‘Soft’ forms of direct democracy: Explaining the occurrence of referendum motions and advisory referendums in Finnish local government

This study investigates ‘soft’ forms of direct democracy and identifies factors that explain their occurrence. Soft direct democracy refers to non‐binding referendum motions and advisory referendums, which the literature on direct democracy has largely ignored. Strategic motives have dominated previous explanations of the occurrence of initiatives and referendums, but are less useful in exploring non‐binding procedures of direct democracy. The article distinguishes four types of factors – socio‐structural, party system, political support and learning – and tests hypotheses on their effects with sub‐national data from Finland. The data enable us to compare two different types of instruments – non‐binding referendum motions and advisory referendums – while controlling for many unobserved factors. The findings show that erosion of political support, participatory traditions and policy diffusion explain the occurrence of bottom‐up referendum motions, while the last two together with small population and party system factors predict the occurrence of advisory government‐initiated referendums.     

The impact of EU multi-level regionalism strategy on Bulgarian local authorities: qualitative comparative analysis among nine border areas

This article suggests a new perspective on the analysis of the EU multi-level regionalism strategy (EUMRS) by emphasizing the important role of local authorities in border areas. The EU, indeed, has been pursuing a multi-level strategy formed by three action layers corresponding to three new regional trasnational spaces: (1) the European Union itself; (2) the strategic macro-regional actions – such as the EU Strategy for the Danube Region; (3) cross-border cooperation. Particularly, the article tries to explain why local officers working for different Bulgarian municipalities perceive the EUMRS in a different way. The perception of the EUMRS represents the internalization and impact of the EUMRS among the interviewed local officers of nine borderland Bulgarian municipalities. The research is grounded on a qualitative comparative analysis to identify and explain the different combinations of causally relevant conditions linked to the specific outcome.     

Discordant Allies: Trans-Tasman Relations in the Aftermath of the ANZUS Treaty, 1951–1955

Contrary to popular belief, the conclusion of the 1951 ANZUS Treaty did little to encourage an immediate closer political relationship between Australia and New Zealand. The Tasman powers disagreed on major strategic issues and cooperation was minimal (and in some cases entirely absent). Focusing on the development of trans-Tasman relations between 1951 and 1955, this article examines Australian and New Zealand views pertaining to the scope and implementation of the ANZUS Treaty, proposals for the Five Power Staff Agency in Southeast Asia, the “United Action” proposal during the 1954 Indochina Crisis and the “Operation Oracle” project during the 1954–1955 Quemoy–Matsu Crisis. This article advances the conclusion that Australia and New Zealand mainly disagreed on these issues due to competing views about their respective political relationships with the United States and Britain. In other words, in the immediate post-treaty period, closer trans-Tasman political relations were ultimately hindered by strong divisions over accepting the United States instead of Britain as the cornerstone of their respective foreign policies.     

The Bangladesh party-state: a diachronic comparative analysis of party-political regimes

Since independence in 1971, both civilian and military regimes have ruled Bangladesh. As many other military regimes did, the latter civilianised their rule through the formation of political parties and participation in general elections. When diachronically analysing political formations in Bangladesh, it is appealing to make a clear-cut distinction between autocratic and democratic regimes. However, this article argues that throughout its post-independence history, the dominant form of rule has been the party-state. Revisiting the work of Aristide Zolberg, this article develops a typology of party-states, away from its initial focus on single-party regimes. It argues that party-state formation can also be witnessed in competitive electoral settings.     

政府职能转变与非政府组织发展的逻辑关联

我国行政体制改革的关键是转变政府职能,真正实现政企分开、政社分开。在政府——市场——社会三者之间要实现统一和谐,则需要一个中介和桥梁,这个中介就是非政府组织,非政府组织与政府职能转变之间有着密切的关联,相互促进,相互合作,密不可分。     

地方政府间正和博弈的可能性分析及对策

本文试以博弈论为工具,分析了处于“囚徒困境”中的地方政府间关系,提出了地方政府寻求正和博弈解的两条途径：从外部引入中央与社会两参数,形成多维互动,从内部实现制度创新。     

地方政府有效执行中央政策研究

地方政府有效执行政策是中央政府治理国家的关键和地方政府职能的重要体现,也是实现地方社会经济发展的根本保障。     

我国行政服务中心发展中的难题及对策研究

本文从服务型政府建设和<行政许可法>相对集中的行政许可权的要求出发,介绍并总结了当前我国行政服务中心发展的现状和模式,深入剖析了存在的问题与困境,并在立足我国国情和各地工作现状下,提出了一些解决途径,以指导行政服务中心的发展和创新.     

论我国公共部门管理中激励机制的完善

公共部门人员的激励问题是一项时代发展提出的新课题。在传统管理中,由于观念的滞后与制度的缺失,造成了在公共部门管理中管理有余而激励不足的现象。在新的背景下如何构建既与市场经济规律相适应又与社会主义价值体系相一致的公务员激励机制呢?这就需要完善公务员工资制度,以能力、业绩为基础完善考核、奖励、晋升制度,实行工作丰富化与多样化,以人为本,推进组织民主,并坚决反对腐败。     

抗日战争时期陕甘宁边区廉政建设经验之借鉴

抗日战争时期,陕甘宁边区政府在艰苦的条件下,加强廉政建设,培养了艰苦奋斗、无私奉献、"只见公仆不见官"等优良作风,为党的廉政建设积累了丰富经验。这些经验不仅是取得抗日战争乃至新民主主义革命胜利的重要保证,而且对我们今天特别是"十七大"之后的党风廉政建设和中国特色社会主义事业仍具有巨大的借鉴意义。