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Autocracy and redistribution : the politics of land reform
\"When and why do countries redistribute land to the landless? What political purposes does land reform serve, and what place does it have in today's world? A long-standing literature dating back to Aristotle and echoed in important recent works holds that redistribution should be both higher and more targeted at the poor under democracy. Yet comprehensive historical data to test this claim has been lacking. This book shows that land redistribution - the most consequential form of redistribution in the developing world - occurs more often under dictatorship than democracy. It offers a novel theory of land reform and develops a typology of land reform policies. Albertus leverages original data spanning the world and dating back to 1900 to extensively test the theory using statistical analysis and case studies of key countries such as Egypt, Peru, Venezuela, and Zimbabwe. These findings call for rethinking much of the common wisdom about redistribution and regimes\"-- Provided by publisher.
Book
Social Movements, Law and the Politics of Land Reform
Social Movements, Law and the Politics of Land Reform investigates how rural social movements are struggling for land reform against the background of ambitious but unfulfilled constitutional promises evident in much of the developing world.
Taking Brazil as an example, it unpicks the complex reasons behind the remarkably consistent failures of its constitution and law enforcement mechanisms to deliver social justice. Using detailed empirical evidence and focusing upon the relationship between rural social struggles and the state, the book develops a threefold argument: first, the inescapable presence of power relations in all aspects of the production and reproduction of law; secondly their dominant impact on socio-legal outcomes; and finally the essential and positive role played by social movements in redressing those power imbalances and realising law's progressive potentialities.
eBook
Reforming family law : social and political change in Jordan and Morocco
\"When Morocco issued a new family law in 2004, the reactions were overwhelming. The law was praised as a societal revolution that brought great improvements for Moroccan women, and women's groups celebrated the reform as one of their biggest achievements. There was little doubt that the law marked \"a turning point.\" The 2004 reform was the first time a new family code was issued since Morocco had codified its family law, right after independence, over the course of the years 1957 and 1958. In 1993 a number of amendments were issued to the family code for the first time since the 1950s, but they remained limited in comparison to the 2004 family code. King Muhammad VI had announced the 2004 reform on October 10, 2003, in the presence of French President Jacques Chirac, emphasizing the importance of the project not only for Moroccan women but also for the external relations of the monarchy. The French head of state then gave a speech in front of the Moroccan parliament praising the new gender relations promoted by the code and portrayed the new law as a step towards democratization. When the code was finally issued on February 5, 2004, it had already been translated into multiple languages to be handed out to journalists from around the world who had been invited to cover the event. The international media were indeed quick to commend Morocco for \"boosting women's rights.\" Overnight, Morocco became the example of family law reform in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region\"-- Provided by publisher.
Book
The Fundamental Institutions of China's Reforms and Development
China's economic reforms have resulted in spectacular growth and poverty reduction. However, China's institutions look ill-suited to achieve such a result, and they indeed suffer from serious shortcomings. To solve the \"China puzzle,\" this paper analyzes China's institution—a regionally decentralized authoritarian system. The central government has control over personnel, whereas subnational governments run the bulk of the economy; and they initiate, negotiate, implement, divert, and resist reforms, policies, rules, and laws. China's reform trajectories have been shaped by regional decentralization. Spectacular performance on the one hand and grave problems on the other hand are all determined by this governance structure.
Journal Article
DEMOCRATIZATION UNDER THE THREAT OF REVOLUTION: EVIDENCE FROM THE GREAT REFORM ACT OF 1832
We examine the link between the threat of violence and democratization in the context of the Great Reform Act passed by the British Parliament in 1832. We georeference the so-called Swing riots, which occurred between the 1830 and 1831 parliamentary elections, and compute the number of these riots that happened within a 10 km radius of the 244 English constituencies. Our empirical analysis relates this constituency-specific measure of the threat perceptions held by the 344,000 voters in the Unreformed Parliament to the share of seats won in each constituency by pro-reform politicians in 1831. We find that the Swing riots induced voters to vote for pro-reform politicians after experiencing first-hand the violence of the riots.
Journal Article
Jurisdiction Size and Local Democracy: Evidence on Internal Political Efficacy from Large-scale Municipal Reform
Optimal jurisdiction size is a cornerstone of government design. A strong tradition in political thought argues that democracy thrives in smaller jurisdictions, but existing studies of the effects of jurisdiction size, mostly cross-sectional in nature, yield ambiguous results due to sorting effects and problems of endogeneity. We focus on internal political efficacy, a psychological condition that many see as necessary for high-quality participatory democracy. We identify a quasiexperiment, a large-scale municipal reform in Denmark, which allows us to estimate a causal effect of jurisdiction size on internal political efficacy. The reform, affecting some municipalities, but not all, was implemented by the central government, and resulted in exogenous, and substantial, changes in municipal population size. Based on survey data collected before and after the reform, we find, using various difference-in-difference and matching estimators, that jurisdiction size has a causal and sizeable detrimental effect on citizens' internal political efficacy.
Journal Article
Exchange politics : opposing Obamacare in battleground states
\"The Affordable Care Act (ACA) contained a threat that any state refusing to set up a health insurance exchange would lose control to the federal government. Republicans had supported the concept before it became part of Obamacare, and so virtually every state was expected to cooperate and implement this core part of the law through which millions would receive financial assistance to buy health insurance. However, 34 states refused to participate, using their flexibility as an opportunity to try to bring down the entire law. This is a stunning miscalculation by the Obama administration. This book tells the story of what happened in the final two states to choose state control (Idaho and New Mexico) and the two that came the closest but did not (Michigan and Mississippi). Contrary to how it is typically described in the media, the most intense split was not between Republicans and Democrats, but within the Republican Party. Governors were the most important people in the fight over exchanges, but did not always get their way. The Tea Party was amazingly successful at defeating the most powerful interest groups. State-level and national conservative think tanks were important allies to the Tea Party. The relative power of these groups was shaped by differences in institutional design and procedures, such as whether a state has term limits and the length of legislative sessions. Opposition was more easily overcome in states whose conditions facilitated the development of legislative \"pockets of expertise.\" This is a dramatic example of opponents using federalism to block national reform and serves as a warning of the challenge of inducing state cooperation in other policy domains such as the environment and education.\"-- Provided by publisher.
Book
The State of Electoral Reforms in Ghana
Following Ghana's December 2012 elections, there was a protracted election petition process at the nation's Supreme Court challenging the declaration of the winner as the duly elected presidential candidate. Even though the Supreme Court ruled in favour of the declared winner, it made several recommendations that paved the way for numerous interventions aimed at putting together proposals for electoral reform to finetune Ghana's electoral processes. Several such reform proposals were submitted to the Electoral Commission by the end of 2013. Nevertheless, these were not implemented to guide the 2016 general elections. The successful conduct of the 2016 elections has therefore been described as a \"miracle.\" Why were the reform proposals not implemented? What is the current state of reform proposals submitted to the Electoral Commission? What is the way forward? This article addresses these questions. Nach den Wahlen in Ghana vom Dezember 2012 kam es zu einem langwierigen Petitionsverfahren vor dem Höchsten Gericht des Landes, weil der Wahlsieg des zum Gewinner erklärten Präsidentschaftskandidaten angezweifelt wurde. Zwar fiel das Urteil des Gerichts letztendlich zugunsten des erklärten Wahlsiegers aus, doch es enthielt auch einige Empfehlungen für künftige Wahlen. Diese Empfehlungen bereiteten den Weg für eine gezielte Sammlung von Vorschlägen zur Wahlreform in Ghana, um künftige Wahlverfahren zu verbessern. Bis Ende 2013 waren der Wahlkommission etliche Reformvorschläge zugegangen. Bei der Vorbereitung der Wahlen von 2016 wurden diese Vorschläge allerdings nicht berücksichtigt. Daher ist die erfolgreiche Durchführung dieser Wahlen als „Wunder“ bezeichnet worden. Doch warum waren die Reformvorschläge nicht umgesetzt worden? Wie steht es derzeit um die Vorschläge, die der Wahlkommission zugeleitet wurden? Wie geht es weiter? Diesen Fragen geht der Autor nach.
Journal Article