Policy or person? What voters want from their representatives on Twitter

Social media have the potential to transform democracies as they allow for direct contact between representatives and represented. Politicians can use social media to show their policy positions but they can also give insight into their private lives. Based on survey experiments in Germany and Switzerland we show that social media messages about politicians’ private lives rather deter voters. Instead, we find that voters prefer candidates that communicate policy positions. The effect of a policy-oriented communication style on Twitter can even lead to appreciating a politician from a different party in Switzerland, which has an electoral system that gives a strong incentive to cultivate a personal vote.     

Internet of things – Need for a new legal environment?

The Internet of Things as an emerging global, Internet-based information service architecture facilitating the exchange of goods in global supply chain networks is developing on the technical basis of the present Domain Name System; drivers are private actors. Learning from the experiences with the “traditional” Internet governance it is important to tackle the relevant issues of a regulatory framework from the beginning; in particular, the implementation of an independently managed decentralized multiple-root system and the establishment of basic governance principles (such as transparency and accountability, legitimacy of institutional bodies, inclusion of civil society) are to be envisaged.     

The limits of regulatory convergence: globalization and GMO politics in the south

Is globalization promoting regulatory convergence in agricultural biotechnology policies in the South? This article examines the nature and limits of regulatory convergence in the field of agri-biotechnology and investigates the effects that international forces have on biotechnology and biosafety policies in developing countries. Based on detailed case studies of Mexico, China and South Africa this article shows that these three leading biotechnology countries in the South are exposed to powerful international influences but are responding to the regulatory challenges of genetically modified organisms (GMO) adoption in distinctive ways. The existing regulatory polarization between US and EU biotechnology approaches has not forced a convergence around either of these two international models. GMO policies in the South do not simply follow the binary logic of the US–EU regulatory conflict. Instead, they integrate elements from both regulatory approaches and are steering a course that suggests substantial regulatory diversity in the South. The globalization of biotechnology thus goes hand in hand with regulatory diversity in the developing world. Furthermore, regulatory polarization between the EU and US has helped to open up political space in key developing countries.     

西方政策网络理论研究的最新进展及其评价

近年来西方政策网络理论研究出现了三个明显趋势:1、理论研究上从新制度主义的视角探讨政策网络为什么产生、为什么改变和为什么能够持续的深层理论问题;2、实践问题上重点探讨了政策网络的管理问题,包括政府间网络的管理问题;3、重视政策网络与政策执行效果关系研究.     

Land use and forestry based CDM in scientific peer-reviewed literature pre-and post-COP 9 in Milan

This article explores the science-policy interactions between peer-reviewed literature and decisions and declarations on Land Use, Land-Use Change and Forestry (LULUCF) projects in the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) taken at Conference of the Parties (COP) meetings. The results are based on a literature analysis capturing 88 articles published from 1997 to 2005. By using a matrix search method and a structured reading form, the method and analysis focussed on whether issues of CDM and LULUCF were presented as ‘supportive of the inclusion of LULUCF’ and ‘critical of the inclusion of LULUCF’. A matrix search method and a structured reading form were applied. Of the 88 articles, 66% included discussions supportive to the inclusion of LULUCF. Forty-nine percent had a first author affiliated in natural sciences. Only 19% had first authors affiliated in developing countries while the same number for contributing authors was 38%. The results show no clear connection between scientific literature and decisions and declarations, but indicate that policymakers set the research agenda by declarations, while researchers feed the process up until decisions are made.

Single-party government,Prime Minister psychology,and the diversionary use of force: theory and evidence from the British case

ABSTRACT

This paper develops expectations about the likelihood of diversionary conflict initiation by parliamentary democracies with single-party majoritarian (SPM) governments. While most of the literature on diversion and governmental arrangement claims that SPMs have little incentive and/or limited capacity to execute diversionary gambits, we contend that the structural and environmental impetuses for diversion in such states are in fact largely indeterminate. We posit that the psychological attributes of prime ministers under SPM – in particular, their level of distrust – is the most important predictor of how they view structural and environmental constraints, and thus of whether they will militarily divert from poor economic conditions. Distrustful prime ministers are predisposed to the use of force, will dwell on the costs of economic problems, and fear that co-partisan MPs (especially in the cabinet) have designs on their office. Thus, despite having a legislative majority, these leaders will choose diversionary conflict over economic policy fixes. We conduct a partial test of this hypothesis in the British case from 1945 to 2007, and our analyses provide robust support.     

我国农民工心理健康与保护策略研究概述(2010-2019年)

农民工从乡村到城市后,面对就业收入、子女教育、人际关系等剧烈变化的陌生环境,往往承受着较大的心理压力。过高压力可能带来诸多社会和医学问题,导致事故、酗酒、意外伤亡、自杀和家庭破裂,使社会蒙受巨大损失。解决农民工心理健康问题牵涉到社会保障、城市管理、工业发展等工作,需要政府及卫生部门、安监部门、社会保障部门等密切配合,供给有效保护农民工心理健康的社会政策。     

WTO框架下的金融服务贸易与资本流动和金融稳定

WTO下的金融自由化与资本账户的放开并非等同。GATS允许成员方有选择地进行金融承诺的特点为成员方通过对金融自由化政策的科学管理来实现金融稳定和发展提供了条件。不同服务提供方式和不同部门的自由化对金融稳定具有不同影响 ,允许外国金融机构在国内建立商业存在 (但不过分限制其业务经营 )、覆盖范围广泛的金融自由化通常对金融稳定具有良好的效果。这一研究视角及结论为我国管理金融服务政策提供了有用的分析工具和有益的借鉴。     

袁世凯执政时期对秘密社会的政策

袁世凯对秘密社会的政策关系到秘密社会各个分支在民国社会中的定位,在某种程度上影响了新生的中华民国的发展方向。袁世凯对秘密社会查禁的重点是与革命党合作的洪门帮会,与革命党基本上没什么关系的青帮则安然无恙,对秘密社会中的会道门总体上则采取了暗中放纵的态度,给相当一部分的会道门以改头换面取得合法地位的机会。作为一个国家元首,袁世凯将国家的法律、法令玩弄于股掌之间,给民国的统治者不遵法纪开了一个恶劣的先例。     

Regulation and its discontents: the Indian judiciary and higher education

The role of the judiciary in strengthening regulatory regimes is well regarded. In developing countries where regulatory bodies are captive to powerful interest groups, the judiciary is regarded for its activist role in providing participatory access to groups excluded from the policy process. In contrast, this paper draws attention to the limits of the judiciary as a gatekeeper of regulatory governance. Using the case of regulation in India’s tertiary education sector, it shows how the judiciary’s track record of enabling elite actors to influence policy, often at the cost of legislative mandates, can undermine regulation.