The rise of illiberal politics in Southeast Europe

ABSTRACT

Democracy is backsliding throughout Southeast Europe but there are no signs of full democratic breakdown. Instead, political parties and their leaders incrementally undermine challenges to governmental authority while keeping electoral contest largely intact. This article introduces a special issue that aims to examine and explain democratic decline by looking at the prevalence of illiberal politics across countries and issues. In order to overcome the limitations of fixed regime classification we adopt a procedural lens and look into governing practices that gradually tilt the electoral playing field. Utilizing the concept of Illiberal politics allows us to examine sets of policies enacted by political parties in government with the aim to remain in power indefinitely. By tracing democratic decline in Serbia, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Albania, and Croatia we observe different patterns of weakness, but also common causes arising from weak institutions and inherited governance practices that preserve executive dominance, patronage, and informality.     

A comparison of the use of visible microspectrometry and high performance thin layer chromatography for the discrimination of aqueous inks used in porous tip and roller ball pens

Ink lines made by porous tip and roller ball pens have been examined by high performance thin layer chromatography (HPTLC) and by transmission microspectrophotometry (VM) in the visible region. Better discrimination between apparently similar coloured inks was obtained with HPTLC but VM has value as an additional technique for ink examination.     

The Effect of Religiosity on Endorsement of Democratic Values: The Mediating Influence of Authoritarianism

This study addresses the as yet unaddressed question of the nature of the effects of religiosity and authoritarianism upon endorsement of abstract democratic values. Findings obtained through the analyses of structural equations show that, despite the unsettled political and security atmosphere, Israelis believe in democratic values to a considerable extent. Furthermore, findings do not fully support the theoretical expectation that religiosity is likely to decrease support for democratic values; namely, in and of itself, religiosity has a negligible impact on endorsement of democratic values. Yet again, analyses lend credence to theory on authoritarianism—the negative effect of religiosity on endorsement of democratic values results from the mediation of authoritarianism. These findings are understood and discussed with regard to theoretical implications. The major conclusion, then, in contrast to existing assumptions regarding religiosity and negation of democracy linkage, is that religiosity cannot be considered the sole direct root cause of negation of democracy.     

私营企业实行民主管理的必然性--"知识经济"时代私营企业管理环境的转变

基于对企业未来发展的考虑,即使是私营企业内部也开始关注"外人莫入"的危害,并且也有希望改变现状、输入"外人"的要求.虽然由于种种原因,不少企业主一时还无法完全将意识中的东西顺利地付诸实践,但是,随着企业发展的客观需要,"外人"会不断加入家族企业.随着"外人"的不断增加,其要求参与企业管理和利益分配的呼声也会越来越高,企业的管理权必然不断地"外流"或"下放",最终促成企业将民主管理视作"最后的解决方案".     

从现实出发稳步推进党内民主建设

发展党内民主是党建的目标之一,也是中国政治体制改革的突破口。推行党内民主具有理论的现实性,同时也存在着与实际相冲突的地方。要充分估计现实中的不利因素和存在的问题,科学理解和处理好党内民主与"四个服从"、民主集中制的关系,加强党内民主的制度建设,创造良好的社会政治环境,从而使党内民主建设稳步健康发展。     

在香港执行内地仲裁裁决的法律问题初探

在"一国两制"框架下,关于互相执行仲裁裁决的问题,香港和内地已有相关法律文件作了对等安排,但由于两地法律制度和司法体制的不同,统一的执行体制必须通过不同的方法、技术和途径来实施,这可能导致对有关当事人的潜在影响,如,裁决执行地的选择,为当事人选择执行地和规避法律提供了可能.     

民事诉讼中检察监督权的完善

民事审判活动是民事诉讼中较为活跃的因素,它以人民法院的民事审判权为基础,对民事审判权的运作实行检察监督则是实现诉讼法治化的重要环节。本文以我国民事诉讼检察监督权运作的内容和缺陷为着眼点,着重对监督原则、内容及权力措施等方面的进一步完善提出了设想。     

“尊重党员主体地位“命题的重大意义

"尊重党员主体地位"这一重大命题的提出,体现了我们党对共产党执政规律认识的进一步深化和升华。是对马克思主义建党理论的新发展和理论创新,是对党的建设坚持以科学发展观为指导方针的具体体现,是对中国共产党自身建设经验的科学总结,是全面推进党的建设新的伟大工程的战略措施。     

中国妇女参政十年回顾与评估

该文对于1995年至2005年的中国妇女参政进行回顾评估,从四个方面展开:第一,将十年妇女参政置于解放后的历史背景下,描述加强制定性别保障政策的意义和实践。第二,发现女性民主参与对我国公共政策推进的价值。第三,与国际社会妇女参政进行比较,与我国民主党派进行比较,分析这十年妇女参政停滞不前的状况和原因。第四,分析参政女性在权力结构中的边缘地位,认为导致女性政治参与更多表现出的是非权力的外围参与,对公共政策的影响效果有限。     

毛泽东关于新民主主义社会历史必然性的思考

新民主主义社会作为一个过渡性的社会,赋予了经历过新民主主义革命之后的中国社会以强大的经济动力,为继续走向社会主义奠定了必要的物质基础,通过对毛泽东关于新民主主义社会存在价值的原因、实质、认识的变化方面进行分析并得出要注重实践性、战略性和价值性三方面的启示,进一步提高对新民主主义社会存在的历史必然性的认识。