The Use of Social Media Policies by US Municipalities

As the use of social media technologies becomes ever more ingrained in the day-to-day functions of public organizations, it is important to develop relevant social media policies to guide their effective use and enable increasingly transparent engagement with citizens. Analyzing the content of such policies can inform scholars about the intended purpose of government’s use of social media. Hence, to build the foundation for a research agenda focused on the role of policy in government’s ability to effectively engage citizens, this exploratory study first identified 156 US cities with a recognizable social media presence and then employed a content analysis to analyze the key elements of their social media policies. Based on our findings, most cities have integrated social media into daily operations, however, many do not provide effective social media policies to guide such use.     

Struggle for citizenship: interaction between political society and civil society at a Kurd refugee protest in Tokyo

This article analyzes a Kurd refugee sit-in protest staged in front of the United Nations offices in Tokyo in July–September 2004 and its implications for the interaction between political society and civil society. The refugees' protest is viewed as a moment where the line between citizens and non-citizens is redrawn. Citizens possess an exclusive right to political speech and action. Protests by refugees undoubtedly question citizens' monopoly of this right. By organizing protests, refugees, who do not have citizenship status, raise their voices, make demands, and thus request a right to speech and action. In doing so, they blur the line between citizens and non-citizens. In this process, how do citizens and refugees interact with each other? By using Partha Chatterjee's concept of political society, I examine the different tactics employed by the refugees, who are part of political society, and the citizens of civil society. The case shows that when different voices meet, the voice of civil society drowns the voice of political society: the refugees' tactics were de-legitimized by the citizens. This interaction suggests that encounters between citizens and refugees are not simply events where the refugees claim a right to speech and action, but that such encounters also involve citizens in effect struggling to secure their monopoly of the same rights.     

论警察的公众信任--以中国为例

本研究评估了中国公民对警察的信任程度,并探讨了影响公众对警察信任程度的因素。就目前来看,针对中国公民对待警察的态度进行的实证研究寥寥无几。本研究以冲突理论为理论框架,通过收集中国8个城市的访谈数据,检验了性别、年龄、教育程度、收入、就业、感知政治影响力等冲突变量以及相关控制变量对中国警察公信力的影响。结果表明,这些变量对于中国公民对待警察的态度的解释力有限。青年以及政治权力较低的中国公民往往对警察的信任度较低。此外,中国公民对警察的态度还受到公共安全满意度、政府处理犯罪的能力、生活质量和政府官员腐败度的影响。同时本文也对未来研究的意义进行了讨论。     

We are here,they are there: between peace and exclusion in Israel/Palestine

The purpose of this work is to offer a critique of partition, not on the basis of its impact on the relations between the sides to the dispute, but on its implications for majority-minority relations inside the (non-homogeneous) state. Using the Israeli-Palestinian example, the paper argues that the dynamics of partition idealize the notion of a homogeneous nation-state and, consequently, marginalize minorities and accentuate internal political divisions. Specifically, Israeli policymakers' ‘demographic trade-off’ between territorial compromise and a ‘Jewish state’ underscores some of the recent national tensions within Israel over the citizenship status of the minority Palestinians.     

What makes political authorities legitimate? Students’ ideas about legitimacy in five European democracies and hybrid regimes

ABSTRACT

Because the legitimacy of political authorities exists only in the eyes of citizens, this study investigates which criteria citizens use to decide that an authority is legitimate. By comparing ideas about what makes political authorities legitimate, this study in five European democracies and hybrid regimes illuminates the ‘demand side of political legitimacy’. Using original student survey data, this article compares expectations of students from the Netherlands, France, Poland, Ukraine, and Russia about how political authorities should acquire the right to rule and how they ought to behave when in office. The analysis shows that the respondents across the five countries use similar criteria for granting legitimacy. Across the five countries, throughput and input were more important criteria for legitimacy than the output produced by authorities. Although several country differences were found, these differences did not align with regime type. The findings challenge the widespread view that what kind of authorities people consider legitimate is determined by their socialization in a particular political regime.     

我国公民政策参与的理论思考

公民参与公共政策过程不仅能够为行政机关制定政策建构新的合法性来源,也可以为行政权力的理性化行使配置新的制约力量。但是,基于不同的体制和制度安排,公民参与的效果又存在着较大差异。我国公民政策参与表面轰轰烈烈、实际效果不彰的原因在于缺乏合适的权力体制的配合。因此,赋予公民以实体性的参与权,同时对国家权力的分配格局作出一定程度的调整,是摆脱公民参与困境的一个可能出路。     

对我国居民身份证功能创新的思考

当前,我国居民身份证功能设计单一,科技含量不高,在给公安机关日常社会治安管理与人们使用带来不便的同时,也给犯罪分子作案提供了可乘之机。创新我国居民身份证科技功能含量,不仅是社会快速发展的必然趋势,也是公安机关维护社会治安的客观需要,更是一项事关全国亿万人民群众切身利益的“民生工程”。因此,各级政府和各地公安机关一要坚持抓好宣传工作,二要创新科技含量功能,三要严打制贩假证。     

政府绩效评估中的公民参与

公民参与是现代政府绩效评估不可或缺的重要环节,是促进政府绩效评估民主化、科学化的有效途径。本文在分析政府绩效评估中公民参与价值的基础上,针对具体实践中影响公民参与评估的主要因素,指出了扩大公民参与评估的基本路径。     

市民社会：社会主义荣辱观形成的逻辑起点

社会主义荣辱观是对社会主义道德观的精辟论述,是马克思主义道德观的当代诠释;它是伴随着市场经济的不断发展壮大以及中国特色社会主义市民社会的不断完善而逐步形成的道德价值观念;它既是中国市民社会不断完善的必然结果,同时也是中国市民社会进一步向前发展的客观要求;在某种程度上,无论是从发生学的角度来分析,还是从事实判断以及价值判断的视野来考察,市民社会都是社会主义荣辱观形成的逻辑起点。     

Participatory Reactions to Policy Threats: Senior Citizens and the Defense of Social Security and Medicare

The sociodemographic factors emphasized in much participation research cannot explain abrupt changes in levels of activity. This study shows how threat of undesirable policy change acts as an impetus to participatory activity, helping to explain temporal variation in participation. Newly available individual-level time-series data are used to show surges in senior citizen letter writing in response to threats to Social Security and Medicare during the 1980s. Policy threat interacts with individual characteristics to produce variations in participatory reaction congruent with the magnitude of the threat to the individual.