When long-distance relationships don't work out: Representational distance and satisfaction with democracy in Europe

We assess the impact of party representation on satisfaction with democracy. Our proposition is that such representation is not only about having a chosen party in government; citizens also derive satisfaction from having their views represented by a political party. We test this through an individual-level measure of policy (in)congruence: the ideological distance between a voter and his or her closest party. Via multi-level modelling of European Election Study data from 1989 to 2009, we find that perceived policy distance matters: the further away that voters see themselves from their nearest party – on either a left-right or a European unification policy dimension – the less satisfied they are with democracy. Notably, this effect is not moderated by party incumbency or size. Voters derive satisfaction from feeling represented by a nearby party even if it is small and out of office. Our results caution against a purely outcomes-driven understanding of democratic satisfaction.     

代表性官僚:公共行政理论与研究方法的述评

代表性官僚(representative bureaucracy),因其涉及政策执行过程中公共资源向长期弱势的群体(例如少数族裔、女性)倾斜进而达到提升社会公平公正的目的,成为公共行政学科理论前沿的重要课题之一。自1944年Donald Kingsley的《代表性官僚》成书以来,公共行政学界极大地推进了对该理论的研究,包括深入探讨官僚代表性与社会影响的因果机制,并通过严谨的社会科学研究方法提供丰富的实证证据。本文深入地评述了代表性官僚理论的主要定义、概念与假设,并创新性地对近年来代表性官僚理论的新近研究成果按照三个模块进行系统的整理:被代表群体的社会或身份特征,被动性与主动性代表之间的转化和制约条件,以及检测理论问题的研究方法和设计。与此同时,本文也对代表性官僚在中国语境下的理论探索与实证研究的发展进行了梳理。     

中青年对临终者的社会表征研究

本研究以北京、芜湖市436名中、青年为研究对象,采用开放式词汇联想以及自编临终者社会表征量表,力图了解我国中青年对临终污名者的社会表征,并进一步解释临终者污名化的原因,验证以往理论研究的假设。     

实践"三个代表" 加强党的建设

党的建设是毛泽东开创的一件"伟大的工程",是中国革命取得胜利的"三大法宝"之一.邓小平在新的历史条件下开创了党的建设的新的伟大工程.面向新世纪,以江泽民为核心的党中央正在继续进行这个新的伟大工程."三个代表"是党的建设的思想武器.实践"三个代表",是保持党的先进性的根本保证和基本途径.     

Forgotten Children of Immigration and Family Law: How The Absence of Legal Aid Affects Children in the United States

The absence of government‐appointed legal counsel in immigration proceedings adversely affects large numbers of children in the United States. Children born in the United States to parents without citizenship status (U.S.‐born children of noncitizen parents or UCNP) are harmed by a parent's detention and removal. Unaccompanied alien children (UAC) who have entered the country without legal status are adversely affected by their own detention and removal. The possibility of obtaining relief from removal is drastically diminished by the lack of legal representation. Currently UAC and immigrant parents are not entitled to court‐appointed attorneys. Any meaningful change in immigration law, such as a federal statutory amendment to provide UAC and immigrant parents with government‐appointed counsel is unlikely due to the present political dissension in Congress regarding this issue. Because UAC and immigrant parents are not entitled to government‐funded legal representation, a pro bono legal service system has developed, but is unable to meet the present need adequately. For immigrant parents, this Note proposes the adoption of a statute to allow the appointment of court liaisons in family court proceedings. The court liaison is a nonattorney who is familiar with the processes of the family court and ensures that immigrant parents are fully informed regarding all pertinent family court proceedings. For UAC, this Note proposes an amendment to the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act to mandate the appointment of a child advocate to all UAC. The child advocate is not a lawyer, but works with the UAC's attorney to provide the child with legal representation and advocacy.

Key Points for the Family Court Community:
• UCNP confront the loss of parents to detention and removal. Children are condemned to limbo, torn between absent biological parents and placement in foster care.
• The recent surge in the number of UAC who enter the United States by crossing the border from Mexico has been described as a humanitarian crisis. These children often remain alone without legal protection, vulnerable to detention and removal.
• Ideally, UAC and the immigrant parents would be provided with government‐funded legal representation in immigration proceedings. In the absence of the federal statutory reform necessary to make that a reality, state statutory reform to allow for the provision of court liaison programs for immigrant parents and federal statutory reform to allow the appointment of child advocates for UAC can begin to offer children and families needed legal support and advocacy.