英国的压力集团

英国的压力集团(pressure groups)是20世纪后期兴起的一种非正式组织,其性质与美国等西方国家的院外活动大同小异,目的主要是为了自己所支持的事业或公众利益向议会和政府施加影响与压力,从而改变官方的决定或决议。     

“友好认知与理解”:英国文化交流的方式

鉴于各国的文化、历史及其在世界上的行事方式不同,每一个国家的文化交流形式各异、内容不一。英国文化协会采用展示而非告诉的方式促进了英国与世界人民之间的友好认知与理解。中国文化交流方式源自其文化和丰富的文化交流史也有其自身的特点。     

《英国网络安全战略》报告解读

今年6月25日,英国正式公布了<英国网络安全战略>报告(以下简称<报告>),[1]标志着英国历史上首个国家网络安全战略的出台.在网络安全日益受到关注和重视的今天,<报告>的出台无疑将对英国国家安全战略的发展走向产生深远影响.     

英国的中东研究

“英国中东研究协会”(BRISME)①是英国著名的中东研究机构。该机构于1973年成立,麾下汇集了来自世界各地的教师、研究员、外事人员、记者及其他从事中东研究等人士。它的联谊机构主要有欧洲中东研究学会(EURAMES)及北美中东研究学会(MESA)。“英国中东研究协会”的刊物为《英国中东研究杂志》(British Jour-nal of Eastern Studies),每年出版两次,内容包括学术文章及书评。该协会每年的学术活动主要有两项:学术讲评和研讨会。无论从战略意义、经济意义,还是从政治意义和文化意义上讲,中东都是不容忽视的力量,英国政界及商界必须紧…     

Steadfast Yet Reluctant Allies: Japan and the United Kingdom in the Vietnam War

During the Vietnam War there were high expectations from the Johnson and Nixon Administrations for Japan and Britain to provide practical and political support for American military and strategic objectives in Indochina. The leader of Japan's conservative Liberal Democratic Party, Sato Eisaku, and the British Labour Party's Harold Wilson, balanced political support for the United States with significant public pressure at home to eschew any entanglement in the highly unpopular conflict. As junior allies of the United States both Sato and Wilson did not want to see the United States fail in Vietnam or the communist sphere expand in Southeast Asia. Both leaders accrued significant foreign policy advantages as a result of politically and publicly supporting American actions in Vietnam. But to placate domestic electorates that clearly felt uncomfortable over their governments providing explicit, albeit non-military, support to the United States in Vietnam, Sato and Wilson expended substantial prime ministerial diplomacy in attempting to play a mediatory role in the conflict. Each was highly successful in balancing domestic and American demands, whilst maintaining their security partnerships with the United States.     

英国应急安全管理体制机制评析

英国应急安全管理体系始建于二战以后,主要以地方管理为核心,其管理重点包括防范核打击下的平民伤亡,对突发的自然灾害以及北爱尔兰的恐怖袭击进行应对与处理等。进入21世纪后,英国的应急管理从立法规制到中央、地方的体制协调上实现了飞跃发展。2001年,英国成立了内阁国民紧急事务秘书处。2004年,《国民紧急状态法》颁布出台,界定了"应急事务"的范畴,规范了从中央到地方所有应急管理机构的角色与责任。2010年,英国的应急管理被纳入到国家安全的"大安全"战略框架。总体上看,英国应急管理体系从中央到地方构成了一个立体网状的体制结构,形成了多层分工、上下联动、跨部门协作的运行机制。此外,英国应急管理注重发挥地方、基层的中坚作用,特别突出风险防范、应急培训、业务持续性与灾后恢复的"系统抗灾力"建设。在2005年伦敦恐怖爆炸事件中,英国政府基本做到了快速、高效、全面的应急安全管理,也总结了在预警评估、高级别跨机构协调的角色定位、管理通讯网络以及对事故死伤者及其家属提供支持等方面需要进一步改进的意见。英国应急安全管理的经验也对中国的应急管理有一定的借鉴作用。     

Emotions in Negotiation: How to Manage Fear and Anger

When emotions run amok, negotiators lose perspective and make serious mistakes or perform poorly. The authors describe emotions, explore their origins, detail their physiology, demonstrate their key role in human behavior (particularly in negotiation), and propose a series of recommendations for dealing with fear and anger, two critical emotions in negotiations.     

A study on Chinese student migration in the United Kingdom

This paper provides insights into PR Chinese student migration into the United Kingdom, examined within both historical and contemporary contexts. It analyses student migration patterns, financial flows and the impact of such processes on UK Universities. It also suggests various modifications to immigration policies and promotes social debates on the impact of the phenomena of a massively increasing student flow, for both the UK and for Europe. This paper aims to analyse the multiple financial and social implications of this massive student flow. It shows the need for policy adjustments towards better migration management in both China and Europe. The return of students remains a matter of serious concern for both China and European host countries. The net gain of skilled migrants in many European countries, accompanied by a corresponding loss of skilled workers in China, has heightened anxiety over the consequences of this ‘brain drain’. Student migration will remain one key domain for the emergence of global labour market, enhanced cooperation for Europe and China on information sharing, data exchange and orderly management of return migrants, and this in turn will boost the potential benefits for both parties in a long run.     

Online Mobilization in Comparative Perspective: Digital Appeals and Political Engagement in Germany,Italy, and the United Kingdom

This study analyzes the relationship between online voter mobilization and political engagement in Germany, Italy, and the United Kingdom during the 2014 European election campaign. Internet surveys of samples representatives of these countries’ populations with Internet access show that respondents who received an invitation to vote for a party or candidate via e-mail or social media engaged in a significantly higher number of political activities than those who did not. Moreover, the relationship between mobilization and engagement was stronger among those who followed the campaign less attentively, as well as in countries where overall levels of engagement with the campaign were lower (Germany and the United Kingdom) than where they were higher (Italy). These findings indicate that online mobilization may contribute to closing gaps in political engagement at both individual and aggregate levels, and thus suggest that digital media may contribute to reviving democratic citizenship.     

Crafting competitive party systems: Electoral laws and the opposition in Africa

After the resurgence of democracy in the 1990s, as was the case after independence, dominant party systems are predominant in Africa. This has occurred irrespective of the particular electoral system used. Both scholars and practitioners have so far failed to appreciate the fact that not fragmentation but concentration of the party system is the main challenge and that a choice between proportional representation or a plurality electoral system will do little to change the fortunes of the majority party and the opposition. This article goes beyond the current debate by suggesting that opposition parties in Africa could be crafted through a minority premium, preferably in combination with a majority ceiling. Such electoral engineering would in the long‐term contribute to the emergence of a two‐party system, generally recognized as the environment most congenial to a strong parliamentary opposition. In the short‐term, adoption of a minority premium would increase competitiveness.     

Instrumentalizing Fukushima: Comparing Media Coverage of Fukushima in Germany,France, the United Kingdom,and Switzerland

According to the theory of instrumental actualization in mediated conflicts, the mass media tend to exaggerate events consistent with the editorial line. This theory was tested using press coverage in Germany, Switzerland, France, and the United Kingdom on the Japanese seaquake, the tsunami it caused, and the nuclear disaster of Fukushima. Within a period of seven weeks after the seaquake, the coverage in the four countries in 27 national newspapers and magazines on the three events was analyzed. As hypothesized from theory, German and Swiss media concentrated on Fukushima and stressed its relevance to domestic nuclear plants, whereas French and British media placed a greater emphasis on the tsunami and rarely related the nuclear catastrophe in Japan to domestic nuclear programs. In addition, there were remarkable correlations between the views of journalists and the bias of statements on nuclear energy presented in their news sections. Findings are discussed and related to the theory of public opinion and political decisions in liberal democracies.     

Social media and protest mobilization: evidence from the Tunisian revolution

This article explores how social media acted as a catalyst for protest mobilization during the Tunisian revolution in late 2010 and early 2011. Using evidence from protests we argue that social media acted as an important resource for popular mobilization against the Ben Ali regime. Drawing on insights from “resource mobilization theory”, we show that social media (1) allowed a “digital elite” to break the national media blackout through brokering information for mainstream media; (2) provided a basis for intergroup collaboration for a large “cycle of protest”; (3) reported event magnitudes that raised the perception of success for potential free riders, and (4) provided additional “emotional mobilization” through depicting the worst atrocities associated with the regime's response to the protests. These findings are based on background talks with Tunisian bloggers and digital activists and a revealed preference survey conducted among a sample of Tunisian internet users (February–May 2012).     

中欧关系演进的内在逻辑:基于欧盟对华援助的视角

欧盟对华援助的主要表现在援助资金呈递增趋势、援助领域由早期的农业援助转向经济和社会改革领域、援助项目要按照"标准化"要求操作等三个方面。从援助特征可以看出欧盟对华援助背后的政治经济逻辑正好吻合了新自由主义对国际政治经济生活进行必要干预的主张,把欧盟成员国和欧盟内部的社会经验在援助国得以拓展,使其经济运行和社会秩序朝着欧盟所拟定的方向发展,这也恰好表明欧盟对华援助的行为不可能偏离自利立场。但是,中国在坚持独立的外交政策和方针下,使得中欧关系逐步朝务实性方向发展,在合作基础上解决面临的共同难题,谋求长期的战略性合作伙伴关系依然符合中欧关系发展的趋势。     

Elite coordination and popular protest: the joint effect on democratic change

Authoritarian elections offer a window of contestation where a democratic opposition may increase the pressure on authoritarian regimes to implement democratic change. Pressure may come either from popular protest (vertical threats), or from a coordinated counter-elite (lateral threats). Previous research on electoral authoritarianism has emphasized the importance of both lateral and vertical threats for democratization, but have not theorized how these two threats interact to promote higher levels of democracy. We argue that the effect of vertical threats is contingent on the existence of lateral threats. Popular mobilization is more likely to promote democratic change if a unified opposition translates popular grievances to democratic demands. Conversely, a mobilized population increases the probability that a unified opposition will enhance democratic change by increasing the reputational and organizational costs of repression and electoral manipulation. Our theoretical claims are corroborated by statistical analysis of 169 elections, held in 74 electoral autocracies around the globe 1991–2014.