The impact of cuing candidate quality on female candidates

How can parties improve the electoral prospects of traditionally under-represented women? We argue that if a party signals that a single female candidate is of high quality, other women appearing on the ballot with her will receive a boost in support. More specifically, if a female candidate heads a party's list in the district, other women from her party will be rewarded with more votes. We test our reasoning by examining the nomination and election of women in three Free-List Proportional Representation systems where voters can cast multiple preference votes for individual candidates. We find robust support for the finding that when voters receive a signal that women can be quality candidates, they tend to reward additional women with preference votes regardless of their rank on the ballot.     

Analysis of the testimonial evidence of Portugal’s first major forensic case: part II

The crime possibly perpetrated by a doctor named Vicente Urbino de Freitas in 1890 is one of the most famous cases of poisoning, and it had echoes in the Portuguese and foreign press for several decades. This prestigious doctor was convicted of the fatal poisoning of his nephew. He also attempted the homicide of two nieces and their mother-in-law, who only escaped because they obstinately refused to comply with the “therapeutics” prescribed by the family doctor. The motive of the crime should have been Vicente Urbino de Freitas’ ambition to receive the family inheritance of his wife, the daughter of the well-known merchant José António Sampaio of Flores Street in Porto. Vicente Urbino de Freitas was convicted but doubt about his guilt persists for more than a century. This second work aimed to collect and analyse all the relevant and contradictory testimonial evidence of the prosecution and defence witnesses. This case represents an odd historical record obtained through more than 12 years of research on the first major significant Portuguese forensic case. Rare and unprecedented testimonial evidence and photographs were obtained from different countries and then repaired, since these also provide an important historical record of the medical photography.     

Inside Lobbying on the Regulation of New Plant Breeding Techniques in the European Union: Determinants of Venue Choices

In July 2018, the Court of Justice of the European Union decided that new plant breeding techniques (NPBTs) fall within the scope of the restrictive provisions on genetically modified organisms (GMOs). Previously, various actors had lobbied in order to influence the European Union’s (EU’s) regulatory decision on NPBTs. This study examines the venue choices taken by Cibus, a biotech company that promoted NPBT deregulation. It shows that the firm bypassed the EU level and that it lobbied competent authorities (CAs) in certain member states to gain support for the deregulation of NPBTs. Cibus chose the CAs because their institutional “closedness” reduced the risk of the debate over the deregulation of NPBTs becoming public. However, the CA’s specific competences and their influence on EU decision making were of likewise importance. The firm lobbied CAs based in Finland, Germany, Ireland, Sweden, Spain, and the United Kingdom. Two factors appear to have influenced Cibus’ choices for these countries: high‐level political support for agribiotech and the high relevance of biotech sectors. In contrast, public support for GMOs turned out to have hardly any influence, and virtually no association could be observed for the agricultural application of biotechnology in the past nor for the weakness of domestic anti‐GMO lobby groups. Finally, the in‐depth study on Germany affirms that “closedness” was important for Cibus’ choices and reveals that technical information served as a venue‐internal factor that influenced the firm’s choices.     

日本内缘婚制度研究

日本内缘婚又被称为事实婚姻,产生于19世纪后期日本民法典颁布之后,并随着日本社会的发展而处于不断的演变之中。从内缘保护的法的形成、内缘关系成立的要件及内缘婚的法律效果三个方面来看,中日两国的事实婚姻制度既具有相同之处,也有不同的地方。     

法律解释的去理论化与立场转换——认知心理学的启示

学界提出的各种法律解释理论不仅仅在规范层面上无法自圆其说,同时也无法对法院的解释实践作出准确的描述。尽管针对美国联邦最高法院的经验研究表明法院的法律解释实践趋向于新文本主义和法律实用主义,但这些经验研究却没有证明法官遵循了这些解释理论。在对法律解释去理论化之后,如何看待实践中存在的"微观不一致与宏观一致"需要一种立场转换,即关注作为解释主体的法官的认知过程。     

The politics of de‐delegation: Regulatory (in)dependence in Turkey

This essay explores the rise and decline of regulatory independence in Turkey. Framing the ongoing process of limiting independence of these agencies as the politics of de‐delegation, it raises the question of why Turkish regulatory agencies have become subject to increasing political intervention. Contending that institutional legacies and mounting illiberal predispositions of the Turkish state facilitate the politics of de‐delegation, the essay focuses on centralization, executive discretion, and politicization of bureaucracy as the major institutional legacies. Then it briefly discusses formal and informal mechanisms of political intervention, which have impaired the independence of the regulatory agencies.     

分权改革背景下的地方财政自主权

为实现政治统治的合法化,近现代国家在民主的基础上形成了以规范为中心的权力认知模式。建国与改革为主题的国家制度建设所呈现的渐进性和试验性,使我国在中央与地方的财政关系上,形成了规范内外不同的权力生长与存续机理。碎片化的规范,赋予了地方在特定领域内的财政自主权。同时,依赖政治过程的分散化策略,引致了权力的制度外溢,形成了诸多所谓的"事实上的财政自主权"。尽管正当的制度只能逐步建设和改进,但如果始终存在超越于法律规范之上的权力,法治秩序终将会崩裂。地方财政自主权,必须在规范主义的立场上循序形成。