Reaching out to the people? Assessing the relationship between parliament and citizens in Finland

Despite the Open Government (Parliament) initiatives and notions of a ‘democratic parliament’, the relationship between legislatures and citizens remains seriously under-researched. This article introduces a comprehensive analytical framework, combining the normative principles of visibility, accessibility, and permeability with practical indicators (parliament as public space, sharing of information, contact with MPs, media and digital engagement, transparency of legislative process, and actual participation in legislative decision-making) for assessing the public engagement of parliaments. Applying this framework to the Finnish Eduskunta, the authors show that despite recent reforms that have partially ‘opened up’ parliamentary proceedings and attempted to connect citizens to democratic process, there remains scope for reforms and innovations. The Eduskunta should embrace a more positive approach towards new forms of civic participation, particularly regarding how its influential committees operate. The findings reflect the tensions between, or the difficulties in reconciling, traditional forms of representative democracy with alternative and more direct channels of political participation.     

A Lab Experiment on Committee Hearings: Preferences,Power, and a Quest for Information

In principle, committees hold hearings to gather and provide information to their principals, but some hearings are characterized as political showcases. This article investigates conditions that moderate committee members' incentives to hold an informative hearing by presenting a game‐theoretic model and a lab experiment. Specifically, it studies when committees hold hearings and which types of hearing they hold by varying policy preferences of committee members and the principal and political gains from posturing. Findings provide new insights to how preferences and power distribution affect individuals' incentives to be informed when they make decisions as members of a committee in many contexts.     

类比推理在侦查工作中的应用

类比推理是科学研究中常用的方法之一,也是人们发现和认识新事物的方法之一。在侦查工作中,类比推理发挥着非常重要的作用。侦查工作需要综合思维能力,更需要富有想象力的类比推理。     

正交试验设计辅助Pc-Crash实现事故再现分析

目的利用Pc-Crash实现事故再现分析时,探索由参数敏感性分析方法确定那些对仿真结果有显著影响的参数,通过对这些参数进行合理处理尝试提高仿真结果的精度。方法引入基于正交试验设计的参数敏感性分析方法。结果将此方法应用到Pc-Crash优化计算器内参数敏感性分析的实践中,获得了对碰撞后车辆运行轨迹有影响显著的参数。通过对一实际碰撞试验的再现研究,验证了敏感性分析所得结论在指导优化参数选取方面的有效性。结论研究表明借助正交试验设计辅助Pc-Crash实现事故再现分析具有实用价值。     

鼓楼——侗族习惯法规范订立与实施的文化场域

在湘黔桂三省居住的侗族几乎每村都有鼓楼,它建筑华美,秀丽多姿。鼓楼从形态上可以从“树居”中窥其源头,后来修建杉树形状的鼓楼,作为公共活动场所。更重要的是鼓楼作为民主议事和制定“约法款”的场所以及寨老处理民事纠纷,当众评判是非,裁夺断案的场所,在鼓楼这种侗族文化场域中建构了本民族独特的口承法律文化系统,这种建筑文化与制度文化的完美结合在西南少数民族中极为罕见。     

公诉案件刑事和解实证研究

刑事和解作为一种有别于传统的案件处理方式,近年来出现于我国司法实践之中,并在许多地区进行了多元化探索。数据表明,在刑事和解的内容、适用的案件范围、主持者和参与者、和解成功案件的处理方式、需要的工作量和时间、影响成功与否的因素、相关配套制度和效果等方面,有些理论预设是成立的,有些则是不完全成立甚至是根本不成立的。历时两年多的实证研究,不仅检验了刑事和解的各项功能及对刑事和解的正当性基础提供了数据支持,更重要的是在宏观上揭示了我国刑事和解的现状,从而为解决刑事和解适用中存在的问题及探索刑事和解在我国的可行性模式提供了认识上的基础和前提。     

FAMILY GROUP CONFERENCING AND CHILD PROTECTION MEDIATION: ESSENTIAL TOOLS FOR PRIORITIZING FAMILY ENGAGEMENT IN CHILD WELFARE CASES

Family group conferencing (FGC) and child protection mediation maximize family engagement in child welfare cases by prioritizing families' roles in discussions and decisions. This article examines how FGC helps professionals to focus on family and community strengths, encourages family engagement, and provides targeted case plans for families and timely, permanent placements for children. It explores how courts and agencies use these interventions to empower families to contribute to resolutions in ways that are not possible in traditional litigation processes. These complementary processes help children and families by providing forums where families are allowed to make informed choices and take an active role in creating plans for their future.     

What’s in an MSW? Graduate education for public child welfare workers,intention, engagement,and work environment

ABSTRACT

This study employs a mixed methods analysis of exit survey data gathered from public child welfare employees at their completion of a Title IV-E funded MSW program, distinct because it was initiated during a period of major reform and permitted students to continue employment during their studies. Findings suggest that opportunities for growth and manageable levels of stress were associated with intentions to stay and engagement with the work, reflected in respondents’ positive perceptions of their roles in the work environment and their retrospective assessments of the impact of their social work education.     

Community Engagement and Cultural Building Projects

This study explores whether community engagement efforts among nonprofit arts organizations pursuing major building projects are effective mechanisms for generating support from other organizations. Specifically, the study analyzes the degree to which context—such as the perceptions of the goals of community engagement efforts, competitive environment, and institutional characteristics—affect managers' perceptions of community engagement strategies. The study uses data on thirteen different cultural building projects in counties across the United States between 1994 and 2008 coupled with data on 444 arts organizations in the same county. The results of this study indicate that managers of nonprofit arts organizations perceive other organizations' community engagement efforts differently based on their own perceptions of the goals of those efforts, their own organization's competitive status, and perhaps even the age of their organization.     

Effort,incentives, and culture in the Czech Senate

This paper uses the natural experiment of seat allocation in the first Czech Senate to assess the effects of incentives on legislative effort. Contrary to previous work using similar research designs, the incentive of longer terms has little effect on the effort levels of legislators. This may reflect the parliamentary context, the newness of the Czech Senate, or, most interestingly, political culture.