It's Only Made Things Worse: A Critique of Electoral Reform in Britain

Since it came to power, New Labour has introduced a range of new electoral system into the British political system, implicitly accepting the argument that Britain's traditional electoral system - first-past-the-post (FPTP) - has been a cause of voter disenchantment with Britain's representative democracy. In this article, it is asserted that Labour's reforms have merely compounded this problem, while demonstrating that all electoral systems have significant flaws. Indeed, it is argued that the flaws of the new systems are more serious than those of FPTP and threaten an even greater disconnection between UK politicians and the people they represent."     

Immigrants into Citizens

This paper examines the citizenship test which is part of the UK naturalisation process. The test is based on the government publication Life in the United Kingdom: A Journey to Citizenship. A detailed analysis of its two editions (2004 and 2007) reveals that the conception of the citizen, and the picture of British government and society underlying each are very different. There is, additionally, a mismatch between the rationale offered for the Life in the United Kingdom test and what the latter can in fact test: the attitudes and civic virtues mentioned in the rationale are untestable on-line. A society which aspires to be a democracy, it is argued, needs to scrutinise carefully the fairness and democratic appropriateness of its procedures for admitting new citizens.     

Does Workplace Experience Enhance Political Participation? A Critical Test of a Venerable Hypothesis

Several schools of thought claim that citizens can develop their democratic skills at the workplace. Here I focus on the hypothesis put forward by Carole Pateman and by Sidney Verba and colleagues that state that by practicing civic skills and democratic decision-making at the workplace, citizens become more active in politics. I test the hypothesis with a nationally representative panel survey of the Swedish population. My findings contradict previous empirical research as no impact on political participation was discovered. I argue that the effects may have been overestimated in prior studies because the tests were based on cross-sectional data: insufficient care was taken with a number of significant methodological problems. The study points to the importance of using panel models when investigating the causes of political participation.

试论村民自治

村民自治是在广大农村实行直接民主的一项基本政治制度,是有中国特色社会主义民主政治的主要形式之一.村民自治的核心内容是民主选举、民主决策、民主管理和民主监督,体现社会主义国家人民当家作主的民主本质,显示社会主义民主的广泛性和真实性特征.村民自治是我国农村经济体制改革的必然要求,为我国农村开辟了一条发展中国特色社会主义民主政治的道路,实行村民自治有着极其重要的战略意义.     

关于我国行政主体的不适格

行政主体是行政法律关系中的管理主体.目前行政主体理论将其设定为具有法人结构形态和行政法人能力的组织,但是,行政主体担负组织的结构形态呈多样性,与理论上所设定的行政主体的行政法人结构形态不相吻合,行政主体担负组织的主体能力与行政主体的主体能力在范围上不相一致,最终影响到了行政主体在我国行政法体系内容框架下主体能力的实现.行政主体理论有待进一步丰富和发展.     

论邓小平对当代中国行政改革道路的设计

行政改革是一项艰巨而复杂的系统工程。对于当代中国的行政改革 ,邓小平主张从实际出发 ,选择“渐进式改革”的途径和方式。“渐进式改革”有其自身的鲜明特点和特定内容 ,坚持渐进式行政改革的道路 ,是保证当代中国行政改革走向成功的正确选择     

“行政主体间性”——府际关系的渊源与基点

我国中央政府、地方政府和行政部门之间的关系错综复杂,使得府际争议的求解鲜有头绪。行政主体间性的提出基于行政主体范式和主体间性理念,应用于公共行政之府际关系领域。行政主体间性倡导理性、创制规则,尊重多元行政主体的独立性,破除行政级别窠臼以实现多元行政主体间的全方位交流和多元政府间良性互动。     

行政相对人程序参与权利评析

在现代行政程序中,行政相对人成为主要程序主体的地位理应受到尊重。而通过行政程序法确认相对人程序参与权利正是弘扬权利保障这一时代主旋律的具体体现。行政相对人行使程序参与权有其深远的民主与法治基础。行政程序法不仅要明确规范确认行政相对人具体的程序参与权利,而且要对行政相对人行使程序参与权利提供法律上的保障。     

行政生态学视角中的政府问责制

政府问责制是和谐社会下建立服务型政府的必然要求。目前,由于问责信息的不对称,政府对决策信息存在着高度垄断,问责主体的缺失,行政长官的零问责导致的行政权力膨胀,以及问责程序缺乏可操作性,问责外部缺乏明显的制度保障等等都是政府问责制实施中出现的新问题。     

论侦查权的性质与特征

侦查权在我国被认为是一种司法权,这导致犯罪嫌疑人在认为侦查机关的行为违反法律规定时无权申请法院进行审查,这对于保护被追诉人的权利是极其不利的。从本质上来看,侦查权是一种执行权,这与行政权是一致的,而与司法权有着根本的差异。从基本特征来看,侦查权在价值与功能、体制与人员以及权力运作方面也与司法权有着根本的差异。