民初省议会失败原因概论

议会制度在中国的实验是一个重要的历史现象。省议会在中国的移植和实践未能取得成功,既有近代中国未能完成反 帝反封建任务的根本原因,也有未能处理好各种上下左右关系的操作层面的原因,十分复杂。     

Manifestations of delegative democracy in Russian local politics: what does it mean for the future of Russia?

In attempts to describe post-communist politics adequately, this paper employs the concept of delegative democracy for analyzing Russia's local politics. It argues that the election rather than appointment by the President of local governors in Russia has facilitated the establishment of a system which can be generally described as delegative democracy. This regime inherits free and contested elections from the democratic system and non-democratic methods of power consolidation from the authoritarian system. As a mixture of those two hardly reconcilable types of political system, delegative democracy in Russia has gained a shape and reached a certain degree of stability during 1993–95. This gain may delay the consolidation of representative democracy in Russia for an indefinite time and eventually lead to a new level of economic stagnation and a return to authoritarianism.     

市民参与—可持续发展中的制度选择

对于可持续发展涵义一直以来都非常的模糊,建立在传统发展观之上的可持续发展是以经济的永续发展为主旨。然而与传统发展观不同,经济的可持续性不等同于可持续发展;科学技术不能解决发展中的所有问题;可持续发展转移了工业发达国家对于环境破坏的责任。与以官僚和技术精英制订未来发展政策不同,让市民民主参与并决策未来的发展计划,唯有这样才称得上是真正的可持续发展。     

村委会选举中派系竞争的规范

在现阶段中国农村村委会选举中，派系竞争已成为一个普遍存在的现象，其对选举结果起着至关重要的影响。如何规范村委会选举中的派系竞争，成为当前我国村民自治所面临的一大急迫任务。     

县级党代表直选的实践探索──以浙江省台州市路桥区为例

党代表选举是党代表任期制的基础,党代表的产生方式、结构比例、代表性等问题是选举过程中所面临的重要问题。台州市路桥区试行的县级党代表直选,其本质特征是竞争性选举,增强了党员的主体意识,有利于党员主体作用的发挥,是完善党代表任期制和改革党内选举制度的有益探索。其探索实践表明,在试点基础上,党代表直选以县级层面为突破口和切入点,通过横向拓展,将对整个党内选举制度的改革和完善产生较为深远的影响。     

The French elections of 2017: shaking the disease?

The results of the 2017 presidential and legislative elections represent an important shift in French politics. For the first time in the history of the 5th French Republic, the candidates of the two traditional governing parties were disqualified during the first round of the presidential elections. The duel between a centrist and a radical-right candidate in the second round of the elections constitutes an unprecedented configuration. Moreover, there was a record parliamentary renewal after the 2017 legislative elections, as well as a feminisation of the National Assembly with 38.8 per cent of women among the deputies. At the same time, abstention for the legislative elections reached a new record high. Overall, the results of the French elections in 2017 could point to major shifts in the party system, as well as to a renewal of the French political elite, and to an enduring malaise between French citizens and their political representatives.     

Civic activism and Korean democracy: the impact of blacklisting campaigns in the 2000 and 2004 general elections

Abstract

For the general elections in 2000 and 2004, civic groups in South Korea joined forces to stage the so-called ‘blacklisting campaign’ or ‘defeat campaign’ against allegedly corrupt, incompetent or anti-reform politicians. The campaigns not only played a significant role in thwarting many politicians from getting nominated or elected but also heralded a new era in Korean politics: civic groups have now emerged as a major political force, capable not only of challenging party policies and pending legislation but also taking on an agenda-setting prominence in a wide array of policy areas. In analyzing the success of NGO political activities in the 2000 and 2004 general elections, this paper draws on resource mobilization theory to show how the civic groups effectively utilized various resources, including leadership skills, communications and office facilities, and access to the mass media, to achieve their objective rather than relying simply on the spontaneous participation of voters. In comparing the efforts of civic groups in the two elections, the paper also explains the factors that made their endeavors relatively less successful in 2004 (e.g. a splintering of alliances among the civic groups). On the whole, the paper argues that the greater political involvement by civic groups is likely to lead to a more pluralistic, open and competitive form of democracy, and that the vibrant civic activism in Korea is an indication not only of maturing democracy but also a more secure entrenchment of civil society.     

New Labour in Britain: New Democratic Centralism?

This article uses a case study - the introduction in 1997 of new policy machinery - to analyse competing claims about the nature of the Labour Party's organisational transformation. It aims to demonstrate that whilst the new policy process was presented as a move towards greater democracy, both its general design and its modes of operation rendered inevitable the production of a general election manifesto in 2001 (the culmination of the process) whose contents coincided very closely to the leadership's tastes. The article then seeks to account for the form Labour's transformation took, drawing on the work of Michels and Lipset and his colleagues.     

Professionalization of Political Communication

Abstract

Americanization of Western European election campaigns has frequently been discussed, particularly in the media, but rarely defined. This article argues that the concept of professionalization better encompasses the process of change that can be observed in electoral communication. Professionalization is here regarded as a process by which the political actors adapt their strategies to changes in society and in the political system as well as to changes in the media system. The campaign of the German Social Democratic Party (SPD) for the 1998 Federal Election is here described as an example of professionalized electioneering.     

Hunting the Elusive Young Voter

Abstract

It is generally assumed that mobilizing young voters is infeasible. This belief can be broken into two separate questions: (1) Are young people responsive to Get Out The Vote appeals? (2) Is it possible to deliver the message to the intended audience? By pooling together the results of six GOTV field experiments, this paper demonstrates that young voters are equally responsive to blandishments to vote as mature voters, but that they are roughly three times more difficult to contact.