Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Over the last three decades, the European Union has developed into a fully-fledged bicameral legislative system. Each revision of the EU treaties has lead to an increase in the legislative powers of the European Parliament (EP). The EP has transformed itself from a purely consultative body to a full co-legislator equal in standing to the Council of Ministers. This study investigates to what extent the empowerment of the EP affects decision-making within the Council. The EP is a more transparent institution than the Council, its proceedings and debates are open to the public. Thus, the empowerment of the EP is likely to draw more political attention towards European issues. This politicization should also affect negotiation dynamics in the Council and ultimately the hierarchical level at which Council decisions are taken. Many Council decisions are made by national officials in preparatory bodies of the Council rather than by ministers themselves. However, in light of increased political attention and scrutiny, bureaucrats are expected to shift the responsibility for Council decisions up to the higher level of ministers. This hypothesis is examined with a new data set on EU legislative decision-making between 1979 and 2008.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: In Mixed-member electoral systems, SMD deputies should switch parties more than PR deputies who feel electoral ties to their parties. I test this proposition in the Italian Chamber of Deputies.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: State legislators were surveyed and asked how much influence campaign contributions have on the content and passage of legislation in their chamber. A hierarchical Bayesian model was used to control for perceptual bias at the individual level while testing hypotheses that explain the varying influence of campaign contributions across chambers. Specifically, legislative compensation, constituency population, majority party control of the legislative agenda, the costs of campaigning for office, tied chambers, powerful lieutenant governors and the education level of constituencies are all determinants of the influence of campaign contributions influence the content and passage of legislation.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: In recent years there has been a dramatic surge of interest in the practice of Public Diplomacy. Quite why this is so remains unclear, but it surely has something to do with the end of the Cold War and the re-emphasis on economics in general and on trade and financial politics in particular. In turn this has generated a huge literature on competing capitalisms, paths to development and the place and role of ?non-state? actors in international affairs. As a consequence of all this, diplomacy is no longer seen simply as a set of norms and rules regulating relations between states. Likewise, public diplomacy is no longer seen simply as governmental communication with foreign publics. Rather it is increasingly being viewed as a tangled network of relationships and negotiations involving the activities of state and non-state actors that contribute to the promotion of ?soft power? in the international realm.It is against this background that this paper seeks to explore the ?public diplomacy? of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC). As the representative of over 7,000 businesses in more than 130 countries worldwide the ICC is a non-state actor par excellence. In other words it is an actor about as far removed from a sovereign state as it is possible, realistically, to imagine. The test that the paper seeks to conduct is in two parts. The first examines the efforts of the ICC to sell itself as a ?brand? to its existing members and potential new members. The second examines the ways in which the ICC sells itself and its ideas and policy prescriptions to governments and inter-governmental organisations such as the UN, World Bank and WTO for example. The immediate aim of the paper is to assess the nature and efficacy of the ?public diplomacy? of the ICC. The wider aim is to analyse critically the strength of the arguments that have been put forward concerning the existence of a new (public) diplomacy, and the ICC is the perfect vehicle through which to achieve this.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: This paper explores the question of whether blogs are an "echo chamber" (meaning they merely repeat media messages) or a "fifth estate" (meaning they criticize and fact-check media sources) in the context of an analysis of blogging on the war in Iraq.