从政治营销的视角看台湾民主：以民进党的实力消长为例

20世纪90年代以来，台湾社会的民主化发展取得了相当重要的成就，两次政党轮替已经使台湾民主逐步走向成熟。但是，台湾民主的发展仍然存在诸多问题，台湾民主的“异化”现象更是备受关注。在台湾民主日益成熟且相对稳定的情况下，深入理解台湾民主“异化”的原因，对于全面认识台湾民主政治，促进两岸关系的和平发展，具有重要的理论意义和实践价值。本文运用政治营销的相关概念，以民进党的实力消长为例，尝试探讨台湾民主“异化”的原因，并从新的视角解析和理解台湾民主问题。     

Champions of the poor or “militant fighters for a better pay cheque”? Teacher unionism in Mexico and South Africa, 1979–2013

There are some fascinating historical parallels between Mexico’s giant teacher union, the Mexican National Education Union, and the South African Democratic Teachers Union. Although both teacher unions played an important role in challenging political oligarchies at certain points in their history, they became increasingly protectionist. Through their close affiliation to ruling parties, they were able to wield substantial political influence. In both of these cases, the unions played a controversial role in preventing central government surveillance and intervention in schools. Arguably, this often allowed not only for corruption in appointments and promotions, but also the protection of negligent teachers. There is some evidence to suggest that in protecting their sectional interests, both unions have frequently alienated parents and students at the community level. This paper addresses broader debates about the impact of powerful teacher unions on the quality of public schooling.     

Economic development and democracy revisited: Why dependency theory is not yet dead

It is generally accepted that there is a relationship between economic development and democracy which can be demonstrated by quantitative empirical evidence. The difficulties of validating the empirical claims derive not so much from the measures of economic development as from the measures of democracy itself. Our inquiry deepens the investigation of the relationship by 'unpacking' the dependent variable into separate measures of eight core values of liberal democratic government for 40 countries over the period 1970-1998. Our model assumes that the quality of liberal democratic government is not one-dimensional but can be measured across this range of values, so creating 'performance profiles' and demonstrating the likely trade-offs across distinct democratic values. The results of the analysis confirm that economic development has positive effects on democratic performance, but these effects vary across diverse aspects of performance and also across regions.     

Presidential hegemony and democratic backsliding in Latin America, 1925–2016

ABSTRACT

Does the executive's institutional hegemony represent a risk to the survival of democracy? By hegemony, we refer to the president's ability to control other institutions, particularly the legislature and judiciary. To answer this question, we develop two indices of presidential hegemony and analyze the duration of democratic regimes in 18 Latin American countries between 1925 and 2016. The results show that executive hegemony is a major driver of democratic instability. This finding is robust to non-linear effects and to potential endogeneity in the relationship between presidential power and democratic backsliding. Our findings challenge traditional concerns about executive-legislative deadlock, and have significant implications for the nascent literature on democratic backsliding, which highlights executive aggrandizement as a risk factor.     

The evolution of the New Patriotic Party in Ghana

This paper examines the emergence and development of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) government in the context of a broader examination of the roles of political parties within the Ghanaian political landscape. After describing the political architecture as well as some significant constitutional issues of Ghana's democracy and the roles played by other societal stakeholders, the paper examines the rationale for the formation of the NPP, its manifesto, structure, constituency, power brokers. It then analyses various aspects of the implementation (or not) of the NPP's political and economic objectives since it came to power in 2000 with a message of ‘positive change’. The electoral politics of the campaigns against its major opposition, the National Democratic Congress (NDC), and issues of regionalism, ethnicity and other factors are considered in detail. The paper concludes with some lessons learned and generic recommendations for emerging African political parties in relatively young democracies.     

Institutional reform and political party engagement: Challenges to democratic transformation in post-CPA Sudan

ABSTRACT

This article looks at the role of institutions and political parties as main agents of the democratisation process in the Sudan, following the signing the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA). A review of the historic weaknesses of intermittent democratic rule in the Sudan, since its independence in 1956 and through to the signing of the CPA, is offered. Those elements of the CPA critical to institutional reform and democratisation are identified and their implementation assessed, including the results of the CPA-mandated elections held in April 2010. The four principal political parties and their capacities to contribute to democratic transformation are analysed.     

当代德国社会民主党的社会主义经济观

德国社会民主党的社会主义经济观经过一个多世纪的演进,发展到当代,其主要内容表现于:在生产资料所有制方面,主张混合制经济;在生产中人与人的相互关系方面,主张建立和发展工人参与决策和管理的民主经济;在产品的分配和再分配方面,主张建立和发展社会福利经济。     

重组改制企业职工持股会问题的初探

职工持股会通过职工出资对企业所有权的参与,把职工与企业的命运连在一起, 进一步调整了劳资关系。建立职工持股会,有利于延伸企业的民主管理。     

农村社区民主自治的条件和机制

对北京市远近郊区五个农村社区村委会的调研说明,经济发展和民主意识是村民自治的基础条件。经济层面主要在于集体经济所有制、农村集体经济的发展和农村股份合作制改革三个方面,经济的独立性决定了村民自治的必要性;意识层面则由于农村土地制度和农民的生产方式、二元化的户籍制度和农村社会保障体系的建立,使村民在心理上具有强烈的自治意识和要求,村民自治的组织体制和运作机制包括静态和动态两个方面,前者指村民自治的组织体系,后者则是以“四个民主”为基础的村民自治运行机制。     

公共行政的立宪分析

从宪政的视角思考公共行政通常被人们所忽视,文章分析了人们为什么会忽视从宪政秩序思考公共行政问题,探讨两种宪政秩序与公共行政之间的内在关系,即统治秩序与官僚制行政之间关系,自治秩序与民主制行政之间关系,并在此基础之上,进一步总结了两种行政理论之间的区别。