State of the field: What can political ethnography tell us about anti-politics and democratic disaffection?

This article adopts and reinvents the ethnographic approach to uncover what governing elites do, and how they respond to public disaffection. Although there is significant work on the citizens’ attitudes to the governing elite (the demand side) there is little work on how elites interpret and respond to public disaffection (the supply side). It is argued here that ethnography is the best available research method for collecting data on the supply side. The article tackles longstanding stereotypes in political science about the ethnographic method and what it is good for, and highlights how the innovative and varied practices of contemporary ethnography are ideally suited to shedding light into the ‘black box’ of elite politics. The potential pay-off is demonstrated with reference to important examples of elite ethnography from the margins of political science scholarship. The implications from these rich studies suggest a reorientation of how one understands the drivers of public disaffection and the role that political elites play in exacerbating cynicism and disappointment. The article concludes by pointing to the benefits to the discipline in embracing elite ethnography both to diversify the methodological toolkit in explaining the complex dynamics of disaffection, and to better enable engagement in renewed public debate about the political establishment.     

The mother's house of the San Francisco Zoo: the art of engendering space in the modern city

The Mother's House of the San Francisco Zoo opened in 1925 as a sanctuary for women visiting the grounds, and in the 1930s, was ornamented through an ambitious decorative program sponsored by the Public Works of Art Project. The program consists of long-overlooked murals painted by Helen Forbes (1891–1945) and Dorothy Pucinelli (1901–1974), and large-scale mosaics executed by the Bruton sisters—Margaret (1894–1983), Esther (1896–1992), and Helen (1898–1985). While the Mother's House could be interpreted as symbolizing a gilded cage that restricted woman's agency within the modern city, it can also be read as expanding women's roles in the public sphere. My article examines the Mother's House as a case study of the gendering of space wherein the site served not to inhibit woman's movement and participation in the modern city, but rather expanded the feminine realm beyond the domestic sphere, as well as supported the professionalization of women as public artists.     

The importance of input and output legitimacy in democratic governance: Evidence from a population-based survey experiment in four West European countries

The study of subjective democratic legitimacy from a citizens’ perspective has become an important strand of research in political science. Echoing the well-known distinction between ‘input-oriented’ and ‘output-oriented’ legitimacy, the scientific debate on this topic has coined two opposed views. Some scholars find that citizens have a strong and intrinsic preference for meaningful participation in collective decision making. But others argue, to the contrary, that citizens prefer ‘stealth democracy’ because they care mainly about the substance of decisions, but much less about the procedures leading to them. In this article, citizens’ preferences regarding democratic governance are explored, focusing on their evaluations of a public policy according to criteria related to various legitimacy dimensions, as well as on the (tense) relationship among them. Data from a population-based conjoint experiment conducted in eight metropolitan areas in France, Germany, Switzerland and the United Kingdom is used. By analysing 5,000 respondents’ preferences for different governance arrangements, which were randomly varied with respect to their input, throughput and output quality as well as their scope of authority, light is shed on the relative importance of different aspects of democratic governance. It is found, first, that output evaluations are the most important driver for citizens’ choice of a governance arrangement; second, consistent positive effects of criteria of input and throughput legitimacy that operate largely independent of output evaluations can be discerned; and third, democratic input, but not democratic throughput, is considered somewhat more important when a governance body holds a high level of formal authority. These findings run counter to a central tenet of the ‘stealth democracy’ argument. While they indeed suggest that political actors and institutions can gain legitimacy primarily through the provision of ‘good output’, citizens’ demand for input and throughput do not seem to be conditioned by the quality of output as advocates of stealth democratic theory suggest. Democratic input and throughput remain important secondary features of democratic governance.     

公司治理的核心:股东自治——以"国美公司事件"为视角

公司的本质是股东投资营利、规避风险的工具,这决定了股东应当在公司的治理中处于核心和主导地位,股东自治应当成为公司治理的核心内容.国美公司股权争夺的过程始终体现了股东自治的理念.整个事件中,公司章程作为公司内部的"宪章",对实现股东自治起到了根本作用."国美公司事件"的启示在于公司治理应当坚持股东自治,公司立法模式应当坚...     

国家治理体系现代化的理论基础、历史变迁与发展进路

马克思主义国家理论是马克思主义经典作家在无产阶级革命实践过程中形成的关于国家的理论学说，为国家治理体系现代化提供了科学的理论基础。我国国家治理体系的建构和完善是适应经济社会发展在不同阶段上的客观要求而转变治理理念的结果，依次经历了局部探索、初步创建、发展完善、全面深化四个阶段的重大历史转折和跨越式飞跃，积累了包括加强党的领导、坚持人民至上、延续文化根脉、追求有效治理在内的诸多经验。如今的中国正在进入一个“顶层设计”的治理时代，力图从全局的高度实现对国家治理各方面、各层次、各要素的统筹规划，在时代方位、价值导航、制度统合、强劲动力等方面明确国家治理体系的发展进路，为全面建设社会主义现代化国家开好局起好步提供制度保障。     

Participatory innovations and maxi-publics: The influence of participation possibilities on perceived legitimacy at the local level in Finland

Participatory innovations (PIs) have been introduced as one possible cure to democratic malaises. Empirical research on these mechanisms for citizen participation has, however, focused on their effects on individuals and policy outcomes, leaving aside their consequences for the wider public. This article fills part of the gap by examining the effect of PIs on perceived legitimacy. The article acknowledges that citizens value not only outcomes but also the inclusiveness of decision-making processes, and defines procedural fairness and outcome satisfaction as the key evaluative criteria behind perceived legitimacy. Both total number and type of PIs are considered as possible factors shaping legitimacy evaluations. By analysing data from 9,022 citizens in 30 Finnish municipalities, the article reveals that introducing PIs is not a simple fix for legitimacy of local governments. The type of participation matters, with discursive participation generating the strongest effects on procedural fairness. However, attention should also be paid to citizens’ awareness of participation possibilities.     

Trade,peace-building and hybrid governance in the Sudan-South Sudan borderlands

ABSTRACT

Trade and markets in weak states are often discussed in relation with violence, security and peace-building. A case in point are marketplaces in the Sudan-South Sudan borderlands where communities separated by insecurity and hostility meet, not only to trade but also to negotiate and exchange information. This does not imply that establishment of such markets automatically results in peace and stability. Based on new empirical research on the Amieth market in Abyei – an area contested by the two Sudans – I argue that such markets rely on security guarantees negotiated between a set of heterogenous societal groups and that the overall impact of such border markets is largely determined within a context of hybrid security governance. The conclusion emphasises that without a proper analysis of this context, external assistance to such borderland markets might just as well enable violent conflict actors as being a tool for peace-building.     

从“中国之制”看“中国之治”——应急状态下的国家治理思考

“中国之制”源于“中国之治”的实践之中,二者相互依存,共同演进、互为表里。处在新的历史起点上,不同社会制度、发展模式的竞争较量更为尖锐复杂,只有不断完善“中国之制”,才能战胜各种风险挑战,为完成历史赋予的时代使命提供制度支撑,开创“中国之治”的新阶段、新境界。     

大数据时代政府治理变革:机遇与挑战

伴随着信息技术的不断发展,大数据日益成为政府治理领域的焦点议题之一。作为一种技术和思维方式,大数据不仅给政府治理变革带来了重构组织结构、再造政府流程以及优化决策机制等诸多机遇,而且还对政府治理思维转变、能力提升以及“大数据适应型”政府的建立提出了更高要求。因而,为了建设大数据适应型政府,提升政府治理能力与水平,政府部门必须进行治道变革,将转变治理理念、加强技术运用、完善制度供给以及创新人才培养机制等新路径作为变革重心。     

Examining Nepalese Forestry Governance from Gender Perspectives

This article examines Nepalese forestry governance from gender perspectives. We argue that gendered institutional norms and values are associated with forest-governing institutions, such as forest bureaucracies, shaping the nature, and extent of women’s involvement in decision-making processes in the Nepalese forest bureaucracy. Studies on Nepalese forestry reveal that substantial progress has been made in forming policies and initiating activities for including women in forestry governance of Nepal; however despite this, gendered dynamics create difficulties for women to enter and progress in the forestry profession, thereby creating gendered employment territories through institutional, legislative, normative, and infrastructural measures.