This research project examines the impact of ethnicity on primary education. In particular, the project seeks to identify the role of politicization of ethnicity and as well to provide empirical evidence for its relevance. Moreover, it will present detailed information on important theoretical considerations and incorporate them into a comprehensive theory of ethnicity. There is considerable interest in the theoretical literature as of how ethnicity influences development. Much research has been conducted on the effect of ethnicity on civil conflicts, economic growth and public goods. Education, as one important public good, has, however, received little attention. The few studies on the impact of ethnicity on education produced a fragmentary theory and ambiguous empirical results. The two most prominent theories explaining the role of ethnicity are clientelism (Chandra 2004; Posner 2005) and sanctioning (Miguel2004; Miguel and Gugerty 2005; Kimenyi 2006). While the clientelism theory focuses on the state distribution of resources for primary education, the sanctioning theory highlights the role of village funding for primary education. Although both theories seem important to explain the role of ethnicity, researchers have so far failed to incorporate them into a comprehensive theory. Besides these theoretical studies, there exists little empirical evidence of the relationship between ethnicity and education (Easterly and Levine 1997; Alesina et al. 1999; Keefer 2005; Habyarimana et al. 2006). Moreover, evidence from the few empirical studies is rather ambiguous. This might be explained by the studies’ failure to account for the political importance of ethnicity, the politicization of ethnicity. The research project addresses these limitations by providing unique evidence from two case studies conducted in Kenya and Tanzania. Due to their unique characteristics, these two countries enable the researcher to study the role of politicization of ethnicity. In addition, the case studies will be used to reassess the clientelism and sanctioning theory. More precisely, a comprehensive data base on resource distribution for primary education will be generated, and interviews with heads of primary schools will be conducted. These results will then be used to examine the relevance of the theoretical considerations and to incorporate these considerations into a comprehensive theory of ethnicity.
Many elements of Swiss energy policy are shaped by the principle of subsidarity common to the federalist political system in Switzerland. The resulting diversity in formulation and implementation of energy policies should promote innovative problem solutions and regionally adapted implementation. The focus of this research project is on the factors influencing the patterns of implementation of energy policies in the Swiss cantons. Therefore, the projects investiagtes the determinants of the behaviour of the cantons (as collective actors) in the energy policy domain. This PhD project concentrates on energy policy measures for buildings, where the cantons are in charge of policies for an efficient energy use and for the promotion of renewable energy. In the first part, the project is searching for explanations how innovative policy solutions (in terms of formulation and implementation) are spraeding among the 26 cantons (policy diffusion). In the second part, the processes of policy transfers are in the research focus. Whereas the first part of the project is designed as a complete census of quantitative macro data of all 26 cantons, the second part applies a comparative case study design.
1. Backround The current constitution of BiH is based on Annex IV of the Dayton Peace Agreement and does not provide an adequate framework for a prosperous future of BiH. Switzerland is strongly supporting the process of constitutional reforms in Bosnia and Herzegovina since 2005. The support was implemented in the frame of programs called “Platform Bosnia and Herzegovina: Contribution to Constitutional Changes”. Till now, two phases were implemented (Phase I and Phase II) and a third phase is planned to be implemented in the period August 2008 – August 2010. The previous phases were implemented with the vision of citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina aware of the need for and supportive to the process of constitutional reform as one of the principal conditions for development of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Programs were tailored to achieve sustainable sensibility over constitutional issues of wider public, especially local communities; support for local actors in the process of constitutional changes; network approach and promotion of political culture (dialogue and participation) in the context of the constitutional reform debate. With the signature of the “Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA)” in June 2008, BiH faces a complex reform process in order to comply with EU standards. Without constitutional changes numerous reform steps will practically be impossible. Certain progress in BiH has been achieved, but some very important problems as political divisions vs. reconciliation or differing views on the role of the state and the relation between the state and the entities and their functioning are still unresolved. In response to these issues, SDC’s new initiatives in the third phase attempts to overcome the difficulties, bringing together the main domestic actors, authorities and civil society. The project will address three additional dimensions: 1) support und facilitation of demand-driven activities, and contribution to institutional capacities 2) collaboration with upper level of government/institutions and 3) regional/inter-municipal level while the previous two phases tracked a decentralised, local approach. 2. Objectives of the project components (Zentrum für Demokratie Aarau) 1) Capacity building of BiH Parliamentary members (MP) and other politically relevant stakeholders is built up, in order to facilitate power sharing with special emphasis on consensus making and strengthening institutional processes and decision-making: • An “Advisory Group” consisting of the chief councillors of the man party leaders in constitutional matters is set up. This provides a basis for building a political consensus, culture of dialogue and exchange of experiences between the Swiss, international and BiH experts; • Expertise/workshop for BiH MPs and key political party advisors dealing with the issues of power sharing and consensus-making in the context of constitutional changes are organized 2) Basic knowledge about the constitution and its meaning is improved among future leaders, in particular within young academics and master students. The emphasis is on the development of students’ capability to critically analyse ways of designing mutual comprehension in a divided society: • University course for future decision-makers on democratic institutions for plural societies is provided 3) Capacity of civil society exponents is built up through exchange visits in Switzerland, enabling them to report neutrally and with good background knowledge on constitutional reform incorporating their informed opinion into the process of reform building: • Working excursion to Switzerland for high profile journalists and opinion leaders is provided • Quality of media coverage of constitutional reform process is increased • Citizens access to proper information on constitutional reform process is improved • Opinion leaders learn about the functioning of local authorities in multilingual settings in Switzerland
Alle -Gemeinden stehen ein für eine nachhaltige Entwiclung – dennoch wird überall ins Grüne gebaut und zersiedelt. Ziel des Projekts ist die Darstellung der politischen und institutionellen Rahmenbedingungen für die räumliche Entwicklung in der . Es stellt sich dabei die Frage, welche Themen auf Gemeindeebene und welche besser auf interkommunaler Ebene bearbeitet werden. Die Ergebnisse dieser Untersuchung sollen in einem Workshop mit VertreterInnen der Gemeinden zurück in die Region fliessen. Besteht ein Zusammenhang zwischen der politischen Landschaft und den baulichen Aktivitäten einer Gemeinde? Unterstützen die kantonalen und nationalen Bestimmungen die Region in ihrem Kampf gegen die Zersiedlung? Mit welchen Massnahmen liesse sich der Zersiedlung wirksam entgegentreten?
Das Forschungsprojekt hat zum Ziel, ein Instrument zu entwerfen, mit welchem die Qualität der Demokratie in den Schweizer Kantonen gemessen werden kann. Die Frage nach Demokratiequalität und deren Messung gewinnt insbesondere im Rahmen der Debatten um Globalisierung und Internationalisierung der Politik sowie der zunehmenden Legitimationskrise des demokratischen Staates an Bedeutung. Dabei stehen subnationale Einheiten im Fokus, da diese insbesondere in föderalistischen Staaten dem Standortwettbewerb ausgesetzt sind. Mit der zunehmenden Internationalisierung der Politik geht zudem auch eine Rückbesinnung auf unmittelbarere Politikbeteiligung einher. Hier bilden die Kantone den primären Handlungsrahmen für mehr Bürgernähe. Die in der Literatur zur Krise der Demokratie prominent debattierte Beobachtung der Legitimationskrise macht schliesslich auch vor subnationalen Einheiten nicht halt: politische Apathie, abnehmendes politisches Vertrauen und schwindende Unterstützung des politischen Systems lassen sich auch auf regionaler Ebene ausmachen und mindern so auch die Qualität kantonaler Demokratien. Es dürfte deshalb von Interesse sein, die Kantone hinsichtlich ihrer Demokratiequalität zu beurteilen.
Die lokale und regionale politische Steuerung ist sowohl in der Schweiz als auch in den meisten anderen europäischen Ländern im Wandel begriffen. Es haben sich über die letzten Jahre und Jahrzehnte neue politische Steuerungsstrukturen herausgebildet, die vermehrt auf freiwilliger, zweckorientierter Kooperation und dem stärkeren Einbezug gesellschaftlicher und wirtschaftlicher Akteure aufbauen – was in der sozialwissenschaftlichen Literatur unter dem Begriff Governance diskutiert wird. Die vorliegende Abhandlung nimmt Bezug auf die aktuelle Debatte zur demokratischen Qualität neuer Governance-Strukturen und analysiert die Auswirkungen solcher lokalen und regionalen Arrangements auf die städtische Demokratie. Als forschungsleitende Thesen stehen sich dabei eine optimistische und eine pessimistische Perspektive zu Governance und Demokratie gegenüber. Der Fokus der Untersuchung liegt auf der Rolle der lokalen Parlamentarierinnen und Parlamentarier, welche in der bisherigen wissenschaftlichen Governance-Forschung weitgehend vernachlässigt wurden. Anhand ihrer Wahrnehmung der politischen Vorgänge, ihrem Einfluss in neuen Steuerungsstrukturen sowie ihrem politischen Handeln wird die demokratische Verankerung lokaler und regionaler Governance-Institutionen beurteilt. Die Daten hierzu stammen aus einer umfassenden, schweizweiten Befragung der Stadtparlamentsmitglieder, die im Jahre 2008 im Rahmen der vorliegenden Dissertation durchgeführt wurde.
The EU Profiler, the first Europe-wide voting advice application (VAA), is the work of a consortium of institutions in Italy, The Netherlands and Switzerland. The EU Profiler consortium consists of the European University Institute (EUI) in Florence, the Amsterdam-based company Kieskompas and the NCCR Democracy (University of Zurich/Zentrum für Demokratie Aarau)/Politools network. The project is led by the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies (RSCAS), part of the European University Institute (EUI) and is developed under the auspices of the EUI-based European Union Democracy Observatory (EUDO). Project leader Professor Alexander H. Trechsel at the EUI oversees the contribution of more than 120 academic collaborators from across Europe. The overall development is overseen by a Steering Committee that consists of representatives of the developing institutions and other Political Science Professors. Technical expertise is provided by Kieskompas who have previously delivered profiling tools for (among others) the Belgian and Dutch national elections of 2007, the American Presidential Election of 2008 and the Israeli general election of 2009. Additionally the NCCR Democracy (University of Zurich/Zentrum für Demokratie Aarau) offers in close cooperation with the Politools network (owner and developer of VAAs in several European countries) scientific input, as well as practical experience and in-depth knowledge of developing specialized VAA-features. The three partner institutions jointly finance the project, with the acknowledged support of the Max Weber Fellow Programme at the EUI. Apart from the conceptualisation and the technical development of the EU Profiler, so-called “Country Teams” were responsible for researching and ‘coding’ the political parties featured in the tool, as well as carrying out the groundwork that made this tool possible. The Country Team members are mostly political scientists at a doctoral and post-doctoral level and are experts in the party politics of their home countries. Their work is the backbone of the project, meticulously consulting and researching each party and finding evidence of their policy positions. The majority of Country Teams members are affiliated with the EUI, but several collaborators are based in other parts of Europe. Please see the “colophon” in the tool for further details on the people involved in the project. In practical terms the development of this tool has involved the accumulation of data from nearly 300 political parties representing 34 different countries and regions in Europe. Working in more than 20 different languages with team members spread across the continent it is a ground-breaking multi-disciplinary project that has brought together a wide range of experts in a variety of fields.
To reduce the cost of meeting their greenhouse gas emission reduction commitments under the Kyoto Protocol, industrialized countries may rely on the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), a market instrument that allows them to count emission reductions from projects in developing countries as their own (offsetting). This project analyses whether and how the CDM – and some existing proposals for its reform – creates incentives or disincentives for developing country action towards reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Based on the environmental economics, political economy and public policy literatures, we develop a typology of positive and negative incentives for mitigation that the CDM may generate. In summary, we expect that the CDM can generate positive incentives for climate change mitigation in developing countries if: (i) it prevents a lock-in to more emissions intensive technologies in Least Developed Countries (LDCs) by capitalizing on the current window of opportunity to promote low-carbon investment there; (ii) it creates incentives for a transition towards non-offset mitigation instruments in advanced developing countries; and (iii) it incentivizes investment in expensive and immature low-carbon technologies, contributing to learning effects and cost reductions through technology diffusion. An empirical analysis of whether these three incentives effectively take place in the CDM follows. First, we address the CDM’s potential contribution to promoting low-carbon development in Least Developed Countries (LDCs) by looking into the discussion about how to improve its geographical distribution. Empirically, we analyse whether introducing preferential access measures for LDCs or discount factors for more advanced developing countries could improve the competitiveness of LDCs in the CDM, relying on a quantitative comparison of future CDM supply and demand scenarios and on the creation of CDM-specific marginal abatement cost curves for four developing country regions. Using a self-compiled dataset of CDM project costs and derived marginal abatement cost curves, we also examine the frequently cited fear of developing country experts that the CDM is exhausting the cheapest emission reduction opportunities in their countries, therefore making it more expensive for them to comply with future emission reduction commitments. Finally, we look into the question of whether the CDM is contributing to the diffusion of more expensive emission reduction technologies, thus inducing learning effects and cost reductions, particularly in combination with domestic support policies. We hypothesize that domestic climate-friendly policies might be adding a further financial incentive to these expensive technologies, which, coupled with the CDM subsidy, makes them attractive. This hypothesis is tested econometrically on the example of policies supporting the investment in renewable energy. The results from these individual analyses are then brought together to conclude on the general role that the CDM is playing – or may in the future play – for creating incentives for own mitigation in developing countries.
Since 1994, the Swiss federal government has promoted a four-pillar model in drug policy comprising the elements prevention, therapy, harm reduction and law enforcement. Swiss Federal Narcotics Law (Betäubungsmittelgesetz, BetmG), however, limits the competence of the federal government in the area of drug policy to coordinating the activities of federal, cantonal and local authorities (besides responsibilities for information and documentation, research, training of professional staff as well as quality assurance). Policy implementation, in contrast, rests with the cantons. Against this background, the Federal Office of Public Health (Bundesamt für Gesundheit, BAG) has established various coordination mechanisms with a view to ensuring the nationwide diffusion and consolidation of the federal drug policy model, both on strategic and operational levels. For that purpose, INFODROG, the Swiss Office for the Coordination of Addiction Facilities (Schweizerische Koordinations- und Fachstelle Sucht), which is responsible for the pillars of therapy and harm reduction, was established in 2005 as a merger of two formerly independent institutions. So as to facilitate exchange with the cantonal governments and play a more influential part in cantonal policy-making on drug-related affairs, the BAG decided to commission the operation of INFODROG to the Conference of Cantonal Directors of Social Affairs (Sozialdirektorenkonferenz, SODK). In its function as a body of members of the cantonal executives, SODK tends to have a major impact on the strategic direction of social policy-making in the cantons. With the contract between BAG and SODK being up for renewal in early 2009, the present evaluation study (commissioned by BAG) aims at assessing to what extent the contractual relationship was effective in accomplishing its principal objective, i.e. the consolidation of the federal drug policy model in the cantons. It thus follows a summative approach and is to provide BAG with recommendations on whether to continue the contractual relationship with SODK and how to design this relationship in future. Drawing on both qualitative and quantitative methods, the study entails five modules: (1) investigation of the interactions between BAG and SODK in the context of the contractual relationship; (2) analysis of the perception of INFODROG by, and its impact on, the 26 Swiss cantons; (3) detailed case studies on the impact of INFODROG on six cantons and two cities; (4) online survey among cantonal addiction facilities; (5) synthesis of results and policy recommendations.