Democracies ◽  
Political Inequality ◽  
Extensive Survey ◽  
Using Data

Many students of citizen participation claim that one solution to the problem of political inequality in liberal democracies lies in the establishment of direct participatory channels in decentralized socioeconomic and political institutions similar to those found in Yugoslavia. Others argue that the availability of participatory channels in the workplace leads to the domination of these channels by a technocratic elite. Still other students of participation in Yugoslavia claim that participatory channels are dominated by the political elite, the League of Communists.In this paper, we examine this set of conflicting hypotheses by using data which come from an extensive survey of participatory activities in four Yugoslav republics. Our findings are consistent with the interpretation that workers' councils open channels for a more technocratically oriented participation. When it comes to other kinds of activity, affiliation with the League is more important than socioeconomic or professional status in determining who participates. But because League members come disproportionately from upper-status groups, there is not a marked difference in the extent to which membership in workers' councils and participation in other kinds of activity are biased in favor of the advantaged segments of Yugoslav society. In each case, but for different reasons, it is the upper-status citizen who is likely to be active.

Institutions and Political Support

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shaun Bowler
Keyword(s):  
Political Institutions ◽  
Political Process ◽  
Institutional Reform ◽  
Institutional Arrangements ◽  
Individual Characteristics ◽  
Political Support ◽  
The Political ◽  
General Expectation ◽  
Using Data

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.

Innovations in Information and Communication Technology Platforms for Public Administration

2015 ◽  
pp. 23-43
Author(s):  
Shefali Virkar
Keyword(s):  
Citizen Participation ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Public Confidence ◽  
Power Structures ◽  
Liberal Democracies ◽  
Political Processes ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Technology Platforms ◽  
Information And Communication ◽  
Global Communications

Over the last two decades, public confidence and trust in government has declined visibly in several Western liberal democracies, owing to a distinct lack of opportunities for citizen participation in political processes, and has given way instead to disillusionment with current political institutions, actors, and practices. The rise of the Internet as a global communications medium has opened up huge opportunities and raised new challenges for government, with digital technology creating new forms of community, empowering citizens, and reforming existing power structures in a way that has rendered obsolete or inappropriate many of the tools and processes of traditional democratic politics. Through an analysis of the No. 10 Downing Street ePetitions Initiative based in the United Kingdom, this chapter seeks to engage with issues related to the innovative use of network technology by government to involve citizens in policy processes within existing democratic frameworks in order to improve administration, reform democratic processes, and renew citizen trust in institutions of governance.

The Political Origins of Racial Inequality

2017 ◽  
Vol 70 (3) ◽  
pp. 535-548 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Maltby
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Racial Inequality ◽  
Policy Outcomes ◽  
The Political ◽  
Policy Feedback ◽  
Political Inequality ◽  
Highly Educated ◽  
Political Orientations ◽  
Black Populations ◽  
Using Data

Policy feedback theory argues that public policies shape mass political behavior by teaching citizens about their relationship to government. I reevaluate this argument by examining how criminal justice policy shapes the political orientations and participation of blacks and whites. I argue that, because these policies send different messages to blacks than to whites about the treatment they can expect from government, these groups have opposite reactions to criminal justice enforcement. Using data from a 2014 national survey and information on local criminal justice outcomes, I find that racially skewed criminal justice enforcement is associated with negative political orientations and lower rates of political participation for highly educated blacks. I also find that whites respond positively to similar criminal justice outcomes when they reside in areas with large black populations. The results show that unequal policy outcomes lead to political inequality.

scholarly journals Under Different Umbrellas: Intersectionality and Alliances in US Feminist Politics

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Myra Marx Ferree
Keyword(s):  
Political Institutions ◽  
Political Representation ◽  
The Political ◽  
American Democracy ◽  
Liberal Democracies ◽  
Daily Lives ◽  
Feminist Politics ◽  
Normative Order ◽  
The U.S ◽  
Over Time

Macro-level forms of inequality work intersectionally to establish democracy normatively as well as shape its institutions. Liberal democracies, once revolutionarily new political formations, rested on an equally revolutionary understanding of male domination based not on descent but economic arrangements (the new “breadwinner” role) and political institutions (the “brotherhood” national state). Over time, social movements have diminished liberal democracy’s original exclusions of women and nonwhite men so that many citizens’ daily lives now contradict this once hegemonic normative order. The U.S. party binary pushes contemporary movements for transforming or restoring this understanding of democracy under the political umbrellas of the competing Democratic and Republican parties. This polarization then contributes to the gendering of movement claims and political representation. Gendered polarization creates opportunities for cohesion among movements on both sides and yet blocks more fundamental reforms of American democracy.

scholarly journals Reform and Political Impunity in Kenya: Transparency without Accountability

2012 ◽  
Vol 55 (1) ◽  
pp. 53-74 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mwangi wa Gīthīnji ◽  
Frank Holmquist
Keyword(s):  
Collective Identity ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Separation Of Powers ◽  
Two Dimensions ◽  
Political Elite ◽  
The Political ◽  
Berlin Wall ◽  
National Interests ◽  
Checks And Balances ◽  
History Of

Abstract:Kenya has been going through a period of political reform since 1991, when section 2A of the constitution, which had made Kenya a de jure one-party state, was repealed. This reform followed a prolonged struggle on the part of citizens both inside and outside the country, and their call for democracy was one that, after the fall of the Berlin Wall, was embraced by Western countries. Via diplomatic pressure and conditionality on aid, Western donors played an important role in the repeal of section 2A, the return of multiparty elections, and the creation and reform of a number of political institutions and offices via a separation of powers. But although these changes were supported by the political opposition and much of civil society in Kenya, they did not rise organically from the national struggle over political power. Nor did these reforms lead to a determination in the country to hold the political elite accountable for their transgressions. This article argues that modern Kenya's history of economic and political inequality has resulted in a population whose very divisions make it difficult for politicians to be disciplined. Accountability has two dimensions: the horizontal accountability among branches of government that is assured by checks and balances, and the vertical accountability of the state to its citizens. Vertical accountability depends on a constituency of like-minded citizens defending broad national interests, or an electorate with a collective identity or set of identities attached to the Kenyan nation. But in the absence of such shared goals and demands, narrow personal and local interests prevail, and politicians remain unaccountable to the nation as a whole.

scholarly journals ANALISIS MENGENAI PENGARUH POLITIK TERHADAP KEHIDUPAN DI KAMPUNG YEFLIO DISTRIK MAYAMUK KABUPATEN SORONG

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 67-72
Author(s):  
Aswad Muhdar
Keyword(s):  
Human Resources ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Political Influence ◽  
Political Life ◽  
The Political ◽  
Village Community ◽  
The Will ◽  
The Government ◽  
Using Data ◽  
The Village

Freedom of autonomy in the village there is political space provided by the government through political institutions, political institutions become a channel of communication, in conveying the will and aspirations of the village community in political life. However, political institutions are also limited to those who are considered to have an interest, while in reality political participation is that a large part of the community must take part in the process of political maturation. So the only way to provide understanding and insight for the community in the village is through an understanding of the influence of politics in people's lives. This type of research uses descriptive qualitative methods using data collection techniques through observation, interviews, and documentation. Based on the results of the study, it can be concluded: That the analysis of political influence on people's lives in Yeflio village, Mayamuk District, Sorong Regency still needs to increase political influence and socialization of the community about the purpose of holding politics so that the Yeflio village community, Mayamuk District, Sorong Regency can accept their candidates without anarchy. because the other candidates failed in the competition, the need to increase human resources by providing delivery of learning assignments, training and courses. In accordance with what is expected by the community, which has not achieved optimal results because the political influence of human resources is still lacking and needs to be improved again.

Trolls Just Want To Have Fun

2015 ◽  
pp. 1172-1206
Author(s):  
Shefali Virkar
Keyword(s):  
Information And Communication Technologies ◽  
Citizen Participation ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Body Politic ◽  
Public Confidence ◽  
Obsessive Compulsive ◽  
Liberal Democracies ◽  
Digital Platforms ◽  
Political Processes ◽  
The Government

Over the last two decades, public confidence and trust in Government has declined visibly in several Western liberal democracies owing to a distinct lack of opportunities for citizen participation in political processes; and has instead given way instead to disillusionment with current political institutions, actors, and practices. The rise of the Internet as a global communications medium and the advent of digital platforms has opened up huge opportunities and raised new challenges for public institutions and agencies, with digital technology creating new forms of community; empowering citizens and reforming existing power structures in a way that has rendered obsolete or inappropriate many of the tools and processes of traditional democratic politics. Through an analysis of the No. 10 Downing Street ePetitions Initiative based in the United Kingdom, this article seeks to engage with issues related to the innovative use of network technology by Government to involve citizens in policy processes within existing democratic frameworks in order to improve administration, to reform democratic processes, and to renew citizen trust in institutions of governance. In particular, the work seeks to examine whether the application of the new Information and Communication Technologies to participatory democracy in the Government 2.0 era would eventually lead to radical transformations in government functioning, policymaking, and the body politic, or merely to modest, unspectacular political reform and to the emergence of technology-based, obsessive-compulsive pathologies and Internet-based trolling behaviours amongst individuals in society.

Towards a Concept of Political Robustness

2021 ◽  
pp. 003232172199997
Author(s):  
Eva Sørensen ◽  
Christopher Ansell
Keyword(s):  
Political Institutions ◽  
Liberal Democracy ◽  
Research Agenda ◽  
Political System ◽  
Political Polarization ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Systems ◽  
Liberal Democracies ◽  
Societal Challenges ◽  
Strong Capacity

How effective are different political institutions, policy-making processes and policies when it comes to mediating, mitigating and managing vertical and horizontal political tensions caused by disruptive societal challenges and political polarization? The present crisis for liberal democracy places this question high on the research agenda. A concept of political robustness is helpful for identifying the properties of political systems with a strong capacity for coping with political instability and conflict. This article defines political robustness, draws the contours of a conceptual framework for analysis of the political robustness of political systems and applies it illustratively to the political robustness of liberal democracies. We propose that the robustness of a political system depends on how much those who voice political demands—which differs greatly over time and between regimes—are involved in aggregating and integrating political demands into binding decisions.

Media Scandals Are Political Events

2017 ◽  
Vol 70 (1) ◽  
pp. 223-236 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brendan Nyhan
Keyword(s):  
Political Institutions ◽  
The Political ◽  
Key Factors ◽  
Public Officials ◽  
Approval Ratings ◽  
Political Events ◽  
The Press ◽  
Using Data ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Political Scandals

When political scandals erupt in the press, we usually blame misconduct by public officials, but these episodes are political events whose occurrence and severity also depend in part on the political and media context. Using data on U.S. governors, I show that several key factors affect the likelihood and intensity that alleged misconduct will be politicized by the opposition and publicized by the press. First, lower approval ratings, which decrease the cost of politicizing and publicizing an allegation, are generally associated with more frequent and intense media scandals. By contrast, competing news events can crowd potential scandals off the news agenda. However, no evidence is found that opposition control of state political institutions leads to more media scandal. These results suggest that the occurrence of media scandal depends more on circumstance than we typically assume.

Associations and Democracy

1993 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 282-312 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joshua Cohen ◽  
Joel Rogers
Keyword(s):  
Citizen Participation ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Normative Theory ◽  
The Political ◽  
The Public ◽  
Theory Of Justice ◽  
Political Justification ◽  
Distribution Of Resources ◽  
Principles Of Justice ◽  
Political Principles

Since the publication of John Rawls'sA Theory of Justice, normative democratic theory has focused principally on three tasks: refining principles of justice, clarifying the nature of political justification, and exploring the public policies required to ensure a just distribution of education, health care, and other basic resources. Much less attention has been devoted to examining the political institutions and social arrangements that might plausibly implement reasonable political principles. Moreover, the amount of attention paid to issues of organizational and institutional implementation has varied sharply across the different species of normative theory. Neoliberal theorists, concerned chiefly with protecting liberty by taming power, and essentially hostile to the affirmative state, have been far more sensitive to such issues than egalitarian-democratic theorists, who simultaneously embrace classically liberal concerns with choice, egalitarian concerns with the distribution of resources, and a republican emphasis on the values of citizen participation and public debate (we sketch such a conception below in Section I). Neglect of how such values might be implemented has deepened the vulnerability of egalitarian-democratic views to the charge of being unrealistic: “good in theory but not so good in practice.”

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