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Opposition
Kinds of Opposition Terms modified by Opposition Selected AbstractsUNDERSTANDING TRADITIONALIST OPPOSITION TO MODERNIZATION: NARRATIVE PRODUCTION IN A NORWEGIAN MOUNTAIN CONFLICTGEOGRAFISKA ANNALER SERIES B: HUMAN GEOGRAPHY, Issue 1 2008Tor A. Benjaminsen ABSTRACT. In Gausdal, a mountainous community in southern Norway, a conflict involving dogsledding has dominated local politics during the past two decades. In order to understand local protests against this activity, in this article we apply discourse analysis within the evolving approach of political ecology. In this way, we also aim at contributing to the emerging trend of bringing political ecology "home". To many people, dogsledding appears as an environmentally friendly outdoor recreation activity as well as a type of adventure tourism that may provide new income opportunities to marginal agricultural communities. Hence, at a first glance, the protests against this activity may be puzzling. Looking for explanations for these protests, this empirical study demonstrates how the opposition to dogsledding may be understood as grounded in four elements of a narrative: (1) environmental values are threatened; (2) traditional economic activities are threatened; (3) outsiders take over the mountain; and (4) local people are powerless. Furthermore, we argue that the narrative is part of what we see as a broader Norwegian "rural traditionalist discourse". This discourse is related to a continued marginalization of rural communities caused by increasing pressure on agriculture to improve its efficiency as well as an "environmentalization" of rural affairs. Thus, the empirical study shows how opposition to dogsledding in a local community is articulated as a narrative that fits into a more general pattern of opposition to rural modernization in Norway as well as internationally. [source] THE HOWARD-TURNBULL NATIONAL PLAN FOR WATER SECURITY OF JANUARY 2007: RESCUE OR REJECTION?ECONOMIC PAPERS: A JOURNAL OF APPLIED ECONOMICS AND POLICY, Issue 2 2008ALISTAIR WATSON A ten-point, ten-year, ten billion dollar National Plan for Water Security was announced by the (then) Howard Government in January 2007. The Plan was supported by State governments, with the exception of Victoria. The (then) Opposition supported legislation in August 2007 to implement the Plan. The main part of the Plan was investment in off-farm and on-farm irrigation infrastructure, ostensibly to promote water use efficiency. A smaller programme was proposed for buyback of irrigation water for environmental purposes. Various economic criteria would favour the opposite emphasis. Investment by governments in private irrigation infrastructure goes against the spirit of other recent policy changes and, for economic and technical reasons, is unlikely to achieve its objectives. Buyback for environmental purposes should continue, subject to appropriate procedures and discipline in the selection of environmental projects. Recent developments highlight continuing controversies over policy and administration of the Murray-Darling Basin. [source] Political Opposition in Civil Society: An Analysis of the Interactions of Secular and Religious Associations in Algeria and Jordan1GOVERNMENT AND OPPOSITION, Issue 4 2008Francesco Cavatorta The lack of effective political parties is one of the dominant characteristics of modern Arab polities. The role of opposition to the authoritarian regimes is therefore left to a number of civil society organizations. This study examines the interactions among such groups in the context of the traditional transition paradigm and it analyses specifically how religious and secular organizations operate and interact. The empirical evidence shows that such groups, far from attempting any serious coalition-building to make common demands for democracy on the regime, have a competitive relationship because of their ideological differences and conflicting policy preferences. This strengthens authoritarian rule even in the absence of popular legitimacy. The article focuses its attention on Algeria and Jordan. [source] The Politics of Violent Opposition in Collapsing StatesGOVERNMENT AND OPPOSITION, Issue 2 2005William Reno In violent conflicts in places like Congo, Liberia and Sierra Leone, economic interests have crowded out ideologically articulate mass-based social movements for reform or revolutionary change to a degree that was not apparent during earlier anti-colonial struggles. Some scholars offer a ,looting model' of rebellion that explains the predations of politicians and warlords but it is not clear why people who receive few benefits from this , or even suffer great harm from them , fail to support ideologues instead, or why self-interested violent entrepreneurs do not offer political programmes to attract more followers. Yet some groups defy this ,looting model'. Explaining why armed groups vary so greatly in their behaviour provides a means to address important questions: is it possible to construct public authorities out of collapsed states in the twenty-first century, or do local predations and global conditions preclude indigenous state-building in these places? Why do social movements for reform there seem so ineffective? What conditions have to be present for them to succeed? This article considers the nature of rebellion in failing states, focusing on Nigeria to find clues to explain variations in the organization of armed groups. [source] Five Ways of Institutionalizing Political Opposition: Lessons from the Advanced DemocraciesGOVERNMENT AND OPPOSITION, Issue 1 2004Ludger Helms ABSTRACT Legitimate political opposition constitutes a key component of any form of liberal democracy, which has, however, received surprisingly scant attention in the more recent political science literature. In an attempt to revitalize the debate about the various forms of political opposition, this paper starts with distinguishing five different ways or models of institutionalizing political opposition in liberal democratic systems. It goes on to look at how these different models have worked in the constitutional practice of selected western democracies. In the second part of this article, the focus is on the possible lessons that constitution-makers in democratizing countries could draw from this experience. Whereas there is no best model of opposition in general, some models would seem to be better suited to meet the particular needs of new democracies than others. [source] Governing Elites, External Events and Pro-democratic Opposition in Hong Kong (1986,2002)GOVERNMENT AND OPPOSITION, Issue 4 2003Ming Sing While China has been the most important constraint on Hong Kong's democratization, another neglected constraint has been the limited mobilization power of the pro-democracy opposition in both civil and political society for most of the period from 1984 to 2002. The mobilization power of the pro-democracy opposition, mediated by their degree of internal unity and ability to capitalize on external political opportunities, affected its overall bargaining power vis-à-vis the Chinese and British government over democratization in different phases. The self-censorship among Hong Kong's media, plus economic recession since the Handover, further sapped the mobilization and bargaining power of pro-democratic forces. [source] Opposition to the European Union in the UK: The Dilemma of Public Opinion and Party ManagementGOVERNMENT AND OPPOSITION, Issue 2 2002Simon Usherwood First page of article [source] ,Pig-Sticking Princes': Royal Hunting, Moral Outrage, and the Republican Opposition to Animal Abuse in Nineteenth-and Early Twentieth-Century BritainHISTORY, Issue 293 2004Antony Taylor This article locates monarchy in the debates arising out of the anti-animal abuse campaigns of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Through a close examination of urban republican criticisms of monarchy, it seeks to question the role of royalty as the custodian of shared national values concerning animal welfare. It demonstrates that hostility to monarchy based on its role in encouraging and patronizing hunting belongs to a long tradition. Much hostility to royalty crystallized around the royal patronage of fox-hunting and of pheasant-shooting. The nineteenth-century precedents for recent concerns about the visible presence of royal figures on the hunting-field articulated many of the component elements of a republican position. For many urban radicals the connection of reigning monarchs with the hunt demonstrated the dysfunctional nature of royal existence, the limitations of royalty's attainments, and the perceived need by monarchs to satisfy the baser, more carnal urges arising from a life devoted to indolence and pleasure. This article shows that hunting, as a marker of a robust masculinity and of the opulence of royalty, brought the reform community into collision with supporters of the monarchy, and provided an example of royal ritual that failed to work in the interests of the throne. The article concludes by revealing the connections between the land debate, criticisms of the royal house, and animal welfare politics in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. [source] The Fourth Duke of Newcastle, the Ultra-Tories and the Opposition to Canning's AdministrationHISTORY, Issue 292 2003Richard A. Gaunt This article explores the Ultra-Tory opposition to the formation of George Canning's administration in March,April 1827 and subsequent events leading up to the beginning of the duke of Wellington's ministry in January 1828. It concentrates, in particular, upon the role of Henry, fourth duke of Newcastle (1785,1851) who emerged as the leading Ultra-Tory in the period. The article re-examines the events of the year with two considerations in mind: first, the effect of Canning's appointment on the position of the king and the ,open' status of Catholic Emancipation (given Canning's sympathies for a settlement of that question); secondly, the potential for the formation of a united ,Protestant' party in parliament out of the materials provided by Canning's opponents. It concludes that the events of the year were pivotal in transforming the Ultra-Tories from grumbling, but acquiescent, backwoodsmen into a political group and in demonstrating, well before the repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts and Catholic Emancipation, that they were unlikely to find a receptive following from either George IV, Wellington or Peel. [source] Multi-level Environmentalism and the European Union: The Case of Trans-European Transport NetworksINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF URBAN AND REGIONAL RESEARCH, Issue 1 2006HEIN-ANTON VAN DER HEIJDEN In the European Union, trans-European transport networks (TENs) are a vital element in the constitution of one European space in order to enable the free movement of people and goods throughout the Union. Their construction, however, often causes environmental degradation. Opposition to EU politics is mostly voiced at the level of individual nation-states. As the case of TENs reveals, however, protest against European policy projects with environmental side effects can take the form of ,multi-level environmentalism', linking lobbying and ,conscientization' in Brussels with direct action at the national and local levels. Civil society theory, social movement theory and governance theory help ensure a theoretically informed answer to the question of how the resistance to TENs is organized and framed. By questioning dominant problem definitions and solution strategies, environmental movements and movement organizations, both in Brussels and in the individual nation-states, point to the possibility of looking at social and political reality from another, non-hegemonic point of view. In this way, they contribute to challenging the often biased technocratic, growth-oriented character of the European Union. [source] Global Problem: National Accountability: Framing Accountability in the Australian Context of Climate ChangeJOURNAL OF CONTINGENCIES AND CRISIS MANAGEMENT, Issue 2 2008Eva-Karin Olsson Climate change has been seen as a crisis looming in the future, and has therefore not reached the top of the political agenda. This no longer holds true when looking at Australia, where climate change has become high politics. In this paper we examine the Australian electoral debate in terms of accountability framing, where the Government and Opposition were involved in a ,framing contest'. We argue that theories on accountability framing in crisis need to be modified in order to capture the complex dynamics of climate change due to its inherent scientific uncertainty and global nature. After conducting an inductive analysis of Australian Broadcasting Corporation-reporting we found three themes to be of importance for accountability framing in the ,risk society': labeling, linking and coping. [source] The Politics of Peace in the GDR: The Independent Peace Movement, the Church, and the Origins of the East German OppositionPEACE & CHANGE, Issue 3 2001Steven Pfaff Comparative research offers some insights into the genesis of movements under highly repressive conditions in which dissident groups are systematically denied the organizational and political resources necessary to mount a sustained challenge to the state. During the 1970s and 1980s there were circles of dissidents in the German Democratic Republic (GDR, or East Germany), but most grievances were not expressed in an organized form, and there were few opportunities to mobilize protest against the Communist regime. State repression and party control of society meant that opposition had to be organized within institutions that were shielded from state control. Religious subcultures offered a rival set of identities and values while generally accommodating the demands of the regime. Within the free social space offered by the church, a peace movement developed during the late 1970s and early 1980s. The effort to build an independent citizens' peace movement based in the church played an important role in linking together various groups committed to nonviolent protest, peace, ecology, and human rights into a coherent, if still organizationally weak, opposition during the East German revolution of 1989. [source] A Realist's Moral Opposition to War: Han J. Morgenthau and VietnamPEACE & CHANGE, Issue 1 2001Ellen Glaser Rafshoon This article examines Hans J. Morgenthau's critique of U.S. policies in Vietnam. Morgenthau, renowned for his advocacy of realism in foreign affairs, was one of the few political commentators to raise questions about nation-building efforts in South Vietnam in the 1950s. After full-scale military intervention in the 1960s, he became the foremost academic critic of the war. Morgenthau demonstrated a dramatic evolution in his views. In the 1950s, he expressed reservations about Indochina policies based on pragmatic concerns. Over time, however, his analysis of Vietnam policies focused on their ethical shortcomings. His examination of the ethics of the Vietnam war led him to revise his notion of how national interests should be determined in making foreign policy, from a calculation based on purely strategic factors to one that also takes moral factors into account. [source] Fixed-Term Parliaments: Electing the OppositionPOLITICS, Issue 1 2010Alan Hamlin Constitutional reform requires a cautious approach that draws heavily on the theory of institutions. Too often arguments for particular constitutional arrangements are one-dimensional and limited in scope and imagination. This article illustrates this theme by discussing the debate over fixed- and variable-term parliaments, and by offering a somewhat novel argument that focuses on the role of the opposition within a parliamentary system. [source] Developing a Caregiving Tradition in Opposition to One's Past: Lessons from a Longitudinal Study of Teenage MothersPUBLIC HEALTH NURSING, Issue 2 2000D.N.Sc., Lee SmithBattle R.N. Although teenage mothering has been exhaustively studied, the cross-sectional designs and the deficit-finding focus of empirical-rational studies have exaggerated the negative consequences of an early pregnancy and have obscured how teenage mothering is often a rite of passage to adulthood, particularly in the absence of middle-class resources and aspirations. In examining the experiences of young mothers, an 8-year longitudinal study sought to understand how teenage mothers extend and develop family caregiving traditions. The original sample included 16 families and 39 subjects. Multiple individual and family interviews were conducted once the teen's first-born infant reached 8 to 10 months of age, and then 4 and 8 years later. Data from all three study periods were analyzed using the interpretive method. The following analysis provides an in-depth account of how young mothers with an oppressive past strive to become the parents they want to be. In addition, the teen mother's difficulties and struggles of creating a more positive maternal legacy and the role that positive and negative examples of parenting play in fostering or hindering the development of a new caregiving tradition are described. Study findings have implications for how clinical practice and social policy can better assist mothers to become the mothers they want to be. [source] ,It Wasn't Us and We Didn't Benefit': The Discourse of Opposition to an Apology by Britain for Its Role in the Slave TradeTHE POLITICAL QUARTERLY, Issue 2 2008MICHAEL CUNNINGHAM 2007 was the bicentennary of the abolition of slave trading in British ships. It was marked by renewed calls for an apology for Britain's role in the slave trade. Prime Minister Tony Blair expressed his regret for the trade but did not issue an apology. This article examines the discourse of popular opposition to an apology, as articulated in newspapers and on websites, and offers a commentary and critique on the positions adopted.' [source] Opposition to the Living Wage: Discourse, Rhetoric, and American ExceptionalismANTHROPOLOGY OF WORK REVIEW, Issue 1 2010David Karjanen Abstract In this analysis my aim is to further a line of inquiry into the cultural logics surrounding the ways that people conceptualize work, worth, and the compensation of labor. By analyzing public attitudes towards wage floor policies such as the living wage, ethnographers can contribute to the broader effort at dismantling the naturalized cultural logic of neoliberalism regarding progressive economic policies, specifically living wages. I conclude that the discursive constitution of living wages by opponents reflects broader and more deeply held ideological assertions about American society and the marketplace, and reinforcing a notion of American exceptionalism. [source] Specific Opposition: Judd's art and politicsART HISTORY, Issue 5 2001David Raskin Donald Judd was a sceptic. He objected to impositions on free thinking, especially when set modes of belief interfered with good art or civil liberties. Accurate knowledge about the world, he believed, could only be acquired by subjecting traditionally held beliefs, values and habits of mind to empirical testing. In discussing Judd's works of art in the context of his empirical aesthetics and anarchist politics, I draw from some eleven archives, addressing, in secession, his materialist scepticism, formal and political anarchy, and Cold War pacifism. In so doing, I show the interdependence of Judd's art and politics, and explain how both are hostile to conventions of power. [source] The Zenith of Realism in New Zealand's Foreign PolicyAUSTRALIAN JOURNAL OF POLITICS AND HISTORY, Issue 3 2002David J. McCraw Modern New Zealand foreign policy is a blend of the Liberal Internationalist and Realist approaches to international relations, with the Liberal Internationalist strand arguably predominant. Before 1935, however, New Zealand's foreign policy can be characterised as purely Realist. The governments of the Reform and United parties between 1912 and 1935 gave a high priority to national security, were sceptical of international institutions and had no interest in issues of self-determination, democracy and human rights. These attitudes were challenged by the Labour party Opposition, which possessed a Liberal Internationalist outlook on international affairs, but Liberal Internationalism did not begin to influence New Zealand's foreign policy until Labour came to power in 1935. [source] Writing the "Show,Me" Standards: Teacher Professionalism and Political Control in U.S. State Curriculum PolicyCURRICULUM INQUIRY, Issue 3 2002Margaret Placier This qualitative case study analyzes the process of writing academic standards in one U.S. state, Missouri. The researchers took a critical pragmatic approach, which entailed close examination of the intentions and interactions of various participants in the writing process (teachers, politicians, business leaders, the public), in order to understand the text that was finally produced. School reform legislation delegated responsibility for writing the standards to a teacher work group, but the teachers found that their "professional" status and their intention to write standards that reflected a "constructivist" view of knowledge would meet with opposition. Politicians, who held different assumptions about the audience, organization, and content of the standards, exercised their greater power to control the outcome of the process. As the researchers analyzed public records and documents generated during the writing process, they constructed a chronological narrative detailing points of tension among political actors. From the narrative, they identified four conflicts that significantly influenced the final wording of the standards. They argue that as a consequence of these conflicts, Missouri's standards are characterized by a dichotomous view of content and process; bland, seemingly value,neutral language; and lack of specificity. Such conflicts and outcomes are not limited to this context. A comparative, international perspective shows that they seem to occur when groups in societies marked by political conflicts over education attempt to codify what "all students should know." [source] BUDDHISM AND NEUROETHICS: THE ETHICS OF PHARMACEUTICAL COGNITIVE ENHANCEMENTDEVELOPING WORLD BIOETHICS, Issue 2 2009ANDREW FENTON ABSTRACT This paper integrates some Buddhist moral values, attitudes and self-cultivation techniques into a discussion of the ethics of cognitive enhancement technologies , in particular, pharmaceutical enhancements. Many Buddhists utilize meditation techniques that are both integral to their practice and are believed to enhance the cognitive and affective states of experienced practitioners. Additionally, Mah,y,na Buddhism's teaching on skillful means permits a liberal use of methods or techniques in Buddhist practice that yield insight into our selfnature or aid in alleviating or eliminating dukha (i.e. dissatisfaction). These features of many, if not most, Buddhist traditions will inform much of the Buddhist assessment of pharmaceutical enhancements offered in this paper. Some Buddhist concerns about the effects and context of the use of pharmaceutical enhancements will be canvassed in the discussion. Also, the author will consider Buddhist views of the possible harms that may befall human and nonhuman research subjects, interference with a recipient's karma, the artificiality of pharmaceutical enhancements, and the possible motivations or intentions of healthy individuals pursuing pharmacological enhancement. Perhaps surprisingly, none of these concerns will adequately ground a reflective Buddhist opposition to the further development and continued use of pharmaceutical enhancements, either in principle or in practice. The author argues that Buddhists, from at least certain traditions , particularly Mah,y,na Buddhist traditions , should advocate the development or use of pharmaceutical enhancements if a consequence of their use is further insight into our self-nature or the reduction or alleviation of dukha. [source] Resettlement, Rights to Development and the Ilisu Dam, TurkeyDEVELOPMENT AND CHANGE, Issue 4 2004Behrooz Morvaridi A cursory attempt to measure the extent of displacement over the past two decades indicates significant increases in conflict-induced displacement and displacement resulting from development projects. At the same time a growing opposition to the latter form of displacement has raised questions over its legitimacy through a variety of media, including public campaigns and protests. This article focuses on some of the challenges that this presents to the displacement and resettlement discourse. In particular it considers the influences of the rights to development agenda on the spatial context of displacement and its associated economic and political changes. There appears to be a disjuncture between the practices of mainstream development, which tend to interpret development policy as it is defined and applied by a nation state and to assess inequalities within clear geographical definitions, and the universality of a rights based approach to development. This article examines these tensions in the context of displacement and resettlement management, drawing on evidence from a case study of the Ilisu dam in South East Anatolia, Turkey. [source] ,Benchmarking' and Participatory Development: The Case of Fiji's Sugar Industry ReformsDEVELOPMENT AND CHANGE, Issue 2 2001Darryn Snell Since the mid-1970s, opposition has grown within developing countries to the use of ,top-down' development approaches by foreign consultants. Disenchantment with these development strategies, it is often claimed, has led to the current incorporation of participation in consultants' development practices. This study is concerned with the practice and methods of participatory development planning. It evaluates the Strategic Plan adopted by the Fiji sugar industry in 1997 in response to challenges that are attributed to the pressures of globalization and international competitiveness. The authors assess the external consultant's self-proclaimed ,participatory methods' in the articulation of these challenges, in the design of restructuring programmes, and in shaping the discourses of reform more generally. The consultant's use of the fashionable ,benchmarking' methodology is seen to be one of the most problematic features of the ,participatory' process. [source] The Cornucopia of Formal-Ontological RelationsDIALECTICA, Issue 3 2004Barry Smith The paper presents a new method for generating typologies of formal-ontological relations. The guiding idea is that formal relations are those sorts of relations which hold between entities which are constituents of distinct ontologies. We provide examples of ontologies (in the spirit of Zemach's classic "Four Ontologies" of 1970), and show how these can be used to give a rich typology of formal relations in a way which also throws light on the opposition between threeand four-dimensionalism. [source] Defending Byzantine Spain: frontiers and diplomacyEARLY MEDIEVAL EUROPE, Issue 3 2010Jamie Wood The centrality of the Reconquista in the historiography of medieval Spain has meant that there has been little examination of the evidence for interaction on and across political boundaries in pre-Islamic Spain. This article re-examines existing theories about the defence of the Byzantine province of Spania that had been established by Justinian in the 550s and was taken by the Visigoths in 625. The two existing and opposing models for the extent, defence, and , therefore , the importance of the province to the empire do not explain the evidence convincingly. Rather, a fluid zone of interaction was established in which diplomacy and ,propaganda' was the primary means by which opposition was articulated. [source] Network structural properties mediate the stability of mutualistic communitiesECOLOGY LETTERS, Issue 3 2008Toshinori Okuyama Abstract Key advances are being made on the structures of predator,prey food webs and competitive communities that enhance their stability, but little attention has been given to such complexity,stability relationships for mutualistic communities. We show, by way of theoretical analyses with empirically informed parameters, that structural properties can alter the stability of mutualistic communities characterized by nonlinear functional responses among the interacting species. Specifically, community resilience is enhanced by increasing community size (species diversity) and the number of species interactions (connectivity), and through strong, symmetric interaction strengths of highly nested networks. As a result, mutualistic communities show largely positive complexity,stability relationships, in opposition to the standard paradox. Thus, contrary to the commonly-held belief that mutualism's positive feedback destabilizes food webs, our results suggest that interplay between the structure and function of ecological networks in general, and consideration of mutualistic interactions in particular, may be key to understanding complexity,stability relationships of biological communities as a whole. [source] From individual attitudes towards migrants to migration policy outcomes: Theory and evidenceECONOMIC POLICY, Issue 56 2008Giovanni Facchini SUMMARY Attitudes and migration policy We are experiencing a wave of globalization that includes everything but labour. In this paper, we argue that this is the result of restrictive migration policies implemented by destination countries. In democratic societies individual attitudes of voters represent the foundations of policy making. To understand policy outcomes, we analyse the patterns and determinants of voters' opinions on immigration. We find that, across countries of different income levels, only a small minority of voters favour more open policies. Furthermore, our analysis supports the role played by economic channels in shaping public opinion. We next investigate how attitudes translate into policy outcomes, considering two alternative frameworks: the median voter and the interest groups model. On the one hand, the very low percentages of voters favouring immigration are, in light of the existing restrictive policies, consistent with the median voter framework. At the same time, given the extent of opposition to immigration that appears in public opinion, it is somewhat surprising in a median voter framework that immigration takes place at all. We find that interest-groups dynamics have the potential to explain this puzzle. , Giovanni Facchini and Anna Maria Mayda [source] Some simple economics of GM foodECONOMIC POLICY, Issue 33 2001Dietmar Harhoff Public opposition to the genetic engineering of food crops (GM food) has not been based solely on concern about biological risks. Economic risks have been widely cited too: the fear that the world's food supply will be concentrated in the hands of a few large firms, the fear that such firms will engage or are already engaging in anti,competitive practices, and the fear of the transfer of ownership rights over genetic resources to the private sector. Are these fears justified? We argue that the GM food industry may be on course for further consolidation, and this could be anti,competitive. In fact, policymakers face a dilemma: a stringent regulatory approval process enhances food safety, but at the cost of increasing market concentration. We argue also that the integration of seed and agri,chemical manufacturers may bias the introduction of GM traits in undesirable directions. Some business practices (such as tie,in contracts between seeds and complementary products such as herbicides) may have an exclusionary motive that warrants scrutiny on anti,competitive grounds, while some other practices (such as the use of terminator genes) appear more benign. Finally, we argue against granting patents on genes or even on gene ,functions'. Doing so may delay the development of socially beneficial applications. [source] International Economic Sanctions Against a DictatorECONOMICS & POLITICS, Issue 1 2004William H. Kaempfer Wintrobe's (1990, 1998) dictatorship model is adapted to examine the impacts of economic sanctions on an autocrat. It is shown that the dictator's choice of the level of power, and the quantities of loyalty and repression used as inputs in the production of power, are affected by the type and magnitude of sanctions and by the impact of sanctions on the political effectiveness of opposition groups. Sanctions have direct and indirect effects on the prices of loyalty and repression as well as potentially generating rents that might be captured either by the dictator or by the opposition. [source] Strategic Political Participation and RedistributionECONOMICS & POLITICS, Issue 1 2002Toke Skovsgaard Aidt The purpose of this paper is to study formation of support and opposition to redistribution. We analyze a society with two groups of citizens and a government. The government distributes income from one group to the other in response to political pressure. The interaction between the groups is modeled as a two-stage game. In stage 1, the groups decide if they want to be politically active. In stage 2, the active group or groups seek influence on the direction and size of the transfer. We demonstrate that supporters of redistribution are always politically active but that opposition is often absent. Moreover, when opposition is absent there is a strong tendency for underdissipation of the transfer, while political competition typically leads to overdissipation. [source] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||