Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: In the late 1980s, scholars agreed on two "facts": communism was failing throughout the Soviet bloc and nationalism, particularly violent, aggressive nationalism, was succeeding. For a couple of years, these facts held true. Communism's demise and the spread of democracy in the early 1990s, indeed, resulted in about a dozen ethnic wars in East Central Europe. Within a few short years, however, violent ethnic conflict and aggressive nationalist rhetoric began to subside. Despite the wane of nationalism and ethnic problems in this region and elsewhere, conventional wisdom about nationalism and ethnic conflict remain unchanged.
This article addresses this oversight by explaining how what I refer to as a transnational advocacy network has worked to prevent ethnic conflicts in post-communist countries. It differentiates between national governments, international organizations and international non-governmental organizations and discusses their strategies for moderating tensions. While referring to broad changes in Central Europe, this paper highlights the current status of ethnic Hungarians in Romania.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Abstract: The current sociological literature concerning social policy and welfare state development relies on sweeping national and institutional processes, largely neglecting the effects of regional pressures in policy formation. This research attempt to fill this gap by addressing regional influence on the voting behavior of members of the United States House of Representative during the Great Society era. Three theories provide a framework for addressing legislator behavior. A strong regional theory suggests that the economic base and historical development of regions will be most influential in shaping social policy. A strong labor variant suggests that labor movement activity positively affects congressional voting behavior. Finally, a strong capital variant suggests that the capital/labor balance in a region, as well as, cultural attitudes concerning the roles of capital and labor in society shape the voting behavior of legislators. It is expected that the strong capital theory will be most successful in explaining the voting behavior of legislators as conservatives become more hostile and liberals more supportive of social policy as labor movement activity increases.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: This analysis takes an initial step toward modeling the factors behind the “independence of the press.” I employ a unified methodology, outlined by Evan Lieberman, of “nested analysis,” which synthesizes findings from both cross-national panel data and an in-depth case study. The large-N analysis (LNA) highlights the significance of independent variables that measure a country’s degree of “international economic integration,” as well as demonstrating the importance of political institutions and social stability. The general LNA informs an in-depth analysis of the political and economic pressures that affect media liberalization within China. China, is not only an important case for studying media liberalization, it is also an “on-the-line” case—providing a test of the causal logic of the model. Based on the findings of the LNA, I argue that the recent crackdown on the media in China, can be explained by the fact that it remains below average in terms of trade openness. Moreover, social protest in China has increased significantly in the last three years. To the extent that state officials view a more investigative press as the cause of social unrest, then the efforts of the Party to rein it in are better understood. Finally, the model testing small-N analysis (Mt-SNA) of media reform in China also informs one of the weaknesses in the cross-national methods available to study this issue. For example, aggregate national measures are unable to capture the friction within the Chinese media and how it drives a process of endogenous institutional change. Thus the second part of the paper is devoted to modeling those “omitted” factors that are not captured in the cross-national data.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: When restructuring the executive branch, presidents pursue a variety of strategies to gain political control and ensure compliance with administrative goals. Initial theories regarding administrative design centered on neutral competence where objective expertise, precision and specialization were deemed essential for administrating public goals. However, responsive competence, requiring loyalty and effectiveness, was imperative after the New Deal and the onset of the modern presidency. In this paper, we argue that changes in the office of the presidency, the electoral system, and the rising importance of special interests in building coalitions have rendered responsive action insufficient. In this paper, we introduce the concept of “benign competence” in the executive branch. Benign competence assumes that presidents, while favorably disposed towards a particular interest, feel the need to both appease and control political metanarratives with reorganization strategies that include creation agencies that are minimally effective or benign in nature... To analyze the function of the “benign” office, we present two case studies: creation of the Office of Women’s Initiatives and Outreach (WHOWIO) during the Clinton administration; and creation of the Office of Faith Base and Community Initiatives (WHOFBI) during the Bush administration. Investigation of motives behind creation of these offices includes an exploration of the political environment shaping each President’s reoganizational choices. Review of strategies used by both presidents helps us to clearly distinguish president’s executive branch reorganization strategies.

Publication Type: Proceeding
Abstract: Why do policymakers respond differently to speculative exchange market pressure on their cur-rencies? When deciding about defending or depreciating their currencies against such pressure, policymakers consider private sector vulnerabilities to a depreciation and monetary tightening. These vulnerabilities differ between periods of mild and severe pressure. Faced with mild pres-sure, interest groups evaluate the effects of the two policy options based only on their vulnerabil-ity to depreciation. Only when pressure intensifies, they increasingly take the trade-off between their depreciation vulnerability and their vulnerability to interest-rate increases into account. High interest-rate vulnerabilities can result in a re-assessment of the preferred policy response, leading groups that initially preferred a defense to prefer a depreciation when the pressure intensifies. Comparative case studies of speculative attacks on the currencies of Hong Kong, Korea, Thailand and Taiwan support the argument’s empirical implications. The case studies show that policy-makers strongly defended their currencies against mild pressure when the private sector’s vulner-ability to depreciation was high. In countries, where interest group vulnerabilities to interest-rate increases exceeded the potential costs of a depreciation, these defenses were subsequently aban-doned when pressure intensified.