VI National and Area Studies / Études Nationales Et Régionales
| Published date | 01 February 2019 |
| Date | 01 February 2019 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/002083451906900106 |
| Subject Matter | Abstracts |
118
VI
NATIONAL AND AREA STUDIES
ÉTUDES NATIONALES ET RÉGIONALES
69.1145 ABOUASSI, Khaldoun ; BOWMAN, Ann O’M. — Toward a
conditional analysis of NGO-local government relations
in developing countries. Perspectives on Public Manage-
ment and Governance 1(3), Sept. 2018 : 223-235.
Across the globe, governments continue to seek ways to enhance the
provision of public services. Shifts toward decentralization to empower
local governments have also been met by an increased engagement of
NGOs in service delivery. As a result, there are more venues for interac-
tion between these two sets of acto rs at the local level. Existing literature
is nascent when it comes to examining the relationships between NGOs
and local government in the developing world. We identify and discuss
five features that can condition these relationships: origin of the relation-
ships, boundaries of the relationships, policy authority, structural ar-
rangements, and the local context. These five features are interconnect-
ed and should help researchers structure subsequent scholarly studies
of NGO-local government interactions as well as guide practitioners
working in development. [R]
69.1146 ALAMI, Ilias — Capital accumulation and capital controls
in South Africa: a class perspective. Review of African Po-
litical Economy 156, June 2018 : 223-249.
The article analyzes capital controls (CC) in South Africa in light of the
historically and geographically specific social relations of production. The
analysis draws upon quantitative data from the national accounts, de-
scriptive data on CC from policy documents, and interviews conducted
during a period of extensive fieldwork. The article makes three main
arguments. First, CC have played a key role in facilitating the reproduc-
tion of essential capitalist social forms, namely the state and money, and
have been instrumental in the management of class relations. Second,
the concrete forms that CC have taken are inseparable from the histori-
cal-geographical specificity of accumulation and the uneven unfolding of
crises and social class struggles. Third, working classes have had an
active (though indirect) role in shaping CC policies. [R, abr .] [See Abstr.
69.1316]
69.1147 ALDRICH, Richard J. ; HERRINGTON, Lewis — Secrets,
hostages, and ransoms: British kidnap policy in histori-
cal perspective. Review of International Studies 44(4), Oct.
2018 : 738-759.
Britain has long taken a firm public line against terrorist ransom, insisting
that yielding to terrorist demands only encourages further acts of intimi-
dation and kidnapping. Hitherto, academic research has tended to take
these assertions of piety at face value. This article uses a historical
approach to show that the British position has shifted over time and was
often more complex and pragmatic. Indeed, Britain’s position with regard
to kidnap and ransom insurance has, until quite recently, been rather
ambiguous. We use the British case to suggest that, rather than dividing
states into groups that make concessions and those that do not, it is
perhaps better to recognize there is often a broad spectrum of positions,
sometimes held by different parts of the same government, together with
the private security companies that move in the shadows on their behalf.
[R, abr.]
69.1148 ALLÈS, Delphine — Indonésie: les angles morts de la lutte
contre le terrorisme (Indonesia: the blind spots of the
fight against terrorism). Revue Défense nationale 812, été
2018 : 59-63.
L’Indonésie doit faire face à une montée du terrorisme djihadiste qui
monopolise l’attention du gouvernement, alors même que des tensions
sectaires accroissent les violences et traduisent la complexité d’une
société indonésienne très crispée sur le plan identitaire. [R] [See Abstr.
69.985]
69.1149 ANG Yuen Yuen — Domestic flying geese: industrial
transfer and delayed policy diffus ion in China. China
Quarterly 234, June 2018 : 420-443.
This study illuminates the important yet under-studied phenomenon of
industrial transfer in China: the migration of capital and investment from
wealthy coastal areas into poorer central and western provinces, begin-
ning in the 2000s. By 2015, the value of domestic investment in five
central provinces alone was 2.5 times that of foreign investment
throughout China. Compared to the original “flying geese” model of tiered
production in Asia, China's experience is distinct in three ways: (1)
industrial transfer occurred domestically, rather than across nations; (2)
sub-national transfer followed cross-national transfer; and (3) industrial
migration is accompanied by a delayed replication of government poli-
cies and practices. While coastal locales today resolve to expel low-end
industries, inland governments cannot afford to be selective and have
only recently adopted the aggressive investment promotion tactics that
coastal cities abandoned years ago. [R, abr.]
69.1150 ARNEIL, Barbara — Domestic colonies in Canada: re-
thinking the definition of colony. Canadian Journal of Polit-
ical Science 51(3), Sept. 2018 : 497-519.
I reconsider the meaning of colony in light of the existence of domestic
colonies in Canada around the turn of the 20th c. The two case studies
examined are farm colonies for the mentally disabled and ill in Ontario
and British Columbia and utopian colonies for Doukhobors in Saskatch-
ewan. I show how both kinds of colonies are characterized by the same
three principles found in Lockean settler colonialism: segregation, agrari-
an labour on uncultivated soil and improvement/cultivation of people and
land. Defining “colony” in this way is theoretically interesting as it is
different from the definition found in most dictionaries and post-colonial
scholarship. There is also an inherent contradiction within domestic
colonies as they both support state power but also challenge the princi-
ples of domination, individualism, private property and sovereignty upon
which Canada was founded. [R, abr.]
69.1151 ARTER, David — The what, why’s and how’s of constitu-
ency service. Representation 54(1), Apr. 2018 : 5-21.
This Special Issue addresses the ‘what’, ‘why’s’ and ‘how’s’ of constitu-
ency service in the five Nordic states of Denmark, Finland, Iceland,
Norway and Sweden. Whilst there are some Nordic answers to the
‘who?’ question, there is virtually nothing on the ‘how’ question, namely
how MPs represent the citizenry and the role constituency service may
or may not play in the representation process. In this Introduction we (1)
define the term and identify four main aspects of constituency service;
(2) draw on the comparative literature to consider the institutional and
non-institutional variables that might be expected to prompt parliamentar-
ians to undertake constituency service and shape the form it takes; (3)
view the ‘how question’ from a comparative perspective and consider
ways in which it might be anticipated that Nordic legislators would under-
take constituency service. [R] [F irst article of a thematic issue on "Con-
stituency representation in the Nordic countries", edited and introduced
by David ARTER and Tapio RAUNIO. See also Abstr. 69.370, 372, 375,
398, 409]
69.1152 ASKIM, Jostein ; HJELMAR, Ulf ; PEDERSEN, Lene Holm —
Turning innovation into evidence based policies: lessons
learned from Free Commune Experiments. Scandinavian
Political Studies 41(4), Dec. 2018 : 288-308.
This article discusses potential contributions from 30 years of experience
in the Nordic countries with a reform program called ‘Free Commune
Experiments’ (FCEs). Here, local authorities are granted waivers from
legislation to experiment with normally ‘illegal’ practices. The article asks
if the FCEs have managed to synthesize local governments’ potential to
generate novel practices with central government’s potential to evaluate,
verify and disseminate effective innovations. The conclusion is that the
FCEs have been effective generators of policy ideas, but that limited
knowledge has been produced about the effects of innovative practices
and whether or not new policies should be replicated beyond ‘test sites’.
With some changes, it is argued that the program could nonetheless be
a strategy worth emulating beyond the Nordic countries. [R, abr.]
69.1153 ASUNKA, Joseph ; AFULANI, Patience A. — Politics and
public service provision in Africa’s new democracies. In-
ternational Journal of Politics, Culture and Society 31(3),
Sept. 2018 : 207-227.
In developing democracies with fledgling institutions, the provision of
basic public services is often deeply political. In this paper, we investi-
gate the effect of one political driver of basic service delivery: the degree
of partisan affinities among voters. W e argue that strong partisanship
undermines public service delivery in at least two ways: first, it reduces
public officials’ incentive to exert effort in providing quality basic services
to citizens; second, it weakens accountability of frontline service provid-
ers. Data from a UNICEF project in Ghana provide strong support for this
Études nationales et régionales
119
argument. We find that the quantity and quality of basic public services is
significantly lower in strongly partisan districts. [R, abr.]
69.1154 BANÉGAS, Richard — La politique par le bas-fond: pou-
voir local, violence milicienne et recompositions sociales
dans la Côte d’Ivoire "post-conflit" (Slum politics: local
power, militia violence and social re-composition in
“post-conflict” Côte d’Ivoire). Afrique contemporaine 263-
264, 2018 : 103-120.
As a counterpoint to very macropolitical “post-conflict” studies, this article
examines post-war Côte d’Ivoire from a micro-local perspective, via a
focus on the Gobelet slum in Abidjan where a group of “homeless Young
Patriots” took control. The article shows how these youth wielded patriot-
ism to leverage their precarity. It examines local conflicts and the com-
promises that arose from this seizure of power. Some of these arrange-
ments indicate that the social revolution in the slum transformed into a
passive revolution in the post-war period. In an epilogue, the article
suggests that more than the change in regime, it was the violence of the
“Emerging” class that finally put an end to this political-generational
experience in the Gobelet slum. [R] [See Abstr. 69.418]
69.1155 BEAUDREAU, Bernard C. ; TAYLOR, Jason E. — Why did
the Roosevelt administration think cartels, higher wages,
and shorter workweeks would promote recovery from the
Great Depression? Independent Review 23(1), Summer
2018 : 91-107.
President F. D. Roosevelt’s National Industrial Recovery Act of 1933
authorized policies that today’s mainstream economic theory views as
contractionary. During the depths of the Great Depression, however,
many viewed the legislation not as a risky departure from orthodoxy, but
instead as a collection of familiar measures that had already been im-
plemented on a smaller scale. [R]
69.1156 BÉLAND, Daniel ; MEDRANO, Anahely ; ROCCO, Philip —
Federalism and the politics of bottom-up social policy
diffusion in the United States, Mexico, and Canada. Politi-
cal Science Quarterly 133(3), Fall 2018 : 527-560.
The authors investigate how social policies adopted at the substate level
in Canada, Mexico, and the US impacted policy reform at the national
level. Their comparative analysis sheds light on the role of institutional
structures and policy networks in shaping what they call “bottom up”
social policy diffusion. [R]
69.1157 BELLIN, Eva — The puzzle of democratic divergence in
the Arab world: theory confronts experience in Egypt
and Tunisia. Political Science Quarterly 133(3), Fall 2018 :
435-474.
The author explores the divergent political trajectories pursued by Egypt
and Tunisia after the Arab Spring. She argues that factors such as socio-
economic development, mass culture, and prior regime character were
less consequential in shaping the chances of democratic transition than
were factors such as civil society, the character of the military, and
leadership. [R]
69.1158 BEN-SHALOM, Uzi, ed. — Israel’s post-heroic condition.
Israel Affairs 24(4), Aug. 2018 : 569-731.
Introduction by the editor, pp. 569-571. Articles by Gerald M. STEIN-
BERG, "Counter-terror and soft power: NGO claims to military and legal
expertise and Israeli responses", pp. 572-592; Ella BEN-ATAR, "On-air
under fire: media and community resilience in post-heroic wars", pp. 593-
614; Kertcher CHEN, "An Ouroboros health strategy: how Israelis adopt-
ed health as a post-heroic strategy in their conflict with the Palestinians",
pp. 615-633; Nissim LEON, "Heroic text in a post-heroic environment:
national liturgy in Mizrahi ultra-Orthodox prayer books", pp. 634-647;
Amir MASHIACH, "Going on the offensive: the religious Zionist rabbinic
ethos in Judea and Samaria as a response to post-heroism", pp. 648-
663; Rafi MANN, "The making of military heroes by the Israeli media",
pp. 664-685; Eitan SHAMIR, "Israel’s post-heroic wars: exploring the
influence of American military concepts on Israel’s adaptation of post-
heroic warfare", pp. 686-706; Batia BEN-HADOR, Meytal ERAN-JONA
and Christopher DANDEKER, "Perceptions of the future battlefield in
Israel vs. Western countries", pp. 707-731.
69.1159 BERGE, Benjamin von dem ; OBERT, Peter — Intr aparty
democracy in Central and Eastern Europe: explaining
change and stability from 1989 until 2011. Party Politics
24(6), Nov. 2018 : 652-662.
In the postcommunist period, political parties in Central and Eastern
Europe (CEE) had to convincingly demonstrate that they are a vital part
of a functioning democratic society. Well-developed intraparty democra-
cy (IPD) is one way of accomplishing this. By asking what factors are
relevant to an explanation of IPD formation, we present an analytical
framework in which the formation of IPD can be investigated and explore
the pa tterns of IPD and their determinants. We draw on a newly con-
structed data set based on standardized content analysis, including 129
party statutes from 14 major political parties from Hungary, Romania,
and Slovakia between 1989 and 2011. Relying on unit fixed-effects
regression approaches, our analyses suggest that especially imperatives
related to party origin and Europeanization have important implications
for the formation of IPD within CEE parties. [R]
69.1160 BERGGRUEN, Nicolas — We are disarming America's
future. New Perspectives Quarterly 35(3), Summer 2018 :
21-23.
By letting the public platform decay, we are disarming America’s future.
China’s present prosperity, like that of other Asian out-posts like Singa-
pore, is built upon the millennia-old belief that government is a “neces-
sary good” for society that provides essential services and complements
private economic activity. The state invests heavily in infrastructure and
education. Every successful society needs both a robust private sector
and an effective state. [R] [See Abstr. 69.1135]
69.1161 BHATTACHARJEE, Ankita — Indian diaspora in Reunion
Island: a strategic asset. Strategic Analysis 42(4), July-Aug.
2018 : 402-412.
Wherever Indians have migrated, they have carried with them their
culture, which has subsequently served to build multi-layered bridges
with their country of origin. The article studies the Indian migration to the
French territory of Reunion Islands located in the southwestern Indian
Ocean and delves into various factors, including the historical, demo-
graphic, socio-economic aspects of the evolution of the Indian diaspora.
The article presents the mosaic of the Indian diaspora’s dynamic and its
potential in the context of French policies and the ethno-religious issues
superimposed over the current regional geopolitical environment. [R]
69.1162 BIBERMAN, Yelena — Self-defense militias, death
squads, and state outsourcing of violence in India and
Turkey. Journal of Strategic Studies 41(5), Aug. 2018 : 751-
781.
What explains the variation in states’ non-state partners in civil warfare?
States often use non-state actors to do what their regular military forces
cannot do well — navigate the local population. Some of their non-state
partners are ordinary civilians, while others are battle-hardened fighters
with a rebellious or criminal past. This article is the first to disaggregate
the non-state counterinsurgents and offer an explanation for why and
how states use each type. It brings together the politics of collaboration
with the politics of exploitation. The article shows that the state’s use of
non-state proxies is shaped by the supply of willing collaborators, the
state’s ability to exercise control over them, and the trade-offs underlying
the use of the different types of non-state actors. [R, abr.]
69.1163 BIEBER, Florian — Patterns of competitive authoritarian-
ism in the Western Balkans. East European Politics 34(3),
Sept. 2018 : 337-354.
This article will argue that the current competitive authoritarian systems
(S. Levitsky, Lucan A. Way, Competitive Authoritarianism. Hybrid Re-
gimes after the Cold War, Cambridge U. P., 2010) are structurally differ-
ent from those of the 1990s. These new regimes draw on the failure of
reformist governments during the early 2000s to decisively break with
authoritarian practices and establish independent and democratic institu-
tions, thus facilitating the return of competitive au thoritarian regimes. The
current pattern in the Western Balkans is part of a global trend, but is
also one embedded in the particularities of democratic transformation of
the region. This article argues that the return of competitive authoritarian-
ism is the result of weak democratic structures, facilitated by the weaken-
ing and insufficient transformative power of external actors, first and
foremost the EU, in incentivizing continued democratization. [R, abr.]
[See Abstr. 69.1182]
69.1164 BODA, Zsolt ; PATKÓS, Veronika — Driven by politics:
agenda setting and policy-making in Hungary 2010-2014.
Policy Studies 39(4), July 2018 : 402-421.
Studies on media and politics generally find an effect of the media on the
symbolic policy agenda. We demonstrate that this effect is extremely
weak in the Hungarian policy-making process. We identified those issues
that received greater than average coverage in the media. However, we
found that in the majority of cases governmental initiatives or decisions
preceded the media coverage — that is, instead of the media agenda
pulling the policy agenda, the general logic is the opposite: the media are
talking about the policy initiatives of the government. The ambition of the
paper is twofold. First, our findings reinforce those claims in the literature
that point to the many institutional and political factors affecting the
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