Bo Rothstein: Is there a contradiction between democracy and quality of government?

Most definitions of democracy rely on a set of procedural rules for how political power should be accessed legitimately. The basic norm for these procedural rules is according to noted democracy theor

Vienna Institute of Demography and Institute for Futures Studies, 2007: Research Report No. 32 The future economic growth in the EU will determine the opportunities of implementing age-related expenses

Ethics, Vol. 125, No. 3 (April 2015), pp. 895-900. Reviewed Work: Justice between the Young and the Old by McKerlie, Dennis published by: University of Chicago Press. DOI: 10.1086/679532

Frontiers in Psychology, 11:236 Abstract Gender differences in achievement exhibit variation between domains and between countries. Much prior research has examined whether this variation could be due t

A new theory about the relation between cognitive ability and moral opinions

Why is it that people with higher cognitive ability tend to have more liberal opinions on moral issues? This project will try to offer an explanation.

Thomas Christiano, Professor of Philosophy at the University of Arizona ABSTRACTI argue we can make a great deal of progress in understanding the promise and the perils of voluntary exchange by elabora

Anette Eva Fasang, Humboldt-University Berlin & WZB Berlin Social Science Center The Interplay between Employment and Family Trajectories Across the Life Course: Germany and the United States in Co

Research seminar with Bo Rothstein.AbstractMost definitions of democracy rely on a set of procedural rules for how political power should be accessed legitimately. The basic norm for these procedural ru realized by equal democratic rights. In this understanding of political legitimacy, democracy is a “partisan game” where various interests are given fair possibilities to compete for political power. The concept of “quality of government” relates to the legitimacy in the of political power and is based on the norm of  that is the opposite of partisanship. This is to be realized by, for example, the rule of law and a public administration built on meritocracy. Several tensions between these two bases for achieving political legitimacy will be present. For example, a democratically elected government may want to politicize the public administration and may establish public services and benefits directed only to their political supporters. The rule of law includes the principle of equality before the law, but a democratically elected government may take actions that put itself “above” the law. Various empirical measures and philosophical principles for understanding these type of tensions between democracy and the quality of government will be presented in this lecture.

Nature Human Behavior Abstract Liberals and conservatives often take opposing positions on moral issues. But what makes a moral position liberal or conservative? Why does public opinion tend to become m

European Journal of Criminology Abstract Building and expanding on contemporary research where desistance is increasingly conceived of asa fragile and liminal experience, this paper examines the early dof ambivalence – an undertheorised concept in life course criminology. This paper employs qualitativeinterviews from a total of 10 participants who participated in SIG, a voluntary defector programmein Sweden. Despite having formulated a clear resolve to desist, the participantsnonetheless experienced feelings of ambivalence in relation to the desistance process. In theseinstances, the aspiring desisters were bordering between the prospects of a better, crime-freelife and the pains, losses, struggles and frustrations accompanying the early stages of desistance.It is argued that this liminal position, where the old life is to be discarded and a new, better lifeis yet to be built, may constitute a breeding ground for ambivalence – a state which needs tobe grounded in the precarious social position of marginalised youth which aspiring desisters typicallyoccupy.