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Begin New Search Topic Government Content Type Journal Article Publication Year within 25 Years

21. How Misaligned Incentives Hinder Foster Care Adoption

Author:
Isabella M. Pesavento
Publication Date:
01-2021
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The Cato Journal
Institution:
The Cato Institute
Abstract:
Adoption, particularly adoption out of foster care, has not been well studied within the field of economics. Researchers may avoid this topic because the adoption market greatly deviates from a typical market, and the system and data collection are highly fragmented, with relatively little federal coordination. Rubin et al. (2007) and Thornberry et al. (1999) show that instability in foster care placements produces negative welfare outcomes, and Hansen (2006), Barth et al. (2006), and Zill (2011) demonstrate that adoption out of foster care is socially and financially beneficial. Yet, children waiting to be adopted out of foster care are in excess supply, which has been exacerbated in recent years. I hypothesize that this is, in part, due to misaligned incentives of government officials and the contracted foster care agencies. I show that earnings are prioritized over ensuring permanent child placement, which hinders the potential for adoption, and government oversight fails to correct such iniquities because of career interests.
Topic:
Economics, Government, Markets, Children, Incentives, Foster Care, and Adoption
Political Geography:
North America and United States of America

22. A Reckoning Looms for America’s 50‐​Year Financial Surveillance System

Author:
Michael J. Casey
Publication Date:
06-2021
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The Cato Journal
Institution:
The Cato Institute
Abstract:
For all the upheaval of 2020, it’s perhaps not surprising that the 50‐​year anniversary of a major piece of financial legislation came and went with little fanfare. But the 1970 U.S. Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) deserves much scrutiny.1 In mandating that financial institutions maintain customer identity records and report illicit activity to government agencies, the BSA was a landmark statute by any measure. It paved the way to an ever‐​expanding system of international surveillance that’s a cornerstone of U.S. economic power.
Topic:
Economics, Government, Finance, and Surveillance
Political Geography:
North America and United States of America

23. The Potential for Constitutional Devolution in South Africa

Author:
Martin van Staden
Publication Date:
10-2021
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
The Cato Journal
Institution:
The Cato Institute
Abstract:
The African National Congress (ANC) today rules South Africa, formally a federation, as though it were a unitary state. There has been increasing agitation in recent years for the secession of the Western Cape province, which since South Africa ended apartheid in 1994 has never returned a majority vote in favor of the ANC.
Topic:
Government, Constitution, Disputes, and African National Congress (ANC)
Political Geography:
Africa and South Africa

24. The curbing of the collective voices of workers in Ethiopia’s state-led industrialisation: The case of the garment sector

Author:
Mohammed Seid Ali
Publication Date:
06-2021
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
African Journal on Conflict Resolution
Institution:
The African Centre for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes (ACCORD)
Abstract:
A state-led industrialisation drive inspired by the East Asian ‘developmental state’ ideology is at the core of Ethiopia’s industrial policymaking. Yet, scholarship on the implications of Ethiopia’s state-led industrialisation on the collective voices of local industrial workers is rare. Hence, this article argues that Ethiopia’s state-led industrialisation has firmly stood for strong business-state alliances, thereby curbing the collective voices of local industrial workers. Using qualitative empirical data, the article attempts to address the research gap and contribute to the existing debate by examining why and how the country’s state-led industrialisation has been operating in this context since 2005. Analysis of the findings indicates that facilitating industrial catch-up is at the centre of the country’s industrial development policymaking. Also that, the voice of the workers has been considered as a threat to foreign direct investment (FDI). As a result of the policy, the Ethiopian government employs diverse de facto or de jure labour control mechanisms, exceptionally against the associational rights of workers in the garment exporting industries across the country’s industrial parks (IPs). Moreover, employing industries have enforced various forms of administrative and punitive measures to subdue the collective voices of their workers. Hence, Ethiopia’s activist industrial policy must navigate a reasonable balance between facilitating industrial catch-up and ensuring labour standards for inclusive, peaceful, and sustainable industrial labour relations.
Topic:
Government, Labor Issues, Industrialization, and Garment Industry
Political Geography:
Africa and Ethiopia

25. Rethinking South Sudan’s Path to Democracy

Author:
Andrew E. Yaw Tchie
Publication Date:
08-2021
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Conflict Trends
Institution:
The African Centre for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes (ACCORD)
Abstract:
One of the world’s youngest nations, South Sudan, broke out into civil war in December 2013. The civil war was marked by persistent disregard for the sanctity of civilians, especially women and children. At the time of the conflict, both the ruling Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-in Government (SPLM-iG) and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-in Opposition (SPLM-iO) carried out massacres, which spread like wildfire across the country. Troops from both sides raped and slaughtered civilians, while government troops in Juba went door-to-door, seeking out opposition ethnic groups. After several failed regional mediation attempts, neighbouring states and international partners pressured President Salva Kiir, SPLM-iO leader, Riek Machar, and former detainees to sign the Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan (ARCSS)[1] in August 2015 in Addis Ababa. The Agreement aimed to end the violent civil war and support comprehensive political reform during a three-year inclusive Transitional Government of National Unity (TGoNU). Additionally, the ARCSS provided a pathway to demilitarise many well-equipped militias and mechanisms for transitional justice and reparation, immediate measures to facilitate humanitarian access, and a programme to redress the economy. Nevertheless, just after the ARCSS was signed, Kiir, by presidential decree, ordered an increase in the number of states from 10 to 28.[2]
Topic:
Civil War, Government, Democracy, and Conflict
Political Geography:
Africa, Sudan, and South Sudan

26. Diplomacy and Foreign Policy in Mozambique: The First Post-Independence Government – Samora Machel (1975–1986)

Author:
Ercilio Neves Brandao Langa
Publication Date:
08-2021
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Brazilian Journal of African Studies
Institution:
Brazilian Journal of African Studies
Abstract:
Mozambique is a country located in southern Africa, it borders to the north to Tanzania, to the northwest to Malawi, to the west to Zambia and Zimbabwe, to the southwest to South Africa and Swaziland, being bathed by the Indian Ocean to the east and south. It was colonized by Portugal, whose presence began in the 15th century. It was only at the end of the 19th century that the effective occupation of the territory occurred. The independence of Mozambique happened in 1975, under the leadership of FRELIMO (Lib-eration Front of Mozambique) and Samora Machel, independent Mozam-bique's first president. FRELIMO resulted from the union of three nationalist movements founded abroad: the National Democratic Union of Mozambique (UDENAMO) created in 1960 in Salisbury, Rhodesia; the Union of the Afri-can Nation of Mozambique (MANU) formed in 1961 by Mozambican workers in Tanzania and Kenya, the majority of the Maconde ethnicity; and the National African Union of Independent Mozambique (UNAMI), created in Malawi by Mozambicans exiled there from the province of Tete (Mondlane 1995).In order to comprehend the international performance of the first independent Mozambican Government (1976-1986), the following questions were established: (i) what were the guidelines for diplomacy and foreign pol-icy of Mozambique during the Samora Machel government? (ii) What was the performance of the Samora Machel Government in the face of national circumstance, dominated by the RENAMO2 destabilization war, and regional circumstance, characterized by aggressions from the Rhodesian regime and South Africa's apartheid?
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Diplomacy, Government, History, Independence, and Samora Machel
Political Geography:
Africa and Mozambique

27. Limits of the Conservative Revolution in the States

Author:
Matt Grossmann
Publication Date:
09-2020
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Political Science Quarterly
Institution:
Academy of Political Science
Abstract:
Matt Grossmann analyzes the policy consequences of increasing Republican control of U.S. state governments since the 1990s. He finds that Republican states have enacted some new conservative policies, but many other liberal policy revolutions have continued unabated. He argues that conservative policymaking is difficult because federal policy and electoral incentives incentivize continued government expansion.
Topic:
Government, Politics, Conservatism, and Political Science
Political Geography:
North America and United States of America

28. Do Global Publics View Human Rights Organizations as Handmaidens of the United States?

Author:
David Crow and James Ron
Publication Date:
03-2020
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Political Science Quarterly
Institution:
Academy of Political Science
Abstract:
David Crow and James Ron look at how global publics view the relationship between human rights organizations and the U.S. government. They argue that ordinary people across various world regions do not perceive human rights groups as “handmaidens” of U.S. foreign policy.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Government, Human Rights, Non-Governmental Organization, and Public Opinion
Political Geography:
Global Focus and United States of America

29. Toppling Foreign Governments: The Logic of Regime Change, Melissa Willard-Foster

Author:
Alexander B. Downes
Publication Date:
03-2020
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Political Science Quarterly
Institution:
Academy of Political Science
Abstract:
The rapid-fire overthrow of the theocratic Taliban regime in Afghanistan (2001) and Saddam Hussein’s Baathist dictatorship in Iraq (2003) by the United States—and the disastrous aftermaths of those and other recent interventions (such as the ouster of Libya’s Muammar el-Qaddafi in 2011)— has sparked popular and scholarly interest in the causes and consequences of foreign-imposed regime change (FIRC). One of the enduring puzzles about FIRCs is that, as highlighted in Melissa Willard-Foster’s terrific book Toppling Foreign Governments, three-quarters of them are carried out by great powers against minor powers in situations of extreme power asymmetry. “Though this asymmetry of power makes an imposed change feasible,” writes Willard-Foster, a political scientist at the University of Vermont, “it should also make that change unnecessary” because “militarily weak leaders who are bereft of allies should back down when confronted by stronger states” (pp. 2–3). The 133 regime changes in Willard-Foster’s study, however, testify that the weak regularly defy the strong—and pay the price for it.
Topic:
Foreign Policy, Government, Regime Change, and Political Science
Political Geography:
Afghanistan, Iraq, and United States of America

30. Changing Cultures in Congress: From Fair Play to Power Plays, Donald R. Wolfensberger

Author:
Ryan D. Williamson
Publication Date:
01-2020
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Political Science Quarterly
Institution:
Academy of Political Science
Abstract:
In 2017, then Speaker of the House Paul Ryan broke the record for most closed rules in a single session. Ironically, this feat came only two years after vowing to lead the House in a more open and inclusive manner than his recent predecessors had. This about-face was not new or unique to Ryan, though. Indeed, he was simply the next in a string of Speakers over the previous few decades to promise greater debate, only to renege shortly thereafter. Chronicling this decline of deliberation in Congress is the focus of Donald R. Wolfensberger’s work. The former Republican staff director for the House Rules Committee offers a detailed yet accessible insight into how Congress has evolved in recent history. Beginning with a brief discussion of the history of majoritarian politics in Congress, Wolfensberger specifically looks at a litany of case studies from the last two decades. Topics cover a wide range, including health care reform, budgets and deficits, and the Iran nuclear deal, to name a few. Within each, a common theme pervades—the majority party must “rely on extraordinary consultation, pressures, and compromises within its own ranks, as well as on a creative use of the rules, to eke out a victory on contentious legislation” (p. 57).
Topic:
Government, Book Review, and Political Science
Political Geography:
North America and United States of America