Does civil war breed authoritarian values? An empirical study of Bosnia-Herzegovina,Kosovo and Croatia

This article analyses how armed conflict affects individual support for liberal values. It is commonly assumed that the consolidation of democracy depends on individual values such as tolerance as well as aspirations of civil and political liberty. For post-conflict societies, consolidating democracy is also a means of reducing the risk of recurring violent conflict. However, democracy has proven to be especially hard to achieve and consolidate in ethnically divided societies. While previous research has centred mainly on institutions and political elites, I expand the focus to also include ordinary citizens. Using survey data from post-war Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo and Croatia, I examine the effect of exposure to violence on a scale of authoritarian values. While the effects are small, the results show that war-related violence in some cases leads people to embrace authoritarian values.     

Compulsory voting and ethnic diversity increase invalid voting while corruption does not: an analysis of 417 parliamentary elections in 73 countries

Invalid voting, meaning blank and spoiled ballots, is a regular phenomenon in democracies around the world. When its share is larger than the margin of victory or greater than the vote share of some of the large parties in the country, invalid voting becomes a problem for democratic legitimacy. This article investigates its determinants in 417 democratic parliamentary elections in 73 countries on five continents from 1970 to 2011. The analysis shows that enforced compulsory voting and ethnic fragmentation are strong predictors for invalid voting while corruption has less impact. Our findings suggest that the societal structure is crucial in understanding invalid voting as a problem for democratic legitimacy because greater social diversity seems to lead to either a greater rate of mistakes or lesser attachments of social groups to the democratic process. Thus, rising levels of invalid voting are not only concerning in themselves but also for the divisive factors driving them.     

Explaining Myanmar's regime transition: the periphery is central

In 2010, Myanmar (Burma) held its first elections after 22?years of direct military rule. Few compelling explanations for this regime transition have emerged. This article critiques popular accounts and potential explanations generated by theories of authoritarian “regime breakdown” and “regime maintenance”. It returns instead to the classical literature on military intervention and withdrawal. Military regimes, when not terminated by internal factionalism or external unrest, typically liberalize once they feel they have sufficiently addressed the crises that prompted their seizure of power. This was the case in Myanmar. The military intervened for fear that political unrest and ethnic-minority separatist insurgencies would destroy Myanmar's always-fragile territorial integrity and sovereignty. Far from suddenly liberalizing in 2010, the regime sought to create a “disciplined democracy” to safeguard its preferred social and political order twice before, but was thwarted by societal opposition. Its success in 2010 stemmed from a strategy of coercive state-building and economic incorporation via “ceasefire capitalism”, which weakened and co-opted much of the opposition. Having altered the balance of forces in its favour, the regime felt sufficiently confident to impose its preferred settlement. However, the transition neither reflected total “victory” for the military nor secured a genuine or lasting peace.     

Neighbourhood Ethnic Diversity and Orientations Toward Muslims in Britain: The Role of Intergroup Contact

A persistent theme in the British and international debates about immigration and diversity is the controversial claim that living in diverse areas has negative consequences for intergroup attitudes and community relations. In the present paper we test this claim by investigating the impact of neighbourhood diversity and self‐reported intergroup contact on orientations (outgroup attitudes and social distance) toward one religious outgroup: Muslims. Respondents were both White British majority (N=867) and non‐Muslim ethnic minority (N=567) residents of neighbourhoods in England which varied in their proportion of ethnic minority residents. We tested both direct and indirect (via intergroup contact) effects of diversity on outgroup orientations toward Muslims. Results show that individuals living in more ethnically diverse areas—regardless of whether they are White British members of the majority or non‐Muslim members of ethnic minorities—have more positive contact with Muslims, with positive consequences for intergroup relations with Muslims.     

新疆边境民族地区公安边防群众工作探析

新疆边境民族地区群众工作具有敏感性、军事性、复杂性、长远性等特点。公安边防部队在开展该地区群众工作时,应以确保国家安全和边境和谐稳定为基本目标,以加快该地区经济社会发展为重点,不断增强边境地区少数民族群众的政治认同和中华民族文化认同。正确执行党和国家的民族宗教政策,严格区分民族宗教领域两类不同性质的矛盾,通过在边境少数民族群众中开展宣传活动、扶贫帮困活动等多种途径做好公安边防部队群众工作。     

边境民族地区群体性械斗事件的特点及处置对策

边境民族地区群体性械斗事件原因复杂,械斗双方法律意识淡薄,械斗后果严重,后期容易反弹。公安边防部队应快速机动,运用防暴战术,坚决果断处置,尽量减少伤亡。处置结束后,要积极协助地方政府做好善后工作,防止反弹,妥善处理该类事件,维护边境地区的安全稳定和民族团结。     

民族地区基层民警思想状况调查研究

调查显示,民族地区大部分基层民警思想政治觉悟较高,但部分民警的职业认同感不强,工作压力大,有职业倦怠情绪,主要是工作任务重、执法环境严峻、工资福利不理想、业务能力有限等因素造成的。必须做好基层民警的思想政治工作,完善激励机制激发民警的工作积极性,健全民警心理压力疏导机制,正确处理公安机关与大众传媒的关系,缓解民警的思想压力,提高工作效率。     

城市少数民族流动人口犯罪实证研究--以S市M区的统计数据为基础的分析

对s市M区统计数据的实证分析表明,城市涉嫌犯罪的少数民族人员以无任何前科记录的初中文化水平以下的外来男性农民和无业人员为主;实施的犯罪行为比较轻,相对集中于盗窃罪,寻衅滋事罪,走私、贩卖、运输、制造毒品罪等几个罪名;共同犯罪的规模较小,共同犯罪人之间的联系比较松散,作案手段多元化、相对平和,重特大案件罕见;适用刑罚比较轻缓,以3年以下有期徒刑、拘役、罚金为主。城市少数民族人员犯罪并不是严重的社会现象,其数量和严重程度远远低于汉族人犯罪。因此,少数民族“流动人口”犯罪问题不应当特殊化,应当在人口流动和城镇化的背景下,理性客观地对待少数民族人员犯罪问题,贯彻宽严相济的刑事政策,采取措施使得少数民族“流动人口”尽快融入大城市。     

东南亚华人身份定位与华商经营环境

第二次世界大战后东南亚国家的华族逐渐取得了当地公民权,但1998年5月的印尼种族骚乱又使人们怀疑起他们的身份定位问题。     

民族融合、民族同化和民族文化融合概念辨正

民族融合、民族同化和民族文化融合是民族关系中存在的三种不同的现象。但在中国民族史的研究中 ,学界对这三个概念的使用却是非常混乱与不规范的。究其原因 ,主要是由于学者们对民族、民族融合、民族同化、民族文化融合的定义理解与认识不清而导致的。而不加区别地使用这三个概念 ,将不能准确确定和反映历史上民族关系的性质与特征 ,进而会影响到对相关学术问题的深入研究。本文的主旨正是在前人研究成果的基础上 ,首先辨析这几个概念的含义 ,然后再结合中国民族史中的相关事例 ,来探讨民族关系研究中用语的规范使用问题 ,并以冀能引起学界对这一问题的重视。