This book explores the existence of gaps between public preferences and institutional designs in democracies, and specifically cases in which such gaps are maintained for a long period of time without being challenged by the electorate. Gaps such as these can be seen in the complex relations between the state and religion in Israel and Turkey, and more specifically in their policies on marriage. This line of investigation is interesting both theoretically and empirically, as despite their poles apart policies, Israel and Turkey share a similar pattern of institutional dynamics. Existing explanations for this phenomenon suggested either civil society-based arguments or intra-institutional dynamics, as reasons for the maintenance of such gaps. This book enriches our understanding of policy dynamics in democratic systems by introducing a third line of argument, one that emphasizes the effective role state institutions play in maintaining such arrangements for long periods, often against the public will.

In International Law and the Public, Geoffrey P.R. Wallace investigates the public as a crucial, often overlooked, actor in international law. He asks just who is it that counts in the operation of the international legal order. Defying conventional wisdom that sees governments, leaders, generals, lawyers, or elites from the upper echelons of society as the main international legal players, Wallace advances a "popular international law" where ordinary people are considered important legal actors in their own right alongside the usual focus on elites. Far from powerless or unwitting, publics possess both the cognitive and material capacities to understand and contribute to the intricacies of international legal rules. Combining rigorous theorizing with wide-ranging evidence, International Law and the Public is an account of an international legal politics from below, taking seriously the place of ordinary people in international affairs.

This edited volume brings together chapters that offer theoretically pertinent comparisons between various dimensions of Israeli and Turkish politics. Each chapter covers a different aspect of state–society interactions in both countries from a comparative perspective, including the public role of religion, political culture, women rights movements, religious education, religious movements, marriage regulation, labor market inclusion, and ethnic minorities. Israel and Turkey share significant similarities, such as state formation under nationalist ideologies, familiarity with democratic governance since the 1940s, strong affiliation with the West, recent resurgence of religious parties, ongoing conflict with ethno-national minority groups that challenge the dominant national project, contemporary popular protests against the incumbent regime, and recent serious erosion of democratic rights. At the same time they differ on major variables, such as size, majority religion, geopolitical location, level of economic development, policy towards ethnic minorities, and institutional arrangements to managing the state–religion relations. The presence of these differences in face of common backgrounds facilitates analytically grounded comparisons in a host of dimensions. Therefore, employing a case-oriented comparative method, this book provides historically interpretative and causally analytic accounts on the politics of both societies. The contributions reveal the dynamic and complex—rather than one-dimensional and linear—nature of political processes in both settings. This empirically rich and theoretically sophisticated volume should contribute to a better understanding of these two important states, and, no less important, stimulate new directions for comparative research, especially on Middle East regimes, social movements, and democratization.

Accountability of government to citizens is the foundation for good governance. Unfortunately, many developing countries suffer the results of dysfunctional governance systems that fail to provide even minimal levels of vital public services. The key message of the New Institutional Economics is that incentives matter. In the public sphere, the countries' accountability frameworks rewards, sanctions, and measurement of performance shape public sector performance. This book applies this fundamental insight to fiscal/budgetary analysis and public service delivery, giving the reader tools and around the globe examples of institutional arrangements that help citizens hold government accountable for their performance.

Representation and Institutional Design examines how variation in the structures and processes of state legislatures affect how legislators represent their constituents. It examines whether electoral laws, term limits, professionalism, and district size and magnitude affect legislators' electoral vulnerability, ambition, and role orientations, as well as their actions involving symbolic, service and policy representation. This book reveals that legislative staff increases legislators' closeness to their constituents, legislative resources tend to increase symbolic and service representation but do little to help policy representation, and term limits tend to weaken relationships between legislators and constituents. These issues address what has been an enduring question for most nations: how to best represent their citizens and their needs.

Based on the policy-making structures of Venezuelan government, this book examines the constitutionally allocated powers of the executive and legislature and shows how the powers of each branch are exercised given the incentives established by the electoral system and changing partisan strengths. Several institutional characteristics have led to a passive legislature and an activist chief executive. The advantages presidents enjoy as a result of their constitutional and partisan powers are demonstrated by a wealth of empirical evidence, including records of votes of censure, initiation of legislation, and the use of decree authority. Because of its dominance, the Venezuelan executive branch is the focus of interest-group pressure, which is institutionalized through consultative commissions and a decentralized public administration. The author analyzes memberships of more than 300 advisory commissions and governing boards, revealing the preponderance of posts filled by umbrella agencies for business and labor. The interaction of this limited version of civil society with policy makers in the executive branch has led to a highly protectionist development strategy and excessive government subsidies. The strategy and the political process that made it possible were both exhausted by the end of the 1980s. Venezuela was in political and economic crisis. The author places Venezuela in a comparative context with other Latin American states on three issues: the likelihood that executives will receive disciplined, majority support in the legislature; the constitutional powers of presidents; and the degree to which business and labor are formally incorporated through single peak associations. Participation and policy-making processes vary significantly across Latin American democracies, with few others reaching the level of centralization that has characterized Venezuela. At the other end of the spectrum, some Latin American institutional designs are characterized by diffusion and fragmentation. In conclusion, the author offers a blueprint to modify some of the counterproductive patterns associated with Venezuela, one of the longest-lived but now troubled democracies in Latin America.

This comparative study explains how public policies in welfare states have been affected by social and economic factors including secularization, globalization, and changes in the preferences and ideologies of citizens. Illuminating developments across Europe with insights drawn from their case study of the Netherlands, the authors show that policymakers must continually balance the changing and often conflicting interests of multiple institutions and social forces. Their insights make essential reading for academics and students interested in the institutional development of social policies.

Borrowing from the perspective of macroeconomics, it treats electorates, politicians, and governments as unitary actors, making decisions in response to the behavior of other actors. The macro and longitudinal focus makes it possible to directly connect the behaviors of electorate and government. The surprise of macro-level analysis, emerging anew in every chapter, is that order and rationality dominate explanations.

Introducing the reader to 'sustainability' as a concept, a contested idea and a political goal, this book brings together a range of articles and published papers that have influenced the course of thinking in social science. It examines the links between the natural and social sciences, as well as the public policies.

Research on government institutions is one of the most exciting intellectual areas in political science and policy studies today. Increasingly it is recognized by scholars in these fields that effective and legitimate policies depend on the design and maintenance of complex institutional arrangements. This book brings together some of the leading scholars in institutional research in The Netherlands. Their work addresses such perennially difficult questions in institutional research such as: How do we understand institutional change? How do we measure the effects of institutions on societal sectors and public policy? How do the normative foundations of government institutions influence their functioning? What are the principles of effective and legitimate institutional design? Through analysis of well-researched examples ranging from the fabled Dutch `poldermodel', through the transformation of the welfare state, through privatizations of the Dutch telecommunications industry, to the work of welfare officials, these authors demonstrate the interpenetration of normative, empirical and design issues in institutional theory. The book is intended for scholars and graduate students in political science, public policy, public administration, and law.