Back to the Future: The Pulling Apart of our Towns and Cities

Growing divisions between Britain’s towns and cities have created a dilemma for the Labour Party in seeking to represent very different parts of the country. There are some who argue that Labour must choose the global networked youth—who largely reside in cities—in order to maximise its electoral chances. This is an argument that defies electoral gravity and fails to address the root causes of the gulf between towns and cities. As jobs and investment have gone into cities, many towns have seen the local population age and local economies become unsustainable. In both towns and cities there is a clamour for power to move closer to home and for the renewal of democratic institutions, offering Labour the chance to win power and end the divisions that have come to characterise British politics.     

Do the illegal and legal rents of politicians affect municipal election outcomes? Empirical evidence

This paper aims to analyse whether illegal (corruption) and legal rent extraction (high politicians’ wages) affect electoral outcomes at municipal level. We use an initial sample of 145 Spanish municipalities over 50,000 for two electoral periods: 2004–2007 (before the crisis) and 2008–2011 (during the crisis). Our findings show that neither illegal nor legal rent extraction impact on re-election in non-crisis times. However, we observe that citizens penalize legal rent extraction in the ballots during the crisis. Regarding the economic performance of the local governments, we find that its effect on re-election is important in non-crisis period. Nevertheless, in time of crisis, given that the economic situation is bad in general in the country, voters pay less attention to economic factors and focus on politicians’ behaviour.     

西方国家刑事和解制度对我国的启示

刑事和解制度自20世纪70年代在美、英等西方国家产生以来，已形成了平衡、叙说和恢复正义等一套完整的理论体系，并在实践中收到了良好的效果。建立我国刑事和解制度，应注意分清刑事和解与“私了”的本质，明确刑事和解适用范围，设立刑事和解调解委员会并健全国家刑事损害补偿机制。     

Party Potential and the Pattern of Party Competition in the 2003 Swiss Federal Elections

This article explores both the party potential of the five major parties in Switzerland at the 2003 elections and how well the parties actually did in relation to how well they could have done. A party's electoral potential depends on both the probability of the electorate voting for the party and on the probability of individual voters participating in an election. The analysis shows that the SVP and the CVP were successful in mobilising their potential voters in the 2003 elections, while the FDP did almost as badly as they could have done. However, compared to the potential of the FDP or the SP, the overall potential of the SVP is limited. For the SVP, issue specific factors account for the mobilising success. This is especially the case for its stands against the EU and asylum seekers. The CVP profited from the Ruth Metzler effect, who was a key figure in the 2003 CVP campaign.     

Parity,Power and Representative Politics: The Elusive Pursuit of Gender Equality in Europe

In recent years the concept of parity democracy has rapidly risen up the European political agenda. Using a threefold typology of sex-quotas, this article undertakes a classification of the measures taken by the 15 old E.U. member states to improve the gender balance in representative assemblies. This is then used as the basis for an exploration of the advantages and disadvantages of the parity approach as a tool to promote gender equality, including the constitutional obstacles which stand in its way. The article goes on to present a comparative study of several national systems in which attempts to achieve parity democracy have been pursued, concluding that, in order to maximise their effectiveness, parity measures must operate within a system of unbiased political structures and be properly adjusted to suit the particularities of individual national electoral regimes.     

论代理人的佣金请求权

代理制度涉及三方法律关系,权利义务关系复杂,而代理人的佣金请求权问题,世界各国法律均无规定或欠发达,这造成了实务上的困难。对佣金的支付时点进行了类型化分析,并认为代理关系终止后,代理人仍可请求本人依据重复交易量盈利额的一定比例支付佣金。     

论共同犯罪与犯罪构成

犯罪构成作为划分罪与非罪的根本标准,适用于一切犯罪行为。共同犯罪作为犯罪的一种特殊形态,在犯罪构成上具有自己的特性,表现为修正的犯罪构成。共同犯罪理论只有以犯罪构成理论为基础,以共同犯罪的修正的犯罪构成,来认识和理解共同犯罪,才能为共犯的定罪量刑提供科学根据。     

Party convergence and vote switching: Explaining mainstream party decline across Europe

How can one explain the significant vote losses of mainstream parties across Europe in recent years? In this article, it is argued that mainstream party convergence is an important determinant of the recent political and electoral volatility in European party systems. More specifically, it is hypothesised that as mainstream parties converge on the left-right scale, voters will switch from supporting a mainstream party to a non-mainstream party in the next election as they look for an alternative that better represents their ideological views. To test these theoretical expectations, data is combined from the Comparative Study of Electoral Systems and the Manifestos Project for nearly 15,000 vote choices of individual voters in 30 elections in 16 West and East European countries from 2001 until 2013. The findings have important implications for understanding the recent rise of non-mainstream parties, the changing nature of party systems and the increasing complexity of cabinet formation across Europe.     

全过程人民民主:时代价值、制度基础与实践空间

全过程人民民主是党的十八大以来我国社会主义民主政治发展的全新理论命题。全过程人民民主是中国共产党在百年未有之大变局下对人类政治文明新形态的实践探索,是推进国家治理现代化的现实逻辑,体现了中华民族伟大复兴中国梦的内在要求。在中国共产党的百年探索历程中,全过程人民民主有坚实的制度支撑、规范的运作机制、具体的程序设计,是最广泛、最真实、最管用的民主形态,既突出了中国社会主义民主政治发展的显著特色,也彰显了具体民主形式中所蕴含的人类共同价值。在新的历史起点推进全过程人民民主,要坚持党的领导、人民当家作主和依法治国的有机统一,在理想与现实、普遍性与特殊性、制度与实践的平衡中,适应人民群众对美好政治生活向往的需要,有目标、有步骤、有重点地积极推进。     

我国违宪审查机构的模式选择

虽然我国目前建立违宪审查制度的条件还不成熟,但学者仍可探讨“将来”需要时,该机构的设置模式。根据我国国情,这一机构放在最高法院内较为合适,或设一个宪法庭,进行专门审查;或不设宪法庭,由各审判庭做附带性审查,但需辅之以宪法咨询;或就违宪审查案件组成特别陪审庭,陪审员可在学术性的宪法委员会成员以及社团代表或普通民众中产生。