The authors analyze a bargaining model of war that incorporates both commitment problems due to shifting power and asymmetric information. Four results emerge when both bargaining problems are present. First, in contrast to asymmetric information models, the resolution of uncertainty through...

In Europe, there is increasing concern with how the operation of the Commission, Council of Ministers, and European Parliament is creating a democratic deficit. One institution that is generally considered central to the effective functioning of a democratic system, but tends to be neglected in...

The European Court of Justice (ECJ) is commonly described as a powerful international force for legal integration. Indeed, past studies indicate that the ECJ has developed a supranational legal order that trumps national law in a broad range of economic policy areas. But this depiction of an...

Political parties play an important role in structuring political competition at different levels of governance in the European Union (EU). The political parties that contest national elections also participate in the EU legislative institutions, with the governing parties at the national level...

Theories of federal grants to states and localities suggest that these grants have a stimulative effect on spending, causing recipient governments to expand and contract programs along with changes in the grants. However, policymakers may respond differently to grant decreases than to grant...

William Riker transformed the study of federalism by advancing both a methodological approach and numerous substantive propositions. Methodologically, he introduced students of federalism to the scientific approach of positive political science, illustrating the development of “testable and...

Empirical analysis has lagged behind theoretical advancement in the study of legislative delegation of power to bureaucracies. This article analyzes why state legislatures delegated advisory and policy-forming powers to bureaucracies for the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) program...