Who Toes the Party Line? Cues, Values, and Individual Differences

This article explores individual differences in citizens’ reliance on cues and values in political thinking. It uses experimental evidence to identify which citizens are likely to engage in heuristic processing and which citizens are likely to engage in systematic processing in developing opinions about a novel issue. The evidence suggests that political awareness crisply distinguishes between heuristic and systematic processors. The less politically aware rely on party cues and not on an issue-relevant value. As political awareness increases, reliance on party cues drops and reliance on an issue-relevant value rises. Need for cognition fails to yield clear results. The results suggest two routes to opinion formation: heuristic processing and systematic processing. Political awareness, not need for cognition, predicts which route citizens will take.     

Money for our people? Decentralisation and corruption in Romania: the cases of the equalisation,infrastructure and pre‐university education funds

In spite of the attempts, in the most recent years, to introduce simple, accountable and rule‐based mechanisms governing the flows of funds for Romanian local governments (LGs) there is evidence showing that deviations from the norms are still widespread and undermine the stated goals of many policies. This article aims to explore to what extent the political factor (party affiliation, i.e. local informal power networks) interferes with the allocation of public funds as far as three main areas of decentralised policy are concerned: (i) the general purpose equalisation transfers; (ii) the Roads Fund grants and (iii) the transfers for financing the pre‐university education. These components represent a relatively large share of the local budgets and are illustrative for two important attributions Romanian LGs perform today: maintaining the local infrastructure and providing essential social services. Through a set of variables—measuring, on the one hand, the real pattern of resource allocation and on the other hand, the intensity of politicisation in the three areas—we tested the hypothesis that intergovernmental financial flows in Romania are to a large extent captured by rent‐seeking groups. It turns out that this is indeed the case with the funds for infrastructure, and much less so with the transfers financing pre‐university education. Some conclusions from these contrasting situations are drawn which reflect on the broader discussion, the link between decentralisation and corruption. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

党务公开：发展党内民主的理论和制度创新

党的十六届四中全会《决定》首次明确提出逐步推进党务公开,这是党的执政理念的新突破和提高党的执政能力的新举措。党务公开是发展党内民主的内在要求,贯穿于党内民主建设的各个方面和环节。推进党务公开,进一步扩大了党员和群众对党内事务的知情权、参与权、选择权和监督权,成为新时期发展党内民主的理论和制度创新。     

新加坡人民行动党执政模式分析

新加坡政党政治最为显著的特征是人民行动党一党长期执政.新加坡政党政治的特征和政治文明的成就,使得新加坡人民行动党成为便于借鉴和值得借鉴的执政模式.新加坡人民行动党的执政模式主要表现为:(1)一党独大、多党竞争的政党关系模式;(2)代表全国利益、反映各方意见的政党立场模式;(3)以权制权、以法治权的权力制衡模式;(4)主动"猎人"、科学选人的人才选用模式;(5)老一代主动退位让贤、新一代"自行决定"领袖的权力交接模式.     

保险人明确说明义务批判

保险合同法可以体系化地解读为意思自治、给付均衡与合理期待三个核心原则的组合。立法者希望籍说明义务来消减信息不对称,贯彻意思自治。但在建构制度规范时,并未考虑信息传送方的履行成本,对信息接收方的识别成本与关注焦点也存在认识误区。这种过度理想化的设计已被实践证明是失败的。立法应废止实质性的明确说明义务,代之以形式化的信息提供义务。对于意思自治的不足,可以通过提升给付均衡度和更有效保障被保险人对获取保险产品的合理期待加以填补。     

陈云关于保持党的纯洁性的思想与启示

纯洁性是无产阶级政党的内在属性之一。作为党的第一、第二代领导集体的重要成员,陈云对保持党的纯洁性建设作了许多重要理论贡献。这些贡献有:注重教育实践,确保思想纯洁;党要管党、从严治党,确保组织纯洁;着力加强作风建设,确保作风纯洁。     

执政党如何把握新媒体的传播规律——基于混沌理论的视角

伴随互联网技术的兴起和发展,以互联网技术为支撑的新媒体得到跨越式的发展。如何有效认识和把握新媒体的传播规律,更好地掌握执政资源,引导社会舆论,弘扬主流价值,就成为重要的研究课题。基于混沌理论的视角,分析混沌理论在新媒体传播规律中的运用,提高执政党在新时期对新媒体的把握和应用。     

中国特色社会主义理论体系特征研究述评

为了有利于学术界了解中国特色社会主义理论体系研究的进展情况,避免不必要的低水平重复研究,述评中国特色社会主义理论体系的基本特征,即整体性或统一性、革命性或批判性、科学性与价值性、实践性与理论性、民族性与世界性、继承性与创新性、开放性与系统性和稳定性、传统性与时代性,具有非常重要的意义。     

一个亟需关注的研究重点:党员干部理想信念表达

坚定党员干部的理想信念,需要高度关注其对"共产主义理想和中国特色社会主义信念"的语言和行为表达。开展党员干部理想信念表达研究,引导党员干部切实有效地用科学合理的语言和真实行为表达理想信念,不仅是党员干部适应形势发展切实履行岗位职责和确保健康成长的内在需求,而且也顺应了时代要求和公众期待,对于增强党的执政能力,提高党的建设科学化水平,推进党的意识形态建设和社会主义精神文明建设,具有重要意义。     

着力建立健全党员队伍纯洁机制

保持党的纯洁性是马克思主义政党的本质要求。建立健全党员队伍纯洁机制,对于新时期保持党的纯洁性,加强和改进党的建设具有重大而深远的意义。