Electoral rules and manufacturing legislative supermajority: evidence from Singapore

Electoral authoritarian regimes usually preserve the dominance of the ruling party through electoral fraud, violence and intimidation. This paper focuses on the subtler forms of manipulation that undermine the electoral integrity and democratic outcomes. Specifically, we examine how an unusual electoral rule, involving multimember districts elected through plurality bloc voting for party slates, exaggerates the legislative seat shares of the People’s Action Party (PAP) in Singapore. This rule, used also by other electoral authoritarian regimes, facilitates the manipulation of district magnitude and gerrymandering, especially the ‘stacking’ form, to produce a large disproportionality which distorts the seats–votes linkage. It operates in an undemocratic fashion by precluding the opposition from gaining anything but token seats as long as the PAP remains the plurality-winning party. The importance of this electoral rule and its manipulation has been overlooked in current work that emphasises redistributive strategies or coercion to repress electoral competition.     

The Narrow Margins of the Dutch Drug Policy: A Cost-Benefit Analysis

In order to introduce more structure to the debate it seems worthwhile to make a rough cost-benefit analysis of the probable effects of the Dutch drug policy in various areas. A multi-disciplinary analysis of this nature makes it possible to bring together the arguments put forward by the protagonists from various perspectives and to some extent balance them against each other. In a traditional cost-benefit analysis the anticipated effects are assessed in financial terms. This is only possible to a very limited extent when it comes to drug policy. The article is limited to cataloguing as fully as possible the most significant pros and cons of the Dutch drug policy found in the literature on the subject. As a conclusion attention is paid to whether changes such as decriminalisation or re-criminalisation of drug use will yield a better cost-benefit analysis against the background of this overview.     

Vulnerable warriors: the atmospheric marketing of military and policing equipment before and after 9/11

In this article, we analyse changes in the circulation of advertisements of policing products at security expos between 1995 and 2013. While the initial aim of the research was to evidence shifts in terrorist frames in the marketing of policing equipment before and after 9/11, our findings instead suggested that what we are seeing is the rise of marketing to police as “vulnerable warriors”, law enforcement officers in need of military weapons both for their offensive capabilities and for the protection they can offer to a police force that is always under threat.     

计算机网络犯罪的侦查与防控探析

信息技术的广泛应用,推动着社会的发展,人类的进步。然而,利用计算机网络犯罪的现象也相伴而生。近年来,各类重特大案件中涉及到计算机网络也越来越多,如何遏制利用计算机网络犯罪,已是世界各国共同面临的新的突出问题。公安机关计算机网络犯罪侦查部门和相关领域的专家、学者也都在着力于研究网络犯罪的侦查措施和如何防控。     

夫妻财产和债务关系的解构与重构——以《民法典》第1062-1065条的解释论为中心

对于夫妻债务问题而言,原《婚姻法解释二》第24条所体现的"推定论"与指导《民法典》第1064条第2款立法的"用途论"均非妥当的应对策略,切合实际的治本之道只能是实现夫妻对外责任财产的有效区隔。为此起见,针对民法典相关规定的解释论应当严格区分作为夫妻内部财产关系的"抽象财产价值"划分问题与作为夫妻外部财产关系的民商财产权归属问题,并以"财产权表面归属原则"所认可的公示和类公示规则充任后一问题的解决指南。唯有首先满足这些前提,并辅之以债权人撤销权等配套制度,夫妻之间方有可能最终达致"共债共签、各债各偿"的理想状态。     

Why Geographically-Targeted Spending Under Closed-List Proportional Representation Favors Marginal Districts

Research on geographically-targeted spending under closed-list proportional representation (CLPR) is characterized by debate over whether ruling parties target core supporters or swing voters. We show that when CLPR is used in multiple districts and separate competitions are conducted in each, parties can reverse the formula through which votes are converted into seats to calculate how many additional votes they need to capture an additional seat. This enables parties to rank districts according to how close they are to winning an additional seat. We then show that under divisor-based formulae, parties will find they need fewer additional votes to capture another seat in districts where they captured fewer seats (‘marginal districts’). We posit that in these systems, ruling parties will steer geographically-targeted spending toward marginal PR districts and we present evidence of this from Japan.     

Ethnicity and electoral fraud in Britain

Several reports have highlighted that, within Britain, allegations of electoral fraud tend to be more common in areas with large Pakistani and Bangladeshi communities. However, the extent of this association has not yet been quantified. Using data at the local authority level, this paper shows that percentage Pakistani and Bangladeshi (logged) is a robust predictor of two measures of electoral fraud allegations: one based on designations by the Electoral Commission, and one based on police enquiries. Indeed, the association persists after controlling for other minority shares, demographic characteristics, socio-economic deprivation, and anti-immigration attitudes. I interpret this finding with reference to the growing literature on consanguinity (cousin marriage) and corruption. Rates of cousin marriage tend to be high in countries such as Pakistan and Bangladesh, which may have fostered norms of nepotism and in-group favoritism that persist over time. To bolster my interpretation, I use individual level survey data to show that, within Europe, migrants from countries with high rates of cousin marriage are more likely to say that family should be one's main priority in life, and are less likely to say it is wrong for a public official to request a bribe.     

Explaining the effective number of parties: Beyond the standard model

This study casts new light on the conditions determining the effective number of parties in elections. The state-of-the-art mostly considers the interaction between the permissiveness of the electoral system and social heterogeneity, labelled the standard model. This study argues that we should move beyond the standard model and also consider voters’ short term ideological preferences as well as the diversity of issues on the party system agenda. Moreover, the effects of these variables are expected to be conditioned by electoral system permissiveness. The hypotheses are examined on the basis of a longitudinal dataset containing information on 696 elections that took place in 79 countries between 1945 and 2011. Importantly, the hypotheses could only be confirmed on institutionalized party systems.     

Ethnic Migration and Crime

Are the concepts and practical recommendations offered in the works of Western authors for tackling the problem of migration-related crime applicable to Russian realities?     

公立高校廉政风险防控机制建设：意义、现状与展望

建设公立高校廉政风险防控机制,既是新时期我国反腐斗争新形势下的必然要求,也是保护高校的办学自主权,促进公立高校健康发展的需要。现阶段,各公立高校的廉政风险防控机制建设工作已经取得了一定的进展,但是同时也存在着一些问题,如部分公立高校的教职人员对高校构建廉政风险防控机制工作的认识存在偏差、对风险点的查找缺乏权威监督、防控措施存在不足等。高校廉政风险防控机制建设今后应以制度建设为基本路径,以国家相关法律制度的落实和配套为依托,以建立现代大学制度为根本保证。