Dag Anckar
Biographic Data
| ID | 318362 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Dag Anckar |
| GIVEN NAMES | Dag |
| FAMILY NAME | Anckar |
| SIGNATURE | ANCKAR D |
| AFFILIATIONS | Åbo Akademi University |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 37 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 207 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 37 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1970 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2012 |
| H-INDEX | 8 |
Constitutional Amendment Methods in Twenty One Small Island Democracies
States differ in the extent to which they give their constitutions rigidity. Exploring constitutional amendment methods in 21 small island democracies with plurality elections, this study aims at explaining such rigidity differences. The leading expectation is that rigid amendment dominates in countries which have experienced in their political life disproportionate dominance in terms of party politics or excessive social fragmentation. These cou…
Microstate Democracy: Majority or Consensus; Diffusion or Problem-Solving
While several studies suggest that small country size is conducive to democracy, the understanding of this link between smallness and democracy is still less than complete. By examining the nature and profile of microstate democracy in the year 2005, this article aims at promoting a better understanding. Two research tasks are pursued. First, the article investigates if microstate democracy is predominantly about majority democracy, or alternativ…
Archipelagos and Political Engineering: The Impact of Non-Contiguity on Devolution in Small States
Political architecture differences have only seldom been explained in the political science literature by reference to physical factors like size and geography. Correcting this neglect while focusing on microstates and especially on archipelago geographies, this article aims at uncovering the impact of geographical non-contiguity on political institution-building. Three separate devices for power devolution - federalism, bicameralism and assembly…
Selecting Cases in Cross‐National Political Research
Four specific problems are discussed that relate to selecting comparable cases in cross‐national political research. First, to manage the so‐called Galton's problem, which is about the assumption of autonomous units, two strategies are discussed. The one is to abandon the assumption and study the mechanisms of diffusion, the second is to choose cases for comparison which can be assumed to have influenced each other to a minor extent only. Second,…
Westminster Lilliputs? Parliaments in Former Small British Colonies
Journal Article Westminster Lilliputs? Parliaments in Former Small British Colonies Get access Dag Anckar Dag Anckar * *Dag Anckar is with the Department of Political Science, Åbo Akademi University, Department of Political Science, Biskopsgatan 15, 20500 Åbo 50, Finland. E-mail: [email protected] Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Parliamentary Affairs, Volume 60, Issue 4, October 2007, Pages 637–654, https:…
Islandness or Smallness? A Comparative Look at Political Institutions in Small Island States
In order to explicate the relevance of the island dimension for political categories, for each of seven political institutions, a series of four comparisons are conducted on a global basis. The first is between small island states and all other states, the second is between small island states and larger island states, the third is between small island states and small mainland states, and the fourth is between island states and mainland states, …
Assembly quotas in microstates
In several countries a certain number of parliamentary seats are reserved for designated groups, organizations or interests, and these reserved seats are often filled by methods that are different from the normal method that is used in national elections. The use of this mechanism is comparatively frequent in microstates, and this is rather surprising as small territories, precisely because they are small, could be expected to be less than obviou…
Regime choices in microstates: The cultural constraint
As colonies and territories have been set free, the number of independent microstates and very small states in the world has increased dramatically. However, the small-sized countries have not been predisposed to regime choices that reflect characteristics and consequences of smallness. Rather, colonial heritage appears an important determinant of regime choice. 26 out of 36 microstates with a colonial past have at independence adopted the same r…
Lilliput Federalism: Profiles and Varieties
Although federal states as a rule are big states, this is a rule with exceptions. Several federations are middle-sized or even small, and among them are indeed four microstate cases, namely Belau, Comoros, Federated States of Micronesia and St Kitts-Nevis. These diminutive polities satisfy reasonably well the usual criteria and attributes of federal states, but represent deviations from the American federal model, characterized, according to Alfr…
Direct Democracy in Microstates and Small Island States
Why are small Island States Democracies
Empirical findings in the democracy literature suggest that small-sized and insular units hold democracy in high esteem. Utilizing Freedom House data on a comparative basis, this study verifies the existence of a strong link between small s ize and ins ularity on the one hand and dem ocracy on the other hand. Modernization theory is unable to explain this association between small size and democracy, and the same is true of the literacy and educa…
Democratic Standard and Performance in Twelve Pacific Micro-States
At the beginning of the twentieth century, there were 55 sovereign polities in the world, none of which enjoyed competitive multiparty politics. By 1950, the number of sovereign polities had risen to 80 and 22 of these states were considered to be democratic. Finally, by the end of the twentieth century the number of sovereign states more than doubled to 192 in the year of 1999; of these 192 independent polities no less than 120 were so-called el…
Democracies without Parties
The belief that modern democracy is party democracy is widespread. However, the belief may be questioned. A number of small independent island states that subscribe to a high extent to democratic values, standards, and institutions manage without political parties. In all, six such cases exist, namely, Belau (Palau), the Federated States of Micronesia, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, and Tuvalu. The analysis of these cases is guided by three g…
Homogeneity and Smallness: Dahl and Tufte Revisited
In their well‐known volume on ‘Size and Democracy’ (1973), Robert Dahl and Edward Tufte argue that small units are likely to be more homogeneous, whereas larger units are likely to exhibit more diversity. This study of the microstates of the world and of selected control groups of states supports this view only in part. In terms of attitudinal diversity, smaller units are indeed more homogeneous. In terms of ethnic and religious diversity, howeve…
Bicameral microstates: A commonwealth category
More than half of the world's microstates—those with a population of one million or less—are members of the Commonwealth. A high proportion of microstates which, despite their small size have bicameral legislatures, are in the Commonwealth. In larger states bicameral legislatures have two essential functions. They secure access of regional and similar interests to a parliamentary arena from which they might otherwise be excluded; and they allow f…
The cumulation problem
Nomination: A note on the cumulation problem by Dag Anckar, p.73 Reflections: The cumulation problem revisited by Gunnar Sjöblom, p.78
The cumulation problem
After a discussion of possible components in a definition of ‘cumulation’ and the relative lack of cumulation in political science, a scheme for research strategies is outlined with the aim of facilitating cumulation, or at least facilitating a diagnosis of the state of political science in this respect. The scheme includes three types of studies: (1) analysis of the formal properties of theoretical approaches in political science, (2) content an…
The Finnish European election of 1996
Dominating Smallness: Big Parties in Lilliput Systems
Theories that involve notions of size belong to a set of theories that are usually submitted to objections concerning determinism. An examination of the party systems of 31 small island states suggests, however, that there has been ample room for active subjects and intervening factors in the creation of party systems. Although the environments are, by and large, similar in size, the outcomes are very different in terms of parties. The propositio…
Noncontiguity and political architecture: The Parliaments of Small Island States
Size, Insularity and Democracy
In a recent book on “Democracy and Development” (1992) Axel Hadenius stumbles over the observation that island states are of special interest: on a scale running from 0 to 10, the average level of democracy is 7.1 for island states while for others it is 3.6. This, according to Hadenius, is due to the fact that island states are far more Protestant dominated than others. Contesting this view, three points are argued in this article. First, the at…
The Finnish presidential election of 1994
Comparative Research in the Nordic Countries: Overcoming Ethnocentrism?1
In the beginning of the 1970s comparative politics was still a neglected genre in Nordic political science. During that decade, however, comparative research started to make headway. An examination of articles published in five leading Nordic political science journals during the 1980s indicates that more than one‐tenth of the content was devoted to comparative research. The examination suggests that the Nordic approach to the small‐N problem in …
Nordic political science: Trends, Roles, Approaches
Evading Constitutional Inertia: Exception Laws in Finland1
Exceptions from the prescriptions of the Constitution can be made in Finland without altering the letter of the Constitution, on condition that the exceptions are decided by Parliament in a manner that honours the qualified procedure prescribed in the Finnish Constitution for the altering or enactment of fundamental law This institution appears very different when compared to the conceptions of fundamental law in most other countries, and it orig…
Why are small Island States Democracies
Empirical findings in the democracy literature suggest that small-sized and insular units hold democracy in high esteem. Utilizing Freedom House data on a comparative basis, this study verifies the existence of a strong link between small s ize and ins ularity on the one hand and dem ocracy on the other hand. Modernization theory is unable to explain this association between small size and democracy, and the same is true of the literacy and educa…
Democracies without Parties
The belief that modern democracy is party democracy is widespread. However, the belief may be questioned. A number of small independent island states that subscribe to a high extent to democratic values, standards, and institutions manage without political parties. In all, six such cases exist, namely, Belau (Palau), the Federated States of Micronesia, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, and Tuvalu. The analysis of these cases is guided by three g…
Size, Insularity and Democracy
In a recent book on “Democracy and Development” (1992) Axel Hadenius stumbles over the observation that island states are of special interest: on a scale running from 0 to 10, the average level of democracy is 7.1 for island states while for others it is 3.6. This, according to Hadenius, is due to the fact that island states are far more Protestant dominated than others. Contesting this view, three points are argued in this article. First, the at…
Homogeneity and Smallness: Dahl and Tufte Revisited
In their well‐known volume on ‘Size and Democracy’ (1973), Robert Dahl and Edward Tufte argue that small units are likely to be more homogeneous, whereas larger units are likely to exhibit more diversity. This study of the microstates of the world and of selected control groups of states supports this view only in part. In terms of attitudinal diversity, smaller units are indeed more homogeneous. In terms of ethnic and religious diversity, howeve…
Nordic political science: Trends, Roles, Approaches
Direct Democracy in Microstates and Small Island States
Comparative Research in the Nordic Countries: Overcoming Ethnocentrism?1
In the beginning of the 1970s comparative politics was still a neglected genre in Nordic political science. During that decade, however, comparative research started to make headway. An examination of articles published in five leading Nordic political science journals during the 1980s indicates that more than one‐tenth of the content was devoted to comparative research. The examination suggests that the Nordic approach to the small‐N problem in …
Islandness or Smallness? A Comparative Look at Political Institutions in Small Island States
In order to explicate the relevance of the island dimension for political categories, for each of seven political institutions, a series of four comparisons are conducted on a global basis. The first is between small island states and all other states, the second is between small island states and larger island states, the third is between small island states and small mainland states, and the fourth is between island states and mainland states, …
Lilliput Federalism: Profiles and Varieties
Although federal states as a rule are big states, this is a rule with exceptions. Several federations are middle-sized or even small, and among them are indeed four microstate cases, namely Belau, Comoros, Federated States of Micronesia and St Kitts-Nevis. These diminutive polities satisfy reasonably well the usual criteria and attributes of federal states, but represent deviations from the American federal model, characterized, according to Alfr…
Archipelagos and Political Engineering: The Impact of Non-Contiguity on Devolution in Small States
Political architecture differences have only seldom been explained in the political science literature by reference to physical factors like size and geography. Correcting this neglect while focusing on microstates and especially on archipelago geographies, this article aims at uncovering the impact of geographical non-contiguity on political institution-building. Three separate devices for power devolution - federalism, bicameralism and assembly…
Regime choices in microstates: The cultural constraint
As colonies and territories have been set free, the number of independent microstates and very small states in the world has increased dramatically. However, the small-sized countries have not been predisposed to regime choices that reflect characteristics and consequences of smallness. Rather, colonial heritage appears an important determinant of regime choice. 26 out of 36 microstates with a colonial past have at independence adopted the same r…
Introduction: Toward a Study of the Evolution of Political Science
Microstate Democracy: Majority or Consensus; Diffusion or Problem-Solving
While several studies suggest that small country size is conducive to democracy, the understanding of this link between smallness and democracy is still less than complete. By examining the nature and profile of microstate democracy in the year 2005, this article aims at promoting a better understanding. Two research tasks are pursued. First, the article investigates if microstate democracy is predominantly about majority democracy, or alternativ…
Noncontiguity and political architecture: The Parliaments of Small Island States
Selecting Cases in Cross‐National Political Research
Four specific problems are discussed that relate to selecting comparable cases in cross‐national political research. First, to manage the so‐called Galton's problem, which is about the assumption of autonomous units, two strategies are discussed. The one is to abandon the assumption and study the mechanisms of diffusion, the second is to choose cases for comparison which can be assumed to have influenced each other to a minor extent only. Second,…
Democratic Standard and Performance in Twelve Pacific Micro-States
At the beginning of the twentieth century, there were 55 sovereign polities in the world, none of which enjoyed competitive multiparty politics. By 1950, the number of sovereign polities had risen to 80 and 22 of these states were considered to be democratic. Finally, by the end of the twentieth century the number of sovereign states more than doubled to 192 in the year of 1999; of these 192 independent polities no less than 120 were so-called el…
Bicameral microstates: A commonwealth category
More than half of the world's microstates—those with a population of one million or less—are members of the Commonwealth. A high proportion of microstates which, despite their small size have bicameral legislatures, are in the Commonwealth. In larger states bicameral legislatures have two essential functions. They secure access of regional and similar interests to a parliamentary arena from which they might otherwise be excluded; and they allow f…
Dominating Smallness: Big Parties in Lilliput Systems
Theories that involve notions of size belong to a set of theories that are usually submitted to objections concerning determinism. An examination of the party systems of 31 small island states suggests, however, that there has been ample room for active subjects and intervening factors in the creation of party systems. Although the environments are, by and large, similar in size, the outcomes are very different in terms of parties. The propositio…
Political Science in the Nordic Countries
Political science has traditions in Finland and Sweden, but is a new academic discipline in Denmark, Iceland and Norway where it was introduced only after World War II. The differences in development, however, have not produced differences in style and outlook. Nordic political science has been and still is strongly dependent on basic influences from the US, and descriptions of problem areas and research approaches in the Nordic countries may wel…
A Definition of Democracy
In a recent paper John D. May has nominated Responsive Rule for a definition of democracy. Responsive Rule prescribes necessary correspondence between governmental acts and the wishes with respect to those acts of the persons who are affected. In this paper the definition is criticized for being unclear on a vital conceptual issue and for not fully expressing the essence of democracy. On the one hand it is maintained that democracy's subject popu…
Westminster Lilliputs? Parliaments in Former Small British Colonies
Journal Article Westminster Lilliputs? Parliaments in Former Small British Colonies Get access Dag Anckar Dag Anckar * *Dag Anckar is with the Department of Political Science, Åbo Akademi University, Department of Political Science, Biskopsgatan 15, 20500 Åbo 50, Finland. E-mail: [email protected] Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Parliamentary Affairs, Volume 60, Issue 4, October 2007, Pages 637–654, https:…
Presidential elections in Finland: A plea for approval voting
Assessing the Impact of Politics: A Typology and Beyond
The notion that political structures and processes are important policy determinants has been questioned in a set of studies investigating relations between socio‐economic factors, politics, and policy. However, conclusions concerning the position of politics are often restricted to statements dealing with the relative significance of socio‐economic variables as compared to political variables, whereas attempts at further characterizing the relat…
Political Science in Finland 1960–1975: From Behavioralism to Policy Analysis
Constitutional Amendment Methods in Twenty One Small Island Democracies
States differ in the extent to which they give their constitutions rigidity. Exploring constitutional amendment methods in 21 small island democracies with plurality elections, this study aims at explaining such rigidity differences. The leading expectation is that rigid amendment dominates in countries which have experienced in their political life disproportionate dominance in terms of party politics or excessive social fragmentation. These cou…
Finnish Foreign Policy Debate: The Saimaa Canal Case
Party Strategies and Foreign Policy: The Case of Finland, I955-63
The author tries to explain why the foreign policy debate in the party press in Finland, 1955-63, actually took the form it did. The scheme of analysis developed by Gunnar Sjöblom for party strategies in a multiparty system is used as a theoretical frame of reference and is applied to a material consisting of editorials in 19 party papers in connection with debates on 9 foreign policy situations. As to the value systems of parties, the author mak…
Political Science in Finland 1960–1975: From Behavioralism to Policy Analysis
Assessing the Impact of Politics: A Typology and Beyond
The notion that political structures and processes are important policy determinants has been questioned in a set of studies investigating relations between socio‐economic factors, politics, and policy. However, conclusions concerning the position of politics are often restricted to statements dealing with the relative significance of socio‐economic variables as compared to political variables, whereas attempts at further characterizing the relat…
The History of the Finnish Parliament
A Definition of Democracy
In a recent paper John D. May has nominated Responsive Rule for a definition of democracy. Responsive Rule prescribes necessary correspondence between governmental acts and the wishes with respect to those acts of the persons who are affected. In this paper the definition is criticized for being unclear on a vital conceptual issue and for not fully expressing the essence of democracy. On the one hand it is maintained that democracy's subject popu…
Foreign Policy Leadership in Finland: Towards Parliamentarization
Anckar, D. Foreign Policy Leadership in Finland: Towards Parliamentarization? Cooperation and Conflict, XIX, 1984, 219-233. According to the Finnish Constitution, the President determines Finland's relations with foreign powers. It is commonly believed in Finland that this arrangement is expedient and to the benefit of the nation. This is generally backed with arguments pertaining to the specific nature of foreign policy and to the need for conti…
Presidential elections in Finland: A plea for approval voting
Public Allocation by Private Organizations: The Case of Finland
Research on government‐group relations has primarily concentrated on policy stages related to agenda‐building, consultation and negotiation. However, interest organizations also play an increasingly important role in the final stage of allocation as they have in several instances been entrusted with the execution of state authority. This is especially true in the field of so‐called indirect public administration. The paper reviews various forms o…
Essays on Democratic Theory
Introduction: Toward a Study of the Evolution of Political Science
Political Science in the Nordic Countries
Political science has traditions in Finland and Sweden, but is a new academic discipline in Denmark, Iceland and Norway where it was introduced only after World War II. The differences in development, however, have not produced differences in style and outlook. Nordic political science has been and still is strongly dependent on basic influences from the US, and descriptions of problem areas and research approaches in the Nordic countries may wel…
Evading Constitutional Inertia: Exception Laws in Finland1
Exceptions from the prescriptions of the Constitution can be made in Finland without altering the letter of the Constitution, on condition that the exceptions are decided by Parliament in a manner that honours the qualified procedure prescribed in the Finnish Constitution for the altering or enactment of fundamental law This institution appears very different when compared to the conceptions of fundamental law in most other countries, and it orig…
Nordic political science: Trends, Roles, Approaches
Comparative Research in the Nordic Countries: Overcoming Ethnocentrism?1
In the beginning of the 1970s comparative politics was still a neglected genre in Nordic political science. During that decade, however, comparative research started to make headway. An examination of articles published in five leading Nordic political science journals during the 1980s indicates that more than one‐tenth of the content was devoted to comparative research. The examination suggests that the Nordic approach to the small‐N problem in …
The Finnish presidential election of 1994
Size, Insularity and Democracy
In a recent book on “Democracy and Development” (1992) Axel Hadenius stumbles over the observation that island states are of special interest: on a scale running from 0 to 10, the average level of democracy is 7.1 for island states while for others it is 3.6. This, according to Hadenius, is due to the fact that island states are far more Protestant dominated than others. Contesting this view, three points are argued in this article. First, the at…
Noncontiguity and political architecture: The Parliaments of Small Island States
The cumulation problem
Nomination: A note on the cumulation problem by Dag Anckar, p.73 Reflections: The cumulation problem revisited by Gunnar Sjöblom, p.78
The cumulation problem
After a discussion of possible components in a definition of ‘cumulation’ and the relative lack of cumulation in political science, a scheme for research strategies is outlined with the aim of facilitating cumulation, or at least facilitating a diagnosis of the state of political science in this respect. The scheme includes three types of studies: (1) analysis of the formal properties of theoretical approaches in political science, (2) content an…
The Finnish European election of 1996
Dominating Smallness: Big Parties in Lilliput Systems
Theories that involve notions of size belong to a set of theories that are usually submitted to objections concerning determinism. An examination of the party systems of 31 small island states suggests, however, that there has been ample room for active subjects and intervening factors in the creation of party systems. Although the environments are, by and large, similar in size, the outcomes are very different in terms of parties. The propositio…
Bicameral microstates: A commonwealth category
More than half of the world's microstates—those with a population of one million or less—are members of the Commonwealth. A high proportion of microstates which, despite their small size have bicameral legislatures, are in the Commonwealth. In larger states bicameral legislatures have two essential functions. They secure access of regional and similar interests to a parliamentary arena from which they might otherwise be excluded; and they allow f…
Homogeneity and Smallness: Dahl and Tufte Revisited
In their well‐known volume on ‘Size and Democracy’ (1973), Robert Dahl and Edward Tufte argue that small units are likely to be more homogeneous, whereas larger units are likely to exhibit more diversity. This study of the microstates of the world and of selected control groups of states supports this view only in part. In terms of attitudinal diversity, smaller units are indeed more homogeneous. In terms of ethnic and religious diversity, howeve…
Democracies without Parties
The belief that modern democracy is party democracy is widespread. However, the belief may be questioned. A number of small independent island states that subscribe to a high extent to democratic values, standards, and institutions manage without political parties. In all, six such cases exist, namely, Belau (Palau), the Federated States of Micronesia, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, and Tuvalu. The analysis of these cases is guided by three g…
Political science (37 works) · Law (35 works) · Law (33 works) · Politics (31 works) · Sociology (27 works) · Economics (19 works) · Political economy (17 works) · Island Studies and Pacific Affairs (16 works) · Positive economics (12 works) · Computer Science (11 works)