Hurdles and Pathways to Regulatory Innovation in Digital Political Campaigning

Targeted online ads, algorithmic analytics tools, clickbait-y social media campaigns, big data voter databases—digital technologies have become a cornerstone of contemporary political campaigns in the United Kingdom. Candidates, party campaigners, and a multitude of other registered campaigners embrace digital campaigning for democratic engagement, mobilising voters and electioneering. Yet, in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal, it has become clear that these technologies are vulnerable to abuse and deception. Pressing issues surrounding privacy, transparency, and human rights persist, and systems of electoral law have become ill-equipped to enforce good behaviour and compliance with the law. Drawing from empirical evidence ahead of the 2019 UK general election, this article examines systemic obstacles to regulatory innovation. The inquiry provides an analysis of key policy challenges affecting elections and democracy, and develops an analytical framework pathways to regulatory innovation in the digital domain across three dimensions: (1) Institutional structures; (2) organisational processes; and (3) regulatory functions. The article puts forward practical policy recommendations to promote regulatory innovation that is tech-savvy, evidence-based and future-proof.     

货币演进的历史观与货币创造的政治经济学

一种流行的对现代货币理论的批评认为，现代货币理论忽视了金融市场在货币创造中的主体地位；现代货币理论的错误认识会导致政府对市场的过度干预。这种反对意见不仅误解了现代货币理论，而且建立在错误的历史观上，忽视了政府在市场经济中的重要作用。首先，现代货币理论形成了包括商业银行和政府在内的对货币等级结构的完整认识。其次，在历史上，财政作为货币创造主体的作用并没有让位于商业银行体系，相反，随着布雷顿森林体系的解体，国家财政的作用获得了极大的解放。再次，政府的货币创造具有生产性的一面，它在推动创新和生产力发展上扮演着重要角色；政府创造和回收货币并不是剥削，而是国家的公共目的所使然。最后，货币创造主体的制度设计及其争论的问题本质上是更深层次的政治经济学问题。     

Campaigning in an unprecedented election: issue competition in the French 2017 presidential election

Abstract

The 2017 French presidential elections featured an eventful campaign, produced astonishing results, and presented important signs of party system change. This paper analyses the main lines of divide of the demand and the supply side of electoral competition. It analyses the structure of citizens’ preferences, as well as the candidates’ strategic issue opportunities, relying on issue yield theory. To that end, it combines data from an original individual-level survey with information about the candidates’ Twitter messages. It is found that the traditional model of two-dimensional political space, characterised by an economic (left–right) and socio-cultural (integration–demarcation) dimension is largely challenged. On the supply-side, the analysis offers additional evidence for the central role played by the integration–demarcation divide, while showing that the traditional left–right conflict has not fully disappeared.     

The European lavender vote: Sexuality,ideology and vote choice in Western Europe

In many European democracies, political punditry has highlighted the attempts of political parties on the left to court the ‘lavender vote’ of lesbian, gay and bisexual individuals. This article examines the presence of a gay vote in Western Europe with a focus on assessing the role of sexuality in shaping individuals’ political preferences and voting behaviour. Empirically, the effect of sexuality on both ideological identification as well as party vote choice is analysed. Using a cumulative dataset of eight rounds of the European Social Survey between 2002 and 2017, this article demonstrates that partnered lesbians and gay men are more likely than comparable heterosexuals to identify with the left, support leftist policy objectives and vote for left-of-centre political parties. The analysis represents the first empirical cross-national European study of the voting behaviour of homosexual individuals and sheds new light on the importance of sexuality as a predictor of political ideology and voting behaviour within the Western European context.     

社区老年高血压病患者的中医体质类型及相关危险因素分析

目的 探讨社区老年高血压病患者中医体质类型分布和相关危险因素，为高血压病的防治提供参考。方法 根据《中国高血压防治指南（2010）》，将5 582例社区老年志愿者分为高血压病组及非高血压病组。采用中医体质调查问卷，对其进行中医体质及危险因素分析。结果 5 582例老年人中，高血压病患者占55.2%，非高血压病者占44.8%；高血压病组平和质562例（18.2%），偏颇体质2 521例（81.8%），非高血压病组平和质467例（18.7%），其余共2 032例（81.3%）。进一步分析发现，高血压病组偏颇体质主要是痰湿质，非高血压病组偏颇体质主要是气虚质，两组之间体质分布差异具有统计学意义（P＜0.05）。Logistics回归分析结果显示：在高血压病与中医体质类型关系的模型中，痰湿质为独立危险因素；在高血压病与中医体质类型及相关因素关系的模型中，谷氨酸氨基转移酶（alanine transaminase, ALT）、痰湿质、同型半胱氨酸（homocysteine，Hcy）、血脂异常、年龄及血糖为危险因素。结论 本社区老年高血压病患者体质分布以偏颇体质多见，痰湿质、气虚质、阳虚质是较为常见的体质类型；ALT、痰湿质、Hcy、血脂异常、年龄及血糖是高血压病的危险因素。在社区慢性病管理中，根据不同中医体质类型制定相应的防治干预方案，积极调整偏颇体质，倡导健康的生活方式，加强对高血压病高危人群的干预，对社区老年高血压病的防治具有指导意义。     

新媒介技术下中国政治传播的改变及应对

在新媒介时代,网络空间成为政治传播线上宣传的公共领域,新媒介技术成为不断推动这个领域创新发展的重要力量。新媒介技术下的政治传播格局发生改变,政治传播主体更加多元,政治传播方式更加多样,政治传播的问题也逐渐凸显。转变传统公共政治传播观念,以新媒介技术为支撑,传播优质内容,寻求与公众的政治共识,建立公共传播与公众传播的多向互动格局,增强公众对政府的信任度,能够对新媒介技术下政治传播生态的健康发展产生积极作用。     

South Korean views on Japan's constitutional reform under the Abe government

In this Special Section, this article reviews South Korean views on Japan's ‘peace’ Constitution and the Abe government's attempts at constitutional reform. It identifies three different understandings among South Korean academics on why Japan is escalating attempts to revise the Constitution under the Abe government. An in-depth analysis demonstrates that all three perspectives pay specific attention to Japan's constitutional reform in relation to security policy changes. However, they differ in assessing the impact of Japan's constitutional reform on South Korea as well as how South Korea should deal with such a change. A minority opinion considers Japan's ‘remilitarisation’ through constitutional revision as conducive to South Korean security interests by increasing deterrence against North Korea, whereas the dominant opinion is that any attempt to revise the Constitution could be in and of itself a potential threat to South Korea's security due to a lack of trust attributed to unresolved historical conflicts between Korea and Japan. However, all three approaches pay hardly any attention to the positive role of Japan's peace Constitution while Japan's peace Constitution might provide a regional peace model in Northeast Asia.     

Influence of Voter Demographics and Newspaper in Shaping Political Party Choice in India: An Empirical Investigation

Choice of political party is an important decision a citizen faces in a democracy. In recent times, as democracies in many countries have matured, a number of studies are focusing on party and candidate choice and their various determinants. India, being the largest democracy, provides a fertile ground for such research. Accordingly, in this paper we concentrate on demographic characteristics, newspaper-reading habits of voters, and their political choice. To study this we have considered a very unique data set collected just before the watershed elections in the state of West Bengal in India, where the ruling Communist coalition was defeated after thirty-four years of power in the state. The survey was conducted using a structured questionnaire to collect information on demographic characteristics of voters and their political choice. The respondents were asked to indicate their party choice from among the three major political parties. As the literature shows that gender, age, education, income levels, marital status, occupational status, and choice of newspaper have significant impact on political choice, we have considered these as predictor variables for our study. From our study it is seen that among the demographic determinants, gender, marital status, and income of the respondents do not influence the choice of political party in our sample. However, occupation and newspaper choice of voters have significant impact on political party choice in our sample. In addition, we have observed that certain categories of age of voters significantly influence decision making of voters along with occupation and newspaper choice categories.     

The Impact of Advertising and Media on the Arab Culture: The Case of the Arab Spring,Public Spheres,and Social Media

The Arab world has experienced some unprecedented social movements, labeled by the media as the Arab Spring. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of public policy, advertising, media, and public spheres on the Arab Spring. The media and economic policies enacted in the Arab world in the 1990s played a significant role in changing consumer culture in the Arab region, resulting in significant changes in public policy. Two studies were conducted to test how the change in consumer culture along with new public polices in the region contributed to the uprisings.     

司法的中国特色

中国司法在实现现代化的进程中,存在着“本土化”与“普适化”碰撞和平衡的难题与困境.政治制度的复杂多样性、司法文化传统、国情、大国崛起的使命、政治主体的自决性等多元因素,决定了中国司法应当保持自身特色.与世界通行司法规律兼容,体现高效、便捷,满足民众实质正义的心理期待,维护社会稳定,捍卫国家主权,推进法治国家建设目标的实现,是中国司法应当具有的特色.合理平衡和协调政治化的司法与技术化的司法、专业化的司法与大众化的司法、克制化的司法与能动化的司法,是打造司法的中国特色的重要路径.