Politics of Risk-Taking: Welfare State Reform in Advanced Democracies,by Barbara Vis

This article considers the impacts on the public regulation of private business of three key transformations in public management: “towards more targeting of resources” (through more risk-based regulation); “towards a stronger service ethos” (through more customer-centricity); and “towards increased integration” (through more joined-up regulatory organization). Empirical evidence is presented from a program of research focusing on local authority regulation of the businesses sector in England and Wales. The article concludes by reflecting on how such transformations, which are of wide international significance, might be viewed, particularly from a public interest perspective.     

西方国家政党政治与政党制度

政党的产生和发展是世界文明演进史上一个具有里程碑意义的事件.西方特别是西欧,是世界最早出现政党的地区,是世界政党制度的发源地.西方近代政党制度的产生,以及由此逐步形成的政党政治,使西方国家的上层建筑实现了革命性飞跃,对本国政治、经济、社会文化的发展产生深远的影响,也对世界大多数国家的政治演进带来了重要影响.     

加快经济一体化推动非洲发展

许多中国人习惯于将非洲大陆看作一个整体,但在现实中非洲由53个主权国家组成,市场处于严重的分割状态,阻碍了非洲国家内部贸易的往来。独立伊始,非洲国家领导人就认识到,仅靠本国单薄的经济实力,难以满足发展民族经济的需要。只有把区域范围内分散的力量联合起来,开发内部资源,互通有无,进行合作,才能克服困难,解决一些最迫切的经济问题。于是,     

国外政党政治的发展演进特点与走势

战后特别是冷战结束以来,伴随着国际形势的重大变化,世界大多数国家的政党政治也发生深刻变化,并在一定程度上影响国际关系以及各国政局和国内政策的发展走向.跟踪世界政党政治的变化走势,有助于了解国外政治和社会发展规律.     

Party Cohesion and Fractionalization in New African Democracies: Lessons from Struggles over Third-term Amendments

The recent experiences of ruling parties in Malawi, Zambia, and Namibia provide a unique opportunity to investigate the factors shaping internal party dynamics in new African democracies. Between 1997 and 2003, sitting executives in these countries attempted to amend constitutions so that they could run for third presidential terms. Within that specific context, ruling parties exhibited different tendencies. Whereas the South West African People's Organization (SWAPO) in Namibia held together, ruling parties in Malawi and Zambia fractionalized to varying degrees. This article examines why these ruling parties displayed such varying patterns while the executives attempted to extend their holds on power. Adopting an actor-centered approach to studying internal party politics, the article suggests that four different types of factors can shape party propensities toward coherence or fractionalization: exogenous institutional structures, internal distributions of resources, internal habits of dissent and unity, and external political opportunity structures. Examining the experiences of the ruling parties in light of these factors effectively shows the reasons for their different trajectories and suggests the utility of this approach for future work on similar dynamics in other contexts. Peter VonDoepp is assistant professor of political science at the University of Vermont. His work has appeared inStudies in Comparative International Development, The Journal of Modern African Studies, Commonwealth and Comparative Politics, The Political Science Quarterly and several edited volumes. He is currently working on a project comparing judiciaries in new African democracies. An earlier draft of this paper was presented at the 2003 Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association, August 27–August 31, in Philadelphia. The author wishes to thank Regina Boma, Nixon Khembo, Brian Calfano, and Martin Willhoite for research assistance. The author also acknowledges valuable commentary on earlier drafts provided by Nixon Khembo, David Mason, Alex Tan, Eve Sandberg, Irving Leonard Markovitz, Alfred Chanda, and Paul kaiser. All errors of fact or interpretation remain the author's.     

Democracies in crisis

The main contribution of this study is to identify democracies in the world that are at risk of becoming non-democracies. It is hypothesized that if democracies have a low level of legitimacy and have low effectiveness, they are at risk of becoming non-democratic regimes. These types of democracies are called weak democracies. Of the seven democracies that are identified as weak democracies between 2000 and 2010, the weakest of them, Mali, has already fallen. However, looking at the results of this study, it is not surprising that the democratic regime in Mali fell. The other six countries that are identified as weak democracies are Benin, Mongolia, Lesotho, El Salvador, Belize, and Mexico. The democratic regimes in these six weak democracies should be observed in more detail in the future to predict whether they are close to falling and losing their democratic institutions, or whether they will recover and no longer be weak democracies.     

俄罗斯政党政治发展的另类视角——从社会政治心态的角度分析

俄罗斯政党改革密切民众与政治的关联度从苏联解体至今,政党在俄罗斯政治舞台上已走过了近20年历程,其发展基本脉络也比较清晰。经过分权斗争、三次总统选举和四次杜马选举,俄罗斯的多党制经历了从混乱无序状态逐渐走向规范化和法制化的过程。进入新世纪,政党逐步被纳入了国家的宪政体制,形成了俄罗斯共产党、统一俄罗斯党、公正俄罗斯党、     

"日本特色"的政党政治

有学者认为日本和西方国家一样是政党政治,因为国会中有代表左、中、右各种社会力量的政党。当日本人向别的国家介绍日本的政治体制时,“日本是民主的政党政治”这一条是一定会提到的。然而同样是“民主政治”,它在日本的运作和     

社会政治心态视角中的俄罗斯政党政治

在近二十年时间,俄罗斯政党改革使政党朝大型政党、政权党和传媒党的趋势发展,同时也使政党越来越重视选民的社会政治心态.能否对当前的社会政治心态进行准确的认知与把握并作出积极的回应,是争取民众支持、立足政坛的关键所在.虽然,当前人民型政党存在不少问题,但随着政党的进一步规范整合,俄政党作为民意表达的重要渠道,将会有令人憧憬的前景.     

奥巴马的医改政治

现任美国总统奥巴马在竞选期间中,曾向美国人民作出了许多许诺,医疗改革是其中的重中之重。这个问题的重要性和敏感性在于它是美国政治新自由主义与新保守主义政治角逐的焦点之一。美国是主要发达国家中唯一没有实行全民医保的国家,     

The Politics of Food Regulation and Reform in Ireland

Amid a period of increasing political anxiety generated by the BSE crisis, the Irish Government sought to replace a confusing medley of food regulations with a single agency responsible for regulating food from the 'farm to the fork'. Presented as a radical departure from a regime previously discredited, its remit would be to redefine the relationship between risk assessment, management and communication. In this context, the paper puts forward three principal arguments. First, that while the Minister for Health and Children was keen to extol both the scientific credentials of the agency, and the importance of shifting regulatory responsibility from the Department of Agriculture and Food (DAF) to the Department of Health and Children (DOHC), what remains novel is the manner in which reform has managed to retain political access for influential agri-business interests. Second, that any reform undertaken should be fully cognisant of the international agreements between the European Union and the World Trade Organisation which extended further a free market in food trade. The agency's institutional architecture therefore was framed with the intention of restoring market confidence without threatening the habitat of those multi-national companies that occupy this arena. Finally, that the role of science (and risk) in food regulation has altered. Rather than perform the task of sustaining order through responsible government, science now participates in (re)constituting order through the market.     

金融危机冲击国外政党政治

当前,国际金融危机尚在蔓延,其政治影响持续发酵,一些国家原有的政治矛盾有所激化,政党政治领域斗争呈现值得注意的几个新动向。     

The Politics of Economic Crisis in Latin America

Researchers widely recognize that economic crises have important political consequences, yet there is little systematic research on the political factors that make nations more or less susceptible to economic crisis. Scholars have long debated the economic consequences of party systems, executive powers, and societal interest groups, but their relationships to crisis proclivity are poorly understood. We assess the political correlates of economic crisis using a cross-sectional time-series analysis of 17 Latin American countries over nearly three decades. Crises are measured along two dimensions—depth and duration—and disaggregated into three types: inflationary, GDP, and fiscal crises. Statistical results suggest that political institutions have a modest, and often unexpected, correlation with crises. More important than institutional attributes are social organization and the nature of party-society linkages, particularly the existence of a densely-organized trade union movement and/or a powerful leftist party. Strong unions and powerful parties of the left are associated with more severe economic crises, though there is some evidence that the combination of left-labor strength can alleviate inflationary crises. The results demonstrate the need to disaggregate the concept of economic crisis and incorporate the societal dimension when studying the political economy of crisis and reform.     

从德国看欧洲政党政治制度的危机与改革前景

近年来,西欧政党政治出现了严重危机.当前德国各个政党的普遍问题主要是缺乏一个明确的领导核心,政党政治危机首先体现在思想理论方面.为适应新形势,必须进行革新.     

Africa's prospects and South Africa's leadership potential in the emerging markets century

This article examines Africa's role in an evolving international system where powerful emerging markets, such as bric, together with established powers are shaping economic trajectories. The specific focus is on South Africa as an aspiring leader on the African continent, and on its potential for becoming an emerging market shaping the global order together with bric and the West. It is unclear whether a changing global economy in which the postcolonial world plays a greater role will result in improved developmental prospects for Africans as African countries gradually reorient themselves from the West to the South, or whether relations with emerging markets will resemble neo-colonial ties with the West. South Africa's structural weakness, stemming from serious domestic problems of a social, political and economic nature, threatens to undermine its standing in Africa and its emerging market status.