David C. Earnest

Neither Citizen nor Stranger: Why States Enfranchise Resident Aliens

Why would democracies extend to aliens a right they historically have reserved for citizens—the right to vote? Some scholars argue that transnational movements and global norms increasingly moderate how states treat their aliens. If so, this is important evidence of a change in the meaning and content of sovereignty. This article investigates whether democratic states enfranchise their aliens in response to international, transnational, or domestic factors. While the article finds little support for transnational or systemic arguments, it also finds that political parties and judiciaries affect opportunities for aliens in ways the existing scholarship fails to explain. These findings suggest that both comparative and IR scholarship need to revisit their explanations for contemporary citizenship politics in democracies.

From Alien to Elector: Citizenship and Belonging in the Global City

Researchers have productively explored how global cities manage transnational processes, and in turn are transformed by them. Surprisingly, however, this scholarship stands mute on the question of the relationship of these cities to the institutions of the nation-state. This paper argues that by re-imbedding global cities within the institutional context of the nation-state, scholars can productively explore whether and how these cities may transform state sovereignty. I elaborate this argument by illustrating how the politics of citizenship within cities increasingly challenges the states capacity to construct and maintain a political community. The paper presents case studies of four cities that have considered enfranchising immigrants. I find that although the politics of citizenship within global cities partially unbundles the institutional logic of citizenship and nationhood, state institutions nevertheless continue to shape the rights and opportunities of noncitizens. To explain observed differences between global cities, one must account for the states continued ability to shape transnational politics. Los investigadores han explorado productivamente la manera como las ciudades globales manejan los procesos transnacionales y a su vez han sido transformados por estos mismos. Sin embargo, sorprendentemente, esta investigación no tiene respuesta ante el interrogante sobre la relación entre estas ciudades y las instituciones de la nación-estado. Este artículo argumenta que con la reintegración de ciudades globales dentro del contexto de nación-estado, los académicos pueden explorar de una manera productiva si estas ciudades pueden transformar la soberanía estatal y en qué forma. Yo amplío este argumento ilustrando cómo la política de ciudadanía dentro de las ciudades reta cada vez más a la capacidad del estado de construir y mantener una comunidad política. El artículo presenta casos de estudio de cuatro ciudades que han considerado dar el derecho de sufragio a inmigrantes. Encuentro que a pesar de que la política de ciudadanía dentro de las ciudades globales separa parcialmente la lógica institucional entre ciudadanía y nacionalidad, las instituciones estatales, no obstante, continúan forjando los derechos y oportunidades de los no ciudadanos. Para explicar las diferencias respetadas entre ciudades globales, se debe contar con la habilidad continua del estado para forjar la política transnacional.

The enfranchisement of resident aliens: variations and explanations

What explains the timing of the liberalization of citizenship laws? Although scholars have offered a number of competing explanations for differences among citizenship regimes, few have examined the timing of liberalization and retraction of rights for non-citizens. To investigate the timing of both liberalization and reversal, this study examines the historical expansion of voting rights for non-citizen residents (VRA). Given both the symbolic and substantive consequences of VRA, democracies may proceed slowly when liberalizing political rights and may retract them quickly. Two bodies of scholarship offer competing explanations. The “national resilience” thesis suggests that differences in cultural definitions of citizenry, political institutions, and social policies produce national citizenship regimes that evolve slowly. By contrast, the “policy constraints” thesis asserts that domestic institutions enact human rights norms that expedite convergence around a common set of political rights. This study tests these explanations by examining the timing of liberalization of VRA in 25 democracies between 1975 and 2010. It finds factors that drive the timing of liberalization differ from those that cause the reversal of rights. While policy constraints best explain the timing of liberalization, policy constraints interact with national resilience factors to explain the retraction of rights.

On the Cutting Edge of Globalization: An Inquiry into American Elites

Chapter 1 Preface Chapter 2 On the Cutting Edge of Globalization Chapter 3 Theoretical Perspectives Chapter 4 The 1999 and 2003 Surveys: Identifying the Cutting-Edgers Chapter 5 How Do You Know A Cutting-Edger When You Encounter One? Chapter 6 Connectivity on the Cutting-Edge Chapter 7 Leadership, Affiliations, and Loyalties Chapter 8 Orientations Toward Globalization Chapter 9 Attitudes Toward World Affairs Chapter 10 From 1999 to 2003: Did Intervening Events Make a Difference? Chapter 11 Occupational Differences (and Similarities) Chapter 12 Conclusion Appendix A 13 Procedures for Identifying Elites on the Cutting Edge of Globalization Appendix B 14 Factor Analysis for Index on Involvement in Global Processes Appendix C 15 1999 Questionnaire Appendix D 16 2003 Questionnaire

An agent based model of the evolution of supplier networks

We view supply chains as a type of complex adaptive system and develop an agent based computer simulation model of the evolution and performance of supply chains based on Stuart Kauffman’s NK models of fitness landscapes. Firms operate in networks in which they supply products to some firms and source inputs from others. They seek to maximize their own performance but they cooperate with other firms to gain access to inputs. We model firm performance in terms of the fit of its product with market demand and the contribution from first tier suppliers. The model uses genetic algorithms to mimic the way firms learn and adapt their products and supplier networks for more and less complex products and different switching conditions. We find that (a) as the complexity of the product increases, firms perform less well; and (b) firms build supplier networks with higher average in-degree, greater density, and significantly greater clustering to cope with product complexity. Our findings suggest that firms using highly specific assets or that face high switching costs are likely to pursue a supplier strategy that relies more on multiple suppliers and more clustered supply networks. Also, in industries characterized by highly specialized training, plants and machinery dedicated to specific products and other high product-specific transaction costs, we should observe more specialization at low levels of product complexity but less at high levels. The model contributes to our understanding of the evolution of supply networks, which is an under-researched topic, provides the basis for further extensions of the model and the development of more realistic models of actual supply chains. The model also provides a conceptual and methodological tool to assist firms and policymakers to better understanding the nature of supply chains and to identify and test strategies and policies.

Contagion in the Transpacific Shipping Network: International Networks and Vulnerability Interdependence

To what extent are states vulnerable to disruptions in trade networks? We investigate this question by simulating attacks on the intermodal shipping network, whose ubiquitous containers carry 80% to 90% of all global trade in goods. While this network has reduced transportation costs and spurred international trade, the dependence of modern economies on ship-borne trade means disruptions in one region may produce considerable costs for states in another region. We simulate an “optimal terrorist” that learns about the conditions under which attacks on the network in other parts of the world generate economic losses to the United States. The study illustrates that by adopting a network- and process-oriented ontology, the study of interdependence may better anticipate new sources of interstate and transnational conflict.

Growing a Virtual Insurgency: Using Massively Parallel Gaming to Simulate Insurgent Behavior:

Models and simulations of counter-insurgency warfare and irregular (COIN) operations are only as effective as their underlying models of insurgent behavior. Existing simulations of insurgencies rely upon strong assumptions that may limit their validity, and thus their use in training for COIN operations. This paper suggests an alternative approach to modeling insurgencies: using a massively parallel game architecture. Massively parallel systems exhibit surprising capacities for learning, adapting and solving complex problems, while games may stimulate individual learning. By harnessing these adaptive capabilities, the proposed massive multiplayer online first-person shooter (MMOFPS) game holds promise for a more realistic and valid simulation of the behavior of insurgencies by incorporating actual human players. Furthermore, by constructing a persistent virtual world in which human players simulate insurgents, the MMOFPS game allows researchers and decision-makers to observe and measure the behavior of ‘meta-insurgents’, allowing for model validation. Data collection and post-game interviews of players also allow for both quantitative and ethnographic experimentation. This paper proposes a gaming architecture and evaluates the technical risks.

Flipping Coins and Coding Turtles

Nearly four decades ago, Thomas Schelling used coins and a checkerboard to simulate how simple social rules could produce stark neighborhood segregation. That early social science model marked the beginning of a movement to incorporate simulation into social science that continues to gain momentum today. Using political science and international studies as a frame of reference, this chapter explores the incomplete permeation of simulation into the statistical and qualitative research toolkits of those pursuing social inquiry. We begin by chronicling the development of several key advancements in modeling social systems, including formal modeling such as game theory, the adoption of statistical and computer-based modeling, and the advancement of computational social sciences using evolutionary computation and other dynamic modeling paradigms. Then, we discuss how and why simulation remains at the periphery of social science research methodologies. We compare a classic Prisoner’s Dilemma model to one designed using an agent-based simulation approach to illustrate the population ecology of emergent strategies. The chapter concludes with a discussion on the ways simulation of social systems would have to evolve to have more impact on the field of social sciences.