Balanced or Biased? Interest Groups and Legislative Lobbying in the European News Media

This article examines the coverage of legislative lobbying in European news media. The starting point thereby is that lobbying in the crowded European Union (EU)-level interest community is not only a struggle for direct access to policymakers, but that in order to realize policy goals many interest groups rely on political attention generated by the media. Our main research question is how media attention is skewed toward particular interests and which factors explain these varying levels of prominence. Our empirical analysis is based on a set of 125 legislative proposals adopted by the European Commission between 2008 and 2010. For all these cases we identified 379 interest organizations that made public statements, we coded the amount of media attention these organized interests gained, the type of statements they made as well as some key organizational features. While the aggregate levels of attention look pretty balanced, our evidence shows that media prominence is skewed toward particular types of interests; in particular that organized interests which oppose a proposed policy gain significantly higher levels of media attention.     

Is it none of their business? Business and democratization,the case of Turkey

This article explains how the Turkish business' regime preferences have evolved from pro-authoritarian to pro-democratic in the context of dual transitions, in response to changes in incentive structures shaped by domestic, regional and international parameters. It particularly focuses on big business and highlights the central role that greater exposure to international competition during the course of opening up and liberalization played in the evolution of its regime preferences. The article suggests that the central mechanism which has led to the regime preference change is socialization by strategic calculation facilitated by business' increasing incorporation into transnational networks. It asserts that the Turkish big business' experience is particularly interesting because international exposure not only created new opportunities for big business, but also new divisions and rivalries within the business community. These new rivals formed flourishing alliances with the government, with their accompanying claims to power that challenged the big business' previous hegemony in accessing state resources. In the process, big business' fear of losing its privileged status to rival business groups and the resulting uncertainties led big business to associate democratization with higher benefits, as they became increasingly aware of the link between democratization and diminished uncertainties, through their interaction with transnational business networks. Consequently, big business consolidated its pro-democratic stance as shifting domestic alliances enhanced the need for diminishing uncertainties, while internationalization along with the prospect of EU membership increased the cost of status quo.     

医政监督执法中的焦点问题分析及解决对策

通过对2006年青岛市卫生监督所医政执法监督处罚的93例违反《医疗机构管理条例》和《母婴保健法》案例的分析,可见其中最为显著的违法问题是医疗机构存在使用非卫生技术人员的现象,占到全部处罚案例的87%。成为卫生医政监督执法中的焦点问题。依法界定执法职责,梳理执法依据,分解执法职权,确定执法责任,是医政执法监督面临的重大课题。     

Rebel-to-political and back? Hamas as a security provider in Gaza between rebellion,politics and governance

ABSTRACT

After winning the 2006 Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) elections and subsequently taking control of the Gaza Strip in the summer of 2007, the Palestinian Hamas – a hybrid political, social and military actor – undertook a complex process to ascertain authority and control over Gaza. The article focuses on understanding Hamas’s performance as a political party and a “rebel government” as well as the impact of this newly acquired role on the group’s strategy. Relying on primary sources, field-work and interviews with members of the Hamas government and its security sector, the study looks at Hamas’s role as a security provider and analyses the complex relationship between the institutionalized security sector and the group’s insurgent armed wing. Examining Hamas’s logic as a security provider and exploring the inherent tensions between political and insurgent logics allows for a better understanding of both the rebel group’s role as a political actor and the broader challenges behind the successful rebel-to-political transformations of non-state armed organizations. In doing so it contributes to the emerging literature on non-state actors’ shifts between ballots and bullets and on their potential role as alternative governance providers.     

民族融合、民族同化和民族文化融合概念辨正

民族融合、民族同化和民族文化融合是民族关系中存在的三种不同的现象。但在中国民族史的研究中 ,学界对这三个概念的使用却是非常混乱与不规范的。究其原因 ,主要是由于学者们对民族、民族融合、民族同化、民族文化融合的定义理解与认识不清而导致的。而不加区别地使用这三个概念 ,将不能准确确定和反映历史上民族关系的性质与特征 ,进而会影响到对相关学术问题的深入研究。本文的主旨正是在前人研究成果的基础上 ,首先辨析这几个概念的含义 ,然后再结合中国民族史中的相关事例 ,来探讨民族关系研究中用语的规范使用问题 ,并以冀能引起学界对这一问题的重视。     

性别角色刻板印象与女性发展的民族学研究

性别角色是民族心理研究中的重要内容,它总是带有明显的社会、文化、民族等的印记。本文就性别角色作了民族学与心理学的分析,本文就性别角色作了民族学与心理学的分析,尤其是对性别角色获得的文化与民族因素、对性别角色刻板印象作以剖析,以期对民族性别角色获得及克服性别刻板印象进行分析研究。     

中央王朝的开拓与少数民族地方政权承袭制度的演变--对明代贵州水西彝族宗法制的再思考

既往的许多研究采用嫡长子为大宗、其余众子为小宗,层层分封的宗法制原则来解释贵州水西彝族的政治制度,本文梳理、考辨有关彝、汉文献,认为水西彝族本来采用的是轮替继承的承袭制度,嫡长子继承制是在明代中央王朝的干预下才逐渐形成的.     

非政府组织发展对我国社会稳定的影响

改革开放以来,我国非政府组织如雨后春笋般蓬勃发展,在促进基层民主政治建设、社会治理、经济建设等方面发挥了积极作用,取得了显著成绩,日益引起社会各界的关注。特别是在应对灾变、群体性事件等突发事件中所充当的"第三方"的重要角色,使得非政府组织在维护社会稳定过程中的重要性日益凸现。但其消极影响也逐步显现出来,在某种程度上成为我国政府社会治理工作所面临的一项新的挑战。     

It's economic size,stupid! How global advocacy mirrors state power

Numerous empirical studies suggest that global interest communities are heavily biased in favor of wealthier countries. This research note critically reviews these works suggesting that they (i) lack a benchmark to assess the biased nature of global interest communities and (ii) conflate the concepts of “wealth” (based on GDP per capita) and “economic power” (based on GDP) into one analytical category. As a corrective to these problems, we compare variation in global interest group mobilization across countries to the size of these countries' national economies. Relying on an original dataset mapping interest groups communities at the World Trade Organization (1997–2012) and the United Nations Climate Summits (1997–2011), we show that (i) global interest representation almost perfectly reflects differences in countries' relative economic power and (ii) contrary to the conventional wisdom, wealthier countries are, relative to their economic size, actually underrepresented in global interest communities.