Immeasurable Pleasure and Meaningful Imperfection: Raising Good Citizens in a Bad State

Previous research has shown that a party's election results can depend on visibility and tone in the media. Using daily content data from the major news bulletins and daily survey data from the 2007 national election campaign in Denmark (N = 5,083), our analysis improves upon two central aspects of this earlier research. First, the effects on vote choice of the parties' visibility and tone in the media are studied concurrently in the same model. Second, a distinction is made between the effects of direct exposure to specific news content and the effects of the cumulative information environment created by the media. Overall, it is found that the more visible and the more positive the tone toward a given party is, the more voters are inclined to vote for this party. The effects are primarily effects of the information environment, not effects of direct exposure, though undecided voters are also directly affected. In the discussion, central conditions for the strength of media effects are identified.     

Book reviews

This article addresses the concern that democratization may contribute to the reproduction of neo-patrimonialism, rather than to counteract it. The article reports the result of a survey among members of parliament in Ghana regarding their election campaigns. Total spending, sources of funds, and their usage are analysed in the context of the consolidation of liberal democracy. The survey results are supplemented with data collected in 34 interviews with MPs. The data show that MPs are involved in patron-client relationships to a significant degree to reproduce their political power. Furthermore, the prevalence of patronage politics among MPs in Ghana has increased throughout the period of democratic rule. This persistent pattern of patronage politics threatens the very heart of democratic consolidation. Vertical accountability and legitimacy is threatened by alternative pacts of loyalty, expectations of corruption, and tendencies to delegative mandates. Horizontal accountability risks pervasion by 'big man' interventions, and by insufficient allocation of time to monitoring the government and legislative activities.     

我国政府公信力提升的制度因素及对策思考

政府公信力是政府的执政基础,体现着政府执政的合法性和执政能力.政府公信力包括自信和他信两个维度.笔者认为我国政府公信力提升的主要障碍是行政权力分配不够合理、公共政策过程不够科学、民主参与制度不够规范、权力监督制度不够完善、信息公开制度不够完备以及问责机制不够健全.政府公信力的提升有赖于国家各项制度的健全与发展,因此,必须在加强民主制度建设、建立合理分权制度、完善信息公开制度、加强监督制度、改进管理制度等方面下功夫.     

Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation,No. 1223 of November 5, 1999, "On Measures to Prevent Penetration of the Territory of the Russian Federation by Members of Foreign Terrorist Organizations and Importation of Weaponry and Means of Sa

The distinctive characteristic of regional budgets for the coming year is the entry into force of federal law No. 131 on local self-government. In all of the oblasts elections have occurred and new bodies of local self-government have appeared that are supposed to have the corresponding treasury to fulfill all of the functions assigned to them.     

Eyewitness identification procedures for multiple perpetrator crimes: a survey of police in Sweden,Belgium, and the Netherlands

ABSTRACT

A considerable proportion of crimes involve multiple perpetrators. Yet, little is known about how police officers construct, administer, and record eyewitness identification procedures for multiple suspects. An online survey of law enforcement agents in Sweden, Belgium, and the Netherlands (N?=?51) was conducted to obtain an initial understanding of police perceptions of prevalence and characteristics of multiple perpetrator crimes, and to examine identification procedure practices given the little to no guidance provided for police. Practice converged when it came to the use of sequential, photographic lineups, but diverged between and within countries on whether or not suspects of multiple perpetrator crimes should be placed in separate lineups. Results specifically highlight contextual cuing as one critical area for future research in identification for multiple perpetrator crimes (i.e. placing multiple suspects in the same lineup or asking eyewitnesses to look for a specific suspect).     

Networks and political engagement of migrant organisations in five European cities

This article investigates networks and political actions by migrant organisations in five European cities. It examines how political opportunity structures moderate the impact of organisational networks on organisations' political contacts and protests using data from organisational surveys undertaken between 2005 and 2008 in Budapest, Lyon, Madrid, Milan and Zurich. Results suggest that the political context moderates the role that different types of networks have on mobilisation. It is found that migrant organisational networks may be sources compensating for the lack of contextual opportunities, thus fostering the use of protest by migrant organisations. However, migrant organisational networks can also favour the creation of political subcultures, marginalised from mainstream politics. Finally, migrant networks are likely to foster migrant organisations' political integration in multicultural contexts through conventional as well as non‐conventional politics.     

Offender experiences and opinions of mixed-gender group work in the community: a qualitative study

The National Probation Service in England and Wales currently delivers community-based accredited offending behavior programs in mixed-gender groups. There is at present a lack of research on the potential impact of mixed-gender group work on female offenders, who are often the minority within the group. This study aimed to improve our understanding of the area using qualitative methods. Sixteen offenders who had participated in a mixed-gender offending behavior program were interviewed as part of this study. Themes from the interviews were analyzed using Grounded Theory techniques. The findings illustrated an overall preference among all participants for mixed-gender rather than single-gender group work. The specific advantages of mixed-gender group work included increased learning about the opposite sex and a more relaxed atmosphere within the group. Although this study reflects positive attitudes to mixed-gender group work, the findings need to be tested further using empirical methodology.     

中国互助型社会养老的定位及发展方向

互助型社会养老是社会养老的一种方式,也是实现中国特色社会化和低成本养老、推动老年人有序参与社会发展的重要途径,是中国社会养老体系中的基础而非辅助部分。互助型社会养老是非营利性的,资金、服务、运营主体和组织形式都相对多元。其组织建设的发展方向是不断提高各类基层组织的规范化、合作化程度以及可持续运转能力,从互助组织有序管理、专业社会组织赋能、市场经营逐步走向规范多样的各类现代互助合作社的经营;体系建设的发展方向是分阶段推动建立市县、省、国家级的互助养老服务保障体系、互助养老组织体系、时间银行体系以及其他各类互助合作养老方式,并进一步向中国特色互助合作的社会部门过渡和发展。目前我国互助型社会养老发展仍然处于起步阶段,需要重点解决好社会观念、法律法规、资金支持、互助组织体系建设等关键问题。