Fellowships: Institute of International Studies, UC Berkeley
Brian Rathbun, Political Science: The Politics of European Identity: Cohesion Policy in the European Union. This project probes the role that a supranational identity plays in cohesion policy spending in the European Union. Cohesion policy redresses regional disparities in economic development by attracting capital investment into lagging regions of the EU, located predominantly in the four poorest members of Greece, Ireland, Portugal, and Spain. Cohesion is an egalitarian commitment to equalize life chances across the EU. Intergovernmentalists explain the increase in cohesion funding as side payments to poorer members from stronger members in exchange for support of the Single Market and EMU, programs expected to benefit the more developed members disproportionately and possibly do economic harm to lagging members. This power-based explanation uses a tactical conception of issue linkages and denies any role for identity. Mr. Rathbun argues that intergovernmental bargaining on cohesion spending in the EU rests on substantive linkages that are evidence of a common identity. Substantive linkages are made on the basis of technical knowledge that provides an intellectual rationale for certain policies to achieve normative golas. This has implications for how scholars think about international bargaining outcomes and the origin of nation-state preferences.
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Lisa Walker, History: Historical research on the competing collective identities that shaped the late 19th-century process of municipal reform in Riga can help provide students of the former Soviet Union with a dual understanding of the current dynamics in the region, providing insight into the political culture that informs Latvia's current position and presenting more generally applicable knowlege of the role ethnicity can play in institutional design. In the mid -- 19th century, amidst a complex set of economic and social transformations, questions that arose at the municipal level were much like those asked today in Latvia at large: How should Riga be governed? Who should participate in the process? The Russian imperial government and Riga's local reform party ostensibly agreed in their general goals of broadening the opportunities for public participation, yet the process of formulating and implementing new systems resulted in bitter conflict between imperial and local authorities. Ms. Walker hypothesizes that the source of this conflict lay in fundamentally incompatible conceptions of collective identity -- between nationalist sentiments and an ideal of collective identity rooted in civic tradition and institutions -- within the context of ethnicity and other socio-economic factors. Ms. Walker suggests that the case study of Riga can shed light on the current interplay of ethnicity and politics in Latvia and on the role of ethnic identity in the process of institutional design.
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Reza Baqir, Economics: The Effects of Ethnic Heterogeneity on the Level of Provision of Public Goods in the U.S. An important public policy problem to be addressed in ethnically heterogeneous cities is the provision of local public goods. In cities where ethnic groups are polarized, representatives of interest groups with an ethnic base are likely to value only the benefits of public goods that accrue to their groups, and discount benefits for other groups. Undervaluing public goods provision, political actors may choose to divert more public resources to private patronage. Preliminary evidence from a cross-section of U.S. cities, counties and metropolitan areas indicates that more ethnically fractionalized communities end up with fewer public goods such as public schools, roads and highways, public libraries, and other public goods. The goal of this research project is to systematically study the relationship between ethnic fractionalization and level of provision of public goods in cities. Specifically, the research will aim to a) develop a formal model to try to capture the channels through which ethnic fractionalization might affect public goods provision; b) undertake rigorous empirical testing of the relationship between ethnic fractionalization and public goods provision -- in particular, to try to control for possible omitted variables and look at international data -- and c) draw policy implications from the findings.
Mike Carpenter, Political Science. The greatest threat to liberal democracy in the post-Cold War era
is, arguably, politicized ethnicity. It comes as no surprise,
therefore, that most observers of ethnic politics portray politicized
ethnicity and democracy in antagonistic and Manichean terms. While
ethnic conflict has undeniably precluded or undermined democratic
institutions all over the world, the precise relationship between
ethnic identity and liberal democracy is far from clear. Mr.
Carpenter will examine the relationship between the ethnic and civic
dimensions of politics in greater detail in post-Communist
East-Central Europe, addressing three basic questions: 1) To what
extent is ethnic identity antagonistic to liberal democracy? 2) What
accounts for the different emphasis on ethnic versus civic identities
within different states? 3) How are the ethnic and civic dimensions
of politics related to the legitimacy of the nation-state as a
political unit? Four countries will be examined: the Czech Republic,
the former East Germany, Poland, and Slovakia. Answers to the above
questions will be sought by looking at historical factors, political
and economic institutions, political culture, and the international
environment.
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Marc Howard, Political Science. This project compares the cultural legacies of Communism in East
Germany and Russia. After German unification, many scholars quickly
erased East Germany from the list of post-Communist countries. Today,
however, as increasing evidence points to a growing "new" division in
today's Germany, Mr. Howard argues that East Germans should be
brought back into the post-Communist equation, believing that a
comparison of the cultural legacies of Communism in East Germany and
Russia could be quite fruitful, not only shedding light on some of
the national identity problems that each "great nation" faces, but
also contributing to a better understanding of the many countries in
between. East Germany could serve as an analytic model, both
positively and negatively, for all post-Communist countries, and
particularly for Russia, where the stakes are clearly the highest.
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Sujatha Jesudason, Sociology. South Africa is changing from a political system based on politicized ethnicity, specifically white supremacy, and into a new non-racial, liberal democratic order. This transition from apartheid involves not only reconstruction and reconciliation, but also a complete restructuring of political, economic, and social systems. Extensive cultural, ideological, and institutional transformations are going on simultaneously. Central to this transformation is the issue of how minority needs and interests, ethnically and racially defined, will be met. The situation of South African Indians provides an exemplary case study for examining how the politics of ethnicity and identity are being dynamically constructed in the new South Africa. South African Indians, because of their past resistance to and compliance with apartheid, can provide a barometer to measure identity politics in this newly democratizing country.
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