Proportionality and exaggeration in the British electoral system

The British electoral system has traditionally been defended on the grounds that its systematic exaggeration of the lead of the Conservatives over Labour or vice versa secured for the largest party an overall majority of seats on a minority of the votes and thereby enabled the electorate directly to determine which party holds office. Recent changes in the electoral geography of Britain have eroded that systematic exaggeration at Westminster elections and may soon remove it entirely. Meanwhile the electoral system is discouraging the pursuit of geographically aggregative policies. Consequently, the single member plurality system is no longer a suitable instrument to achieve the ends of its defenders but, despite their availability, alternative systems which could meet those aims have not been seriously considered.     

Self-Interest,Symbolic Politics,and Public Attitudes Toward Gun Control

Numerous studies have found that immediate and tangible self-interest has a minimal influence on public attitudes toward many policy issues. We examine public attitudes toward gun control in order to determine whether gun owners exhibit distinctive policy preferences. Our results indicate that self-interest strongly influences public preferences on gun control and that banning handguns evokes stronger self-interest effects than banning assault weapons or imposing a waiting period on purchases of firearms. We conclude by discussing why gun control evokes self-interested calculations among gun owners, the implications of our findings for self-interest theory, and suggestions for further lines of research.     

The Poverty of Participation: Self-Interest, Student Loans, and Student Activism

Political scientists maintain that self-interest should motivate political participation; however, empirical verification of the self-interest motive for participating is rare. Self-interested activism among the less-affluent is shown to be even more uncommon. Results of the present study suggest that when lower-income college students have resources and increased self-interest motives to act, not only do they choose to participate, they do so at higher levels than their more affluent peers. Utilizing policy-motivated activism (defined as voting, contributing, and contacting officials) with respect to student loans, the analysis suggests that the probability of contacting increases among student borrowers as their income decreases. Results suggest that lower-income borrowers are more likely to participate out of concern for the program than their higher-income counterparts, and self-interest explains the behavior.     

Self-Interest, Ideological/Symbolic Politics, and Citizen Characteristics: A Cross-National Analysis of Support for Privatization

In this essay, the authors explore attitudes toward government privatization of electric utilities across two sets of nations: developed market economies (DMEs) and transition economies (TEs). They utilize generalized hierarchical linear model to analyze individual attitudes nested within these two groups of polities and discover a wide gap between the DME and TE nations in terms of preferences for privatization, with attitudes in DME nations being far more favorable. Attitudes toward the privatization of electricity are explained by a combination of ideological/symbolic predispositions, self-interest, and citizen values/characteristics. The most consistent variables in the model are the ideological/symbolic predispositions, while the weakest are citizen characteristics/values. In terms of self-interest, the analysis indicates that those who work for the public service or a public firm are more likely than others to oppose the privatization of electricity. In contrast to some public administration literature that asserts well-informed and interested citizens will oppose privatization, the authors find no convincing relationships. Instead, the most educated and politically efficacious citizens, as well as those who have confidence in the way democracy works within their nation, are more prone than others to support privatization of electricity.     

On Introducing Proportionality in American Presidential Elections: An Historical Analysis, 1828–2008

It is well known that the President of the United States is elected by the Electoral College and not directly by the population. Every time a candidate who does not win the most popular votes is elected President, detractors of the Electoral College call for its abolishment and supporters extol its undoubtedly merits. This article investigates what would have happened if a solution halfway between both extremes (a direct national election and the current system) had been used in historical Presidential elections; namely, a proportional rule with thresholds to assign electors in each state. This system would generate electoral colleges closer to popular will, reduce the risk of electing a minority president and impose the need of more balanced regional support to be elected, although increasing the risk of a third candidate emerging.     

Salem with and without witches,and also Geneva and Berlin

Public Choice - Peter Bernholz’s cases of supreme values exhibit authoritarianism, totalitarianism and terror. Supreme values are, however, a necessary, but not sufficient condition for...     

资本主义和社会主义两种现代化、全球化的消长

资本主义现代化、全球化在历史上具有巨大的进步作用 ,同时也造成了重大的灾难。资本主义现代化、全球化的第一个浪潮产生了马克思主义 ,第二个浪潮形成了列宁主义和毛泽东思想 ,第三个浪潮产生了邓小平理论。从世界历史进程来看 ,存在着资本主义和社会主义两种现代化、全球化的对接、对应和对比、对立的消长关系 ,我们只有坚持“一个中心 ,两个基本点”的基本路线 ,对内改革僵化的权力过度集中的体制 ,对外向资本主义世界开放 ,参与全球化进程 ,才能实现对接和对应。     

科技文化与人和自然的和谐

科技文化是科学技术社会功能的理性结晶.人与自然关系的演化存在着科技文化的重要作用.人类一定时期认识的有限性、科技文化系统的复杂性以及近代偏颇的科技社会价值观是人与自然关系失衡的重要原因.在当代、科技文化在实现人与自然和谐共生中发挥着极为重要的作用.     

Homeownership and Nontraditional and Subprime Mortgages

This article documents the growth and geographic distribution of nontraditional mortgages (NTMs) and subprime mortgages during 2000-2006, and examines the association between these products and homeownership at the county level between 2000 and 2012. It finds a significant relationship between the origination of NTM and subprime mortgages during the boom and changes in the number of homeowners (positive during the 2000-2006 period and negative during the 2006-2012 period) but no significant relationship with the change in the homeownership rate. Looking at specific categories of the population, the results indicate a positive relationship between the presence of NTMs and subprime mortgages and increased numbers of homeowners for young households as well as for low income and minority households, but the relationship is smaller than for the general population. Overall, the relationship between NTMs and homeownership is stronger than the relationship between subprime mortgages and homeownership during the boom and it is less negative during the bust.     

高校档案管理和提供利用中存在的问题与对策

高校档案是一种重要的文献信息资源,是一个集多种门类于一体综合性档案体系。它不仅客观真实地反映了学校发展的历程,也为学校的持续发展提供了历史依据,是衡量教学质量和管理水平的一个重要尺度,同时也是推进和发展学校教育事业的宝贵财富。     

Civic engagement and participation among Ghanaian and Kenyan students and their correlates

This article examines levels of civic engagement among university students in Ghana and Kenya and identifies factors that may account for their civic engagement. Overall, the students reported low civic engagement, with the Kenyans reporting higher engagement. Demographic factors (gender and age) and personal values hardly contributed to the students’ civic engagement. Political interest and attentiveness, barriers and motivation towards participation made a consistent and significant contribution to political participation and future participation. Furthermore, trust, social endorsement and social efficacy showed a consistent and significant contribution to civic engagement. The findings underscore the need to work towards getting the youth more engaged.