Steven M. DeLue

Bio: Steven M. DeLue is an academic researcher from Miami University. The author has contributed to research in topics: Civil society & Majority rule. The author has an hindex of 2, co-authored 7 publications receiving 248 citations.

Plato's Crito As A Defense of Critical Inquiry

Abstract: T HE STANDARD INTERPRETATION of Plato's Crito is that it is "a repository of first principles about government."' Read as a treatise in this tradition, the Crito, especially the discussion with the Laws in the second part, has often been viewed as the classic defense of the obligation to obey law even in those situations in which one is accused and found guilty of violating unjust laws.2 Rex Martin says the Crito argues that

Birds of the Same Feather Tweet Together: Bayesian Ideal Point Estimation Using Twitter Data

Abstract: Parties, candidates, and voters are becoming increasingly engaged in political conversations through the micro-blogging platform Twitter. In this paper I show that the structure of the social networks in which they are embedded has the potential to become a source of information about policy positions. Under the assumption that social networks are homophilic (McPherson et al., 2001), this is, the propensity of users to cluster along partisan lines, I develop a Bayesian Spatial Following model that scales Twitter users along a common ideological dimension based on who they follow. I apply this network-based method to estimate ideal points for Twitter users in the US, the UK, Spain, Italy, and the Netherlands. The resulting positions of the party accounts on Twitter are highly correlated with oine measures based on their voting records and their manifestos. Similarly, this method is able to successfully classify individuals who state their political orientation publicly, and a sample of users from the state of Ohio whose Twitter accounts are matched with their voter registration history. To illustrate the potential contribution of these estimates, I examine the extent to which online behavior is polarized along ideological lines. Using the 2012 US presidential election campaign as a case study, I nd that public exchanges on Twitter take place predominantly among users with similar viewpoints.

Veto Players and Law Production in Parliamentary Democracies: An Empirical Analysis

Abstract: This article investigates hypotheses generated by the veto players' theory. The fundamental insight of this theory is that an increase in the number of veto players (for all practical purposes, in parliamentary systems the number of parties in government) and their ideological distance from one another will reduce the ability of both government and parliament to produce significant laws. In addition, the number of significant laws increases with the duration of a government and with an increase in the ideological difference between current and previous government. These propositions are tested with legislative data (both laws and government decrees) on working time and working conditions identified in two legislative sources: the NATLEX computerized database in Geneva (produced by the International Labour organization) and Blanpain's International Encyclopedia for Labour Law and Industrial Relations. The data cover fifteen West European countries for the period 1981–91. The evidence corroborates the proposed hypotheses.

Орфоепічна та орфофонічна варіативність англійського мовлення британців, американців і канадійців (експериментально-фонетичне дослідження) . – На правах рукопису.

Abstract: Gorikhovsky M.V. Strategic management of the farms competitiveness. Мanuscript. The dissertation for the degree of candidate of economic sciences, specialty 08.00.04 «Economics and management of the enterprises (according to the types of economic activity)». – State agrarian and engineering university in Podilya, Kamenets-Podolskyi, 2018. In the dissertation theoretical generalizations were made and the new solution for the actual scientifically-engineered task of problem concerning strategic management of competitiveness of farms is proposed. Solving this task will help strengthen the competitive position of the farms in the region with regard to direct and potential competitors. The obtained scientific results give grounds for the following conclusions. Taking into account the peculiarities of the development of the agrarian sector of the economy and the strengthening of the competitiveness of agro holdings, the existence of many obstacles and problems in the development of farms (unsatisfactory technical and technological support, under-priced sales of own products, complications in marketing and product sales, constant seasonal inflation processes, inaccessible credit resources and state subsidies , which led to a decrease in their competitiveness), the question arises of the strategic management of their competitiveness. In this context, the term "strategic management of farming" is considered by the author as "a set of knowledge, skills and abilities of farmers in the adoption and implementation of strategic decisions that are developed under conditions of uncertainty and instability of the external environment, usually using only their own labor, production and financial resources" . At the same time, operational management, strategic planning and farmer policy are considered as components of strategic management, and not their derivatives. On the basis of the generalization of existing methodological approaches to the assessment of the competitiveness of farms found that most of them are oriented to indicators of their resource availability, resourcefulness, resource efficiency, profitability. In this context, the methodical foundations for assessing the competitiveness of farms are improved on the basis of systematization and supplementation of existing Foresight Forecasting and Data Mining Classifications, the use of a generalized EBITDA, which includes a multicriteria dimension of the functional components of a farm, which enables the analysis and forecasting of key competitive advantages and secondary characteristics , which in their totality have a significant influence on solving problems of strategic management of competitiveness of farms. The methodology for researching strategic management of the competitiveness of farms involves the formation of general principles, management methods, specific requirements that are put forward in the management system of different types of farms. On this basis, scientific approaches to the classification of farms have been improved, taking into account the size of the land bank, the level of agricultural cooperation, the level of specialization, the level of product marketability, the form of creation, ownership, formation, division of labor, the provision of means of production, which increases the level of validity of management decisions defined alternative directions of strategic development of farms and types of their behavior in the market. Based on the methodology proposed in the dissertation on the assessment of the state of strategic management of the competitiveness of farms through the integrated indicator of EBITDA, which takes into account the parameters of profitability, land security, reproduction of fixed assets, financial obligations, the directions of their strategic development were substantiated. The study of the dynamics of the EBITDA indicator in the investigated farms of the Khmelnitsky region has made it possible to establish that the main reason for the growth of the analyzed indicator at the present stage of their development are intensive growth factors such as crop yields, fundraising, profit, cost savings. The effectiveness of using the potential of land resources of farms has been researched in the context of dynamic agricultural development and it has been established that the efficiency of farming in these farms depends to a large extent on the size of the land bank, but also on the rational use of land, fertilizers, capital and labor resources. Practical use of methodological provisions for assessing the level of competitiveness of farms on the basis of adapted SWOT analysis methods, Modern portfolio theory (BGM matrices) of the investigated farms in the aggregate allowed to determine the key problems and directions of strategic development of farms, aimed at increasing their competitiveness in the external environment. The key role in external regulation of the process of forming the competitiveness of farms must be played by an institutional environment whose elements are intended to reduce farmers' informal lack of knowledge and transaction costs by creating adapted business plans and behavioral models for farms. Strategic analysis based on the systematic approach of studying the interconnections of quantitative and qualitative characteristics of farm development taking into account restrictive factors of competitiveness, which include insufficient demand for products, weather conditions, labor shortages, limited access to materials and equipment, financial constraints and level of managerial competence , allowed to formulate goals that together allow to solve key problems and to identify reserves for improving the efficiency of the economy the activities of farms in accordance with the state of their internal and external environment. Application of the AGMEMOD model enabled Ukraine to forecast the development of farms in the context of sustainable development of rural areas, namely: yield, gross crop and sown area of main crops, EBITDA, changes in demographic indicators and GDP of the Khmelnitsky region in a basic and optimistic variant of the forecast, the results of which gave the opportunity to substantiate competitive strategies, the implementation of which will ensure an increase in volumes of sales, profits, market share and penetration to new market segment and more. The proposed conceptual approach to strategic farm management competitiveness is a set of interconnected forms, methods and values that contribute to satisfying the needs of increasing the competitiveness of farms, on the basis of which a power strategy for the development of farms is carried out and the identification of potential opportunities for its implementation. The dissertation defines the components of ensuring the implementation and development of advanced technologies for the development of farms, which include: technical and technological (skills of working with statistical data and other information, introduction of the latest innovative strategies and concepts, application in the production of high technology and innovative technologies, etc.), legally -scientific (understanding of the legislative framework of Ukraine, knowledge of laws and possible legislative changes, study of foreign experience in the construction and implementation of a strategist ) and (knowing the potential for regional development, local needs awareness, communication and farmers government, solidarity and responsibility for the community, administrative skills, management style, competence). It is proved that in order to increase the competitiveness of farms, it is expedient to create agro-industrial associations whose activities are carried out on the basis of a non-profit partnership, which will promote the attraction of additional resources, optimization of processes of sale and processing of products, the formation of its own budget, etc. The proposed approach is based on the phased implementation of alternative strategies for individual groups of farms and the development of possible variants of their development based on a reasonable structural and logical scheme for their creation and functioning.

Government Formation in Parliamentary Democracies

Abstract: ment of an empirical tradition that allows scholars to evaluate the relative importance of competing theories. We resolve this problem by applying an empirical framework that is appropriate for modeling coalition choice to evaluate several leading explanations of government formation. Our approach allows us to make conclusions about the relative importance of traditional variables relating to size and ideology and to assess the impact of recent new-institutional-

Presidentialism, parliamentarism, and democracy

Abstract: 1. Introduction 2. Presidential, parliamentary, and mixed democracies 3. Are the incentives for coalition formation different in parliamentary and presidential democracies? 4. Are coalitions rare in presidential democracies? 5. Party discipline and form of government 6. What makes presidential democracies fragile? 7. Conclusion.