Mark Aspinwall
Biographic Data
| ID | 216332 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Mark Aspinwall |
| GIVEN NAMES | Mark |
| FAMILY NAME | Aspinwall |
| SIGNATURE | ASPINWALL M |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Edinburgh |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-0176-7751 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 30 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 270 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 29 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 1 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1995 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 6 |
Human Rights, Social Resistance and Mining Firm Behaviour in Latin America
Mining companies are rhetorically committed to corporate social responsibility standards such as human rights, but what really affects their behaviour in the developing world? Communities impacted by mines have become increasingly resistant to them, bolstered and supported by international actors and norms as well as stronger domestic environmental and justice institutions. In this paper, I examine the behaviour of multinational mining companies …
Not Just Gardening Anymore: Theorizing Development Conflict in Latin America
The search for renewable energy and the growing protest against large-scale development projects have intensified socioenvironmental conflict in Latin America. In this paper I set out a fresh perspective on this conflict, contrasting developmental interests with traditionalist interests. Although conflict between developers and communities or conservationists is nothing new, I argue that its heightened intensity can be understood as post-Marxist …
Despierta México! Changing Public Attitudes Toward Nafta, 2008-2018
Regional trade agreements have important consequences for developing countries, but the public opinion literature on trade agreements suffers from several shortcomings. Most significant is that studies tend to take a single year as the point of analysis, leaving us uncertain as to how opinion evolves. This study uses polling data to examine Mexicans' attitudes toward NAFTA over a ten-year period. Results from regression analyses show an associati…
Bringing rights to life: How civil society organizations help guarantee participation rights in developing countries
Legal mobilization without resources? How civil society organizations generate and share alternative resources in vulnerable communities
Scholars often assume that social movements and civil society organizations can draw on deep wells of traditional resources, such as money and lawyers, to finance legal mobilization. However, resource mobilization is rarely so straightforward in developing countries such as Mexico. I show how under‐resourced civil society organizations create and mobilize alternative resources which they share with marginalized communities, increasing those commu…
Cómo las oportunidades legales condicionan la movilización entre los movimientos ambientales
En este artículo examino diferencias importantes en las estructuras de oportunidad legal entre México y Brasil, y en particular cómo ellas afectan las estrategias de movilización legal de las ong ambientalistas. En México dicha estructura crea un sistema de autoayuda que conduce a estrategias de alianza social, en las que las ong se unen, crean conocimiento legal de valor agregado y escogen instituciones públicas para litigar. En contraste, dicha…
Restraining Gulliver: Institutional reform and the strengthening of state capacity and compliance
Governance in the developing world is fraught with problems of corruption, weak institutions, and inadequate expertise among bureaucrats. Failing to enforce laws and regulations is one way in which these problems manifest themselves. In this paper, we evaluate changes across three institutions charged with oversight or administration of labor justice in Mexico. We find that both autonomy from the executive and professionalization are necessary to…
Freedom of information in times of crisis: The case of Mexico's war on drugs
Transparency guarantees in Mexico presented a serious challenge to its 2007–2012 war on drugs. We use an original database of access to information requests, including both petitions for information and appeals to IFAI. We conduct statistical tests on the databases, finding that transparency is lower on security issues, as expected, but that there are unexpected variations between security agencies, and over time. We then conduct a content analys…
Popular Comics and Authoritarian Injustice Frames in Mexico
Analysts of social movements have done a great deal to extend our understanding of how resistance groups frame injustices. They often assume that some form of collective (discursive) action is necessary to frame common understandings, but in many authoritarian regimes collective action is not tolerated. Instead, opposition is expressed in messages embedded in comics, films, and other images generated by popular culture. In this article we connect…
Who is Wile E. Coyote? Power, influence and the war on drugs
Regiones verdes? Comparación del activismo de la sociedad civil en el Tratado de Libre Comercio de América del Norte y la Unión Europea
En este documento se compara el papel de la sociedad ambientalista civil en dos organizaciones regionales: la Unión Europea y el Tratado de Libre Comercio de América del Norte. Para ello se utiliza la red transnacional de defensa que evalúa cómo las ong aprovechan las oportunidades para influenciar la política y los efectos del compromiso de la sociedad civil. Pese a las grandes diferencias entre esas organizaciones, comparten aspectos fundamenta…
Forthcoming in Volume 54 Number 1
An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. As you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button
Collective Action in the European Union: Interests and the New Politics of Associability
The Paradox of Unilateralism: Institutionalizing Failure In U.S.-Mexican Drug Strategies
Realism posits that strong states use compulsory power to influence the behavior of weaker ones. If true, then U.S. policy toward Mexico on a key national security issue such as drugs should illustrate that claim and policy outcomes should reflect U.S. preferences. Yet, in exploring a series of bilateral case studies, this article suggests that unilateral U.S. government initiatives do not achieve their specified goals. Rather, we argue that Mexi…
The Paradox of Unilateralism: Institutionalizing Failure In U.S.-Mexican Drug Strategies
Realism posits that strong states use compulsory power to influence the behavior of weaker ones. If true, then U.S. policy toward Mexico on a key national security issue such as drugs should illustrate that claim and policy outcomes should reflect U.S. preferences. Yet, in exploring a series of bilateral case studies, this article suggests that unilateral U.S. government initiatives do not achieve their specified goals. Rather, we argue that Mexi…
Private interests and exchange rate politics: The case of British business
We use surveys of British businesses to test the relative influence of monetary and ‘real’ economic factors on private sector interests towards European monetary integration. We show that firms trading with the European Union have a preference for a fixed exchange rate (in both the European Monetary System and euro membership). On the other hand, firms not trading with the rest of the EU do not hold such preferences. In addition, firms with paren…
Europe in Search of Political Order – By J. Olsen
Nafta‐ization: Regionalization and Domestic Political Adjustment in the North American Economic Area
Europeanization is an example of initial bargains between states leading to ongoing political adjustment within the states. In this article I apply the concept to NAFTA and look at two of its member states, finding that despite the low level of institutionalization, NAFTA has set in motion new forms of political organization and behaviour, and new demands for political action. This is especially marked in Mexico, and in certain sectors. It is als…
Government Preferences on European Integration: An Empirical Test of Five Theories
This essay examines the causes of government support for European integration. It evaluates several competing theories, both material and ideological. Two dependent variables are examined: government support for European integration in Council of Ministers decisions, and in the 1997 Amsterdam intergovernmental conference. There appear to be sharp differences between the two decision-making fora in the efficacy of predictive variables. In the Coun…
Studying the British
The study of British politics has become markedly more professionalised in recent decades, representing a wide range of intellectual interests and methodological approaches. At the same time a sense of managerialism has overtaken what had been a self-regulated discipline. This article makes two claims. First, it is increasingly difficult to speak of a ‘British tradition’ of political studies, as distinct from an American one. The sense that Briti…
Debate: Séparation des pouvoirs et indépendance du judiciaire: une problematique en transformation
What's the matter with the British? Ideology and government support for the European Monetary System
This article compares the preferences of France, Italy and Britain on the creation of the European Monetary System in 1978–1979, especially the Exchange Rate Mechanism, which stabilised nominal exchange rates. My claim is that the different conclusions reached by the governments (France and Italy in, Britain out) cannot be explained by economic circumstances or by organised interests, and I elaborate an intervening ideological variable which help…
Odd man out: Rethinking British policy on European monetary integration
This article examines British preferences on European monetary integration. It challenges dominant theories of preference formation, suggesting an alternative explanation focusing on governmental majority. Empirical evidence is presented on both UK economic behaviour and the views of domestic economic interests, as well as government majority. The article also analyses first and second-hand accounts of the main players involved in three cases: th…
Britain and Europe: Some Alternative Economic Tests
Preferring Europe: Ideology and National Preferences on European Integration
This article takes issue with conventional explanations of state preference formation on European integration. It tests the hypothesis that Left-Right ideology is a better predictor than nationality of party views on integration, then tests the relationship between government ideology and government position on several dozen proposals considered during the intergovernmental conference leading up to the signing of the Amsterdam Treaty in 1997. It …
Same Menu, Seperate Tables: The Institutionalist Turn in Political Science and the Study of European Integration
Recent research on European integration has largely profited from the institutionalist turn in political science. Theoretical progress has, however, been hampered by the diverse understandings of this new research tradition. This paper tries to tackle the conceptual diversity in a positive way. We first analyze the neo–institutionalist turn in political science and European studies and then move on to a detailed analysis and comparison of the thr…
Preferring Europe: Ideology and National Preferences on European Integration
This article takes issue with conventional explanations of state preference formation on European integration. It tests the hypothesis that Left-Right ideology is a better predictor than nationality of party views on integration, then tests the relationship between government ideology and government position on several dozen proposals considered during the intergovernmental conference leading up to the signing of the Amsterdam Treaty in 1997. It …
Government Preferences on European Integration: An Empirical Test of Five Theories
This essay examines the causes of government support for European integration. It evaluates several competing theories, both material and ideological. Two dependent variables are examined: government support for European integration in Council of Ministers decisions, and in the 1997 Amsterdam intergovernmental conference. There appear to be sharp differences between the two decision-making fora in the efficacy of predictive variables. In the Coun…
Structuring Europe: Powersharing Institutions and British Preferences on European Integration
Scholars examining British-European relations typically ascribe UK governmental positions firstly to a combination of distinct and incompatible values, attitudes, and beliefs stemming from historical experience; secondly to a distinct and incompatible set of functional imperatives – namely less interaction with European partners than is the case for other EU member states; and third a distinct and incompatible set of domestic interests. This arti…
Freedom of information in times of crisis: The case of Mexico's war on drugs
Transparency guarantees in Mexico presented a serious challenge to its 2007–2012 war on drugs. We use an original database of access to information requests, including both petitions for information and appeals to IFAI. We conduct statistical tests on the databases, finding that transparency is lower on security issues, as expected, but that there are unexpected variations between security agencies, and over time. We then conduct a content analys…
Nafta‐ization: Regionalization and Domestic Political Adjustment in the North American Economic Area
Europeanization is an example of initial bargains between states leading to ongoing political adjustment within the states. In this article I apply the concept to NAFTA and look at two of its member states, finding that despite the low level of institutionalization, NAFTA has set in motion new forms of political organization and behaviour, and new demands for political action. This is especially marked in Mexico, and in certain sectors. It is als…
Restraining Gulliver: Institutional reform and the strengthening of state capacity and compliance
Governance in the developing world is fraught with problems of corruption, weak institutions, and inadequate expertise among bureaucrats. Failing to enforce laws and regulations is one way in which these problems manifest themselves. In this paper, we evaluate changes across three institutions charged with oversight or administration of labor justice in Mexico. We find that both autonomy from the executive and professionalization are necessary to…
The unholy social trinity: Modelling social dumping under conditions of capital mobility and free trade
Through a case study of shipping policy in Germany, Denmark and Norway this article examines the effects of increasing trade and foreign direct investment on policy autonomy. It suggests that the social dumping argument has merit, and draws a parallel to the Unholy Trinity model of monetary policy autonomy. In addition, classifying firm investment criteria according to whether they represent public goods, market costs, or policy costs helps deter…
International Integration or Internal Politics? Anatomy of a Single Market Measure
The question of who is responsible for integrative outcomes has bedevilled scholars since the creation of the European Coal and Steel Community in 1952. Theories of integration from international relations focus on the influence of the state, and how that may be eroded by non‐governmental and supranational actors. Comparatives, on the other hand, have applied lessons from domestic politics to the integration process. This is an attempt to bridge …
Legal mobilization without resources? How civil society organizations generate and share alternative resources in vulnerable communities
Scholars often assume that social movements and civil society organizations can draw on deep wells of traditional resources, such as money and lawyers, to finance legal mobilization. However, resource mobilization is rarely so straightforward in developing countries such as Mexico. I show how under‐resourced civil society organizations create and mobilize alternative resources which they share with marginalized communities, increasing those commu…
Private interests and exchange rate politics: The case of British business
We use surveys of British businesses to test the relative influence of monetary and ‘real’ economic factors on private sector interests towards European monetary integration. We show that firms trading with the European Union have a preference for a fixed exchange rate (in both the European Monetary System and euro membership). On the other hand, firms not trading with the rest of the EU do not hold such preferences. In addition, firms with paren…
Studying the British
The study of British politics has become markedly more professionalised in recent decades, representing a wide range of intellectual interests and methodological approaches. At the same time a sense of managerialism has overtaken what had been a self-regulated discipline. This article makes two claims. First, it is increasingly difficult to speak of a ‘British tradition’ of political studies, as distinct from an American one. The sense that Briti…
Regiones verdes? Comparación del activismo de la sociedad civil en el Tratado de Libre Comercio de América del Norte y la Unión Europea
En este documento se compara el papel de la sociedad ambientalista civil en dos organizaciones regionales: la Unión Europea y el Tratado de Libre Comercio de América del Norte. Para ello se utiliza la red transnacional de defensa que evalúa cómo las ong aprovechan las oportunidades para influenciar la política y los efectos del compromiso de la sociedad civil. Pese a las grandes diferencias entre esas organizaciones, comparten aspectos fundamenta…
Despierta México! Changing Public Attitudes Toward Nafta, 2008-2018
Regional trade agreements have important consequences for developing countries, but the public opinion literature on trade agreements suffers from several shortcomings. Most significant is that studies tend to take a single year as the point of analysis, leaving us uncertain as to how opinion evolves. This study uses polling data to examine Mexicans' attitudes toward NAFTA over a ten-year period. Results from regression analyses show an associati…
Cómo las oportunidades legales condicionan la movilización entre los movimientos ambientales
En este artículo examino diferencias importantes en las estructuras de oportunidad legal entre México y Brasil, y en particular cómo ellas afectan las estrategias de movilización legal de las ong ambientalistas. En México dicha estructura crea un sistema de autoayuda que conduce a estrategias de alianza social, en las que las ong se unen, crean conocimiento legal de valor agregado y escogen instituciones públicas para litigar. En contraste, dicha…
Who is Wile E. Coyote? Power, influence and the war on drugs
International Integration or Internal Politics? Anatomy of a Single Market Measure
The question of who is responsible for integrative outcomes has bedevilled scholars since the creation of the European Coal and Steel Community in 1952. Theories of integration from international relations focus on the influence of the state, and how that may be eroded by non‐governmental and supranational actors. Comparatives, on the other hand, have applied lessons from domestic politics to the integration process. This is an attempt to bridge …
The unholy social trinity: Modelling social dumping under conditions of capital mobility and free trade
Through a case study of shipping policy in Germany, Denmark and Norway this article examines the effects of increasing trade and foreign direct investment on policy autonomy. It suggests that the social dumping argument has merit, and draws a parallel to the Unholy Trinity model of monetary policy autonomy. In addition, classifying firm investment criteria according to whether they represent public goods, market costs, or policy costs helps deter…
Globalism, Exit, and Free Social Riders: A Dysfunctional Integration Theory
This paper examines the role of capital disinvestment in the development of common EU policies, and suggests that mobile capital in low–tech sectors (where technology gains do not support high unit labour costs) is susceptible to high social costs, and will avoid them through exit. Integration theories have failed to assimilate the implications of this. While theorists have been busy making the case for either states or institutions as the key ac…
Structuring Europe: Powersharing Institutions and British Preferences on European Integration
Scholars examining British-European relations typically ascribe UK governmental positions firstly to a combination of distinct and incompatible values, attitudes, and beliefs stemming from historical experience; secondly to a distinct and incompatible set of functional imperatives – namely less interaction with European partners than is the case for other EU member states; and third a distinct and incompatible set of domestic interests. This arti…
Same Menu, Seperate Tables: The Institutionalist Turn in Political Science and the Study of European Integration
Recent research on European integration has largely profited from the institutionalist turn in political science. Theoretical progress has, however, been hampered by the diverse understandings of this new research tradition. This paper tries to tackle the conceptual diversity in a positive way. We first analyze the neo–institutionalist turn in political science and European studies and then move on to a detailed analysis and comparison of the thr…
Preferring Europe: Ideology and National Preferences on European Integration
This article takes issue with conventional explanations of state preference formation on European integration. It tests the hypothesis that Left-Right ideology is a better predictor than nationality of party views on integration, then tests the relationship between government ideology and government position on several dozen proposals considered during the intergovernmental conference leading up to the signing of the Amsterdam Treaty in 1997. It …
Debate: Séparation des pouvoirs et indépendance du judiciaire: une problematique en transformation
What's the matter with the British? Ideology and government support for the European Monetary System
This article compares the preferences of France, Italy and Britain on the creation of the European Monetary System in 1978–1979, especially the Exchange Rate Mechanism, which stabilised nominal exchange rates. My claim is that the different conclusions reached by the governments (France and Italy in, Britain out) cannot be explained by economic circumstances or by organised interests, and I elaborate an intervening ideological variable which help…
Odd man out: Rethinking British policy on European monetary integration
This article examines British preferences on European monetary integration. It challenges dominant theories of preference formation, suggesting an alternative explanation focusing on governmental majority. Empirical evidence is presented on both UK economic behaviour and the views of domestic economic interests, as well as government majority. The article also analyses first and second-hand accounts of the main players involved in three cases: th…
Britain and Europe: Some Alternative Economic Tests
Studying the British
The study of British politics has become markedly more professionalised in recent decades, representing a wide range of intellectual interests and methodological approaches. At the same time a sense of managerialism has overtaken what had been a self-regulated discipline. This article makes two claims. First, it is increasingly difficult to speak of a ‘British tradition’ of political studies, as distinct from an American one. The sense that Briti…
Government Preferences on European Integration: An Empirical Test of Five Theories
This essay examines the causes of government support for European integration. It evaluates several competing theories, both material and ideological. Two dependent variables are examined: government support for European integration in Council of Ministers decisions, and in the 1997 Amsterdam intergovernmental conference. There appear to be sharp differences between the two decision-making fora in the efficacy of predictive variables. In the Coun…
Europe in Search of Political Order – By J. Olsen
Nafta‐ization: Regionalization and Domestic Political Adjustment in the North American Economic Area
Europeanization is an example of initial bargains between states leading to ongoing political adjustment within the states. In this article I apply the concept to NAFTA and look at two of its member states, finding that despite the low level of institutionalization, NAFTA has set in motion new forms of political organization and behaviour, and new demands for political action. This is especially marked in Mexico, and in certain sectors. It is als…
Private interests and exchange rate politics: The case of British business
We use surveys of British businesses to test the relative influence of monetary and ‘real’ economic factors on private sector interests towards European monetary integration. We show that firms trading with the European Union have a preference for a fixed exchange rate (in both the European Monetary System and euro membership). On the other hand, firms not trading with the rest of the EU do not hold such preferences. In addition, firms with paren…
Collective Action in the European Union: Interests and the New Politics of Associability
The Paradox of Unilateralism: Institutionalizing Failure In U.S.-Mexican Drug Strategies
Realism posits that strong states use compulsory power to influence the behavior of weaker ones. If true, then U.S. policy toward Mexico on a key national security issue such as drugs should illustrate that claim and policy outcomes should reflect U.S. preferences. Yet, in exploring a series of bilateral case studies, this article suggests that unilateral U.S. government initiatives do not achieve their specified goals. Rather, we argue that Mexi…
The Paradox of Unilateralism: Institutionalizing Failure In U.S.-Mexican Drug Strategies
Realism posits that strong states use compulsory power to influence the behavior of weaker ones. If true, then U.S. policy toward Mexico on a key national security issue such as drugs should illustrate that claim and policy outcomes should reflect U.S. preferences. Yet, in exploring a series of bilateral case studies, this article suggests that unilateral U.S. government initiatives do not achieve their specified goals. Rather, we argue that Mexi…
Forthcoming in Volume 54 Number 1
An abstract is not available for this content so a preview has been provided. As you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button
Popular Comics and Authoritarian Injustice Frames in Mexico
Analysts of social movements have done a great deal to extend our understanding of how resistance groups frame injustices. They often assume that some form of collective (discursive) action is necessary to frame common understandings, but in many authoritarian regimes collective action is not tolerated. Instead, opposition is expressed in messages embedded in comics, films, and other images generated by popular culture. In this article we connect…
Who is Wile E. Coyote? Power, influence and the war on drugs
Regiones verdes? Comparación del activismo de la sociedad civil en el Tratado de Libre Comercio de América del Norte y la Unión Europea
En este documento se compara el papel de la sociedad ambientalista civil en dos organizaciones regionales: la Unión Europea y el Tratado de Libre Comercio de América del Norte. Para ello se utiliza la red transnacional de defensa que evalúa cómo las ong aprovechan las oportunidades para influenciar la política y los efectos del compromiso de la sociedad civil. Pese a las grandes diferencias entre esas organizaciones, comparten aspectos fundamenta…
Freedom of information in times of crisis: The case of Mexico's war on drugs
Transparency guarantees in Mexico presented a serious challenge to its 2007–2012 war on drugs. We use an original database of access to information requests, including both petitions for information and appeals to IFAI. We conduct statistical tests on the databases, finding that transparency is lower on security issues, as expected, but that there are unexpected variations between security agencies, and over time. We then conduct a content analys…
Restraining Gulliver: Institutional reform and the strengthening of state capacity and compliance
Governance in the developing world is fraught with problems of corruption, weak institutions, and inadequate expertise among bureaucrats. Failing to enforce laws and regulations is one way in which these problems manifest themselves. In this paper, we evaluate changes across three institutions charged with oversight or administration of labor justice in Mexico. We find that both autonomy from the executive and professionalization are necessary to…
Cómo las oportunidades legales condicionan la movilización entre los movimientos ambientales
En este artículo examino diferencias importantes en las estructuras de oportunidad legal entre México y Brasil, y en particular cómo ellas afectan las estrategias de movilización legal de las ong ambientalistas. En México dicha estructura crea un sistema de autoayuda que conduce a estrategias de alianza social, en las que las ong se unen, crean conocimiento legal de valor agregado y escogen instituciones públicas para litigar. En contraste, dicha…
Political science (29 works) · Law (24 works) · Law (20 works) · Politics (20 works) · Economics (17 works) · Political economy (13 works) · Sociology (13 works) · European Union Policy and Governance (12 works) · International trade (9 works) · Business (8 works)