Who Governs? The COVID-19 Pandemic, Trust and Evaluations of National and Local Government

The coronavirus pandemic has presented unprecedented challenges for governments around the world. These challenges have necessitated national policy responses such as lockdowns and government funding to avoid mass unemployment. However, national government responses have varied along with the numbers of cases and numbers of deaths and local lockdowns (e.g., tier systems in the UK and France), the responsibilities given to regional and local governments, and the divisions these circumstances have raised between national and sub-national identities and interests.

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Parties as Disciplinarians: Charisma and Commitment Problems in Programmatic Campaigning

We study how parties balance the benefits of disciplined programmatic campaigning with the electoral appeal of charismatic, but potentially less faithful candidates. We incorporate the well known collective action problem arising from candidates’ inability to fully internalize the fruits of programmatic brand-building. While parties may strategically use promotions to overcome this problem, we show that when highly charismatic candidates bring strong electoral rewards, the party may be unable to commit to promoting based on programmatic effort over charisma.

The punishment against black girls and women and its political consequences

Established research in political science has revealed the superlative political participation of Black American women. Yet, Black women and girls also represent a disproportionate percentage of the prison system and the fastest growing juvenile justice population, respectively. Still, there is very little work on the public perceptions shaping Black women and girls and its negative impacts on their experiences with punishment and political participation.

Russia's Use of the Wagner Group 'Private' Military Company

Russia has employed the semi-state Wagner Group security company in Ukraine, Syria, the Central African Republic, Sudan, Libya, and Mozambique (so far). Wagner is tightly connected to Russia's military intelligence organization (the GRU), and its contractor, Yevgeny Prigozhin, is one of President Vladimir Putin's close cronies. Why, then, is Wagner technically illegal (and even unconstitutional) in Russia? And what does Russia hope to gain from using it--including in impoverished sub-Saharan Africa? Using the best available evidence, this presentation explores these mysteries.
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