The conventional wisdom on german politics is that in response to the political volatility of the Weimar Republic, the architects of the post–World War II political system valued stability above all other concerns. As a consequence of this preference, the Basic Law introduces numerous veto points in the political process and counterbalances a strong executive branch, headed by the chancellor a...

According to the literature, modernization is associated with cultural change along two value dimensions: from survival self-expression/emancipative values and traditional secular-rational values. This has generally been viewed as product of both material non-material forces; however, previous studies have used mainly proxies for non-material, social, psychological variables. Instead, in this p...

legitimacy is among the factors that bring stability and effectiveness to a political system. in this article, the writer argues that there is a stronger tendency to keep and amend the basic rules of the system of the islamic republic of iran than to change and replace them. also, there is a stronger tendency to amend the present rules than to keep them as they are. political legitimacy, the wr...

This article proposes a political economy of extraction framework that accounts for political order and state collapse as alternative outcomes in the face of lootable wealth. Different types of institutions of extraction can be built around lootable resources—with divergent effects on political stability. If rulers are able to forge institutions of extraction that give them control over the rev...