The rise of negative partisanship and the nationalization of U.S. elections in the 21st century

One of the most important developments affecting electoral competition in the United States has been the increasingly partisan behavior of the American electorate. Yet more voters than ever claim to be independents. We argue that the explanation for these seemingly contradictory trends is the rise of negative partisanship. Using data from the American National Election Studies, we show that as partisan identities have become more closely aligned with social, cultural and ideological divisions in American society, party supporters including leaning independents have developed increasingly negative feelings about the opposing party and its candidates. This has led to dramatic increases in party loyalty and straight-ticket voting, a steep decline in the advantage of incumbency and growing consistency between the results of presidential elections and the results of House, Senate and even state legislative elections. The rise of negative partisanship has had profound consequences for electoral competition, democratic representation and governance.     

The Calculus of Voting in Compulsory Voting Systems

Compulsory voting laws have consistently been demonstrated to boost electoral participation. Despite the widespread presence of compulsory voting and the significant impact these laws appear to have on voting behavior, surprisingly little effort has been devoted to analyzing how mandatory voting alters the decision-making calculus of individual voters in these systems. Moreover, studies that investigate the influence of compulsory voting laws on electoral participation generally treat these policies monolithically, with scant attention to the nuances that differentiate mandatory voting laws across systems and to their consequences for voting rates. Analyses that explicitly and empirically examine the effects of penalties and enforcement are surprisingly rare. This study aims to fill that void by adapting rational choice models of participation in elections for compulsory voting systems. I find that the level of penalties countries impose for non-compliance and the degree of penalty enforcement impact turnout rates. Voters in mandatory voting systems abstain least when both the penalties and the likelihood of enforcement are high, and abstain most when both meaningless.

国会议员与新加坡政治生态——新加坡前国会议员白振华访谈录

本文作者通过邮件和面谈的方式对新加坡知名的政治家、社会活动家和企业家白振华进行了访谈，白振华先生表达了他对新加坡政治生态的观点，为人们了解新加坡政治生态提供了鲜活的第一手资料。     

从菲律宾的劳务输出看中新劳务合作

改革开放以来,中新劳务合作取得了一定的成绩。近年来,中新劳务合作出现一些矛盾与纠纷。如何保住我国劳动力在新加坡劳务市场上的地位,进一步扩大我国对外劳务输出规模?菲律宾作为世界上劳务输出的大国,其独特的劳务政策值得我们借鉴。     

The 2003 Russian Duma election and the decline in rural support for the communist party

The December 2003 Duma election was a landmark in Russian elections, marking a significant decline in electoral support for the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (KPRF). This article explains the decline of support for the KPRF in the December 2003 election. Our specific focus is on the decline in rural support for the KPRF. This particular aspect is important because rural voters constituted a large portion of the KPRF's support throughout the 1990s. Using data from two rounds of surveys in several Russian regions, the article demonstrates that by 2003 the KPRF failed to capitalize on the ‘misery of the market,’ that is, to capture support from the ‘losers and malcontents’ during market reform, suggesting that KPRF supporters dealigned themselves from the party.     

Pioneering New Politics or Rearranging the Deckchairs? The 2007 National Assembly for Wales Election and Results

This article analyses the campaign, results and outcome of the 2007 elections to the National Assembly for Wales. It discusses the constitutional and legislative framework of devolution in Wales, the election campaign and opinion polls. There is extensive analysis of the election results, the performance of each of the main and some of the smaller parties. Shifts in representation of women and ethnic minority AMs and departures and new arrivals are covered. There is discussion of changes in electoral turnout and the proportionality of the outcome, which is low and has declined since 2003. The final substantive section deals with the complexities of the post-election coalition negotiations, while events in Wales are placed in the context of international experiences around the formation of coalition governments     

Two political worlds?: The influence of provincial party loyalty federal voting in Canada

Scholars have known for years that many Canadian voters hold different partisan loyalties at the federal and provincial level. In this paper, I address the question of whether provincial party loyalty has an effect on federal level vote choice above and beyond the effects of federal level party loyalty. I also examine whether provincial party loyalty is enough to explain the persistence of the ‘two-party-plus’ system in Canada. In order to address these questions I construct a series of multinomial logit models of federal vote choice in the 1993 and 2000 Canadian elections. I conclude that provincial party loyalty does have an effect on federal level vote choice, but that this influence is not enough to explain the persistence of the ‘two-party-plus’ system.     

新加坡的劳资关系与工会运动

新加坡和谐稳定的劳资关系,内容丰富的工会运动,全面有效的教育培训,独具特色的工业关系协调员制度,影响广泛的消费合作社等,给我们以多方面的启示。     

新加坡人民行动党执政理念评析

新加坡人民行动党的执政理念可分为三个层面:政党政治理念--国家利益至上,民族团结和睦;政府管理理念--"好政府"与"强政府";社会发展理念--经济发展先于民主政治。从整体来说,人民行动党执政理念是基于新加坡的具体国情,由李光耀等人在长期的执政实践中逐渐形成的,实践已经证明,新加坡人民行动党的执政理念对于人民行动党执政能力的建设,对于执政绩效的创建与提升有着重要的导向意义,是人民行动党宝贵的精神财富。但同时,随着执政环境的变化,特别是在世界民主浪潮冲击下,其局限性也日益显露出来。     

新加坡的职业再造计划及其启示

为降低日益严重的结构性失业问题对劳动力市场的冲击,新加坡工会、雇主、政府三方合作推出职业再造计划,试图通过提升职业形象、改善劳动条件、在提高效率的基础上提高工资的方法增加这些职业的吸引力,并在现有职业的基础上识别和发掘出更多的就业机会以利新加坡人就业。新加坡的经验对中国解决结构性失业问题提供了有益的启示。