London School of Economics and Political Science Research Papers (original) (raw)

Author's note: the data for much of this research came from 2006-2016 Annual Reports, and so, arguably, provides a pre-Brexit benchmark against which post-Brexit data can be measured. Based on observations that the nature of... more

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- Business, Management, Knowledge Management, Higher Education

This edited volume presents a range of perspectives on the Cyprus conflict, with thirty leading experts drawing on their research and experience to assess whether a solution can finally be found to the dispute. Nikos Christofis finds the book to be a welcome addition to the literature on the Cyprus Problem which brings together some of the most important arguments pertaining to the issue in a single volume.

We are in the midst of a data revolution, one reliant on the capture, analysis, and visual representation of enlarged quantitative data, in increasingly digital formats. Hamish Robertson and Joanne Travaglia argue that big data quantification is now not only a mechanism for extracting information but has become an idea with social and political power in its own right. The lack of critique of quantitative methods and their application contributes to the existing and potentially coercive power of digital information systems and their attendant methods, and enhances the potential for “collateral damage” associated with such applications.

Job satisfaction in flower organizations has been poorly addressed, although it is of great relevance for productivity management. The purpose of this research is to estimate the determinants of job satisfaction of the employees of the company "La Flor de Catemaco", a flower company, specialized in the production and marketing of natural flowers and ornamental foliage, located in Villa Guerrero, State of Mexico. The empirical evidence from the parameters obtained in this study suggests that the determining variables of job satisfaction are: Seniority in the position, motivation regarding the work being performed, recognition of the tasks performed and satisfaction with respect to the job. salary received. The study is temporarily circumscribed in 2018, using information from a survey applied to 20 workers, which is processed by methodological requirements using a logistic econometric model.

Who is a family member? This question is at the heart of the ambiguities surrounding the UK's offer to EU citizens post-Brexit, writes Katya Ivanova (LSE). The proposal seeks to align the rules governing family unification for EU citizens with those currently applied to non-EU citizens. It also seeks to bring EU citizens under the control of the UK legal system ...

- by Georgiana Turculet
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- European Studies, European Law, Family Law, Political Science

Almost four months after regional elections, Catalonia still has no government, and there is no end in sight in the stand-off over Catalan independence. Astrid Barrio and Bonnie N. Field write that there remain major international and judicial impediments to forming a new government, as well as notable splits in opinion within the pro-independence movement on the best strategy to pursue. And with political actors reaching an impasse, street protests and direct action initiatives have started to fill the vacuum.

- by Astrid Barrio
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- European Studies, Political Science, Nationalism, Spain

A new round of data from the Chapel Hill Expert Survey, covering 2019, is due to be released. The survey, which estimates the positions of political parties on a variety of ideological and policy issues, offers an invaluable tool for assessing political competition in Europe. Ryan Bakker, Liesbet Hooghe, Seth Jolly, Gary Marks, Jonathan Polk, Jan Rovny, Marco Steenbergen, and Milada Anna Vachudova draw on the latest data to examine where European political parties now stand on European integration, and how their positions have changed since the last full survey was conducted in 2014.

The motivation behind this short commentary is an editorial piece published in the Guardian few weeks ago (Never Closer Union, 29 September 2011, p. 36 of print edition). The main argument of the Guardian editor was that the financial crisis of the Eurozone has been transformed into a bigger political crisis of the European Union. Diminishing obstructionism and having a clearer federal vision may be able to save the European Union from a deeper existential crisis.

This thesis studies the development of bilateral relations in two pairs of states (dyads); Argentina-Brazil and Argentina-Chile. It takes on a moderate constructivist approach that incorporates into the analysis of international relations the role of identities, ideas and perceptions as well as of material forces, and understands that the former are affected and change during interaction. It also resorts to securitization theory to explain how issues come or cease to be considered security matters through social construction. Using this framework, the thesis analyses how states within the dyads have gradually stopped viewing each other as threats to their security. For most of their history, they have defined their relationships in terms of rivalry, and have perceived one another accordingly. In turn, this has resulted in a situation of negative regional peace in the Southern Cone of Latin America. Since the late 1970s, however, mutual images have shifted, and the Southern Cone has ...

This report presents key findings from a 6-month ethnographic study on the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on disadvantaged households and communities across the UK conducted by anthropologists from the London School of Economics, and associates. This research involved in-depth interviews and multiple surveys with people across communities in the UK, with particular focus on a number of case studies of intersecting disadvantage. Crucially, our research has found that Government policy can improve adherence to restrictions and reduce the negative impacts of the pandemic on disadvantaged communities by placing central importance on communities, social networks and households to the economy and social life. This would be the most effective way to increase public trust and adherence to Covid-19 measures, because it would recognise the suffering that communities have experienced and would build policy on the basis of what is most important to people - the thriving of their families and c...

- by Milena Wuerth
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- Sociology, Anthropology, Social Policy, Economic Policy Evaluation

In Re-Making Kozarac: Agency, Reconciliation and Contested Return in Post-War Bosnia, Sebina Sivac-Bryant focuses her longitudinal study on the town of Kozarac in north-west Bosnia as one of the only successful examples of contested minority return following the ‘ethnic cleansing’ of the community in the 1990s. The book fills a significant gap in addressing questions of reconciliation, community rebuilding and trauma at the grass-roots level and will offer valuable lessons to researchers and practitioners working in the fields of post-conflict peacebuilding and transitional justice, writes Sarah Correia.

- by Fenella Cannell
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- Sociology, Anthropology, Social Policy, Economic Policy Evaluation

In Performing Politics: Media Interviews, Debates and Press Conferences, Geoffrey Craig examines media interactions between politicians and journalists as power struggles that have come to be seen as crucial in indicating the potential success and competence of political leaders. While the book understands politics through largely conventional terms that bypass the emergence of newer political movements, it nonetheless serves to promote greater literacy and understanding of contemporary political communication and the battlegrounds therein, writes Mithilesh Kumar Jha.

- by Mithilesh Kumar Jha
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- Media Studies, Political Campaigns, Political Science, Politics

The claim that '68 was global has become axiomatic. How so, for whom, with what impact? Scholars have productively pursued two scales of analysis: grassroots and geopolitical. While student movements have been the premier instance of the more socio-cultural scale, seldom has their mobilization been analyzed vis-à-vis the ostensibly more macro scale of supra-state entitie. Intermediaries between these sectors, leaders of major universities occupied an acutely uncomfortable, pivotal place. Through historical analysis based on archival research (on the biographies of university administrators, student movements, and media debates) the Global 1968 is here considered from the perspective of higher education administrators at elite universities of capitalist empire in the mid-twentieth century at metropoles/global cities-London and New York-and semi-periphery nodes-Bloomington (Indiana, USA) and Mexico City. For such elites, consternation over the turmoil of 1968 constituted a kind of global moral panic when universities presidents found themselves the objects of intense pressures on multiple fronts: from students, to relinquish much authority, and at the same time, from fellow elites and much of the public, to forcefully discipline students. In juxtaposing brief biographies of these university presidents, we highlight the experiences and visions of the global that these men brought to the table, in relation to the pressures that they faced from student movements on their campuses as well as from political powers and the general public. These multi-scaler pressures constituted 1968 as a global phenomenon and put administrators squarely on this conjunctural hot seat.

- by Lessie Jo Frazier and +1
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- Cultural Studies, Latin American Studies, British History, Mexican Studies

"Right-Wing Populism in Europe: Politics and Discourse." Ruth Wodak, Majid KhosraviNik, Brigitte Mral (eds.). Bloomsbury Academics. March 2013. --- Right-wing populist movements and related political parties are gaining ground in many EU member states. This book aims to provide an overall picture of the dynamics and development of these parties across Europe and beyond. Combining theory with in-depth case studies, it offers a comparative analysis of the policies and rhetoric of existing and emerging parties including the British BNP, the Hungarian Jobbik and the Danish Folkeparti. Theofanis Exadaktylos finds that this is an excellent addition to the growing literature on the study of right-wing extremism and nationalism, useful for students and scholars alike.

and Political Science 1 "As users we will come to rely on our handset as a single device to manage not just communications but much of our lives. It will truly become a 'remote control for life', with massively enhanced capabilities, advanced methods of user interaction and in-built tools … The substantial change that end users are going to witness has become possible more because the underlying infrastructure has become stable than because it is rapidly evolving" (Webb 2007: 35).

- by Robin Mansell
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- Public Opinion, Human Development, Technological Innovation, Raw materials

This thesis explores the relationships between popular music and experiences of sexual violence. It is situated at the intersection of trauma theory and cultural studies. Though a great deal of feminist work has been done on representations of sexual violence in the media, these reflections have either ignored music as a medium, or focused on it only in terms of misogynistic lyrics in rap and hip-hop. Similarly, contemporary trauma theory has addressed rape narratives in literature with regard to how these have interacted with lived experiences, but has not looked at these possibilities within music. There are two distinct ways in which this thesis approaches the topic: narrative analysis of the songs themselves, and survey work done with the audience of one particular iconic artist in this area, Tori Amos. The first chapter of analysis focuses on songs narrating experiences of domestic violence, and situates these within a wider feminist context of activism and social awareness. Th...

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Developing countries are often notorious for their inefficient public service delivery. However, the Bangladeshi government is seeking to vastly improve the citizen experience of government services through empathy-led innovation, write Anir Chowdhury and Nick Beresford. This involves arranging for civil servants to act as secret shoppers to identify weaknesses and come up with solutions, often using new technologies.

- by Anir Chowdhury
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- Psychology, Empathy, London School of Economics and Political Science

If President-elect Obama makes good on his campaign promise to withdraw troops from Iraq, it would be a serious mistake to ship them to Afghanistan. The situation there requires a more comprehensive approach that emphasizes politics and diplomacy. Mr. Obama could do worse than to draw some lessons from the Soviet effort to find a political solution in the late 1980s.

- by Pushpa Arabindoo
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- Sociology, Design, Architecture, Urban Planning

It is certainly not a secret that ‘Plan B’s have been cooked up for the future of Greece within the Eurozone. From time to time new ideas and incentives come to the forefront, the latest one being that of Mr. Simon Wolfson, CEO of Next and Conservative life peer, who is trying to entice economists to come up with a plan for how countries can quit the Eurozone by offering a cash prize of £250,000 to the best solution. Not too bad of an idea if only the solution was so cheap and, in fact, not political.

What effect does religion have on democratic attitudes? Pazit Ben-Nun Bloom and Gizem Arikan outline the results of three studies they have conducted into the relationship between religion and democracy. They note that while religious belief can undermine democracy by generating more conservative values, religious social behaviour enhances support for democracy by fostering greater trust in institutions and engagement in politics.

- by Pazit Ben-Nun Bloom
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- Religion, Public Opinion, Political Psychology, Democracy

The European Union has always sought to portray itself as having a distinct identity built on a set of values. But how is this identity constructed through the EU's treaties? Odelia Oshri and Shaul Shenhav decipher the ways in which the EU's discourse on values has changed throughout the 60 years of European integration. They show that two values have traditionally dominated the Union's treaty texts – ‘democracy’ and a ‘market economy’. However, since the 1990s, new values have penetrated this discourse and have served to legitimate the expansion of the EU’s scope and ambition.

Digital media played a prominent role in the recent US presidential election, with social media platforms channelling previously fringe universes of political culture, rooted in populism and post-truth politics, right into the mainstream of US political discourse. Meanwhile, traditional mechanisms, from polling to mainstream media, failed to adequately capture public sentiment around political events. Are new instruments needed to understand the socio-technical fabric of the post-truth political landscape? And what can digital researchers do to contribute? Liliana Bounegru outlines examples of approaches being developed at the Digital Methods Initiative that hope to assist digital researchers, data journalists, civil society groups and others looking to increase public understanding of these phenomena.

- by Liliana Bounegru
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- Digital Media, Politics, Online Journalism, Mass media

The underrepresentation of women in politics is often portrayed as a pyramid, with the main problem identified as too few at the top. However, research by Ulrik Kjaer and Karina Kosiara-Pedersen, shows that, in the case of Denmark, it follows an hourglass pattern, with underrepresentation worst at the intermediary stages of party membership and candidate identification. This suggests that party strategies for encouraging women to stand are important for improving representation.

- by Karina Kosiara-Pedersen
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- Political Science, Politics, Parliament, Hourglass

How effective would a referendum on Britain’s EU membership be at settling the issue long-term? Andrew Glencross writes that regardless of the outcome of the referendum, it is likely that the question of Europe would remain centre stage... more

- by Andrew Glencross
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- Political Science, Referendum, EU referendums, Brexit

Martin Kilduff, Craig Crossland, Wenpin Tsai and Matthew T. Bowers discuss the acolyte effect

This report presents the main findings of our cross-European analysis of the press across eight European countries, as well as in the two main European Arabic language newspapers. This was a systematic content analysis which focussed on three peak moments in the crisis, in the 2015 summer, early autumn and late autumn. Developing a content analysis of influential press in a six-month period across eight European countries plus two of Europe’s major Arab language newspapers, this report offers a cross-national comparative perspective on the dynamics of news reporting. The study consequently provides a comprehensive view of variations in the representation of migrants and refugees across national press cultures and across time, offering reflections on the implications these have on European media as spaces of representation for distant others.

- by Myria Georgiou
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- Geography, Media Studies, Intercultural Communication, Refugee Studies

The Greek Prime Minister, Alexis Tsipras, visited Moscow last week for discussions with Vladimir Putin. Dimitrios Triantaphyllou writes on the extent to which EU governments should be concerned at the potential for Greece to seek help from Russia in order to leverage its negotiations with Germany and other creditors within the EU. He notes that while the Greek government has insisted it will not seek financial aid from Russia, there remains legitimate concern over how close the relationship between Greece and Russia actually is.

- by Dimitrios Triantaphyllou
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- Political Science, Foreign Policy, European Union, Modern Greece

Though Venezuelan emigration has passed through phases like those of the European migration crisis, issues of foreign policy have seen Latin America respond quite differently to large-scale migration, write Nicolas Parent and Luisa Feline... more

- by Nicolas Parent
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- Refugee Studies, Political Science, Migration, Venezuela

The June 2014 elections in Kosovo have led to a political deadlock that is now freezing the young country. Despite a marked decline in election fraud, both contenders for the premiership are seen as ‘key personalities of organised crime’. The picture is sombre and yet heralds new opportunities, argues Andrea Lorenzo Capussela: “the crisis is the result of ill-conceived and malfunctioning institutions and the apparent breakdown of the intra-elite pact, which opens opportunities but entails also risks”.

The Centre for the Economics of Education is an independent research centre funded by the Department for Children, Schools and Families. The views expressed in this work are those of the author and do not reflect the views of the DCSF.... more

- by Augustin de Coulon
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- Psychology, Cognitive development, Child Development, Numeracy
- by Marina Calloni
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- Anti-Fascism, London School of Economics, Resistenza italiana, LSE

The Women's International Peace Centre (WIPC), formerly Isis Women's International Cross Cultural Exchange (Isis-WICCE), is a feminist organisation with over 25 years' experience advancing the Women, Peace and Security agenda, working with partners in conflict and post-conflict to catalyse women's power for peace and to tackle the impact of conflict through research, documentation, skills and movement building, advocacy as well as healing. Since 1996, WIPC has researched and documented the critical yet often neglected experiences and perspectives of women in conflict and post-conflict situations. Through their research and documentation, WIPC adds to the body of existing feminist knowledge on women, conflict and peacebuilding, and use the findings to lobby key stakeholders to change norms, policies and practices that perpetuate gender inequality in conflict and post conflict settings.

- by Amal Sabrie
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- Gender Studies, Peace and Conflict Studies, Political Science, Gender and Development

- by Liliana Bounegru
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- Digital Media, Politics, Online Journalism, Mass media

For seven weeks now the Indignados of Athens have been gathering almost on a daily basis in front of the Greek Parliament in protest against the austerity measures, the rising unemployment, the deepening of the recession in the country and a proclaimed surrender of sovereignty to the mechanisms of the IMF and the European Union. Despite the fact that the movement has lost some of its original momentum in the rest of Greece, the Indignados of Athens are still occupying the front pages of domestic newspapers and the headlines of the electronic media. Journalists are quick to present romanticized images of the protesters and to expose polls put together in haste that show a high degree of sympathy and support for the movement by the wider Greek public opinion. The international media were even quicker in comparing the Indignados not only with their equivalent movements in Spain, but with the Tahrir Square protests in Egypt and the turmoil in the Middle East making ill-founded claims on...

Loreto Corredoira, Professor of Communication Law at Complutense University of Madrid, shares some initial observations from a wider research project[1] looking at the evolution of legal and political IP regimes at both international and national levels. She argues that there is potential for European countries to adopt new approaches to protect content industries, focusing more on user rights, fair use and personal freedoms.

Segregation is not a thing of the past for young people of color in the US; many attend under-resourced and segregated school districts. Despite these disadvantages, America's leaders tell young people of color that they can achieve the "American Dream" via hard work and determination. In new research, David T. Lardier Jr., Kathryn G. Herr, Veronica R. Barrios, Pauline Garcia-Reid ...

- by Kathryn G. Herr
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- Sociology, DREAM, London School of Economics and Political Science

The thesis chronologically presents the slow improvement of relations between Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union, starting with Stalin's death on 5 March 1953, through their full normalization in 1955 and 1956, to the renewed ideological confrontation at the end of 1956. The normalization of Yugoslav-Soviet relations brought to an end a conflict between Yugoslavia and the Eastern Bloc, in existence since 1948, which threatened the status quo in Europe. The thesis represents the first effort at comprehensively presenting the reconciliation between Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union, between 1953 and 1957. It will also explain the motives that guided the leaderships of the two countries, in particular the two main protagonists, Josip Broz Tito and Nikita Sergeevich Khrushchev, throughout this process. It will also provide insight into the reasons behind the collapse of this process in the beginning of 1957. The thesis will establish that the significance of the Yugoslav-Soviet reconcili...

Many conventional approaches to Renewable Energy Technology (RET) adoption in developing countries generally stress economic and technical factors; often relying on rural contexts. Systemic approaches are an alternative lens, attempting to include social and economic factors at various scales, but to date there is little evidence supporting their application. Based on empirical analysis in Mexico and Brazil, this thesis asks: What are the most important factors affecting RET adoption in the urban developing world. Insights were explained using three systemic approaches on RET adoption at the meso-level. While systemic approaches are useful in highlighting larger social and policy trends, they are not without their limitations; rather, history and context are important. Specifically, awareness of energy conservation in combination with previous experience (versus just awareness) also affects technology uptake. Moreover, longer established networks were seen to be more institutionaliz...

How many hairs must a person lose before they become bald? There doesn’t seem to be an easy way of answering this. This is because “bald”, along with a large number of other words, is vague. This vagueness causes problems and Anna Mahtani... more

Jeremy Corbyn looks set to win the Labour leadership election, despite initially being pegged as a no-hope also-ran. The conservative right are cheering him on, seeing the Islington North MP as ushering in a period of Conservative Party hegemony. But is he being underestimated? Danny Rye argues that a Corbyn-led party could see a realignment of not just the Labour Party, but British politics, in a way which brings the traditional left back into the mainstream.

The spatial dispersion of public investment constitutes one of the principal elements and also one of the key issues concerning a country's strategic regional development. Public investment expenditure represents in part the 'social wage' citizens receive, while at the same time it generates external economies for the productive sectors of the economy. Using a dataset that includes total outlays by all central, regional and local authorities, this paper traces the distribution of public investment in Greek prefectures (NUTS 3) over the period 1976-2005. It seeks to highlight the spending pattern governments of that period had followed, to compare the changes (if any) between different periods, and to explain whether redistribution of national wealth or other factors, including political ones, could be contributing to explaining the pattern and its temporal changes.

- by Yannis Psycharis
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- Regional development, Public expenditure, Local Authority, Public spending