Don't call me a populist! The meaning of populism for western European parties and politicians

In recent years a common understanding of the core elements of populist communication has been achieved in academia. Yet, we know less about how the term populism is used by political parties themselves, despite widespread assumptions about the use of populism as a battle term to disqualify competitors. Based on a quantitative and qualitative content analysis of Twitter content from mainstream and populist actors in six western European countries, this study finds that populism is indeed used by mainstream parties in a pejorative way in order to label political competitors. Yet, not only populist but also mainstream competitors are labeled populist by the center parties linking a variety of different negative meanings to the term, which are often of a less demonizing nature not questioning the legitimacy of others. Populists in Italy and France refer to the term in a positive way, while Spanish and German populists rather reject the label.     

Consultocracy and its discontents: A critical typology and a call for a research agenda

In the past few decades, many sector‐specific case studies have been conducted on the use of consultants in the public sector. However, the overall picture of the qualitative changes facilitated by consultants remains fragmented, and a comprehensive framework on how “consultocracy” affects governance is lacking. This article shows how the increased use of consultants has impacted the operational logics of public administration and governance at large. Drawing from a large multisectoral case study from Finland as well as existing studies, a fourfold typology of how consultocracy shapes public administration is introduced. We argue that increased reliance on consultants contributes to the monopolization and privatization of public knowledge and ensuing dependencies, erosion of tacit knowledge, weakening of accountability, and strengthening of instrumental rationality. This research emphasizes the importance of understanding the links between these developments and the need to implement a comprehensive research agenda on consultocracy.     

风险的制度化与制度的风险——以彩票业为例

从风险与制度的关系角度,分析了彩票业在中国的发展过程以及存在的问题。认为,彩票是国家对社会投机行为进行有序管理的制度形式,实现了国家对风险的制度化利用,达到了通过赋予娱乐行为合法性,筹集社会资金发展公益事业的目的。彩票业的兴起是中国发展市场经济的必然结果,产生的问题反映了市场经济监管体制的不完善,也说明了任何制度建设都蕴藏着潜在风险。要解决彩票发行中产生的各类问题,必须从完善和强化监管机制入手,引导和激励社会公众参与合法的娱乐活动。     

严肃党内政治生活与党风廉政建设

严肃党内政治生活是中国共产党九十多年来管党治党经验的理论提升,对于保持党的先进性、纯洁性,推进党风廉政建设具有重大而深远的意义。严肃党内政治生活有助于共产党人精神补钙,提高共产党员抵制腐朽思想的自觉性;有助于执行好民主集中制原则,增强拒腐防变和抵御风险能力;有助于严格执行党规党纪,杜绝腐败现象滋生;有助于提升党内监督水平,依靠党的自身力量克服各种腐败现象的发生。当前,党风廉政建设和反腐败斗争依然面临着严峻复杂的形势,必须落实严肃党内政治生活责任主体,贵在经常、重在认真、要在细节。     

Political Action Committee Spending and Senate roll call voting

This paper addresses how PAC spending affects the roll call voting behavior of U.S. Senators. Using a theoretical framework which draws broadly on the voting literature, we develop models that explain Senatorial voting behavior in a pre-PAC and post-PAC world. Testing both models we find weak support for a Downs-Black view of voting participation in the first model. The second model supports the alteration of voting incentives resulting from PAC spending. We find that PACs have a positive effect on voting participation. The conjecture remains whether PACs change voting outcomes, but it is clear that they buy voting participation.     

Take an issue: cultural economy and finance

Abstract

Present-day capitalism is increasingly financial in character. At nearly every turn, finance and practices of financialization have begun to work their way into most areas of everyday life. The papers gathered together in this special section under the umbrella term ‘cultural economy of finance’ seek to explore the preparation of key areas of modern finance. In doing so, they demonstrate the productiveness of opening finance to a range of interdisciplinary inquiry to show how finance works and how debates about finance might be productively progressed.     

Third-party threat and the dimensionality of major-party roll call voting

This paper assesses the influence of the electoral threat of third parties on major-party roll call voting in the US House. Although low-dimensionality of voting is a feature of strong two-party politics, which describes the contemporary era, there is significant variation across members. I hypothesize that major-party incumbents in districts under a high threat from third-party House candidates cast votes that do not fit neatly onto the dominant ideological dimension. This hypothesis is driven by (1) third party interests in orthogonal issues, and (2) incumbents accounting for those interests when casting votes in order to minimize the impact of third parties. An empirical test using data from the 105th to 109th Congresses provides evidence of this effect.     

Voters and roll call voting: The effect on congressional elections

The subject of this research is whether ideological preferences play a major role in explaining voters' refusal to reelect some members of the U.S. House of Representatives. If ideological control is important, one would expect to find a large difference between the voting record of a rejected incumbent and his or her replacement. In distinction, whenever voters must replace a congressman or congresswoman because that person had died in office or chose to run for higher office, the hypothesis of ideological tracking implies that the newly elected member of Congress will resemble his or her predecessor. The data confirm these hypotheses and show, as well, that ideological control exists within parties and not only between them; that the degree of voters' ideological control is as great over senior congressmen and congresswomen as over junior ones; and that voters' concern about ideology has increased over the last two decades.     

文学要更加自觉主动地担当起大发展大繁荣的使命

文学是文化建设的重要组成部分,在中华民族历史发展的长河中,发挥了十分重要的作用。黑龙江省文学事业近年来取得了很大发展,呈现出百花齐放的繁荣态势。面对大好形势,黑龙江省文学界和广大文学工作者要努力把握机遇,从容应对挑战,为实现“文化立省”战略,以及实现黑龙江省文学大发展大繁荣做出更多的贡献。     

以科学发展观统揽全省经济社会发展全局

如何总结好“十五”时期的经验,谋划好未来五年的发展,是中央今年以来一直在考虑的一个重大问题。胡锦涛总书记8月下旬在河南、江西、湖北考察时明确指出,确定“十一五”时期经济社会发展的指导思想和主要任务,首先要准确认识国际国内的发展环境,准确认识我国发展的阶段性特征,准确认识我国经济社会发展面临的主要问题,准确认识实现我国经济社会又快又好发展的基本要求,在指导思想上形成共识,在实际工作中形成合力,更好地动员组织广大党员和人民群众为实现我们党提出的宏伟目标而奋斗。10月份,中央召开十六届五中全会,审议并通过了关于“十…     

科学发展观与“以学生为中心”

科学发展观是一种全面、协调、可持续的发展观。它是在继承毛泽东、邓小平和江泽民关于发展的重要思想基础上,从新世纪新阶段的实际出发创新得来。促进和实现大学生的全面发展是科学发展观的根本要求。试图从分析科学发展观的内涵入手,对科学发展观与本院"以学生为中心"的内在关系加以论述,进而对如何以科学发展观促进大学生的全面发展提出对策思考。