Credibly Committing to Property Rights: The Roles of Precedent and the Constitution.

In cross-national studies, scholars typically ignore the moderating effect of credibility on the relationship between property rights protection and economic growth. However, both theory and case evidence suggest that credibility is necessary for this relationship to exist. Using panel data spanning more than 100 countries from 1985-2005, this paper investigates if two credibility mechanisms - precedent and the constitution - moderate the relationship between property rights protection and economic growth. The findings suggest that a credible commitment to property rights protection is a necessary condition for such protection to enhance economic performance. The implications of these findings are twofold: 1) property rights reforms are unlikely to be successful in countries that cannot credibly commit to those reforms, and 2) unsuccessful property rights reforms at present may reduce the likelihood that future reforms will be successful

Why is Voting Habit-Forming: Evidence from Sweden

For decades, scholars of electoral behavior have noted persistence in individuals' turnout decisions and hypothesized that such persistence is the result of habit. Recent empirical studies provide persuasive evidence supporting the habitual voting hypothesis, but we still do not know why individuals develop habits for voting. One theory is that voting causes individuals' to view themselves as "voters," increasing their future probabilities of voting. Another theory asserts that voting may ease institutional barriers, making future voting less costly and changing conative attitudes towards voting. This study seeks to disentangle these two causal mechanisms by testing the habitual voting hypothesis in Sweden. Since institutional barriers to voting are minimal in Sweden, evidence in favor of the habitual voting hypothesis will lend credence to a psychological mechanism. The opposite result will point to an institutional mechanism. Ultimately, habitual voting is found in Sweden, which suggests the psychological mechanism is valid

Baghdad, Tokyo, Kabul ...: Constitution Making in Occupied States

Governmen

Comments on Law and Versteeg's The Declining Influence of the United States Constitution

Governmen

Military Occupations and Their Constitutional Residual

Governmen

On the Evasion of Executive Term Limits

Executive term limits are pre-commitments through which the polity restricts its ability to retain a popular executive down the road. But in recent years, many presidents around the world have chosen to remain in office even after their initial maximum term in office has expired. They have largely done so by amending the constitution, or sometimes by replacing it entirely. The practice of revising higher law for the sake of a particular incumbent raises intriguing issues that touch ultimately on the normative justification for term limits in the first place. This article reviews the normative debate over term limits and identifies the key claims of proponents and opponents. It introduces the idea of characterizing term limits as a variety of default rule to be overcome if sufficient political support is apparent. It then turns to the historical evidence in order to assess the probability of attempts (both successful and unsuccessful) to evade term limits. It finds that, notwithstanding some high profile cases, term limits are observed with remarkable frequency. The final section considers alternative institutional designs that might accomplish some of the goals of term limits, but finds that none is likely to provide a perfect substitute. Term limits have the advantage of clarity, making them relatively easy constitutional rules to enforce, and they should be considered an effective part of the arsenal of democratic institutions

Europe is home to some of the world’s most incomprehensible national constitutions.

Why are some countries’ constitutions easy to understand, while others are extremely difficult to interpret? James Melton outlines results from a cross-national study of the interpretability of constitutions. He notes that European constitutions are more difficult to interpret, on average, than constitutions from any other region of the world. While the negative consequences of low interpretability can be mitigated by other factors, making constitutions easier to understand should be a priority for future constitutional drafters

Measuring Culture and Cultural Change

Mary Douglas’s grid/group analysis has been a very influential theory for many culture theorists in all fields of the social sciences. There are two good reasons for importance of this theory. It allows for an interaction between the individual and the culture, and it can explain cultural change. There has been some theorizing about the implications of these innovations; however, little empirical work has been done to test these implications. The reason for this, at least partly, is the lack of an indicator capable of easily measuring culture on a wide-scale basis. This paper attempts to solve this problem by using questions chosen from the World Values Survey as an indicator of grid and group. To test the validity of these indicators, a survey was administered to five groups on Illinois Wesleyan University’s campus, and these results were compared to results given by the Gross and Rayner method of measuring grid/group. If the World Values Survey indicators are valid, there should be a strong correlation between the grid and group scores for members of the same group. Additionally, there should be less than ten-percent variance between the World Values Survey indicators of grid and group and the pre-established indicators of grid and group. Finally, there should be little or no correlation between grid and group. Based on the data gathered, all these hypotheses seem to be valid, and therefore, the data suggests the indicators chosen from the World Values survey are a valid wide-scale indicator of an individual’s typology

The Importance of Mass Culture for Democratization

In the last thirty years, the importance of political culture in political science has risen, declined, and has risen again. Although the theories of political culture have been strengthened and refined in this process, modern culture theorists have yet to empirically demonstrate culture\u27s ability to be used as an independent variable or to make causal claims using culture. This paper makes an attempt to solve these empirical deficiencies in cultural theory by setting up what Brian Barry calls a critical test. Using the former USSR and the post-communist countries in Eastern Europe, I will test two hypotheses. First, mass values and not elite bargaining caused the transition from communism to democracy in these countries, and second, these mass values were not a result of rational self interest or elite manipulation, but they formed through the interaction of different sub-cultures. The first hypothesis will be tested by a quantitative analysis of the relationship between mass political protest and democratization, and to be considered valid, the peak level of democratization should follow the peak of mass political protest relatively closely. The second hypothesis will be tested using a cross-tab between culture and indicators of democratic values from the World Values Survey. To be considered valid, there should be a relatively strong significant correlation with individualist and egalitarian cultures displaying more democratic values than fatalist or hierarch culture. From the data gathered, these hypotheses seem to be valid; however, economic variables seem to play a minimal role as well

Association of Near-Infrared Spectroscopy Assessed Muscle Oxidative Capacity Between Collegiate Cross-Country Athletes and College Students

Muscle oxidative capacity (MOC) is the maximum rate at which the muscle can utilize oxygen to meet the energy demand of exercise. Near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) measurement of muscle oxygen uptake (mVO2) during brief arterial occlusions has shown to be a valid, reliable indicator of MOC, but is affected by aerobic fitness. It is unclear if the NIRS measurement can detect a difference in MOC in populations of varying aerobic fitness. The purpose is to compare MOC between collegiate cross-country runners and age-matched college students. Maximal oxygen uptake will be measured from an individualized treadmill test to characterize aerobic fitness. MOC will be determined from a series of 20 short (5-10 sec) arterial occlusions interspersed with short recoveries. Rapid inflation cuffs placed on the distal portion of the thigh will be inflated to 300 mmHg during occlusions and released during recovery. Deoxyhemoglobin (HHb), collected at 10 Hz, will be measured at the gastrocnemius. To calibrate the signal to individuals, a 5-min arterial occlusion will determine maximal deoxygenation (highest HHb) and the hyperemic response after cuff release will determine minimum HHB (maximal oxygenation). The slope of change in HHb during the first 3-5 seconds of each occlusion will be the mVO2. Each mVO2 will be plotted and a mono-exponential decay curve will be fitted to determine the time constant; time constant is indicative of MOC. A t-test will compare MOC between groups. It is hypothesized that collegiate cross-country runners will exhibit a faster time constant which would indicate greater MOC