The New Leviathan Blog

Democratic naturalization The campaign will open. The Swiss will say on June 1 whether the naturalization of a foreigner can be submitted to a popular vote. The UDC's initiative "for democratic naturalizations" intends to include in the Constitution the possibility, for municipalities that so wish, of subjecting candidates for Swiss passports to the sanction of a popular vote. The text of the UDC intends to restore the situation which prevailed before 2003, whe...Read More >>

State rents and society of distrust The issue of regulated professions has recently surfaced in the political debate. But it was poorly posed, pointing out the existence of modest advantages instead of analyzing the formidable state hypertrophy which is the cause. The case of Parisian taxis, for example, attracted attention. There are fewer of them today than in 1925. There were 25,000 then, there are now only 15,000. However, since 1945 France's GDP has multiplied,...Read More >>

Christmas: the celebration of social bonds? We could imagine: people living in towns with high purchasing power are not the happiest. The well-being of the population is higher outside the centers, where social relations are still intact, reports a study by Deutsche Bank Research. The healthiest Germans apparently live in the Ulm region. Well-being analysis is very trendy in Germany. (…) To identify the problem, researchers from the main German bank identified six criteria: ...Read More >>

The cross and the crescent: the improbable dialogue  A study by the Catholic University of Louvain (UCL) attests to this: more than half of those questioned believe that wearing the veil “goes against the grain of modern society”. Nearly one in four do not even tolerate it on public roads. The veil is seen as a sign of submission (by nearly seven out of ten people), as an anti-Western symbol (by 31% of respondents), or even as a provocation (23%). Barely one ...Read More >>

Toyota and the spirit of community  Japan's Toyota became the world's largest automaker in the first quarter of 2006, overtaking its struggling American rival General Motors in terms of sales and production. Toyota announced Tuesday that it sold 2.348 million vehicles worldwide from January to March. At the same time, it produced 2.367 million. All analysts expected Toyota, which is going from strength to strength in North America where local manufacturers are ...Read More >>

The devastating role of hedge funds The famous “hedge funds” made record acquisitions in 2006. These new players in the global economy, however, give rise to many reservations and concerns. Their strategy consists of acquiring companies using debt (up to 80%), managing them as best as possible and reselling them a few years later, generating a capital gain in order to remunerate their shareholders. Takeover bid, then return to the...Read More >>

Social capital is a key concept in social psychology, sociology, economics and political science. Although its definition and its measurement have caused a lot of ink to be spilled (which of course contributes to the interest in the concept...), it could be clearly defined by "the collective value of all the norms and social relations allowing the coordination of actions with a view to achieving common objectives” (James Coleman) or as a “set of attitudes and mental dispositions favori...Read More >>