Information diffusion within the electorate:: the asymmetric transmission of political–economic information

This paper examines the connection between information and expectations. Drawing upon Lazarsfeld et al.'s (Lazarsfeld, P.F., Berelson, B., Gaudet, H., 1944. The People's Choice. Duell, Sloan, and Pearce, New York) classic work on communication flows, we devise an asymmetric transmission model of expectation formation. This model assumes that the expectations of the less informed segments within the electorate are influenced by the expectations of more informed groups but that the opposite does not hold. We use educational differences as a proxy for information heterogeneity. A vector autoregression (VAR) analysis on monthly surveys of inflation expectations supports the asymmetric transmission hypothesis.     

Opinion Taking within Friendship Networks

Communication within friendship networks can provide gains in efficiency that help individuals enrich their understanding of politics. Through two panel survey experiments, we demonstrate that the dissemination of an individual's opinion about the hazards posed by public policies can have both durable and significant effects on the policy judgments of friends. These effects are conditioned by both the content of the communication and the recipient's level of political awareness. Opinions emphasizing potential risks carry more weight than those that attempt to alleviate concerns about potential risks. Moreover, opinion transmission is more effective for subjects who are less politically aware when policy issues are salient; but when the political issue is more esoteric, friends who are more politically aware evidence greater opinion change.     

Strategic interaction among courts within the preliminary reference process – Stage 1: National court preemptive opinions

Abstract.  While scholars today are well-acquainted with how the European Community preliminary reference process works, little research has been done to investigate strategic court interaction – that is, intentional, procedural court behaviour employed to influence the substantive direction of legal evolution, within that process. The present investigation, which is part of a larger project examining such court behaviour throughout the referral process, focuses on the initial stage: the decision to refer. Within that stage lies the opportunity for national courts to stack the interpretive deck for the entire decision-making process via a preemptive opinion, the submission of which is neither required, suggested nor prohibited by written procedural guidelines. It is assumed that courts are strategic institutions that seek to maximize their policy objectives, and therefore, national courts submit preemptive opinions to obtain that goal. Such strategic behaviour, however, is influenced by intervening factors – namely the acceptance of European Court of Justice intervention, national judicial procedure, issue complexity and individual court experience.     

CIA origins as viewed from within

Arthur B. Darling, with Introductions by Bruce D. Berkowitz and Allan E. Goodman, The Central Intelligence Agency: An Instrument of Government, to 1950 (University Park, PA, and London: Penn State Press, 1990). Pp. 509. $60.00 (cloth), ISBN 0–271–00715‐X; $17.50 (paperback), ISBN 0–271–00717–6.

Ludwell Lee Montague, with an Introduction by Bruce D. Berkowitz and Allan E. Goodman, General Walter Bedell Smith as Director of Central Intelligence, October 1950‐February 1953 (University Park, PA, and London: 1992). Pp. 308. $45.00 (cloth), ISBN 0–271–00750–8; $14.95 (paperback), ISBN 0–271–00751–6.

Michael Warner (ed.), CIA Cold War Records: The CIA under Harry Truman (Washington, DC: History Staff, Center for the Study of Intelligence, Central Intelligence Agency, 1994). Pp. 473. $28.50 (paperback). Available from the National Technical Information Service, 5285 Port Royal Road, Springfield, VA, 22161, USA, Tel: (703) 487–4650, order number PB94–928005.     

Decentralization within the United Nations system

Since 1977 there have been two major efforts by the General Assembly to restructure and improve the economic and social sectors of the United Nations (UN). The first was an attempt to restructure the UN system, and the second, currently in early stages of implementation, is the result of the work of a high-level group of intergovernmental experts established in 1985 to review and recommend measures for improving the efficiency of the administration and financial functioning of the UN. The first effort gave an impetus to decentralization, which had already been the subject of earlier discussions. Decentralization has affected, in varying degrees, many organizations of the system. With respect to the UN and its regional commissions, it has been raised in connection with decentralizing operational and programme activities to the commissions and in giving them the means to exercise team leadership within the system at the regional level. Only in the first instance has there been some success, with the transfer to the commissions of management support functions for project implementation previously carried out by UN Headquarters. The structural difficulties and organizational complexities of the UN system are explained, to show why achievements in decentralization have been limited. In spite of expectations and possibilities for decentralization which exist in the framework of current reforms, action on decentralization will continue to remain rather contained.     

Policy studies within a feminist frame

Feminist scholarship seeks to identify and purge androcentric bias in traditional disciplines, to reshape dominant paradigms so that women's needs, interests, activities, and concerns can be analyzed and understood systematically, and to develop research methodologies that are neither gender-biased nor gender-blind. This essay provides an overview of feminist scholarship in the field of policy studies. In particular, it considers feminist studies of substantive policy domains and of the policy-making process, as well as feminist critiques of research paradigms, methods, and results that have structured policy studies for the past 50 years.     

努力探索社区党建的新路子

社区是人民群众学习、工作及生活交往的最基本的空间,是人民群众活动的最基本场所,是我们党联系群众的最基层单位。在新的历史时期,进一步加强社区党建工作是我们党的建设面临的一个十分重要和亟待解决的新课题。     

元杂剧中的“赛卢医”

“赛卢医”是元杂剧里的一个小人物，很少受到研究者的重视，但这一危色在杂剧中的作用又是不可忽视的，是至关重要的，是有其研究价值的。本文拟从赛卢医名称来源、角色出现的原因、角色的重要性三个方面来解读这一角色。