Browsing by Subject "institutions"
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Item Can Institutions Build Unity in Multiethnic States?(American Political Science Review, 2007-11) Elkins, Zachary; Sides, JohnWe investigate whether political institutions can promote attachment to the state in multiethnic societies. Building on literatures on nationalism, democratization, and conflict resolution, we discuss the importance of attachment, understood as a psychological identification with, and pride in, the state. We construct a model of state attachment, specifying the individual-, group-, and state-level conditions that foster it. Then, using cross-national survey data from 51 multiethnic states, we show that, in general, ethnic minorities manifest less attachment to the states in which they reside than do majorities. Combining the survey data with minority group attributes and country-level attributes, we show that the attachment of minorities varies importantly across groups and countries. Our central finding is that federalism and proportional electoral systems—–two highly touted solutions to ethnic divisions—–have at best mixed effects. These results have implications for state-building and democratic consolidation in ethnically heterogeneous states.Item Democracy Promotion Begins at Home(2018-11-06) Romanow, NicholasItem Inequality, Institutions, and the Rule of Law: The social and institutional bases of rights.(Kellogg Institute, 2008-08) Brinks, Daniel MThis article elaborates and tests a theory connecting the high levels of inequality in many Latin American states to the failure to develop mechanisms to effectively protect and enforce formal rights enshrined in constitutions and laws. I argue that, in order to become effective, rights require the development of a network of ancillary supporting institutions, both formal and informal. Both engaging with these supporting institutions and developing them in the first place requires resources which many marginalized groups simply do not have. I apply the theory to data on the prosecution of police violence, as well as to a more general overview of legal and constitutional developments in the region.Item On the Interpretability of Law: Lessons from the Decoding of National Constitutions(British Journal of Political Science, 2012-10-09) Melton, James; Elkins, Zachary; Ginsburg, Tom; Leetaru, KalevAn implicit element of many theories of constitutional enforcement is the degree to which those subject to constitutional law can agree on what its provisions mean (call this constitutional interpretability). Unfortunately, there is little evidence on baseline levels of constitutional interpretability or the variance therein. This article seeks to fill this gap in the literature, by assessing the effect of contextual, textual and interpreter characteristics on the interpretability of constitutional documents. Constitutions are found to vary in their degree of interpretability. Surprisingly, however, the most important determinants of variance are not contextual (for example, era, language or culture), but textual. This result emphasizes the important role that constitutional drafters play in the implementation of their product.