71
votes
Why did Berlin freeze the rent prices as opposed to letting the market set the price?
The market was somewhat more free before the rent freeze (it was not completely free, see antipattern's excellent answer), and this had effects that some Berliners considered undesirable. The article ...
- 1,310
65
votes
How do progressive US political thinkers explain anti-black police discrimination in cities where the population and government are majority black?
Let's start with the understanding that in the USA — at least for the moment — political power is distributed, not centralized. This is a feature of our system of governance, not a bug. The Founders ...
- 65.1k
62
votes
Have Georgia election officials offered an explanation for the alleged "smoking gun" at the State Farm Arena?
While not exactly discussing the video and the the allegation of "suitcases of ballots", the topic of "secret counting" at the State Farm Arena was actually discussed by election ...
- 133k
54
votes
What is the largest political entity that lacks legislative power?
What is the largest political entity that lacks legislative power?
The United Nations. It comprises of 193 states with two additional observer states - Vatican City and Palestine. Whilst it has a ...
- 8,207
51
votes
Why did Berlin freeze the rent prices as opposed to letting the market set the price?
Rent for new buildings isn't capped (at least not by this new law), so the cap shouldn't interfere with new buildings. Rent may also be increased up to a point when a building is modernized.
The cap ...
- 34.9k
51
votes
Name for phenomenon in which attempting to solve a problem locally can seemingly fail because they absorb the problem from elsewhere?
While these examples may seem like the same phenomenon, they're meaningfully distinct. That said, there's a whole slew of terms that cover a variety of cases including these and others.
In order of ...
- 16.4k
50
votes
What is the largest political entity that lacks legislative power?
So the borough of Manhattan (pop. 1.6m) does not have its own separate authority with legislative powers. Are there even bigger fully dependent political entities like this?
There are at least two ...
- 17.3k
49
votes
Why do Americans vote on coroners, magistrates, school directors, and tax collectors?
What's going on?
This is a leftover from earlier historical tradition, which had lots of lower-level democracy.
For example, coroners being elected was a tradition not just from early days of USA, ...
- 91.2k
48
votes
Why do government employees pay income taxes?
Easier for everybody
For the government
Taxes are complex. It is not only how much the employee gets from the government. It is also:
other income sources
other income sources from family members (...
- 30.5k
47
votes
"Government transplant" been tried? At what scale, and what were the results?
The pattern you describe is called colonization. Think of it. A place that is viewed as being "without proper government." Europeans come in, bring their laws and administration, in the hope that the ...
- 104k
45
votes
Accepted
Why does the BBC claim that there is 'no clear winner' in England's 2018 local elections?
Because when these results are projected into a nationwide swing, Labour and Conservatives come out suggesting that Labour has a small lead.
However there is normally a swing away from the party of ...
- 113k
45
votes
How do progressive US political thinkers explain anti-black police discrimination in cities where the population and government are majority black?
Systemic racism is a problem wider than any city or department and not the result of personal prejudice or "bad apples". It's far beyond the scope of an answer to explain or debate the ...
- 2,750
36
votes
Accepted
Why did Berlin freeze the rent prices as opposed to letting the market set the price?
The unopportunistic and unattractive truth (I'm not afraid of saying it) is that Berlin is a red-red-green governed city and rents are one of their most important lighthouse projects. Also, the market ...
- 1,054
36
votes
Will we know after the election how many people are denied a vote because of the new ID rules?
No. The number of people denied a vote, counted and recorded by the new legislation, as described in CDJB's answer, can only be considered a minimum possible number of those denied their chance to ...
- 23.7k
33
votes
"Government transplant" been tried? At what scale, and what were the results?
Ukraine "imported" some high ranking civil servants (ministers) and advisers, in an attempt to fight corruption and bring some efficiency into the administration.
Perhaps the best known is Mikheil ...
- 1,308
29
votes
Do any local/state/provincial/... governments maintain 'embassies' (within or outside their country)?
Yes.
I believe all 16 German states maintain ‘representations’ in Brussels to the EU. Brussels obviously not being part of Germany and the EU not being a nation state and thus (critically) not ...
- 13.1k
25
votes
Accepted
Opposite party turned away from voting when ballot is all opposing party
According to this website, today is the Hamilton Co. Municipal Primary Election, the General Election is scheduled for November 5th, 2019.
On the surface, Indiana is an open primary state, so you do ...
- 15.7k
25
votes
"Government transplant" been tried? At what scale, and what were the results?
The UN sometimes manages entire countries.
Here is a link to the administration for Kosovo
And a list of territories governed by the UN
- 2,894
24
votes
Has any head of state/government or other politician in office performed their duties while legally imprisoned, arrested or paroled/on probation?
Fiona Onasanya was elected in 2017 as the Labour MP for Peterborough, but was convicted of perverting the course of justice in December 2018 after lying about who was driving her car when it was ...
CDJB♦
- 102k
23
votes
Accepted
Why does England not have its own government?
This is because the Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the legitimate successor to the historical Parliament of England and the Parliament of Great Britain. ...
- 16.1k
21
votes
Will we know after the election how many people are denied a vote because of the new ID rules?
Yes, paragraph 7 of Schedule 1 of the Elections Act 2022 amended the Representation of the People Act 1983 to include a requirement for the Secretary of State to publish a report on the effect of ...
CDJB♦
- 102k
20
votes
Accepted
Why do Americans vote on coroners, magistrates, school directors, and tax collectors?
Federalism
Before we talk about anything else, let's note that the United States is a federal system. Each state sets its own rules. Even the titles might be different. So the following discussion ...
- 89.2k
19
votes
Why did Berlin freeze the rent prices as opposed to letting the market set the price?
Because the Berlin government fails to understand (or at least publicly acknowledge) that price freezes don't work. This has been proven time and time again, but it is easy for politicians to ignore ...
- 51.4k
19
votes
Why does England not have its own government?
England makes up more than 80% of the population of the UK, and accordingly has more than 80% of the seats in the House of Commons (currently 543 out of 650).
So the House of Commons is already ...
- 11.5k
17
votes
Why does the BBC claim that there is 'no clear winner' in England's 2018 local elections?
Local government elections don't have any direct impact on each other and there is no consensus way to quantify the fact that an election in a small city, or a city with more seats on its council, may ...
- 70.9k
16
votes
Accepted
What are the powers of mayors in the US?
First off, to clarify: the executive of a town/city in USA is typically called a "mayor", not a "governor".
The powers of a mayor may vary from state to state and city to city, BUT:
Yes, mayors ...
- 91.2k
16
votes
Accepted
Do any cities formalize preferential homeless services to "locals"?
Yes - in England & Wales this is explicitly codified as a consideration that can be lawfully made in the Housing Act 1996 (as amended by the Localism Act 2011 and the Housing (Wales) Act 2014).
...
CDJB♦
- 102k
15
votes
Accepted
Which US states forced nursing homes to bring in COVID-positive patients?
The directive which this question relates to was issued on March 25th by the New York State Department of Health. It is now no longer available on their website, but has been archived here. It states:
...
CDJB♦
- 102k
15
votes
Accepted
Do non partisan elections have lower turnouts in the United States?
This effect has been fairly well researched, for example by Schaffner, Streb, & Wright in their 2001 paper Teams Without Uniforms: The Nonpartisan Ballot in State and Local Elections in Political ...
CDJB♦
- 102k
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible