From newspapers to social media? Changing dynamics in Swiss direct democratic campaigns

Switzerland is a laggard in terms of digital campaigning. Direct democratic votes, more particularly, are centered around issues and little personalized. Combined with the specificities of voters’ information behaviour in direct democratic campaigns, these features are likely to disincentivize political actors from extensively campaigning online. Instead, we expect political actors to continue relying on traditional media. These propositions are tested on a large data base of social media posts and newspaper advertisements published before direct democratic votes held in Switzerland from 1981 to 2020 and 2010 to 2020, respectively. Counterintuitively, this research note finds a strong discontinuity in campaign communication practices. Over the past decades, and between 2010 and 2020 in particular, newspaper ads have become less central to direct democratic campaign communication. At the same time, political actors are increasingly shifting their communication to the digital sphere.     

论邓小平宪政思想

邓小平的宪政思想对于现阶段我国的宪政建设具有重要的指导意义。宪法至上是邓小平宪政思想的前提。发展民主是邓小平宪政思想的主要内容。实行法治是邓小平宪政思想的核心原则。保障人权是邓小平宪政思想的目的。掌握并运用邓小平宪政思想的基本理论,对于我国目前正在进行的中国特色的宪政建设,具有不可忽视的重大意义。     

Steuerwettbewerb und direkte Demokratie in den Schweizer Kantonen

The issue of the impact of tax competition between the cantons has been quite present in the public discussion, especially in relation with the reform of the Swiss system of financial equalization. The connection between the degree of direct democratic rights and the intensity of tax competition ana‐lysed by Feld (1997) seems to be particularly interesting for political science. Differently to the approach of Feld (1997) this research note examines it with regard to the tax policies in the cantons. In addition, a less criticized way to measure the institutions of direct democracy is used and the research period is extended. The analysis shows that there is a trade‐off between the exit‐ and the voice‐option. In other words: those cantons that have well developed direct democratic institutions, are less affected by the pressure of tax competition. As a consequence of the perceived influence, their citizens do less probably move to an other canton as a reaction to a heavy tax burden.     

民主的经济理论－－公共选择视野下的政治经济互动

文章研究了民主政治与政府经济政策的关系，探讨了赤字下的民主、公民的财政幻觉、政治经济据环、代议制民主的缺陷等问题。     

中国共产党关于民主法制观的继承与创新--中共三代领导人的民主法制观比较

以毛泽东为代表的第一代共产党人通过新民主主义革命 ,为实现现代化提供了崭新的制度前提和实现途径 ,对社会主义制度下如何依法治国 ,发展社会主义民主 ,进行了初步探索 ;在总结经验的基础上 ,以邓小平同志为代表的第二代中央领导集体 ,在改革开放的伟大实践中 ,探索出一条以建立完备的法律体系为目标 ,以政法干部建设为保证 ,以法制教育普及为途径 ,以加强党的领导为核心的与民主紧密相联系的现代法制的新思路 ;以江泽民同志为核心的第三代中央领导集体 ,在实践中继承与发展了邓小平的依法治国思想 ,成为我们在新世纪实现依法治国、建设社会主义法制国家的指导思想。     

论社会主义宪政

宪政发源于西方的事实,使社会主义中国的宪政建设面临诸多理论问题。宪政具有极强的地域性,是资本主义国家的贡献,但可以与社会主义兼容。宪政核心的价值是限制政治权力,保护人民的自由。社会主义宪政与资本主义宪政一样,同样追求权力的限制和自由的保护。但二者在防止国家权力侵犯个人自由的制度设计上存在本质区别。要建设有中国特色的社会主义宪政,必须保证宪法的正当性,建立一套违宪审查机制,同时还要培养公民的宪政意识。     

Dog Whistles and Democratic Mandates

Manipulative mixed messages from candidates to voters affect what governments are entitled to do in office. A party that wins an election gains a 'mandate to rule'. But there is a second type of mandate: a 'policy mandate' to enact specific policy proposals central to the winning party's campaign. Mixed-message politics in general can undermine policy mandates, and the use of 'dog whistle politics' - telling one group of voters one thing, while allowing or encouraging another group to believe another - makes the inferring of policy mandates especially problematic. Referendums provide only a partial remedy to dog whistle politics. Winning a clear policy mandate means forgoing dog whistle politics, despite the short term electoral advantage they may deliver.     

党务公开：发展党内民主的理论和制度创新

党的十六届四中全会《决定》首次明确提出逐步推进党务公开,这是党的执政理念的新突破和提高党的执政能力的新举措。党务公开是发展党内民主的内在要求,贯穿于党内民主建设的各个方面和环节。推进党务公开,进一步扩大了党员和群众对党内事务的知情权、参与权、选择权和监督权,成为新时期发展党内民主的理论和制度创新。     

试析中国政治体制改革的任务、经验及目标模式

中国现行政体是作为现代民主政体两种基本类型之一的人民民主政体.中国政治体制改革的基本任务是发展、完善现行人民民主政体,而非将其彻底否定,以自由民主政体取而代之.中国政治体制改革的一个成功经验,就是社会主义国家政治体制改革必须遵循坚持、发展、完善人民民主政体的原则.中国政治体制的目标模式应当是一种新型的人民民主政体,即以"坚持党的领导、人民当家作主和依法治国有机统一"为基本特征的新型人民民主政体.     

中国宪政之路的反思

近代中国 ,宪政运动伴随着中华民族争取独立、民主、富强的斗争而展开。回顾百年来中国宪政与宪法的历史 ,可以帮助我们在总结历史经验的同时 ,深入研究社会主义民主宪政的理论 ,提高全民的宪法观念和法律意识 ,使依法治国进入一个新的发展阶段。