Search

The recent financial crisis caused by corruption and opacity has led us to examine how the informal economy and other factors affect tax revenues using a three-pillar theoretical analysis. Empirical research has not thoroughly explored the shadow economy's impact on direct and indirect taxes, tax revenues, and the central bank's independence from the shadow economy and tax collection. This paper used 2010–2018 data from 129 countries. The shadow economy and tax revenues had a substantial negative relationship. The shadow economy also changed the fiscal authorities' policy mix by reducing direct taxes and increasing indirect taxes. Finally, the central bank's independence mitigated the shadow economy's negative effects on tax revenues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• We propose a new estimator of the Democracy Effect that overcomes selection effects. • It weighs the behavior of each type of voter by its prevalence in the whole population. • We derive the distribution of this new weights-based estimator of the democracy effect. • Applications to two experiments find a significant effect in one but not the other. Dal Bó et al. (2010) show experimentally that the effect of a policy may be greater when it is democratically selected than when it is exogenously imposed. In this paper we propose a new and simpler estimation strategy that does not require information on the vote of subjects in the exogenous treatment. The new estimation strategy is based on calculating the average behavior under democracy by weighting the behavior of each type of voter by its prevalence in the whole population (and not conditional on the vote outcome). We derive the distribution of this new weights-based estimator of the democracy effect and show it eliminates selection effects under certain conditions. We apply the new estimation strategy to the data in Dal Bó et al. (2010) and to the data from a new experiment for which we cannot use the previous estimation strategy as we do not have information on how subjects would have voted in the exogenous treatment. We find a significant democracy effect in the former but not on the latter application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• This paper investigates the relation between democracy and income per capita over the period 1870–2010. • I use both cross-sectional and panel fixed effects regressions to explore how this relation changed over time. • Results show that democracy positively affects income per capita in the period post-1950, especially after 1990. • Yet, democracy has no significant effect in the period prior to 1950. • In the years before World War II, income per capita is mostly explained by prior income levels and education. Economists and political scientists have long investigated the effect of political institutions on economic development, mainly focusing on cross-sectional analyses for the years after World War II. This paper takes a historical perspective and studies whether this effect can be traced back to 1870 and how it changed over time. Using both cross-sectional and panel fixed effects regressions, I show that democracy positively affects income per capita in the post-1950 period. The effect increases as time passes and becomes especially larger after 1990, i.e. with the great democratization wave induced by the Fall of the Iron Curtain. Yet, I find no effect for the period before 1950, when the variation in income per capita is mostly explained by prior income levels, and in particular, by education. These findings are robust to accounting for income dynamics as well as to using different data sources to measure political institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The election of corrupt politicians remains a crucial global problem, yet our knowledge regarding factors determining electorates' tolerance for corruption remains extremely limited. This paper explores individual characteristics and macroeconomic factors determining an individual's likelihood to (1) vote for her preferred political party even if that party was involved in a corruption scandal, and (2) abstain from voting even when an established non-corrupt party exists. I identify several individual characteristics, such as education and income levels, gender, employment status, political leaning, and trust in local media, and macroeconomic factors, such as income per capita, country-level corruption, and political rights, significantly influencing an individual's voting choice. A few implications emerge. Corruption can be self-sustaining and may undermine democracy by discouraging political participation. While education promotes political participation, it does not reduce citizens' tolerance for corruption by their preferred political parties. Corruption might widen income and gender inequality by lowering the political participation of the poor and women, and extreme political leaning can promote political corruption. • Politicians with corruption and criminal charges continue to get elected. • I study voting behaviors in response to an individual's preferred political party's involvement in corruption. • Voting behaviors vary significantly across different socioeconomic and demographic groups. • Political corruption can widen socioeconomic inequalitiies. • Political corruption might weaken democracy by discouraging political participation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a strategy for fostering digital citizenship at school that transcends the mere use of digital devices or instructional methods focused solely on their use. The core premise of this proposal rests on the need for an ethical-political debate concerning digitization in education. In addition, it emphasizes the need to cultivate a form of digital literacy that blends science and technology with the humanities, and erases the traditional boundaries between making and thinking. The proposed approach encapsulates two primary concerns: firstly, it asserts that digital literacy serves as a foundation for meaningful participation in digital societies; secondly, it underscores the importance of democratizing digital technologies by incorporating the perspectives, needs, and concerns of children. Drawing inspiration from the theories of pragmatism and responsible research and innovation (RRI), we present a conceptual framework for digital citizenship. To operationalize this approach, we adapt John Dewey's pragmatic model of inquiry as a method that can be applied within the school setting. This pragmatic methodology serves as a conduit for developing hands-on experience geared towards developing digital citizenship. The practical implementation of this methodology is illustrated through an actualized experience with 10- and 11-year-old children in a public primary school, regarding the issue of care robots. This paper advocates for a symbiotic relationship between theoretical understanding and practical application, and puts forward a concrete proposal for the integration of digital citizenship in schools in the form of a four-phase procedural model, based on the creation of what we term 'the encounter' between the educational community and the research and development community. • Democratization of technologies requires citizens' conditions of possibility. • "Digital citizenship" integrates the objectives of RRI and pragmatism. • The "encounter" implies a shared responsibility of education and technoscience. • Digital citizenship represents an alternative to neoliberal dynamics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There has been an increase in the use of renewable energy sources over recent years, which has led to a strand of literature examining the determinants of renewable energy consumption. However, most of the research used linear estimation models while reviewing the determinants of renewable energy consumption and ignored the indirect effect of democratic institutions on renewable energy consumption. With the use of a panel threshold model, this paper demonstrates that democratic institutions play a significant role in renewable energy consumption. In countries in which the democratic rights of people are preserved better, higher economic growth leads to increased use of renewable energy consumption; however, there is a negative association between economic growth and renewable energy consumption in less democratic countries. Increased trade openness leads to lower growth rates of renewable energy consumption in less democratic countries, while increases in real oil prices lead to increased renewable energy consumption in less democratic countries but play no significant role in more democratic countries. The findings of this paper suggest that democratic institutions are vital in channelling economic resources (economic growth) to renewable energy, and increased trade openness is associated with lower rates of renewable energy deployment in less democratic countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Our paper highlights how and why state capitalism impacts energy democracy and renewable energy deployment. • The timing of the paper is critical because state capitalism is attracting more power and attention around the world. • We conclude that the values of state capitalism contradict with the necessary conditions of creating energy democracy. • We expect a deterioration or slowness in energy democracy diffusion and renewal energy deployment. The current paper highlights the interconnection between the state capitalist system and the concept of energy democracy. Both terms have attracted the attention of scholars because of significant economic, environmental, and political events. Our paper reviews the literature to show that state capitalism and energy democracy cannot exist together because the values of state capitalism contradict the necessary conditions to generate energy democracy. Moreover, globally, Western capitalist countries are failing in terms of their economies and political performance and yet, at the same time, economic performance is shifting toward state capitalism with less importance given to democratic actions. Therefore, we expect a deterioration or slowness in energy democracy diffusion and renewable energy deployment. For state capitalism to generate geographical representation, it needs to use regulations and spread renewable energy technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the effects of legal central bank independence (CBI) on inflation volatility in developing countries. We discuss why CBI should curb inflation volatility, independently from its effect via lowering inflation levels. Empirical analyses in a sample of 96 developing countries between 1980 and 2014 show that CBI is directly and unconditionally associated with lower volatility. The magnitude of this effect is larger in more democratic countries even after accounting for the endogeneity of CBI and inflation. Our results are robust to alternative measurements of the main variables, different model specifications, and methodologies. • We discuss why central bank independence (CBI) should curb inflation volatility, independently from its effect via lowering inflation levels • With a sample of 96 developing countries (1980-2014) we find that CBI is directly and unconditionally associated with lower volatility • The magnitude of this effect is larger in more democratic countries even after accounting for the endogeneity of CBI and inflation [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A number of papers document that rules governing social dilemmas work better when implemented democratically than when imposed from above (the "effect of democracy"). This paper presents a theoretical model of the effect of democracy and uses laboratory experiments to test a key prediction emerging from the model, namely that the effect of democracy is stronger in small than in large communities. Results from a prisoner's dilemma experiment show that an effect of democracy is present in groups of all sizes but decreases strongly and becomes less persistent as the number of group members increases. In some respects, therefore, democracy appears to work best in small groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Area-based initiatives (ABIs) set out to improve livability and living conditions in disadvantaged urban neighborhoods by making use of extensive citizen participation. ABIs are often criticized for constituting a form of undemocratic tokenism; this creates the illusion that residents have a say over urban development because citizens are only given consultative power. This paper takes a different perspective. We follow the 'systemic turn' in democratic theory, which addresses how direct citizen participation can reduce problems of inclusion, communication, and collective action created by defects in representative democracy. We find evidence that our case, the Grønland-Tøyen ABI in Oslo, Norway, at its best, is able to include new, previously marginalized groups in formulating a collective will that eventually impact city government policy. We argue that these cases show the potential of ABIs to enhance government effectiveness, as the participatory process creates preferable solutions to those produced by city experts. We also argue that it is the narrow scope of the participation schemes, rather than the lack of power devolved to citizens, that limits the ABIs contribution to urban democracy. This hinders the ABI's ability to address social justice and puts the legitimacy of the participatory arrangements at risk. • The paper argues ABIs have the potential to enhance urban democracy by including marginalized groups in decision-making. • The Grønland-Tøyen ABI in Oslo includes marginalized perspectives in policy formulation through targeted recruitment. • The narrow scope of participation schemes limits ABIs' ability to address social justice issues. • The paper argues that this narrow scope, rather than limited citizen power, hinder ABIs contribution to democracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates how unemployment and democracy influence the relationship between youth bulges and political instability. A novel feature of our empirical analysis is that we examine the joint effect of labour markets and the level of democracy in the linkage between youth bulges and political instability. Using political instability data derived from the International Country Risk Guide we conduct a series of panel data analyses over one hundred countries and make use of several sub-samples for the years 1984–2019. We find that youth bulge alone enhances political instability, while high rates of unemployment further enhance its role. Interestingly, we find that moving towards democracy increases its effect upon political instability if greater percentages of youth population and unemployment persist in Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and Middle East and North Africa (MENA) countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A narrative literature review on risk research in electronic government. • Utilizes a theoretical framework to incorporate knowledge from multiple research fields. • Literature is categorized based on theme, unit of analysis, and ontological and epistemological properties. • Categorizes literature in four themes; IT-security, user adoption, implementation barriers, and policy and democracy. • Suggests further research to converge the identified themes in multi-disciplinary research. Electronic government (e-Government) is a research field that studies the use of information and communication technology (ICT) in the public sector. Such initiatives are often associated with promises of transformational government, which is more efficient and utilizes modern technology to increase democratic engagement. However, research shows that several e-Government initiatives fail to deliver the promised benefits and attract a large portion of citizens. Some researchers argue that many initiatives have been driven by technology rather than by the core values of government, which has resulted in weakened democracy. Against this backdrop, the purpose of this paper is to achieve a greater understanding of risk in the e-Government field. Through a literature study, research papers were analyzed and divided into categories based on their unit of analysis, and ontological and epistemological properties. Four themes were identified in the material: IT security, user adoption, implementation barriers, and policy and democracy. This paper concludes by suggesting these themes would provide a suitable point of departure for a risk management framework in e-Government. Thus, future research should explore ways to converge these different strands of literature in multi-disciplinary research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

'Insurantial imaginaries' describes the shared structures of comprehension and action that establishes the social value of insurance and its practical influence. As insurance is a bricolage of economic, legal, political, cultural and moral elements that vary across time and space, for insurance to be intelligible and functional, these imaginaries render this dynamic complexity into stable and discrete forms. In this paper, we explore one such imaginary constituted through the intersection of housing and insurance norms, vis a vis house and contents insurance, in home-owning democracies. Drawing on the cases of Australia and the United Kingdom, we observe how a rise in renting in these countries is resulting in an increase in underinsurance, with renters less likely to insure their assets. This is refashioning a long-standing insurantial imaginary shaped by socio-cultural aspirations for home-ownership, liberal norms of individual autonomy, and links between home-ownership and democracy, including participation in voting. In observing that this imaginary valorises home-ownership and insurance, and problematises renting and underinsurance, we draw attention to the covert power of insurance in co-constituting everyday practices and identify a novel spatialised insurantial imaginary. In grounding our analysis within home-owning democracies, we also make a broader contribution to economic and financial geography by extending understanding of the complex spatial nature of financial mechanisms and processes, and how market-based economies appear to be reconfiguring democracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Land reallocations have been severely restricted in rural China since 1998. Nevertheless, land continues to be reallocated in some regions. Little is known about the forces behind the persistence of land reallocations. In this paper we argue that village self-governance rules affect the implementation of national laws and regulations, and that the election of village leaders and villagers' knowledge of relevant policies are major forces in the use of village self-governance rules for land reallocations. Estimation results based on primary data collected from 124 villages in four provinces in 2015 and 2016 provide evidence that both village democracy and households' knowledge of the Rural Land Contract Law (RLCL) positively affect the incidence of land reallocations. • We assess the impacts of village democracy and households' knowledge of relevant policies on land reallocations. • Democratic election of village leaders encourages land reallocations. • Households' knowledge of the Rural Land Contract Law (RLCL) positively affects the incidence of land reallocations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Justice and democratization are highly important to consider in agri-food transitions. • We propose a deepened understanding of democracy based on four justice dimensions. • Just transitions entail distributive, procedural, recognition and restorative justice. • Democratizing the governance of agri-food transitions requires paradigm shifts. • We highlight six challenges of institutionalizing democracy in transition governance. In this paper, we explore the relation between democracy and justice in governing agri-food transitions. We argue that a deeper understanding of democracy is needed to foster just transitions. First, we present a multi-dimensional understanding of justice in transitions and relate it to scholarship on democratizing transitions. Then, we argue that three paradigm shifts are required to overcome current unsustainable dynamics: (1) from expert toward pluralist understandings of knowledge; (2) from economic materialism toward post-growth strategies; and (3) from anthropocentrism toward reconnecting human-nature relationships. We explicate what these paradigm shifts entail for democratizing transitions from distributive, procedural, recognition and restorative justice perspectives. Finally, we highlight six challenges to institutionalizing deep democratic governance. These entail balancing tensions between: multiple justice dimensions, democracy and urgency, top-down and bottom-up directionalities, local and global scales, realism and idealism, and roles of incumbent scientific systems. This requires thoroughly rethinking transition studies' normative and democratic ambitions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract This paper interrogates the attention that Chelsea Manning has received within the academy. It begins from the observation that despite being responsible for the largest classified document leak, work within Political Geography and International Relations that engages with this data remains notably scant. This claim emerges from a systematic search of peer-reviewed materials using WikiLeaks materials as their empirical base, compiling a database of papers written about Manning. We then examine the possible reasons for this absence, focusing upon a series of what we term 'obfuscating practices' by which state actors complicate access to publicly accessible knowledge, including access to the US Army's Freedom of Information Request Website, and the court documents from Manning's court-martial. Finally, we look at claims of an embargo around the publication of academic work in this area, conceptualising this as a politics of paranoia and commenting upon the implications of this for knowledge curation within the academy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract This paper develops the idea of hesitant democracy, a position that endeavours to stay true to the political spirit of universal equality while being mindful of the potential compromises it imposes on our ethical obligations. Drawing inspiration from the Obama administration's response to the January revolutions in Egypt, and specifically the administration's call for an 'orderly transition', it argues that democracy is fundamentally compromised by the aporatic presence of the bad neighbour: the other that does not recognise my right to exist. The aim of this paper is to reveal how democracy works to manage the bad neighbour through a regime of time. While much has been written about democracy's mechanisms for managing and apportioning power, taking a geographical perspective allows us to see such arrangements as a spatial-temporal regime; a system of procedures, processes and protocols that disrupt temporal linearity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper contributes to recent debates in energy geography, especially to energy transition research and literature, by developing a critical and empirically grounded understanding of energy transitions as expressions of contentious socio-spatial politics, past and present. The paper argues that historical struggles and contentious political practices around energy, so called energy struggles, continue to inform the ongoing and dynamic socio-spatial politics of energy transitions today and often manifest themselves in transition narratives. This analysis is supported by qualitative empirical materials derived from recent fieldwork in Berlin, Germany, which was conducted within the broader left-green movement for a socio-ecological and democratic German Energiewende . A historicisation of contentious politics and energy struggles facilitates an empirically robust framing of energy transition projects as dynamic, multi-actor, and more than eco-technical processes. The paper’s contribution to energy geographies is threefold; firstly, utilising an empirically robust and historically sensitive analysis of the German Energiewende , the paper explores the deep entanglements of history, space and struggle in energy transitions. Secondly, the paper emphasises the need to understand energy transitions as constituted by energy struggles and contentious politics, past and present. Thirdly, the paper examines emergent spaces of energy democracy as part of the Energiewende and explores recent energy democracy demands as a spatial politics of energy transitions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Picasso created his most famous painting, Guernica , in just over three weeks in 1937 after the bombing of the little town of Guernica, located in the Basque region, during the Spanish Civil War. Thousands of innocent people were injured or killed. In its sharp lines, its confusion and its distorted shapes, Guernica shows the suffering and pain of war. Rather than using color, especially vivid reds, Picasso used only black and white paint as symbols of death, mourning and tragedy. He believed that brighter colors might distract the viewer from the agony of the scene. In Guernica , most of the figures have open mouths; hear them shouting, groaning or screaming. The aim of this paper and its relevance to public relations is to examine whether and how visual communication can publicize and frame a military event, the character of military leaders, and warfare as a generic aspect of democratic self-governance. This paper proposes that rhetorical, discursive art can contribute impact to public relations efforts, by focusing attention, making issues public, and making informative, framing, and democratizing statements. Even more important is the ability of art to express moral outrage, especially when giving voice to muted interests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conflicts and contention increasingly challenge the capacity to govern the city. Social conflicts are not only problematic but also reveal a sense of active citizenship and engagement. Agonistic theories argue that governments should embrace contention to improve democracy, but this notion has rarely been made tangible in a framework of analysis. This paper proposes the ‘social-spatial narrative’ (SSN) framework to analyze if, when, where, and how conflicts can create opportunities to strengthen urban democracy. The SSN framework analyzes the social geography and political significance of street-level encounters in processes of urban conflict. It unravels exactly how the micropolitics of citizenship interacts with policy practices at the street-level. Narratives reveal the perspectives of stakeholders, but in order to study how some actors establish power and others get excluded, I argue for a social-spatial approach to critical moments. Critical moments may create liminal moments to (re)negotiate meaning, relationships and repertoires of action. The potential of conflict lies in the dramaturgy of these critical moments, which are therefore pivotal vantage points for critical reflection on the repertoire of urban politics. The paper coalesces theories from conflict studies, geography, and public policy to examine conflict empirically through case studies. I illustrate the framework with a case study in Amsterdam that addresses when and where opportunities to engage plural voices in decision making have emerged, and how local officials have missed these opportunities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When do electoral incentives encourage candidates to target immigrants with discriminatory rhetoric? I address this question through a novel dataset of refugee-related tweets by elites in Lebanon, the country hosting the most Syrian refugees per capita globally. I find that Lebanon's 2018 election, the first under a new set of electoral rules, precipitated an increase in anti-migrant tweets. However, the electoral campaign did not affect candidates' rhetoric uniformly, but rather fueled xenophobic discourses specifically among Christian candidates, whose voter base is particularly hostile towards refugees, and especially among Christians facing the fiercest electoral competition. This paper makes three contributions: theoretically, it elucidates the consequences of partisan competition for xenophobia; conceptually, it relaxes an assumption common in the ethnic institutions literature that ethnic composition is fixed over time; and empirically, it demonstrates how social media data can be harnessed for expanding a nascent literature on migration politics in the Global South. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Voting is essential to assure democracy. The voting process is supported by mission-critical systems that have among others functional, cybersecurity, and data privacy requirements. Comprehensive approaches are required to identify the requirements and technologies needed to design the solution. STPA is a method for identifying system safety requirements that have been extended to identify cybersecurity requirements. LINDDUN is a privacy threat modeling methodology that supports analysts in privacy-eliciting and mitigating threats in software architectures. Blockchain is a technology that uses a peer-to-peer computer network as a public distributed ledger. We propose an approach that uses STPA and its extensions to identify the cybersecurity and data privacy requirements, and incorporates the blockchain technology to design the solution for the mission-critical e-voting system. We built a proof of concept of the solution and performed cybersecurity and data privacy tests. The tests showed that the solution meets the critical cybersecurity and data privacy requirements. The major contributions of this paper include an approach that employs cybersecurity and data privacy threat modeling techniques to enhance the STPA analysis of a system, and the design of a Blockchain-based, verifiable e-voting system. • Secure voting upholds democracy via mission-critical systems. • STPA, enhanced by STRIDE, identifies cybersecurity needs. • LINDDUN aids privacy threat analysis in a software architecture. • Our approach designs a secure, privacy-focused voting system. • Blockchain technology underpins our system for enhanced cybersecurity. • We built a prototype to test cybersecurity and privacy. • Test showed that our solution meets crucial security and privacy needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary Programs that induce citizen participation to improve the quality of government at the local level are the subjects of large amounts of funding and intense debate. This paper combines a randomized control trial of a citizenship training and facilitation program in rural India, with an in-depth, four-year, ethnography of the intervention to understand the underlying mechanisms of change. The quantitative data show no impact from the intervention. Household and village survey data from 100 treatment and 100 control villages show considerable improvement across a wide variety of governance and participation indicators over time, but the differences in the changes between treatment and control villages are not statistically significant. The detailed qualitative data from a 10% subsample allow us to unpack the reasons why the intervention “failed” highlighting the role of variations in the quality of facilitation, lack of top-down support, and difficulties with confronting the stubborn challenge of persistent inequality. However, the qualitative investigation also uncovered subtle treatment effects that are difficult to observe in structured surveys. The paper thus demonstrates that a concerted effort to use “thick description” to uncover process of change using careful and detailed qualitative work can add value to standard impact evaluations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper highlights the geographical contributions made to academic debate about democracy, representation and the role of the political party. It argues that while geographers have made important arguments in relation to the structure and operation of representative democracy, there is scope for paying greater attention to the internal spatial dynamics of the political party. A successful political party requires a balance between the national party machine and its local membership base. This paper draws on research to explore the way in which the British Labour Party sought to renew its local membership base by adopting community organising techniques and establishing a new arms-length organisation, Movement for Change (M4C), between 2010 and 2015. It uses this research material to highlight the importance of the internal balance of power within any political party, and the need for a multi-scalar approach to understanding the successful operation of any political party. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Philosophers now commonly reject the value free ideal for science by arguing that non-epistemic values, including personal or social values, are permissible within the core of scientific research. However, little attention has been paid to the normative political consequences of this position. This paper explores these consequences and shows how political theory is fruitful for proceeding in a world without value-neutral science. I draw attention to an oft-overlooked argument employed by proponents of the value free ideal I dub the "political legitimacy argument." This argument claims that the value-free ideal follows directly from the foundational principles of liberal democracy. If so, then the use of value-laden scientific information within democratic decision making would be illegitimate on purely political grounds. Despite highlighting this unaddressed and important argument, I show how it can be rejected. By appealing to deliberative democratic theory, I demonstrate scientific information can be value-laden and politically legitimate. The deliberative democratic account I develop is well suited for capturing the intuitions of many opponents of the value free ideal and points to a new set of questions for those interested in values in science. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines a series of emerging utopian discourses that call for the creation of autonomous libertarian enclaves on land ceded by or claimed against existing states. These discourses have emerged in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis and can be seen as a response to the crisis on the part of free-market advocates who critique previous waves of neoliberal reform for failing to radically transform the existing structures of the state. Enclave libertarianism seeks to overcome neoliberal capitalism's contradictory relationship to the liberal democratic state by rethinking the state as a “private government service provider” and rethinking citizens as mobile consumers of government services. Citizens are thus called to “vote with their feet” by opting-in to the jurisdiction that best fits their needs and beliefs. The paper argues that these utopian imaginaries are key to understanding specific new manifestations of post-crisis neoliberalism, and calls for more research into the diversity of discourses and imaginaries that circulate through networks of neoliberal actors beyond specific policy initiatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In many developing countries, a rhetorical commitment to decentralization often superficially manifests through the creation of new or smaller administrative units at the sub-national level. In democracies in particular, this raises the question of whether sub-national unit proliferation is intended for winning popular support in elections or addressing the concerns of local citizens. This paper analyzes the motivations for district creation by focusing on Ghana, which is oft-considered one of Africa's more committed countries to decentralization. At the same time, successive governments repeatedly have divided the country into more districts in an espoused effort to more effectively bring services closer to citizens. With an in-depth focus on the most recent increase from 170 to 216 districts between 2008 and 2012, this paper employs national and district census, socioeconomic, and electoral data to examine which districts were split and why. Instead of representing a source of patronage to swing voters or a divide-and-rule strategy in opposition strongholds, the study finds that the incumbent party at the time, the National Democratic Congress (NDC), used re-districting as a tactic of malapportionment and predominantly targeted non-competitive districts where gaining an additional legislative seat in subsequent elections was more likely. Evidence suggests that this pattern is not specific to the NDC and that previous district splitting under the New Patriotic Party (NPP) also focused disproportionately on that party's safe seats. Overall, the paper emphasizes the need for according greater consideration to underlying institutional aspects, particularly electoral rules and executive-legislative relations, when analyzing the motivations for territorial reforms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The plurality vote (first-past-the-post) is one of the most restrictive electoral systems used for parliamentary elections. Empirically, its deterring effect on small political parties has been widely studied at the national level, while theoretical arguments highlight its strategic effect at the district level. This paper argues that the strategic effect, reducing the votes expressed for minor parties in plurality vote systems, is uneven across districts. The strongest strategic effect is expected in very competitive constituencies, where the two strongest candidates are in close competition with each other. The paper estimates the effect empirically, based on electoral results for minor political parties from six parliamentary democracies using the plurality vote. The methodology proposed in this paper allows me to separate sociological or geographical factors from strategic factors affecting party support. Results show that due to the strategic effect, minor parties lose some 15% of their votes in very competitive districts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary This paper contributes to the aid effectiveness literature by examining the determinants of aid project and program success. Both macro (country level) and micro (project level) determinants are considered. The paper employs a variety of econometric techniques to examine evaluation data for countries in the Asia-Pacific from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for period 1970–2010. At the macro level, the rate of per capita income growth is positively associated with aid project and program success. Aid interventions are found to have a lower probability of success in the Pacific and, surprisingly, in countries with higher levels of democracy. There is little association between project and program ratings and the level of governance. At the micro level, projects are more likely to be successful than programs, as are larger aid interventions. Interventions which received less funding than anticipated, possibly due to capacity constraints, are found to have a lower probability of success. Despite these statistically significant findings, both macro and micro variables contribute very little to the explanatory power of models explaining the variation in project and program outcomes. The paper concludes that the ADB should reconsider its performance based aid allocation model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Current efforts to build Sustainable Development Measurements have stumbled with problems of arbitrary structure, valuation,artificial ignorance suppression, and democratic illegitimacy. This paper proposes a new method to track and compare the Sustainable Development (SD) of countries, building an Interval of Sustainable Development (ISD). The ISD is capable of overcoming these problems by reporting all possible structures instead of only one, by relying on a variety of existing economic, social, and environmental variables, by embodying confidence levels in the measurement itself, and by facilitating democratic deliberation. By doing this, the ISD is capable of showing, subject to a confidence level, how a country is performing with respect to SD. This paper also applies this method specifying parameters and using available data for 180 countries during 1990–2011. During this 22-year period, results for a selection of countries are presented to illustrate the advantages and limitations of this proposal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper joins the debate on the relationship between inequality and the environment. Departing from the past contributions, which focused either on the theories of environmental behavior or on economic interests, this paper develops arguments about “political choice” mechanisms that help explain the linkages between inequality and national policymaking related to the establishment of protected areas. A cross-national analysis of the interactions between inequality, democracy and the legal designation of protected areas in a global sample of 137 countries shows that, ceteris paribus, the effects of inequality vary depending on the strength of democracy: in relatively democratic countries inequality is associated with less land in protected areas, whereas in relatively undemocratic countries the reverse is true. The highly significant effects of inequality undermine the democratic dividend in the arena of nature conservation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is a critical appraisal of Schläpfer's (2016) proposal of a Democratic Valuation (DV) methodology to value public goods. While we appreciate attempts to address the shortcomings of conventional stated preference techniques, we have some reservations regarding DV. Our paper critically reviews the following characteristics of the proposed methodology: i) referendum format as decision-making mechanism, ii) single-dimensionality in the description of the policy issue to be valued, and iii) preference formation through provision of detailed information. Finally, we ‘calibrate’ Democratic Valuation against another alternative to conventional stated preference approaches, namely Deliberative Monetary Valuation (DMV). We argue that DMV addresses many of Schläpfer's concerns regarding stated preference techniques and at the same time avoids some of the problems generated by DV. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 2008 Planning Act introduced a new approach for determining large ('nationally significant') infrastructure projects in a new national process that would unify consent regimes and speed up decisions within fixed timescales outside of local planning. Major housing schemes have been excluded from this process, despite repeated attempts by recent UK governments to allocate more land for housebuilding through parallel reforms to the English planning system. This paper explores why Nationally Significant Infrastructure Planning (NSIP) has not been used for housing schemes, using the example of housing to reflect on debates about potential democratic deficits in the NSIP process and the selective politicisation of infrastructure planning in England. In doing so, the paper makes a distinctive contribution to practice and research by linking together debates about the politics of planning for housing in England and international literature on democratic process in the delivery of critical infrastructure. • The Nationally Significant Infrastructure Planning (NSIP) regime in England currently excludes housing. • NSIP has the potential to make a contribution to addressing the housing delivery challenge in England. • Interest in the NSIPs for housing reflects the absence of a strategic approach to housing planning and delivery. • Bringing housing into the regime would be politically challenging because of the perceived democratic deficit of the NSIP regime. • This reveals wider insights into how infrastructure planning is insulated from prevailing democratic process, often linked to pro-development state strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In last thirty years Poland has gone a long way toward democracy and decentralization. Role of public participation in planning is increasing rapidly and recently many new instruments of empowering the community is being introduced, participatory budgeting is one of the most important. On the other hand, urban regeneration is one of the most important challenges of polish cities are facing. Technical and transport infrastructure investments are, in most cases, financed by public sphere. We can also observe increasing role of NGO's in neighbourhood regeneration process but their scope of actions is mostly limited to soft projects. The paper tries to answer the question whether participatory budget can fill this gap and be a source of financing local community needs. This paper shows the creation and evolution of participatory budgets in Poland as well as the process of their implementation including examples of projects financed from participatory budget in Polish cities. It consists of analyses of participatory budgets’ expenditures structure and influence of the projects on the neighbourhood and the city. It also assesses long term influence and identify barriers, challenges and opportunities of using this instrument in urban regeneration process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper develops the Post-critical approach to challenge the assumptions of both the Mainstream and the Critical approaches in understanding trans-boundary water management. It argues that local participation in trans-boundary water governance may not necessarily create benefits for poor people. Drawing on the Volta River Basin in West Africa as a case study, it suggests that building new participatory governance structures, based on the existing traditional chieftaincy authority structures, is vulnerable to elite capture. Bringing in democratic institutions, such as the quota system to ensure a minimum numbers of female representatives in the local trans-boundary water committee, overlaps with the old institutions, and that results in reinforcing gender inequalities. The paper highlights the interplay between agency and structure in understanding the potential and the limitations of community empowerment in the trans-boundary water governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While it is commonly believed that democracy influences public service provision, comparably few studies have assessed how recent democratisation in developing countries has impacted tangible public service outcomes for economically deprived population shares. Using panel data from 46 sub-Saharan African countries between 1990 and 2010 as well as qualitative country case examples from Ghana, Swaziland, Uganda, Senegal and Rwanda, this paper examines considerable and growing rural electrification variations in terms of political, economic and demographic variables. The analyses suggest that democracy is strongly associated with rural electrification increases and rural versus urban electrification inequality decreases in sub-Saharan Africa. This result is robust to a variety of political, economic and demographic control variables as well as different econometric modelling assumptions. The paper further presents novel multi-variant evidence supporting that contested elections with strong oppositions as well as effective policy implementing institutions may act as intervening institutional mechanisms that explain a part of democracy's association with rural electricity provision. Higher income per capita, national savings and population densities may further foster rural electrification, while high foreign aid shares of GDP and rural population percentages may pose challenges to access equality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper attempts to examine the determinants of two types of citizens' e-participation – initiated by the citizens and the government. The factors of e-participation were delineated from a review of democracy and e-participation literature and a regression model was developed. On the basis of 407 responses collected through an online and offline survey among the Indian participants, the model was tested. The analysis showed that the citizens' participation efficacy and values determine e-participation of both types. For the citizens' initiatives freedom to participate and legal support for the participation efforts were also the determining factors. The extant research on types of e-participation services is inadequate. The paper attempted to fill the gap and contributes in i) explaining the importance of facilitating multiple stakeholders' initiatives for improved citizens' participation ii) differentiating determining factors among e-participation initiatives and iii) suggesting policy recommendations for successful e-participation initiatives. The future research can focus on determinants for collaborative service initiatives from the citizens and government. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What explains variation across countries in the effect of democratization on child mortality rates? Democratic transitions, on average, improve health outcomes but there is substantial variation across countries in whether democratization leads to lower-than-expected child mortality post-transition. As yet, there is no convincing quantitative explanation for this variation. In this paper, we argue that whether you have a protest-led or violence-led democratic transition alters the trajectory of child mortality post-transition. Our paper makes two contributions. First, we offer a more detailed account of how the type of resistance movement promoting regime change affects health post-transition. We also draw on novel data to categorise the movements producing democratic transitions as violent or peaceful, moving beyond earlier work which operationalised peaceful democratizations in terms of battle-related deaths. Second, we extend earlier research by examining whether the nature of the democratization movement constitutes a necessary cause of higher or lower-than-expected child mortality following democratization. Across 51 transitions, countries that have a protest-led transition have lower-than-expected child mortality rates after the transition to democracy than countries with other kinds of movements (β = −0.17, p = 0.003). Countries with violence-led transitions, meanwhile, have, on average, higher-than-expected child mortality rates after their transition (β = 0.20, p = 0.001). These associations hold when we adjust for covariates (including all possible combinations of various confounding variables). We also find evidence that protest-led transitions may be a necessary condition for avoiding increased child mortality post-transition. Finally, we conduct a deviant case analysis of transitions that appear to be contrary to our theory, finding that these cases are likely instances of measurement error. Democratization may not always improve health, but such health improvements are more likely when regime change is protest-led. This is because such movements are more likely to build broad coalitions committed to consensual politics post-transition, a critical feature of successful democracies. • The effect of democratization on child mortality varies across contexts. • We argue that protest-led democratization lowers child mortality post-transition. • Countries with protest-led transitions do, in fact, have lower mortality rates. • Indeed, protest-led transitions may be a necessary cause of mortality reductions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a wide-ranging debate about the merits and demerits of searching for, and sending messages to, extraterrestrial intelligences (SETI and METI). There is however reasonable (but not universal) consensus that replying to a message from an extraterrestrial intelligence should not be done unilaterally, without consultation with wider society and the rest of the world. But how should this consultation actually work? In this paper we discuss various ways that decision making in such a scenario could be done democratically, and gain legitimacy. In particular we consider a scientist-led response, a politician-led response, deciding a response using a referendum, and finally using citizens' assemblies. We present the results of a survey of a representative survey of 2000 people in the UK on how they thought a response should best be determined, and finally discuss parallels to how the public is responding to scientific expertise in the COVID-19 Pandemic. • Democratic accountability regarding communication with extra-terrestrials. • How to make the decision whether or not to communicate with aliens. • Democracy, SETI and METI. • SETI and METI: Who has the right to decide what messages we send to aliens. • Voting in a referendum, or electing representatives, to determine response to First Contact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Employing various panel data analyses including threshold panel model, this paper has examined how economic status determines the relationship among democracy, macroeconomic variables and happiness. Considering panel data of 83 countries over the time period from 2010 to 2016, this study tries to establish that, factors determining subjective well-being (SWB) or life satisfaction has different effects differently for low and high income countries. This study has found that though per capita GDP has no direct impact on happiness, it establishes the role of other variables in determining happiness. It has been found that countries with higher level of income democratic quality and inflation have significant impact on happiness. The impact of democratic quality is positive whereas the impact is negative in case of inflation. Moreover, inequality and health expenditure per capita by the government respectively have negative and positive impact in case of low income countries. It is also evident that unemployment has a strict negative impact across all type of countries but the magnitude is higher in low income countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• This paper explores the developmental consequences of introducing slum-level elections to formally select slum representatives. • Slum elections help improve the provision of public goods and services only in communities that are highly organized. • First, in communities that are organized, residents are better able to collectively demand and monitor public goods provision, making slum leaders more responsive. • Second, organizational structures and experiences encourage the emergence of new leaders that challenge old brokers, skewing political competition towards public goods provision. Does electoral democracy improve public goods provision for the poor? This paper considers whether and how the introduction of elections to choose slum-level representatives affects the provision of basic public goods and services in these communities. To address this question I take advantage of an unexpected interruption in the judicial process that introduced elections in urban slums in Argentina. Drawing on an original household survey, an expert survey, and insights from in-depth interviews, I show that the introduction of elections enhanced public goods and services provision only in slums with high organizational density. In such a context, existing organizational structures and citizens' organizational experience facilitated individuals' endeavors to demand and monitor the provision of public goods and the emergence of new leaders other than partisan brokers that skewed political competition towards the provision of public goods. These findings contribute to our understanding of the relationship between elections, organizational activity and public goods provision in urban informal settlements and have implications for development practitioners: Under the right conditions, the democratic selection of slum intermediaries vis-à-vis the state can substantially improve the livelihood of these communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper chronicles the rhetorical mechanisms that fostered a potentially radical re-thinking of water rights and property in a most unlikely place: the libertarian Western U.S., and mobilized by the least likely of actors: state officials. There is growing interest, in geography and beyond, in the question of what constitutes the “properly political” in contexts where dissent is actively forestalled by those with power. Much has been written about the “properly political” as the disruption of the established order by previously excluded actors. Comparatively less research, however, has focused on the “conditions of possibility” that might exist within ostensibly “post-political” governing arenas. This paper deepens our understanding of this by examining a participatory water planning group in Montana, which was convened by the state to develop recommendations for a new state water plan. The group was inspired by an alternative drought-management model called “shared giving.” Imbued with principles of “collectivism” and “equality,” the model was strategically (and necessarily) promoted through the discursive shell of the existing prior appropriation system. This was accomplished not by an oppositional force of marginalized actors, but state officials that are rarely, if ever, deemed “disruptive,” and through tactics that are best characterized as post-political. We interpret this case as reflecting a hybrid governing assemblage that highlights both post-political closure and transformative possibilities simultaneously, and conclude by suggesting that the post-political concept, itself, risks foreclosing on conditions whereby fruitful outcomes might become possible from within established governing frameworks otherwise written-off as post-political. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This small scale interpretive study explores children’s perspectives on the extent to which Philosophy for Children (P4C) is a participatory pedagogy. The paper is based on a conceptualisation which views participation as embedded in everyday interactions between children and adults. A theoretical rationale is then provided enabling a consideration of participation from the perspective of pedagogy through the central positioning of dialogue. A class of twenty two nine and ten year old children engaged in weekly, teacher facilitated P4C sessions over a three month period. Seven children from the class were individually interviewed. A cross case thematic analysis of transcripts was employed and this paper examines one thematic network constructed on the global theme of talking rights. Findings suggest that the children viewed P4C as offering opportunity to exercise the right to express opinion. The children also appeared to acknowledge the reciprocal nature of these rights as they accepted responsibility to receive the opinions of others. There was indication that they used the opinions of others to scrutinise their own perspectives. The children’s comments suggest they benefited from the support of peers and teacher as they worked out how to respond to one another in dialogue. They also indicated the need to develop some specific skills to enable their participation in whole class dialogue and viewed ground rules and facilitation strategies as helpful. Finally, despite some small group dominance and negativity towards peers requiring obvious teacher support, the findings suggest that the children noticed changes to the pattern and control of talk over the course of weekly P4C sessions. The shifts noted by the children are interpreted here as reflecting some negotiation of epistemic authority within the P4C sessions. Some sensitive social and political issues raised by the findings highlight the need to attend to the quality of relationships between children and the importance of practitioner reflexivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Building on Silverstein's (2003, 2016) oinoglossia (wine talk), this paper argues for a closely related genre: brutoglossia , (craft) beer talk. Drawing on a corpus of craft beer and brewery descriptions from Toronto, Canada, I argue that the appropriation of wine terminology and tasting practices (re)configures beer brewers and drinkers as 'elite' and 'classy.' The 'specialist' lexical and morphosyntactic components of wine discourse provide the higher order of indexicality through which the emergent technical beer terminology is to be interpreted. Together, the descriptions can be read as fields of indexicalities, mapping linguistic and semiotic variables associated with a particular social object: beer. • Through the appropriation of wine terminology and tasting practice, beer is (re)configured into something 'classy.' • Beer's status as a craft commodity is in large part constructed through the specialized terminology required to describe it. • Though breweries produce elements of democratic inclusivity, they simultaneously reinforce and reproduce class distinctions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the impact of democratisation on tax structure in an agrarian economy where goods can be produced at home for self-consumption. We first develop a model of optimal taxation with heterogeneous agents where the good produced in the market is subject to a consumption tax, whereas the homogeneous good produced at home is burdened by a direct tax (such as land tithes). Contrary to conventional theory, our model suggests that extension of the voting franchise to poorer segments of the population exerts a negative impact on the share of direct to indirect taxes. Using unique national and regional tax data for the Kingdom of Greece - a typical agrarian economy where universal male suffrage was established in 1864 - we provide consistent empirical evidence. Greek governments adjusted tax policy in order to meet the preferences of the newly enfranchised electorate that constituted mostly peasants and farmers. This group was harmed substantially by direct taxes on land but was able to avoid indirect taxes through self-consumption. We also analyse a sample of 12 European countries over the same period and provide evidence for a similar change in the tax structure when the agricultural sector dominates the economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most regional trade agreements ascribe great importance to member country's political regimes of which preference is given to democratisation. In this paper, we investigate the influence of political regimes on bilateral trade in West Africa. We exploit two different ratings for political regime: Freedom House and Polity IV and applied Poisson pseudo maximum likelihood estimation technique. The empirical results reveal that political regime is significant to trade determination. Result portrays that generally; democratic regime positively and significantly influences bilateral trade and is homogenous in export and import. In West Africa, being import dependent, such influence is only robust as importer. We further noted that the influence of political regime on bilateral trade depends on the region and level of income; favourable to high-income Western countries. The results further indicate that two countries of similar political regimes trade less which is consistent in West African region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A transition towards a low-carbon energy system poses new challenges to democratic participation. The transition to clean energy requires a better understanding of crosscutting sociocultural and sociopolitical issues, such as democratic institutions, to devise effective ways of involving citizens and better understand how energy-related views and attitudes are embedded in democratic practice. This paper discusses how the emergence of energy citizenship complies with and holds the possibility for institutional innovation regarding citizen participation. The research question considers how the conceptual innovation of energy citizenship, that is associated with new forms of citizen engagement in fossil fuel reduction policy, positions itself in the debate on participation as an institutionalised value of democracy. Four archetypes of energy citizenship are compared with different forms of democratic citizen participation, and their innovative potential is discussed. This paper is based on the theory of institutions, innovation, and citizen participation. • How does the concept of energy citizenship comply with understandings of democratic participation? • Does energy citizenship carry a potential for innovating democratic institutions? • A disruptive potential appear most prominent regarding energy citizenship as technological trial and as grassrots innovation. • This depends on energy citizens being necessary partners for energy producers and public authorities. • It also depends on whether they reach a critical mass. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Good health is crucial for human and economic development. In particular poor health in childhood is of utmost concern since it causes irreversible damage and has implications later in life. Recent research suggests globalization is a strong force affecting adult and child health outcomes. Yet, there is much unexplained variation with respect to the globalization effect on child health, in particular in low- and middle-income countries. One factor that could explain such variation across countries is the quality of democracy. Using panel data for 70 developing countries between 1970 and 2009 this paper disentangles the relationship between globalization, democracy, and child health. Specifically the paper examines how globalization and a country's democratic status and historical experience with democracy, respectively, affect infant mortality. In line with previous research, results suggest that globalization reduces infant mortality and that the level of democracy in a country generally improves child health outcomes. Additionally, democracy matters for the size of the globalization effect on child health. If for example Côte d’Ivoire had been a democracy in the 2000–2009 period, this effect would translate into 1200 fewer infant deaths in an average year compared to the situation without democracy. We also find that nutrition is the most important mediator in the relationship. To conclude, globalization and democracy together associate with better child health in developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Various scholars have critically reflected upon transition management, some explicitly called for thinking beyond existing paradigms of institutional and deliberative democracy. Taking up this challenge, this paper seeks to explore inherent democratic tensions of managing (socio-technical) transitions. To this end, it presents a ‘post-foundational’ understanding of democratic politics, contrasting it to traditional notions of democracy that dominate transition approaches. To explore the relationship between transition management and post-foundational democracy, the paper first empirically explores how the democratic politics of an urban regeneration process play out in a Dutch delta city (Rotterdam's city ports). This case illustrates that contrary to traditional conceptions of democracy, a more ‘extra-institutional’ transition management process can create space for a different type of democratic governance. We argue that post-foundational democracy reframes our understanding of the politics of governing (socio-technical) transitions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Collaborative/communicative planning theorists have engaged Habermas’s idea of communicative rationality to offer a framework for a more democratic decision-making process. However, critics of communicative rationality and its underlying assumptions raise fundamental questions about the very possibility of an actually existing collaborative planning process. While collaborative planning theory provides a worthwhile ideal, the assumptions of bracketing status difference, identifying common good and building consensus, problematize its application in real life. In fact, collaborative planning principles provide a means for the market-driven local state and planning agencies to reinforce present neoliberal hegemony. While such processes may result in community empowerment and greater democracy under certain conditions, market-led planning projects are more likely to co-opt the high democratic principles of collaborative/communicative planning theory and nurture a post-political condition. This paper elaborates these points by examining the planning process of the Atlanta BeltLine as an instance of neoliberal governance. Using qualitative research methods this paper analyzes the BeltLine’s community engagement effort to democratize the planning process in the Historic Fourth Ward neighborhood in Atlanta. It argues that BeltLine-like market-led planning efforts tactfully take advantage of the problematic principles of collaborative planning theory to create an ostensibly democratic decision-making process that in reality reinforces the neoliberal hegemony instead of challenging it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]