法治行政模式及其实现途径

行政模式决定于政治模式,与民主政治模式相对应的是法治行政模式。法治行政有着多方面的理论诉求,诸如宪政民主、市场经济、契约文明、自然法理以及人本原理等方面。这种模式是未来中国建设法治政府、走向法治社会的理想制度选择,它以确立宪法秩序、健全行政法体系、完善司法审查、实行党政分开、强化行政监督为实现途径。     

“实事求是”的社会主义民主

民主是一个历史范畴,它的形成和发展是一个自然的历史过程,是一个渐进的发展历程,是要遵循一定客观规律的.因此我国的社会主义民主要采取渐进的、稳妥的措施,不能追求形式上的民主,要实事求是地看待我国的民主.     

法治话语、法律议论的公众型构过程与背景——以社会诉讼为载体

将民主讨论的过程及其效果置于特定语境之中,并引入到“社会诉讼”的分析手段中解读,可以发现法律议论的型构过程是复线并动态互构的,理想逻辑与社会伦理的讨论场景下的博弈效果呈现非均质的状态,并以对话方式走向沟通与共识。     

Two strategies for building a personal vote: Personalized representation in the UK and Denmark

Across parliamentary democracies, elected representatives constitute the link between citizens and government. MPs can connect with voters via the party label, or through personalized forms of representation, which is seen to be increasing in importance. However, scholars disagree on what explains variation in MPs' use of personalized representation strategies. In this article, we argue that politicians use different strategies to personalize the link between themselves and citizens: a constituency-oriented and a person-oriented strategy. To test our argument, we develop a new and novel dataset with behavioral measures of personalized representation. Using a content analyses of 698 British and Danish MPs’ personal websites, we demonstrate that the use of personalization strategies is conditional on the incentives MPs face in terms of electoral insecurity, candidate selection procedures, and the electoral context of the system. Our findings show that the level and type of personalized politics vary across political systems and may pose different types of challenges to party democracies.     

Mobilizing different types of voters: The influence of campaign intensity on turnout in direct democratic votes

A well-established body of literature links voter turnout to political campaigns. In this view, intensive campaigns increase the perceived salience of a decision, fostering information-seeking and, ultimately, turnout. The existing literature has also advanced our understanding of how direct democratic institutions influence turnout in elections. Yet we still know little about whether and to what extent campaign efforts influence voter turnout in direct democratic votes, and we know even less about who is mobilized. We claim that campaign intensity has differentiated effects across voters, depending on voters’ participation profile. To test this claim we use a rich dataset of official turnout data covering more than 40 direct democratic votes in Switzerland. The results support our claim. While intensive political campaigns overall foster citizens to turn out to vote, they do so especially for “selective” (or “intermittent”) voters, who need to decide anew at each ballot whether to turn out or not. Interestingly, we also find that frequent abstainers are not immune from campaign effects, and get almost as strongly mobilized as selective voters in highly intensive campaigns.     

Losers lose more than winners win: Asymmetrical effects of winning and losing in elections

Being on the winning or the losing side in elections has important consequences for voters’ perceptions of democracy. This article contributes to the existing literature by showing that being on the losing side has persistent effects over a surprisingly long time. Based on a dataset that measures voters’ satisfaction with democracy three years after elections were held, it first shows that losers are significantly more dissatisfied with democracy than winners on both input and output side measures of perceptions of democracy. Furthermore, the article shows that turning from winning to losing has significant negative effects on voters’ satisfaction, and that this finding is robust across a number of different specifications. These results are remarkable given that the data used is from Denmark – a country that constitutes a least-likely case for finding effects of being on the winning or the losing side.     

What can deliberative mini-publics contribute to democratic systems?

Can deliberative mini-publics contribute to deepening the democratic dimensions of electoral democracies? The question is framed in this article using a problem-based approach to democratic theory–to count as democratic, political systems must accomplish three basic functions related to inclusion, communication and deliberation, and decision making. This approach is elaborated with an analysis of a real-world case: a deliberative mini-public with a citizens’ assembly design, focused on urban planning convened in Vancouver, Canada. This example was chosen because the context was one in which the city's legacy institutions of representative democracy had significant democratic deficits in all three areas, and the mini-public was a direct response to these deficits. It was found that Vancouver's deliberative mini-public helped policy makers, activists and affected residents move a stalemated planning process forward, and did do so in ways that improved the democratic performance of the political system. Depending on when and how they are sequenced into democratic processes, deliberative mini-publics can supplement existing legacy institutions and practices to deepen their democratic performance.     

再论“一国两制”是实现祖国完全统一的最佳模式

作为实现祖国完全统一的最佳模式,＂一国两制＂在台湾的接受程度遭遇瓶颈。本文正视现实,探讨了两岸政治定位、互动框架和实践模式等基础问题,在理论上借鉴＂协合式民主＂精神,立足于两岸关系实际,对＂一国两制＂台湾模式加以深化和拓展。维护＂一个中国＂的统一性,保持台湾在单纯内部事务上具有独占性权利或完全自主权,在两岸事务上台湾得适用否决性权利,在一般性的国家事务上台湾享有比例性权利;通过协合式民主的治理方式,促进两岸间异质性民主的正常运转,实现和维护两岸权力分享、国家权威的统一与稳定。     

社会主义协商民主制度化的逻辑和价值

在当代世界民主政治建设的进程中,民主的制度建设无疑具有重要的引领作用。包括协商民主在内的选举民主、远程民主、管理民主、决策民主等民主机制不断完善和逐步成熟,推动着民主政治化与民主社会化发展进程。社会主义协商民主作为我国人民民主的重要形式,在中国特色社会主义民主政治制度建设过程中,其制度化发展具有自身的逻辑;在我国继续深化和推进全方位改革的关键时期,对于坚持中国特色社会主义政治发展道路,推进政治体制改革,健全社会主义协商民主制度,其制度化发展具有自身的价值。     

The political effects of referendums: An analysis of institutional innovations in Eastern and Central Europe

Theory suggests that the political effects of referendums should vary according to the institutional provisions that allow for direct involvement of citizens in decision-making. Relying on extant theoretical models the paper proposes initial tests of some implications for the newly democratized countries in Eastern and Central Europe. The constitutions of these countries distinguish themselves by a wide variety of institutional provisions for referendums. Taking advantage of this increased variance, the paper demonstrates effects of different institutional provisions on policy outcomes, which, so far, have only been demonstrated at the sub-national level, for example, in the United States and Switzerland.