Democratic innovation beyond deliberative reflection: the plebiscitary rebound and the advent of action-oriented democracy

This article investigates democratic innovations of a plebiscitary and action-oriented type that diverge from a predominantly transformative and reflective definition of democratic innovation. Conceptually, the article offers a balanced, extended framework that serves to recognize and understand a range of democratic innovations that includes non-deliberative besides deliberative models and methods. Empirically, the article offers a closer look at three exemplary cases focusing on the rebound of aggregative democracy through the (quasi-)referendum, the advent of collaborative democratic governance through concerted action, and of do-it-ourselves democracy through pragmatic activism. Ultimately, the article calls for a practice and theory of democratic innovation aware of and sensitive to the reality of democratic hybridization.     

The legislature and agenda politics of social welfare: a comparative analysis of authoritarian and democratic regimes in South Korea

The article mainly seeks to explain the legislature’s preferences in social welfare before and after democratization using South Korea as a case study. Based on an original dataset that consists of all executive and of legislative branch-submitted bills between 1948 and 2016 – roughly 60,000– legislative priority on social welfare is compared over time, and tested using logistic regressions. The key focus of analysis is whether and how the level of democracy affected the degree and universality of social welfare priority. The findings show that the promotion of social welfare is positively related to higher levels of democracy in a continuous fashion, which clearly points to the need to avoid applying a simple regime dichotomy – authoritarian or democratic – when seeking to understand social welfare development. Going further, the article examines the legislature's priority in welfare issues within a presidential structure and under majoritarian electoral rule, at different levels of democracy. The result shows that the higher levels of democracy are, the more the legislative branch contributes to the overall salience of social welfare legislative initiatives as compared to the executive branch. Moreover, the legislative branch itself prioritizes a social welfare agenda – alongside democratic deepening – over other issues.     

发挥民主党派对权力运行的监督作用

民主党派对共产党的权力运行进行监督既是民主党派的重要职能,也是多党合作的重要形式。针对民主党派对权力运行监督中存在的主要问题,我们要提高民主党派的政党意识,健全对权力运行的监督机制,增加民主党派担任实职的机会。只有充分发挥民主党派对权力运行的监督作用,才能让权力在阳光下运行,才能正确用好权力这把"双刃剑"。     

供给侧结构性改革背景下兼并重组企业劳动关系的协调力研究 —— 以东部沿海地区制造企业为例

本研究基于东部沿海地区制造企业的调查，从员工自制力、企业管理力、工会协商力、政府指 导力和非政府组织监督力等五个维度构建了劳动关系协调力对雇员和谐感受的结构方程模型，分析了中国制造 企业劳动关系协调力与雇员和谐感受之间的路径系数。研究表明，员工自制力、企业管理力、政府指导力和非 政府组织监督力对雇员和谐感受具有显著性的正向作用，它们的路径系数从大到小依次为非政府组织监督力、 政府指导力、员工自制力、企业管理力。工会协商力对雇员和谐感受虽然具有正向作用，但不显著。构建企业 和谐劳动关系，需要健全“五力联动”的劳动关系协调机制，其中，政府相关职能部门要发挥更大的指导作用， 企业工会的使命和职责需要进一步明确和增强，非政府组织的监督和维权行为需要进一步完善和规范。     

Competing Visions of Japan’s International Engagement: Japan First vs Global Japan

ABSTRACT

The state and direction of Japan’s international engagement can best be understood as a competition between the ‘Japan first’ and ‘global Japan’ schools of thought. In light of the ever worsening security environment surrounding Japan, the gap between the Japan first school advocating a focus on the immediate needs of Japan’s territorial defence and the global Japan school arguing for more global engagement is widening. The competition between the two will continue to shape the direction of Japan’s foreign and security posture – and importantly, the global Japan school is far from winning, contrary to what Abe’s hyperactive diplomacy might suggest.     

浅谈社会主义市场经济下的职工民主管理

职工民主管理是社会主义市场经济的内在要求和职工主人翁地位的体现。职工代表大会仍然是职工民主管理的基本形式,但需要在组织形式,职权范围、工作内容等方面进行调整和充实完善。     

浅议公安执法权力的人民性及其实现

公安机关在执法过程中 ,必须坚持“主权在民”的思想 ,努力实践为民执法。要将为民执法变成公安民警的自觉行为 ,公安民警必须首先清楚认识公安执法权力的来源 ,必须牢固把握公安执法权力的核心特性———人民性。     

公民权利与社会稳定关系初探

在近现代社会,公民权利的享有不仅仅体现在人身自由权利和社会经济文化权利,某种意义上更多地体 现在政治权利;社会稳定应是一种动态的稳定,相对的稳定。保障公民权利的享有是社会稳定的关键所在,社会稳定 意味着保障和进一步扩大公民权利的享有。     

The Italian Democratic Party from Merger to Personalism

Abstract

The Partito Democratico (PD) was born as an original Merger Party on the cusp of the economic crisis in October 2007. The party’s genesis and formative years were critical to the party’s failure to institutionalise around a new common ideology or vision, as a result of the persistence of two party souls which could not find unity. Rather than a genuinely ‘new’ reformist party, the PD resembled an organisational vehicle through which the two former parties could continue their struggle. This weakened the organisational nature of the PD and made it a candidate for takeover by a dominant, personal leader such as Matteo Renzi. He set about establishing a personal party whose existence has in many ways confirmed the failure, if not exhaustion, of the PD’s mission to become the reformist party of the majority.     

Whither peacebuilding? A reflection on post-conflict African experiences

Peacebuilding is a key concept in efforts to reconstruct African states emerging from conflicts. At heart, it captures the whole array of activities associated with state-and nation-building in addition to building the foundations for local ownership of these processes. Popularised by the UN Secretary-General Boutros-Boutros Ghali in the early 1990s, peacebuilding has evolved alongside peacemaking and peacekeeping in the reconstruction repertoire. This article suggests that while there is considerable scepticism about the utility of peacebuilding in contemporary conflict resolution efforts, African experiences have, since the 1990s, provided solid lessons to both local and international actors on how to rebuild states, societies, polities, and economies.