Revolutions are relatively rare moments of direct mass intervention in politics. But as a new cross-national data set of revolutionary episodes from 1900 to 2014 shows, these unusual moments have been growing both more frequent and more “successful” (in the sense of more likely to displace incumbent regimes) over time, though less consequential in their lasting impact.

Are legislators responsive to the issue priorities of their constituents? E-petition systems have been adopted in many countries in recent years, commonly with the goal of strengthening the bond between representatives and their constituents. Despite this, we know little about the effects of such petitions on legislative behaviour. In the UK, signatures to government e-petitions provide MPs with information regarding the salience of different issues amongst their constituents.

https://www.law.ox.ac.uk/events/oxford-guidance-law-relating-humanitarian-relief-operations-armed-conflict

Speaker(s):
Anand Menon (King's College, London & Director UK in a changing Europe)
Chris Morris (BBC Europe correspondent)
Ian Dunt (Editor of politics.co.uk)
Geoff Evans (Nuffield College)

Chair:
Kalypso Nicolaidis (St Antony's College)

India has historically performed badly in the World Bank’s Doing Business Indicators and a key objective of the current Indian government is about improving de jure rules around investment decisions so as to facilitate economic growth. Using a novel methodology, I show that de facto deals rather than de jure rules characterise the business-state relationship in Indian states and more deal making is prevalent in states with weak capacity.