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The goal of this study was to adopt the concept of climate, which has been researched extensively in the context of organizational psychology, to the study of communities and develop a scale for community climate of involvement. We demonstrate that communities can constitute a valid level of analysis for the study of climate. The scale development was done in two steps: Step 1, a qualitative investigation of 39 geographical community members, found evidence of the existence of climate in communities and identified a climate facet that is relevant to the study of communities – involvement. Based on the qualitative data collected in this step, we then developed a community involvement climate scale. Step 2 tested the reliability and homogeneity of the community involvement climate in a sample of 300 participants from six communities. The results of the study attest to the existence of climate in communities and provide a valid and reliable community involvement climate scale. We discuss the contributions of this study and suggest future studies on climate in communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Unlike in controlled settings, social scientists' performance when predicting real-world societal trends is indistinguishable from that of laypeople or naive statistical methods. There is no conclusive evidence that domain-specific expertise improves predictive accuracy of societal change. Causal models in social sciences are oversimplified, confusing levels of analysis, and generally lack specificity about the magnitude or distribution of effects, limiting prediction accuracy. Engaging in counterfactual thought experiments to go beyond the most obvious factors specified in a theory, predictive accuracy in social sciences can be improved. Integrating broad foundational models with context-specific time series data, as in meteorology, can enhance the accuracy of social science predictions. Enhancing analytical training and understanding of temporal dynamics can yield more precise, riskier predictions, the practical application of which requires the fostering of intellectual humility in scientists. We examine the opportunities and challenges of expert judgment in the social sciences, scrutinizing the way social scientists make predictions. While social scientists show above-chance accuracy in predicting laboratory-based phenomena, they often struggle to predict real-world societal changes. We argue that most causal models used in social sciences are oversimplified, confuse levels of analysis to which a model applies, misalign the nature of the model with the nature of the phenomena, and fail to consider factors beyond the scientist's pet theory. Taking cues from physical sciences and meteorology, we advocate an approach that integrates broad foundational models with context-specific time series data. We call for a shift in the social sciences towards more precise, daring predictions and greater intellectual humility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We argue that in analyzing panel-data econometric models, researchers rely excessively on statistical criteria to determine model specification, treating it primarily as a matter of statistical inference. This inferential emphasis is most obvious in the common practice of using statistical tests (e.g., the Hausman test) to choose between fixed- and random-effects specifications, often ignoring the assumptions underpinning these tests. For instance, the Hausman test depends on the true within-panel (longitudinal) and between-panel (cross-sectional) parameters being equal. This assumption is often not justified, because longitudinal and cross-sectional variances and covariances may manifest different underpinning mechanisms. In addition to different mechanisms often resulting in different variables determining within and between effects, within and between variables may also have different meanings. To help researchers make theoretically informed choices, we formulate five questions that can guide researchers to think of model specification in a theoretically rigorous way. We examine these issues with examples from both general management and operations management research. Importantly, we argue that addressing the questions regarding model specification must involve primarily theoretical and contextual judgment, not statistical tests.

In the sales literature it is standard practice for researchers to collect cross-sectional data from multiple salespeople, and to compare those salespeople on the data obtained. This between-person approach is suitable for research aiming to draw conclusions between salespeople. However, many salesperson processes are dynamic and vary within salespeople over time, requiring datasets with repeated-measures. This article highlights the need to adopt a within-person theoretical perspective in sales research. Critically, the article shows how our present understanding of boundary conditions may change depending on whether a between-person or within-person level of analysis is adopted. Using examples from the sales literature, we show how the practical implications from between-persons research designs do not necessarily generalize to the within-person level. Further, we explain the methodological and analytical considerations that researchers must account for when undertaking within-person research. Furthermore, the article provides decision criteria that help to identify when within-person analysis should be conducted, outlining analysis tools that are capable of correctly estimating within-person effects without bias. Examples of how within-person research can enhance theory within future sales research, and how within-person research may influence management implications are also discussed. Finally, potential remedies to within-person research barriers are given. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most empirical studies on states' personnel contributions to UN peacekeeping operations (PKOs) use a state's annual contributions as the unit of analysis. A critical problem of the state-level analysis is that it ignores the fact that states have to decide how to distribute these peacekeepers among more than a dozen peacekeeping missions. Ignoring the mission-level decision misses a significant part of states' UN PKO contributions and could bias our empirical analysis. We propose a two-level model that sees a state's UN PKO contributions as the interactions between the state-level and mission-level factors. This model is employed to revisit the heatedly debated "reimbursement hypothesis". Our analysis of the empirical data between 1990 and 2018 shows a mixed relationship between states' economic development and their UN PKO contributions. We also find that middle-income rather than low-income countries are the most critical providers of UN PKOs since the end of the cold war. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we aim to help researchers think, design, and execute their empirical journey by mapping the terrain of choices common in qualitative research. We offer a matrix that relates to various dimensions—the level at which to study the phenomenon (level of analysis), types of field materials, time orientation of research and data, the analytic approach, and the unit of data (unit of analysis). This matrix is intended to support making informed decisions that result in specific research designs and the continuous process of reflection as to how these choices open and limit the ability to answer the research question and offer an analytic generalization based on the findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Estudios Gerenciales is the property of Universidad ICESI and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of All Azimuth: A Journal of Foreign Policy & Peace is the property of Ihsan Dogramaci Peace Foundation, Center for Foreign Policy & Peace Research and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The study of regional subsystems dates back to the 1950s, when it became clear that the models developed to explain the logic behind the bipolar international system could not adequately reflect the specificities of regional processes. Therefore, there was a pressing need to complement traditional system level analysis with a new, subsystemic approach. The paper provides a comparative analysis of both Russian and Western definitions of the regional subsystem concept. The author examines the evolution of the regional subsystem concept research field, its current state and identifies the key competing approaches, as well as their methodological and theoretical foundations. The first section covers definitions of the subsystem concept developed by the Western researchers during the Cold War period. The author emphasizes that this initial foundational phase for the development of the research field was marked by extreme heterogeneity of views, opinions and assessments. The experts suggested various principles and criteria for identifying regional subsystems, while the very meaning of a ‘regional subsystem’ has not yet been settled. At the same time, the author shows that all the discussions during that period revolved around one central issue that is how the regional subsystem is linked to the ‘dominant’ one — a bipolar. In that regard, it is only natural that with the end of the Cold War the studies of regional subsystems faced new challenges but also gained a new momentum. The second section examines views of contemporary Russian and Western scholars. The author identifies the key discussion points, which include primarily the nature of relations between subsystem actors: whether they should necessarily be cooperative or not; if they need formal institutionalization and whether they should be organized hierarchically with a strong leading state. The author concludes that despite the absence of expert consensus on these issues, the studies of regional subsystems have come a long way from extreme heterogeneity, even fragmentation of the very basic theoretical premises, to a much greater terminological consistency but have retained the pluralism of views, opinions and assessments.

In the science of international politics, subjects such as "the nature of international system", "anarchy", "order" and "change" are considered as the content concepts. Each of the theories of international relations explains the concepts and, accordingly, presents its formation of the milieu of international system and its subdivisions. The present study is placed under the great question of what explanation the level of civilizational analysis in international politics presents for "order" in international system. It specifically deals with the following question: "If we evaluate the 'order' in the realm of a region – such as west Asia or a wider area such as the Islamic world – using the level of civilizational analysis, what formation of 'order' will it offer?" It seems that the hypothesis of 'level of civilizational analysis' in the international politics in dividing the regions of the world presents a new plan and transmits it beyond the dualism of global analysis/ regional analysis. Thus, it explains the campaigns inside the international system on the basis of presenting a new formation of 'order', the rules for its formation and the sources effective in its formation. The level of civilizational analysis analyzes the order in the Islamic world by considering different forms of Islamic civilizations (or civilization trends) inside the Islamic world, and explains the behavioral campaigns (convergent/ divergent) on the basis of hierarchal division of civilization inside the Islamic world.

Post-1994, South Africa is founded on human dignity, equality and ensuring fundamental human rights for all, enshrined in its democratic constitution. This comes as the advent of democracy in South Africa from the apartheid past coincided with the advancement of the United Nations Development Programme's (UNDPs) reconfigured security concept from a state-centric to a people-focused ideal. The new concept of human security integrates all men's rights, needs, and security with aspirations for sustainable and inclusive development. It advocates for the protection and empowerment of people against threats to their lives, something that the apartheid state failed to do as it was the main orchestrator of human insecurity in the country. Likewise, the article is a qualitative review of human security's role in post-South Africa's policymaking decisions using the level of analysis approach. The four levels feature the individual, local/provincial, domestic/state and global analysis. These analysis levels help shed a qualitative understanding of how a single dynamic in socio-political empowerment affects another. It concludes that despite the notion of human security being widely articulated as a conceptual basis for the country's official documents, it lacks de facto operational power to shape actual policy actions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of International Business Studies is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Teachers’ conditional positive and negative regard are widely endorsed teaching practices aimed to enhance students’ involvement and achievement in school. Previous research has mostly tapped the need frustration and harmful psychological well-being implications of these practices. Yet knowledge of their specific effects on school engagement is scant. This study investigated the association between students’ perceptions of homeroom teachers’ conditional positive and negative regard and their behavioral engagement, while considering the levels at which these practices are conceptualized and operate (a teacher characteristic and a student characteristic). Participants were n = 2533 students from 107 classes in the 7th to 10th grades. Multilevel analysis found conditional positive regard was positively associated with school engagement while conditional negative regard was inversely related. These findings were obtained at both the within- and between-class levels. Based on the findings, we argue conditional regard is a double-edged sword. Consistent with previous research, we suggest conditional negative regard has an undermining effect, and we point to conditional positive regard’s potential to enhance engagement. Lastly, we discuss the importance of the level of analysis and the alignment of theory with measurement.

Most research on communities and crime measures constructs at only one level of aggregation, but this tendency for a singular unit of analysis makes this research susceptible to omitted level bias. This study exposes this issue and provides an empirical demonstration of the problem using disadvantage as a focal construct by measuring the construct at three different units of analysis. Multilevel analyses use crime-incident data and demographic data from the American Community Survey for 11,072 block groups nested within 3673 tracts in 34 cities for 2005–2009. Results reveal that the association between disadvantage and crime differs by level of aggregation and when more than one measure of disadvantage is accounted for analytically. Furthermore, the association between disadvantage and crime at one level is dependent on the amount of disadvantage at other levels. These findings suggest that omitted level bias is a significant issue of concern for multilevel research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Teachers' conditional positive and negative regard are widely endorsed teaching practices aimed to enhance students' involvement and achievement in school. Previous research has mostly tapped the need frustration and harmful psychological well-being implications of these practices. Yet knowledge of their specific effects on school engagement is scant. This study investigated the association between students' perceptions of homeroom teachers' conditional positive and negative regard and their behavioral engagement, while considering the levels at which these practices are conceptualized and operate (a teacher characteristic and a student characteristic). Participants were n = 2533 students from 107 classes in the 7th to 10th grades. Multilevel analysis found conditional positive regard was positively associated with school engagement while conditional negative regard was inversely related. These findings were obtained at both the within- and between-class levels. Based on the findings, we argue conditional regard is a double-edged sword. Consistent with previous research, we suggest conditional negative regard has an undermining effect, and we point to conditional positive regard's potential to enhance engagement. Lastly, we discuss the importance of the level of analysis and the alignment of theory with measurement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The field of international relations is recently witnessing an inflation of attention toward political leaders and personalities. Yet, while political leaders mattered to understand foreign policy behaviors, the question is how much they do and under what conditions. This article argues that how leaders and personalities affect foreign policy is up to the variables that can be analyzed at the state and international levels. To illustrate this argument, I use the example of two strong, influential, and revisionist Turkish leaders: Turgut Özal and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. The results point out that the main determinative on Turkish foreign policy on these leaders’ period is not their personality as argued. Instead, the main variables we should analyze are the presence domestic and international constraints such as dominant foreign policy actors, economic capacity, political polarization, and international conjunctures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most quantitative, comparative welfare state research assumes that subnational welfare regimes are irrelevant or identical to their national counterparts. Many qualitative case studies, on the other hand, have underlined the differences between subnational and national regimes. In this article, we attempt to build bridges between these two strands of literature by examining the case for a Quebec model, that is, a subnational welfare state regime that is distinct from its Canadian counterpart(s). We reviewed seven publications from which we extracted 188 quantitative results relevant to the distinct subnational regime hypothesis. Although not all these results are independent nor based on conclusive evidence, they generally agree that a distinct welfare regime exists in Quebec. We conclude this article by discussing the implications of the Quebec case for the study of welfare regimes at the subnational and regional levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Geography, the understanding and use of the concepts of cartographic scale and geographic scale help to define scientific research. Starting from classic texts that deal with the subject, this article aims to verify the relevance of the criticisms to the cartographic scale and its opposition to a concept of a "truly" geographic scale, in addition to presenting a contribution to this problem, with the definition of differences, similarities, limits, and possibilities of each concept. The methodology consisted of exploratory bibliographic research of articles and books on digital bases of free access on the Internet, anchored in the technique of retrospective investigation, from a reference work. This analysis results in the idea that there is still a conceptual uncertainty as to the geographical scale, hence the adoption or, sometimes, confusion with the cartographic scale. It also highlights the lack of understanding of the scope of cartography as a language, taking the map only by the limits imposed by its scale, and underestimating its real possibilities of contribution to geographic analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Information processing in neural systems can be described and analyzed at multiple spatiotemporal scales. Generally, information at lower levels is more fine-grained but can be coarse-grained at higher levels. However, only information processed at specific scales of coarse-graining appears to be available for conscious awareness. We do not have direct experience of information available at the scale of individual neurons, which is noisy and highly stochastic. Neither do we have experience of more macro-scale interactions, such as interpersonal communications. Neurophysiological evidence suggests that conscious experiences co-vary with information encoded in coarse-grained neural states such as the firing pattern of a population of neurons. In this article, we introduce a new informational theory of consciousness: Information Closure Theory of Consciousness (ICT). We hypothesize that conscious processes are processes which form non-trivial informational closure (NTIC) with respect to the environment at certain coarse-grained scales. This hypothesis implies that conscious experience is confined due to informational closure from conscious processing to other coarse-grained scales. Information Closure Theory of Consciousness (ICT) proposes new quantitative definitions of both conscious content and conscious level. With the parsimonious definitions and a hypothesize, ICT provides explanations and predictions of various phenomena associated with consciousness. The implications of ICT naturally reconcile issues in many existing theories of consciousness and provides explanations for many of our intuitions about consciousness. Most importantly, ICT demonstrates that information can be the common language between consciousness and physical reality.

Information processing in neural systems can be described and analyzed at multiple spatiotemporal scales. Generally, information at lower levels is more fine-grained but can be coarse-grained at higher levels. However, only information processed at specific scales of coarse-graining appears to be available for conscious awareness. We do not have direct experience of information available at the scale of individual neurons, which is noisy and highly stochastic. Neither do we have experience of more macro-scale interactions, such as interpersonal communications. Neurophysiological evidence suggests that conscious experiences co-vary with information encoded in coarse-grained neural states such as the firing pattern of a population of neurons. In this article, we introduce a new informational theory of consciousness: Information Closure Theory of Consciousness (ICT). We hypothesize that conscious processes are processes which form non-trivial informational closure (NTIC) with respect to the environment at certain coarse-grained scales. This hypothesis implies that conscious experience is confined due to informational closure from conscious processing to other coarse-grained scales. Information Closure Theory of Consciousness (ICT) proposes new quantitative definitions of both conscious content and conscious level. With the parsimonious definitions and a hypothesize, ICT provides explanations and predictions of various phenomena associated with consciousness. The implications of ICT naturally reconcile issues in many existing theories of consciousness and provides explanations for many of our intuitions about consciousness. Most importantly, ICT demonstrates that information can be the common language between consciousness and physical reality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This literature review maps recent studies addressing supply chain management (SCM) in the healthcare sector through a systematic approach that synthesises 74 empirical studies (2006–2016). Our approach adopts a network lens to map the literature and offers key contributions to the field. First, we show that there is a lack of network level studies. Second, there is an imbalance of research attention regarding the various types of supply, namely health services, medicines, medical supplies and blood supply. Third, we underline the advantages of the network lens, indicating network actors and flows between those actors that need further research. Fourth, we show an alarming lack of theoretical lens in healthcare SCM studies and draw attention to the fact that even when explicitly adopting a theory, some studies show inconsistencies between theoretical lens and level of analysis. Ultimately, we offer a map of future research for healthcare SCM through a network lens in order to improve the understanding the complexities of the healthcare sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A prior special issue of this journal attempts to broaden the perspective on military cohesion. While such broadening is desirable, the lead issue author incorporates only a narrow portion of relevant literature, makes misleading assertions, does not distinguish the difference between conducting studies and carrying out social scientific research, and fails to appreciate the advances made in scalable microlevel cohesion research. This commentary notes the limited literature cited, summarizes the distinction between a study and science, and suggests issues and concepts to be addressed to make a stronger start in research on military cohesion at the meso- and macrolevels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Turkish Yearbook of International Relations is the property of Ankara Universitesi, Faculty of Political Sciences and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Summary: Climate is a group‐level phenomenon that should be measured and studied at the group level. The group level has theoretical and methodological advantages over the individual level. In this paper, I theoretically review the assumptions in measuring climate at the individual and group levels and demonstrate that the group‐level assumptions are more adequate for climate research because of their influences in exposure to events, interpretation of events, and preservation of perceptions. Methodologically, I discuss advantages in group‐level climate measurement accuracy that are based on multiple evaluators of climate and I suggest group aggregation is an organizational form of "wisdom of the crowds." Finally, I point to three topics that remain to be investigated to understand climate at the group level better. The first is use of variability measures to compensate for information that is lost in aggregation. The second is challenging the assumption that formal organizational structure defines the group boundaries. I suggest that other levels of analysis apply to group‐level climate measurement and demonstrate the use of informal, more natural groups as an additional level. Third, I point to recently developed statistical procedures that can aid the study of climate perception emergence over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cultural distance and psychic distance are two concepts that are widely used in the marketing literature to assess the differences between countries. The purpose of this study is to draw attention of researchers and managers to the general failure in the literature to differentiate between the cultural distance and psychic distance concepts. A critical review of the use of these concepts, outlining their theoretical and methodological properties, shows that a large number of studies use both concepts interchangeably with no clear distinction between them. The concepts are, however, conceptually distinct and address different phenomena. A framework is proposed that allows researchers and managers to recognise the exclusive properties of the two concepts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Throughout its history, the information systems (IS) discipline has engaged in extensive self-examination, particularly with regard to its apparent diversity. Our overall objective in this study is to better understand the diversity in IS research, and the extent to which diversity is universal across journals that publish IS research. We developed a classification system that comprises five key characteristics of diversity (reference discipline, level of analysis, topic, research approach, and research method) based on a review of prior literature. We then examined articles over a five-year period, from 1995 to 1999, in five journals acknowledged as the top journals of the field, at least in North America. Analyses reveal considerable diversity in each of the key characteristics. Perhaps not surprisingly, the research approach used is more focused with most studies being conducted using hypothetico-deductive approaches, whereas reference discipline is perhaps the most diverse of the characteristics examined. An interesting finding is that IS itself emerged as a key reference discipline in the late 1990s. The 'Journal of Management Information Systems' and 'Information Systems Research' publish articles displaying the greatest diversity, and 'MIS Quarterly' and 'Decision Sciences' publish articles that focus on subsets of the field. Our research provides a foundation for addressing the direction that diversity in the IS discipline takes over time. In the shorter term, researchers can use our classification system as a guide to writing abstracts and selecting key words, and the findings of our journal analyses to determine the best outlet for their type of research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Contemporary security studies have opened the field for a multitude of new terms and concepts. Professional language enrichment of contemporary security studies has been a logical consequence of the expansion of their research fields, which occurs in response to emerging security threats and challenges, as well as to new subjects and objects of security studies and practices. The newly established post-Cold War era in security studies has been featured by calling in question the dominant state-centric understanding of the concept of security, which brings about the deepening of the concept to the individual level of analysis. In addition to the well-established terms as state security and national security, in contemporary security studies discourse there has been emerging terms that refer to the security dynamics that takes place on an individual level such as individual security, personal security and human security. However, in the academics’ writings these terms and concepts are often vaguely defined, and used in academics’ and public discourse in different ways, sometimes as synonyms, while in some cases the same terms are used with different meanings, which inevitably leads to a certain terminological imprecision. Variations in definition of terms and guidelines such as human security, individual security and personal security in domestic and foreign scholars’ papers point to the lack of universality and their fluid nature. These variations are partly considered to be the consequence of the complexity of these new concepts, but they also may be caused by too much latitude in interpretation of their meaning. This deprives these concepts of the stable and common meaning and poses an obstacle for their use in common academic discourse. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to find some standards in the use of these concepts and to link them with the dominant and prevailing meanings that are attached to them in academic use. In order to give an answer to the question of whether are they different concepts or the multiplication of the same concept, the meanings of the term individual security will firstly be presented when considered as a level of analysis in security studies, and then when it is considered as part of a broader political concept of human security.

Since the 1970s, racial diversity within neighborhoods and cities has been increasing. Although social disorganization theorists have long argued that diversity reduces social cohesion leading to increases in crime, the association between diversity and crime may be more nuanced than previously thought. More specifically, neighborhood processes occur within the broader context of the cities within which they are embedded. The current investigation uses data from 9,593 census tracts nested within 91 large U.S. cities from the National Neighborhood Crime Study (NNCS) to test whether the association between neighborhood diversity and crime differs by city diversity. Results indicate an interaction between neighborhood and city diversity, such that the effect of neighborhood diversity on crime becomes weaker as city diversity increases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most research on communities and crime finds a positive association between economic inequality and crime. Various levels of analysis have been used, but much of this research has only analyzed associations at one level of analysis at a time, and most recent research has focused on neighborhoods and smaller levels of analysis. The current investigation measures inequality at three levels simultaneously to distinguish the independent effect of inequality on crime at each level. I combine demographic information from the American Community Survey with crime data from the NIJ Foreclosure and Crime Data Archive for 34 U.S. cities for the years 2005–2009, and use multilevel modeling to separate out effects of inequality at the census block-group, tract, and city level. Findings indicate that the association between income inequality and crime varies by level of analysis, and the association at each level depends on the amount of inequality at other levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Germany's family policy responded to the European Union's Barcelona targets by expanding publicly funded childcare, especially for children under the age of three, throughout the country. While overall nearly 33 per cent of all children in that age group had access to public childcare by 2015, there is still a large difference between the situation in the eastern and the western part of the country. This paper documents and explains this development of two persistently different childcare regimes in the two parts of the country. It shows that supply factors such as local administrative capacity and resources interact with demand factors such as parental need and demands for public childcare to produce the divergent development. It then discusses the conceptual challenges involved in engaging in this type of subnationally comparative analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Narrative Policy Framework has a growing number of researchers seeking to apply the framework in policy process scholarship. This article is intended to assist those interested in conducting an NPF study that is ‘clear enough to be wrong’ (Sabatier, 2000). While graduate programs offer critical methodological training, this article focuses on the specific application of the NPF to research inquiries about the role of policy narratives in the policy process. We approach our discussion by examining various decisions in the research process and include a detailed discussion of specifying the model and obtaining narrative data. We also point out areas for further investigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Leaders consider the broader international landscape when making foreign policy choices. This landscape could encompass a single external actor, the local region, or even the whole international system. Quantitative analyses of international outcomes, however, frequently do not account for this broader context. This study suggests a corrective, illustrating the value of incorporating extra-dyadic variables into analyses with dyadic and monadic outcomes. The challenge is to parsimoniously capture theoretically salient elements of the multilateral environment. We contend that a measure that links distributions of power within any k-set of relevant states to uncertainty over conflict outcomes is a promising option for two reasons. First, the measure builds from and accords with canonical theories of international politics. Second, it offers scholars a simple and flexible means to define and account for the set of states that constitute the relevant multilateral landscape. Illustrative applications linking power distributions and outcome uncertainty to alliance formation and pursuit of nuclear weapons demonstrate that extra-dyadic factors consistently influence foreign policy outcomes. This study thus shows that situating such outcomes within their broader context is both feasible and substantively important. Moreover, it contributes to recent efforts to address shortcomings of monadic and dyadic studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Why do some peace agreements end armed conflicts whereas others do not? Previous studies have primarily focused on the relation between warring parties and the provisions included in peace agreements. Prominent mediators, however, have emphasised the importance of stakeholders at various levels for the outcome of peace agreements. To match the experience of these negotiators we apply a level-of-analysis approach to examine the contextual circumstances under which peace agreements are concluded. While prominent within the causes of war literature, level-of-analysis approaches are surprisingly scant in research about conflict resolution. This article compares two Sudanese Peace Agreements: the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (2005) that ended the North-South war and led to the independence of South Sudan, and the Darfur Peace Agreement (2006) which failed to end fighting in Darfur. We find that factors at the local, national and international level explain the different outcomes of the two agreements. Hence, the two case studies illustrate the merit of employing a level-of-analysis approach to study the outcome of peace agreements. The main contribution of this article is that it presents a new theoretical framework to understand why some peace agreements terminate armed conflict whereas others do not. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]