This paper argues that capitalist social relations do not presuppose wage-labour. The paper defends a functional definition of the capitalist relations of production, in terms of what Marx calls... Show moreThis paper argues that capitalist social relations do not presuppose wage-labour. The paper defends a functional definition of the capitalist relations of production, in terms of what Marx calls the ’subsumption of labour by capital’. I argue that there are at least four modes of subsumption, one transitional to and one transitional from the capitalist mode of production. Unlike the capitalist mode of production, capitalist relations of production are compatible with the absence of a labour market, and even with the absence of workplace authority relations. The ambit of capitalist domination is therefore broader than typically thought. Show less
Though Twitter research has proliferated, no standards for data collection have crystallized. When using keyword queries, the most common data sources—the Search and Streaming APIs—rarely return... Show moreThough Twitter research has proliferated, no standards for data collection have crystallized. When using keyword queries, the most common data sources—the Search and Streaming APIs—rarely return the full population of tweets, and scholars do not know whether their data constitute a representative sample. This paper seeks to provide the most comprehensive look to-date at the potential biases that may result. Employing data derived from four identical keyword queries to the Firehose (which provides the full population of tweets but is cost-prohibitive), Streaming, and Search APIs, we use Kendall’s-tau and logit regression analyses to understand the differences in the datasets, including what user and content characteristics make a tweet more or less likely to appear in sampled results. We find that there are indeed systematic differences that are likely to bias scholars’ findings in almost all datasets we examine, and we recommend significant caution in future Twitter research. Show less
District magnitude and list type shape the incentives for politicians to develop a personal vote. If voters also react to these strategies, their knowledge about candidates should be influenced by... Show moreDistrict magnitude and list type shape the incentives for politicians to develop a personal vote. If voters also react to these strategies, their knowledge about candidates should be influenced by these features of the electoral system. This article directly tests the responsiveness of voters by employing individual-level survey data from the Comparative Study of Electoral Systems. As district magnitude increases, more people remember at least one candidate in closed list systems, but there is no such effect in open list systems. These influences are also larger for non-voters than for voters. A measure of political contact is not affected in this way. The differential effect of district magnitude can be explained by a different campaign focus. Show less
Based on a detailed analysis of Gentili’s use of sources in De iure belli, this article argues that Gentili’s famous treatise on the laws of war is an incongruous attempt at reconciling an... Show moreBased on a detailed analysis of Gentili’s use of sources in De iure belli, this article argues that Gentili’s famous treatise on the laws of war is an incongruous attempt at reconciling an absolutist conception of sovereignty and a strong penchant for reason of state principles with an enduring commitment to the language of natural law and to its centrality in ordering relations between sovereigns. Show less
Whereas political scientists tend to make binary distinctions between sovereign states and subnational units, in recent decades the number of a third, hybrid category of federacies or non-sovereign... Show moreWhereas political scientists tend to make binary distinctions between sovereign states and subnational units, in recent decades the number of a third, hybrid category of federacies or non-sovereign jurisdictions has strongly increased. In this paper, we explore the benefits and downsides of non-sovereignty from the perspective of these territories’ inhabitants. We zoom in on the six islands of the Dutch Caribbean, which in 2010 experienced a profound change in their political status. Using data from two large-scale opinion surveys that we conducted in 1998 and 2015, respectively, we show that the population of the Dutch Caribbean islands maintains a highly ambiguous attitude towards the non-sovereign status. While many respondents appreciate the material benefits of the enduring link with the metropolis, there are significant emotional and ideational objections to this relationship. These findings are embedded in broader scholarly discussions about the position of decentralized and peripheral jurisdictions vis-à-vis their administrative core. Show less
Although committee assignments have been researched in various parliaments, findings are inconclusive. This article contributes to the debate by analysing the allocations to specialised committees... Show moreAlthough committee assignments have been researched in various parliaments, findings are inconclusive. This article contributes to the debate by analysing the allocations to specialised committees in the Bundestag, a legislature that establishes strong committees despite having strong parliamentary party groups. Studying assignments in this legislature can, therefore, help us to solve the present disjunction between ‘European’ and ‘American’ experiences regarding committee research. The study uses the congressional theories of legislative organisation as heuristic devices but explicitly highlights the strong involvement of parliamentary party groups. The hypotheses are tested with a multiple membership multilevel model across several legislative periods (1990‒2013) and backed up with evidence from 51 interviews with German legislators. The results show that next to constituency demands and the influence of regional factions, there is strong evidence for a reassignment pattern and that a legislator’s occupational background and connections to interest groups matter in the assignment process. Show less
The ‘European Semester’, a new framework for policy co-ordination across European Union (EU) member states, represents a major step in EU governance. Created in 2010 in the wake of the financial... Show moreThe ‘European Semester’, a new framework for policy co-ordination across European Union (EU) member states, represents a major step in EU governance. Created in 2010 in the wake of the financial and sovereign debt crises and revamped in 2015, it was intended to provide a new socioeconomic governance architecture to co-ordinate national policies without transferring full sovereignty to the EU level. This introduction offers a brief overview and assessment of the European Semester, examining its implications along three critical axes, running respectively between the economic and the social, the supranational and the intergovernmental, and the technocratic and democratic poles of EU governance. We introduce and briefly summarize the seven other contributions that make up this collection. Our conclusions are that the European Semester challenges established theoretical understandings of EU governance, as it is a prime example of the complexity that supersedes simple polar oppositions. Show less
We used the virtual hand illusion paradigm to study how sense of agency and sense of (body) ownership can interact with different emotional events on stress feelings. Converging evidence for at... Show moreWe used the virtual hand illusion paradigm to study how sense of agency and sense of (body) ownership can interact with different emotional events on stress feelings. Converging evidence for at least the partial independence of agency and ownership was found. For instance, sense of agency was a better predictor of individual anxiety levels than sense of ownership and males showed stronger effects related to agency—presumably due to gender-specific attribution styles and empathy skills. Moreover, agency and ownership also interacted with emotional events and led to different anxiety levels. Taken together, our findings suggest that the disentangled sense of agency and sense of ownership can interact with different emotional events and influenced stress feelings more in threatening situations than awarding ones. Show less
In light of multiple and existential crises, longstanding concerns about the European Union’s (EU) quest for democratic legitimacy are ever more acute. Many think such concerns can be best... Show moreIn light of multiple and existential crises, longstanding concerns about the European Union’s (EU) quest for democratic legitimacy are ever more acute. Many think such concerns can be best addressed if European institutions would become better problem-solvers and more effective crisis-managers. Stronger performance by European institutions would supposedly reinforce the EU’s democratic credentials. In this article, we reject such ‘output’ oriented accounts as specious for any assessment of the EU’s democratic legitimacy. Drawing on Michael Oakeshott’s political theory, the article argues that stronger performance addresses the desirability of governing activities in the EU rather than its democratic legitimacy. Moreover, we argue that the distinction between ‘input’ and ‘throughput’ conditions of democratic legitimacy is problematic since these conditions are inextricably linked. Finally, we show that many proposals to reduce the democratic deficit in the EU merely shift the site of the alleged deficit. Show less
This article shifts the analysis of parliamentary oversight tools to the level of the political party, asking how political parties make use of written parliamentary questions. It theorises that... Show moreThis article shifts the analysis of parliamentary oversight tools to the level of the political party, asking how political parties make use of written parliamentary questions. It theorises that the use of parliamentary questions is related to the ideological and electoral competition between political parties, borrowing from theories on issue competition and negative campaigning. It provides an empirical test, using data on written questions from the lower house in the Netherlands (1994–2014). The analysis shows that parties tend to put questions to ministers whose portfolios are salient to them, in line with issue ownership theories. Moreover they ask questions of both ministers from parties that are ideologically distant and those with whom they have considerable electoral overlap in line with studies of negative campaigning. Show less
Conflicting preferences between the state and society underpin most accountability mechanisms by providing a credible way for society to impose costs on the state. Adapting a classic bargaining... Show moreConflicting preferences between the state and society underpin most accountability mechanisms by providing a credible way for society to impose costs on the state. Adapting a classic bargaining framework, we argue that broader conditions can support state–society bargaining. Policies that both the state and society value can also enhance society’s negotiating power, provided society has a relatively lower valuation and is more patient than the state. By threatening to sabotage their own interests but hurt the impatient state even more, citizens can compel the state to deliver broader policy benefits. We illustrate this logic with the case of polio vaccination in northern Nigeria, where entire communities have resisted the vaccine as a strategy to bargain for more desired services. To resolve and preempt noncompliance, the Nigerian government has enhanced service delivery in other areas, demonstrating the opportunity for improved accountability in the presence of shared-interest policies. Show less
As India’s Israel policy evolved over time, the US involvement in this bilateral relationship has been constant, albeit neither consistent nor direct. Breaking with traditional state-centric... Show moreAs India’s Israel policy evolved over time, the US involvement in this bilateral relationship has been constant, albeit neither consistent nor direct. Breaking with traditional state-centric approaches, this article focuses on the key role played in shaping the nature of India–Israel ties by non-state and sub-state actors such as specific political personalities, for example Congressmen Emmanuel Celler in the 1940s and Stephen Solarz in the 1980s, as well as of pro-Israel interest groups based in the US, like the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and the American Jewish Committee (AJC). The article shows that the US factor in India–Israel relations has evolved over time depending on the personalities, political constellations in power in India and regional developments in West Asia. Finally, while India, Israel and US interests seem to have converged at some crucial junctures, the article argues that their policies and strategies have rarely aligned over the long term. Show less
Much has been written about what makes political parties form, persist, change and die. One factor often brought into this discussion is the availability of resources in general and of state... Show moreMuch has been written about what makes political parties form, persist, change and die. One factor often brought into this discussion is the availability of resources in general and of state financing of political parties in particular. However, an empirical link at the aggregate level is difficult to establish because of various issues of conceptualization, operationalization and measurement. Working at the party level and taking into consideration that state funding provides important resources that make running in elections and achieving a party’s electoral target more likely, this article provides empirical support for the claim that parties who (anticipate to be or) are being funded by the state have a higher chance of forming and surviving in an independent format in the party system. Based on a comparison of 14 post-communist party systems, the main conclusion of the article is that the survival rate for such parties exceeds the survival rate for the non-publicly funded ones in almost all cases. A second, novel and more particular, finding is that parties who find themselves outside parliament, but above the payout threshold, display higher survival rates than parties who are below it. Show less
In this paper, I analyse the allocation of legislators to specialised committees in Dáil Éireann. Committees are privileged decision-making arenas: Committee members have, once assigned, the right... Show moreIn this paper, I analyse the allocation of legislators to specialised committees in Dáil Éireann. Committees are privileged decision-making arenas: Committee members have, once assigned, the right and duty to work on issues within their jurisdiction. It is, therefore, important to understand which factors influence the assignment process. In what has been the most thorough analysis hitherto, Hansen [(2011). A random process? Committee assignments in Dail Eireann. Irish Political Studies, 26(3), 345–360] has found very little patterns explaining this process in the Dáil. The study uses the congressional theories of legislative organisation as heuristic devices to deduce several rationales of the assignment process. The role of parliamentary party groups in the assignment process is highlighted. The hypotheses are tested by means of a multiple-membership multilevel model on committee assignments across multiple legislative periods (1992–2011). The results are backed up with evidence from 22 interviews I conducted with Irish legislators. Contradicting earlier assessments of the assignment process, several factors increase the likelihood of being assigned to a committee. There is strong evidence for a reassignment pattern. Additionally, a legislator's occupational background matters in the assignment process. For the ongoing discussion about the applicability of the congressional theories outside of the U.S., my study provides evidence for the usefulness of the U.S. theories. Show less
Broekema, W.G.; Kleef, D.D. van; Steen, T.P.S.; Rijken, S.; De Klerk, F. 2017
Healthcare has only slowly appeared on the European Union’s (EU) policy agenda. EU involvement in policies concerning the organization, financing and the provision of diagnosis, care and cures to... Show moreHealthcare has only slowly appeared on the European Union’s (EU) policy agenda. EU involvement in policies concerning the organization, financing and the provision of diagnosis, care and cures to ill people developed along three fragmented tracks: (a) EU public health policies concerning the well-being of all people; (b) the application of the free movement principle to national healthcare systems in particular by the EU’s Court of Justice (CJEU); and (c) the austerity packages and the stricter EU surveillance of national budgets since the debt crises. The key questions of this special issue are whether this fragmented EU involvement has now developed into a distinct European healthcare union, and if so what its driving forces have been. Thus, it explores how European integration in healthcare has moved forward despite widespread reluctance. It also examines the underexplored political dynamics and implementation of CJEU case law. The conclusion is that a fragile European healthcare union is emerging. A distinct area of EU health law has come into existence, whereas an institutional structure has given a voice to health expertise. A certain commonality in patients’ rights has also emerged. The EU’s budgetary surveillance deeply intrudes into healthcare policies, but here the involvement of health actors has remained limited. The European Commission and the CJEU have played an important role in the European integration of healthcare policies, but reluctance towards EU intrusion into national healthcare systems left an emphatic mark on CJEU case law, its codification in EU law and its implementation. Variants of the multiple streams approach appeared to be helpful to explain this evolution. Show less
