Vote-Trading in International Institutions

There is evidence that countries trade votes among each other in international institutions on a wide range of issues, including the use of force, trade issues and elections of judges. Vote-trading has been criticized as being a form of corruption, undue influence and coercion. Contrary to common wisdom, however, I argue in this paper that the case for introducing policy measures against vote-trading cannot be made out on the basis of available evidence. This paper sets out an analytical framework for analyzing vote-trading in international institutions, focusing on three major contexts in which vote-trading may generate benefits and costs: (1) agency costs (collective good), (2) coercive tendering and (3) agency costs (constituents). The applicability of each context depends primarily on the type of decision in question - i.e. preference-decision or judgment-decision - and the interests that countries are expected to maximize when voting. The analytical framework is applied to evidence of vote-trading in four institutions, the Security Council, the General Assembly, the World Trade Organization and the International Whaling Commission. The application of the analysis reveals that while vote-trading can create significant costs, there is only equivocal evidence to this effect, and in several cases vote-trading generates important benefits

Drafting the Nineteen Propositions, January to July 1642

This article analyses the drafting of the document eventually printed as the Nineteen Propositions. Section two addresses certain issues regarding the methods and concepts employed in the subsequent analysis, focusing on consensus-building, constitutional leanings and the drafting of parliamentary declarations in early 1642. Section three examines the origins of the Nineteen Propositions in the draft Declaration of Ways and Means (January 1642) (hereafter cited as the Ways). Section four traces the emergence of the Declaration Concerning Grievances and Remedies (hereafter cited as the Grievances) from the Ways (January–February). Section five examines the junta's efforts to overcome the Lords' prevarication over passing the Grievances (February–May). Section six examines the emergence of the initial draft of the Nineteen Propositions from the Grievances (24–7 May). Section seven analyses the 28 May draft, while section eight explores the amendment of that draft (31 May and 1 June). Section nine examines parliament's abortive attempts to revise the Nineteen Propositions in light of His Majesty's Answer to the XIX Propositions (21 June–2 July). It is concluded that, contrary to the received view, the text of the Nineteen Propositions began to emerge in January rather than May 1642, and that the junta in the Commons rather than the Lords drove this process. The three appendices identify, respectively, the constitutional leanings of the relevant parliamentarians, the parts of the text of the Ways that were repeated in the Grievances, and dates on which the various parts of the final text of the Nineteen Propositions were written

Antebellum Tariff Politics: Coalition Formation and Shifting Regional Interests

Throughout U.S. history, import tariffs have been put on a sustained downward path in only two instances: from the early-1830s until the Civil War and from the mid-1930s to the present. This paper analyzes how the movement toward higher tariffs in the 1820s was reversed for the rest of the antebellum period. Tariff politics in Congress during this period was highly sectional: the North supported high tariffs, the South favored low tariffs, and the West was a %u201Cswing%u201D region. In the 1820s, a coalition between the North and West raised tariffs by exchanging votes on import duties for spending on internal improvements. President Andrew Jackson effectively delinked these issues and destroyed the North-West alliance by vetoing several internal improvements bills. South Carolina%u2019s refusal to enforce the existing high tariffs sparked the nullification crisis and paved the way for the Compromise Tariff of 1833, which promised to phase out tariffs above 20 percent over a nine year period. Although Congress could not credibly commit itself to the staged reductions or maintaining the lower duties, the growing export interests of the West %uF818 due, ironically, to transportation improvements that made agricultural shipments economically viable %uF818 gave the region a stake with the South in maintaining a low tariff equilibrium. Thus, the West%u2019s changing position on trade policy helps explain the rise and fall of tariffs over this period.

Improving global governance: making global institutions fit-for-purpose in 21st century

In this lecture I will: • comment on some of the complex challenges of the 21st century which cry out for effective global governance reflecting today’s geopolitical and other realities; and • examine whether global governance institutions – particularly in the areas of peace and security, economic governance, sustainable development and climate change – have kept up with geopolitical changes and been able to tackle emerging challenges to ensure their continued effectiveness, legitimacy and accountability. My working definition of global governance will be that of Lawrence Finkelstein, former professor of political science at Northern Illinois University and former vice-president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Writing in the first issue of the journal Global Governance, he suggested that global governance could be defined as ‘governing, without sovereign authority, relationships that transcend national frontiers. Global governance is doing internationally what governments do at home’ (Finkelstein, 1995). • The Rt Hon Helen Clark is presently the Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme. This is the text of an address she gave to the Institute for Governance and Policy Studies, Tuesday 13 November 2012, and is now available in Policy Quarterly – Volume 9, Issue 1 – February 201

United Nations Territorial Administration and the Development of the Charter

The competition in sports equipment and sports fashion today is fierce. And as e-commerce grows, the competing players has to remain accessible and usable regard-less of the device their customers visit the website on. Stadium is Swedens biggest player on the market and puts a lot of effort on their online activity. Something Stadium found interesting was the possibility of introducing elements that would increase the conversion rates directly into the product menu. This study explores the possibility to find a responsive solution for the product menu at Stadiums’ e-commerce website which could contribute to increased conversion rates. The study is built upon an experiment and the foundations of the experiment is based upon a market analysis of used design patterns for product navigation in the domain of sport resellers. Added to that, theories of usability and sales aspects, Stadiums own point of view, and known design patterns, have all contributed to the birth of a responsive product navigation concept. What started as sketches first evolved into three high fidelity design solutions (one for desktop devices, one for tablet devices, and one for smartphone devices) and then into working prototypes. The prototypes were tested by multiple users, following a set of tasks. The results was then compared with the same tasks conducted at Stadiums current website. The theories we have found clearly indicate that a good user experience greatly affects the potential for higher conversion rates and also increase the possibility of a higher customer loyalty towards the brand. Stadiums’ philosophy is focused on the product range and to show the products as the hero of the brand. The user testing conducted showed that the design solutions made by us didn’t meet the standard of the current Stadium product navigation. The statistics from the tests is spraw-ling and the lack of completness within the prototype shined through. Despite the sprawling results, the study concludes in a design solution that can act as a starting point for further investigations to find the best possible solution