The Space Between: Demonization of Opponents and Policy Divergence

Prior research on policy conflicts indicates a tendency among policy actors to misperceive the influence of actors engaged in policy debates based on the degree of distance between their relative policy positions. This research develops a measure for assessing the degree and direction of the misperception effect. This measure is then utilized as a dependent variable to assess the relationship between theoretically relevant factors and the degree to which actors will exaggerate the influence of their opponents and allies. The research uses original survey data of policy actors engaged in the debate over hydraulic fracturing in New York. The results indicate misperceptions of relative influence are prevalent and most associated with the experience of a policy loss and holding relatively extreme policy beliefs. The findings provide new insight into factors that influence the demonization of political opponents. These insights are timely in the context of polarized debates over environmental and energy policy in the United States.     

Germany’s Renewable Energy Shift: Addressing Climate Change

This essay considers how the state can be used successfully to initiate and support an energy shift from nuclear energy to renewable energy, as demonstrated by Germany’s Renewable Energy Act from 2000 and its previous Electricity Feed-in-Law (1991). As a result of these nationwide policies, Germany has reduced levels of greenhouse gas emissions, has a higher level of both energy security and employment in the renewable energy industry than the US. Germany is a global leader in this industry and provides a model for other nations in this regard.     

Cultural Penetration and Punctuated Policy Change: Explaining the Evolution of U.S. Energy Policy

Punctuated equilibrium theory (PET) suggests that the policy process is characterized by long periods of incremental change and short periods of punctuated change. The impetus for the latter is usually a focusing event that breaks open policy monopolies, allowing for major changes in legislative decision making. While a burgeoning body of literature, a shortcoming in the PET literature is that it has yet to explain why focusing events and subsequent breakdowns in policy monopolies sometimes fail to result in punctuated policy. We integrate theories on cultural change with punctuated equilibrium to explain why focusing events do not always result in the dramatic policy changes that we might expect. Specifically, we use the context of national energy policy and the lexical database, Google Ngram Viewer, to trace punctuating energy‐related events and the occurrence or lack thereof subsequent policy change from 1952 to 2000.     

九一一事件以来美国反恐过程中的主导性隐喻及其后果

九一一事件后,国际反恐行动似乎已陷入"越反越恐"的怪圈,这与人们对恐怖主义的"越描越恐"密切相关,而隐喻的存在及广泛使用是导致"越描越恐"的重要原因。在恐怖主义的治理中,作为必不可少的思维方式,涉恐隐喻具有启发性,但也因其随意性、凸显与隐藏的特征,限制了人们关于恐怖主义的思想和行为。在美国涉恐的政治、媒体和学术话语中,"恐怖主义是战争""恐怖主义是野蛮的东西""恐怖主义是疾病"和"恐怖主义是不受欢迎的植物"是占主导地位的隐喻。这些隐喻深植于历史、人们的恐惧、社会系统和舆论中,很大程度上代表了人们对恐怖主义的正统看法。进行隐喻分析,使用多种隐喻,一定程度上能缓解隐喻陷阱,但仍不能消除它。因此,在恐怖主义治理的过程中,坚持"犯罪"隐喻为主导、灵活使用多种措施、重建受损的政治秩序、减少对无辜平民的伤害和对穆斯林的歧视尤为重要。     

Reconsidering the ontological foundations of international energy affairs: realist geopolitics,market liberalism and a politico-economic alternative

Accounts of international energy affairs often present a divergence between geopolitical/realist and liberal market-based approaches. This article suggests that this state of affairs reflects the (often implicit) legacies of realist and rationalist international thought in the study of energy affairs and the corresponding political and economic ontological hierarchies of analytical frameworks employed in different accounts of energy politics. Consequently, this article recommends a greater explicit attention to scientific ontological foundations in studies of energy relations and, in line with the calls of Keating et al. and Strange, suggests an approach based in the literature on I/GPE, which merges political and economic ontological axioms, as most apposite for the study of energy affairs. Building on this framework, and giving particular examples from the context of Eurasian energy politics, this article then outlines a number of politico-economic heuristic models (structural diversity, territorial non-coincidence, milieu-shaping and market-authority bargains) that are particularly useful concepts in helping to explain the intricate interactions of international energy relations.     

“零碳排放”校园建设的综合效果分析——以特里尔应用科技大学贝肯费尔德校区为例

德国特里尔应用科技大学通过开发各种可再生能源技术,在贝肯菲尔德校区建设＂零碳排放＂校园,实现了电能与热能供应的二氧化碳＂零排放＂。该文系统分析了＂零碳排放＂校园的主要做法及其效果,提出了中国发展低碳经济和开发利用可再生能源的对策。     

分配制度、收入差距与中等收入陷阱的跨越——基于日本的经验

20世纪中叶至80年代,日本逐步完善了以藏富于民为基础,以稳定就业为核心,以最低工资为保障,以收入倍增为目标的初次收入分配制度,并在再分配过程中,形成了统一均衡的财政制度、直接税主导的税收制度与保险特征的社会保障制度,并配套实施分类分级的高额累进制所得税与健全全民性社保体系。通过收入分配制度有效供给,日本创造了"一亿国民皆中产"的平等神话,从而成功地跨越了"中等收入陷阱",跻身于高收入国家行列。日本的成功经验,对于正面临居民收入差距持续扩大与落入"中等收入陷阱"风险加大的中国来说,具有重要启发与借鉴意义。     

工业锅炉节能环保新途径—分层给煤燃烧

通过调查研究与论证,分析指出了工业链条锅炉由于燃烧不充分而对能源和环境产生的影响,并制定了相应的解决方案和措施.在使用新技术后,取得满意效果.     

Coal and nuclear technologies: creating a false dichotomy for American energy policy

The American electric utility industry is entering a moment of transition. Once viewed as a stable and secure consortium of publicly regulated monopolies that produce and distribute electricity, the industry has weathered market restructuring only to face the ever-present risk of natural disasters, price fluctuations, terrorist attacks, and blackouts. This paper uses five criteria—technical feasibility, cost, negative externalities, reliability, and security—to evaluate the broad portfolio of energy technologies available to American electricity policymakers. Upon close inspection, energy efficiency practices, renewable energy systems, and small-scale distributed generation technologies appear to offer many advantages over large and centralized nuclear and fossil fueled generators. Contrary to the mimetic commentary produced by the media, these three approaches would present policymakers a superior alternative for curbing electricity demand, minimizing the risk of fuel interruptions and shortages, helping improve the fragile transmission network, and reducing environmental harm     

增添新力量注入新活力

江泽民总书记在"5·31"重要讲话中把必须最广泛最充分地调动一切积极因素,不断为中华民族伟大复兴增添新力量,必须以改革精神推进党的建设,不断为党的肌体注入新活力,作为贯彻好"三个代表"要求的重要举措提到全党面前.不断为中华民族伟大复兴增添新力量,是全面建设小康社会的客观需求,是不断巩固党的执政地位的必然要求.不断为党的肌体注入新活力,必须建设和发展党内民主,必须创立选人用人的新机制,必须坚持从严治党的原则.