Strategic Alliances: State-Business Relations in Mexico Under Neo-Liberalism and Crisis

Abstract – This paper examines how neoliberal policies implemented under Carlos Salinas Gortari (1988–1994) changed the nature of state-private sector relations in Mexico. The paper attempts to show how Mexico's entry into the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) solidified a strategic alliance between the state and business. The drastic peso devaluation of December 1994 and the ensuing economic crisis however, threatened to shatter the very foundation of the new alliance with the private sector. This paper thus, explores how the Ernesto Zedillo regime (1994–2000) addressed the expectations of the capital class and strengthened its transparent ties with the private sector. The paper argues that given the nature of the more transparent strategic alliance formed under the Salinas administration, big business continues to be brought into the policy making process, and that in fact, Zedillo continues to intervene on the side of business.     

军队从政坛的退出与韩国社会转型:基于自然政府的视角

文章利用诺斯等人发展起来的基于自然政府的精英主义理论框架,重点讨论了对军队的政治控制与韩国从有限准入向开放准入社会转型之间的关系。分析表明,从20世纪60年代初开始,一批围绕朴正熙和全斗焕的军事精英通过建立一个包括军队官员、政党政治家、高级政府官员和资本家阶层在内的统治联盟,从整体上控制国家和社会,从而重建了韩国的有限准入社会秩序。然而这个相对稳定的社会秩序不是一成不变的,随着经济的快速发展和相应的社会结构的变化,社会反对势力尤其是中产阶级和工人阶层不断成长,军人执政联盟最终自掘坟墓,被迫于20世纪80年代末从政坛退出并将其归还给市民社会。沿着这一主题,文章分析了韩国对军队的政治控制过程及竞争性政治和经济市场的出现,指出两种市场的建立标志着韩国社会转型的完成。     

Look to Denmark or not? An experimental study of the Social Democrats’ strategic choices

Social Democratic parties struggle to maintain their strong electoral position, as political competition has shifted from the traditional left-right dimension to the cultural dimension. This has led to a debate on what would be the most viable electoral strategy for these parties in terms of adjusting their policies. Some propose a “New Left” policy platform that combines social investment and progressive cultural policies; others an “Old Left” policy platform that combines traditional redistribution policies and social-conservative cultural policies. We conducted a survey experiment to test the effects of these two platforms on support for the Norwegian Labour party. Our results show that the New Left platform is more popular among current Labour voters and voters from competing left-wing parties, and the two policy platforms are equally popular among the total electorate.     

Do competitive districts get more political attention? Strategic use of geographic representation during campaign and non-campaign periods

MPs are elected as delegates of their electoral district to represent their constituents' interests. Geographical representation is considered a central quality indicator for legislative systems. Yet whether the strategic use of geographic representation is affected by tactical campaign considerations has received less attention. The availability of social media data on a fine-grained level allows us to fill this gap by studying the following question: To what extent do politicians strategically use geographic representation during electoral campaign and non-campaign times? I combine literature comparing campaign and non-campaign periods with studies on strategic incentives for MPs to geographic representation. Empirically, I rely on quantitative text-analytical tools to study German politicians’ tweets from the entire 19th legislative period (2017–2021). My findings have important implications for the geographic representation literature as they imply that MPs use geographic references strategically, especially during campaign periods. Prospective competitive districts receive substantially more political attention already during non-campaign periods, yet further amplified during electoral campaigns.     

Corruption: Governance challenge towards reducing unemployment in Nigeria

The study examines the possibility of having a very low rate of unemployment in Nigeria, if there is a reduced rate of corruption in the long-term. While using cointegration regressions and Vector Error Correction Mechanism (VECM) over the period 1996–2020, it is affirmed that corruption could increase unemployment rate in the long run. The two corruption indicators employed (control of corruption and corruption index) are found to have a substantial effect on unemployment rate. Further evidence confirms that corruption and unemployment are cyclically interdependent. Findings indeed stress that a high level of corruption is harmful to employment growth. On the other hand, in the absence of sufficient job opportunities, rent-seeking government officials would be more interested in collecting bribes from job seekers, which results in sustained unlawful practices among the public officials. Thus, adopting effective corruption-control measures is critical. It is therefore suggested that to effectively tackle corruption incidents, there should be incentives for citizens or public officials to report bribery and the process of reporting corruption incidents should be further simplified. Strengthening anti-corruption agencies and developing a sound legal framework that promotes a culture of lawfulness and impeccable practices in the public sector are central.     

EU public affairs and the White Paper on Governance

The White Paper on Governance process[This analysis covers the period up to and including the publication of COM (2001) 428 of 25.7.2001, ‘European Governance: A White Paper’.] began life as a search for an issue by a new Commission President. The issue is packaged as enhancing/modernising democracy in the EU and legitimising EU institutions, and searches for further avenues of civil participation. The process ‘sells’ the concept of ‘democratic deficit’, though reveals a highly open and accessible system which is already severely overloaded by interest representation. Rather than escalating a ‘lobby free for all’, the opportunity could be taken to strengthen governance by organising EU interest representation. This could be done by accrediting associations that are able to meet strict criteria of representativity as ‘governance partners’, making them sufficiently attractive to their members to work through them rather than bypassing them, and which would strengthen their ability to contribute to EU governance as policy capable organisations. These associations could find a place in a revamped and reorganised Economic and Social Committee, which would be engaged at a much earlier stage in the EU policy process. Copyright © 2001 Henry Stewart Publications     

维稳压力对基层法院组织形态的形塑

维稳压力是形塑中国法院组织形态的重要因素。在维稳工作中,基层法院与地方党政系统形成紧密的互需关系。一方面,基层法院通过行使审判职能和延伸审判职能的方式参与地方维稳工作;另一方面,在案件审理执行以及涉诉信访工作中,基层法院也需要地方党政系统的支持。在维稳压力的影响下,基层法院的组织形态进行了调适,形成以案件属性转化、责任体系再造、组织运行重构为主要内容的运作机制。经过调适的组织形态在很大程度上提升了基层法院应对维稳问题的能力,不过法官独立行权空间受到一定程度的限缩。在基础性社会矛盾突出的转型期,基层法院组织形态的建构与运行依然会建立在对维稳压力审慎考量的基础之上。     

犯罪与刑罚之质、量分析

质量互变规律是唯物辩证法的基本规律之一,它揭示了事物和现象的量变、质变两种状态及其相互关系。犯罪是质和量的统一。犯罪的构成,与各个要件的质和量,以及它们的结合方式密切相关。     

发展非政府组织与构建和谐社会

非政府组织具有实现社会稳定、促进社会和谐的作用,是构建社会主义和谐社会的重要支柱。目前,我国非政府组织的发展还不能适应经济社会发展的需要,还不能充分发挥非政府组织在社会稳定与和谐中的支柱作用。在构建和谐社会的过程中,政府要自觉运用非政府组织维护社会和谐与稳定,将非政府组织真正整合到社会治理结构之中。发展和规范非政府组织,要着眼于建立政府与非政府组织之间的合作关系,在促进非政府组织自主自治的同时,加大政府服务于非政府组织发展的力度,真正形成与市场经济相适应的公民社会。     

我国转型期的社会冲突与城市安全

我国转型期的各种矛盾集中反映在城乡的不均衡、地区的不均衡、收入分配不均衡、人与自然不平衡和内外发展不平衡等一系列问题上。我国转型期的许多社会冲突是由于地方政府片面的政绩观驱使的发展所导致的。我国已经进入城市化加速发展的城市化时代,社会矛盾一旦在人口密度高的城市发生,就会产生非常严重的后果。城市安全问题的突出表现是城市各种犯罪现象严重。在各种影响城市安全的社会冲突中,就业矛盾和缺少覆盖更多社会成员的保障制度是其中两个重要的原因。要解决转型期的社会冲突,需要继续加快制度性建设进程,需要政府对社会公平的维护,尽快建立起不同利益主体的利益诉求和维护机制,才能真正解决城市安全问题。