The politics of Uber: Infrastructural power in the United States and Europe

Platform firms have been depicted as having structural and instrumental power and being able to prevail in regulatory battles. This article, in contrast, documents how they have often adapted to regulations and provide different services across locales. I show that platform firms have a specific type of power, infrastructural power, that stems from their position as mediators across a variety of actors. This power, I argue, is shaped by pre-existing regulations and the firms' strategic response, that I call “contentious compliance”: a double movement of adapting to existing regulations, while continuing to challenge them. I apply this framework to the expansion and regulation of Uber in New York City (US), Madrid (Spain), and Berlin (Germany).     

The Limits of Mobilization: Turnout Evidence from State House Primaries

Many analysts have lamented the decline of political mobilization efforts. They suggest that the cause of worsening voter turnout may be traceable to the failure of political candidates and political parties to target and activate nonvoters. This research explores the effects of face-to-face mobilization efforts in a sample of September 5, 2000, Florida state house primary races. Controlling for their voting history, the face-to-face mobilization effort did increase turnout by about 8% among those contacted. However, the effects were weakest among those who voted least regularly. The results suggest that implementing more face-to-face mobilization efforts would increase turnout—mostly by encouraging occasional voters to go to the polls. However, those same mobilization efforts would not substantially affect the turnout of chronic nonvoters.     

国际体系结构与国家行为:一个博弈理论模型

国际体系结构特征对国家间利益分配和国家行为存在重要影响。在单极世界中,参与国的参与剩余将作为垄断租金转移给国家极;两极体系将导致利益反向再分配,即国家极的主导者剩余将作为租金转移给其他参与国家;意识形态冲突、文明冲突和经济地理邻近构成了国际政治交易成本的主要来源,它们决定了国家间政治结盟的基本分布特征。"中心—边缘"命题中存在的边缘地区发展陷阱以及战后日本发展等理论和现实问题,都可以用不同国际体系结构下的国家间博弈进行解释。     

误证中的记忆错误现象

证人的证言是证据的一个重要成分,在审判中起着重要作用。证人证言中的一个重要问题是证言的可靠性问题,即证人的证言是否属实,是否是对案件的真实描述。造成误证的原因很多,除了证人作证的各种动机等主观原因外,还有许多是由记忆机制这一客观原因造成的,这一情况是不容忽视的。本文将对由记忆机制导致的记忆错误做一些初步概述,并对如何避免记忆错误出现和如何唤起证人的真实记忆做一些初步探讨。     

State,Society, and Economic Development in Sports Life Cycles: The Case of Boxing in Korea

This study documents the rise and fall of boxing in Korea since its introduction in 1912. The participation of amateur athletes in boxing has decreased sharply since the 1980s. Also, the popularity of professional boxing among sports fans has diminished in recent decades. I consider boxing as a “product” that is “consumed” by individuals as participants and fans. I apply product life-cycle theory in analyzing the changing popularity of boxing. I argue that changes in the tastes of sports fans are closely linked to economic development, industrialization and standard of living. I present the rise in the popularity of soccer, baseball, and golf as illustrations of the changing tastes of consumers of sports that have accompanied economic development and social changes as well as the changing government policies on sports.

基本权利的国家保护义务——以德、中两国为审视对象

近代立宪主义以保证"国家不得为非"为目的,现代立宪主义在福利国家等思潮背景下使得现代国家职能大幅扩张,发展出基本权利的国家保护义务。基本权利的防御权功能和客观秩序功能是德国基本权利普遍具有的两项功能,防御权功能为核心功能。现代国家职能基本化约为立法、行政与司法三种职能,国家保护义务相应地表现为立法者制定完善法律的义务;行政权切实执行法律的义务和司法机关提供完善的司法救济义务。国家保护义务存在一定的界限,我国现行宪法在基本权利的规定与现实保障方面存在诸多不足,需加以改善。     

Methods, Theories and Evidence: A Reply to Arzheimer

Kai Arzheimer's careful and thorough comment upon my earlier BJPIR article raises a number of important issues. While engaging in a thorough critique of the original article's methods, he also points to the (perhaps) inherent problems any quantitative approach may encounter in this area. The consequences of this are that if we wish to assess whether there are social determinants to participation, quantitative methods are limited. In the light of this, after addressing some mis-characterisations in his comment, this reply seeks to provide qualitative evidence that there may well be a link between welfare state institutions and outputs and participation.     

Towards a professional civil service in post‐transition Romania

To what degree and under what conditions can a young democracy build a competent, politically neutral public bureaucracy? A crucial component of the transition from communist party rule to democracy is the creation of a professional civil service. Success along this dimension of state‐building generates administrative capacity: non‐elected public officials ensure the implementation of reforms initiated by political leaders. In the communist party‐led regimes of Eastern Europe, forging this new administrative class from its highly politicised predecessor took place as new democracies sought to overcome historical legacies and integrate with the European Union. A case study of administrative reform in Romania during the post‐1989 period suggests the importance of external influences in forming a civil service more closely adhering to the Weberian ideal of an expert, rules‐based bureaucracy. Through analysis of survey data from a nationally representative sample of the Romanian civil servants, the public bureaucracy has professionalised insofar as educational and training credentials rather than political affiliation are significant predictors of salary levels. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

In space no one can see you waving your hands: making citizenship meaningful to Deaf worlds

This article suggests that there is an underlying social contract that defines relationships between deaf and hearing people and which ultimately influences state provisions as well as society's perception of Deaf people. It is outdated and does not have the consent of Deaf communities. It will be argued that any renegotiation of the social contract needs to take into consideration a number of ‘elements’ that would be the context for that negotiation. Deaf citizens are marginalised in society largely due to a citizenship that assumes an idealised individual as a speaking and hearing citizen, with a social policy constructed and made in the image of hearing culture, that is rooted in a philosophy of favouring by default the instruction of deaf children via oral means in overwhelming mainstream education. These state policies have resulted in an entrenched social exclusion of Deaf people. Citizenship is recognised as an inclusive and momentum concept and therefore this situation is not unchangeable. A renegotiation of the social contract may require a form of group rights which nevertheless recognises the transnational nature of Deaf communities. As part of that process it will be necessary for Deaf people to obtain control over how their communities are run and resources allocated. That would entail the withering away of hearing control in a social policy context within Deaf spheres of influence. The new social contract would aim not for a paternal citizenship, but an empowering and Deaf-led one.     

组织下乡:现代国家中的妇女组织建构——以华北黄县的史料分析与实证调查为例

本文从现代国家建构的角度,对农村妇女组织渗透乡村社会的过程进行了剖析,认为妇女组织是伴随着"政权下乡"和"政党下乡"的过程而萌生的,其成长的路径、特点和形式均体现出浓厚的国家建构色彩,是国家意志作用于乡村妇女的体现。也正因如此,妇女组织在下乡过程中承担的任务亦是动员、组织和吸纳妇女,以适应国家的政治需要为主。