Encouraging Political Defection: The Role of Personal Discussion Networks in Partisan Desertions to the Opposition Party and Perot Votes in 1992

Drawing on data from a unique study of the 1992 American presidential election, this article demonstrates that personal discussion networks influence voting behavior, independent of candidate evaluations and partisanship. These social networks encouraged two different kinds of defections from otherwise-expected behavior. People were more likely to vote for Perot if their personal discussants supported him and to convert preferences for him into a Perot vote on election day. Partisans also were more likely to defect to the other major party if their discussion network failed to fully support the candidate of their own party. These results withstood controls for candidate evaluations and partisanship as well as for selective exposure to discussants and selective perception of their preferences. They show the importance of adding social context to personal attitudes, interests, and partisanship in explaining voting behavior.     

For Queen and Company: The Role of Intelligence in the UK's Arms Trade

This article analyses the role that the UK intelligence services (particularly Secret Intelligence Service [SIS or MI6], the Defence Intelligence Staff [DIS], Government Communication Headquarters [GCHQ] and associated agencies) play in the legal UK arms trade. The article shows that intelligence has been used in support of British-based private commercial businesses, and occasionally in providing intelligence on the negotiating positions of rival manufacturers. This raises important questions about the role of the state in the private sphere, particularly the use of a large number of government assets in support of private interests and the elision of British government interests with those of a section of the manufacturing industry. This article also challenges existing conceptions of how the UK's intelligence agencies operate and relate to their customers. Conventional typologies of UK intelligence have emphasised the importance of the 'central machinery', highlighting the Joint Intelligence Committee as the focal point of intelligence tasking and analysis in the UK. However, in this case the intelligence support provided to the sale of military equipment suggests a range of parallel practices that are much more decentralised and often informal. This research therefore suggests that our conception of the UK intelligence architecture requires some reassessment.     

UDHR and Modern Slavery: Exploring the Challenges of Fulfilling the Universal Promise to End Slavery in All Its Forms

This article reflects on the prohibition of slavery set out in article 4 of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and analyses efforts undertaken in the years since to fulfil this commitment. It first addresses the evolution in the prohibition from historic forms of slavery to contemporary forms of slavery and human trafficking. Second, the article examines the Modern Slavery Act 2015 and the National Referral Mechanism to appreciate the UK's efforts to implement various international commitments to prohibit slavery, noting that the current focus towards criminalisation and the meagre support offered as victim protection does not constitute a sufficiently comprehensive strategy towards effective prohibition. Third, areas for reform are identified that could reorient government strategy toward more effective victim protection and support, starting with better identification of victims. And finally, the article argues in favour of actions that seek to prevent modern slavery crimes and abuse, including with a more robust regulatory framework that engages private sector actors to recognise the risks of slavery and exclude forced labour from supply chains.     

Neighbourhood Ethnic Diversity and Orientations Toward Muslims in Britain: The Role of Intergroup Contact

A persistent theme in the British and international debates about immigration and diversity is the controversial claim that living in diverse areas has negative consequences for intergroup attitudes and community relations. In the present paper we test this claim by investigating the impact of neighbourhood diversity and self‐reported intergroup contact on orientations (outgroup attitudes and social distance) toward one religious outgroup: Muslims. Respondents were both White British majority (N=867) and non‐Muslim ethnic minority (N=567) residents of neighbourhoods in England which varied in their proportion of ethnic minority residents. We tested both direct and indirect (via intergroup contact) effects of diversity on outgroup orientations toward Muslims. Results show that individuals living in more ethnically diverse areas—regardless of whether they are White British members of the majority or non‐Muslim members of ethnic minorities—have more positive contact with Muslims, with positive consequences for intergroup relations with Muslims.     

哈萨克斯坦在亚信会议中的特殊地位及对中国的启示

哈萨克斯坦作为亚信会议的发起国,对亚信会议具有重要的影响力。哈致力于推动亚信机制的升级,是基于其国内政治和中亚战略目标的需要。中国在2014年5月成为新一届亚信会议轮值主席国,应关注哈在该机制中的特殊角色和利益诉求,在此基础上发挥建设亚信机制的主导力量,使该机制成为开拓中哈关系的积极推手和服务于中国周边外交战略的有效平台。     

Conflict in Trade Policy: The Role of the Congress and the Provinces in Negotiating and Implementing the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement

The provincial role in trade policy has until recently beenlimited, but the increasing impact of international trade negotiationson domestic policy issues has come into direct conflict withprovincial jurisdiction. At the same time, Congress has handedsome of its constitutional authority over trade matters to theexecutive branch through the granting of "fast track" negotiatingauthority. The paper argues that, as a result of these developments,the functional roles that Congress and the provinces playedin the negotiation of the FTA were not significantly differentin the two countries. However, in the implementation of thetrade agreement, roles again became clearly defined by constitutionaljurisdiction.     

The Discourse of the Extreme Right and Its Ideological Implications: The Case of the Alleanza nazionale on Immigration

Against the background of research on Italian parliamentary debates on immigration, ter Wal looks at the ideological positions of the extreme-right Alleanza nazionale (AN) concerning both immigration and integration policy. In order to unravel the ideological implications she focuses on examples of various rhetorical strategies enacted in speeches by several of the party's MPs: including stategies of self- and other-presentation, and of justification and causal explanation. This analysis shows how the AN manages to propagate an ideology of ethnic nationalism that eschews the egalitarian norms and cultural pluralism necessary for full participation by migrants. The AN's transformation and re-interpretation of the meaning of the key values of equality andsolidarietàfunction as a justification for the restriction of migrants' rights. Speakers shift the perspective from immigrants' problems to the socio-economic problems of Italians in order to recommend a policy of 'the own people first'. While the AN's discourse thus continues to build on traditional extreme-right beliefs and claims, on the other hand it also espouses New Right ideologies of cultural relativism. Moreover, unlike that of radical-right parties, the AN's discourse does not express blatant forms of ethnic prejudice in the form of stereotypical beliefs and negative representations of immigrants' personal characteristics, nor does it blame immigrants, who are rather represented, and sympathized with, as victims. The moderation of and internal contradictions in its discourse makes the AN difficult     

The Role,Scope and Scale of Local Government in New Zealand: Its Prospective Future

This article contributes to the current debate as to the role, scope and scale of local government in New Zealand. In 2008, the Nationals Local Government Minister announced his intention to undertake a fundamental review of local government in NZ. This review finally took shape in mid 2011 with the publication of the consultation document ‘Smarter Government, Stronger Communities: towards better local governance and public services’ ( Hide 2011 ). This article adds to the debate by identifying four key themes within the NZ local government system, namely: the legislative framework; managerial capabilities; calibre of elected members and finally democratic deficit and community disengagement. Whilst the first two themes are undoubted strengths, the latter two are equally weaknesses in the local governance system of NZ. Hence the article makes a number of recommendations, seeking to exploit the strengths and to correct the weaknesses in order to create a robust and credible local governance system for NZ.     

In The Thick of It: ‘high politics’ and the Holocaust in millennial Britain

ABSTRACT

Over the past twenty years, state-sponsored activities related to the Holocaust have been numerous in Britain. Beginning with the creation of Holocaust Memorial Day at the turn of the millennium, successive governments have followed a policy trajectory that has brought forth a slew of new initiatives and projects related to the Holocaust and its memory. Most recently, this has included the creation of a new national memorial and learning centre, to be housed adjacent to the Palace of Westminster. With cross-party support and the pledge of £50 million of public funds, this lieu de memoire is due to open in January 2020. Conceiving of these activities as exercises in ‘high’ Holocaust politics, Pearce’s article examines the various memory-projects of recent decades and argues they reveal much about millennial Britain and its Holocaust culture. He contends that the nature of these and other initiatives means high Holocaust politics must be subject to continued scrutiny and interrogation.     

专业学会在应对突发公共卫生事件中的作用——以新型冠状病毒肺炎疫情应对为例

与一般危机事件相比,突发公共卫生事件具有突发性、高度专业性、未知性、群体性、社会性以及应对协同性等特征。在现代化治理体系中,专业学会作为突发公共卫生事件应急管理的重要补充力量,应当发挥专业优势、组织协调优势、凝聚精神等优势,在疾病的预测、健康科普、组织动员、心理干预等方面发挥积极作用。     

湖南法治政府：思想源流、路径选择与制度创新

湖湘法律文化源远流长,具有经世济民的时代精神、心忧天下的家国情怀、敢为人先的创造意识以及服务大众的民本思想。湖南法治政府建设在传承湖湘丰富法律资源的基础上,创新发展模式,以政府为主导,以程序为重点,以政治家与法学家的结合为方法,以阳光政府为价值追求,创立了法治政府建设的“湖南模式”,并在行政决策、规范性文件的制定、执法程序、行政公开、责任追究等制度建设方面推陈出新,使湖南法治政府建设走在了全国的前沿。