Institutional dynamics and party think tank development: Britain and Germany compared

Official party think tanks have been a fixture in a number of Western European democracies for many decades but not so in the Anglo-American democratic sphere even though think tanks aligned to parties have flourished. This article explores the reasons that party and think tank ties have evolved differently in these two settings through an examination of the party think tank scene in Germany and Britain. It is suggested that the predominant form of democracy operating in each of these settings helps to explain this critical difference. While the adversarial tendencies of the British political system militate against parties taking much of an interest in establishing official party think tanks, the consensual institutional dynamics associated with Germany’s political system has encouraged parties to sponsor their formation, and reinforced the perceived importance of the party think tank vehicle as agents of democratic linkage.     

The role of the European Parliament in Turkey-EU relations: A troublemaker or a useful normative actor?

This article analyzes the role of the European Parliament (EP) in Turkey–EU relations. More specifically, it explores the reasons why in practice EP’s role in promoting fundamental values of the European Union (EU) in Turkey remained largely limited. Drawing on the broader socialization literature, it concludes that a combination of factors related to the socializer (EP) and to the socializee (Turkey) limits the EP’s effectiveness to emerge as a normative actor in its relations with Turkey. In particular, the study points to the mismatch of values promoted by the EP and those embraced by the Turkish political elite as the real obstacle that prevents any socialization mechanism from being triggered.     

Islamist Mobilisation in Secularist Strongholds: Institutional Change and Electoral Performance in Turkey

How do Islamist parties mobilise support and win elections in secularist strongholds? What explains the electoral performance of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) in Turkey’s most consistently secularist region – western Anatolia? This article explores these questions with a comparative case study of two similar cities in the periphery of ?zmir where the AKP registered significantly different electoral results: Ödemi? and Salihli. It shows that deep institutional transformations of the local party organisations, including leadership turnover, reshuffling of the party cadres, and an explicit attempt by local party leaders to moderate and move to the political centre, were necessary factors for the AKP to succeed in elections where the Islamist constituency is weak.     

香港政党政治的发展现状及其政治影响

香港的政党政治是伴随着港英时期政治体制改革而逐步形成的,并以中国恢复对香港行使主权为时间界限分为萌芽雏形和发展稳定两个阶段。政党政治在香港发挥了重要的政治功能,并对香港的政治生活产生了深远的政治影响。新世纪新阶段,“一国两制”条件下,香港政党政治只有坚持在符合香港实际的基础上循序渐进,发挥优势,避免不利因素的影响,才能获得更好的发展。     

私人主体参与全球行政法

在全球化环境下,除了国家、正在争取独立的民族以及国家间的国际组织,越来越多的私人主体直接参与到超国家行政关系中来,成为全球行政法的主体。"全球行政法"被定义为包括那些促进或以其他方式影响全球行政机构问责性,特别是确保其达到透明度、参与性、合理决策和合法性方面的充分标准以及对其形成的规则和决定提供有效审查的机制、原则、惯例和支持性的社会认同。从全球行政法形成的三个阶段可以清晰看出,传统二元性法律理论与全球行政法发展之间的联系,进而明晰私人主体是如何一步步迈向全球行政法,成为全球行政法主体。在当前的环境下,私人主体参与全球行政法也面临一些困境,需要逐步解决。     

Contested Forests: An Analysis of the Highlander Response to Logging,Ratanakiri Province,Northeast Cambodia

This article examines in detail the influence of the global on state-local relationships in the particular context of Ratanakiri Province, Northeast Cambodia. It is argued that modern state power in Cambodia is based on Western concepts of nation-building, including territorialization, assimilation, economic development, and the commercial exploitation of resources and has led to the incorporation of the remote forested areas of the periphery into the net of the state. Since the 1993 election, the plunder of the northeast has been justified in the name of “development.” The author shows that the response of forest-dependent highlanders to this state intervention cannot be understood as either simple opposition or acquiescence. Rather it has been a contradictory and fragmentary response, emerging from the conflicting desires for autonomy over land and forests and for the benefits to be gained from “development” and inclusion within the hypothesized “nation-state.”     

Primary Elections for Britain

The coalition's programme for government promises to fund 200 open postal primaries during the current Parliament, targeted at seats which have not changed hands for many years. The lessons from the two open postal primaries used in 2009 are that they will change the numbers and characteristics of those involved in choosing candidates, the criteria for selection and the type of candidates chosen. Much will remain unchanged. Primaries are unlikely to affect the controlling influence of party in the House. The limits to their number and duration will leave most safe seats unaffected and prevent the development of any new form of accountability. Primaries will provide some voters with intra‐party competition but inter‐party uncompetitiveness will remain the norm.     

日本近年民事取证制度改革述评

日本民事取证制度一直以来都以文书提出命令制度为主导,但当事人照会制度在新民事诉讼法中的增设,打破了大陆法系国家民事取证制度中法院参与的惯常做法,受到了日本学界与实务界的普遍肯定。在近年对民事诉讼法所进行的若干次修改中,日本立法机关又对当事人照会制度以及先前的文书提出命令制度等进行了改革与完善,逐渐形成了独具日本特色的民事取证制度体系。就长远来看,日本在民事取证领域仍将继续保持法官职权进行主义的取证模式,但其中会呈现出愈益浓厚的当事人主义色彩。     

东亚与欧美政党在民主化中的作用

本文以政党在民主化过程中的基本作用为起点，在与欧美政党相比较的基础上阐述了东亚工业化国家的政党自20世纪80年代以来在民主化过程中的作用。指出尽管政党变迁的路径各有不同，但全方位型政党及其代表性功能已经成为政党发展的重要趋势，东亚只有发展起具有一定群众性和代表性的全方位型政党才能在民主巩固过程中发挥重要作用。同时，有一个相对自由的宪政环境对于形成既有竞争性又有包容性的政党体制是不可或缺的，这是政治民主化稳定发展的重要前提。