The Evolving Structure of the Environmental Justice Movement in the United States: New Models for Democratic Decision-Making

Over the last two decades in the United States, mainstream environmental organizations have reduced, rather than increased, democratic participation by citizens in environmental problem-solving. The environmental justice movement, on the other hand, has served to enlarge the constituency of the environmental movement by incorporating poorer communities and oppressed people of color into environmental decision making process; build community capacity by developing campaigns and projects that address the common links between various social and environmental problems; and facilitate community empowerment by emphasizing grassroots organizing over advocacy. This paper outlines the different components in the environmental justice movement. It is our contention that if researchers and policymakers continue to conceive of the ecological crisis as a collection of unrelated problems, then it is possible that some combination of regulations, incentives, and technical innovations can keep pollution and resource destruction at tolerable levels for more affluent socioeconomic populations. However, poor working class communities and people of color which lack the political–economic resources to defend themselves will continue to suffer the worst abuses. However, if the interdependency of issues is emphasized as advocated by the environmental justice movement, then a transformative environmental politics can be invented.     

Democratic Political Competence: Clearing the Underbrush and a Controversial Proposal

Though the link between democracy and an appropriately trained citizen is obvious, the theoretical and empirical nature of this association is murky despite mountains of scholarship addressing this topic. Part of this problem is that the term democratic competence has been stretched almost to the point of uselessness. This constant adding of desired traits—many of which are ideologically driven—misdirects effort away from such complex problems as the relationship between individual attributes and collective capacities. Moreover, recent research has often been guilty of using data of uncertain relevance to demonstrate a competence that seems largely an analytical artifact. We conclude by offering an approach that stresses old- fashioned traits such as patriotism that seem necessary to the existing, and quite democratic, status quo.     

Opinion formation in foreign policy: the Swiss experience

Applying John Zaller's model of opinion formation to survey data covering 15 years (1981–95) of direct democracy in Switzerland, this paper provides a contribution to the debate about opinion formation in foreign policy. On the one hand, the Swiss experience contradicts the widespread view that citizens are poorly informed about and little interested in foreign affairs. On the other hand, direct democracy often translates into governmental defeats in this field. We address these mixed results and show that opinion formation in foreign policy is not a special case, and differs from that in domestic policy only with respect to the circumstances under which it occurs. In particular, we highlight the unusual type and level of conflict within the elite on foreign policy issues, which translates into distinct patterns of attitudes among the public.     

Proportional representation and attitudes about politics: results from New Zealand

PR systems often are credited with producing more equitable outcomes between political parties and encouraging wider social group representation than majoritarian systems. Theory suggests that this should instill greater trust, efficacy, and faith in the political system. We assume that citizens disadvantaged by majoritarian rules (political minorities) will have a relatively greater shift toward positive attitudes about democracy following a transition from a majoritarian system to proportional representation. We employ panel data from the 1993–1996 New Zealand Election Study (NZES) to test hypotheses about the effects of electoral system change on attitudes about governmental responsiveness, trust in government, and political efficacy. We find that there is a general shift in mass opinion toward more positive attitudes on some measures of efficacy and responsiveness. Political minorities display a greater shift toward feelings of efficacy than other voters.     

The malleable homo sovieticus: transnational entrepreneurs in post-communist East Central Europe

This paper investigates the coping strategies of post-1989 East Central European transnational migrant entrepreneurs. Paradoxically, rather than facilitating transfer into the region of liberal-democratic orientations and practices, the incorporation of East Central Europe into late 20th-century consumer capitalism based on short-cycle flexible production in sectors unregulated by legal-institutional frameworks reproduces some of the features of the accustomed homo sovieticus syndrome: in particular, the reliance on the beat-the-system/bend-the-rules orientation on informal/crony patronage and connections, and immediate consumption rather than deferred gratification/investment-oriented capital accumulation renders effective strategies of economic action in the new situation. The effects of so-informed transnational migrant entrepreneurs' activities on the transformation processes in their home-countries are also discussed.     

民主及其对现代政治的形塑

现代政治的基本形态是民主共和国,它在西方是由民主主义、共和主义、自由主义和代议制等要素相互融合的结果,而民主是其重要基础,对于塑造现代政治形态具有重要作用。民主的本义是人民直接治理国家,但是其所具有的强烈平民色彩使其长期被视为基于人数优势的平民暴政。近现代的资产阶级革命造就了资产阶级的共和国,工人阶级运动造就了民主的复兴,推动了民主要素在资产阶级共和体制中的扩展,民主本身也受到相应的制约,由此形成了民主共和国的基本形态。民主的巨大贡献在于不仅为弱势群体争得得了基本人权,而且为现代政体赢得了广泛的合法性。     

党内民主视阈下的反腐倡廉建设

以党内民主的动力助推反腐倡廉建设,必须充分保障党员民主权利,以此激发队伍纯洁的内在活力。保障党员的知情权是推进党内民主的基础,保障党员的参与权和选举权是尊重党员主体地位的标志,保障党员的民主决策权是发挥党员主体作用的关键,保障党员的监督权和罢免权是推进党风廉政建设的现实路径。要加强党内基层的民主建设,提升反腐倡廉的创新动力。积极探索农村基层党内民主和"两新"组织党内基层民主的多种实现形式,推进基层社区党内民主的创新。     

“各方面实行民主”——论抗战时期毛泽东民主思想

＂各方面实行民主＂,是抗战时期毛泽东提出的重要民主主张。这一主张气势恢宏、体系完整、内容丰富、根基深厚、特点突出,把新民主主义理论向前有力地推进了一大步,使之更加具体化,从而构成了抗战时期毛泽东民主思想体系的完整框架。其提出标志着毛泽东民主思想发展到了一个新的高度。深入研究这一主张,对于深入研究毛泽东思想特别是民主思想十分重要和必要。     

20世纪30年代何干之关于新民主主义革命问题的理论探索

20世纪30年代，何干之立足中国内部、结合中国民主革命实践，运用马克思主义唯物史观，从政治、经济、思想文化等不同的视角以及它们间的相互关系出发，对中国的社会性质、革命性质、革命动力、革命发展前途等重大的理论问题进行了深入探讨，提出了精辟的见解，对中共制定新的革命政策和策略，形成科学的新民主主义理论体系提供了有益的借鉴：其理论研究凸显出强烈的现实关怀精神和民族意识、浓郁的意识形态话语色彩等特征。     

民主政治对建设社会主义法治国家的作用

本文通过对社会主义法治国家基本特征的论述及实现法治途径的比较分析,提出了我国应选择推行型法治途径,并在此基础上阐释了民主政治对社会主义法治国家形成的作用。