SARSCOV-19 amidst corruption: Does the civil society matter? – An empirical study

The pandemic outbreak has dealt consequences on global engagements and structures. With the ongoing search for pandemic-mitigating measures and the excesses (notably corruption) erupted in its wake, concerns have been raised about the decline in public trust, transparency and satisfaction – particularly in Ghana. This situation has spurred multilevel governance discussions regarding pandemic management. Ensuingly characterising policy makers' propositions in this regard is the civil society's salience as a control valve to governance deficits like corruption. Therefore, transcending the anecdotal claims on civil society's efficacy, this study takes a state-society perspective to probe its relevance in fostering trust, transparency and satisfaction, relative to corruption-stricken pandemic governance. The current study engages the general systems theory as a conceptual lens. The structural equation modelling technique was used in analysing data (n = 519) gathered through the questionnaire survey approach. Though results of data analysis affirmed the negative effects of corruption on trust, transparency and satisfaction, the civil society received affirmation as an enhancer of trust, transparency and satisfaction. In view of these study findings, implications and future research suggestions are delimited.     

Populisms and liberal democracy – business as usual?

Populism is often thought to mark a sharp break with liberal democracy. But to what extent is this the case? In this contribution the connections between populism and liberal democracy are sketched in the context of several areas where discussions about populisms have stressed their discontinuity with the liberal democratic tradition and its practices. The discussion concentrates upon the notions of the people, their representation, elites, constitutional issues and economic policies. In each case it is suggested that continuities are as strong, and sometimes stronger, than discontinuities in these relationships. The contribution ends with a discussion of how it might be possible to defend liberal democracy from a non-liberal position in the face of the critique from populisms.     

Afghanistan’s Taliban – Legitimate Jihadists or Coercive Extremists?

ABSTRACT

The military intervention in Afghanistan in 2001 was portrayed as a fight to oust the extremist Taliban. But the Taliban have long been regaining influence, with the military victory of the Afghan government and its foreign allies now seeming less likely than ever. In light of these developments, this article investigates what the affected people – rather than the foreign interveners – think about the Taliban, and whether they perceive them as coercive or legitimate. Building on a conceptual understanding of legitimacy that has been adjusted to the dynamics of conflict-torn spaces, the article suggests that people judge the Taliban on the basis of how their day-to-day behaviour is perceived. While the Taliban are a coercive threat in urban centres and other areas where they launch attacks, they nonetheless manage to construct legitimacy in some of the places which they control or can access easily. A major source of their legitimacy in these areas is the way in which they provide services – such as conflict resolution – which some people consider to be faster and fairer than the state’s practices.     

Civic Engagement – A Problem in Search of a Solution?

This article discusses the use of community partnerships to produce civic engagement. In two undergraduate courses during the Fall 2016 semester, students created products that met the stated needs of local nonprofit organizations. Students indicated a positive reaction to their experiences in qualitative assessment instruments, and the community partners were appreciative of students’ output. Given the semester-long timeframe of the projects, it is unknown whether they will lead to greater civic engagement on the part of students or the communities in which the projects took place.     

Mixed-member proportional electoral systems – the best of both worlds?

Mixed electoral systems are often associated with the hope of combining proportional election outcomes with a concentrated party system, and thus achieving the best of both worlds in electoral system design. It is especially the mixed-member proportional (MMP) variant that has retained a good reputation in this regard. Via a comparative analysis, we analyze whether or not the general praise for MMP systems is corroborated empirically. Our results show that the performance of MMP systems is heavily influenced by technical details, and elections conducted under MMP vary broadly with regard to possible proportionality–concentration combinations.     

Are you sitting comfortably? Estimating incumbency advantage in the UK: 1983–2010 – A research note

This note adapts two models commonly used to estimate the incumbency advantage that US members of Congress enjoy – the ‘slurge’ and the Gelman-King Index – to provide comparable estimates for UK MPs. The results show that Liberal Democrats enjoy extremely large such advantages on a par with those of US Congressmen of between 5% and 15% of the vote. Labour and the Conservatives have incumbency advantages at around 2% and 1% respectively. The note estimates that effects could have changed the outcome in as many as 25 seats in some elections, and that they cost the Conservatives the chance to govern alone after the 2010 election.     

东亚共同体:旧瓶装新酒?

2009年9月,日本民主党执政后,首相鸠山由纪夫在与中、韩领导人接触时多次提及东亚共同体的建没.日本官方也首次表示,"通过不断融合,在未来10到15年的时间里,我们可能可以实现这一梦想."日本高调宣示的"东亚共同体"有无新意?用意何在?如此应对?这些问题不能不引发人们的思考.     

SS: Germany’s federal election in september 2009 – Elections in times of duress – Introduction

This paper introduces the special symposium. It provides (1) an overview of the broad campaign themes; (2) introduces several questions pertinent to German electoral politics; (3) highlights the broader theoretical implications of this symposium for the research literature.     

Das Bundesverfassungsgericht im politischen System der BRD – ein unbekanntes Wesen?

This article argues that the Judicialization hypothesis as a dominant research paradigm in the literature on the Bundesverfassungsgericht leaves out a number of relevant aspects. Rather, the court should be understood as being embedded in an area of competing interests among government, opposition, courts, litigating citizens and public opinion. The article identifies the institutional links between actors and relevant research questions. Finally, it discusses the theoretical, methodological and empirical challenges for further research on the Bundesverfassungsgericht.     

学生心理素质:怎么看?怎么办?

在提倡素质教育的过程中,存 在两个误区：一是把应试教 育与素质教育对立起来,误认为素质教育就是取消考试,增加课外活动就行了;二是片面地理解素质教育,认为课堂是传授知识,而课外活动才是素质教育;误认为生活技能的训练,加上唱歌、跳舞、画画等的一些活动就是素质教育。诸如此类的观念对素质教育的具体操作会产生什么影响呢？在此想用一个实验来加以说明。科学家曾经做过这样一个实验,试图探索环境、训练对脑在成熟过程中的作用。在黑猩猩出生以后,把中指固定,不让它活动,当黑猩猩长到成年以后,发现中指相对应的大脑区域萎缩…     

利用外资:利用什么?

这几年，各种各样的中外合资、合作的企业多起来了。面对日益增多的“三资”企业，有个问题一直摆在我01面前：“是外资利用我们，还是我们利用外资？”当然，我们要利用外资；同时外资也要利用我们。这一点，不必回避。我们不利用外资，我们是傻瓜；外资不利用我们，外资也是傻瓜。利用是相互的，是双向的。一厢情愿的利用，单向的利用，恐怕很少。不承认被对方利用，是不必要的。合作的前提条件是对方有利用价值，能为我所用。没有互相利用，双向利用，合资合作就开展不起来，这是一对矛盾体的结合。外资利用我们，首先是利用我们的市场．…     

The Finnish Think Tank Landscape – A Mixture of Consensualism and Adversity?

As a common feature of Nordic countries, the Finnish landscape of thinks tanks has been populated by large corporatist interest organisations and government-funded research organisations. In addition to this, since 2005, party-affiliated think tanks form a notable part of the picture. Recently, several small think tanks that are oriented towards specific themes, such as international relations, the environment and feminism, have been founded. This article examines Finnish developments in the field of think tanks with two objectives. First, it gives a general overview of the Finnish think tank landscape. Second, by using interview data and public mission statements of the most prominent think tanks, it explores how these organisations see their role in Finnish society. What is their relationship with media and the political machinery, and how does this relate to their position and activities as either consensual or adversarial actors? It is concluded that redeeming the place of think tanks in the Finnish polity is a continuing challenge, and resorting to adversarial tactics is not a favourable way to do so. This approach has mostly been attempted by neoliberal think tanks that, in the past, have also profited from corporatist structures to enhance their objectives.     

保送生制度:存乎?废乎?

今年高考期间,湖南隆回一中 发生一起保送生舞弊事件。 据湖南省教育主管部门公布的调查结果,隆回一中保送的１４名学生中,除一名体育特长生属农村孩子外,其余１３名中有两人分别是隆回一中校长、副校长的儿子,另外１１名均属当地领导及其他干部子弟。这些学生平时成绩不佳且有多门功课不及格,但均如愿进入保送圈。调查认定这是一起典型的涉嫌弄虚作假、以权谋私、徇私舞弊、玩忽职守的案件。 在近几年的高考中,类似隆回一中的舞弊事件并非仅此一例,在湖南、四川、青海等地均出现了相同情况,所以人们开始关注保送生制度问题。“好…     

给你一个选择:清官?公仆?

傅如良、刘仁胜的文章“给你一个选择:清官?公仆?”指出:清官和公仆有着本质的区别。从清官到公仆称谓的变化,折射出我国民主政治建设的巨大跨越。但时至今日,在清官与公仆的选择中,还没有分清泾渭,不能完全树立起真正的“公仆意识”,这说明了封建社会官本位传统影响的根深蒂固。