Publications

The Social Contract Revisited: The Modern Welfare State

This report summarizes the three-year programme investigating the social contract and the modern welfare state.

Any society can propose a minimal set of circumstances such that persons who are disadvantaged should be compensated. This will lead to policies which equalize opportunities, if not entirely, then at least to a degree.

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Policy Brief

Are Populists Friends or Foes of Constitutionalism?

In this policy brief, Cas Mudde of the University of Georgia sets out a definition for populism and argues that, contrary to claims by the Tea Party and other populist movements around the world, populism is in fact theoretically opposed to constitutionalism.

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Policy Brief

Press Regulation: Taking account of media convergence

This policy brief by media expert Lara Fielden proposes a radical new framework for press regulation based on a comparative study of international press councils, which addresses what Lord Justice Leveson has described as the 'elephant in the room' of the Leveson Inquiry: regulation of online media.

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Working Paper

How Governments React to Financial Crises: The Savings and Loans Crisis as a Test Case

This paper assesses the regulatory response to the savings and loans crisis of the 1980s to highlight the responsibility of various agents - goverment, regulators, financial institutions, lawyers, and the general public. Lance Cassak shows the difficulty of implementing strong regulatory measures in boom times and the inherently cyclical nature of such crises, but also identifies lessons for the future that need to be put in place to avert future such crises.

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