Retrospective Congressional Oversight and the Dynamics of Legislative Influence over the Bureaucracy

Research stresses that congressional committees increase their oversight of the bureaucracy during divided government. We extend this research by developing an explanation, rooted in a more dynamic view of policymaking, for why Congress would sometimes conduct vigorous oversight under unified control as well. In short, committees seem to engage in what we call “retrospective oversight” and take advantage of newly friendly executive administration to refocus existing policy made under a past opposition president. We assess our perspective using two separate sources of data on oversight hearings spanning more than 60 years and find support for our claims regarding retrospective oversight.     

专家在立法听证中的角色和作用

立法听证是一种提高立法公正,促进立法民主的制度;同时也是搜集信息、发现事实的制度设计。专家在立法听证中应扮演重要角色,发挥重要作用:第一,作为利害关系人的委托代理人,他们是利害关系人和立法者之间的桥梁;第二,作为利害关系人的专家证人,他们可以使自然公正原则切实发挥作用;第三,作为专家陈述人,他们可以弥补立法者立法知识和信息的不足,促进立法科学,可以提高公众对立法的认同,这有利于法律的实施。当然,专家参与立法听证也有其消极作用,应有一定的限度。     

Congressional Vote Options

Numerous accounts reveal that congressional leaders often secure “hip‐pocket votes” or “if you need me” pledges from rank‐and‐file legislators. These are essentially options on votes. Leaders exercise sufficient options—pay legislators to convert to favorable votes—when those options will yield victory. Otherwise, they release the options. A model shows that this optimal strategy for leaders produces many small victories, few small losses, and losses that are, on average, larger than victories. We find precisely these patterns, hence strong evidence for vote options, in Congressional Quarterly key votes from 1975 through 2001 and in non‐key votes from the 106th Congress (1999–2000).     

从“配合”到“疏离”到“参与”——论中国企业在犯罪治理中的角色变迁

在我国建国初期,企业作为国家组织的一部分积极配合治理各种犯罪活动;随着企业体制改革的推进,企业逐步取得了独立的地位并日益疏离了传统的犯罪防控领域;然而进入新世纪之后,国家开始大力号召、鼓励企业组织特别是民营企业积极参与到反犯罪统一战线之中。可以说,在这个迈进法治的过程中,企业组织在犯罪治理活动中的角色和作用出现了明显的变化。本文通过考察一些看似个体性、片断性甚至琐碎性的现象,力图把握国家治理犯罪活动的总体性脉搏,以期为当前国家借助社会资源共同应对犯罪问题提出具有参考价值的建议和措施。     

“Deliberative Disagreement” in U.S. Health Policy Committee Hearings

The exchange of rationales among debate participants is necessary for legitimacy in a deliberative democracy. I show that witnesses in congressional committee hearings tend to use falsifiable rationales when they encounter moderate levels of disagreement and shift to nonfalsifiable rationales when they encounter extreme disagreement. I use data from a coding of hearings testimony on the Medicare program, held between 1990 and 2003, as well as from a survey of participating witnesses measuring their perceptions of disagreement at the hearing. The results identify conditions that enhance falsifiable discourse and help to establish the empirical grounding deliberative democratic theory.     

议会参与WTO事务问题初探

WTO直接影响到世界上大多数国家及各国人民的生活,这要求增强其透明度和民主,加大议会对WTO事务的参与和监督.对WTO的议会监督传统上指国内议会的监督,用以审查在WTO的谈判和承诺是否符合本国的利益和法律.此外还存在从国际层面通过国际议员会议对WTO事务展开监督和施加影响的第二种方式.有观点认为现有的这两种方式不足以对WTO展开有效的监督,需要在WTO框架内建立起多边议会监督机制.是否建立以及建立什么样的WTO议会机制,其根本判断价值和标准应该是能增强发展中国家对WTO事务和决策的参与,而不应该加剧不平衡,进一步向发达国家倾斜.在WTO框架下的多边议会监督机制的讨论刚刚开始,主要是组织形式和程序方面的问题,包括议会是否应是咨询性的,主要进行信息公布和交换,与国内议会的关系,与WTO秘书处的关系等观点和问题.在议会的监督作用等问题上已有共识.     

Sore Loser Laws and Congressional Polarization

To enhance explanations for party polarization in the U.S. Congress, we focus on an unappreciated legal structure known as the sore loser law. By restricting candidates who lose partisan primaries from subsequently appearing on the general election ballot as independents or as nominees of other parties, these laws give greater control over ballot access to the party bases, thus producing more extreme major party nominees. Using several different measures of candidate and legislator ideology, we find that sore loser laws account for as much as a tenth of the ideological divide between the major parties.     

加强会计监督的法律思考

会计监督作为会计的基本职能之一,是依照国家法律和各项财经政策、规章制度对会计工作实行的监督,其利用正确的会计信息对经济活动进行全面、综合地协调、控制、监督、督促,以达到提高经济效益的目的。市场经济的有序运作离不开会计监督。目前,随着经济体制改革的深化,更需要强有力的会计监督。然而,由于种种原因,会计监督呈现出弱化态势,致使经济领域中不规范的经济行为与违法犯罪层出不穷,因此,强化会计监督就显得日益重要。     

Oversight of Administrative Rulemaking: Judicial Review

The role of the courts in the review of administrative rulemaking raises profound questions as to the legitimate interference of courts in the exercise of administrative activities, which are often carried out in the pursuance of a legislative mandate. In contrast to the review of administrative acts of individual application, the Union courts have shown a more hesitant approach in the review of administrative rulemaking activities. This contribution will discuss the review by the Union courts of administrative rulemaking for compliance with procedural as well as substantive standards and will explore whether a convincing rationale for their more deferential attitude to the review of administrative rules can be provided. The article will explore to what extent lessons can be learned from the jurisprudence of the federal courts in the USA, which have struggled, even after the adoption of the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), with similar problems.     

Federal Oversight, Local Control, and the Specter of "Resegregation" in Southern Schools

Analyzing data for the 100 largest districts in the South andBorder states, we ask whether there is evidence of "resegregation"of school districts and whether levels of segregation can belinked to judicial decisions. We distinguish segregation measuresbased on racial isolation from those based on racial imbalance.Only one measure of racial isolation suggests that districtsin these regions experienced resegregation between 1994 and2004, and changes in this measure appear to be driven largelyby the rising nonwhite percentage in the student populationrather than by district policies. Although we find no time trendin racial imbalance over this period, we find that variationsin racial imbalance across districts are nonetheless associatedwith judicial declarations of unitary status, suggesting thatsegregation in schools might have declined had it not been forthe actions of federal courts.     

权力制约与监督机制问题刍议

权力制约和监督机制是我国政治文明建设的关键。失去制约和监督的权力必然导致腐败,对权力的制约和监督是反腐倡廉制度体系的核心,只有建立有效的权力制约和监督机制才能保证权力的正确运行。因此,权力制约和监督机制的建设具有根本性和全局性。制约是基础,监督是手段,机制是关键。     

对划分正式听证和非正式听证标准的思考

将司法化作为划分正式听证与非正式听证的实质性标准 ,有利于正式听证与非正式听证在各自的范围内发挥作用。正式听证的特点是严格性、要式性和公平性 ;非正式听证的特点是灵活性、效率性和广泛适用性。我国的听证会应属于正式听证程序。     

From Procuracy Supervision to Judicial Oversight

The new conditions of criminal court proceedings have already been in effect for two years. In spite of some complications in the application of the law, the criminal procedure law is working. Lawmaking aimed at improving criminal-law procedures continues. At the same time, practice helps us assess the viability of the innovations embodied in the Criminal Procedure Code of the RF, including those connected with expanding the powers of the court in investigating crimes. Hence, the question of the interrelationship between procuracy supervision and judicial oversight in pretrial proceedings remains topical for the law enforcer.     

Military Base Closures and the 1996 Congressional Elections

This article examines the extent to which changes in distributional benefits influence congressional election outcomes. Although conventional wisdom holds that a direct link exists between distributional benefits and electoral outcomes (Mayhew 1974b), recent evidence suggests that this link only exists under certain circumstances (Stein and Bickers 1994). In this article, I use 1995 military base closures to test the nature of the relationship. Contrary to recent research on the politics of pork barreling, my findings indicate support for a direct relationship between major base realignments and closures and House electoral outcomes. Specifically, major realignments and closures significantly decreased first‐year Democrats' vote margins in the 1996 House elections.     

Issue Voting and Partisan Defections in Congressional Elections

In every election cycle the fate of some candidates is determined by partisans who defect from their usual voting habits to cast a ballot for the candidate of the opposing party. Defections in congressional elections have been attributed to incumbency, presidential approval, partisan strength, and factors related to individual voters. Our systematic assessment of the impact of issues on voter defections shows that party‐owned issues and performance issues associated favorably with one party affect the likelihood of partisan defections. The results suggest that congressional candidates can use issues to draw supporters away from the opposing party and to keep partisan voters loyal.