John Ishiyama

Promoting an open research culture

Author guidelines for journals could help to promote transparency, openness, and reproducibility Transparency, openness, and reproducibility are readily recognized as vital features of science (1, 2). When asked, most scientists embrace these features as disciplinary norms and values (3). Therefore, one might expect that these valued features would be routine in daily practice. Yet, a growing body of evidence suggests that this is not the case (4–6).

The Sickle or the Rose? Previous Regime Types and the Evolution of the Ex-Communist Parties in Post-Communist Politics

This article focuses on the development and “success” of the ex-communist parties in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. It begins by testing the effects of several commonly cited variables that have been employed to explain the development and achievements of the ex-communist parties in post-communist politics. Second, it offers an alternative explanation that focuses on regime type, the presence of left-wing competitors, and the success of the ex-communist parties, and identifies three modal patterns of development: ex-communist parties that emerged from patrimonial communist systems (as in Russia and Bulgaria), ex-communist parties that emerged from national consensus systems (as in Hungary and Poland), and ex-communist parties that emerged from bureaucratic authoritarian systems (as in the Czech Republic). According to the author, ex-communist parties that evolved from national consensus regimes are more likely to survive the passage of time than those that emerged from other types of regimes.

Judicious choices: designing courts in post-communist politics☆

Abstract One area which has been generally overlooked in the literature on institutional choice in post communist politics has been the design of judicial institutions. This paper seeks to evaluate a number of different explanations for judicial systems choice in post communist politics, especially those which emphasize the influence of socio-cultural factors, economic factors, the judicial legacies of the past, and political bargaining. As an empirical test of these explanations, we examine variations in the amount of judicial power that constitution makers granted to the constitutional courts in the countries of the former Soviet Union, Mongolia, and Eastern Europe.

SCIENTIFIC STANDARDS. Promoting an open research culture.

Author guidelines for journals could help to promote transparency, openness, and reproducibility Transparency, openness, and reproducibility are readily recognized as vital features of science (1, 2). When asked, most scientists embrace these features as disciplinary norms and values (3). Therefore, one might expect that these valued features would be routine in daily practice. Yet, a growing body of evidence suggests that this is not the case (4–6).

Promoting an open research culture: Author guidelines for journals could help to promote transparency, openness, and reproducibility

Author guidelines for journals could help to promote transparency, openness, and reproducibility Transparency, openness, and reproducibility are readily recognized as vital features of science (1, 2). When asked, most scientists embrace these features as disciplinary norms and values (3). Therefore, one might expect that these valued features would be routine in daily practice. Yet, a growing body of evidence suggests that this is not the case (4–6).

Do Ethnic Parties Promote Minority Ethnic Conflict

Do ethnic parties exacerbate ethnic conflict? Many scholars have argued that the mere appearance of ethnic parties inevitably leads to a spiral of ethnic conflict and the collapse of incipient democracies. This article tests this proposition by examining how ethnic parties affect protest and communal conflict across 82 countries and 213 ethnic/communal groups from 1985–2003. Using a variety of quantitative techniques, I find that ethnic parties do mobilize minority ethnic groups to engage in protest, but there is no natural connection between the appearance of ethnic parties and the extent to which the minority group engages in communal conflict.

Presidential power and democratic development in post-communist politics

Abstract Recently, scholars have debated the effects of presidentialism on the development of new democracies. We seek to add to this debate by: (1) extending the investigation to the post-communist countries of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union; (2) employing an interval measure of presidential power as opposed to previously used categorical measures of presidentialism; (3) testing the relationships between institutions and democratic consolidation using multivariate rather than bivariate analytical techniques. In sum, the evidence suggested that the electoral system had a greater effect than either the power of the constitutional president or socio–cultural or economic factors on various measures of democracy and consolidation.

The Last Laugh: Skill Building through a Liberal Arts Political Science Curriculum

Quite often, people make jokes at the expense of political science majors. These jokes suggest that political science majors—and especially those graduating from liberal arts colleges and universities—have not acquired the necessary practical skills to make a living, let alone to acquire a lucrative career.

A Century of Continuity and (Little) Change in the Undergraduate Political Science Curriculum

Although in recent years there has emerged a renewed interest in teaching and learning issues in the APSA, relatively little attention has been paid to the structure of the undergraduate political science curriculum. In this article we conduct a broad survey of articles that appeared in the APSR from 1906 to 1990 and find that (1) in the past the association paid much attention to the undergraduate political science curriculum; (2) over time attention shifted from a conception of the major as promoting substantive knowledge to a conception that emphasized skills; and (3) current concerns regarding skills, sequencing, and capstone experiences were all discussed several decades before the appearance of the “Wahlke Report” in 1991. We offer an explanation for the ebb and flow of the attention curricular issues received historically in the APSA, and suggest what the future may hold for current efforts to reexamine the structure of the undergraduate political science curriculum.

Party Organization and the Political Success of the Communist Successor Parties

Objective. Although there has been much recent work done on party systems in the postcommunist world, there has been very little systematic comparative work that examines the relationship between the organizational development of political parties and political performance. The objective of this article is to empirically examine the relationship between party organization and the political success of 17 communist successor parties from 1993 to 2000. Methods. I propose a way of measuring party organizations based upon the degree of personnel overlap between the organs of the extraparliamentary party and the party in public office and the organizational density of political parties and relate these characteristics to the political success enjoyed by the communist successor parties. Results. In general, I find that the more the successor party was dominated by officeholders and less reliant on a mass membership for political support in the years immediately following the transition, the more successful the party was later. Conclusions. The interaction of party organization with the partys competitive environment was a better predictor of success than declines in the socioeconomic condition of the population, rises in popular “nostalgia” for the past, or openings created by political institutions.