Can the Democrats Win Again?

After losing two successive elections, debate has raged within the Democratic party over how to win back power without comprising the principles which the party has long stood for. This article explores the reasons why the Democrats were unable to defeat George W. Bush in 2004, despite the numerous problems of the incumbent' first term, and asks what lessons the Democrats can learn from their defeat. The second half of the article focuses on what issues and policies the Democrats should concentrate and what strategies the party should adopt in order to improve its image and broaden its popular appeal ahead of the 2008 election.     

2004年美国大选对美国选举制度的影响

2004 年美国大选中技术构件的改进,提高了美国选举制度的可操作性和合理性;竞选开销创历史新高,加深了金钱政治对选举制度民主公平原则的侵蚀;候选人通过谎言和反面信息争取选票,违背了选举制度的诚信道德准则。     

群众公认：群众路线在选人用人中的价值导向——基于欠发达地区的认识和思考

提高干部选拔任用公信度,归根到底是群众公认。群众公认是群众路线在选人用人中的具体运用和生动体现,是富有针对性的价值导向。     

代表理论与代表组成结构问题分析

代表理论的核心问题是在代表和选民之间建立一种制度约束和激励机制,保证民主选举的真正有效与民主政治的正常运行。本文认为"代表组成结构"充分体现了民主选举的优越性,将之作为选举前分配名额比例和选举中提出确定候选人名单的依据,并没有一种坚实的代表理论作为支撑。实践证明,千方百计落实事先设计的代表结构比例,反而会牺牲民主选举的真实性。应该以代表理论反思我国选举制度运行过程中出现的弊端,改进与完善人大代表的选举,使得我国人民代表大会制度有一个健康的发展。     

Do volatile voters vote less correctly? An analysis of correct voting among vote (intention) switchers in US presidential election campaigns

The literature on electoral volatility and the literature on electoral campaigns hold contradictory views on voters switching vote (intention) during the campaign. In this note, we shed new light on this contradiction, making two contributions. First, we investigate the extent to which stable and volatile voters choose the correct party. Second, we distinguish levels of correct voting and the impact of the act of switching on the correctness of the vote. Our analyses of vote-switching in American elections show that, while volatile voters are less likely to vote correctly, they are more likely to switch from an incorrect to the correct party than vice versa. Furthermore, we show that following the campaign more closely makes voters more likely to switch vote (intention) towards the correct party.     

国家赔偿责任的民法基础

历史上盛行国家无不法行为能力理论,据此国家不对其公务员履行职务时的侵权行为承担责任,公务员要自己承担赔偿责任。随着法治国家观念的确立,国家开始代替其公务员向受害人承担赔偿责任,即所谓的代位责任。也有国家确立了国家的直接赔偿责任,即自己责任。但无一例外,国家的赔偿义务均建立在民法基础上,以全额赔偿为原则。我国国家赔偿制度确立了独一无二的"个人不赔,国家不全赔"的赔偿模式,偏离了赔偿法所固有的民法属性,无法良好保护受害人。而其根源则在于欠缺对国家赔偿责任的历史与本质的全面理解。有鉴于此,应尽快修订《国家赔偿法》,确立国家的全额赔偿责任,更好地服务法治国家的建设。     

对"省直管县"体制的反思

"省直管县"已经成为行政体制改革的大趋势,但是我们并不主张全国范围内统一实施省直管县。中国与西方国家有很大的区别,西方国家的体制并不一定适应中国的具体情况,不应一切西化。政府层级变化是一个自然的发育过程,只可顺势而为,不可强力推行。在"省直管县"改革过程中各省可因地制宜,自主选择;应该注意把握改革的方式、节奏和速度,切忌操之过急,搞一刀切。     

村委会选举中的富人贿选现象分析

富人贿选是我国村民自治实践中不可回避的客观现实。富人贿选具有严重的社会危害性,其消极影响主要表现为：压制了农村的民主萌芽,损害了党和政府的形象,加剧了农村社会矛盾,造成了村民“政治冷漠”。结合我国村民自治的发展实践,要想使富人贿选现象得到有效的抑制,一要进一步加强村务公开和民主管理工作,二要不断完善相关法律制度,三要规范村委会成员候选人资格条件,四要加强对选举的指导和监督。     

欧洲共同体指令的直接效力

在欧洲共同体的所有二级立法渊源中,指令的法律效力是一个颇具争议的问题,尤其是指令在各成员国中是否具有直接效力,更是引起了诸多纷争,而《欧洲共同体条约》和《欧洲原子能共同体条约》均未对此做出规定.以欧洲法院的相关案例法为主线,对其提出的指令的纵向直接效力、协调一致解释及附带横向直接效力原则逐一进行了评析,最后得出结论:为切实有效实现欧洲共同体指令所追求的目标,欧洲法院应当重新定义其提出的指令的直接效力原则;其中,最具有关键性意义的是,应当赋予指令在自然人和法人等私人之间的横向直接效力的职能.     

Intraparty Hostility: Social Identity,Subidentity, and the Hostile Media Effect in a Contested Primary

The hostile media effect (HME) has generally been tested in terms of in-groups and out-groups, with a “neutral” story in between. This ignores the nature of many social groups as comprising subgroups, often but not always sharing feelings of connectedness and purpose. In cases when bounded subgroups are at odds with one another, HME provides little guidance. A contested partisan primary provides such a case. This study takes identity centrality, candidate favorability, and perceived social network homogeneity as measures of partisanship and involvement, hypothesizing relationships between each and perceived bias against one’s candidate and party. Findings show that markers of candidate-focused social identity predict greater perceived bias against one’s candidate during the 2016 primary season, while party-focused identity fails to predict perceived bias against one’s party. This suggests that candidate support identity overrides plain partisanship during primaries, supporting concern that a heated primary might damage general election party unity. Subsequent postconvention findings suggest that the salience of candidate-focused identity fades, while homogeneity of one’s network regarding party support helps to make perceived hostility toward one’s party identity more salient. However, as campaigns become more candidate-centered, the contestation between nested candidate and party identities may grow fiercer.