Analyses of the shape and functioning of systems of political rule need to address informal institutions, which exist alongside and can relate to formal institutions in various ways. In this paper, I first discuss some analytical foundations of the study of such institutions. I then suggest that...

In Tunesien, Ägypten und Libyen wurden 2011 nach Massenprotesten und blutigen Auseinandersetzungen die langjährigen Machthaber Ben Ali, Mubarak und Qaddafi gestürzt. Alle drei Staaten befinden sich seither in einem noch nicht abgeschlossenen Transformationsprozess. Diese Umbruchphase ist...

This article deals with the Arab Spring as a process of deep political change in the Arab world, previously the only major world area where authoritarianism persisted unchallenged for decades. While in various countries of the Arab world mass protests in 2011 forced rulers to resign, other...

While output declined in virtually all transition economies in the initial years, the speed and extent of the recovery that followed has varied widely across these countries. The contrast between the more and less successfull transitions, the latter largely in former Soviet Union, raises many...

"This paper investigates the relationship between the size of interest groups in terms of voter representation and the interest group's campaign contributions to politicians. We uncover a robust hump-shaped relationship between the voting share of an interest group and its contributions to a...