Campaign Finances and Provincial Elections in Ontario,Canada

This study analyses the relationship between provincial election outcomes and campaign spending. This study is novel as it utilizes only those expenses that should have a causal link with election success. OLS regression controlled for candidate quality, incumbency, and economic conditions reveals a positive (negative) relationship between campaign (challenger) spending and election succession, while logistic regression results in a 93% correct prediction rate. Two-staged least-square regression corroborates the findings. The results suggest that although campaign spending is useful, incumbency status and experience are more important. Additionally, campaign spending is less important during close elections and has a diminishing marginal return.     

Protest Patterns in Provincial Russia: a Paired Comparison of Company Towns

Following the Soviet Union’s collapse, Russia implemented reforms aimed at transitioning to a market economy and devolving power to regional and municipal levels of government. Although it is well known that these reforms created significant uncertainty, economic crises, and protest, most existing studies do not explore the considerable variation in protest patterns across localities. This article asks why, despite similar pressures, some cities have experienced protests that are consistently larger and more intense than others. Focusing on the context of the many company towns that emerged during Soviet industrialization, I construct a paired comparison of two average-sized company towns using process tracing through interviews and archival documents. This article also employs an original protest database created through newspaper analysis that tracks not only the instances of protest but also protest size, demands, and targets. What emerges are two pathways that explain the divergent protest structures in the two company towns studied. In Cherepovets, a city that is less dependent on the central state, local elites pursued strategies of co-optation and suppression, limiting the opportunity structure for contentious politics to small-scale, local protests. In Komsomolsk-na-Amure, a city where the primary industry is in decline and dependent on support from the center, local elites converged with opposition groups to improve their bargaining position vis-à-vis the central government; this produced protests that were larger and more extreme and targeted the system as a whole.     

The Survival of Spanish Provincial Governments in a Quasi-Federal Polity: Reframing the Debate

Despite harsh criticisms, Spanish provincial governments (diputaciones) have survived for 200 years and have remained practically unchanged since the Transition. The survival of diputaciones in a proto-regional state is clearly a paradox that requires consideration of a range of potential explanations. Drawing upon extensive empirical investigation within and around three provincial governments in 2013–2014 (Seville, Barcelona, and Valencia), the survival of the diputaciones is illuminated by the path dependency and functional arguments, but it is most convincingly explained in terms of cartel (party) politics. The impact of the 2008 economic crisis has stretched these “party bargains” to breaking point.     

Institutionalizing from the Middle: the Impacts of Provincial Legislation on Rural Grassroots Democracy in China

Nominal democratic institutions under non-democratic regimes vary across countries. This study intends to advance our understanding of such institutions by exploring the relevance of one aspect of the authoritarian regimes, government hierarchy. Focusing on village-level democratization in China, we investigate the intermediary role of the provincial level governments in shaping the variant outcomes of grassroots democracy across the country. Through an analysis of a national sample, we find that divergent provincial legislative interpretation of central policies is a key determinant of public access to power and democratic governance of village-level governments. Our finding suggests that authoritarian states can employ various institutions to gather information, accommodate local variations, and thus contain potential intra-government disagreement.     

Space,Kinship Networks and Youth Transition in Provincial Russia: Negotiating Urban–Rural and Inter-Regional Migration

This article addresses orientations towards place and opportunities for rural–urban and inter-regional migration amongst graduates of vocational colleges in Ul'yanovsk Oblast'. Given the inaccessibility of the housing market and decline in the provision of student and workplace accommodation, kinship networks have become the principal means to negotiate any form of migration. However, while in some cases such networks provide ‘bridges’ to opportunities elsewhere, a general lack of networks, alongside the ‘bonding’ effects of kinship networks at the local level, acts as a significant constraint on young peoples' prospects for geographical, and social, mobility.     

为未来奠定基础——中共中央政治局委员、中共广东省委书记汪洋出访俄罗斯纪行

近年来，中俄关系战略协作伙伴关系在高水平上快速发展。为落实两党两国领导人达成的重要共识，通过深化执政党机制化交往，增进双边政治互信，推动包括地方合作在内的各领域务实合作，应俄罗斯统一俄罗斯党邀请，中共中央政治局委员、中共广东省委书记汪洋于2010年6月15—19日率中共代表团访问俄罗斯并出席第14届圣彼得堡国际经济论坛。此访本着高效务实的精神，充分发挥政党外交的优势和特色，积极开展工作，取得圆满成功。     

秋高宜行远 风好正扬帆——中共中央政治局委员、广东省委书记汪洋访问乌克兰、保加利亚侧记

应乌克兰地区党、保加利亚争取欧洲进步公民党（简称公民党）以及索非亚市和大区政府邀请,中共中央政治局委员、广东省委书记汪洋于9月11-17日率中共代表团访问上述两国。中联部副部长陈凤翔,广东省委常委、宣传部长林雄陪同访问。     

深化传统友谊和互信增进相互交流与合作——中共中央政治局委员、中共湖北省委书记俞正声访问老挝、越南、柬埔寨纪行

应老挝人民革命党、越南共产党以及柬埔寨人民党和奉辛比克党的邀请,中共中央政治局委员、中共湖北省委书记俞正声率中共代表团于9月10～19日对上述三国进行了正式友好访问.中联部副部长刘洪才和湖北省委常委、省委秘书长李明波陪同访问.