There is an ongoing debate in the literature concerning the impact of democracy on welfare spending. In this study, I argue that the effect of democracy is conditional on the existence of domestic groups - predominantly labor - who pressure the government for policy changes. In countries where...

Motl Brody, a 12 year old Hasidic Jew, died late last year in Washington. During his last days, his life and death were the subject of intense media scrutiny, judicial proceedings, and bioethical commentary. His transition from life to death was marked, not by the private mourning of friends and...

This paper examines the constitutional theory behind the George W. Bush administration’s conduct of the ‘war on terror’. It concludes that the theory of the unitary executive is dangerous when it escalates to include ‘inherent’ presidential powers, as it so often has. Such a version of...

This paper questions the claim that the European Parliament (EP) is a legislature with strong committees. It examines the extent to which the plenary draws its legislative position on the basis of the draft committee reports under the codecision procedure. It is expected that the committees’...

The importance of democratization in Africa heighted at the end of the Cold War while also making aid flow a salient feature in the democratization process. As well as encouraging development, many scholars maintain that aid flow has also promoted democratization. Some scholars argue that aid...

While officials involved in graft, bribery, extortion, nepotism, or patronage typically like to keep their deeds private, the fact that corruption can have serious effects in democracies is no secret. Numerous scholars have brought into the limelight the impact of corruption on a range of...

How is government spending used strategically in the emergent Asian democracies of South Korea and Taiwan? As nations generally considered to have weathered democratization, a study of government spending in South Korea and Taiwan is instructive on how allocations may be used strategically...

Recent research has found that economic liberalization undermines democracy in the short-term, while reinforcing it over the long run, producing a J-curve relationship between economic liberalization and democracy. The widespread belief that economic liberalization demobilizes societal actors is...

War is an exogenous shock – allowing opportunities for vast changes in the political landscape or solidifying changes underway. War played a significant role as a catalyst that moved France (and then other countries in Europe) toward citizen armies in the nineteenth century. This was an...