Democratic Political Competence: Clearing the Underbrush and a Controversial Proposal

Though the link between democracy and an appropriately trained citizen is obvious, the theoretical and empirical nature of this association is murky despite mountains of scholarship addressing this topic. Part of this problem is that the term democratic competence has been stretched almost to the point of uselessness. This constant adding of desired traits—many of which are ideologically driven—misdirects effort away from such complex problems as the relationship between individual attributes and collective capacities. Moreover, recent research has often been guilty of using data of uncertain relevance to demonstrate a competence that seems largely an analytical artifact. We conclude by offering an approach that stresses old- fashioned traits such as patriotism that seem necessary to the existing, and quite democratic, status quo.     

Opinion formation in foreign policy: the Swiss experience

Applying John Zaller's model of opinion formation to survey data covering 15 years (1981–95) of direct democracy in Switzerland, this paper provides a contribution to the debate about opinion formation in foreign policy. On the one hand, the Swiss experience contradicts the widespread view that citizens are poorly informed about and little interested in foreign affairs. On the other hand, direct democracy often translates into governmental defeats in this field. We address these mixed results and show that opinion formation in foreign policy is not a special case, and differs from that in domestic policy only with respect to the circumstances under which it occurs. In particular, we highlight the unusual type and level of conflict within the elite on foreign policy issues, which translates into distinct patterns of attitudes among the public.     

The malleable homo sovieticus: transnational entrepreneurs in post-communist East Central Europe

This paper investigates the coping strategies of post-1989 East Central European transnational migrant entrepreneurs. Paradoxically, rather than facilitating transfer into the region of liberal-democratic orientations and practices, the incorporation of East Central Europe into late 20th-century consumer capitalism based on short-cycle flexible production in sectors unregulated by legal-institutional frameworks reproduces some of the features of the accustomed homo sovieticus syndrome: in particular, the reliance on the beat-the-system/bend-the-rules orientation on informal/crony patronage and connections, and immediate consumption rather than deferred gratification/investment-oriented capital accumulation renders effective strategies of economic action in the new situation. The effects of so-informed transnational migrant entrepreneurs' activities on the transformation processes in their home-countries are also discussed.     

民主及其对现代政治的形塑

现代政治的基本形态是民主共和国,它在西方是由民主主义、共和主义、自由主义和代议制等要素相互融合的结果,而民主是其重要基础,对于塑造现代政治形态具有重要作用。民主的本义是人民直接治理国家,但是其所具有的强烈平民色彩使其长期被视为基于人数优势的平民暴政。近现代的资产阶级革命造就了资产阶级的共和国,工人阶级运动造就了民主的复兴,推动了民主要素在资产阶级共和体制中的扩展,民主本身也受到相应的制约,由此形成了民主共和国的基本形态。民主的巨大贡献在于不仅为弱势群体争得得了基本人权,而且为现代政体赢得了广泛的合法性。     

Does China’s middle class prefer (liberal) democracy?

Many surveys show that China’s political regime, under the Chinese Communist Party’s authoritarian rules, enjoys a high level of public support. However, it is still uncertain whether China’s emerging middle class will become the “agent of democratization” as suggested by modernization theory. Using the data of Asian Barometer Survey conducted in China in 2011, this article demonstrates that the relationship between class identity and preference for liberal democracy in China may be inverted U-shaped. The Chinese middle class shows a higher preference to features of liberal democratic regimes than its counterparts of the lower- and upper-class. Members of the Chinese middle class also tend to regard democracy as the best form of government. Thus, the middle class has the potential to initiate democratization in China if the Chinese government fails to keep satisfying the middle class’ quest for economic well-being and protection of property rights.     

Liberal Democracy Series I, 1972–1988: Definition, measurement, and trajectories

The purpose of this paper is to provide the definitional and empirical background to the Liberal Democracy Series I Index of democracy that is available in Bollen (1998) but whose rationale has not been published. More specifically, the paper (1) gives a definition of liberal democracy that has guided the formation of this index, (2) describes measures that correspond to this definition, (3) provides a measurement model that links the indicators of democracy to the latent variables that represent the concept, (4) explains the construction of the Liberal Democracy Series I Index, and (5) compares the Series I democracy measure to two other widely used democracy measures in a latent curve model. The Liberal Democracy Series I Index provides a simple unweighted measure of liberal democracy that minimizes the bias in expert ratings, is highly reliable and highly correlated with the latent liberal democracy variable. The evidenced reviewed here suggests that its measurement properties are superior to the Polity and Vanhanen democracy indices with the exception that it is available for a more limited period of years than these latter two.     

党内民主视阈下的反腐倡廉建设

以党内民主的动力助推反腐倡廉建设,必须充分保障党员民主权利,以此激发队伍纯洁的内在活力。保障党员的知情权是推进党内民主的基础,保障党员的参与权和选举权是尊重党员主体地位的标志,保障党员的民主决策权是发挥党员主体作用的关键,保障党员的监督权和罢免权是推进党风廉政建设的现实路径。要加强党内基层的民主建设,提升反腐倡廉的创新动力。积极探索农村基层党内民主和"两新"组织党内基层民主的多种实现形式,推进基层社区党内民主的创新。     

从十六大到十七大：中国共产党党内民主的逻辑演绎进程

党的十六大以来，从提出“党内民主是党的生命”到“要以扩大党内民主带动人民民主，以增进党内和谐促进社会和谐”的论断，中国共产党在新的历史条件下，根据世情、国情、党情的变化和新形势新任务对党的建设提出的新要求．把推进党内民主建设作为保持和发展党的先进性和加强党的执政能力的一项根本性建设，以改革创新的精神积极发展党内民主，在理论和实践上取得了重要进展。     

Relativism

Modern democracies increasingly confuse civic or political equality with a radical relativism that calls into question legitimate principles of hierarchy and the very idea of reasonable value judgments. This confusion reflects a “corruption,” in Montesquieu’s sense, of democracy rooted in a refusal to recognize distinctions that are integral to both human nature and social life. A moderate form of cultural relativism is a genuine intellectual achievement that helps combat ethnocentrism and allows one to better appreciate the full range of human experience. But criteria of meaning and truth are by no means entirely dependent upon cultural context. Our contemporary awareness of the “relativity” of cultures and historical experiences must be complemented by a robust appreciation of the universality of Reason and citizenship.

“各方面实行民主”——论抗战时期毛泽东民主思想

＂各方面实行民主＂,是抗战时期毛泽东提出的重要民主主张。这一主张气势恢宏、体系完整、内容丰富、根基深厚、特点突出,把新民主主义理论向前有力地推进了一大步,使之更加具体化,从而构成了抗战时期毛泽东民主思想体系的完整框架。其提出标志着毛泽东民主思想发展到了一个新的高度。深入研究这一主张,对于深入研究毛泽东思想特别是民主思想十分重要和必要。