Political parties, political corruption, and the economic theory of democracy

Many prominent cases of political corruption in Western European democracies have involved political parties, yet the link between theories of political parties and theories of political corruption has not been explored. This article seeks to examine this link from the perspective of economic theories of democracy. It is argued that the economic model of party organisation is liable to encourage corrupt behaviour on the part of politicians, and that modern party organisations are coming to resemble this model, making political corruption more likely to emerge. It is suggested that this hypothesis finds some empirical support in the evidence of systematic corruption amongst Southern European socialist parties. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Differences and Changes in Danish Party Organisations: Central Party Organisation versus Parliamentary Party Group Power

The subject of this article is the relationship between the central party organisation and the parliamentary party group. The article investigates whether Danish political parties are changing into parties dominated by their parliamentary party groups, as has been hypothesised. In contrast to most of the literature on party change, which is based on ideas of convergence caused by external changes, this article argues that party organisation is basically a party decision and therefore influenced by party preferences and characteristics. The analyses are based on data from the statutes of 16 Danish parties in over 50 years. One noteworthy finding is that Danish parties do not converge. Party ideology proves to be very important for the power structure of a party. Even though political parties are exposed to changing political circumstances they still organise according to their basic ideas about democracy and representation.     

Parliamentary party groups and their parties: A comparative assessment

This article presents a comparative study of the interrelationship between parliamentary party groups and their extra‐parliamentary party organisations in liberal democracies. Starting with a historical overview of the most important party changes that have taken place since the 1960s, a typology of parliamentary party/party organisation relations is suggested. The following variables are identified as being of particular importance in shaping the structure of power in political parties: position of parliament in the political system; (non‐)existence of the incompatibility rule; effects of the electoral system; competition structure and degree of polarisation of the party system; political culture; conditions under which parties emerged; (non‐)existence of public funding for parties; degree of professionalisation of the political elite.     

Parliamentary Consociationalism in Lebanon: Equal Citizenry vs. Quotated Confessionalism

This article sheds light on the governance dilemma in a deeply divided post-conflict Lebanese sectarian society undergoing democratic transition. It assesses consociational democracy as a working model institutionalised by Lebanon in light of the country's composition of multiple religious minorities. In particular, it focuses on the political forces shaping the current Lebanese National Assembly (parliament) within the confessional structure and analyses the prospect and impasses confronting the development of a stable and representative assembly. Analysis of the Lebanese parliament is made in light of five assessment areas identified as fundamental for the emergence of a stable democratic institution: political will and domestic support, representation, lawmaking, oversight, and management and infrastructure. After revealing the deep-rooted deficiency of quota-based confessional representation, the article provides institutional transitional reform recommendations that could increase the likelihood for the legislature to better fulfil the critical functions of representation, oversight, and lawmaking vital for democratic transition. The realisation of consociational democracy in Lebanon, the article argues, would require the eventual adoption of proportional representation as a means of moving the country from a ‘confessionally quotated’ to ‘equal citizenry’ based representation.     

Democratic Incongruities: Representative Democracy in Britain

This essay discusses the rationale guiding legislation dealing exclusively with political parties. The analysis is based on examination of party laws in Austria, Finland, Germany, Israel, Poland, Spain and Venezuela. The manner by which a particular legislature applies the general features of party law‐ legislation (general declaration regarding the role of parties in democracies, definition of parties, registration requirements, the democratic character of association in parties, regulation of party finance, legal sanctions) is demonstrated in reference to the Israeli party law, the most recent case of an established democracy whose legislature passed a parties law in 1992.

Throughout the analysis, the study addresses a question of principle: should a legislature comprised of representatives of political parties undertake to legislate laws regulating the activities of political parties in a democratic parliamentary system? It is suggested that a partial response to this question is found in the fact that, with the exception of Finland and Israel, democratic polities that have chosen to legislate party laws had previously experienced a collapse of their democratic systems. In the process of reforming their democratic structures, the legislatures in these polities enacted parties laws that would ensure that political parties perform functions commensurate With the goals and practices of modern democracies.     

Protesters,Parliamentarians, Policymakers: The Experiences of Australian Green MPs

This article details the distinctive style and political commitments that Green members of parliament (MPs) bring to representative democracy in Australia. Based on in-depth interviews with 16 sitting federal and state Green MPs, it examines the extent to which the political culture, grassroots organisation and values of this left-libertarian party influence the parliamentary role orientations and legislative behaviour of its MPs, and how this fits with existing research on parliamentary representatives. The analysis reveals mixed results: while the legislative priorities and representative focus of MPs appear to be influenced more by previous social movement and parliamentary experience rather than overarching party orientations, the party's culture has had a strong impact on MPs' views regarding issues of conscience and their style of representation. Drawing on the comparative experience of Green parties throughout Western Europe, this article utilises the prism of role orientations to assess the conflicting imperatives Australian Green MPs face in staying true to their movement origins while their party becomes increasingly professional and influential in the parliamentary arena.     

参与式诉讼发生的社会机理与政治架构

参与式诉讼在我国的出现,是社会自身演化的结果。它是由案件当事人、媒体、律师等各种社会主体通过公众参与活动形成的社会合力促生出来的,具有参与式民主和协商式民主的色彩。在一定程度上补充了我国权力结构模式的不足,是一种新型制度推进机制,对于解决重大的社会问题和制度问题具有很强的推动作用。为充分实现它的价值,需要从审判制度改革、信息公开制度建设、当事人资助基金制度建设等方面进行制度构建。     

商事组织间的现代博弈——对Larry E.Ribstein《非公司组织的勃兴》的阐释

毋庸置疑,公司在现代经济中具有举足轻重的地位,其制度设计当下存在着的致命弊病严重削弱了其发展的气势。作为非公司组织大家庭中的重要成员,合伙是当之无愧的"元老",但其独特性的制度却遭遇了发展困境。风云际会,多种有利因素的综合作用,迎来了非公司组织勃兴的良机。商事组织之间竞争与合作的发展历程阐明了经济、政治、文化等多种因素间的力量对比决定着它们彼此间消长的基本规律。     

Constitutional democracy and the legitimacy of judicial review

It has long been argued that the institution of judicial review is incompatible with democratic institutions. This criticism usually relies on a procedural conception of democracy, according to which democracy is essentially a form of government defined by equal political rights and majority rule. I argue that if we see democracy not just as a form of government, but more basically as a form of sovereignty, then there is a way to conceive of judicial review as a legitimate democratic institution. The conception of democracy that stems from the social contract tradition of Locke, Rousseau, Kant and Rawls, is based in an ideal of the equality, independence, and original political jurisdiction of all citizens. Certain equal basic rights, in addition to equal political rights, are a part of democratic sovereignty. In exercising their constituent power at the level of constitutional choice, free and equal persons could choose judicial review as one of the constitutional mechanisms for protecting their equal basic rights. As such, judicial review can be seen as a kind of shared precommitment by sovereign citizens to maintaining their equal status in the exercise of their political rights in ordinary legislative procedures. I discuss the conditions under which judicial review is appropriate in a constitutional democracy. This argument is contrasted with Hamilton's traditional argument for judicial review, based in separation of powers and the nature of judicial authority. I conclude with some remarks on the consequences for constitutional interpretation.I am indebted to John Rawls and Burton Dreben for their helpful advice and their comments on an earlier draft of this paper.     

When is a group not a political group? the dissolution of the TDI group in the european parliament

This article is about political groups and non-attached members in the European Parliament (EP). Although the strengthening of the former to the detriment of the latter is an old as well as an incremental phenomenon, it is with the current legislature that the struggle between the two has become a central issue of the EP agenda. The peak is the case of the TDI Group (‘Bonino-Le Pen’), the first political group dissolved by the assembly itself, backed by an unprecedented judgment of the Court of First Instance, on the basis of the lack of political affinities between its members. At the same time as shedding light on the way political groups are conceived and the prerogatives they reserve, this episode emphasises the special imperatives of the EP internal organisation and helps to explain the most recent revision of the Rules of Procedure. The study reveals that over time the EP has increasingly enhanced the role of political groups to an extent that non-attached members consider prejudicial for the full exercise of the democratic mandate; moreover, it shows that the requirement of political affinities to form political groups is formal in nature so that only an explicit denial would entail its actual enforcement, as was the case for the TDI Group; finally, while emphasising that the EP's internal structure needs to be considered in the light of the special legislative role and unique transnational features of the institution itself, it warns that reference to other national models can be misleading.     

从威权型法到自由民主型法——法治发展的全球趋势

法治社会的生成是一个不断削弱政治专权、捍卫个体尊严的过程。威权型法作为政治权力的孳息物 ,具有人格贬损、话语霸权、政法合一、严刑峻法等特征 ,从而使人不成其为人 ,使法不成其为法。从威权型法转向自由民主型法是全球化时代的法治发展趋势。自由民主型法的价值取向是权利至上 ;制度支撑是宪政体制 ,具体内容包括人民主权、权力分割、违宪审查、司法独立和政党守法等内容。     

Criminal heterarchy and its critics: governance and the making of insecurity in Colombia

ABSTRACT

The FARC, Colombia’s oldest and biggest guerrilla organisation, has long been constructed as the country’s public enemy number one, an enemy that is increasingly portrayed as an outright criminal actor who abandoned all political ambitions. This image of the FARC as a criminal threat to the Colombian state and society is central to a broader turn towards criminalisation in Colombian politics. Through the lens of a critical governance perspective and the notion of the state’s discursive selectivity this article analyses turning points during which the construction of Colombian society’s criminal enemies became a driving force in the country’s security governance. Which social forces support the implementation of criminalising forms of security governance and how? What are the social and political consequences of the latter? In answering these questions, the article argues that the war on (guerrilla) crime assumes a ‘productive’ role for Colombia’s formal democracy.     

新加坡的威权政治及其历史走向——基于政治生态系统的分析

在20世纪60年代以来的现代化进程中,新加坡逐渐建立起介于有限极权与有限民主之间的威权主义政治体制.这种威权主义政治体制的形成是新加坡自身独有的政治生态系统中地理、社会、文化、历史、政治等因素综合作用的结果.正因如此,它契合了新加坡的历史和现实需要,对现代化发展起到巨大的推动作用.而随着新加坡经济的发展,中产阶级形成,市民社会兴起,执政党本身也进行了适时的改革,新加坡政治生态系统中的诸多因素发生了重大变化,民主在威权秩序下不断成熟起来.     

Political culture,administrative system reform and anticorruption in China: taking the official car management institution reform as an example

Starting from an institutional dilemma, this article argues that the official consumption institution reform is essential for improving China’s administrative system. It takes the official car management institution reform as an example, analyzes its importance to anticorruption and the impact of political culture on the reform. The administrative system reform has encountered restriction from China’s political culture at present, but will promote its evolvement towards more political equality and transparency and achieve success finally.     

Progress, Unity, and Democracy: Dissolving Political Parties in Turkey

In this article, I analyze two cases where the Turkish Constitutional Court dissolved political parties during the 1990s. Specifically, I examine the cases against the Islamist Refah (Welfare/Well-Being) Party and the pro-Kurdish Halkin Emek Partisi (People's Labor Party). While the former was charged with threatening the secular basis of the national social order, the charges against the latter were around its allegedly separatist character. I engage in an in-depth analysis of the lines of argument in the indictments, arguments of defense deployed by the parties, and their ultimate contestations as they appeared in the final decisions by the Court. I see the Court as engaging with a medley of themes and tendencies, [trying to resolve them for the case at hand]. I argue that despite the differences in the construction of the alleged threats, in both cases the Court deployed a similar image of the ways in which social, political, and judicial terrains interact. A rather arbitrary boundary between the political and cultural domains informs these decisions. The Court operates with the understanding that once this boundary is transgressed, what may be harmless when an issue is cultural—such as the use of the headscarf or of the Kurdish language—may turn into a political symbol threatening the basis of the united, democratic, and progressive nation-state. In this vision, the concepts of democracy, progress, and unity are intimately tied together such that the threat to one of these concepts almost simultaneously constitutes a threat to the other two. The Court imagines itself as protecting the boundary between the political and cultural domains in an effort to uphold the right of a democracy to protect itself. This line of thought also enables the court's rather routine involvement in the political domain—which has brought about eighteen decisions for political party dissolution since 1980.     

The EU–ACP development cooperation – governance challenges for non‐state actors: the case of Malawi

The European Development Consensus 2005 contains a broad policy re‐statement of the EU’s world view vis‐à‐vis its internal and external relations. It places poverty eradication and sustainable development at the heart of its policy. The context within which poverty eradication is pursued is an increasingly globalised and interdependent world that constantly creates new opportunities and challenges. Combating global poverty is seen by both parties not only as a moral obligation; rather as a building block for a more stable, peaceful, prosperous and equitable world, reflecting the interdependency of its richer and poorer countries. The EU has in its relations with the African, Pacific and Caribbean countries, past and present, pursued a development agenda via successive aid and development cooperation arrangements starting with the Yaoundé I convention, through Lomé to the Cotonou Partnership Agreement (CPA). In this article I reflect on the CPA, based on a corpus of shared objectives, principles and the Lomé ‘acquis’ in relation to Malawi non‐state actors (NSAs). I reflect on the opportunities and challenges it presents and how contemplated social dialogue between government and NSAs on the one hand and the EU can translate into poverty reduction, sustainable development and integration of the local economy to the global economy. I conclude that unlike its predecessors, Yaoundé and Lomé conventions, the CPA acknowledges the complementary role of NSAs in the development process, however NSAs in Malawi face constraints in terms of organisation and capacity building that affects their participation. What I do not do is to offer a discussion of the CPA as a whole, for that is outside the scope of this article, but rather have focused on the governance aspect vis‐à‐vis NSAs.     

Brazilian Parliament and digital engagement

ABSTRACT

This paper examines how new technologies are employed by the Brazilian Chamber of Deputies to stimulate experiences of digital engagement. It also evaluates how new technologies are put in practice by the institution, considering its potentialities and limitations in mediating the relationship between the parliament and the citizens. This analysis is anchored in concepts put forth by Polsby about arena parliaments and transformative parliaments, in order to evaluate which of these models of engagement tools have greater potential. The study concludes that the use of digital technologies by the Brazilian Parliament is very diverse, with a variety of tools that allow for the interaction and engagement of citizens, although these tools have the greatest potential for the arena parliament model.     

The Legal Dimensions of Whole-Process People’s Democracy

The concept of whole-process people’s democracy can be analyzed in terms of four the rule of law dimensions: continuous democracy, authentic democracy, extensive democracy and consultative democracy. Continuous democracy means that democracy provides a continuous and uninterrupted mechanism in terms of stage, time and space, which can ensure the continuous participation of the people in the management of state and social affairs. Authentic democracy is not only embodied creation of opportunities and conditions for the people to have more channels and methods of participation in the management of state and social affairs, but is also reflected in the process of democratic practice, including the protection of legitimate rights and interests of the minority. Extensive democracy means that the people are fully and deeply involved in the management of state and social affairs as well as their own affairs, from the operation of the state system to social life at the community level, and from pre-election to post-election. Consultative democracy is a means of realizing people’s democracy in the whole process. It applies consultation and seeks truth, aiming at building consensus. Moreover, it integrates various channels of consultation, and integrates democracy into all aspects of the work of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and government and in all aspects of the people’s political and social life.     

Distinguishing Between Influences on Brazilian Legislative Behavior

Ideal point estimators hold the promise of identifying multiple dimensions of political disagreement as they are manifested in legislative voting. However, standard ideal point estimates do not distinguish between ideological motivations and voting inducements from parties, coalitions, or the executive. In this article we describe a general approach for hierarchically identifying an ideological dimension using an auxiliary source of data. In the case we consider, we use an anonymous survey of Brazilian legislators to identify party positions on a left‐right ideology dimension. We then use this data to distinguish ideological motivations from other determinants of roll‐call behavior for eight presidential‐legislative periods covering more than 20 years of Brazilian politics. We find that there exists an important nonideological government‐opposition dimension, with the entrance and exit of political parties from the governing coalition appearing as distinct shifts in ideal point on this second dimension. We conjecture that the Brazilian president's control over politically important resources is the source of this dimension of conflict, which has recently become far more important in explaining roll‐call voting than the ideological dimension.     

民主的概念分析

民主的真实含义及蕴含的政治理想、价值信仰等远非不证自明,其内涵是丰富的,外延是宽泛的;它既是一个政治制度设计与安排,也是现代社会的权利价值与信仰体系;它必须与法治联姻、与代议形式结缘;由此为现当代社会提供一种权力与权利的平衡和谐的模式与和平发展之前景。