Political correctness (PC) norms are highly controversial and have been subject to political and philosophical debate for decades. Yet, surprisingly little empirical research has been conducted to understand if they have any impact at all and, in particular, if and how they affect the perception of and interaction between social groups. In this chapter, we will argue that PC language has tangib...

In addition to their purely scientific significance, recent advances in our understanding of emotion and its role in political behavior open up real opportunities for gaining leverage on crucial issues relating to political theory. However, much of this work argues that it represents as a fairly radical break with the Western tradition’s prevailing conceptualization of reason, emotion, and thei...

We argue that, since activities providing political information are complementary with leisure, increased labor market activity should lower voter turnout, doing so least in elections with ubiquitous information. Using county-level data, we find that increased wages and employment: reduce gubernatorial turnout; do not affect Presidential turnout; and raise the share of persons casting a Preside...

Nuclear energy is one of the most popular topics of today’s publication market. The literature about the pros and cons of nuclear power may easily fill a whole library. Is there anything new to add to this voluminous body of arguments and contra-arguments that would justify editing another book on nuclear energy? Andrew Blowers and David Pepper obviously felt that way and published a reader on ...

The printing press was invented in the middle of the 15’h century, yet it took 100 years before a book was considered dangerous enough to be banned, 150 years before science was invented, almost 200 years before a new kind of political essay was invented, and more than 300 hundred years before a country with an invented political system (the US) could be argued into existence via the press and ...

I examine the mutual relation between political regimes and economic development. An analysis of regime dynamics shows that while the paths to democracy are varied, once established for whatever reasons, democracies survive in developed countries. Contrary to long-standing arguments, political regimes do not affect the rate of investment and of the growth of total income. But since population g...

In the context of bubble universes produced by a first-order phase transition with large nucleation rates compared to the inverse dynamical time scale of the parent bubble, we extend the usual analysis to non-vacuum backgrounds. In particular, we provide semi-analytic and numerical results for the modified nucleation rate in FLRW backgrounds, as well as a parameter study of bubble walls propaga...

This paper describes and analyses the political discourse regarding e-government (including terms earlier used) in Sweden in the period from the 1960s until today, drawing on a review of policy documents. It is found that even though both the meanings ascribed to computers, the political visions, and the main arguments have changed considerably over time, the major plans for action have always ...

for their assistance with data collection and helping me to think about the arguments and evidence presented here. My thoughts have also been influenced by conversations with and by a presentation of preliminary results at the MIT political science department in December 2000.

Introduction General Overviews Anthologies and Textbooks Free Will Classic Texts Contemporary Debates and their Precursors (I) Utilitarian Instrumentalism (II) Responsibility and the Reactive Sentiments (III) Identifying with our Actions (IV) The Value of Choice and Contractualist Developments Moral Reasons and Moral Address Arguments Against Control Earlier Contributions Social and Political A...