Liberal Democracy Series I, 1972–1988: Definition, measurement, and trajectories

The purpose of this paper is to provide the definitional and empirical background to the Liberal Democracy Series I Index of democracy that is available in Bollen (1998) but whose rationale has not been published. More specifically, the paper (1) gives a definition of liberal democracy that has guided the formation of this index, (2) describes measures that correspond to this definition, (3) provides a measurement model that links the indicators of democracy to the latent variables that represent the concept, (4) explains the construction of the Liberal Democracy Series I Index, and (5) compares the Series I democracy measure to two other widely used democracy measures in a latent curve model. The Liberal Democracy Series I Index provides a simple unweighted measure of liberal democracy that minimizes the bias in expert ratings, is highly reliable and highly correlated with the latent liberal democracy variable. The evidenced reviewed here suggests that its measurement properties are superior to the Polity and Vanhanen democracy indices with the exception that it is available for a more limited period of years than these latter two.     

美国工会应对经济危机的政策措施及启示

经济危机给美国工人阶级带来重大影响。美国工会视危机为创新工会工作和发展工会的大好时机,积极从国家层面和地区层面上采取措施积极应对经济危机以保护工人权益,虽然在宏观上收效甚微,但是其在地区层面上采取的策略和方法收效较好,值得我国工会借鉴。     

A Comparative Study of Denmark and New Zealand’s National Health Targets

This paper investigates the influence of nationally imposed health targets on current management control practices in New Zealand and Denmark. It reveals how variants of New Public Management (NPM), arising from specific historical socio-political contexts, rise to the challenge of national differences. The study finds that both nations are challenged to ensure data registration procedures produce valid and comparable performance measures. Denmark’s reliance on a single efficiency measure of health sector performance reflects a historic socio-political context that reduces the feasibility of additional measures whereas New Zealand’s context enables the government to impose a more extensive range of health targets.     

Dealing with Austerity: a case of local resilience in Southern Europe

Southern countries are undergoing a severe economic crisis that has renewed debates about the available strategies to economise their public resources. Political leaders have launched a wide range of different strategies aimed at reducing spending. According to generally accepted political discourse, drastic actions should be taken to guarantee economic and financial sustainability in times of austerity. We explore the main measures adopted by Spanish municipalities in order to examine their impact in budgetary terms. First of all, we identify the most frequently implemented mechanisms including organisational structure, public services and operational economic restructuration. After their quantification, we monitor the presence and impact of each set of policies to analyse the relationship between concrete measures and effective economic impact. The effective reduction of budgets is being implemented but data show that local governments are resilient to non-compulsory changes. The ‘government at a distance’ policy pursued by the central state administration has effectively reduced budgets but has not affected the institutional core of Spanish local governments.     

论中英两国刑事证人证言可采性标准及检测方法

证人证言在刑事诉讼中的运用一直是各国主要关注的问题 ,而证言运用的核心又在于证言的可采性问题。本文从比较研究的角度 ,对中英两国刑事证人证言可采性标准及检测方法作了具体分析 ,认为中英两国刑事证明标准的不同 ,决定了两国证人证言可采性标准的差异 ,从而导致检测这一标准的方法也各异 ,并认为英国现行的刑事证明标准及由此决定的证言可采性标准有可资借鉴之处     

青少年犯罪现状原因及预防对策

近年来,青少年犯罪呈上升趋势,笔者根据司法实践遇到的大量青少年犯罪的案例,分析青少年犯罪的现状、原因以及预防对策。     

气候变化背景下外国投资者与政府争端的解决——以我国双边投资协定为例

我国签订的双边投资协定中一般都规定了投资者与东道国政府间投资争端的解决方式,尤其是晚近我国所签订的双边投资协定多数允许投资者将争端提交国际仲裁。但是,在目前全球应对气候变化背景下,作为温室气体排放大国,我国有义务控制和减少温室气体的排放,采取相应的环境规制措施,这些环境规制措施可能会损害或影响到外国投资者在我国的利益。根据双边投资协定,外国投资者可能会将这些争端提交国际仲裁,我国有可能被国际仲裁庭裁定为此对外国投资者承担相应的赔偿责任。面对新形势,我国必须重新审视双边投资协定中投资者与东道国投资争端解决方式的相关规定。     

论警力开发

警力开发是使警察的社会治安控制能力得以提高和增强的过程。本文通过对目前公安队伍警力不强的原因及进行警力开发必要性的探讨,在此基础上阐述了如何开发警力的建议。     

我国官员财产申报制度的建立与完善

官员财产申报制度,是国际社会普遍采取的一种约束政府官员行为的制度,实施官员财产申报制度能有效遏制贪污贿赂等职务犯罪行为。鉴于我国现行的财产申报制度存在申报主体和申报范围偏窄、只向上级申报不接受公众监督、可操作性不强等问题及这一制度在我国的发展现状,我们必须从我国建立健全反腐败体系、加强反腐倡廉建设和开展反腐败斗争的实际需要出发,借鉴国外在应对腐败和对官员监督方面的经验,加强对我国的官员财产申报制度的研究。通过试点,争取在全国范围内早日建立并推行官员财产申报制度,让官员财产申报制度成为制度反腐的有力支撑,最终通过立法来完善我国的官员财产申报制度。