Who negotiates for a nation? Catalan mobilization and nationhood before the Spanish democratic transition, 1970–1975

Much of the literature on democratic transitions and ethnic conflict focuses on the role of elites, whether as constructive contributors to ethnic harmony and pacted transitions, or as fomenters of disharmony. What these accounts often fail to take into account is the extent to which the existence of political elites is a variable in itself, particularly when their power bases are not organizations like an army but rather nations or classes. The article develops an analysis of how competition for scarce militants and the demands of organizing them shapes the power and importance of elites. It does this through a case study of Catalonia in the years preceding the Spanish transition. During those years Catalonia, both a stateless nation and a potentially divided society, was the site of organizing from the left and right that nearly monopolized militants and channelled their activity into autonomist, inclusive forms of nationalist mobilization that stifled attempts at internal polarization while creating elites who could negotiate on Catalonia's behalf in the transition. In other words, the ability of moderate Catalan nationalists to organize before the transition explains their ability to represent Catalonia and control its fissures later, and contributes to explaining the success of Catalonia as a case of peaceful multinational coexistence.     

Office and Policy at the Expense of Votes: Plaid Cymru and the One Wales Government

This paper will examine Plaid Cymru's experience in government from 2007 to 2011. Drawing on literature on autonomist parties, parties in government for the first time, and Strøm and Müller's policy/office/votes framework, the paper examines where strategic 'trade-offs’ were made and what the consequences of such trade-offs were. The paper takes a qualitative approach, using semi-structured interview and documentary data. The paper finds that Plaid Cymru valued the policy-seeking potential of office at the expense of vote-seeking ones because of the importance of 'autonomist' goals, namely the 2011 referendum which saw primary law-making powers granted to the Welsh Assembly. Furthermore, the experience of governmental office exposed organizational vulnerabilities in the party's leadership structures which undermined the ability to construct an effective vote-winning strategy at the 2011 Welsh election, where the party lost four seats.     

TheWorld’sResponsibility

正From December 1-12,Peru’s capital Lima plays host to the 2014 UN Climate Change Conference.The conference takes place juxtaposed with a series of side events on climate issues hosted by the Chinese delegation.During these events,China tries to demonstrate the efforts the government,business and academic communities,non-governmental organizations and Chinese youth have made in combating the detrimental effects of climate change.     

国企为何需要行政化的治理——一种被忽略的效率性解释

在中国,国企的行政化治理是一种必然现实,是国家作为企业股东以及国企作为公共企业的本质使然。行政化治理虽然一直被视为有碍国企商业化,但亦有其"效率性"的一面,它有助于国企得到更多商业资源和商业利益。而且,国企的行政化治理是一种世界现象,差别只在于其目标以及内容、手段和方式的不同。由此,国企面对的关键问题,就不是如何脱离行政化治理的问题,而是如何改进行政化的治理、进行何种行政化治理的问题,即如何跳出原有产权调控模式,从利润导向走向公共导向,提升治理的透明度,让国企为国家发展、为一般社会公众谋取福利。中国一直追求将国企打造成独立的商事主体,追求国企营利目标的实现,这显然背离了作为公共企业的国企本质。应当撩开国企的商事面罩,重新回到公共企业以及公共企业法的改革道路上——以特别企业法而非商事公司法的方式调整国企的设立、运营和监管。     

论政府官员隐私权的有限性

隐私权是一种宪法权利 ,公民隐私权受到法律的保护是现代文明的重要体现。但是法律保护隐私权的程度又因权利主体的差异而存在差异 ,政府官员作为公共权力的行使者和公共利益的代表 ,其所享受的隐私权边界相对来说小于普通公民。政府官员隐私权的有限性体现了现代民主政治的应有之义。     

The More Things Change,the More They Stay the Same: the Swedish Local Government Elite between 1985 and 2005

This article examines the development of the main characteristics of the Swedish local political–administrative elite, by analysing repeated surveys, performed in 1985, 1991, 1999 and 2005, of all important leaders in a representative sample of 20 towns and cities. Despite the great changes that have occurred at the local government level, the local government elite retains a surprisingly high degree of homogeneity and stability over time. Although this elite has become increasingly gender equalised and professional, local problems are perceived to have become slightly more complex; meanwhile, the perceived influence and effectiveness of leaders in solving these problems has remained unchanged, probably because the perceived power and autonomy of local government to act effectively has declined somewhat. In contrast, the leaders' political capital (networks, democratic values and global relations) has remained strong and stable.     

Elite Ethics: Comparing Public Values Prioritization Between Administrative Elites and Political Elites

In this article, we compare how administrative and political elites in The Netherlands, the European Union, and the United States perceive and prioritize four key public values—responsiveness, expertise, lawfulness, and transparency. Our data from 94 in-depth interviews show that political elites and administrative elites differ most in their perception and prioritization of expertise and transparency and less in responsiveness and lawfulness. Interestingly, these politico-administrative value differences largely hold across the institutional settings we study. Theorizing on our results, we formulate eight propositions for future studies. Our study contributes to public values research by using qualitative methodology and including politicians.     

国际非政府组织的国际法规制:现状、利弊及展望

国际法领域约束规制国际非政府组织的模式有四种,即全球性国际公约间接管制模式、区域性国际公约直接管制模式、国际政府组织约束管制模式及国际非政府组织自身管制模式。由于非政府组织自身国际法律地位的缺失,四种约束管制方式一方面起到了符合自身特点的积极作用,另一方面也都存在缺陷。为了更好地使国际非政府组织在国际事务中发挥作用,除充分利用现有的规制模式之外,亟需制定全球性国际公约对国际非政府组织进行约束管制。     

Social contract theory and the semiotics of guns in America

We present a semiotic model of gun possession in America based upon the social contract theories put forward by Locke, Rousseau, and Rawls. Our central focus is upon the rights of self-preservation and the protection of property. The model proposes that American political history has cycled between two sets of symbolic threats to the social contract: tyranny imposed by a despotic central government and chaos represented by outsiders designated as savages. We propose that the two central semiotic images presented in the origin myth of the USA – that of pioneers living on a savage frontier and citizens rebelling against tyrannical government – endorse the individual possession of firearms. The specific models of guns chosen by private citizens are found to be closely intertwined with military patterns of usage; thus, the US military seems to serve as a rhetorical vessel from which cultural ideals of appropriate weaponry are derived. Examples of American autobiographical writings, contemporary gun advertising, and popular culture fictional narratives are presented to ground the arguments. We conclude that individual access to the use of deadly force for self-defense and the defense of property is the semiological basis of the American social contract and that US government efforts to reduce civilian possession of firearms are unlikely to succeed.     

Yugoslavism between the world wars: indecisive nation building

This article examines Yugoslav national programs of ruling political elites and its concrete implementation in education policy in interwar Yugoslavia. It is argued that at the beginning of the period Yugoslavism was not inherently incompatible with or subordinate to Serbian, Croatian or to a lesser degree Slovenian national ideas. However, the concrete ways in which Yugoslavism was formulated and adopted by ruling elites discredited the Yugoslav national idea and resulted in increasing delineation and polarization in the continuum of national ideas available in Yugoslavia. Throughout the three consecutive periods of political rule under scrutiny, ruling elites failed to reach a wider consensus regarding the Yugoslav national idea or to create a framework within which a constructive elaboration of Yugoslav national identity could take place. By the end of the interwar period, the Yugoslav national idea had become linked exclusively to conservatism, centralism, authoritarianism and, for non-Serbian elites at least, Serbian hegemony. Other national ideas gained significance as ideas providing viable alternatives for the regime's Yugoslavism.