Political participation and municipal population size: A meta-study

Do municipal amalgamations enforce or do they weaken (local) political participation? This is an important question considering a worldwide tendency for municipalities to merge. This question will be answered using a mixed-method approach based on a literature overview (meta-study) in general and additional quantitative (turnout figures, election studies) and qualitative (interviews) data regarding the situation in The Netherlands in particular. Political participation is consistently measured using indicators that measure behaviour (especially turnout figures) instead of perceptions and opinions such as trust or internal and external political efficacy. Local political participation seems to decrease with an increase in municipal population size.     

Great expectations: the effect of democratic ideals on political trust in European democracies

While in the older literature, low levels of political trust were routinely interpreted as a lack of support for democracy, more recently authors have claimed that the value pattern of critical citizens is a hallmark for a mature and stable democratic system. In this paper we assess the empirical validity of this claim, by relying on the relative deprivation literature highlighting the relation between expectation and frustration. The 2012 wave of the European Social Survey included an extensive battery measuring democratic ideals, and using latent class analysis we identify a group with high ideals on how a democracy should function. Multilevel regression analysis shows that strong democratic ideals are associated with lower levels of political trust, and most strongly so in countries with low quality of government. We close with observations on how rising democratic ideals could be a cause for the occurrence of a new group of ‘critical citizens’.     

Opposition dynamism under authoritarianism: the case of Yemen, 1994–2011

In contrast to the empirical conditions in large parts of the authoritarian world, the systematic literature on political opposition under authoritarianism either treats the opposition as a static entity or fails to comprehensively address its dynamic character. On the basis of a critical literature review and an ensuing analysis of the Joint Meeting Parties, a cross-ideological opposition alliance that gradually evolved to become the main competitor of the Salih regime in Yemen, we suggest that political opposition in electoral authoritarian regimes is an intrinsically dynamic institution in terms of its organizational shape, its goals and its modes of contestation. We also show that, while authoritarian structures do set the basic conditions defining opposition action, much of what motivates this action and contributes to opposition dynamism emerges from within the opposition. In addition, our findings on the Yemeni case suggest that opposition dynamism peaks when the strength of the opposition is nearly on par with that of the regime.     

Appropriating Nature in Crisis-ridden Greece: Deepening Neoliberal Capitalism,Part 2

This is the second paper in a two-paper series in which we present how the ongoing crisis in Greece has been used to accelerate the neoliberal restructuring of Greece with serious implications for the appropriation of nature. In this paper we focus specifically on particular aspects of the austerity programs that relate to natural resources and natural conditions. We examine changes to the business environment and ongoing privatization schemes to show how the Greek austerity programs benefited private capital with significant concessions of natural resources. By discussing relevant specific cases, we concretely show how austerity programs have had far-reaching adverse consequences for the living conditions of working people and their access to natural resources.     

Party bureaucrats,independent professionals,or politicians? A study of party employees

The number of party employees is increasing, but to what extent and in what sense are party employees integrated into their parties? Based on the literature on party change, the article identifies three important dimensions ? ties, tasks, and career plans ? and constructs a typology of four ideal types of party employees – technical assistants, party bureaucrats, independent professionals, and unelected politicians. Data on Norwegian party employees suggest that they have strong party ties and are entrusted with a wide range of political tasks. However, career plans rarely include elected office. The results indicate that party employees have stronger party ties than envisaged in influential party models. Professionalisation does not render party grassroots irrelevant, but rather turns some grassroots activists into professionals – what can be called ‘unelected politicians’. In conclusion, the article discusses implications for contemporary understandings of political parties.     

少数民族村寨村民参与旅游开发实证研究——以贵州镇山村为例

少数民族村寨旅游地的村民参与旅游开发,是社区旅游研究的重要内容。本文以贵阳市镇山村布依族苗族村寨为例,就该村寨的村民参与旅游开发的必要性进行了分析,并针对该村寨村民参与旅游开发中存在的不足,提出了一些可行性建议。     

日本养老金危机与政党走势——以2003-2007年国会选举为视角

2003—2007年日本国会选举,在自民党与民主党两大保守政党的竞争态势下,养老金制度改革与危机成为影响日本政党走势的重要原因之一。一个深层次的问题是,政党支持结构已经由传统模式向业绩投票模式转换,可是,"中位投票者"偏好的政策构想,基本相同的养老金制度致使投票人无所适从;投票人希望候选人成为能确保投票人偏好的政策代理人,然而,5 000万份年金记录丢失,致使养老金危机转向政党危机。构筑让国民信赖的养老金制度是走出政党危机的路径。日本养老金危机对中国有重要借鉴意义。     

地方治理中的参与式预算——关于浙江温岭市新河镇改革的案例研究

参与式预算是一种公民直接参与决策的治理形式,是参与式民主的一种形式.实施参与式预算,能够促进公共学习和激发公民的权利意识,通过改善政策和资源分配,实现社会公正,以及改革行政机构.在这种直接的、自愿和普遍参与的民主过程中,人们能够平等讨论和决定公共预算、各项政策以及政府管理.在充分吸收国外参与式预算实践的基础上,浙江省新河镇基于国家既有的法律框架,以及民主恳谈的制度平台,开始实施预算改革,扩大了公民参与政府决策的广度和深度,深刻地影响着中国基层民主的发展.在理论分析和实地调查的基础上,运用比较分析的方法,初步探讨了参与式预算在中国地方治理中的兴起与发展,力图为中国地方治理,以及基层民主政治建设提供新的观察视角.     

Neoliberalism: From New Liberal Philosophy to Anti-Liberal Slogan

In recent years, neoliberalism has become an academic catchphrase. Yet, in contrast to other prominent social science concepts such as democracy, the meaning and proper usage of neoliberalism curiously have elicited little scholarly debate. Based on a content analysis of 148 journal articles published from 1990 to 2004, we document three potentially problematic aspects of neoliberalism’s use: the term is often undefined; it is employed unevenly across ideological divides; and it is used to characterize an excessively broad variety of phenomena. To explain these characteristics, we trace the genesis and evolution of the term neoliberalism throughout several decades of political economy debates. We show that neoliberalism has undergone a striking transformation, from a positive label coined by the German Freiberg School to denote a moderate renovation of classical liberalism, to a normatively negative term associated with radical economic reforms in Pinochet’s Chile. We then present an extension of W. B. Gallie’s framework for analyzing essentially contested concepts to explain why the meaning of neoliberalism is so rarely debated, in contrast to other normatively and politically charged social science terms. We conclude by proposing several ways that the term can regain substantive meaning as a “new liberalism” and be transformed into a more useful analytic tool.

春秋时期的债务问题与政治危机

春秋时期是中国古代社会的重要转型期,经历了“高岸为谷,深谷为陵”的沧桑巨变。社会转型过程也就是财产与权力的再分配过程,债务问题即是研究这一转型过程的一个很好的切入点。春秋时期,债务问题更具普遍性,无论是官府借贷还是私人借贷都有了新发展,严重影响了国人的生产与生活,对各国的政局和社会治安产生了影响。