Do populist values or civic values drive support for referendums in Europe?

Representative democracy gives voters the right to influence who governs but its influence on policy making is only indirect. Free and fair referendums give voters the right to decide a policy directly. Elected representatives usually oppose referendums as redundant at best and as undermining their authority at worst. Democratic theorists tend to take electing representatives as normal and as normatively superior. The nominal association of popular decision making and populism has strengthened this negative view. Public opinion surveys show substantial support for holding referendums on important issues. Two major theories offer contrasting explanations for popular support for referendums; they reflect populist values or a commitment to the civic value of participation. This innovative paper tests an integrated model of both theories by the empirical analysis of a 17-country European survey. There is substantial support for all three civic hypotheses: referendum endorsement is positively influenced by attitudes towards participation, democratic ideals and whether elected representatives are perceived as responsive. By contrast, there is no support for populist hypotheses that the socioeconomically weak and excluded favour referendums and minimal support for the effect of extreme ideologies. The conclusion shows that most criticisms of referendums also apply to policy making by elected representatives. While referendums have limits on their use, there is a democratic argument for holding such ballots on major issues to see whether or not a majority of voters endorse the choice of their nominal representatives.     

The use of geographic information systems as a forensic tool to investigate sources of marine mammal entanglement in fisheries

Commercial fisheries represent a significant anthropogenic threat to marine mammal survival. Causes of marine mammal mortality are commonly determined by detailed necropsies of stranded carcasses. Gross evidence of entanglement in a fishery might include gear attached to the body, internal indications of asphyxiation and trauma, or gear markings on the epidermis. As gear is often fishery-specific, wound patterns on the epidermis that are created by entanglements in fishing gear may serve to identify possible sources of mortality. For this study, tools within the Environmental Systems Research Institute, Inc. (ESRI) ArcMap GIS software were used to create maps that outline impressions that fishing gear can leave on the epidermis of entangled marine mammals. These maps can subsequently be used to identify possible sources of fishery entanglement for the many marine mammals that wash ashore without gear attached to their carcass. Entanglement wound patterns can be visually compared with fishing gear characteristics; however, differences in scale and image quality can introduce subjectivity that might hinder source identification. The technique described herein provides an objective way to outline the unique characteristics of fishing gear and their associated wounds on entangled marine mammals. Additionally, spatial relationships are preserved as the maps are adjusted to varying scales. Whereas the initial protocol required time-consuming digitization of the outline and visual determination of the pattern interface, this new, semiautomated technique saves analyst effort and minimizes error.     

反垄断法的域外效力与适用刍议

依传统的管辖权理论,反垄断法依其公法性质而具有严格的地域性.而随着经济全球化和一体化的发展,在经济组织滥用市场优势地位限制竞争的情况下,各国为了维护本国利益,纷纷突破传统的管辖范围,主张本国反垄断法的域外效力.我国正在制定反垄断法,在该法中安排域外适用制度是适应市场经济体制和世贸组织规则的要求.