Political folklore holds that political parties often try to change their images following a disastrous election defeat. This paper inquires into the truth of this common assumption through a systematic analysis of manifestos promulgated by eight parties in Britain, Germany and the USA prior to national elections in the 1950s through 1980s. Each election was classified as triumphal, gratifying, tolerable, disappointing or calamitous from the standpoint of each party. The change in party images for adjacent elections was assessed by correlating the percentages of sentences devoted to standard political themes in the pair of manifestos. We tested the hypothesis that parties were most likely to change their policy images following disappointing or calamitous elections. Our findings suggest that poor electoral performance was not a sufficient condition to produce a major overhaul of party images, but poor performance in the prior election was virtually necessary to produce major change in policy packaging at the next election.

Various developments in the post-WWII global economy have led many scholars of international relations to contend that borders are eroding. My argument takes issue with this, suggesting that borders are not becoming increasingly meaningless; instead, some states are working to endow them with meaning in innovative ways. Specifically, I examine the trade disputes over culture industries during recent GATT and NAFTA talks to demonstrate that some states are shifting their attention from territorial borders to conceptual or invisible borders. Many governments support the removal of borders that serve as barriers to the movement of goods, services, capital, information, and, in some cases, people. Nevertheless, these same governments resist the increasing permeability of borders that provide the boundaries of political community.In recent decades the expansion of transnational links between states has prompted a debate in international relations over the significance of national borders. Many argue that the increase in the volume of trade, migration and cross-border financial transactions, the emergence of regional trading blocs, and the global reach of multinational corporations signal the erosion of national borders. No longer barriers to the movement of goods, services, information, and people, national borders may be an archaic remnant of a bygone Westphalian era.I argue that it is too early to sound the death knell of the national border. Some states are responding to the permeability of their territorial borders by reinforcing the invisible or conceptual borders held in place by cultural particularity, by collective identity, and by the common understandings that underpin a distinctive political community. Governments willingly open the territorial borders of the state in order to reap the economic reward that accompanies participation in a global marketplace. Nevertheless, they resist the concomitant cultural homogenization-the dilution of national identity-by simultaneously fortifying the nation. States are responding to globalization by attempting to restore meaning to national borders, not as barriers to entry, but as boundaries demarcating distinct political communities.The binary choice between the presence or absence of borders common in international relations debates is insufficient to capture the complexity of the changes taking place in the international arena. Instead, it seems more accurate to posit an intermediate position that suggests that borders are present but permeable; they are disappearing but still discernible, and the degree to which

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Inclusive trade is taking hold in various forms in international organizations and in the trade policy of national governments. Absent empirical evidence that will take time to generate, it can be difficult to assess the achievements of this new approach to trade. Nancy Fraser's three justice idioms provide a conceptual entry point for evaluating the potential of the inclusive trade agenda. Fraser argues that the contemporary global justice conversation must acknowledge claims for recognition, representation, and redistribution. Applying this conceptualization to the inclusive trade agenda shows that trade agreement provisions intended to favor women and Indigenous peoples go some distance in addressing claims for recognition and representation but accomplish less in remedying injustices associated with maldistribution. Therefore, the inclusive trade agenda does significantly advance global justice for marginalized groups, but works primarily in ways that are political and cultural, not economic.

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