Referendum Design: An Exercise in Applied Social Choice Theory

The formal status of the referendum institution in democratic system varies from consultative and optional to mandatory and binding. Despit the formal status, it can be argued that in all systems the legislators can hardly ignore the referendum results. The article presents two arguments: (1) The results of social choice theory suggest that the number of alternatives in referenda should to be restricted to two in order to a void severe problems of interpretation and agenda manipulation. (2) The consultative referendum system may lead to quite dramatic norm conflicts for both legislators and voters. Taken together, these two arguments imply that referenda are appropriate only in cases where there is natural way to dichotomize the issue at hand. Moreover, whenever a referendum is called, its result should be binding.     

Deliberative Democracy and Social Choice

The paper contrasts the liberal conception of democracy as the aggregation of individual preferences with the deliberative conception of democracy as a process of open discussion leading to an agreed judgement on policy. Social choice theory has identified problems - the arbitrariness of decision rules, vulnerability to strategic voting - which are often held to undermine democratic ideals. Contrary to common opinion, I argue that deliberative democracy is less vulnerable to these difficulties than liberal democracy. The process of discussion tends to produce sets of policy preferences that are 'single peaked'; and within a deliberative setting it may be possible to vary the decision rule according to the nature of the issue to be decided.     

Democracy,the Market,and the Logic of Social Choice

This article compares the types of knowledge democracy and the market require to rationally allocate resources. I argue that high levels of public ignorance and voters’ inability to compare the effects of different parties’ policies make it difficult for parties and elections to rationally allocate resources. Markets mitigate these problems because the simultaneous existence of multiple firms’ products facilitates comparisons that mimic the conditions of scientific experimentation. The economy of knowledge involved in such comparisons indicates there are epistemic advantages to using firms and markets, instead of political parties and elections, to allocate scarce resources. However, in contrast to arguments that markets merely provide better information than political decisions, I argue markets’ epistemic advantages are derived from the way they facilitate comparisons that minimize decision makers’ need for knowledge or understanding.     

中国枢纽型社会组织发展的理性逻辑、风险题域与应对策略——基于共生理论的视角

基于共生理论来展开逻辑—风险—策略的分析框架,可以深入理解中国枢纽型社会组织的逻辑发生学。从发生秩序论、实践动力和目标指向来看,枢纽型社会组织呈现组织化—再组织化的交互逻辑、政府与社会的互塑逻辑、政府与组织资源的互依逻辑。从共生界面分析,枢纽型社会组织发展面临权力过载、目标偏移、内源性腐败、结构性失衡和社会认同偏离等或然风险。因此,我国需要构建政府—枢纽型社会组织—会员社会组织的对称性、均衡性互惠合作共生关系,以价值理性来引导枢纽型社会组织治理制度创新;推进枢纽型社会组织走向政治性与社会性的融合之路;加强腐败治理与防范,完善科学有效的监管体制机制;构建枢纽型社会组织与会员社会组织间民主平等的合作治理机制;注重扶优扶强与扶新扶弱政策之间的平衡。     

Riots in the UK: Morality,Social Imaginaries,and Conditions of Possibility

This article explores the controversies provoked by two recent exhibits in which People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) draws analogies between animal exploitation and the Holocaust and slavery. PETA's comparisons between the plight of animals and that of Jews and blacks are transgressive insofar as they disrupt settled notions of species difference by challenging the sacrosanct moral divide between humans and animals, and insofar as they do this by re-connecting race and species difference in a historically charged way. In the end, the controversies over PETA's exhibits raise difficult questions about the intersection of race and species as hierarchical categories ordering social life, what comparisons are “inadmissible” and why, and the responsibilities or obligations one social justice struggle might be said to have toward other struggles.     

共同富裕:理论前提、历史矛盾与战略抉择

共同富裕是社会主义的价值追求。它的终极意义是指在发达的生产力基础上,消灭剥削,消除两极分化,全体人民共同享有社会发展的成果。马克思关于共同富裕的思想有四个重要的理论前提。基于马克思的理论前提和我国社会主义初级阶段推进共同富裕面对的历史矛盾,现阶段稳步推进共同富裕,必须在战略抉择上着重解决四个方面的问题。     

The Epistemological Foundations of Public Choice Theory

The new political economy - public choice - has contributed considerably to a long-awaited inter-marriage between political science and economics. The economic approach to the interpretation of the public sector - politics as well as administration - has resulted in a number of interestingly relevant models. At the same time modelling political behaviour on the basis of the economic man perspective gives rise to puzzling difficulties creating much controversy. The article attempts to establish in principle the ethically neutral and scientifically objective nature of the public choice approach. It elaborates on the crucial concept of self-interest in the public choice behaviour assumptions in order to show that the criticism from the public interest adherents may be countered.     

Social Class and Party Choice in Northern Ireland's Ethnic Blocs

The peace process in Northern Ireland has not diminished the acute ethnic electoral faultline between the majority Protestant British population, supportive of parties favouring Northern Ireland's continuing place in the United Kingdom and the minority Catholic Nationalist population, which backs parties harbouring long-term ambitions for a united Ireland. Within each bloc, however, there has been a dramatic realignment in favour of parties once seen as extreme and militant. The Democratic Unionist Party has emerged as the main representative of the Protestant British population, whilst Sinn Fein, having for many years supported the Provisional IRA's ‘armed struggle’ against British rule, has become the dominant party amongst Catholic Nationalists. As both parties have entered the political mainstream and advanced electorally, to what extent have they moved from their electoral near-confinement among the working class to enjoy broader cross-class support – and how?     

Competition and Choice in New York City . Social Services

Privatization is intended to improve public services by introducing competition and choice. Does privatization of social services result in competition? To answer this we studied New York City's experience with contracts for three services: shelters for homeless adults, home care, and employment training. A total of 132 contract awards to nonprofit agencies were examined. The evidence suggests the procurement procedures were competitive and followed good practices. There was significant competition in terms of the number of announcements issued, the number of requests for proposals distributed, and the number of proposals ultimately submitted‐an average of 2.48 proposals per award. Contracting for homeless shelters has produced a voucher‐like system with desirable features. Vouchers are also used for some employment training and could be used for home care. Such systems can introduce even more competition and choice for clients of social services. Problems of contracting with nonprofit agencies are reviewed.     

社会资本理论与社会公正问题

社会资本理论的兴起为社会公正实现的研究提供了新思路。社会资本与社会公正之间存在着结构性依赖和制约的关系。目前,我国的社会资本存在诸多缺陷,制约着社会公正的普遍形成。为此,通过转变政府职能、界定政府权力,加强制度整合、推动法治化进程,培育公民社会的公民意识和公共精神以及促进民间组织的健康发展,进而实现社会资本从传统到现代的转型,是实现社会公正的重要前提和题中应有之义。     

公共选择理论中互投赞成票的逻辑与模型

公共选择理论中互投赞成票模型的方法论基础是个体主义假设。作为一种方法论的个体主义与作为一种组织社会活动的规范的个人主义是两个根本不同的问题。在互投赞成票的论证逻辑中,包含了几个必要条件:一是必须采取多数表决规则;二是集体选择必须符合连续性假设,也就是说,集体选择是一个持续的独立决策流;三是少数派的偏好比多数派的偏好更为强烈,这暗含了偏好强度的差异性。根据这种逻辑,可以设计一个以公路修缮为主题的简单互投赞成票模型。这个模型的基本结论是:每个个体的理性行动导致了集体的非理性行动,集体的财政开支将超出合理的水平,其根本原因是多数表决规则的采用及由此造成的互投赞成票。通过概括和推广,这个简单互投赞成票模型可以应用于许多现实的集体决策情形中。     

Globalization as a Challenge for Public Choice Theory

Public choice theory in many ways provides a fruitful economicinstrumentarium to be applied to the phenomena of internalizationand globalization. International political economics offers muchpotential for the analysis of real and relevant aspects ininternational relationships. This paper sketches out a few selectedaspects of the globalization question for which public choicetheory could offer a useful explanatory contribution. However, itis made clear as well, that the concept of globalization presentsa substantial challenge for public choice in that only a limitedpart of the institutional change that has accompanied globalizationhas been explained endogenously.     

Social Choice and the Grammar of Rights and Freedoms

The techniques of social choice and game theory are increasingly being used to analyse concepts in political theory. Although these techniques may prove invaluable for teasing out contradictory formulations, puzzles and problems with traditional concepts, formal writers often begin their analysis with simplistic intuitive accounts rather than building on earlier traditions in analytic political theory. This is no more obvious than with the social-choice and game-theory analysis of rights and freedoms. This paper reviews these approaches and demonstrates that by ignoring the grammar of rights and freedoms, social-choice and game-theory analysis goes wrong from the very beginning. Formal writers need to take more account of the history of their subject, as developed in the analytic theory tradition.     

School Choice and the Creation of Social Capital Reexamined

Scholars have argued that by spurring parental involvement in school activities, school choice creates social capital. While government policies may be able to create social capital, we doubt that school choice is such a policy and argue that participation in school activities is largely determined by individual-level attributes and the school context, rather than choice per se. To assess this claim we use the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study data. Unlike most school choice studies, this data set has a large, representative national sample. More importantly, the panel structure of the data allows us to examine the same parents both before and after the school choice decision has been made, permitting a true dynamic analysis. The results demonstrate that actively choosing a child's school does not make parents more likely to participate in school activities. Some institutional attributes of schools do appear to increase parental involvement in school activities, however.