The alternative incumbency effect: Electing women legislators in Indonesia

Between the 1999 and 2009 elections the proportion of national female legislators in Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim majority democracy, more than doubled. While this substantial increase may partly be explained by the recent imposition of a gender quota and placement mandate that have forced parties to increase the number of female candidates, quotas cannot fully explain the strong performance of women in the 2009 elections. First, many parties placed women higher on their lists than the laws required; second, voters appeared to over vote for women in some districts. Although incumbency's typical effect is to inhibit female electoral success by advantaging traditional (male) competitors, I argue that women benefited largely from an alternative effect: female incumbency can improve female candidate placement and electability by demonstrating female capacity and capability. Female newcomers benefited strongly from the presence of female incumbents in their own and bordering districts, thus suggesting a positive diffusion effect of female incumbency.     

The dark side of disagreement? Revisiting the effect of disagreement on political participation

Thriving democracy requires an open exchange of disagreeing viewpoints. Yet disagreement may have a dark side. Recent research claims that people who experience disagreement in their informal political discussions are less likely to vote. This paper adds to a growing group of challenges to the notion of a ‘dark side’. It addresses the conventional wisdom from both a theoretical and practical viewpoint. I argue that disagreement in itself should not depress participation. Only those atypical respondents who encounter entirely disagreeing viewpoints are less likely to vote than those who encounter completely agreeing perspectives. People with mixed networks are equally likely to vote as those who face complete agreement. This paper tests the alternative theory against the conventional wisdom by returning to the dataset that first found evidence of the ‘dark side’. The evidence overwhelmingly supports the alternative theory. As a result, this study helps to mitigate concerns about the negative effects of disagreement and supports a network-centric approach to political science.     

基于协商政治的中国参政党参政方式研究

文章阐述协商政治理论的内涵、特征和发展趋势,论述了我国政治协商理论的形成发展,参政党参政方式的演进过程,提出协商政治视角下发展和完善中国参政党参政方式应从以下路径入手:参政党政治协商职能需要在制度上进一步规范化;参政党民主监督职能需要进一步提升;参政党参政议政能力需要不断提高。     

政治参与行为对政治效能感的影响——基于浙江省闾村基层民主选举投票的实证调研

在关于政治参与影响政治效能感的研究中,国外学者发展出了＂工具说＂、＂发展说＂和＂结果说＂三种解释框架。虽然三种解释不尽相同,但学者普遍认为积极的政治参与对政治效能感有一定的正面影响,尽管影响的因素、程度和范围存在不同。本文基于浙江省闾村实证调研,发现选举式的参与活动（参与投票、参与竞选活动、投票给当选者、参与当选者的助选活动）均未能显著影响政治效能感和村民效能感。甚至在村民的投票行为与主观期望的结果相一致时（投票给当选者、参与当选者的助选活动）,亦未能发现其对效能感的显著影响。     

Institutional Foundations of Legislative Turnover: A Comparative Analysis of the Swiss Cantons

Abstract: The rate of turnover within parliaments remains an understudied area of research. The present paper contributes to filling this gap by presenting the first comparable macro‐level data on legislative turnover in the 26 Swiss cantonal legislatures. In examining the strikingly different levels of turnover in sub‐national Swiss parliaments between 1993 and 2011, the focus is on politico‐institutional features. Multilevel models reveal that two hitherto neglected institutional variables are correlated with legislative turnover. In addition to the reduction of parliamentary size, we find the strength of a cantonal parliament to affect turnover rates on the Swiss sub‐national level. Moreover, we show that proportional representation significantly promotes parliamentary elite circulation. Among the non‐institutional covariates, we find that electoral volatility is also relevant in explaining legislative turnover rates.     

Post‐conventional Political Cultures via Processes of Direct Democracy: Theoretical Considerations Based on Jürgen Habermas and Lawrence Kohlberg

In this article, it is proposed to differentiate political cultures in two dimensions. First, inspired by Habermas' distinction of the contents of discourse, a distinction is suggested between moral, ethical‐political and pragmatic elements of political culture as well as of an element of culture of balancing interests. Second, inspired by Kohlberg's stage models for the development of the individual moral consciousness and for moral culture, a distinction is similarly suggested between two pre‐conventional, two conventional and two post‐conventional collective stages of political culture. It can be shown that from a normative point of view, only deliberations made in a post‐conventional political culture can produce reasonable or at least fair results. Conceptual considerations indicate processes of direct democracy as the method for promoting post‐conventional political cultures. The more liberty that the citizens have to formulate and trigger processes of direct democracy, the more one can expect from them to generate post‐conventional political cultures.     

扩大政治参与与政治和谐

政治参与是社会主义政治文明建设的重要内容,政治和谐是政治文明建设所要达到的理想目标,在一般情况下,扩大公民政治参与有助于政治和谐,但是二者的关系是复杂的。必须正确地处理二者的关系,才能形成扣谐的政治局面,为构建社会主义和谐社会打下坚实的政治基础。     

印尼山口洋的客家人——海外客家人的社会变迁之一

印尼是海外华人最多的一个国家。在印尼的华人中,客家人约占了30-40%,因此,也可以说印尼是海外客家人最多的一个国家。印尼的客家人,尤其是聚居在印尼外岛地区的客家人,虽然在海外已经生活了几代人甚至十几代人,但仍然保留了比较浓重的客家人特征,或者叫客家特性。本文主要探讨居住在山口洋市的客家人的社会变迁和文化适应,探究他们的生活方式,研究这里的客家人与其他华人的差别。     

动员与整合:群众路线实践的政治过程

群众路线是共产党的根本工作路线和组织路线的统一,是被经验证明正确的党的认识路线。中国共产党与人民群众的互动过程即群众路线的实践过程,这一过程主要包括政治动员和政治整合两个层面。政治动员是群众路线实践的政治基础,政治整合是群众路实践的政治目标,有效的政治动员和政治整合过程共同推动群众路线的丰富和实践。为推动群众路线实践的丰富发展,关键在于群众路线中的政治动员和政治整合在党的执政水平、群众的政治参与、机制实践的路径拓宽和道德规范及意识形态的构建这些方面应得到进一步完善和发展。