During recent crises in Europe, new heterogeneous protest movements have emerged that are difficult to label and classify. Existing studies suggest that the common denominator of these protesters is primarily the lack of political trust. Therefore, these new protest movements offer favorable...

The aim of this paper is to provide a conceptual and theoretical framework for the political settlement and dynamics of social contract relations in Tanzania. The political settlement approach is employed within a theoretical framework that has been developed and applied to analyse political...

The effectiveness of environmental policies has been extensively studied, often focusing solely on environmental degradation indicators. However, successful environmental policies have broader societal impacts. This study addresses this limitation by utilizing the Sustainable Governance...

This paper offers a framework for understanding the origin of market-preserving government. The paper shows that when parties in a Hobbesian society end in an arms race rather than war, they can create a market-preserving government to maintain the no-war equilibrium at lower cost. The...

We provide new evidence on the causal effect of higher education on mortality. Our empirical strategy exploits the reduction in college openings introduced by the Pinochet regime after the 1973 coup in Chile, which led to a sharp downward kink in college enrollment among those cohorts reaching...

This paper's object is to dissect the political system in Bangladesh and the prospects and challenges for popular connection. Since 1971, after Bangladesh's independence, it has faced a different socio-political geography and endured different shifts in its political system. The country has made...

Are ministers of finance more likely to keep their job if the economy is doing well? We argue that the answer depends on the regime type. Democratic leaders have incentives to retain high performing ministers of finance since they can help them win elections. The incentive structure is less...

This paper discusses the historical and social origins of the bifurcation in the political institutions of China and Western Europe. An important factor, recognized in the literature, is that China centralized state institutions very early on, while Europe remained politically fragmented for...

We develop a model of elections in which parties choose their ideological position and the ideology of their candidates. Tighter candidate selection reduces policy uncertainty for voters. We show that weak institutional constraints, as in a Presidential regime, induce parties to allow their...

Based on current literature, this paper analyses the nature and effects of external pressure imposed on authoritarian regimes. Around three-quarters of all countries under United Nations, United States, and European Union sanctions are authoritarian, and “democracy sanctions” that aim at...

We provide new evidence on the causal effect of higher education on mortality. Our empirical strategy exploits the reduction in college openings introduced by the Pinochet regime after the 1973 coup in Chile, which led to a sharp downward kink in college enrollment among those cohorts reaching...

„Das Politische System Österreichs“ versteht sich als Lehrbuch, das aktuelles Basiswissen und Forschungseinblicke zu politischen Strukturen und Prozessen in Österreich vermitteln will. In fünf Bereichen stellen namhafte Autor:innen die wesentlichen Fakten, Daten und Zahlen vor:...

We study how a fragmented political landscape affects fiscal policy and economic growth with a sample of 15 Indian States over the period 1980-2000. We measure state-level political fragmentation with an inverse Herfindahl index for party vote shares in the state legislature. Our results show...

Institutional constraints to counter potential abuses in the use of political power have been viewed as essential to well functioning political institutions and good public policy outcomes in the Western World since the time of ancient Greece. A sophisticated intellectual tradition emerged to...

This paper discusses the historical and social origins of the bifurcation in the political institutions of China and Western Europe. An important factor, recognized in the literature, is that China centralized state institutions very early on, while Europe remained politically fragmented for...

The new government in Israel is politically further to the right than any other before it. The success of the radical right parties and their inclusion in the government are the results of a long-term transformation of Israel’s political landscape. One characteristic of this development is the...

What is the long-term effect of theocracy on religiosity and pro-religious political preferences? I exploit a quasi-experiment in Italy, where a large river constituted the border between the theocratic Papal States and a secular, progressive state for three centuries. However, inheritance norms...

In times of crises, democracies face the challenge of balancing effective interventions with civil liberties. This study examines German states' response during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, focusing on the interplay between civil liberties and public health goals. Using state-level...

Authored by three of the USA's most well-known scholars on American politics, this undergraduate textbook argues that racial considerations are today-and have always been since the nation's founding-central to understanding America's political system writ large. Drawing on decades of teaching...

"This edited volume explores the interplay between political, economic, and financial development in twentieth-century European authoritarian regimes. The book features case studies that explore the impact of domestic and international finance on the rise, stabilization, and decline of various...