性别失衡议题中的多元利益格局与政策博弈——对中国性别失衡政策议题网络的实证分析

性别失衡是中国社会的核心议题,议题活动反映了不同利益集团政策博弈的过程.为揭示性别失衡背景下我国社会的利益格局,本文依托Intemet和中国期刊网数据,分析了性别失衡政策议题网络中不同政策社群的利益博弈行为.结果表明:Heclo(1978)和McFarland(1987)关于政策议题网络的概念模型,不完全适用于中国性别失衡政策议题网络,后者参与社群性质异化、边界模糊,具有更为复杂的现代政策多元主义特征.在议题网络中,各政策社群代表不同利益集团采取发言、劝告、旁听、争论等形式参与政策博弈,表现出两类博弈形态:一是议题交流型,就性别失衡的态势、原因、后果和治理等提交观点、表达利益,意在将本集团的议题态度融入公共政策进程;二是议题交锋型,围绕出生性别比异常的真实性、计划生育政策的合理性、光棍挑起战争的可能性,以及施行治理的必要性等,暴发激烈的议题观点时抗,意在就关键政策环节主导政策舆论环境.这两类利益博弈在性别失衡议题发展中具有近似量质互变的哲学辩证关系.     

公共政策过程中的政府利益及其约束

在公共政策过程中,政府在选择政策方案时坚持怎样的评价标准,将影响公共政策的公平性和公正性;在执行公共政策的过程中,各级政府是否能够按照政策目标的要求获得各自的利益,也将深刻地影响公共政策的总体效果。政府作为公共政策的制定者、实施者和供给者,其政策取向相应以社会和国家的整体利益为目标,在社会中保持一种公正超然的地位。但由于政策过程中政府利益的存在,在政策实践过程中又往往与该价值目标发生分离,应然与实然相冲突,从而降低政策实效。因此在政策实践中要分析政府利益产生的原因,构建良好的利益协调机制,避免政府利益与社会公共利益产生冲突,达到一种良好的利益均衡状态。     

关于“利益政策学”的思考

随着人们对政策科学的深入研究 ,其分支学科也将越来越多。我认为 ,坚持以马克思主义的利益理论与利益分析方法为指导 ,系统地研究政策制定与实施过程中的规律 ,建立“利益政策学”十分必要。关于这门分支学科的框架 ,目前尚很难描述清楚 ,这里仅就其中四个问题谈点想法。１ 作为公共政策研究的基点 ,首先需要回答 :政府为什么要制定政策？或者称为“公共政策的本质是什么”？我坚持认为 ,公共政策是政府为有效地增进与公平地分配社会公共利益而制定的行为准则。简单地说 ,它是为增进与分配社会公共利益而设立的规范。从分配角度看 ,政府分…     

政策议题建构现代化的驱动逻辑与实现路径

政策议题建构作为公共政策的首要环节,在网络技术、社会转型、民主参与和公共政策相互嵌置的情境中,其价值理念、运作机制、行为模式、发展态势等维度逐渐趋向现代性。在问题、技术、理念和利益多维驱动下,政治权威、正式制度结构和非正式制度过程等政治机会结构因素发生变迁,导致政策议题建构权力分配格局变化,最终开启了政策议题建构现代化之窗。政策议题建构现代化的实现基于政府主动适应和公民理性参与的双向驱动逻辑,要以充分信息和低度强制的"中心—边缘协商民主"为模式设计,从价值体系、制度规范、行为模式和发展取向等不同维度实施全面、持续和本质的现代化变革。     

政策网络的研究边界探析

政策网络的提出,揭示利益联盟及信仰联盟在政策过程中的作用,认为公共政策是包括政府和社会的各类行动者互动的结果。这种研究思路承继政策过程“互动”和“不可预知性”的思想,强调政策过程中的政治性。政策网络内在的稳定与动态、互倚与自主、排它和包容等双重属性,决定了政策网络是需要管理的。政策网络的管理是组织间关系的管理,旨在达成互利互惠和良性合作。     

政策网络的两种分析途径及其影响

政策网络是运用网络主义来分析政策过程的一种理论框架。不同的学派对它有不一样的理解。在学术界都承认政策网络是一种在分析政策过程中利益集团与政府关系的方法基础上,分别从利益中介和治理两个不同的分析途径对政策网络进行研究。不同的分析途径导致了不同的研究方向,但是以上的分歧深化了对政策网络本身的深刻理解。     

社会组织利益诉求活动中的利益联盟现象研究

现阶段中国社会组织利益诉求活动中存在的主要问题是地方政府与资本集团的利益联盟。因为资本集团通过与地方政府的联盟,使其拥有了影响地方政府政策制定过程的无可比拟的优势,从而使其他社会组织(集团)的利益诉求难以进入政府决策过程。因此必须遏止利益联盟现象,促使社会组织走上规范的利益诉求之路。     

公共政策中的政府利益分析

美国政治学家戴维·伊斯顿认为“公共政策是政府对全社会公共利益进行有权威的价值分配。”它的内在逻缉是作为运用社会政策进行利益分配的政府,在利益的选择分配中起着重大的作用。公平、公正的公共政策能带动社会经济全面迅速发展,在现代化的过程中有的国家由于政府使用了卓有成效的公共政策,使国家走上了繁荣昌盛的快车道,也有的国家因公共政策的失误、失真甚至误导,而使国家陷于混战、衰退的深渊中。究其原因,林林总总,但无疑与政府的公共政策有关,本文将从政府利益的角度,探讨政府利益对公共政策的影响,并针对转型期中国政府的现存利益及弊端作简要分析。     

公共政策执行过程中道德风险的成因及规避机制研究——基于利益博弈的视角

公共政策执行过程是一个典型的委托一代理模型,在信息不对称条件下,作为代理人的政策执行者基于自身利益最大化的诉求,利用作为委托人的政策制定者的信息劣势、监管漏洞以及风险的分担机制,通过不作为、虚假执行和歪曲执行等方式,致使政策执行偏离预先设计的轨道,进而造成政策目标的落空或扭曲.本文将信息经济学中"道德风险"的概念和理论引入公共政策执行过程研究,以中央政府作为委托人,地方政府作为代理人,将地方政府虚假执行政策以实现自身利益最大化的行为称为公共政策执行过程中的道德风险.其产生的根本原因在于,在参与约束和激励相容约束均无法满足的条件下,中央政府和地方政府之间以及各地方政府之间基于自身利益而选择的博弈策略.央地之间的博弈具有"斗鸡博弈"的特征,具有层级隶属关系的地方政府之间的博弈符合"智猪博弈"的特点,而同级地方政府之间的博弈则属于典型的"囚徒困境".笔者在对上述主体之间的博弈策略分别予以分析的基础上设计了以"利益整合"理念为主线的规避政策执行中道德风险现象产生的机制.     

多元文化主义与马克思主义民族理论的两点比较

"多元文化主义"既是一种文化观、历史观、教育理念、公共政策,又是一种意识形态和价值观,但都和民族问题有关,属于民族理论的范畴。多元文化主义和马克思主义民族理论的一些主张相近或相同,但本质上属于不同的思想体系。在文化多样性问题上,多元文化主义提倡相对主义,马克思主义则讲发展、讲进化;多元文化主义强调"多元"和"差别",而马克思主义则是"多元"和"一体"的统一论者。在民族政策方面,与马克思主义民族理论指导下的社会主义国家相比,多元文化主义政策的实行有着很大的被动性,出现的时间要晚,内容上较简单,社会的认同度也不高。     

Does the Government Selection Process Promote or Hinder Pluralism? Exploring the Characteristics of Voluntary Organizations Invited to Public Consultations

To what extent does the government selection process practised in public consultations promote or hinder pluralism in the policy-making process? This article addresses this question by exploring and analysing the characteristics of voluntary organizations invited to public consultations. Evidence is drawn from the formerly corporatist Scandinavian country of Sweden and the policy-making process referred to as the ‘remiss procedure’. The article shows that the government selection process encourages a multitude of organizations to participate. Consistent with recent studies on Scandinavian corporatism, this study provides weak support of corporatist practices in the Swedish policy process. However, and without challenging the seemingly pluralistic nature of the remiss procedure, voluntary organizations with ‘insider status’ in the policy process are more frequently invited to formal decision-making arenas such as the remiss procedure. It is argued that the policy network literature and the theory of political opportunity structures may further the understanding of the government selection process practised in public consultations.     

Assessing the Composition and Diversity of the Australian Interest Group System

Any democratic society requires mechanisms for citizens to have effective political voice. Clearly, political parties provide a key channel for expressing views and preferences. However, organised interests provide another important mechanism for such representation. A crucial question in this regard is whether the interest group system is capable of ensuring the representation of a variety of public and private interests. Resolving these debates requires data that map the terrain and also are attentive to organisational diversity. This article takes up this challenge through exploring the composition and diversity of the Australian system of organised interests, using a new data set based on the Directory of Australian Associations. This system‐level approach delivers important insights into the nature of the Australian interest group system, as well as provides a framework for subsequent work interpreting and contextualising advocacy activities of particular groups, or lobbying dynamics in specific policy domains.     

Fictitious Issues Revisited: Political Interest, Knowledge and the Generation of Nonattitudes

It has long been suspected that, when asked to provide opinions on matters of public policy, significant numbers of those surveyed do so with only the vaguest understanding of the issues in question. In this article, we present the results of a study which demonstrates that a significant minority of the British public are, in fact, willing to provide evaluations of non-existent policy issues. In contrast to previous American research, which has found such responses to be most prevalent among the less educated, we find that the tendency to provide 'pseudo-opinions' is positively correlated with self-reported interest in politics. This effect is itself moderated by the context in which the political interest item is administered; when this question precedes the fictitious issue item, its effect is greater than when this order is reversed. Political knowledge, on the other hand, is associated with a lower probability of providing pseudo-opinions, though this effect is weaker than that observed for political interest. Our results support the view that responses to fictitious issue items are not generated at random, via some 'mental coin flip'. Instead, respondents actively seek out what they consider to be the likely meaning of the question and then respond in their own terms, through the filter of partisan loyalties and current political discourses.     

Interest Group Competition and Coalition Formation

This article investigates how interest group competition, a state of conflicting policy preferences stemming from how organizational memberships are defined, can resolve into conflict or cooperation. The strategic choices of competing lobbyists are modeled as the results of a trade-off between the need to represent members and please legislators, and the additional advocacy resources they hope to gain by agreeing to form coalitions with their competitors rather than fight them in resource-draining conflicts. Hypotheses derived from the model are tested with data from interviews with lobbyists on six issues taken up by the U.S. Congress from 1999 to 2002. The results suggest that while group members do have some limited power to constrain the policy positions taken on issues by their lobbyists, it is primarily the pressures from legislators and competitor groups that push lobbyists into collectively supporting coalition positions different from those desired by their members.     

A Bridge in Flux: Narratives and the Policy Process in the Pacific Northwest

Policy narratives play an important role in the policy process. Often policy narratives originate from advocacy coalitions seeking increased support from the public for their policy stance. Although most Narrative Policy Framework studies have focused on national policy issues, this study examines a state and local economic development project by exploring the policy narratives from competing coalitions in favor and opposed to the project. Specifically, in the Portland–Vancouver area of Oregon and Washington, local policy discussions have been dominated by a proposal for a new mega bridge on Interstate‐5 connecting the two cities across the Columbia River. A new government agency (CRC—Columbia River Crossing) was formed for the implementation of this project. Upon approval of a proposal, CRC experienced heavy backlash from citizens, local businesses, community leaders, and other stakeholders leading to the formation of two competing coalitions in opposition and support of the bridge. This study, using content analysis of 370 public documents, finds that competing coalitions utilize policy narratives in strategic ways to characterize the opposing coalition, themselves, and other actors in the policy subsystem. This study also suggests that the strength and cohesion of a coalition's narrative contributes to its policy success and the winning/losing status of a coalition potentially determines the types of strategies they will use. Last, this study introduces and tests a new narrative strategy called the impotent shift testing a coalition's strategic use of the victim character.     

Decision‐making Italian style: The new code of criminal procedure

Government action in Italy is notoriously slow in most policy areas, but, when necessary, the government can act both decisively and effectively. This article is a case‐study of the decisional process surrounding such an issue, the new code of criminal procedure that was implemented in late 1989. Factors other than the alluring explanations of government longevity and coalition stability account for the success of this institutional reform. In the case of the new code, a sense of urgency was created and a champion for the cause was found in government; these two factors and public demand for changes generated a momentum towards implementation of major institutional reform that survived onslaught by interest groups and even the fall of two governments.     

利益表达、资源动员与议程设置——对于“闹大”现象的描述性分析

在当前社会转型时期的利益冲突中",闹大"已经成为公民抗争的重要逻辑。本文以近年来大量具有闹大特点的社会事件为研究对象,从理论上归纳了闹大的发展过程,概括和抽象了闹大的逻辑,并在公民与政府关系的框架下,从利益表达、资源动员和议程设置三个方面对闹大的功能性作用进行了深入的描述性分析。从利益表达的角度分析,闹大主要涉及到谁来表达、如何表达以及表达了什么的问题;从资源动员的角度分析,闹大的主要问题是动员的对象、动员过程的特征和动员的机制等问题;从议程设置的角度分析,闹大则与公民成为问题的界定者、问题是如何引起政府官员的注意的以及由谁用什么办法来解决问题等密切相关。闹大是透视公共治理状况的一面镜子。对闹大的描述性分析有助于深入把握和理解当前我国公共治理的规律和逻辑。     

Parties and Policymaking in Multiparty Governments: The Legislative Median,Ministerial Autonomy,and the Coalition Compromise

In parliamentary democracies, governments are typically composed of multiple political parties working together in a coalition. Such governments must confront a fundamental challenge in policymaking—the preferences of coalition parties often diverge significantly, but the government can adopt only one common policy on any specific issue. This fact raises a critical question that has far‐reaching implications for the quality of democratic representation: Whose preferences are ultimately reflected in coalition policy choices? In this study, we explore three competing answers to this question derived from the theoretical literature on multiparty governance and parliamentary institutions. Our findings, based on an analysis of the legislative history of more than 1,000 government bills from three parliamentary democracies, strongly suggest that coalition policies reflect a compromise between government parties rather than the preferences of the ministers proposing them or the preferences of the median party in the legislature.     

Pluralism,corporatism and perception of corruption

When people know who is influencing the elected politicians and they may ‘put the rascals out’ in case they feel that the incumbents are corrupt, ceteris paribus, their perception of the level of corruption should not be affected by lobbying. If on the other hand people are not sure which or how many actors are influencing public policy and they are not able to hold the government truly accountable as interest group influence is constant with different governments, people will be more likely to perceive the government as corrupted. The former system is a characteristic of corporatism and the latter of pluralism. This problem is exacerbated by the fact that interest groups with resources such as business groups or firms in pluralist systems are more influential than groups with few resources. Thus, people may perceive pluralist policy‐making system as more corrupt than corporatist policy‐making system where fewer visible actors have more or less equal weight in the policy‐making process. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Federalizing energy? Agenda change and the politics of fracking

This paper focuses on agenda change affecting the politics of ??fracking operations?? in the US, a process of extracting natural gas from underground shale formations. We examine how the movement of this policy issue between the state and federal levels of government has become increasingly contentious because of rising public concern about pollution impacts. Using information obtained from documentary sources and media content analysis, we found that the natural gas policy coalition has largely focused on a political strategy based on maintaining fracking regulatory controls at the state level, while the environmental policy coalition has pushed for increased regulation of drilling practices in general, including a larger policy and oversight role for federal agencies such as EPA.