Strategic coalition voting: Evidence from New Zealand

Whereas the classic literature on strategic voting has focused on the dilemma faced by voters who prefer a candidate for whom they expect has little chance of winning a seat, we consider the dilemma faced by voters in PR systems who do not expect their preferred party to be in government. We develop hypotheses relating to strategic voting over multi-party governments that we test using the New Zealand Election Study (NZES) campaign study of 2002. We find evidence that expectations play a role in structuring vote choice. While there is clear evidence of wishful thinking there is also evidence that voters respond to expectations about government formation. These expectations may mobilize voters and lead them to defect from their first preference.     

破解“城管困境”的战略性人力资源管理视角——基于对北京城市管理综合执法队伍的调查研究

近些年围绕城管执法队伍产生了很多争论,一方面,地方政府对这支队伍有很强的依赖,另一方面,这支队伍受到了很多批评甚至攻击。本文在对北京市城管执法队伍进行深入调查的基础上发现,问题的根源在于国家对这支队伍缺乏明确的战略定位,这导致赋予他们的职责与这支队伍的数量和质量之间出现较为严重的不匹配,再加上没有及时采取措施对这支队伍的结构和管理机制进行优化,结果使城管执法工作的职责不断扩大,与这支队伍的人力资源状况之间的矛盾日益尖锐。相应地,必须从战略和人力资源管理两个层面来寻找解决问题的方案,即借助战略性人力资源管理思想来化解城管困境。     

关于加强中国国家软实力建设的几点思考

10月18日中共十七届六中全会在北京落幕,会议审议通过了《中共中央关于深化文化体制改革、推动社会主义文化大发展大繁荣若干重大问题的决定》,国家文化建设作为软实力塑造的重要组成部分,将人们的视线再次拉回到传统文化建设上来。自从20世纪90年代初美国著名学者约瑟夫·奈提出“软实力”概念以来,它就开始成为世界各国关注的焦点。纵观近现代世界一流强国崛起的历史,可以看出“软实力”建设在其崛起的过程中发挥了重要作用。中国在和平发展过程中如何提高自身的国际影响力,如何通过软实力来塑造中国良好的国际形象,掌控能力、战略信誉以及表现能力非常重要。     

中国气候外交的战略布局

近年来,气候变化问题在国际关系中的地位不断上升,成为影响国际格局走势的一个重要因素,并将引起世界各国外交领域的“气候变革”。当前,应对气候变化已成为中国“领域外交”的一项重要任务。气候外交作为中国整体外交布局的重要组成部分,是中国积极应对气候变化、优化对外战略布局的一项重要举措。认清形势并进行战略布局,积极开展气候外交,促进国民经济健康可持续发展,进一步提升国家形象,更好地履行国际责任,也是中国和平发展战略的一项重要内容。     

Strategy and Selection in International Relations

It is widely recognized that many of the samples we use for statistical analysis in international politics are the result of some selection process. Not surprisingly, selection models are becoming increasingly popular. At the same time, the role of strategic interaction has begun to play a more important role in statistical analyses. However, it has not been clear how statistical strategic models and selection models relate to each other, or what the effects are of employing one when the other is the more appropriate model. In this article, I 1) clarify why international relations scholars cannot shield themselves from selection bias simply by assuming their results are limited to a given sample; 2) show how recent statistical strategic models relate to traditional selection models and generalize the two sets of models by deriving a correlated strategic model; and 3) examine the effects of misspecifying either correlated errors or strategic interaction. My results indicate that failure to model the strategic interaction produces worse specification error than failure to account for correlated disturbances. In fact, traditional bivariate probit models appear to be superior only when states are almost completely uncertain about each others' preferences.     

Modeling Selection Bias in Studies of Sanctions Efficacy

Sanctions rarely work but they continue to be used frequently by policymakers. I argue that previous studies of sanctions ignore the problem of strategic censoring by focusing only on cases of observed sanctions. In this paper, I develop a unified model of sanction imposition and success and test it using a simultaneous equation censored probit model. This selection-corrected sanction model finds that the process by which sanctions are imposed is linked to the process by which some succeed while others fail, and that the unmeasured factors that lead to sanction imposition are negatively related to their success.     

Where in the world is South Africa? Lecture by Ambassador Tony Leon 14 February 2013

Most of the current constructs which theoretically underpin foreign policy for this country are either overblown or incoherent; they do not appropriately define or advance or prioritise South Africa's national interests abroad, nor do they acknowledge the tensions embedded in the clash between normative policies and realpolitik. Drawing from ‘real time’ experiences in international diplomacy, this lecture explores some of the dilemmas that South Africa, as a middle-range power in the world, confronts in its international engagements. The cost-effectiveness of South Africa's global projection is also examined, and some practical reforms to achieve better results in the current age of austerity suggested.     

Innocent of the crime under investigation: suspects’ counter-interrogation strategies and statement-evidence inconsistency in strategic vs. non-strategic interviews

ABSTRACT

The study examines the counter-interrogation strategies applied by mock suspects (N?=?94), who are innocent of a mock crime under investigation but who were present at the scene, for different reasons, at around the time the crime occurred. Half were present at the crime scene to carry out a lawful act, the other half to carry out an unlawful act. Furthermore, this study examines the effect of the Strategic Use of Evidence (SUE) technique as a strategic interviewing technique (vs. a non-strategic technique), on suspects’ statement-evidence inconsistencies. Participants were randomly assigned to the two interview conditions (strategic vs. non-strategic) and were interviewed as suspects of a crime, which none of them had committed. The results show that the most commonly used counter-interrogation strategy in both groups was to be honest. However, 26.1% of the innocent suspects, performing an unlawful act, reported the strategy to be deceptive. In addition, the statements of suspects executing an unlawful act were significantly more inconsistent with the evidence in the strategic than the non-strategic interview condition. The increased statement-evidence inconsistency rates potentially put these suspects at risk of being assessed as guilty of a crime they did not commit.     

“印太战略”:以美印日澳的战略逻辑、利益与策略选择为分析视角

"印太战略"是美国均势+有限遏制+规制+话语诋毁的混合型战略。它意在前沿、中间地带与后方的三层构建不对称的对华遏制性力量,突破中美双边、单区域战略竞争的狭窄战略空间;在多地域与多维度孤立中国,拉拢更多国家在产业价值链、数字经济等层面与中国切割;制订基础建设投资透明化的新标准,嵌入有利于美国利益的规制;通过国际法、舆论等软性手段抹黑中国的"一带一路"与海权发展。虽然共同逻辑都是制衡中国崛起,但日澳印在策略上强调非对抗性。其中避免成为中国优先反制是日本重要的策略目标;印度在拉达克边界冲突后尚没有形成一个完全倒向美国的战略,因为这必定使其背上沉重的战略包袱,成为美国的附庸;澳大利亚作为地缘政治影响有限的中等国家,在美国反华行动中冲在最前列已使其利益严重受损。而"印太战略"与东盟所推动的包容性、合作安全理念也有着本质的区别,东盟要在"印太地区"发挥中心领导作用,定位"印太"为对话与合作区域。所以由于东盟的抵制、印日澳的消极政策,这个战略形成的攻势将很难保持可持续性,其长期前景并不看好。     

解析卢武铉主义

卢武铉主义是卢武铉就任总统后,对韩国外交安保政策进行的大胆革新,它包括自主国防、自主外交、反对驻韩美军"战略灵活性"调整和"东北亚均衡者论"等政策理念。卢武铉主义是在个人与民族、历史与现实、国内与国际等因素综合作用下产生的,它一出台就引起了国内外的争议。面对质疑和批评,卢武铉不得不对其新外交安保政策做出调整,以致卢武铉主义的原则理念大打折扣,而其后续影响还有待观察。