Whose Opinion Counts? Political Processes and the Implementation Problem

The mechanism used in Nash implementation is a form of direct democracy, taking everyone''s opinion into account. We augment this mechanism with a political process that selects the opinions of a subset of the individuals. We study three such processes -- oligarchy, oligarchic democracy and random sampling -- and compare the social choice rules (SCRs) that can be implemented using each of these processes with those that can be Nash implemented. In oligarchy, only the opinions of a fixed subset of the individuals -- the oligarchs -- determine the implemented alternative. We obtain a negative result for oligarchies: there exist Nash implementable SCRs that cannot be implemented by any oligarchy. Oligarchic democracy is a perturbation of oligarchy, in which the opinions of the oligarchs “almost always” determine the implemented alternative but sometimes, everyone''s opinions are considered. In a sharp contrast to the negative result for oligarchies, we show that in economic environments, every Nash implementable SCR can be implemented by an oligarchic democracy in which any three individuals act as oligarchs. In random sampling, opinions of a fixed number of individuals are selected randomly, which then determine the implemented alternative. We show that in economic environments, every Nash implementable SCR can be implemented by randomly sampling opinions of four individuals.microeconomics ;

Decision analysis and political processes

Decision analysis has been with us for at least half a century. Over that time it has developed from a theoretical paradigm for individual rational choice to a practical tool for individuals, small groups and ‘unitary’ organisations, which helps them towards a sound decision-making mindful of the behavioural characteristics of individuals and group dynamics. Decision analysis has also shown its worth in the context of stakeholder engagement and public participation. The time is right for it to be more widely used in making societal decisions. However, to achieve that we need to realise that in many circumstances it will only be one input to the political process that leads to the actual decision. Recognising that suggests that our community of decision analysts needs to deconstruct our paradigm and attend more to communicating the result of the analysis in comparison with other inputs to the societal decision

Public and private partnership and business actors in political processes concerning military issues

Purpose: The article researches the actual issues of developing partnership and cooperation between the state and private business in matters of production and modernization the military-industrial complex of Russia. The main object of the research is the Russian NAVY. The subject of the research is the comparison of the Russian and US NAVY modernization in the context of public and private partnership. Design/Methodology/Approach: The authors used a wide range of methodological tools in the course of the study. The method of economic analysis, the method of structural analysis, the statistical method and the method of mathematical comparison were used. Findings. Studying the role of business actors in the national rearmament programmes in Russia the authors revealed such key indicators as economic viability and financial efficiency of programme implementation. A comparative analysis of budget and private funding of the similar US programme was conducted and statistical data supporting the main findings of the study were introduced. Practical Implications: The development of cooperation between business and the MIC at the state level should go along the path of creating conditions for public-private partnerships (PPPs) - a set of organizational, legal, financial and economic relations and joint actions of the state and private business aimed at achieving the goals of the state economic policy in order to address socially significant tasks on mutually beneficial conditions. Originality/Value: The authors’ conclusion that state’s financial and economic policy in the field of defense and modernization of the domestic defense industry has all chances to become the locomotive of the country’s industrial, scientific and technological development gives new horizons for discussing the most appropriate rearmament strategy.peer-reviewe

Historical Analysis of Political Processes

http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/50924/1/149.pd

Tax Competition, Globalization and Declining Social Protection

Tax competition, Fiscal policy, Social protection, Political processes

Conditionality and Endogenous Policy Formation in a Political Setting

aid conditionality, fiscal policy, political processes, endogenous policy formation

The Merging of Traditional Chinese Medicine and Western Medicine in China: Old Ideas Cross-Culturally Communicated Through New Perspectives

The People\u27s Republic of China is engaged in reforms which involve development of its economic, cultural, educational, and political processes. The need for reform has been realized as China has fallen behind the development of the western world in many areas. China closed its doors to the outside world in 1949, and it experienced limited interaction with the outside world until reform began in 1979

The Psychological Imperative in Political Processes in Nigeria

The nature of politics involves the coordination of peaceful human co-existence. Given its central place in human existence, politics has a great importance in fostering a better living condition of people. But when wrongly pursued and exercised, political power becomes a destructive tool in the hands of political leaders. In view of this importance, it becomes an imperative to subject those vying for political positions to psychological (personality) test in order to validate their fitness and usefulness in ensuring the purpose of politics which among others includes the coordination of human society. This paper employs observatory, dialogical and discursive methods in examining the interlock between politics and psychology. It highlights some abnormal behaviours displayed by our political leaders and argues that the withdrawer of psychology and psychologists to the background in political matters in Nigeria spells doom for the country at large. Thus, it recommends that there must be a deliberate fusion of politics (political science) and psychology, beyond mere referencing them as belonging to the social sciences. In other words, there must be a deliberate intellectual merger of politics and psychology within the university system and the public sphere. It also recommends that psychologists should get involved in national discourse not just as citizens but also as professionals who can provide answers to national issues especially in regards to analyzing the behaviours of political leaders and determining whom are fit to lead. Finally, it holds that the civil society and psychologists have a viable role to play in redressing the socio-political “madness” in the corridor of power in Nigeria. Importantly, this paper does not discuss the wide variety of personality tests and does not pretend to have conducted any personality test on any public office holder, but suggests that personality tests are necessary in order to ensure sanity in our polity by recruiting the “right people”—people without personality disorde