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Size, Scope, and Bias: What Differentiates Local Electoral Politics?

J. Eric Oliver, Shang E. Ha, and Zachary Callen

in Local Elections and the Politics of Small-Scale Democracy

This chapter outlines a relatively simple way of understanding the dynamics of local democracy. Across the universe of democracies, three characteristics are the most powerful and widely applicable ... More

This chapter outlines a relatively simple way of understanding the dynamics of local democracy. Across the universe of democracies, three characteristics are the most powerful and widely applicable predictors of their electoral politics: size, scope, and bias. Once we know a democracy's population (size), the magnitude of its constitutive powers (scope), and how uniformly it distributes its resources (bias), we can predict a great deal about who votes, who runs for office, and whether factors like incumbency, parties, ideology, issues, interest groups, and candidate charisma shape vote choices. In other words, we can best predict how people will vote in a particular election if we first understand what is distinctive about that democracy's politics and, if we know its size, scope, and bias, we can predict what those electoral politics are like. The political dynamics of size, scope, and bias are examined in turn.Less

Local Elite

Yuri Pines

in The Everlasting Empire: The Political Culture of Ancient China and Its Imperial Legacy

This chapter focuses primarily on those members of local elites who were connected to the government apparatus. This core group of local elites had decisively shaped state-elite interactions ... More

This chapter focuses primarily on those members of local elites who were connected to the government apparatus. This core group of local elites had decisively shaped state-elite interactions throughout imperial history. The chapter first outlines historical changes in the character of local elites and in their relations with the pre-imperial, the early imperial, and the late imperial state. It shows that the process of establishing viable relations between these elites and the bureaucracy was a lengthy and painful one, and that it took more than a full millennium for the empire to learn how to harness local elites to its cause. Even then, tension between holders of social and of administrative power remained highly visible, and cycles of cooperation and contest between them shaped much of the political dynamics of the imperial age.Less

Toward Banishment: The Transformation of Urban Social Control

Katherine Beckett and Steve Herbert

in Banished: The New Social Control In Urban America

This chapter shows how the social control practices that involve banishment emerge from key political and legal dynamics. It first suggests that banishment emerged as a response to the Supreme ... More

This chapter shows how the social control practices that involve banishment emerge from key political and legal dynamics. It first suggests that banishment emerged as a response to the Supreme Court's invalidation of traditional vagrancy and loitering laws. It then outlines the legal evolution of the techniques that include banishment. The discussion also identifies some techniques that have three distinct and consequential characteristics: they are definitely territorial, they improve police and prosecutorial power, and they widen the range of behaviors that may lead to criminal justice intervention.Less

Introduction

Thomas Barfield

in Afghanistan: A Cultural and Political History

This introductory chapter discusses an anthropological approach to examining political order in Afghanistan. Rather than casting the nation in the context of war and conquerors, this chapter views ... More

This introductory chapter discusses an anthropological approach to examining political order in Afghanistan. Rather than casting the nation in the context of war and conquerors, this chapter views the Afghans themselves as the main players to understand the country and its political dynamics. It examines the question of how rulers in Afghanistan obtained political legitimacy over the centuries and brought order to the land, particularly through looking at how notions of power and political legitimacy in Afghanistan change over a long period of time. The chapter lays out the groundwork for a more detailed discussion on these concepts by introducing the themes and theoretical framework underpinning the book's overall arguments.Less

Two‐Tier Systems

Gilles Saint‐Paul

in The Political Economy of Labour Market Institutions

Studies the role of two‐tier systems in generating consensus for a reform that would be otherwise repelled. It is shown that if exposure to unemployment is initially too low, such strategy will fail ... More

Studies the role of two‐tier systems in generating consensus for a reform that would be otherwise repelled. It is shown that if exposure to unemployment is initially too low, such strategy will fail as well. Furthermore, it can be used to generate political support for an across‐the‐board reform at a later stage. However, recognition of that possibility by voters ex‐ante will reduce the political support for the two‐tier reform.Less

On the Long Road: The Provisional Politics of Transition1

in The New Politics of Sinn Féin

This chapter delves into the ambiguity of the mechanisms of transitioning the Provisional movement as opposed to the straightforwardness of the Republican tradition towards reunification, and aims to ... More

This chapter delves into the ambiguity of the mechanisms of transitioning the Provisional movement as opposed to the straightforwardness of the Republican tradition towards reunification, and aims to examine and trace the said transition from radical to diplomatic to the politics of accommodation of state power and authority. The receding revolutionary tide and how republicans strategized their way towards adaptation is also explored. Various tactics and workings are reviewed to describe how Sinn Féin's position in the overall political terrain of Ireland was strengthened within the peace process. The political dynamics during the transition and how it was used to create historical inevitability are also discussed, as are the definition of the transitional phase and reunification in lieu of revolutionary transformation and abandonment of Republican ambitions.Less

Obama: A New Beginning

William M. LeoGrande and Peter Kornbluh

in Back Channel To Cuba: The Hidden History of Negotiations between Washington and Havana

This chapter examines how Obama changed the domestic political dynamics of U.S.-Cuban relations, making new thinking about Cuba politically feasible. Obama promised to end restrictions on remittances ... More

This chapter examines how Obama changed the domestic political dynamics of U.S.-Cuban relations, making new thinking about Cuba politically feasible. Obama promised to end restrictions on remittances and family travel for Cuban Americans, resume “people-to-people” educational and cultural exchanges, and engage Cuba in talks on issues of mutual interest. Engagement, he argued, offered the best hope for promoting “a democratic opening in Cuba,” which would be “the foremost objective of our policy.” As the new president took the oath of office, conditions for a rapprochement between Cuba and the United States appeared more propitious than at any time in a half century.Less

Conclusions: Toward an Archaeology of Power

Antonia E. Foias

in Ancient Maya Political Dynamics

This concluding chapter reassesses the state of knowledge on Classic Maya political structure and dynamics. It also argues that by pulling together all sources of political data from the macroscale ... More

This concluding chapter reassesses the state of knowledge on Classic Maya political structure and dynamics. It also argues that by pulling together all sources of political data from the macroscale to the middle-scale to the microscale, archaeologists can reconstruct in much more detail the dynamic political landscape characteristic of the Classic period. The causes of these dynamics are found at all levels of Maya society, from the individual and the local community to the polity and regional interaction among these kingdoms. Rather than conceiving of the whole Maya society as cycling between periods of centralization during the Classic period and decentralization during the Postclassic period, this synthesis underscores that powerful and possibly more centralized states were superposed against smaller and less centralized polities in both time periods.Less

A Theory of Self-Determination Politics

Kathleen Gallagher Cunningham

in Inside the Politics of Self-Determination

This chapter presents the theory of the book, which builds on bargaining models of conflict by extending the logic to bargaining over self-determination and integrating complexity of the actors ... More

This chapter presents the theory of the book, which builds on bargaining models of conflict by extending the logic to bargaining over self-determination and integrating complexity of the actors engaged into the bargain. The chapter demonstrates that the number of factions within states and self-determination (SD) groups and the connections between them create differing internal political dynamics for each actor. Of special importance are if and when factions can represent veto points with ability to reject bargains. Such internal political dynamics have important consequences for the ability of states and SD groups to overcome challenges of bargaining related to credibility and uncertainty. They create incentives for actors to pursue different strategies in the bargain over self-determination, and these incentives and constraints affect the chance of accommodation of SD groups, and the likelihood of violence between states and SD groups and within SD groups.Less

Sustainability, Livelihood, and Community Mobilization in the Ajusco “Ecological Reserve”

Keith Pezzoli

in Livable Cities?: Urban Struggles for Livelihood and Sustainability

This chapter concentrates on the colonias ecológicas productivas (CEP) movement that sheds light on the political dynamics of community struggles for life space and livelihood and the challenges ... More

This chapter concentrates on the colonias ecológicas productivas (CEP) movement that sheds light on the political dynamics of community struggles for life space and livelihood and the challenges involved in trying to integrate these struggles with strategies that enhance sustainability. The mobilization of Bosques del Pedregal makes clear how much community success depends on the ability to engage the capabilities of relevant state agencies. The CEP movement suggested programs and strategies for approaching sustainability, but its proponents did not get the support they needed from the state. Examining the twists and turns that mark the struggles of the families of Los Belvederes to combine livelihood and sustainability in Ajusco generates a new appreciation for the need for an interdisciplinary approach to planning that builds into itself a strategic emphasis on social experimentation, feedback loops, social learning, and continuous improvement.Less

The Genesis of Contemporary Somali Migrations

Cawo M. Abdi

in Elusive Jannah: The Somali Diaspora and a Borderless Muslim Identity

Chapter One provides background analysis for understanding the emergence of the Somali diaspora around the world. It looks closely at the Somali civil war. This chapter also provides an overview of ... More

Chapter One provides background analysis for understanding the emergence of the Somali diaspora around the world. It looks closely at the Somali civil war. This chapter also provides an overview of the postcolonial Somali regimes and the regional and international political dynamics that continue to shape the country’s ongoing crisis. It discusses how this crisis produced physical and material insecurity, forcing millions from their homes since the late 1980s, with hundreds of thousands crossing international borders in search of safe haven, which is viewed today as Western citizenship. It also details the role their former lives in refugee camps and urban areas in neighboring countries (primarily Kenya) play in their subsequent border crossings in search of social and economic security.Less

Synthesizing the Research: Themes, Challenges, and Opportunities

Manuel Pastor and John Mollenkopf

in Unsettled Americans: Metropolitan Context and Civic Leadership for Immigrant Integration

This chapter culls the central themes from these cases, reexamines the factors that drive positive and negative responses to the new immigration, and seeks to unpack the political dynamics by which ... More

This chapter culls the central themes from these cases, reexamines the factors that drive positive and negative responses to the new immigration, and seeks to unpack the political dynamics by which they play out. It also highlights the metropolitan spatial dimension of these dynamics. The chapter then examines the implications for research and practice. On the practice side, it suggests some new federal policies that would speed immigrant integration, promote receptivity, and defuse tensions. It also features some “best practices” developed around the country, noting which ones work, why, and where. Finally, the chapter highlights the most important remaining research questions and explains how building on the case study method used here could help answer them.Less

Conclusion the PMG Triad

Julie Mazzei

in Death Squads or Self-Defense Forces?: How Paramilitary Groups Emerge and Challenge Democracy in Latin America

This book concludes by describing paramilitary groups as the political manifestation of profound uncertainty among a cross-section of a country's most resourced sectors. They emerge of out a process ... More

This book concludes by describing paramilitary groups as the political manifestation of profound uncertainty among a cross-section of a country's most resourced sectors. They emerge of out a process in which political dynamics create fissures between traditional allies and realignments among factions whose interests are served in their organization. The increasing global demand for States to avoid the appearance of sponsoring violence often plays a critical role in this process, forcing the newly aligned actors to work outside the official capacity of the State. The cases of Chiapas, Colombia, and El Salvador elucidate this process. This final chapter summarizes the findings of the comparative case analysis presented here, then briefly explores the international application of these findings using three contemporary conflicts from different parts of the world. It ends with a discussion of the implications of this study's findings for the broader study of political violence.Less

Testing Some Implications of Affective Intelligence Theory at the Aggregate Level

Peter F. Nardulli and James H. Kuklinski

in The Affect Effect: Dynamics of Emotion in Political Thinking and Behavior

This chapter investigates the electoral politics of the past thirty years to see how political dynamics have been moved by threats to economic prosperity, individual safety, and collective physical ... More

This chapter investigates the electoral politics of the past thirty years to see how political dynamics have been moved by threats to economic prosperity, individual safety, and collective physical security. The conception of democratic governance emphasizes change and dynamics; affective intelligence predicts only that surveillance will occur under high but not low anxiety. The increased anxiety evoked by bad or worsening conditions does not produce irrational, unthinking reactions. The propositions were derived with minimal guidance from affective intelligence theory. Anger decreased estimates of risk and thus promoted support of the war; anxiety worked in the opposite way. Fear is another plausible substitute for anxiety. Adopting fear or anger would work just as effectively as adopting anxiety. Without attention to emotions, political scientists cannot fully understand politics.Less

Politics and Leadership

Glenn Petersen

in Traditional Micronesian Societies: Adaptation, Integration, and Political Organization in the Central Pacific

This chapter deals with the broad sweep of political life in Micronesia, focusing on the overlapping spheres of political dynamics and leadership. Micronesian political life is characterized by ... More

This chapter deals with the broad sweep of political life in Micronesia, focusing on the overlapping spheres of political dynamics and leadership. Micronesian political life is characterized by opposing pulls between quite inclusive participation in a community’s decision making, on the one hand, and the hierarchical organization of authority and responsibility, on the other. Hierarchy and rank are fundamental to Micronesian political life but exist within a participatory context, recognizing that every individual and group possesses legitimate interests in the community’s continued success. Competition for social status is a fundamental aspect of Micronesian politics precisely because there is a significant degree of social mobility among individuals and groups. Politics and leadership in Micronesian societies can be understood only as growing out of this continual interplay between hierarchy and equality. Although hierarchy and equality are often treated as if they are opposite poles, in Micronesia they are complementary aspects of an essentially common political culture.Less