Racial environment and political participation

This research addresses the determinants of mass participation by developing a model of how the racial environment influences mass participation in the United States. Prior literature on this research question presents two competing expectations. The power-threat hypothesis predicts that a larger size of different racial groups in local areas increases citizen participation because of more intensive interracial con- flicts, while the relational goods hypothesis predicts that a larger size of different racial groups decreases participation because of less frequent interaction with other in-group members. Both hypotheses, however, are derived from rather weak theoretical expectations, and neither is consistently supported in empirical analyses. This research offers a solution to this puzzle by arguing that economic and political characteristics of local areas determine how the racial composition influences mass participation. Local economic and political competition is expected to structure the nature of interracial and intraracial relations and therefore influence the utility calculation associated with political participation. I hypothesize that the power-threat effect on citizen participation is observed only when the degree of economic or political competition is high, while the relational goods effect is observed only when the degree of economic or political competition is low. Empirical analysis using Verba, Schlozman, and Brady’s Citizen Participation Study offers supportive evidence for my hypotheses. This research offers the first theoretically-motivated, rigorous analysis and evidence of the impact of immediate racial environment on individuals’ participation

Processos de democracia direta: sim ou não? Os argumentos clássicos à luz da teoria e da prática

Regularmente surgem controvérsias sobre os processos de democracia direta, dos quais os mecanismos mais frequentes são a iniciativa popular, o plebiscito e o referendo. Por um lado, há autores que defendem a posição de que essas instituições tornam o jogo político mais lento, caro, confuso e ilegítimo; outros defendem a posição contrária e argumentam que processos de democracia direta são fundamentais para os cidadãos e a qualidade da democracia. O presente estudo analisa esse tema em torno de sete questões, baseadas em considerações teóricas e pesquisas empíricas: 1. A questão entre o minimalismo e o maximalismo democrático; 2. A concorrência entre maioria e minoria; 3. A concorrência entre as instituições representativas e os processos de democracia direta; 4. A questão da competência dos cidadãos; 5. A questão dos efeitos colaterais dos processos de democracia direta; 6. A questão do tamanho do eleitorado; 7. A questão dos custos dos processos de democracia direta. As sete questões são analisadas a partir de uma revisão bibliográfica que considera tanto fontes nacionais como internacionais. O estudo mostra que os processos de democracia direta podem ser um complemento para as instituições representativas em um sistema democrático. O bom desempenho dos plebiscitos, referendos e iniciativas populares depende tanto da regulamentação destes como também do desempenho das outras instituições políticas e da situação socioeconômica de um país. O estudo permite ampliar e aprofundar o debate sobre processos de democracia direta no Brasil

A Conceptual Model for G2G Relationships

Part 3: Governance, Openess and InstitutionsInternational audienceThis paper proposes a conceptual model that groups different factors that can influence relationships between government agencies. The model is based on a systematic literature review of published papers related to Government-to-Government (G2G) relationships. Through analysis of selected papers, we identified, classified, and organized factors that may impact relationships between government agencies. The proposed model may help government managers to improve their G2G policies

Atomistic simulations of pressure-induced structural transformations in solids

Constant-pressure MD simulations complement constant-volume MD simulations and naturally allow the study of systems where external pressure is a driving force for a structural transformation. These transformations take place in crystalline as well as amorphous systems. Besides studies of bulk systems there is also growing interest in simulations of finite systems, such as clusters and nanocrystals, under pressure. In the paper we review various approaches to constant pressure simulations with focus on the recent developments in simulation methodology, such as metadynamics and transition path sampling. The application of the techniques to bulk and finite systems is illustrated on several examples