Constructing courts after communism: Reevaluating the effect of electoral uncertainty

A prominent view in political science is that electoral uncertainty leads institutional designers to prefer independent and powerful courts. Yet few scholars have examined the design of constitutional courts systematically across Eastern Europe and those who have employed the results of elections held after constitutions were adopted to estimate the actors' perceptions of the balance of power prior to the court's design. This work reevaluates the effects of electoral uncertainty in post-communist Europe using more appropriate data and fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis to outline the different causal configurations linking electoral uncertainty to the initial judicial empowerment.     

The Benefits of Experimental Methods for the Study of Campaign Effects

Researchers rely heavily on observational designs to study the effects of political campaigns. In doing so, scholars often overlook serious threats to causal inference that bedevil their research designs. The strategic nature of campaigns leads to serious selection biases in voter exposure to campaign stimuli and, ultimately, generates biased estimates of campaign effects. Standard approaches to establishing causal effects in observational research, such as the collection of panel data and the inclusion of covariates, are often inadequate. In contrast, experimental approaches offer researchers a more promising way to estimate accurately the causal effects of campaigns. In this essay, I discuss the recent renaissance of experimental research in the study of campaigns and illustrate how scholars can use lab, field, and survey experiments to good effect. When experimental methods are not feasible, studies of campaign effects would benefit from paying better attention to the causal identification strategy. In closing, I discuss how the logic of experimentation can be applied to some observational settings.     

Field Experimental Designs for the Study of Media Effects

Field experimentation is a promising but seldom used method for studying the effects of media messages on political attitudes and behavior. The practical challenges of conducting media experiments in real-world settings often come down to securing cooperation from research partners, such as political campaigns. To do so, researchers must be prepared to adapt their experimental designs to satisfy the constraints imposed by research partners and the media environment in which they operate. This article provides an overview of some alternative field experimental designs that allow researchers to maintain the advantages of random assignment while addressing practical considerations. Examples are drawn from the growing field experimental literature examining the effects of television, radio, and online communication.     

公安院校微型警务英语口语语料库的构建与应用

微型警务英语口语语料库的构建对公安院校警务英语教学研究、我国行业英语语料库的建设以及培养懂外语的复合型人才,服务于涉外警务工作具有重要的现实意义。从整体设计、语料搜集、分类标注三个步骤加强微型警务英语口语语料库的构建,并根据微型警务英语口语语料库的特点和外语教学中的现实情况,尝试将其应用于公安院校的警务英语教学是一条可行的途径。     

Decentralization in Post-Apartheid South Africa

Abstract

Decentralization in South Africa was entrenched in the new democratic constitution of 1996 and charged local government with bringing basic and other services to the population. Our in-depth empirical study of 38 municipalities across South Africa indicates that the experiment with decentralization has largely failed to achieve its main aims—democratizing local government and delivering adequate basic services to all communities. In order to provide some answers to the question as to why this failure occurred, we focus attention on the legislative over-burdening of local government and its concurrent lack of institutional capacity to actually turn legal obligation and decentralization principles into practice as two of the main and related causes for this failure. While the South African constitution gave clear mandates to local government, the issue of adequate institutional capacity for municipal government was largely overlooked or ignored altogether.     

警察类职业院校思政课课程教学设计探索

在时代变迁的背景下,学生价值观念多元化,就业压力加大等现实的问题给警察类职业院校的思政课教育教学带来了新的挑战。围绕警察类职业院校思政课课程教学设计进行探索,尝试实现化整为零的模式,实现课程内容和人才培养目标与培养质量全方位对接。     

自贸区与政治一体化——中日韩自贸区的战略设计及实施

中日韩第四次首脑峰会使东北亚自贸区的建设提上了日程,但是敏感而复杂的政治安全形势对自贸区的发展构成了现实的挑战。基于功能主义的现有地区合作框架并不能解决该地区深化发展所要面对的问题,中日韩三国需要构建一种基于相互承认逻辑的新地区发展战略。     

促进民主的公共政策：政策设计与社会建构理论述评

政策设计理论主要研究公共政策的实质性内容,谋求政策质量的改善。美国学者施奈德和英格兰姆将社会建构思想引入政策设计的研究中。通过分析在政策目标群体或知识的社会建构主导下,各种决策背景中的政策设计对于民主的促进或阻碍影响,目的在于倡导一种能够整合问题解决、民主价值、公民精神和社会正义等多种价值的政策设计规划,推动社会民主治理的发展。     

消费时代的文化超越

新世纪以来,生成于西方发达国家的消费主义伴随全球化浪潮在中国兴起,构成了强烈的经济和社会文化挑战。如何驾驭物质财富,实现文化超越,在日益富裕的物质生存环境中,造就兼具民族传统人文优势和现代性民主意识及自立自强意志的均衡、健康、完善的人格,逆转人类物化之生命诉求的下降通道,引领中华民族乃至全体人类重归向上寻求生命追求,是文化复兴之路的历史的和现实的命运与使命。     

对医学生职业生涯规划教育的几点思考

在高校中开展大学生职业生涯规划教育已成为教育部的明确要求。而医学生因专业性较强,在开展职业生涯规划教育方面也存在着一定的独特性。分析医学生职业生涯规划教育的现状,探讨针对医学生职业生涯规划教育的特点,有助于提高医学生职业生涯规划能力。