No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without permission in writing from the Carnegie Endowment. Please direct inquiries to: The Carnegie Middle East Center is a public policy research center based in Beirut, Lebanon, established by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in 2006. The Middle East Center is concerned with the challenges f...

Does democracy engender equality?” John E. Roemer Dept of Political Science Yale University PO Box 208301 New Haven CT 06520 Many suppose that democracy is an ethos which includes, inter alia, a degree of economic equality among citizens. In contrast, we conceive of democracy as ruthless political competition between groups of citizens, organized into parties. We inquire whether such competitio...

This paper seeks to explore two propositions: that islands are constitutive of emotional geographies that may be described as islandness; and that islandness could be a key ontological resource among those who govern (on) islands, particularly where economic development activities generate deep-seated divisions. The paper also responds to two claims: one that localized studies are needed to aug...

This study investigates the origins of the guild revolts in late medieval central Europe. At first, using newly compiled city level data, their temporal evolution and spatial distribution is discussed. Afterwards, the paper provides a historical discussion and empirical analysis of their origins. The results show that pre-existing city-level political institutions and location in a large territ...

the epic theatre of brecht invites spectators to analyze dominant issues concerning economic, social, and political matters, additionally guiding them to consider possible alterations. in his plays, brecht strives to prohibit the metamorphosis of spectators by creating a gap between characters and spectators thereby encouraging them to develop critical ideas about society. readers therefore sho...

transnational organized crime is one of the most problematic matters for international community in 21st century. these crimes are committed by organized criminal groups consisting of three or more persons, a unique leadership and strict discipline with cruel sanctions in order to obtain, directly or indirectly, a financial or other material benefit. commission of the crimes nationally and inte...

Article history: Received 7 August 2014 Received in revised form 20 June 2015 Accepted 29 June 2015 Available online 9 July 2015 This study investigates whether a firm with strong corporate governance (CG) requires political connections (PCs), that is, we examine whether CG and PC substitute for or complement each other. Using 71,069 individual bank loan contracts from Taiwan, we examine how lo...

In An Inquiry in the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, Adam Smith warned that directors of joint-stock companies, being the managers ‘of other people’s money y are apt to consider attention to small matters as not for their master’s honour’ (Smith, 1776, Book 5: Chapter 1). Smith’s assertion reflects the long-standing interest of economists in the consequences of separating the owners...