Legislative Efficiency and Political Inclusiveness: The Effect of Procedures on Interest Group Mobilization in the European Parliament

This paper contributes to discussions surrounding interest group representation in the European Parliament. Drawing from conceptualizations of legitimacy, and theoretical work on information-access we argue that different procedures bestow a different type of authority to parliamentary committees affecting their legitimacy orientation, in turn impacting the balance between private and public interests mobilised. We assess a population of 10,000 accredited lobbyists, and the procedural output across the 7th legislature’s committees (2009–2014). Our analysis indicates that committees with a higher ratio of Ordinary Legislative Procedures to Own Initiative Reports see greater private interest mobilisation. Conversely, in committees where the procedures’ ratios are inverse we observe greater public interest mobilisation. Theoretically, we provide a novel approach for framing the committee’s nature from a procedural perspective, bridging discussions on interest group mobilisation and the democratic deficit. Empirically, the results overturn the premise of business dominance across the institution’s committees through a unique dataset.     

Corporate Groups under Italian Law: A Comparative Approach and the Brand-New “Crisis Code”

This paper provides an overview of the evolution of the harmonization process of European law in the field of group of companies, referring to the development of a national “group of companies law” — from the company law reform to the crisis and insolvency code — with the purpose of examining the main aspects of the regulation in force, considering mainly the possible interaction with the rules on the crisis of the groups of companies introduced by the Legislative Decree No. 14/2019, and with the aim of analyzing its suitability for being devoted to the prospect of harmonization across countries.     

Follow the leader: testing a deductive approach for studying parliamentary party leadership roles

Parliamentary party group leaders (PPG leaders) are crucial – yet understudied – actors in modern representative democracies. Inspired by the literature on parliamentary roles, we test a deductive approach in order to explore the attitudes and behaviours of PPG leaders. Given their common duties, such as monitoring group members and securing party cohesion, we expect that PPG leaders across several countries would exhibit a common pattern that distinguishes them from other MPs. However, neither a common, nor a distinguished pattern of attitudes and behaviour is confirmed by our results based on Partirep MP Survey data. This, together with other theoretical difficulties, points us to the need to study PPG leaders’ roles by using in-depth single-country studies.     

农村弱势青年接受高等教育面临的问题及对策

由于经济发展水平的限制,农村青年弱势人群家庭的收入不能支付我国现行标准的高等教育收费,其在接受高等教育过程中产生的强烈受挫情绪和沉重的心理问题带来了新的社会风险。只有避免由于农村青年弱势人群接受高等教育的不成功而造成的"马太效应",才能促进我国经济社会全面发展和全面建设小康社会目标的实现。     

论弱势群体的“社会报复”

在社会主义市场经济体制下,各种社会群体在发展过程中呈现出一定的差异性,这不仅是正常的,甚至是必然的.但弱势群体作为社会的底层,不仅以自己的方式顽强地存在着,而且以自己特有的方式对社会实施着各种积极和消极的"社会报复",使社会发展付出代价.弱势群体可以分为结构性弱势、功能性弱势等不同的类型,它们形成的原因是各不相同的.现代政府有必要、也有责任建立一种有效的社会体制,确保功能性弱势群体的基本生活不受侵害,同时要不断创造条件,优化社会结构,消除结构性弱势群体,帮助人们从不合理的社会结构中解脱出来.可以认为,帮助弱势群体就是帮助强势群体,就是帮助整个社会.     

对多样性的宽容--论云南民族关系的历史经验之一

民族的多样性及和谐并存,是云南的突出特点.云南各民族传承和保持文化多样性的历史经验就是宽容对文化多样性的宽容,对民族差异的宽容.云南各民族之所以能宽容,一是在既定的自然、历史条件下不得不宽容,同时也是根据自己的民族精神选择了宽容.多样性的宽容和多样性的并存,是构建和谐社会的重要因素.     

历史上中国东西部经济发展不平衡的形成及其原因

春秋战国至秦汉,关中经济区和巴蜀经济区并称"天府之国",在我国西部呈南北纵向排列,成为两颗耀眼的明珠,是西部经济发展最为辉煌的时期.汉晋以后,中国经济重心逐渐南移,其实这也是我国经济重心自西向东的转移.唐代有"扬一益二"之说,扬州和益州成为两颗耀眼的明珠.它们呈东西横向排列,表明中国经济发展西不如东.历史的发展证明,当今的西部大开发是中国经济格局的大变动,必须作为一项长期战略,树立全局意识和观念,切实解决开发中的深层次问题.     

以社会学的"社会支持"理论构建弱势群体的社区支持综合网络

面对着中国庞大的弱势群体 ,应如何保障他们的基本生活和需求 ,这是我国政府和社会工作者面临的重大课题。本文以社会学的“社会支持”理论作指导 ,提出了构建弱势群体的社区支援综合网络的设想     

高校图书馆发展的必然趋势——数字化

随着现代信息技术的深入发展,信息载体的数字化以及信息传播的网络化,以书刊资料为主要收藏载体的传统图书馆面临巨大的挑战,逐渐难以适应数字时代的要求,图书馆的数字化成为一个必然趋势,数字图书馆的出现给图书馆事业的发展带来新的契机.文章从数字图书馆的概念、特征入手,论述了高校数字图书馆的现状,及其在引领社会学习潮流,推动全民学习氛围形成,提供专业信息服务和支持社会成员继续教育中应该发挥的作用.     

台湾企业集团大陆投资现况与策略研究

台湾企业集团是由大型企业和中小型企业围绕核心业务紧密结合形成的企业群。1990年代中期以后,台湾企业集团赴大陆投资步伐加快,不仅促使台商大陆投资呈现大型化、集团化、群聚化特征,奠定了大陆台资企业的地域分布格局,而且促进了大陆台资企业产业层级的提升及经营本土化,从而使台资企业更加融入大陆本体经济,对大陆经济产生积极的影响。新世纪以来,台湾企业集团的大陆投资逐渐进入收获期,其大陆运营更加具有长远战略眼光。