Abstract Courts and judicial institutions are often overlooked in armed conflict research. Before the rebel group is formed and initiates armed confrontation, states and their allies – directly and indirectly – mobilize the court to prosecute selected individuals to deter political opposition and establish state legitimacy. This article argues that the state can directly prosecute potential political challengers through criminal cases, deterring aspiring political leaders from organizing a rebellion at the local level. Similarly, the state can indirectly use its local collaborators to prosecute potential civilian supporters in court by filing civil cases, intensifying local discontent, and exacerbating underlying grievances against the state and its local collaborators. The state’s direct and indirect involvement in generating legitimacy affects the subnational risk of conflict onset differently. Analyses of original data for all 75 district-level courts in Nepal between 1991 and 2006 and the onset of the Maoist conflict show robust support for the arguments.

Abstract Why do both economically advantaged and disadvantaged voters sometimes converge in their support for conservative parties? This study examines how subjective class consciousness mediates the relationship between economic inequality and political behaviour in South Korea. Moving beyond conventional class-voting models based on income or occupation, it conceptualises class as a relational and perceptual construct formed through social comparison. This study argues that rising inequality weakens identification with the subjective middle class, generally associated with progressive orientations, while reinforcing symbolic divisions between those who perceive themselves as upper or lower class. Using nationally representative survey data and local administrative–level (si-gun-gu) electoral returns from 2012 to 2022, the analysis finds that both subjective class identification and local inequality are significantly associated with conservative support. At the individual level, voters identifying as either the upper or lower class are more likely to support conservative parties than those identifying as the middle class. At the local administrative-unit level, higher inequality corresponds with greater conservative vote shares. These findings suggest that inequality influences political behaviour not only through material conditions but also through perceptions of social hierarchy.

Abstract Allied states often seek to discourage other members from engaging in unnecessary conflicts, frequently working to mitigate and de-escalate tensions during crises involving their partners. This study investigates the de-escalatory influence of alliances − referred to as the restraint effect − on state behaviour during international crises. The central question addressed is: under what conditions does the restraint effect of alliances become more pronounced? The study hypothesizes that relatively weak states allied with major powers are more likely to experience a stronger restraint effect compared to others. This hypothesis is empirically tested using multiple regression models. The findings provide evidence of an additional restraint effect associated with the presence of a major ally within defence pacts. Furthermore, the temporal analysis reveals that this effect is particularly evident during the Cold War era.

Abstract Political trust, which signifies the belief in the responsible exercise of power by political institutions, is a fundamental prerequisite for democratic legitimacy. However, even amidst a democratic deficit, the public's trust in the military can remain firm. This study aims to illuminate the prevailing trend and potential factors influencing public trust in the military in Taiwan from 2001 to 2022. The trajectory of trust in Taiwan's military implies fluctuating trust levels in response to the varying intensity of external threats. However, in general, confidence in the armed forces remains higher than that in other political institutions, a trend that is also observed in other nations. The statistical evidence demonstrates substantial support for both cultural and institutional explanations of political trust in the military in Taiwan throughout the initial two decades of the twenty-first century. However, the institutional explanation appears to be more robust than the cultural explanation. Notably, statistical results on trust in the government are consistent across all six survey rounds, with institutional factors showing higher overall significance in the pooled dataset compared to cultural factors, thereby emphasizing the institutional perspective.

Abstract Candidates from established political families are more likely to win than their non-dynastic counterparts because their political inheritance often includes significant advantages in resources and reputation. Yet dynastic candidates also bring their own set of experiences and qualities to the game. Is it the case that their individual characteristics can explain their electoral success, or is their success due to their family legacy? Theoretically, how and when are political resources transferred to the new generation? We examine these questions by looking at non-incumbent candidates in city and county council elections in Taiwan from 2009 to 2014, drawing on unique data on politicians' backgrounds. The profile of dynastic candidates differs from that of non-dynastic candidates: they are younger, have less electoral experience and list experience in different sorts of organizations and jobs. However, these differences are not what drives their electoral success; indeed, they tend to win despite these qualities rather than because of them. Even after controlling for candidate quality, dynastic status remains a powerful predictor, conveying roughly a 20 percentage point increase in the probability of winning. This suggests that while dynastic candidates accrue some of their advantage long before they run for office, a large part of the inheritance is transferred during the campaign.

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Abstract This study examines the relationship between ideology and resistance to the government's apology to Asian victims of Japan's colonial rule policy, which varies according to political knowledge. Based on existing research, because only a limited percentage of voters consider politics to be ideology based, it is expected that the association between ideology and resistance to intergroup apologies by one's own government differs according to their level of political knowledge. We selected three issues of political apologies: colonial rule in Asian countries, comfort women, and the massacre of Korean people based on false rumors at the time of the 1923 Kanto Earthquake; thereafter, we conducted an online survey of a panel selected by Nikkei Research Inc. The results suggest that the relationship between ideology and resistance among voters to political apologies varies with the level of political knowledge, as expected. On the contrary, social dominance orientations (SDO) were associated with resistance to apology, regardless of their level of political knowledge. We then tested the reproducibility of this finding by conducting a follow-up test on registered users of a crowdsourcing service after conducting a preregistration. In addition, we also measured general attitudes toward personal apologies and neighboring countries victimized by Japan's colonialist policies as factors that might predict resistance to apologies even among the politically uninformed. The association between ideology, SDO, and resistance to governmental apologies was generally replicated in this study.

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