Seal the Deal: Bargaining Positions,Institutional Design,and the Duration of Preferential Trade Negotiations

Multilateral negotiations at the World Trade Organization have stalled. This has contributed to a steep rise in preferential trade agreements (PTAs). At the same time, negotiations for PTAs have not always proven quick and painless: While some treaties are sealed within a few months or days only, other agreements are preceded by protracted bargaining processes in trade and trade-related issue areas. In this article, we provide a theoretical explanation for this empirical variation. More specifically, we argue that PTA negotiations take longer the greater the distance between the prospective partners’ initial bargaining positions. Moreover, we contend that negotiation processes become more protracted the higher the relative ambition of the prospective PTA. Due to the limited links to the domestic political arena in autocracies, we expect this latter effect to play out for groups of democratic bargaining partners only. We test these two hypotheses for 198 preferential trade negotiations using novel measures for bargaining templates and the ambition of PTA clauses. In our two-stage survival models, we find support for our argument. In line with qualitative evidence from recent preferential trade initiatives, our models indicate that services, investment and intellectual property rights are particularly sticky agenda items for democratic leaders at the international bargaining table.     

Youth organizations,citizenship, and guidelines for tourism in the wake of mass tourism in Finland

This paper will study tourism as a site of citizenship formation with a particular focus on the arrangements and lived practices of citizenship in the Finnish Youth Organization and in a sub-section of Northern Ostrobothnian Travel Club between 1965 and 1985. From the perspective of the model of citizenship in Finland, modern mass tourism was not unproblematic and it was uniquely incorporated in the program and activities of the Finnish Youth Organization, underlining the wider social and civic utility of tourism. In this paper, the examination of archive materials from this particular historical period will provide a nuanced understanding of the mutual formation of citizenship and tourism at multiple geographical scales and insight into how the model of citizenship has been of great importance for mobile people in many ways.     

The rise of the far right in Greece and opposition to ‘othering’, hate speech,and crime by civil and civic organizations

This article focuses on forms of opposition to ‘othering’ and far-right politics in present-day Greece. This opposition takes a variety of forms, comes from a range of actors, and is motivated by a number of concerns with differing assessments of what should be done. More specifically, the article focuses on the far right in Greece and discrimination, hate speech, and hate crime against the ‘other’ from the perspectives of those who are active in mobilizing against racism and counteracting the country’s populist and neo-nationalist turn. Concentrating on the forces opposing discrimination, the analysis describes present-day social movements and actions from grassroots to governmental level, their strategies and politics, their diversity of thought and action, and their contribution in providing the resources for social change, and the production of new meaning in the context of anti-racism in Greece. Trying to provide answers as to how social movements and activists produce meaning, we argue that activists develop less intentional, inadvertent meanings which emerge in the course of the not-always conscious schemas of their struggle. This calls for a more dynamic explanation of the relationship between practice and meaning-making in social movement contexts.     

关于制造业工会工作的调研与思考

朝阳区制造业工会2013年成立后,为夯实工作基础,全面了解基层企业工会组织工作现状,探索促进制造业工会工作健康发展的新路子,对行业所辖44家基层企业工会进行逐一实地走访,围绕企业状况、工会组织建设、民主管理、职工权益维护和技术创新、文体活动及职工需求等工会重点工作内容进行了专题调研,获得了大量一手信息与数据,发现了制造企业工会存在的普遍问题,并对破解问题进行了思考.     

论惩治恐怖活动犯罪的国际国内立法

恐怖活动严重危害国际秩序与安全,需要各国共同努力,联手行动,而健全与完善相关的国际立法与国内立法是非常重要的一个方面。我们要在充分了解国际社会及其他国家惩治与防范恐怖活动立法的同时,进一步完善我国的相关刑事立法。     

日本民间非营利组织的发展现状、法律环境及社会贡献

自20世纪90年代中期以来,随着日本政治和社会环境的改变,日本政府以“小政府、大社会”为目标,转变了社会管理职能,将很多职能移交给民间非营利组织,使这些组织进入快速发展阶段.尤其1998年《日本特定非营利活动促进法(NPO法)》的制定及颁布,从法律层面上规范了民间非营利组织的运行环境,使非营利组织所关注的社会领域不断拓宽,其社会贡献越来越重要.那些活跃在国外的民间非营利组织通过民间外交及社会教育活动提升了国际影响力,而在国内从事环境保护、社会福利的民间非营利组织则通过社会公益活动,增强了国民凝聚力.日本民间非营利组织的蓬勃发展越来越成为日本提升国家软实力的重要途径.     

在加强基层党组织建设中突出先进性

科学发展和社会和谐是发展中国特色社会主义的本质要求,也是基层党组织建设必须服从和服务的大局;充分发展党内民主、尊重党员主体地位、加强党员队伍和干部队伍建设,是保持党的先进性的一项基础工作;建立健全党员经常受教育、永葆先进性的长效机制,统筹城乡基层党组织建设,全面巩固和发展先进性教育活动成果,实现基层党组织建设的可持续发展,是保持和发展党的先进性的基础性工作;改革创新、与时俱进是时代精神的核心内容,也是贯彻落实科学发展、实现基层党组织建设可持续发展的必然要求。     

促进政府职能向社会组织转移的对策——以吉林省为例

党的十八大确立了社会管理的新格局,使推进政府职能向社会组织转移成为必然。本文在实地调研的基础上,分析了现阶段吉林省政府职能向社会组织转移面临的主要问题,提出了提高认识,加强管理,建立体制机制,提升社会组织自身能力等相关对策。     

网络舆情语境下提升民主党派基层组织参政议政能力的路径思考

当前,网络舆情在给我国民主党派基层组织参政议政带来机遇的同时,其突发性、偏差性、繁杂性等特性对民主党派基层组织的应急能力、政治智慧、实战水平等方面提出了严骏挑战,这就要求各民主党派基层组织应当勇于抓住网络舆情对参政议政带来的良好机遇,努力适应当前网络舆情发展的新形势,积极借助网络平台,时刻关注舆情讯息,充分汲取网络民意,深入开展网络调查与监督,着力提升参政议政能力。     

农村妇女草根组织的推动手法

建立一个形式上的妇女草根组织容易,要使其能够持续发展下去并保持良好的运作却相当困难,需要花大力气促进组织成员的意识提升与能力增长,才能使之最终走上自我管理、自我发展的道路,通过河南社区教育研究中心多年推动妇女草根组织的经验,总结了农村妇女草根组织发展的多样化推动手法。