VI National and Area Studies / Études Nationales et Régionales
| Published date | 01 August 2021 |
| DOI | 10.1177/00208345211038645 |
| Date | 01 August 2021 |
VI
NATIONAL AND AREA STUDIES
ÉTUDES NATIONALES ET RÉGIONALES
71.5910 ABOTSI, E. Kofi — Introspecting the office of the special
prosecutor's act and Ghana's constitutional framework
on anti-corruption. African Journal of International and
Comparative Law 28(2), 2020 : 219-243.
Ghana's 1992 Constitution is a designedly model one in architecture.
From a multiplicity of standpoints, the constitutional document incorpo-
rates core values and supporting institutional systems and structures
fashioned to advance the ends of responsible governance and maintain
the underlying trusteeship mores of the Constitution. Given that the
constitutional framework is broadly anchored on the Rule of Law as an
overarching regime norm, the governance system established indubita-
bly preserves accountability in its various forms. In this regard, and within
the context of the rule of law, the constitution reflects an ideal of that
theoretical construct and articulates the strictures of constitutionalism
and constitutional responsibility. [R]
71.5911 ACHIBA, Gargule A. ; LENGOIBONI, Monica N. — Devolu-
tion and the politics of communal tenure reform in Ken-
ya. African Affairs 476, 2020 : 338-369.
Increased legal access and the devolution of natural resource admin-
istration are generally seen as sources of power for local communities
and their institutions. However, beyond this widely held expectation, the
politics of land reform suggest that legal recognition of rights and devolu-
tion is not the only issue with implications for communal tenure reforms.
Misconceptions about communal tenure, which are rooted in history, and
their appropriation by local elites in the processes of communal tenure
reform are characteristic of both colonial and post-colonial governments
in Kenya. This paper offers reflections on the centrality of sustained
communal tenure misconceptions, fetishization of formal governance
institutions, and the institutional and power configurations that primarily
benefit powerful stakeholders as sources of the current breakdown in the
implementation of community land law. [R, abr.]
71.5912 ADEMMER, Esther, et al. — Interdependences with exter-
nal actors and regime persistence in Eastern partnership
countries. East European Politics 37(1), 2021 : 89-109.
This article addresses how both external democratic and non-democratic
actors impact the persistence of non-democratic regimes in third coun-
tries. We focus on asymmetrical interdependences and advance the
literature on the role of transnational flows by highlighting under which
conditions and based on which mechanisms interdependences contrib-
ute to the persistence of non-democratic regimes. We investigate if the
dominant mechanisms emerging from interdependences vary with the
type of interdependence (vulnerability or sensitivity). We draw on evi-
dence from empirical studies of Armenia, Belarus and Azerbaijan and
their interdependences with Russia and the EU in the period of 2005-
2015. [R] [See Abstr. 71.6081]
71.5913 AFONSO, António ; VENÂNCIO, Ana — Local territorial
reform and regional spending efficiency. Local Govern-
ment Studies 46(6), Dec. 2020 : 888-910.
We study the effect of a Portuguese structural reform, which reduced the
number of parishes, on municipality spending efficiency between 2011
and 2016. We build a composite output indicator and use Data Envelop-
ment Analysis (DEA) to compute efficiency scores. Then, we use a
second-stage regression to evaluate the effect of the reform on municipal
efficiency after controlling for socio-demographic, political and economic
factors. Overall, we find efficiency gains in approximately 10% of munici-
palities. In some regions (e.g., Alentejo and Centro), more than 50% of
the municipalities improved efficiency. The second-stage results show
that the stru ctural reform did not improve local spending efficiency in
Mainland Portugal, particularly in the Centro, Lisbon and Vale do Tejo
regions. [R]
71.5914 ALAUZEN, Marie ; MUNIESA, Fabian ; VIOLLE, Alexandre
— Exercising knowledge of costs: behavioural politics of
economic restraint in French public service reform.
French Politics 19(1), March 2021 : 65-80.
The tropes of restraint and remediation that accompany the reform of
public services and public administrations often locate in efficient costing
the key to the state’s economic fitness. Knowledge of costs does not
feature in such reforms solely as information conducive to the strength-
ening of budgetary reform. It is also knowledge that needs to be prac-
tised and exercised in order to achieve a virtuous modification of the
conduct of the state. The case of public hospitals and universities in
France illustrates how knowledge of costs is made sense of by state
practitioners as a behavioural lever. A Foucauldian angle on the narra-
tives and policies that inform such exercising of knowledge of costs
reveals the contours of a new paradigm of the state’s self-care. [R]
71.5915 ANDRÈN, Mats — Entanglements: cultural borders in
visions of European unification. European Review 28(3),
June 2020 : 416-424.
This article elaborates upon the idea of cultural borders from the per-
spective of European unification before EU-integration. It addresses
discussions on how to manage or even transcend religious and linguistic
borders, from William Penn, Novalis and Conrad Friedrich Schmidt-
Phiseldeck, to Johann Caspar Bluntschli and Richard Coudenhove-
Kalergi. The historical contexts are nationalism and Europeanization.
These are further illuminated by the use of constructivist theory and the
concept of a ‘stagist theory’ from D. Chakrabarty and Roberto Dainotto
which legitimizes the domination of some nations over others. [R]
71.5916 ANEJIONU, Obinna C. D. ; AHIARAMMUNNAH, Precious-
Ann N. — Can current political developments in Nigeria
undermine its territorial integrity? Geopolitics 26(1), Jan.-
Feb. 2021 : 236-282.
Nigeria is currently embroiled in festering internal political crisis that
could undermine its territorial integrity. The centripetal forces that have
held the fragile union of various nationalities in Nigeria are waning, due
to continuous political tensions orchestrated by unjust and unfair treat-
ment of citizens, bolstered by ethnic and religious differences. [We]
investigate the political undercurrents that have persisted, especially
those experienced during the 2015 presidential election, to understand
how they may have shaped current events in Nigeria. [Our] conceptual
framework was guided by the geopolitical theory of “politics of failure”.
Connection of current events to Nigeria’s constitutional history was
made, and the role it played in foisting a fragile foundation for the country
was explored. Geospatial techniques were used to assess political
dynamics in the country and their implication on the shrinking ligaments
of Nigeria’s unity. [R, abr.]
71.5917 ANSORG, Nadine — Securitisation strategies to prevent
conflict diffusion in Tanzania and former Zaire. Journal of
Contemporary African Studies 38(4), Oct. 2020 : 579-593.
The paper tackles links securitisation theory to research on militarised
refugees and war diffusion and thus offers new insights into the condi-
tions of prevention of conflict diffusion. Specifically, it compares the two
cases of former Zaire (now DR Congo) and Tanzania. Both countries
faced an influx of refugees and refugee militarisation following the geno-
cide in Rwanda in 1994 and the civil war in Burundi in the 1990s, though
their outcomes varied in terms of regional war diffusion. The article
suggests that while certain security strategies such as closure of borders
and the repatriation and expulsion of refugees might be successful in
preventing conflict diffusion, they often include a breach of international
refugee law when preventing bona fide refugees from entering the
country. [R, abr.]
71.5918 ARQUILLA, John ; ROBERTS, Nancy — Post-COVID grand
strategy. National Interest 169, Sept.-Oct. 2020 : 63-69.
It is high time to think in terms of realigning — even redesigning —
American grand strategy. US unpreparedness to meet the kind of pre-
dictable threat that COVID-19 presented has revealed a serious gap in
our grand strategic thinking with regard to the social dimension. [R]
71.5919 ASLAM, Wali ; NEADS, Alex — Renegotiating societal-
military relations in Pakistan: the case of the Pashtun
Tahafuz Movement. Democratization 28(2), 2021 : 265-284.
This article examines the Pakistani military’s changing response to the
Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM), to better understand pathways to
military accountability and democratic change. An apolitical, non-violent
civil-society movement, the PTM challenged the military’s domestic-
security practices for over a year, eliciting uncharacteristic concessions
despite the apparent motive, opportunity and precedent for repression.
Curiously, though, the role of civil society in renegotiating military behav-
iour has been overlooked in mainstream civil–military relations, which
Études nationales et régionales
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focuses on coup propensity at one extreme and harmonious democratic
configurations at the other. Using first-hand interviews with PTM activ-
ists, security officials, commentators and politicians, this study argues
that the PTM’s unique appeal to societal and constitutional legitimacy
constrained military responses, creating an opportunity to contest military
behaviour publicly in a fashion impossible for conventional political elites.
[R, abr.]
71.5920 ASTUTI, Rini — Fixing flammable forest: the scalar poli-
tics of peatland governance and restoration in Indonesia.
Asia Pacific Viewpoint 61(2), Aug. 2020 : 283-300.
Peatland fires and the impact of transboundary haze are often inter-
twined with socio-environmental externalities of neoliberal forest govern-
ance and overlapping systems of resource property rights in Indonesia.
New peatland governance strategies are emerging to address fires and
haze by reorganising peatland management using a more ecologically
relevant scale that territorialises peatland according to its hydrological
characteristics. Employing the concept of the eco-scalar fix, this paper
interrogates rescaling peatland governance as a strategy to address the
socio-ecological crisis associated with the conversion of peatland into
mono-agricultural land. However, rescaling peatland governance entails
the risk of merely displacing socio-environmental crises to areas consid-
ered less ecologically important rather than addressing them. Drawing on
a case study of a peatland restoration in Riau, Indonesia, this paper
shows how emerging hybrid forms of peatland governance can address
the environmental externalities that have unintentionally been created.
[R, abr.] [See Abstr. 71.5975]
71.5921 AVDAGIC, Sabina ; SAVAGE, Lee — Negativity bias: the
impact of framing of immigration on welfare state sup-
port in Germany, Sweden and the UK. British Journal of
Political Science 51(2), Apr. 2021 : 624-645.
How does the framing of immigration influence support for the welfare
state? Drawing on research from psychology, specifically the notion of
negativity bias and the sequencing of negative and positive information,
this article argues that negative immigration fram es undermine welfare
support, while positive frames have little or no effect. Individuals take
less notice of positive frames, and the effect of such frames is further
undermined by the previous exposure to negative frames, which tend to
stick longer in people's minds. The findings, based on survey experi-
ments on over 9,000 individuals in Germany, Sweden and the UK, show
that negative framing of immigration has a strong and pervasive effect on
support for welfare. The article also finds some evidence that this effect
is further amplified for people who hold anti-immigrant and anti-welfare
attitudes or feel economically insecure. [R, abr.]
71.5922 AZAOLA-PIAZZA, Bárbara ; LARRAMENDI, Miguel Hernan-
do de — The interplay of regional and domestic politics
in Egypt: the case of Salafism. Contemporary Politics
27(2), 2021 : 141-159.
The Islamist landscape expanded after the overthrow of Egyptian Presi-
dent Hosni Mubarak in 2011 when Salafi movements joined the Muslim
Brotherhood and entered the political arena. This article analyses the
pragmatic response of the Salafi al-Nour Party both during the Muslim
Brotherhood government and after the coup d’état that brought General
Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to power and the army back to the forefront. It
argues that the al-Nour Party's responses were articulated around
mechanisms of adaptation, collaboration and competition that were
influenced not only by changes on the domestic scene, but also by
regional geopolitical rivalries between Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the
United Arab Emirates. [R] [See Abstr. 71.5944]
71.5923 BARTLETT, Will ; ĐULIĆ, Katarina ; KMEZIC, Sanja — The
impact of fiscal decentralisation on local economic de-
velopment in Serbia. Lex Localis (Journal of Local Self
Government) 18(1), Jan. 2020 : 143-163.
Serbia is a transition country that has experienced strong negative
spillover effects from the global financial crisis and the subsequent
eurozone debt crisis. At the same time it is a candidate for accession to
the European Union. Success in local economic development is likely to
affect prospects for economic recovery and a successful EU integration
process and the paper analyses the contribution of fiscal decentralisation
to successful local economic development. The analysis is based upon a
cross-section time-series regression model that reveals a positive impact
of local public expenditure on economic development. Expenditure on
education has a particularly strong effect on local economic develop-
ment, as does investment per capita from both public and private
sources. [R, abr.]
71.5924 BASSOLI, Matteo ; MARZULLI, Michele ; PEDRONI, Marco
— Anti-gambling policies: framing morality policy in Ita-
ly. Journal of Public Policy 41(1), March 2021 : 137-160.
This contribution examines gambling policy in Italy, applying a multilevel
approach to detect the presence of favourable cultural opportunity
structures (COSs), and whether policymakers frame policies morally.
Italy offers a particularly fertile field for the study of morality policy,
featuring a liberal national approach versus local restrictive policy. By
applying a methodology based on semistructured interviews and sec-
ondary sources, we examine the national and local political spheres,
demonstrating that morality framing, when detected, is more likely to be
found at the local level where the influence of experts and interest
groups on legislators may result in the transformation of a health policy
based on paternalistic considerations. [R, abr.]
71.5925 BERLINER, Daniel, et al. — The political logic of govern-
ment disclosure: evidence from information requests in
Mexico. Journal of Politics 83(1), Jan. 2021 : 229-245.
When citizens ask questions, how does their government answer?
Requests for government information confront officials with incentives
both for and against disclosure. We argue that officials seek to manage
political risks in ways that favor requests from government-aligned
regions. We study responsiveness in the context of Mexico’s access-to-
information law, using publicly available data from several hundred
thousand information requests filed with Mexican federal government
agencies between 2003 and 2015. Our empirical strategy makes com-
parisons only among requests sent to similar agencies on similar topics
at similar times, while accounting for the complexity, sophistication, and
sensitivity of individual requests. We find that requests filed from locales
with higher governing-party vote shares receive m ore favorable respons-
es, across multiple indicators of the nature and timing of responses. [R,
abr.]
71.5926 BEYERS, Christiaan ; NICHOLLS, Esteban — Government
through inaction: the Venezuelan migratory crisis in Ec-
uador. Journal of Latin American Studies 52(3), Aug. 2020 :
633-657.
This article analyses strategies for channelling a migrant population out
of a country by indirect m eans. Specifically, we examine the response of
the Ecuadorean state to the influx of Venezuelan newcomers since 2015.
We argue that this response has been characterised by inaction, rooted
not in policy failures or bad governance, but rather in a strategic govern-
mental rationality. We show how migrants are ‘herded’ out of the country
as a result of a form of indirect government that works differently from
other ‘anti-immigrant’ policies like forced deportations or incarceration at
the border, and yet produces similar outcomes. [R]
71.5927 BISHARA, Dina — Precarious collective action: unem-
ployed graduates associations in the Middle East and
North Africa. Comparative Politics 53(3), Apr. 2021 : 453-
476.
Why did unemployed university graduates form collective associations in
some countries in the Middle East and North Africa but not in others?
Despite similar levels of grievances around educated unemployment,
reversals in guaranteed employment schemes, and similarly restrictive
conditions for mobilization, unemployed graduates’ associations formed
in Morocco and Tunisia but not in Egypt. Conventional explanations —
focused on grievances, political opportunities, or pre-existing organiza-
tional structures — cannot account for this variation. Instead, I p oint to
the power of ideologically conducive frames for mobilization around the
time that grievances become salient. A strong Leftist oriented tradition of
student unionism in Morocco and Tunisia was necessary for the emer-
gence of a rights-based discourse around the right to work. [R, abr.]
71.5928 BLACKMOND LARNELL, Twyla — Governance networks
and local economic development policy during the Great
Recession in the US. Local Government Studies 46(6), Dec.
2020 : 847-864.
Research shows that US cities increased their use of business incentives
during the Great Recession. Drawing from governance-based theories’
emphasis on mutual resource dependency and the resourcefulness of
larger networks, the analysis examines whether expanding governance
networks influenced this change in cities’ use of incentives. The dataset
includes 162 council-manager cities that responded to both the 2004 and
2009 ICMA Economic Development Surveys. Most governance networks
contracted during the recession. A large proportion of cities increased
their use of business incentives regardless of any changes to the sizes of
their decision-making networks. These findings suggest that the explana-
tory power of governance theories weaken during times of economic
crisis. [R, abr.]
71.5929 BLAYDES, Lisa ; PAIK, Christopher — Muslim trade and
city growth before the nineteenth century: comparative
urbanization in Europe, the Middle East and Central Asia.
British Journal of Political Science 51(2), Apr. 2021 : 845-868.
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