Political Candidates and the Energy Issue: Nuclear Power Position and Electoral Success

Members of parliament are key actors for the implementation of energy transitions, such as phasing out nuclear power. Before legislators can cast their maybe decisive vote in parliament, they need to run for office and actively strive for election. This paper assesses what political candidates oppose renewable energy transitions and questions whether the energy issue matters in national elections, and thus has consequences for the implementation of new sustainable energy sources. We analyze these questions by first describing the specific characteristics of political candidates. The paper then evaluates the relevance of the energy issue for electoral success in three national elections in Switzerland (2007, 2012, and 2015). Based on candidate data from the voting advice application smartvote.ch, we find that female candidates support ETs more than men do; that especially the French‐speaking part of the country is more in favor of a nuclear phase‐out, and that younger candidates are also more open toward restructuring the energy system than older candidates are. Our models further show that the energy issue does not matter in elections, independently from its salience in the respective election campaigns. Candidates are thus relatively free to choose their position on the issue and do not have to fear consequences at the ballot. However, candidates of center parties, in contrast to the pole parties, are sensitive to the energy issue and reflect public mood in their positions.     

Governing sustainable palm oil supply: Disconnects,complementarities, and antagonisms between state regulations and private standards

The global palm oil value chain has grown in complexity; stakeholder relationships and linkages are increasingly shaped by new public and private standards that aim to ameliorate social and environmental costs while harnessing economic gains. Regulatory initiatives in the emerging policy regime complex struggle to resolve sector‐wide structural performance issues: pervasive land conflicts, yield differences between companies and smallholders, and carbon emissions arising from deforestation and peatland conversion. Identifying opportunities for more effective governance of the palm oil value chain and supply landscapes, this paper explores disconnects, complementarities, and antagonisms between public regulations and private standards, looking at the global, national, and subnational policy domains shaping chain actors’ conduct. Greater complementarities have emerged among transnational instruments, but state regulation disconnects persist and antagonisms prevail between national state regulations and transnational private standards. Emerging experimental approaches, particularly at subnational level, aim to improve coordination to both enhance complementarities and resolve disconnects.     

Linking democratic anchorage and regulatory authority: The case of internet regulators

Scholars and practitioners have repeatedly questioned the democraticness and the authority of transnational multi‐stakeholder organizations, especially those that regulate the internet. To contribute to this discussion, we studied the “democratic anchorages” and the regulatory authority of 23 internet regulators. In particular, we conducted a fuzzy‐set qualitative comparative analysis assessing whether and which anchorages correspond to necessary and/or sufficient conditions for exerting regulatory authority. Our results show that strong anchorage in democratic procedures is specifically relevant for this outcome. Further, we find that weak anchorage in democratically elected politicians leads to high regulatory authority, confirming the significance of non‐state actors in this policy field. More generally, our findings support but also qualify expectations about the compatibility and mutual reinforcement of democratic quality and regulatory authority at the transnational level.     

论党内法规制度建设的理论基础问题

从“推进党的制度建设科学化”到“加快党内法规制度体系建设”,体现了我国政党治理法治化的发展趋势。法律的政治化与政治的法治化是近代以来世界民主法治建设的基本发展特点,党内法规制度建设应当以法治与政治的统一性原理建构其理论基础。要以政治性引领党内法规制度体系建设,确保其规范内容上体现先进性、规范目的上聚焦领导力、规范渊源上关照实践面。同时,更要以法治性补强以往党的制度建设的短板,运用法治思维和法治方式加快党内法规制度体系建设,增强其概念的可通用性、体系的可衔接性、执行的可协同性。     

基层自治制度的理论阐述与路径选择

健全充满活力的基层群众自治制度,着力推进基层直接民主制度化、规范化、程序化是党的十九届四中全会决定的要求。通过开展基层社会治理体系和治理能力现代化研究,探索建立"自治、法治、德治"相结合的现代基层治理体系,加快形成共建共治共享的现代基层社会治理新格局。面对地方治理需求侧(社会公民的期望)与地方治理供给侧(地方政府能力)之间的落差,应摒弃地方政府与基层组织二元对立模式,建立全新的"分权、互动"基层自治的理论分析框架,将多元主体纳入地方治理体系来共同履行公共职责。通过借鉴国外的经验并经过创造性转化,为基层自治提供包括培养自治能力、培育自治组织、强化城乡社区自治协商、衔接居民自治与村民自治在内的充分而有效的制度供给。     

乡村振兴制度建设的内涵及路径探讨

乡村振兴要以制度建设为基础,以完善农地"三权分置"制度为契机,以城乡融合体制机制创新为支撑,以"活业、活人、活村"为路径。土地制度是实现乡村振兴的根本制度,三权分置是搞活乡村经济的制度设计,乡村治理是实现乡村振兴战略的总抓手。乡村振兴制度建设存在的主要问题是:"城乡二元结构"是农民获取城市权利的障碍,土地"二元制度"是导致乡村失去发展权的根源,农村"宅基地制度"是制约农民发展权的瓶颈。乡村振兴制度建设的基本路径是:为乡村振兴建设提供规划安排,为乡村振兴用地提供制度支撑,为乡村振兴资金提供政府投入保障,为乡村振兴社会稳定提供安全秩序。     

社会治理视角下的彝族教育经典《玛牧特依》

彝族著名教育经典《玛牧特依》,蕴涵着丰富的道德教育智慧,基于推进国家治理体系和治理能力现代化背景下,运用社会治理理论,从《玛牧特依》的凝聚力、向心力、约束力、吸引力和影响力五个维度切入,挖掘出《玛牧特依》的五个核心思想,即教育、廉耻、礼仪、仁善、慎独。其中,教育是《玛牧特依》的主旨和出发点,廉耻是《玛牧特依》的精髓和道德底线,礼仪是《玛牧特依》的大德和最高法律准则,仁善是《玛牧特依》的核心和道德宗旨,慎独是《玛牧特依》的落脚点和最高道德境界。《玛牧特依》在调节人与自然、人与人、人与社会之间的关系中发挥着积极作用,为彝区创新社会治理模式提供了一种新思路,应该凝聚《玛牧特依》文化力量,协同发展,多元共治。     

集团诉讼制度的价值研究——兼评我国的代表人诉讼制度

价值是反映主体与客体之间需要和满足需要的效应关系的范畴,是深刻认识集团诉讼制度的良好视角和工具.集团诉讼价值是法律价值、民事诉讼价值下位的概念.集团诉讼制度的独特品性在于克服集体行动的障碍,共通性在于体现了在新的社会条件下民事诉讼目的论的发展.     

Between Government and Governance: Opening the Black Box of the Transformation Thesis

The notion of going from government to governance, known as the transformation thesis, as depicted in early Governance Theory has been subjected to substantive critique. This paper explores two different stances of such critique. The first critical stance is represented by Jonathan S. Davies’ 2011 book “Challenging Governance Theory: From networks to hegemony” and entails a radical rejection of the transformation thesis. The second stance offers a more moderate reconfiguration of the transformation thesis and is represented by the recently co-authored work of several prominent governance theorists titled “Interactive Governance: Advancing the paradigm”. While both aspire to set new agendas for governance research, this paper argues that the latter reconfiguration carries a problematic preposition towards overemphasizing the separation between government and governance practices.     

Meta‐Governance of Partnerships for Sustainable Development: Actors' Perspectives from Kenya

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development promotes multi‐stakeholder partnerships (MSPs) as a means of implementation while at the same time putting renewed focus on the need for national‐level ownership and implementation. Despite the fact that an ever growing body of literature on the merits and drawbacks of MSPs delineates several success conditions for partnerships, efforts to translate this knowledge into national‐level meta‐governance for MSPs remain marginal to date. This study outlines the benefits the literature alleges for such “meta‐governance” frameworks, before it uses a country‐level study with a series of stakeholder interviews to take a closer look at national‐level context conditions and lessons learned with regard to two water partnerships in Kenya. Our findings suggest that to date the existing meta‐governance for partnerships in Kenya is rather weak and fragmented. Yet respondents support the view that MSPs could benefit from such a framework, in particular regarding local ownership of MSPs and the potential to scale successful cases. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.