The political economy of labor market regulation by the European Union

Since the introduction of qualified majority voting, at least 58 labor regulations have been imposed by the European Community/Union. Three types of explanations are considered: i) the asymmetry of the EC budgetary process, ii) regulatory collusion and iii) the strategy of raising rivals’ costs. Collusion and the strategy of raising rivals’ costs are compared in a two-country game-theoretic model with international capital mobility. The empirical analysis shows that the transition to qualified majority voting was not preceded by a striking tendency of competitive national deregulation. In all cases in which a directive was contested, the UK was among the contestants. Various indices show that the UK has the least regulated labor market. More generally, the anti-regulation coalition also includes Ireland, the Scandinavian countries and the Netherlands. There are examples showing that if the coalition is too small to block the regulation, its members prefer not to record their dissent officially. In most investigated cases, the European labor regulation is more restrictive than most but not all prior national regulations. The empirical analysis demonstrates that the strategy of raising rivals’ costs plays an important role in EU labor regulation.

Why Berlusconi’s landslide return? A comment on the 2008 Italian general election

At the Italian parliamentary election of April 2008 the centre-right coalition, led by media tycoon Silvio Berlusconi, prevailed with 3.3 million votes over the centre-left coalition, led by Walter Veltroni, former mayor of Rome. This commentary analyzes the electoral results by looking at three factors which affected the vote: the institutional context, the electoral campaigns of both coalitions, and the voters’ behaviour. The article claims that the electoral outcome originated from an asymmetrical abstention of centre-left voters who did not turn out, and from a high-level of swing-voting which favoured the centre-right. It is argued that this election hardly signals a political realignment. Rather than value changes, valence politics and government performance are at the basis of the centre-right victory.      

Multi-party competition: A computational model with abstention and memory

This paper analyses the properties of a computational model of multi-party competition in two policy dimensions. We find that, firstly, centrifugal incentives prevent rational parties from moving to the mean of voters' preference distributions. Secondly, the number of parties competing for votes and the inclination to abstain from voting are positively related to parties' optimum distance to the political centre. Thirdly, the number of parties in the political arena also increases both the distance between parties' location in the policy space and the volatility of their platforms. Finally, the more voters rely on past observations of partisan positioning behaviour in order to assess the credibility of parties, the more the distance between partisan platforms increases. At the same time, platform volatility declines.     

Supplementary vote; analysis, applications, and alternatives

The Supplementary Vote (SV) was invented as a compromise between the two-round runoff system and the alternative vote. This paper shows that in many ways it is not. Under SV voters rank order a limited number of candidates. If one candidate is supported by over 50% of the voters he/she is declared the winner. Otherwise, all but the top two candidates are eliminated from the contest. Then, all second preferences of voters are taken into account. The candidate winning most first and second votes is declared the winner. SV violates fundamental criteria used to evaluate electoral systems and is difficult for voters. The paper discusses an alternative to SV which avoids at least some of its most apparent flaws.     

A taxonomy of runoff methods

We look at ways of classifying runoff methods in terms of characteristics such as number of rounds, rules used to determine which candidates advance to the next round, and rules which determine the final winner. We also compare runoffs and so-called instant runoffs such as the alternative vote.     

国际变局下日本智库和主流媒体对中国形象的建构

国际秩序的变动、突发的新冠疫情和中美战略竞争的加剧等因素促使日本的中国形象正在发生重要而深刻的变化。日本智库和主流媒体更多地把中国放在国际秩序变动的语境中来认知中国,比起双边,更多是在多边框架内来感知中国。在多种因素的综合作用下,日本形成了“崛起的强国”“国际秩序改写者”、疫情下“坚韧”而“强硬”的中国、带有不确定性的美国“假想敌”等多层次中国形象。日本智库和主流媒体对中国形象的塑造未必是客观的,是基于在国际秩序转型期对自身认同的建构,那就是现行国际秩序维护国和中美之间的“非等距离”协调者。应该对日加强沟通宣介工作,充分调动其对华战略认知中的建设性因素,消解不利因素,防止其固化为刻板印象。     

与技术标准相关的知识产权强制许可

在知识经济时代,知识产权在市场竞争中起着非常重要的作用,从而它的行使与竞争法包括反垄断法有着密切的关系。本文以技术标准为视角,以德国的Spundfass和美国的N-date两个案件为例,说明作为技术标准的知识产权有可能被强制许可的情况。本文指出,知识产权的行使须受竞争法的制约,解决知识产权与竞争法二者冲突的方法是衡量限制竞争的影响。我国反垄断法第55条对滥用知识产权限制竞争的行为作出了禁止性规定。为了使这个规定具有可操作性,我国应在这方面尽快制定相关的实施细则或者指南。     

离职竞业禁止协议的立法选择——兼评《劳动合同法》第23条24条之规定

离职竞业禁止协议由于涉及太多的矛盾与冲突,其效力一直受到国内外学者的关注和质疑。作者在分析了离职竞业禁止协议性质和各国立法的基础上,提出中国作为大陆法系国家,在当前法官素质不高的国情下,有必要在借鉴各国立法司法经验的基础上对竞业禁止协议作出更加全面的规范,以指导当事人的行为和司法审判实践。     

American culpability: the Bush Administration and the Iranian nuclear impasse

Drawing on the memoirs of Hassan Rowhani, Iran's chief nuclear negotiator (2003–2005) and newly elected president, this paper considers the impact of the Bush Administration's Iran policy on the internal politics of the Islamic Republic and the dynamics of its nuclear negotiation strategy. It argues that the administration had a detrimental effect on international nuclear negotiations with Iran and should be considered at least partially responsible for the current nuclear impasse. Identifying three key areas, it focuses on the administration's rejection of constructive engagement with the relatively moderate government of President Mohammad Khatami; the negative influence of the USA during Iran's nuclear negotiations with the EU3; and the administration's refusal to provide the Iranians with confidence-building incentives, or countenance unconditional nuclear talks, despite a policy change in Washington that was ostensibly multilateralist and gave the impression of directly engaging with the Iranians.     

Geopolitical transformation in rural Mexico: toward new social and territorial boundaries in an indigenous municipality of central Mexico.

After decades of being one of the most loyal and reliable sources of PRI electoral votes, rural Mexico has become the arena of partisan political competition. The increasing political party rivalry in rural areas is not only related to a legal or formal institutional transformation at the national or sub-national level but to the ejido endogenous reconfiguration. Today local interest groups and supporters of opposition political parties are challenging the once hegemonic ejido authority, associated with the PRI regime, which since 1930 has ruled most Mexican rural villages. The ejido as a political institution is yielding many of its political functions to the empowered municipal government. As I will show in this paper, a major transition in rural Mexico is well under way, moving from agrarian toward municipal governance. The new political order challenges the ethnic and territory boundaries associated with the ejido rule forged in rural Mexico during the post-revolutionary era.