Showing papers in "Political Studies in 1990"

Politics and the State

Abstract: Political theorists disagree about whether 'politics' and 'the political' should bedefined narrowly or broadly. Defenders of broad conceptions argue that narrow definitions exclude phenomena that ought to be included and lead us to misunderstand the relationship between different forces in society. Defenders of narrow conceptions argue that broad definitions collapse the distinction between the social and the political, and deprive politics of any distinctive identity. I shall argue that neither of these arguments is successful and that disputes over whether we should adopt a narrow or a broad view of politics are, for the most part, merely verbal.

Theories of British Politics

Abstract: The traditional theory of British politics emphasized the unique character of the British political tradition and interrelationship of ideas and institutions. Its three main elements were a constitutional doctrine, a theory of the state and a theory of history. New theories and perspectives, often influenced by American and European political science, have challenged the assumptions of this Westminster model because it excluded too much and explained too little. The study of British politics has become more fragmented with no single dominant perspective. Theories in five main research areas ideology, the constitution, public policy, political economy and political behaviour are discussed, as well as the prospects for more interdisciplinary and comparative studies.

Pluralism, Reformed Pluralism and Neopluralism: the Role of Pressure Groups in Policy‐Making

Abstract: The critics of pluralism have often been rejected by pluralists who argue that their criticism has either attacked a caricature or they have defined pluralism so vaguely as to make it difficult to criticize with certainty.’ It is certainly true that a crude stereotype of pluralism has frequently been the subject of debate rather than the true arguments of pluralists. Therefore, the aim of this article is to present the ‘best-case’ definition of pluralism and to demonstrate that problems remain with even the most sophisticated models of pluralism. The article will also examine pluralists’ attempts to overcome their critics and evaluate how successful they have been in this task. It will demonstrate that the recent adaptations of pluralism have made many useful advances but that there is still room for further improvement.

The Pluralism of Pluralism: An Anti-Theory?:

Abstract: The initial purpose of this paper is simply to define, if possible, the term ‘pluralism’. It starts from the assumption that pluralism has been an underexplicit theory; an evolving or (less flatteringly) a mutating theory; an inconsistent theory. These inconstant qualities perhaps explain why pluralism has been ‘in the ring’ with such different alternatives as elitism, corporatism and totalitarianism. Thus the first issue is whether or not it is possible to recognize pluralism. Is there an agreed description of the suspect? Since pluralism is so vague a set ofideas it is difficult to understand how opponents can have rejected it with such confidence. It is also suggested that pluralism has been a lucky theory to the extent that the empirical developments of the past decades make pluralism a more tenable option than it was in the 1950s. Pluralism also looks more respectable in the 1980s than the 1950s as the idea of the ‘market’ has regained popularity. However, although this paper seeks to restore pluralist sources to the centre of the discipline it is not argued that as they stand they offer a satisfactory and final account of how decisions are made in western democratic societies. The work is surprisingly patchy, even when approached sympathetically. It needs integration and development. Moreover, apart from the quality of the pluralist accounts, there is a separate issue of whether any single model is likely to be adequate. This is not to say that there is an obviously superior account with which to replace pluralism, but to express suspicion of the notion that we should expect to find any adequate model that does not feature explicit variety as its core.

Policy Community Realism versus‘New’ Institutionalist Ambiguity

Abstract: There has been widespread interest in the term ‘institution’ within political science in the past five years. Two principal uses of this are identified. The first is associated with the policy community literature and in this sense the institution is an extra-constitutional policy-making arrangement between ministries and clientelistic groups. The second use of the term is associated with state-centred authors who wish to argue for the relative autonomy of political institutions. In this second use there is ambiguity about the scope of the term institution; whether it is, or is not, intended to be confined to traditional institutions or whether the disaggregated state embraces the newer policy community phenomenon.

Radical Sheffield: from Socialism to Entrepreneurialism

Abstract: Since the 1960s various radical community initiatives have emerged in Western Europe and North America. The types of radicalism have varied (socialism, feminism, environmentalism and anti-racism) but common to all has been the belief that fundamental social change is required and that the locality is a significant base for achieving that change.’ In Britain this local radicalism was associated with the new urban left which emerged from the crisis within the Labour Party in the late 1970s. A generation of left activists, alienated by the actions of the Wilson/Callaghan governments, aimed to win control of the Labour Party at the national level. Almost by accident they captured control of some major city authorities in which they then attempted to put into practice a programme of municipal radicalism as a demonstration of successful socialist enterprise which should be incorporated into Labour’s national programme.* The authorities linked with this new municipal socialism included the Greater London Council and the London boroughs of Camden, Greenwich, Hackney, Haringey, Islington and Southwark and, in the provinces, Sheffield. This new urban left was never one homogeneous bloc: each authority had its own distinctive features. Some arrived on the scene early and departed early (Walsall) while others arrived late (Manchester). Some were none too welcome at any time (Liverpool). I propose to examine one such radical project Sheffield where the city council avoided the media tag of ‘loony left’, was commended by outside observers for the standard of its services and maintained the support of its local voters at elections, yet has been forced into modifying its programme. Trapped between the pincers of central government and multinational capital, the city council has moved from socialism to entreprene~rialism.~ Sheffield is a city of labour both industrially and politically. Manual workers have dominated the local workforce, depth of unionism amongst this workforce has been high and half of all households have been council house tenant^.^

The Political Economy of Development

Abstract: The approach focuses principally on economic linkages between developed and developing countries. It owes much to studies of Latin America and may be more difficult to apply to other parts of the third world where economic development is not necessarily seen as a primary objective of policy. Studies within the field have not generally succeeded at a global level. They have often been too deterministic to describe a world which is both complex and unpredictable. In any case it is more important to influence policy than to discuss the formation of historical structures. Dependency theory in particular has proved a poor guide to policy-makers. The New Right and public choice theory have been better tailored towards influencing policymakers, although this approach (like much dependency writing) divorces the content of public policy from the political system in which it is made. However, political economy of development studies have worked well at a lower level of abstraction and have contributed to a better understanding of public policy in some developing countries.

The Personal Vote in Australian Federal Elections

Abstract: Although there has been little reliable evidence to date, the ‘personal vote’ for local Members of Parliament in Australian elections is generally thought to be negligible by political scientists. This article analyses new data from the 1987 Australian National Social Science Survey which demonstrate that the personal vote is a significant factor in federal lower house elections even when numerous other variables known to influence voting behaviour are controlled for. The data allow a calculation of the potential electoral effect of the personal vote which shows that it could be worth at least 3 per cent in some circumstances. The analysis tests for varying levels of personal voting in safe and marginal seats, Labor and coalition seats, urban and rural seats and according to the length of time the incumbent has been in office. Lastly, the electoral effects of the social background of local members are examined.

Mass Political Behaviour: Is There More to Learn?

Abstract: Research progress in voting studies and party competition, the mass media, work on social movements, interest groups and collective action, is reviewed for the last decade. Theoretical impetus in applied work seems weak in British studies; sub-fields of research are being pursued in isolation. In electoral studies at least there are signs of over-specialization and loss of valuable interconnections with the mainstream of political science. A number of pathways for improving the state of the art are identified, focusing on a renewal of theoretical input, the correction of some ‘system biases’, greater methodological pluralism and more integration of demand-side and supply-side studies.

State Traditions and Comprehensive Business Associations: A Comparative Structural Analysis

Abstract: Recent studies calling for a more disaggregated approach to the study of the state risk rejecting those conceptual tools such as policy style and state tradition that have been developed for studying macropolitical institutions. Taking as a point of departure Dyson's attempt to relate state traditions and modes of interest-group politics, it is demonstrated that a certain symmetry exists between different types of states and the structures of systems of comprehensive business associations. Specifically, France is shown to have a dualistic system corresponding to its dualist polity, West Germany a system specialized by policy area corresponding to its accommodative polity, and Britain, Canada and the US to have competitive, pluralist systems consistent with their adversarial polities. Such correspondence supports trying to treat as a variable the relationship between macropolitical traditions or policy styles and sectoral policy communities.

The Racialization of British Politics

Abstract: The idea of ‘race’ was an important part of the post-1945 political and ideological context within which migration from the New Commonwealth began. This is demonstrated by an analysis of an important policy document which provides a foundation upon which to evaluate the character and significance of racism in the subsequent political process. This evaluation contrasts and comments upon rival accounts of the impact of racism offered by writers who have analysed official government files from the period. The paper concludes by arguing against a conception of racism which presumes that it is a constant and unchanging ideological bloc within the British political process.

How and Why Liberal and Representative Politics Emerged in India

Abstract: How did liberal, representative politics take root in India during the first phase after independence? An adequate explanation must consider certain aspects of Hindu culture and Indian social structure, the distinctive character of British rule and the formidable Indian response to it. It must also assess the role of formal political institutions, which the British had created and the Indians adapted, and relations between Indian nationalists and key indigenous elites both before and after independence. Most important was the landowning elite that dominated the socioeconomic order in rural areas, where most Indians lived. Central to this story was the organization or ‘machine’ of the Indian National Congress, which integrated the two main sources of order in India - the institutions of state and the agrarian socioeconomic order - as well as the various regions and levels within the political system.

The Primacy of the Political: Rahe and the Myth of the Polis

Abstract: Paul Rahe belongs to the long tradition of mythologizing the polis, otherwise known as ‘the classical republican tradition’, which has two signal achievements to its credit. The first is to claim for the great landed monarchies of Europe the democratic legacy of the polis as their very own. The second is to distance themselves from eastern regimes by characterizing them as ‘despotic’ and ‘other’. This tradition is seriously challenged by modern classical and Near Eastern scholarship, which shows city-republican forms to have originated in the east. Rahe's particular version is open to the additional challenge that it glorifies the male warrior polis, from which women were systematically excluded, ‘as a moral community of men united by a common way of life’, as if a community which depended on the labour of women but gave them no rights could have moral integrity.

On Being Economical with the Truth: Some Liberal Reflections

Abstract: Although a commitment to free discussion of all issues is one of the traditional pillars of liberalism, contemporary liberals may be justified in feeling uneasy when their principle of universal human rights is publicly challenged in the name of ethnic community. For in spite of liberalism's reputation for rationalism, its principles rely upon a substantial element of myth which does not stand up well to public scrutiny. Liberals would be wise to become more conscious of this ‘mythical’ component in their outlook. This would protect them against political naivety and its consequent disillusionment. It would also help them to respond more appropriately to right-wing critics, by relying less on rationalism and more on tactics borrowed from conservatism.

Liberalism and the Best-Judge Principle

Abstract: The central tenet of liberalism has been taken to be value agnosticism, operationalized in the rule that each person must be taken to be the best judge of his own interests. There are, however, various ways to take that ‘best-judge principle’. The strongest form of the claim is here shown to be untenable. The most defensible weaker form is shown to provide only equivocal support at best for the sort of laissez-faire policy prescriptions standardly associated with liberal and neo-liberal political theory.

The Resurgence of Political Theory

Abstract: Political theory has flourished over the last 20 years but it has also become more fragmented. The critical study of classic texts has been replaced by a more narrowly historical approach, which seeks to locate texts in their political contexts. A very recent development, conceptual history, promises a closer relationship between historical and contemporary theory. Conceptual analysis has given way to normative political theory, concerned to find principled justifications for political arrangements. The major cleavage has been between individualists, who look for universal foundations in postulates such as human nature, and communitarians, who begin with persons embedded in contingent social relationships and practices. In applied political theory, the major shift has been from institutional questions to the analysis of issues in public policy, such as welfare provision and sexual and racial discrimination.

Political Distances between Knesset Members and Coalition Behaviour: The Peace Agreements with Egypt

Abstract: During the 1960s great attention was given to the theoretical field of coalition behaviour. Among the pioneers, Gamson and Riker introduced ideas borrowed from game theory and suggested the term ‘minimal winning coalitions’.’ In such coalitions there are no unnecessary partners. If one of the members (for example, political parties) defects, it immediately becomes a losing coalition for it does not control a majority anymore. Gamson, Riker and their followers proposed that such coalitions are more likely to occur because the usually fixed total amount of payoffs is distributed among coalition members in proportion to their power. Hence, any addition of ‘unnecessary’ parties directly reduces the amount of payoffs to be held by ‘necessary’ parties. Subsequently, in a famous empirical study Browne proved that although payoffs are distributed in cabinet coalitions in proportion to the parliamentary power of the participating parties, and although most coalitions in parliamentary systems usually enjoy majorities (the exceptions were Denmark and Italy), minimal winning coalitions occur only in rare cases.’ Dodd proved, however, that the more similar is the size of a coalition to the size of a minimal winning coalition, the longer is its d ~ r a t i o n . ~ The focus then shifted to new theoretical ideas suggesting that the network of policy distances among the different actors is a major predictor of coalition formation. Axelrod, De Swaan and Taylor proposed that coalitions with ‘minimal range’ and/or ‘closed coalitions’ are more likely to OCCUT.~ Range refers to the ideological distance between the two most extreme participants in a possible coalition. In a closed coalition, party A and

Rushdie, Race and Religion

Abstract: The Rushdie affair is one of those episodes in which a relatively trivial incident becomes, by degrees, a majorcontroversy which, in turn, gives rise to issues of the most fundamental importance. Sonie of those issues, such as the proper relation between religious beliefs and temporal laws, are very old and might have been thought moribund. Others, such as the proper constitution of a multicultural society, are more recent. In many ways the affair has been an unfortunate one but one of its better consequences is that it has prompted people to reconsider much of what has been taken for granted in recent years. Some of the first fruits of that stimulus have now been made available by the Commission for Racial Equality (CRE). Under the guidance of Bhikhu Parekh, who was until recently Deputy Chairman of the Commission, the CRE got together a number of distinguished academic and public figures of various persuasions to consider the issues raised by theaffair. We have the results of those deliberations in three excellent volumes, which consist of the papers delivered to those seminars together with a carefully edited record of the discussion that they prompted.‘ Among the contributors to the CRE seminars was Shabbir Akhtar. He has risen to prominence during the Rushdie affair as a leading spokesman of the Muslim cause and he has now produced the first full-length account of the affair to be written by a Muslim.’ Akhtar’s book ranges over all aspects of the Rushdie affair: the content of The Satanic Verses, the nature of Muslims’ complaints, the response of what he calls ‘the Liberal Inquisition’, the theology of blasphemy and apostasy, and the political dimensions of the affair both in Britain and internationally. Akhtar does not pretend to provide a neutral account of these issues; he writes as a selfprofessed ‘fundamentalist’’ concerned to vindicate the Muslim position. He views the affair not as a local squabble about the legal limits of freedom oT expression but as part of a worldwide battle between western secularism and Islam. Indeed, he argues that the clue to the west’s response to the affair lies in its outrage at Muslims having the temerity to challenge the cultural imperialism of the west.4

British Political Science and Comparative Politics

Abstract: The internationalization of political science makes it especially difficult to identify a distinctive British approach to comparative politics. While there is certainly evidence of a distaste for cross-national comparison in Britain, this is no more marked than in other countries. In fact, on the evidence of a survey of major journals, Britons make relatively heavy use of the comparative method. British comparative research is less likely to use statistical indicators and methods than that found in other countries. Apart from this, the distinctions between comparative politics here and elsewhere are more matters of style and less matters of substance.

The Obligation to Contribute to Discretionary Public Goods

Abstract: The principle of fairness, first introduced by H. L. A. Hart in 1955, is able to support a workable theory of political obligation upon liberal premises. In a previous paper, ‘Presumptive benefit, fairness, and political obligation’, I argued that the principle can establish general obligations to cooperate in the provision of ‘presumptive public goods' (that is, public goods that are indispensable to the typical member of society). Because a wider range of governmental services is necessary for the provision of presumptive goods, the principle also supports obligations to support ‘discretionary public goods' (goods that are desirable but not indispensable). The ‘indirect argument’ developed in this paper counters the criticisms of my previous paper presented by A. John Simmons in ‘The anarchist position: a reply to Klosko and Senor’.

The Problems of Europocentrism and Evolutionism in Marx's Writings on Colonialism

Abstract: This paper examines the extent to which Marx's thinking on colonialism was Europocentric and evolutionist and the criticisms levelled against him. By examining relevant aspects of Marx's work, we can define more clearly his true ideas on colonialism and sort out the arguments of his critics. The paper discusses Marx and Engels's writings on colonialism for The New York Daily Tribune (1851–62) and examines four theoretical responses to these writings. The conclusion suggests that although Marx's writings on colonialism suffer from a specifically Europocentric bias, this alters but does not negate the overall applicability of Marx's ideas to the third world.

The Pertinence of International Relations

Abstract: Established as a distinct academic discipline at the end of the second world war, International Relations has above all been concerned with analysing relations between sovereign states - in the first instance, the causes of war between them and alternative forms of cooperation. Throughout its history, IR has been dominated by ‘realism’, an approach based on a juridical totalizing concept of the state. This denies the relevance of factors located within polities and societies and stresses the primacy of security issues in inter-state relations. More recent work in the field has sought to analyse the interaction of the domestic and the international and to explore the interaction of security with other, most evidently economic, factors. The relation of 1R to political science is defined by the shared concern with the ‘pertinence’ of the international; that is, how far specific political and social systems are, and are not, affected and determined by factors beyond their frontiers and how these forms of international influence are changing in the contemporary world.

Economic Democracy and the Expediency of Worker Participation

Abstract: The increased discussion of economic democracy in America in recent years makes sense given the context of crises in Keynesianism, the welfare state, corporate legitimacy and American ‘competitiveness’. Departing from Dahl's recent analysis, this paper argues that one notion of economic democracy - the internal democratization of the firm - can be conceived and plausibly linked to objectives of increased American competitiveness and community stability. The argument rejects purist schemes of universal cooperative ownership as well as so-called shareholder democracy. It proposes a representative system for the firm based on a balance among shareholder, employee and community interests, a separation of powers between boards of directors and management, and a concept of transition based on democratic development of already widespread employee stock-ownership plans.

Cooption and Power: Who Gets What from Formal Incorporation

Abstract: This paper examines the central generalizable factors which influence the flow of power within formal or ‘institutional’ cooptive arrangements. It examines the key resources of four different types of societal group and explores the utility of these resources in the light of an account of basic government needs. In the light of this, it explores a range of group-government dependencies. Its aim is to set out why some groups can get more and others less from formal government cooption, other things being equal. This enables us to isolate factors of central importance to various cooptive arrangements in quite different contexts.

Does the American Dairy Industry Fit the Meso-Corporatist Model?:

Abstract: Corporatism having become a less useful label for describing entire political systems, corporatist scholars have emphasized the importance of meso-level corporatism, using dairying as the classic example. Analysis of the American dairy industry does not support the claim that there is ‘no corporatism in the United States’ but it suggests why meso-corporatist enclaves in a macro-pluralist system are liable to be ephemeral. What sets the American dairy industry apart from its European and Canadian counterparts is that the meso-corporatist institutional arrangements were undermined by the emergence of large regional cooperatives in the 1960s and as a result present dairy policy-making has reverted once more to a pluralist paradigm.

Through and Through Hegel: Marx's Road to Communism

Abstract: Noting ambiguities in Marx's attitude towards communism uncovers the Hegelian foundations of his concept of communism, here defined as his substantive principle. Initially, Marx professes radical liberal views based on the Hegelian rational state, combined with a critique of modern social conditions. He then moves away from Hegelian state formalism but continues to adhere to the essential core of Hegel's philosophy, reason. The transitional period (1842–44) shows Marx to be critical of communist views, while his substantive principle is now defined as human emancipation. The Manuscripts of 1844 witness Marx embracing communism explicitly for the first time but this concept, while encumbered by Feuerbachian naturalism, still displays the Hegelian features observed earlier. Marx's communism is Hegelian in that it refers to a philosophical vantage-point and summary description of a developing reality, rather than to a goal to be reached.

International Peacekeeping: The Disputants' View

Abstract: International disputants often have reservations about inviting a peacekeeping body to help them contain or settle their conflict. Either or both sides might worry about certain international consequences of this course. Thus, one side might want to refrain from implying that an international issue really exists; both disputants might be concerned that a peacekeeping body could interfere with their freedom of action; and also that it could furnish critical reports about their behaviour. Then, too, there are certain adverse international possibilities which are special to potential host states. They might be conscious that having a peacekeeping body on their soil could give an impression of weakness or doubtful probity, and also of being less than fully sovereign. There are, additionally, certain domestic complications which might ensue for a host state. It could be concerned about the relations of the peacekeepers with its people, about the presence of such a group becoming a controversial political issue, and about the danger of a peacekeeping force ignoring the ground rules of peacekeeping and behaving in a manner which threatened the government's interests.

The Political Origins of Self‐Government and Bureaucracy: Otto Hintze's Conceptual Map of Europe

Abstract: The work of Otto Hintze offers a rare combination of long-term historical perspective, detailed description of institutional arrangements, exploration of broad developmental trends as well as under...

Express Consent and Full Membership in Locke

Abstract: It seems mysterious why Locke required express consent as a condition of full membership of civil society. It is suggested this requirement be interpreted as a political programme. In a draft of a pamphlet of 1690 Locke criticizes the oath of allegiance required after the Glorious Revolution for not demanding the recognition of William and Mary de jure. So perhaps he does not want to exclude the greater part of the natives from citizenship; he wants to establish William's throne on a full and universal recognition of his legitimacy.