The changing colours of the post-communist state: The politicisation of the senior civil service in Hungary

Abstract.  This article examines claims that senior civil services in post-communist Europe are subject to instability and politicisation, and that both features are at the centre of what amounts to the emergence of a distinct type of executive governance different from Western traditions. At the conceptual level, the article develops four modes of politicisation that differ with respect to the political control over the making and breaking of bureaucratic careers. Modes of politicisation serve as an analytical tool to assess and classify the politicisation of post-communist senior civil services and to compare them to prevailing modes of politicisation in Western democracies as well as the communist past. At the empirical level, the article examines the politicisation of the senior civil service in post-communist Hungary. It argues that the politicisation of the Hungarian senior civil service is characterised by high turnover, recruitment of outsiders and heavy reliance on the appointment of officials who come and go with their bloc of political parties while bridging the out-of-office period in the private sector, academia or at a political party. The article concludes that the politicisation of the senior civil service in post-communist Hungary has more in common with the communist past than with the prevailing modes of politicisation in Western democracies. The main difference from the communist era lies in the periodically changing political colours of the post-communist state.     

Constructing cooperation: Instituting a state plan for development and redevelopment

Recognizing that policy implementation requires cooperation at different points in the policymaking process, many policymakers are using innovative techniques to bring together and conciliate divergent interests. This article looks at a technique called “cross acceptance” that was employed by the state of New Jersey in its attempt to institute statewide land-use planning. New Jersey policymakers envisioned the cross acceptance process as a means of managing conflict, sharing information, and building consensus on the implementation of state planning. The article, concludes that the process was valuable in building norms and consensus and that it was successful because it brought local, county, and state officials to a shared forum to consider areas of consensus and discord. State planning officials incorporated the information yielded from the process into various iterations of the preliminary planning process, thereby effectively building support for the state planning effort.     

Trust in elites and protest orientation: An integrative approach

The consensus based hypothesis that trust in political authorities is a major determinant of system stability has received less empirical support in the protest literature than its theoretical appeal once promised. We propose a major revision of the leadership-trust approach—one which integrates the conflict and consensus approaches by considering both public trust in established elites and public trust in challenging elites. Recognizing the importance of opposition leadership, we reason that thedifference between these two types of trust, which we conceptualize astrust differential, should explain protest orientation better than other trust-variable alternatives. The new trust differential variable suggests a distinctive typology of trust orientations which predict the degree of protest endorsement somewhat differently than the traditional authority-trust model. Using survey data collected in Madison, Wisconsin, in 1973, we test the integrative differential approach against and controlling for its classic competitors and find it to be a more powerful, independent predictor of protest orientation.This paper draws on findings and insights from papers that we presented at the American Sociological Association meeting, San Francisco, September 1978, and at the annual Western Social Science Association meeting, Denver, April 1978.     

The structuring of the vote in post-communist part systems: The Bulgarian example

Abstract. Consolidated democracies involve structured linkages between citizens and political decision making elites that are typically organized via political parties. Given the economic and institutional instability and uncertainty in post-communist emerging democracies, it has often been maintained that a structuring of party systems in such countries is slow to emerge. This paper demonstrates with data from a 1991 pre-election study in Bulgaria that significant aspects of political structuring may in fact appear in post-communist polities quite early. The structuring is based on citizens' individual resources which they expect to convert into economic benefits in the economic market economy, their market location in occupational terms, their general ideological dispositions, and their evaluation of the economic performance of the incumbent governments. While the structuring of party systems may still be weaker than in Western Europe, the Bulgarian evidence casts doubt on the tabula rasa hypothesis in the study of post-communist politics. Of course, further comparative analysis of post-communist democracies is required to buttress our conclusions.     

从乡村模式到城市管理:建设小城镇行政管理体制的系统工程

小城镇特有的社会经济特点决定了它的社会公共事务的多样性。现行小城镇存在管理效率不高,最终导到它的发展不足、效率不高和公平不够。要实现小城镇稳定、效率和公平的发展目标,政府必须革新行政管理体制。其主要内容是转变职能,精简机构,健全决策和执行机制;建立政府采购制度,政务公开制度,责任追究制度,推进社区自治和增强社区的发展活力。     

Methodological and practical problems of comparative party elites research: the EPPMLE project

Abstract. Cross-national empirical research is confronted with several theoretical, methodological and practical problems. Concentrating on theoretical conceptualization, operationalization, design and fieldwork, the research note deals with some of these difficulties on the basis of concrete experiences gathered in the European-wide organized 'European Political Parties' Middle Level Elites Project'.     

The logic of anti-Zionism: Soviet elites in the aftermath of the Six-Day War

Despite the opening of Soviet archives, and the surge in scholarly interest in anti-Zionism, scholars have not used declassified archive documents to shed new light on Soviet anti-Zionism in the wake of the Six-Day War. Based on such documents, Gjerde’s article challenges a view of post-1967 Soviet anti-Zionism that has been prevalent since it emerged during the Cold War: that it represented a ‘disguised’ form of antisemitism that Soviet leaders used as a political tool. To the contrary, Gjerde argues, the archive documents suggest Soviet anti-Zionism was more than a propaganda invention. Within higher Soviet echelons, a particular logic existed that fostered a view of ‘Zionism’ as an immense, conspiratorial threat to the Soviet Union. In one sense, this logic grew out of a more general tendency to view nonconformity as conspiracy: the Soviets had established extremely narrow boundaries for what constituted acceptable Jewish identity; and, when some Soviet Jews began to voice nationalist sentiments after the Six-Day War, Soviet leaders saw this expression of nonconformity as essentially a hostile act, warranting severe counter-measures. This is not to say Soviet anti-Zionism was not antisemitic but rather that to explain it merely as a propaganda tool is to ignore much of the complexity of its emergence.     

Coupling citizens and elites in deliberative systems: The role of institutional design

A significant shortcoming in contemporary deliberative systems is that citizens are disconnected from various elite sites of public deliberation. This article explores the concept of ‘coupling’ as a means to better link citizens and elites in deliberative systems. The notion of ‘designed coupling’ is developed to describe institutional mechanisms for linking otherwise disconnected deliberative sites. To consider whether it is possible and indeed desirable to use institutional design to couple different sites in a deliberative system, the article draws on insights from a case study in which a mini‐public was formally integrated into a legislative committee. The empirical study finds that it is not only feasible to couple mini‐publics to legislative committees, but when combined, the democratic and deliberative capacity of both institutions can be strengthened. To be effective, ‘designed coupling’ requires more than establishing institutional connections; it also requires that actors to step outside their comfort zone to build new relationships and engage in new communicative spaces with different sets of ideas, actors and rules. This can be facilitated by institutional design, but it also requires leaders and champions who are well‐placed to encourage actors to think differently.     

Refederalizing Russia: Debates on the Idea of Federalism in Russia

Russia has been struggling to come to terms with the ethno-federalstructure it inherited from the USSR. Central and regional politicalactors have sought to restructure federal relations in a waythat marks a break from the pseudo-federalism of the past, andboth the 1992 Federation Treaty and the 1993 Constitution ofthe Russian Federation declared the establishment of a "federaldemocracy" This article investigates the process of refederalizationby examining debates over the idea of federalism in Russia.Despite an initial wide-ranging discussion, federalism is increasinglyseen in strategic terms by political elites. The federal systemis asymmetrical and bureaucratic, and it is based on a seriesof treaties between the center and constituent units, ratherthan on an effective constitution that binds the center andregions together.     

Analysis of the Spectre of Urban Density From the Perspective of Compactness of Forms A Response to a New Urban Vulnerability

The concepts of ＂density＂ and ＂urban morphology＂ are today at the centre of debates on architecture and urban planning. The concept of＂density＂ provides a solution to the issue of urban sprawl and, consequently, offers a way of rethinking sustainable urban and rural development. The densification of urban centres makes it possible to reduce a vulnerability related to the excessive use of suburban areas. However, densification is not a ＂turnkey＂ solution. Numerous criteria relating to its use are poorly understood. As numerous contemporary experiences have demonstrated, urban densification exposes space systems to new, unknown forms of vulnerability. First, the concept of ＂vulnerability＂ will be defined, specifically that of urban vulnerability, as well as related concepts, such as those of risk, hazard, and challenges. Secondly, forms of vulnerability inherent in the over-densification paradigm are pinpointed： This will involve determining the specific hazards, challenges, and risks of this space system. Thirdly, the authors will demonstrate how the concept of ＂compactness＂ makes it possible to review at the different urban levels the densification processes of territories and urban areas. Finally, a tool for the optimisation of compact urban morphologies for use in countering the related hazards and risks will be proposed.     

Jihad in Russia: the Caucasus Emirate

Russian authorities are engaged in a large-scale counter-terrorism campaign against the Caucasus Emirate (CE), a Salafist terrorist network with ties to al-Qaeda and other international groups. The CE's operations threaten the stability of the Russian North Caucasus, and could potentially impact further afield. Russia's counter-terrorism effort has assumed greater urgency since the 2014 Winter Olympic Games were awarded to Sochi, a popular resort city in the North Caucasus.     

Independent central banks, regime type, and fiscal performance: the case of post-communist countries

This article analyzes the effect of central bank independence on fiscal deficits. Previous literature finds a negative relationship between bank independence and deficits in OECD countries. No such relationship is found for developing countries. We argue that independent and conservative central bankers prefer budget discipline due to the long run connection between deficits and inflation and can enforce their preference through interest rate hikes and refusal to lend to the government. The claim, however, is that the legislated independent status of the central bank is cheap talk in the absence of democratic institutions. We test empirically the conditional effect of central bank independence on a sample of 23 democratic and undemocratic post-communist countries from 1990 to 2002. Results show that independent central banks restrain budget deficits only in democracies. Also, democracies that have not granted independence to their central banks have the worst fiscal discipline.     

Reputational leadership and preference similarity: Explaining organisational collaboration in bank policy networks

This article contributes to our understanding of the formation of policy networks. Research suggests that organisations collaborate with those that are perceived to be influential in order to access scarce political resources. Other studies show that organisations prefer to interact with those that share core policy beliefs on the basis of trust. This article seeks to develop new analytical tools for testing these alternative hypotheses. First, it measures whether perceptions of reputational leadership affect the likelihood of an organisation being the target or instigator of collaboration with others. Second, it tests whether the degree of preference similarity between two organisations makes them more or less likely to collaborate. The article adopts a mixed‐methods approach, combining exponential random graph models (ERGM) with qualitative interviews, to analyse and explain organisational collaboration around United Kingdom banking reform. It is found that reputational leadership and preference similarity exert a strong, positive and complementary effect on network formation. In particular, leadership is significant whether this is measured as an organisational attribute or as an individually held perception. Evidence is also found of closed or clique‐like network structures, and heterophily effects based on organisational type. These results offer significant new insights into the formation of policy networks in the banking sector and the drivers of collaboration between financial organisations.     

Crafting village democracy in China: The roles, networking, and strategies of provincial elites

There is no obvious and direct correlation between the provincial level of economic development and democratic level of village elections. There is a great disparity in the level of rural democratization and the implementation of village self-governance among and within provinces. The modernization model alone cannot explain why village elections work well in some provinces but not in others. This paper looks at the political elite’s ongoing efforts at provincial level to conduct village elections and implement village self-governance in rural China. These efforts include the strategies for crafting village democracy employed by provincial elites: elite cooperation, local legislature, political responsibility, political programming, and the art of balancing party leadership and village elections. He has published extensively on China’s village elections and local governance. He is author and coauthor of several books. His current research interests include the development of non-state, local governance, and political participation. The author gratefully acknowledges the anonymous reviewers, Professor He Baogang of Deakin University and Professor Zhong Yang of University of Tennessee for their suggestions on an earlier draft. My special thanks to Professor Joseph Fewsmith of Boston University, Professor Tan Qingshan of Cleveland State University, and three anonymous reviewers for their insightful comments, as well as to East Asian Institute of National University of Singapore for providing support for this research.     

Organizational interlocks between new social movements and traditional elites: the case of the West German peace movement

Abstract. This paper deals with the question of whether the concept of elites is a fruitful category for the analysis of new social movements. It is proposed that mobilizations of new social movements are to be understood as dynamic interaction processes between mass constituencies and movement entrepreneurs, mediated by organizational communication networks. Taking the case of the West German peace movement, it is shown that such leadership roles can be identified as parts of the movement's internal division of labour. Furthermore, it is shbwn that movement entrepreneurs of the peace movement are also linked to established elite sectors.