Silent citizenship among Asian Americans and Latinos: opting out or left out?

In his classic study, Who Governs?, Robert Dahl interpreted the patterns of political assimilation of ‘white ethnic’ immigrants and their children during the mid-twentieth century as a hopeful sign of the potential of democratic pluralism in the USA. While acknowledging that immigrant groups faced discrimination and structural barriers that might lead them to be silent, Dahl predicted that social mobility and assimilation would eventually erase these deficits in political participation among immigrants. Building from Dahl's analysis, we investigate the extent to which pluralism in the USA can and does work the same way for immigrants who are also racial minorities. We highlight factors that can lead these groups to become silent citizens, including lack of legal status, lower levels of political mobilization by institutions, and discrimination as structural impediments to minority participation. Our findings suggest that both resources as well as structural impediments structure the political behavior of Asian Americans and Latinos, determining whether they are vocal citizens or silent citizens.     

转型期中国公民社会的建构探析

改革开放以来,中国开始了由计划经济向市场经济的转型,但是转型进程中,我们发现,政治国家的力量大大超越了公民社会的力量,公民社会一直被政治国家所湮没,因此,如何构建一个成熟的公民社会就成为当代中国社会转型的轴心,并将影响着中国现代化的进程与前景。本文基于当代中国公民社会现状提出：建构一个成熟的公民社会是中国社会转型的必由之路,而在当代中国公民社会的构建进程中,市场经济的建立和完善是基础,现代公司的塑造是核心,社会组织的发展是关键,宪政民主制度的确立是保障。     

Political participation in Africa: The role of individual resources

This paper aims to examine the role of individual resources in explaining African political participation. If political participation is costly and requires inputs in terms of individual resources, and citizens in young developing country democracies face comparatively high participation costs and have more limited individual resource endowments than citizens in more established democracies, a resource approach to political participation should be particularly relevant in the African setting. On the contrary, however, empirical findings drawing on recent data for more than 27,000 respondents in 20 emerging African democracies suggest weak explanatory power of the resource perspective. Often, the relatively resource poor actually participate to a greater extent than the more resource rich. The results are encouraging in that they suggest fairly broad-based political participation, but also call attention to the need to evaluate the motivational forces behind the decision to take part.     

网络舆情语境下提升民主党派基层组织参政议政能力的路径思考

当前,网络舆情在给我国民主党派基层组织参政议政带来机遇的同时,其突发性、偏差性、繁杂性等特性对民主党派基层组织的应急能力、政治智慧、实战水平等方面提出了严骏挑战,这就要求各民主党派基层组织应当勇于抓住网络舆情对参政议政带来的良好机遇,努力适应当前网络舆情发展的新形势,积极借助网络平台,时刻关注舆情讯息,充分汲取网络民意,深入开展网络调查与监督,着力提升参政议政能力。     

促进西部地区女性参与决策管理

近十年来,西部地区积极完善女性参与决策管理的法规制度,营造女性参与决策管理的良好氛围,使女性参与决策管理的程度和水平均有大幅度提升,但是仍然存在有待改善的地方,突出表现为农村女性参与基层民主管理的整体水平较低、女性“权力尖端缺位”问题依然存在两个方面。因此,促进西部地区女性参与决策管理必须尊重女性价值,构建平等的性别文化;将社会性别意识纳入政治文明视野;构建女性参政的外部支持体系。     

Commission Newsletter: Winter 1981

I.A.A. Thompson: Crown and Cortes. Government, Institutions and Representation in Early‐Modern Castile (Variorum, Collected Studies Series CS 427, Ashgate Publishing, Aldershot, 1993, pp. 352; ISBN 0–86078–393–6; £49.50)

Janusz Mallek: Preußen und Polen: Politik, Stände, Kirche und Kultur vom 16. bis zum 18. Jahrhundert (Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag, 1992. Schriften der Mainzer Philosophischen Fakultätsgesellschaft Nr. 12, pp. 207; ISBN 3–515–05943–1; DM 58)

Cristiana Senigaglia: Il gioco delle assonanze: a proposito degli influssi hobbesiani sul pensiero filosofico‐politico di Hegel (Florence, La Nuova Italia, 1992, pp. 235)     

The dilemmas of pursuing ‘throughput legitimacy’ through participatory mechanisms

Under pressure to open up the ‘black box’ of governance, technocratic bodies are increasingly seeking to include civil society participation in the policy process. This article draws on empirical cases from the European Commission and NHS England to assess the extent to which the participatory mechanisms pursued by these institutions have been successful in eliciting ‘throughput legitimacy’. It is shown that though these mechanisms have taken very different forms – the former a classic instance of ‘window dressing’ participation, the latter closer to ‘best practice’ in this field – they nevertheless share a number of ongoing vulnerabilities. The article outlines the shared organisational, operational and existential dilemmas that technocratic bodies face when eliciting civil society participation, and highlight their reliance on backstage negotiation to sustain stakeholder buy-in. It concludes by highlighting the prospect that the pursuit of throughput legitimacy for technocratic bodies entails inherent limitations and contradictions.     

参与性农村评估在民族调查中的意义及运用 --以云南中甸形朵村为例

通过介绍参与性农村评估的理论,并结合在民族调查中的实际运用,描述了参与性农村评估在民族调查中的具体运作,分析了参与性农村评估在民族调查中的优势和不足,为民族调查提供了一个新的视角.     

工会参与社会建设的机制研究

中国工会作为党联系职工群众的桥梁纽带,在社会建设中的作用是任何社会组织不可替代的。工会必须构建并不断完善宏观参与机制、维护职工权益工作机制、长效化的职工服务机制、职工群体性突发性事件预防应急机制、职工舆情引导和疏导机制,才能充分释放参与社会建设的潜力,更好地发挥组织职工、引导职工、服务职工和维护职工合法权益的重要作用。     

让员工不再沉默——基于职工民主管理的视角

员工沉默使得信息被过滤和扭曲,影响组织决策质量、纠错及创新能力,引发员工工作倦怠和低工作满意度。而职工民主管理的理念和举措,缩小了组织权力差距、保护了少数派、增进了组织信任和员工满意度,能够有效地消减员工沉默行为。