Elite Philanthropy in Israel

The paper presents the findings of a study on elite philanthropy in Israel. The study aimed to describe and analyze the scope of elite philanthropy, which has been affected by the growth and relative stability of the Israeli economy. The study also aimed to shed light on the demographic characteristics of elite philanthropists, their motives for giving, preferred target populations and areas of interest for donations, the value of donations, and the channels and mechanisms through which donations are made. The findings revealed that the average percentage of donations out of the philanthropists’ total earnings was not lower than the percentage found among philanthropists in other Western countries. In the paper, we clarify the meaning of elite philanthropy in the context of Israeli society and the role of elite philanthropists in promoting social programs. We discuss the philanthropists’ sense of obligation to “give back” to the society which enabled them to become wealthy.     

Elite behaviour and citizen mobilisation

This article studies the relation between self-serving elite behaviour and citizen political participation. It uses a fixed effects approach to analyse the association between portfolio investment in tax havens and voter turnout, using data from 213 parliamentary elections in 65 countries for the period 1998–2014. For well-functioning democracies a positive relation between the use of tax havens and voter turnout is found, suggesting that self-serving elite behaviour is associated with citizen political mobilisation rather than voter apathy. The estimated relationship is stronger in the period after the 2008 economic crisis, when elite behaviour was a particularly salient issue.     

紧紧抓住邓小平理论的精髓

实事求是是马克思列宁主义、毛泽东思想的精髓 ,也是邓小平理论的精髓。事实证明 ,坚持这个精髓 ,就能把我们的革命和建设事业推向前进 ;违背这个精髓 ,就会使革命和建设事业遭受挫折。今天 ,我们要高举邓小平理论的伟大旗帜 ,要用邓小平理论来指导我们的整个事业和各项工作 ,关键还是在于紧紧抓住邓小平理论的这个精髓 ,坚持实事求是。一理解实事求是在邓小平理论中的地位和作用 ,对于我们紧紧抓住这个精髓具有重要的意义。第一 ,实事求是是邓小平理论产生的方法论条件。实事求是是邓小平理论反复教给我们的认识世界的方法 ,邓小平理论本身…     

Elite Interviewing: Approaches and Pitfalls

Interviews are one of the major tools in qualitative research, although there is a limited literature on the subject of interviewing generally and elite interviewing particularly. The aim of this article is to introduce some of the issues involved in elite interviewing to researchers new to the use of the technique. Emphasis is also placed on the need for the interviewer to know his/her subject thoroughly, and to be prepared to be flexible in an interview situation. The information is based on the author's own recent experience of interviewing a number of top civil servants, both serving and retired.     

Elite communication and affective polarization among voters

How does elite communication influence affective polarization between partisan groups? Drawing on the literature on partisan source cues, we expect that communication from in- or outgroup party representatives will increase affective polarization. We argue that polarized social identities are reinforced by partisan source cues, which bias perceptions of elite communication and result in increased intergroup differentiation. Further, we expect that the effect of such source cues is greater for voters with stronger partisan affinities. To evaluate our hypotheses, we performed a survey experiment among about 1300 voters in Sweden. Our analyses show that individuals who received a factual political message with a source cue from an in- or outgroup representative exhibited higher affective polarization, especially when they already held strong partisan affinities. This suggests that political elites can increase affective polarization by reinforcing existing group identities, and that this occurs in conjunction with biased interpretation of elite communication. The results improve our understanding of how political elites can influence affective polarization and add to previous research on party cues and attitude formation by demonstrating that such source cues can also increase intergroup differentiation.     

The Anatomy of the Finnish Power Elite

The article discusses the main results of a study of the power structure of Finnish society. The purpose of the study was to investigate whether Finland is controlled by one closed, cohesive and unanimous power elite, by several rival elites, or whether, instead, the power structure is so decentralized that there is no justification for referring to a power elite in the first place. The working hypothesis was that Finnish society is controlled by one power elite. The study was based on a positional approach, using a survey questionnaire to collect data both from members of the power elite and from the population at large. The main conclusion of the study is that, with certain reservations, it is legitimate to speak of a fairly cohesive and unanimous, single power elite in Finland. Interaction among elite groups is close, and their attitudes are similar. In terms of recruitment patterns the Finnish power elite is fairly closed: the top social stratum is clearly overrepresented and the lowest underrepresented. On the other hand, no single stratum has a dominant position in the power elite.     

间接民主、代议制与精英统治

直接民主与间接民主的问题是当代政治哲学的一个热点.文章回顾了围绕直接民主和代议制进行的争论,直接民主由于容易导致暴民政治而被视作洪水猛兽,代议制民主则把人民分为普通大众和精英,认为只有精英才能代表人民更好地治理国家.但把代议制民主简单理解为选择代议员的过程会不可避免地滑向寡头统治,只有多元主义民主才能避免寡头统治铁律,尽管这种民主内部存在着民主必需的同一性和多元主义需要的差异性这两种逻辑之间的张力.     

回流精英掌控乡村权力的若干思考

回流精英作为乡村中少数的优秀人物,在智力、能力、财产等方面超过大多数,在乡村民主政治发展中扮演着重要的角色。以一个村落的发展进程为线索,阐述了回流精英掌权后对乡村经济政治发展产生的积极影响,但是应警惕长期当政的回流精英易形成权势集团阻碍乡村的民主政治发展。如何引导回流精英在乡村中充分发挥正能量,促进乡村民主政治的有序运行具有重要意义。     

Surviving Information Overload: How Elite Politicians Select Information

Information in politics is overabundant. Especially elite politicians are bombarded with information. Politicians must be selective to stay on top of the information torrent. Aggregate‐level work within the bounded rationality framework showed that information selection is at the core of decision making. Yet, an answer to the question as to how individual elite politicians go about selecting information is lacking. We know that they unavoidably do, but how exactly they perform this selection task remains largely unknown. The article draws on interviews with 14 party leaders and ministers in Belgium about their information processing. We present a typology, and a funnel, of consecutive information selection mechanisms and attitudes. Politicians partially outsource their information selection to procedures and/or staffers, they personally apply rigorous rules of thumb about what to attend to and what not, and they compensate the pressure and constant risk of messing up with a large dose of self‐confidence.     

Elite politics and the fourth generation of chinese leadership

The personnel reshuffle at the 16^th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party is widely regarded as the first smooth and peaceful transition of power in the Party’s history. Some China observers have even argued that China’s political succession has been institutionalized. While this paper recognizes that the Congress may provide the most obvious manifestation of the institutionalization of political succession, this does not necessarily mean that the informal nature of politics is no longer important. Instead, the paper contends that Chinese political succession continues to be dictated by the rule of man although institutionalization may have conditioned such a process. Jiang Zemin has succeeded in securing a legacy for himself with his “Three Represents” theory and in putting his own men in key positions of the Party and government. All these present challenges to Hu Jintao, Jiang’s successor. Although not new to politics, Hu would have to tread cautiously if he is to succeed in consolidating power. The authors are grateful to the two anonymous referees for their valuable comments on the paper.     

The Elite Politics of Media Advocacy in Human Rights

ABSTRACT

Advocacy nongovernmental organizations based in the North adopt digital tools to bypass repressive regimes, raise awareness amongst global publics, sustain grassroots activists in the South, and engage in political action. Social media was expected to offer innovative platforms for mobilizing participants to act on behalf of “distant others.” But the practices of some organizations signal that something else is at play. Rather than empower individuals, digital campaigns reify elite politics, using outsider strategies to support insider lobbying. Through communicative processes of mediatization, organizations pay homage to the existence of a movement, but only afford thin forms of participation. Using the framework of media advocacy to explore Human Rights Watch and the Enough! Project, we argue that social media becomes a top-down platform that exacerbates the elite design of organizations, enabling them to assert legitimacy for political actions, while disingenuously marketing themselves as democratic with bottom-up credibility.     

政府变革的精英逻辑及其未来走向

精英不仅意味着经过挑选的那些人,而且预示着一种制度。这种制度将治理权授予给那些经过挑选的人,并在权力体系或市场体系中予以中心化。在此逻辑下,大众在社会治理中处于"失语"状态,扮演着臣民或市民的角色,难以获得公共生活与公共行动的机会。政府变革的首要问题不是工具更新或"政府升级",而是观念更新、视角转换,从传统的精英逻辑向公民视角转换。     

Elite Social Relations and Corporate Political Donations in Britain

Elite theory critiques of corporate political action rest on the claim that it advances the political interests of elite status groups. This article examines that claim by investigating the relationship between a British corporation's propensity to make donations to the Conservative party and its directors' educational backgrounds and social club affiliations. Using a structural equivalence blockmodel, it is shown that among the largest 250 British corporations in 1995 there was a set with directors who came from elite educational backgrounds and were members of elite social clubs. These corporations made a disproportionate number of donations. I argue that these results support the elite theory critique.     

中国的精英决策模式及发展趋势

概述了西方精英模式的基本观点,论述了中国公共决策模式为精英模式的理论依据与现实依据,分析了改革开放前中国精英决策模式的构成是政治权力精英主导的决策模式,具体表现为政治权力精英与一般政治精英的合作决策模式。阐述了改革开放后中国精英决策模式演变的过程,指出随着社会精英的崛起,中国精英决策模式逐渐向政治精英与知识精英、经济精英合作的模式演变。并从多角度比较分析了中国精英决策模式与西方国家精英决策模式的区别:指出我国的精英构成、社会精英的实际政治地位与西方国家的精英构成及社会精英的实际政治地位存在差异;我国精英决策不只代表精英的观点,也反映人民的声音;我国的经济精英影响政策的能力远逊于西方国家的经济精英;我国政治精英与知识精英的合作决策不同于西方国家的精英合作决策。分析了中国精英决策模式的优缺点,指出了中国决策模式的发展趋势是精英决策与大众民主的调和。     

A History of American Studies of Chinese Elite Politics

Journal of Chinese Political Science - This review essay examines a historical process of knowledge construction in American studies of China. Before 1989, U.S.-based scholars argued that Deng...     

A Comparative Assessment of Elite Policy Recruits in Canada

Recent case studies and large-N survey evidence has confirmed long-suspected shortages of public sector “policy capacity”. Studies have found that government policy workers in various jurisdictions differ considerably with respect to types of policy work they undertake, and have identified uneven capacity for policy workers to access and apply technical and scientific knowledge to public issues. This suggests considerable difficulties for government’s ability to meet contemporary policy and governance challenges. Despite growing attention to these matters, studies have not examined the “elite” policy workers many governments recruit to address these capacity shortages. Using an established survey instrument, this study of two Canadian recruitment programs provides the first comparative analysis of elite policy recruits, as policy workers. Three research questions anchor the study: (1) What is the profile of these actors? (2) What types of policy work do “elite” policy analysts actually engage in? (3) How does their policy work compare by recruitment program? The article provides fresh comparative data on the nature of elite policy work and policy analytical capacity, but, more importantly, a crucial baseline for future comparative study of how elite recruitment may facilitate “supply-side” capacity gains expected from recruitment programs.