Context matters: Economics,politics and satisfaction with democracy

Economic and political considerations are important in determining citizens' level of satisfaction with their democratic system, but research analyzing which criteria prevail in which contexts is still limited. We examine under what conditions citizens chiefly rely on economic or political considerations in assessing their level of satisfaction with democracy. Using the Comparative Study of Electoral Systems dataset covering 72 elections in 45 unique countries (1996–2016), we show that the relative weight of economic and political criteria in citizens' evaluation of their democratic regime is a function of their nation's affluence. On the one hand, citizens in poorer countries mostly rely on the economy to assess their level of satisfaction with democracy. On the other hand, political considerations are crucial in citizens' evaluations of richer societies. Our results entail strong implications to understand why citizens' recipes for satisfaction for democracy vary across time and space.     

Negative personalization and voting behavior in 14 parliamentary democracies, 1961–2018

Existing research has begun to tackle the electoral consequences of affective polarization through the lens of negative partisanship. However, not equal attention has been paid to voters’ polarized opinions toward political leaders and their impact on electoral behavior. This paper offers a comparative, longitudinal assessment of the relationship between negativity towards party leaders and vote choice in multi-party systems. We develop our negative personalization hypothesis and test it empirically on an original pooled dataset featuring 109 national election surveys from 14 Western European parliamentary democracies collected over the last six decades. Our findings confirm the existence of a robust relationship between negative party-leader evaluations and vote choice. Furthermore, the results demonstrate a sizable growth in the incidence of negative personalization across time, now of a magnitude that compares to that exerted by in-party-leader evaluations. This finding constitutes a central innovation adding to the personalization of politics literature.     

新旧工会预算制度对比分析研究

随着国家预算管理制度的日益完善和新形势下工会工作发展需要,旧版《工会预算管理办法》已经无法适应当下工会财务预算管理工作的需求,修订工会预算制度迫在眉睫。旧版预算制度存在预算管理职权不明晰、预算期限过短、未实施全面预算、未开展预算绩效管理、收支范围过于笼统、部分预算调整范畴可操作性差等问题。通过对比新旧《工会预算管理办法》在预算管理职权、收支范围、编制与审批、执行与调整等方面的内容,分析两者之间存在的差异,将有助于各级工会组织深入了解新制度的优势,缩短工会预算政策时滞。     

The fragility of an independent judiciary: Lessons from Hungary and Poland–and the European Union

When the European Union was founded, it was assumed that all Member States admitted as consolidated democracies would maintain their constitutional commitments. In recent years, Hungary and Poland have challenged this premise as elected autocratic governments in those countries have captured independent institutions and threatened long-term democracy. The judiciaries of these countries have been hard hit. In this paper, we trace what has happened to the judiciaries in Hungary and Poland, showing how first the constitutional courts and then the ordinary judiciary have been brought under the control of political forces so that there is no longer a separation of law and politics. We also explore why the European Union has so far not been able to stop this process. In the end, the European judiciary, particularly the Court of Justice, is attempting a rescue of national judiciaries, but the results are so far unclear.     

Ideological congruence over government mandates under majoritarian and proportional representation electoral systems

The existing literature on ideological congruence has typically looked at congruence immediately after elections when governments are formed. This article goes beyond that comparative static approach by examining changes in citizen-government ideological congruence between two fixed points in time, namely at the beginning and end of government mandates. Building on a veto player approach and dynamics of party competition under majoritarian and proportional representation (PR) electoral systems, the results indicate, first, that government positions are more stable in between elections, as the number of parties and their ideological distance increase in cabinet. Second, it appears that single-party and homogeneous coalition governments decrease ideological congruence between elections under low levels of polarisation, while they increase congruence under very high levels of polarisation. Third, it was found that governments under majoritarian systems slightly decrease congruence between elections while congruence stays stable on average under PR systems. The different levels of party system polarisation across majoritarian and PR electoral systems mostly explain this difference.     

新加坡华文旧体诗的作者构成、写作特点及其影响

东南亚华文文学的研究领域中,关于新加坡华文旧体诗的论述极少。事实上,新加坡有大量华文旧体诗的文本,这些旧体诗的作者主要由新加坡的"过客"、新加坡的"流寓"者和土生土长的新加坡人 3 类人构成。他们的写作特点体现在:一是新加坡地域文化风貌的体现;二是语言的杂糅;三是受中国文化的影响。这一类诗作的研究具有比较文学和文化交流的意义,同时也是新加坡本土文学的重要组成部分。     

Comparative lobbying research: advances,shortcomings and recommendations

This review article suggests that there is a new school of comparative lobbying emerging. However, this development is taking place only gradually. Unlike the earlier studies, which studied corporatism/pluralism, outside lobbying and lobbying regulations, the new comparativists are mainly focusing on inside lobbying strategies and success as a function of country‐level factors. Yet, the literature still suffers from underdeveloped theories. I stress that our knowledge can be improved with better theorizing. Better theories, in turn, can be formulated by improving the use of quantitative data gathering, qualitative research, formal models and better communication between researchers working with different methodologies in different disciplines. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Why are the United States and the European Union failing to regulate the internet efficiently? Going beyond the bottom-up and top-down alternatives

This paper analyzes the different approaches for Internet regulation. We use the United States and European Union to illustrate the alternative approaches of self-regulation and government intervention. Our research suggests that both systems have serious shortcomings that could be ameliorated by the use of a mixed system for Internet regulation in which both the private and public sector have a role. The case study of privacy rights self regulation in the United States and its failure to effectively provide privacy regulation serves as our empirical evidence. We provide guidelines for both the government and the private sector in defining and enforcing privacy regulation. JEL Classification K33 · K2 · L51 · L86 · O57     

中美定罪机制之比较

中美在犯罪的界定、犯罪的构成、定罪的证据要求以及定罪程序和运作方式上均有明显的不同,美国的定罪机制有其先进的一面,我国的定罪机制有固有的缺陷,美国的做法对我国定罪机制的完善有借鉴意义。     

关于发展中国咨询产业／专业的宏观理性思考——一个中外比较研究视角的分析

面对发展中国咨询产业/专业这一命题,务须秉持中外比较研究的视角,通过澄清工业、行业、职业等相关概念来界定什么是产业和专业;经由分析咨询概念的5种不同应用以剥离、发现和鉴定具有实质意义之特定的咨询活动,并厘清咨询产业和专业的内涵;在此基础上,需从专业化运动理论角度解析出在中国发展咨询产业/专业的4方主体以及主体际的分工,并提供解决由各自分工任务而带来的各种问题之理论视角。唯其如此,方能为中国咨询产业/专业的发展奠定一定的宏观理论基础,同时为在中国发展其他服务型产业/专业提供一个统筹兼顾、综合分析的新思路。