Trust in Politicians and Satisfaction with Government – A Reciprocal Causation Approach for European Countries

Trust and satisfaction with the government are the most important indicators of a functioning democratic system. Scholars diverge in their opinions of whether satisfaction causes trust or vice versa or whether both variables reinforce each other simultaneously. This study applies an instrumental variable approach to shed light on this discussion. We employ a sample of 7166 individuals in 3 European countries (i.e., Germany, France, and Great Britain) obtained from the European Social Survey to test this reciprocal relationship. By comparing these three countries with fundamentally different political systems, we investigate the contingency of the reciprocal effect with regard to the political context. The results confirm the reciprocal relationship but reveal differences between the three investigated countries.     

(Over)determining social disorder: Tajikistan and the economic collapse of perestroika

This article analyses the rise of social unrest in the Tajik SSR in 1990–1991 from the perspective of the republic’s place within the broader Soviet economy and the collapse of that economy over the course of perestroika (1985–1991). Countering standard narratives of glasnost, democratization and nationalism in Tajikistan, it demonstrates that a close reading of the historical record points to sharp economic downturn as the most plausible immediate cause of the social disorder that came to engulf the Tajik SSR in the final years of the USSR and led to the Tajik Civil War of the 1990s.     

经验与借鉴：欧盟环境信息公开与中国相关立法的完善

在全球政府信息公开及环境保护立法快速发展的大背景下,我国已在政府环境信息公开领域开展了立法和实践,尤其是2008年5月实行的《环境信息公开办法（试行）》,更是这一领域的专门性立法。但是,通过与欧盟政府环境信息公开立法体系比较发现,我国政府环境信息公开立法存在着诸多问题：如环境信息公开的主体范围过为狭窄;环境信息公开的客体范围狭小及环境信息公开救济途径缺乏。本文在借鉴欧盟环境信息公开制度下,提出了完善我国环境信息公开的几点建议。     

欧盟学习型城市的发展与特色分析对台湾之启示

学习型城市的建构,自1990年代中期即持续受到欧盟的高度重视,并先后展开了一系列学习型城市的推动策略,俾以促使欧洲成为学习社会。然而台湾学习型城市的实务发展,迄今则仍乏积极的政策行动,有鉴于学习型城市的理论与实务探究,在台湾仍亟待加以进行。本研究旨在探究欧盟学习型城市的发展及其对台湾的启示,希冀透过欧盟学习型城市的发展分析与探究,深入了解欧盟学习型城市的发展内涵与特色,进而对台湾今后学习型城市的发展,提出具体可行之建议,以发挥他山之石,可以攻错之效。     

中国第一所女子大学概览——记华北协和女子大学

通过对华北协和女子大学的建校背景、学校前身、学校校长、建校时间、学校名称、规模概况、课程设置、学生运动及学校最终走向等方面的叙述，可以勾勒出中国第一所女子大学的基本面貌。该校填补了中国女子高等教育的空白，为培养中国近代第一批知识女性做出了贡献，在中国女子教育史上有着不可忽略的历史作用。另外，通过对史料的考证，可以发现燕...     

欧洲主权债务危机对华侨华人经济的影响及其对策研究

欧洲经济的欠"生产性"根源引发了主权债务危机,作为其一部分的欧洲华侨华人经济在市场、资金、政策、人才等方面也深受影响。欧洲华侨华人应该进一步把握形势,调整战略,适应居住国实情,学法守法用法,培育人才,加强社会融入,以推动欧洲华侨华人经济的更大发展。     

欧洲民法典草案消费者撤回权制度研究

基于保护消费者免于遭受侵略性商业行为、去除跨境、在线交易障碍,以及保护复杂合同下处于信息弱势之消费者之目的,欧洲民法典草案明确规定了消费者撤回权制度,并对消费者撤回权概念、适用范围、行使方式、期限、告知义务及效果等作了规定。民法典中规定消费者撤回权,体现了民法理念从形式正义到实质正义,民法主体从抽象人格到具体人格、从强而智到弱而愚者的转变。欧洲民法典草案撤回权制度对我国相关制度的完善具有重大借鉴意义。     

Limits of Participatory Democracy in European Governance

The Lisbon Treaty (Article 11) recognises the provision on participatory democracy as a democratic principle of the European Union (EU), thus constitutionally legitimising the involvement of civil society in European governance. However, at least three issues relating to the democratic dimension of this practice remain unresolved. First, it is not possible to specify precisely how the participation of civil society relates to democracy. Second, having established representative democracy as the founding democratic principle of the EU (Article 10), the Lisbon Treaty does not allow assessing the provision on participatory democracy as an independent source for democracy. Third, the putative democratising potential of participation would not be construed independently, not only because representative democracy is defined as the founding principle of the EU but also because participation cannot be thought of as independent from the form of the consultation regime, the constitutional framework and the managerial and technocratic styles of policy‐making.     

International Organisations and the Evolution of Humanitarianism: Cross-perspectives on the Commonwealth and the European Union

Abstract

As international relations actors in the post-Second World War world, international organisations have played a significant role in the standardisation of global policy concepts during the 20th century, and humanitarian assistance has been no exception. While the study of the role of international organisations in shaping a dominant model of humanitarian aid has recently gathered pace, few historians have focused on different, less successful models and interpretations developed by other international organisations. Recently declassified Commonwealth Secretariat records show that discussions within the Secretariat and among member states regarding the potential objectives and scope of Commonwealth humanitarian assistance programmes took place as early as the 1960s, and continued throughout the following decades. This article provides an overview of the origin and evolution of the Commonwealth’s approach to humanitarian assistance since the 1960s. Its objective is to document this hitherto little known aspect of Commonwealth assistance policies, and, based on an initial literature and archival survey, to contribute to the identification of further research questions and gaps in this aspect of Commonwealth history. Although they are very different in nature and scope, the Commonwealth and the European Union share at least one common feature in so far as humanitarian assistance is concerned, namely their difficulty in reaching a consensual definition of it. By exploring the links and discrepancies between, as well as within, each organisation’s approach to humanitarian assistance, and by examining the initiatives of some of their member states, this paper seeks to highlight the plasticity of the definition of humanitarian assistance.