Changing US attitudes to federalism prioritise states

Significance Once considered the means by which US states could act as ‘laboratories of democracy’ that find new ways to improve governance, the recent construction of federalism as prioritising state autonomy is producing unevenness in democratic practices that is affecting the established rights of individuals. Impacts The erosion of common standards in states’ electoral procedures will further reduce overall trust in the democratic process. Political divisions between state and federal governments will increase during the remainder of the Biden presidency. Emphasising splits with Washington on civil rights issues camouflages state-level economic changes which will also impact voters. Aided by interest groups, states are drafting appeal-proof laws which reduce the ability of courts to enforce national standards.

When do political parties listen to interest groups?

This paper examines when parties listen to interest groups and adopt their input. Interest group information can help parties bolster their positions, and by taking their input into account, parties show that they are responsive to the groups’ interests which can increase their appeal to their constituents. Listening to interest groups can, however, also repel voters who disagree with the groups’ positions. This paper argues that party and issue-level characteristics affect whether the benefits of listening to interest groups exceed the costs. Examining more than 25,000 party-interest group observations on 88 Norwegian policy proposals and using a text reuse approach to measure interest group influence, the findings indicate that public salience, party issue emphasis, interest group coalitions, and government status affect parties’ propensity to listen. This implies that interest groups can be a pertinent source of information for parties under certain circumstances which affects the link between voters and parties.

Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) and Economic Results in the Economic Sector of the Colombian Caribbean

This research is important for several reasons. First, companies are being pressured by different interest groups to contribute to the achievement of the SDGs; second, a very high percentage of companies are not even sensitive to the fact that the SDGs are important for their sustainability; thirdly, researchers, especially those in the social sciences, have not generated knowledge about the state of the SDGs in companies; and fourth, the tourism sector is important for the achievement of the SDGs. The data collection method focuses on the material object “hotel companies” and uses secondary data available in different sources. Among the most relevant results of the research, the authors highlight the following: first, the companies in the sample, although they do not seem to have a formal plan, implement one or more SDGs; in second place, the SDG implemented in the largest number of companies is gender equality; thirdly, the least implemented SDGs are quality education, clean water and sanitation, affordable and non-polluting energy, and reduction of inequalities.

Rising Global Challenges in Energy Demand and the Politics of Climate Change in Government Operations

While most governments subscribe to boosting global energy supplies since it paves the way for improved economies, which translates to better living conditions and gainful employments which in turn boost government operations, the rising global demand for energy from all human endeavors have activated unparalleled consequences on the environment, resulting to harmful repercussions for government operations and processes all over the world. Hence, scholars argue that the rising demand for global energy by industrialized nations have further increased the vulnerability of governments' operations and processes, especially in countries where these energy sources abound. Consequently, governments, multinationals, and various interest groups are divided on how best to address the quandaries resulting from rising global demand for energy and its effect on the environment and government operations. Recommendations that would enhance government operations were proposed.

The Varying Mechanisms of Media Access: Explaining Interest Groups’ Media Visibility across Political Systems

A growing body of studies analyzes interest groups’ media visibility. Yet little is known about how the drivers of media access may vary across different interest group systems. This article focuses on two major mechanisms through which organizations can gain media visibility: media management efforts and the newsworthiness of elite actors. We hypothesize that media effort explains interest groups’ media access more strongly in competitive, pluralist interest group systems and that insider (i.e. “elite”) status does so more strongly in hierarchical, corporatist systems. We analyze surveys and media data on interest groups in the pluralist United Kingdom, the moderately corporatist Denmark, and the more strongly corporatist Finland. As hypothesized, media effort is most effective in the UK and weakest in Finland. However, we find only weak support for the insider status hypothesis: there is some evidence of the expected cross-country differences, but the effects are small and unrobust.

PSYCHOLOGICAL DEFENSE MECHANISMS OF THE SOCIAL NETWORK USERS WITH DIFFERENT LEVELS OF MEANINGFULNESS OF LIFE

During adolescence, at the stage of formation of personal structures, young people spend a significant part of their time on the Internet, especially in social networks. It is there that communication is realized, interest groups are formed, values are broadcast and undergo changes. Thus, the question of ways to protect against heterogeneous content on the web with the support of the individual on his own meanings becomes relevant. A study of psychological defense mechanisms was conducted in 85 boys and girls aged 18-24 years (30.6 % women, Me=22.5; 69.4 % men, Me=21.5) - users of social networks with different levels of meaningfulness of life. The Plutchik-Kellerman-Conte test questionnaire was used to diagnose the mechanisms of psychological defense, the test of life orientations by D.A. Leontiev was used as well. According to the results of the application of the Pearson χCriterion, it was found that with an increase in the level of meaningfulness of life, the arsenal of psychological defense mechanisms of the individual increases and their severity noticeably increases. Respondents with a high level of meaningfulness are dominated by Rationalization, Hypercompensation, Projection; with an average level of meaningfulness - Displacement, Regression, Compensation; with a low level of meaningfulness - Regression, Denial, Rationalization. Using the Spearman correlation analysis, it was revealed that with an increase in the meaningfulness of life, the actualization of psychological defenses "Substitution" (transfer of reaction from one object to another) and "Regression" (return to earlier behaviors) decreases, the overall intensity of defenses decreases.

Strategic Lobbying and the Pressure to Compromise Member Interests

Do lobbyists always advocate for the interests of the members or clients employing them, or, under competing pressures, do they sometimes take positions on bills reflecting the interests of lawmakers or other lobbyists? Do they, in fact, lobby strategically by making choices that balance competing pressures in pursuit of goals like furthering their careers? Most lobbying research assumes that interest groups and lobbyists are the same, but I argue that the interests of lobbyists may be different from those they represent, which I test with a model of strategic lobbying using data on positions lobbyists took on bills in Congress from 2006 to 2017 made available by MapLight. I find that lobbyists sometimes do take positions at odds with member interests under pressure from legislators, other lobbyists, and the president, though some groups can constrain their lobbyists. I conclude by speculating on what this means for lobbying as a form of representation.

How City Lobbyists Bridge Representational Gaps

This chapter develops a simple theory of intergovernmental lobbying that emphasizes the relationship between cities and their elected delegations. Compared to most interest groups, cities are uniquely dependent on the state and federal officials who are elected to represent them by virtue of their political geography. The quality of this representation should therefore influence the demand for the lobbying. This chapter tests several observable implications of this theory using original panel data on annual city lobbying activity in all fifty states. A series of difference-in-differences designs reveal that municipal officials hire lobbyists in response to a wide array of representational challenges, such as hostile redistricting efforts and flips in the partisan composition of their delegations. The results are broadly consistent with a model of intergovernmental lobbying in which cities use lobbyists to compensate for the representational gaps that sometimes emerge in federal systems.

Optimal lobbying pricing

We study a game with two candidates and two interest groups. The groups offer two kinds of costly contributions to achieve political influence: (a) pre-election campaign contributions to their favourite candidates that increase their probability of winning the election and (b) post-election lobbying contributions to the winning candidate to affect the implemented policy. The candidates are the first to act by strategically choosing the lobbying prices they will charge the groups if they are elected. We characterise the equilibrium values of the lobbying prices set by the candidates as well as the equilibrium levels of the campaign and lobbying contributions chosen by the groups. We show, endogenously, that in the case with symmetric groups and symmetric politicians, a candidate announces to charge the group that supports her in the election a lower lobbying price, justifying this way the preferential treatment to certain groups from the politicians in office. We also consider two extensions (asymmetric groups and politicians who do not commit to the announced prices) and show that the results of the benchmark model hold under specific conditions.

Konflik Kepentingan dalam Liberalisasi Perdagangan Garam Tahun 2009-2014

The trade liberalization of the domestic salt sector in Indonesia indicated by tariff reduction faced pros and cons. By using the concept of two-level games and governmental process, the authors found that there was a political upheaval of actors both from bureaucrats and interest groups adorning the political process in salt liberalization in Indonesia. Political upheaval occurred due to the tug of war between the two opposing parties. The pros, represented by the Ministry of Industry, Ministry of Trade, importers, and mafias supported imports of salt to meet domestic needs that cannot be fulfilled by domestic salt productions, both in quality and quantity. While the cons represented by the Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries and salt farmers - both from associations and from non-associations - demanded salt import reduction to support the domestic salt production program and the sustainability of the domestic salt industries. Keywords: liberalization, salt, two level games, political upheaval, tug of war