CIAO DATE: 02/2012
Volume: 6, Issue: 4
December 2011
Volunteering in Japan and Germany: How moral citizenship strengthens society and the state (PDF)
Patrick Hein
For many years the prevailing image of Japan and Germany was one of “strong state, weak civil society”. The market and the state dominated public life. This article traces the role of the state in the civil society traditions of Japan and Germany and questions the “state versus civil society” institutional approach. First, it proposes a normative theoretical framework that overcomes the state/civil society dichotomy by highlighting the impact of political culture on institutional patterns of governance. Second, it contends that modern volunteering is agent based and driven by concerns for “moral citizenship” going beyond mere advocacy and traditional political activism. Third, it argues that libertarian value changes represent a shift towards greater autonomy and self-assertiveness among citizens. The article concludes that selfless volunteering has been incremental in shaping a more legitimate state and a more self responsible society in both countries.
Changing games and evolving contexts: Political bargaining in European energy disputes (PDF)
Fabio Franch
Game theory fails to adequately account for an evolving context which can affect the preferences of disputing actors, an issue which the author find to be likely to systematically produce inaccurate explanations and predictions. Empirical evidence is presented that supports the claim that the start of recent natural gas crises has damaged the GDP growth of 9 external European countries. A Pooled Panel Nonlinear Auto Regressive Conditional Heteroskedasticity (PP-NARCH) model and Box-Tiao intervention models are selected to support the validity of what is defined as a ‘Fully-Fuzzy’ (FF) game. The findings presented here are then enriched with a summary of the most relevant statements, agreements, and partnerships which are likely to have exerted pressure on Russia and the other negotiating country.
Costs and benefits of natural experiments in political science 575 (PDF)
Elena Labzina
Natural experiment is a research design that is widely employed in modern Political Science. Yet, in the existing literature the features of the concept are ambiguous. The major aim of this article is to refine the related theory and argue natural experiments provide valid estimates in terms of causal inference. First, the author summarizes briefly and develops the related theory: the 'as-if' treatment randomization assumption is redefined with the introduction of the expected exchangeability treatment assumption, which enables their classification more as natural experiments. Second, based on the renewed theory, the author proposes an algorithm for the assessment of assumed natural experiments. Third, the algorithm is applied to five illustrative cases of recent natural experiments from Political Science. As a result, it is found that only two of them may be considered capable of providing valid inference. The major empirical finding is these two valid natural experiments are ‘hidden’ experiments, e.g. the individual(s) who were unaware that they assigned treatment had performed the randomization. This leads to the conclusion that the mysterious “nature” in nature experiments is human beings.
Secularization of politics and law (PDF)
Candan Turkkan
This paper offers a theoretical analysis of the interplays of secularization in the sphere of law and the sources of legality in liberal democracies. First section focuses in the sphere of law, and argues that not only its form and content, but also its enforcement has become secular. These surely happen simultaneously with secularization in a different yet related aspect of governance – namely, the practices of law-making. The following section argues that secularization in this particular area of who makes the law has taken place in conjunction with the rise of liberal, parliamentary, constitutional democracy that attributes the constituent power of the politico-legal system to the people. A direct effect of this is observable in the ways people identify (identity) with the politico-legal system and how the system represents (representation) the people have changed; this is extensively discussed in the last section.
Lucia Vesnic-Alujevic
The consumption of media in everyday life is not a new topic and has been present in different studies of media, political communication since the time when mass media began to play an important role in the society. However, it is interesting to study media consumption in contemporary society because of many changes on one side in media landscape, influenced by the appearance of new information and communication technologies, and on the other with the decrease of political participation in many democratic societies. For democratic governments, citizen participation, at the first place as voters, should be a key element in the process of establishing goals in a society. Mass media represents a place where ideas and interests can be freely presented and discussed, but they have also served as a sort of assistance for political participation, thus they have an important role both in everyday life and also in politics.
Daniel Şandru
The normative theory of democracy often states that, among the conditions needed for democracy to function, consensus between leaders and social groups, freedom of speech and access to alternative sources of information are those which contribute decisively to the configuration of a public space wherein debate reveals its significance in relation to “the fallacy of electoralism” stressed by the studies on democratisation. In other words, the contemporary understanding of democracy – also supported by empirical analyses specific to comparative politics – no longer illustrates the belief that this system resides only in “free and fair” electoral processes – a condition which is necessary but not sufficient for the existence of democracy – but stresses instead the need to include debate in decision-making processes, by giving an opportunity to speak to all the groups activating in the social space.
Marc Morjé Howard, The Politics of Citizenship in Europe (PDF)
Ivana Tomovska
The empirical study of citizenship policy in Europe still represents a poorly understood topic. A number of studies concentrate on the rights and practices of citizens as well as the issues of new migrants and their citizenship status. However, to the present there has been very scarce analysis produced treating comparative studies of citizenship across Europe and providing both historical and quantitative analysis.
Sigal R. Ben-Porath, Tough Choices: Structured Paternalism and the Landscape of Choice (PDF)
Jiří Šebek
State paternalism smacks of an undue subordination to authorities, this is a common intuition. Sigal R. Ben-Porath might however change one’s opinion as she has explored the term in depth in areas related to choice, regulation of intimacy, children and education, and oppressed and illiberal subcultures. While examining the value laden “paternalism”, Ben-Porath managed to tap a strong vein which is present in contemporary liberal democracies, that of a link between the debate on policy and the practice of implementing political ideals in particular circumstances. Ben-Porath approached this “last mile” problem with a challenging claim: structured paternalism delivers real options to choose from to citizens whose limited circumstances would not otherwise allow them to realise their civic rights.
Emel Akçali, Chypre: Un Enjeu Géopolitique Actuel (PDF)
Ana Dinescu
The end of the Cold War brought old conflicts back into the light. There were some instances when such conflicts bear immediate geostrategic relevance for international actors and practical considerations of the international organisations lead to medium and long-term solutions. Cyprus is one example in this vein, its Greek part being invited to become a full member of the European Union in May 2004, while the Turkish part was placed on a waiting list.
Quentin Skinner, Hobbes and Republican Liberty (PDF)
Mark Castelino
Historian Quentin Skinner’s latest book deals with the notion of political liberty in the thought of Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679). Hobbes is well-known as a staunch proponent of absolute monarchical government; thus it might seem strange at first glance that Hobbes’s name should find itself associated here with republicanism, a political ideology most associated with rule by the people. However, one sees that the juxtaposition of the two terms in the book’s title is not at all out of place once the book’s content is taken into account.
Oana-Elena Brânda
The academic profile of Richard Immerman places him in the field of US foreign relations research. That is why a book about the American Empire viewed from a conceptual and rather philosophical side came as a surprise. Empire for Liberty, A History of American Imperialism from Benjamin Franklin to Paul Wolfowitz is an effort to build along a chronological line, the argumentation to support today’s existence of an American Empire. The book focuses on the evolution of the idea of an American Empire from the 18th century to present day. According to Immerman, the American Empire was built in two centuries, with extreme strains made not only by decision makers, but also by the people.
Ioannis N. Grigoriadis, Trials of Europeanization, Turkish Political Culture and the European Union (PDF)
Omer Aslan
The concept of ‘Europeanization’ has gained a wide currency among the students of Turkey-European Union [EU] relations with much of the focus devoted to Turkey’s membership process and the EU’s influence on Turkey. Regarding the latter, scholars have utilized this concept to explain Turkish democratization reforms, which the incumbent Turkish foreign minister described as the “silent revolution,” and Turkey’s reliance on soft power tools such as diplomacy and negotiations in foreign policy under the current government. Yet, as Erguder points out in his foreword to this book, although it has the potential to undermine the permanency and deeper internationalization of such reforms, how Turkish political culture has been evolving has remained understudied. Hence, Grigoriadis' book seeks out to fill this gap. Taking Europeanization as the “goodness of fit” allows the author to clarify that, even though the EU is not the sole factor for the transformation that has taken place in Turkey, the EU has been a crucial pillar in the liberalization of Turkish political culture.
Andreas Goldthau and Jan Martin Witte (eds.) Global Energy Governance. The New Rules of the Game (PDF)
Paula Ganga
Traditionally, when energy is discussed the focus is placed primarily on the supply side of the chain, on state-to-state competition in which one country’s energy gain is another one’s loss and on the struggle to achieve energy security and be protected against a possible “energy weapon”. Both the academic and the policy worlds still use this zero-sum approach to analyze the energy domain while the changes that have occurred in the global energy landscape should have made this geopolitical paradigm obsolete. With these observations in mind the authors have embarked on addressing this research gap by shifting the focus of the energy discussion from a narrow security perspective to a broader governance-centered view on energy emphasizing the role played by rules and institutions.
Hugh Compston, Policy Networks and Policy Change (PDF)
Svetozar Dimitrov
Devising a theory of political science or public policy that can flawlessly predict the future is among the most sought-after goals of political scientists. While the subjective nature of studying human political behavior is unlikely to permit the formulation of a universally correct predictive theory, there are breakthroughs that doubtlessly give us applicable insight into forecasting future developments in public policy. With Policy Networks and Policy Change: Putting Policy Network Theory to the Test, Hugh Compston has attempted to make such a breakthrough.