Civic Fusion: Moving from Certainty through Not Knowing to Curiosity

Civic fusion occurs when people bond across passionate difference to solve a shared public problem. It requires bringing people close together under conditions that enable them to bond, even as their polarizing beliefs remain intact. In managing multiparty multi‐issue negotiations, public policy mediators help disparate, passionate parties negotiate actionable agreements. To achieve and sustain civic fusion, interested parties recognize and acknowledge confining assumptions and move through a continuum in which their certainty about each other and their presumed solutions is challenged and transforms to uncertainty and then to curiosity. They connect across common public goals and find mutual understanding and respect for the interests of others as they come to understand and accept the opportunities and limitations that are inherent to their complex situations. A steady stream of new understandings moves people beyond their long‐held perspectives to foster productive negotiations and build innovative solutions. Ultimately, the parties generate sustainable consensus agreements even as they retain their deeply held and often opposing values and beliefs.     

正当行为与犯罪构成传统关系之维护

犯罪构成是认定犯罪的唯一标准，刑法中的正当行为不符合我国的犯罪构成，将其视为犯罪成立的消极条件并不科学。犯罪构成与正当行为不是入罪与出罪的反向关系，二者之间是基本规定与注意规定之间的关系。传统的体系安排具有合理性，应当加以维护。不应该将其作为对我国传统犯罪构成大动干戈的借口。     

论新刑事诉讼法视阈下看守所归属问题

我国新刑事诉讼法中对看守所的职能定位有了进一步的明确与完善,但对看守所隶属调整问题并未涉及。为了适应新刑事诉讼法的总体要求,管理看守所的上级部门分别从羁押理念、羁押管理、羁押形态、羁押目标等四个方面进行调整。但以上调整举措治标不治本,无法根除看守所现有弊病。因此,把看守所划归司法行政部门才是解决问题的根本之道。     

Issue competition in Western Europe: an introduction

Abstract

The special issue introduced in this article presents the results of the Issue Competition Comparative Project (ICCP). The project uses issue yield theory to provide a general, comprehensive perspective on issue competition (party competition through issue strategy) that goes beyond the extant focus on specific parties or specific issues. Relying on voter surveys and Twitter data collected in the context of recent elections in six West European countries, we address several key research questions concerning issue competition: (a) whether the strategies of different parties are loyal to classic 20th-century ideological alignments or rather actively challenging them; (b) whether different parties opt for conflict-mobilization or problem-solving issue strategic approaches; (c) whether party adherence to the issue opportunities identified by issue yield theory are rewarded by better electoral performance.     

Attention! The meanings of attention to politics in surveys

This research note explores the role of reported attention to politics in survey overclaiming about politics. Using recognition of real and fictitious political parties in the context of the UK's 2019 European Parliament elections, we find that people who report higher attention to politics are more likely to over-report recognition of fictitious parties, and are also more likely to recognize new real political parties - those that emerged around the issue of ‘Brexit’ in the months before the election. To resolve these patterns, we show that political attention makes little difference to the accuracy of responses for people who have high political knowledge, or if it does so, it increases accuracy. However, for those with lower political knowledge, high reported political attention is a source of potential survey error and bias. These findings are consistent with higher survey satisficing and norm compliance among those who report having greater attention to politics, particularly among those who have lower knowledge. The implications are important for understanding the meaning and consequences of ‘attention to politics’ in surveys.     

In the eye of the beholder: voters’ perceptions of party policy shifts

It is normatively desirable that parties’ policy positions match the views of their supporters, as citizens in Western democracies are primarily represented by and through parties. Existing research suggests that parties shift their policy positions, but as of today, there is only weak and inconsistent empirical evidence that voters actually perceive these shifts. Using individual-level panel data from Germany, United Kingdom, Ireland and the Netherlands, this article tests the proposition that voters perceive parties’ policy shifts only on salient issues while remaining oblivious to parties’ changing positions on issues that they do not consider important. The results demonstrate that issue saliency plays a fundamental role in explaining voters’ perceptions of parties’ policy shifts: according to this logic, democratic discourse between the elites and the electorate appears to take place at the level of policy issues that voters care about.     

The German Federal Election of 2017: How the Wedge Issue of Refugees and Migration Took the Shine off Chancellor Merkel and Transformed the Party System

The 2017 German federal election delivered dramatic electoral decline of the two traditional main parties, the Christian Democrats (CDU/CSU) and the Social Democratic Party (SPD), who had governed Germany in a ‘grand coalition’ government since 2013. The main reason for this outcome was the decision by Chancellor Angela Merkel to open Germany's borders for refugees and migrants, an unprecedented policy that abandoned border controls and remained in place between September 2015 and March 2016. This article focuses on how the refugee and migration problem subsequently turned into a wedge issue, splitting most German political parties and handing a major election victory to the main critics of Merkel's decision, namely the rightist Alternative for Germany (AfD) and the right‐wing liberals of the Free Democratic Party (FDP). Rather than explaining these developments in isolation, the article highlights how past welfare state retrenchment and fear over future economic prosperity make significant groups of the electorate, including former supporters of left‐of‐centre parties, lose confidence in the ability of the political system to deliver stability and social integration.     

农垦企业职工队伍现实问题的理论思考

改革开放以来,农垦企业职工队伍发生重大变化,其社会地位、队伍构成、劳动者权益、社会保障等出现了新的情况,既有转型期作为农垦产业大军的排头兵作用,也客观存在着属于弱势群体特性,探讨和研究农垦企业职工队伍的现实问题,是当前化解社会矛盾,构建农垦和谐社会值得重视的新课题。     

民族问题的核心是国家认同问题

民族问题的核心是国家认同问题.多民族国家解决民族问题的核心任务是将国民对各自民族的忠诚转变为对国家的忠诚,在尊重多元的民族认同基础上建构国家认同.国家认同建没包括政治认同建设和文化认同建设.其中,文化认同建设是根本,稳固的文化认同可以消解政治认同危机时国家认同危机的程度."民族问题的核心是国家认同问题"的观点,要求我们解决民族问题的基本原则和制度安排必须及时同应国家一体化建构与民族文化多元发展的互动态势.     

中印边界问题研究综述

中印边界问题是中印关系发展中所面临的主要问题,由此而引发的1962年的中印边界战争,更是在国际冷战史上占有突出地位的重大事件之一,对当时和以后许多国家关系的演变产生了重要影响。这一问题现在引起了国内外学者越来越多的关注,围绕这一问题出现了大量研究成果。