论宪法与政治文明

在政治文明史上 ,宪法的产生具有里程碑的意义。宪法是权利的保障书 ,人权是政治文明的终极关怀 ;宪法是民主政治的法律化 ,民主政治是政治文明的保障 ;宪法是治国之法 ,法治是政治文明的基本运作方式 ;宪法是宪政的前提 ,宪政是政治文明的核心。宪法与政治文明相辅相成、不可分离     

Strengthening Citizenship in Brazil's Democracy: Local Participatory Governance in Porto Alegre

In Latin America, and particularly Brazil, inequality and social exclusion continue to plague the quality of democracy despite two decades of transition and consolidation. Still, in Brazil, the Workers' Party has been remarkably successful over the past decade, explicitly addressing the problem of social exclusion and 'incomplete citizenship'. This paper provides an analysis of the case of Porto Alegre covering the four Workers' Party municipal administrations from 1989 to the present in order to assess the significance of social incorporation and citizenship for the quality of democracy in Brazil. The paper discusses some conceptual notions that are relevant for the question of democracy in Brazil, particularly the role of citizenship and civil society in 'deepening' democracy. Then the paper goes into the evolution and dynamics of Porto Alegre's system of 'participatory budgeting'. The paper's assessment of this experience with respect to its performance, depth and robustness shows that 'participatory budgeting' has had positive effects with respect to the provision of public goods services, the quality of governance, and citizens' participation in what is seen as a new 'public space' shared by the local state and grass roots organisations. The paper concludes by relating the case experience to the question of citizenship, civil society and democracy and by reflecting upon its wider implications for the current and future quality of democracy in Brazil.     

真知与偏见：亨廷顿眼中的台湾民主

在《第三波——20世纪后期民主化浪潮》一书中,亨廷顿论及台湾的民主化进程,提出了民主化的基本含义、诱因、过程、特征和前景。亨廷顿对台湾民主的分析充满着真知灼见,其预测也为后来的台湾政治民主实践所证实。但是,必须指出的是,亨廷顿从西方的价值体系出发来对全球的民主化进程进行分析,不可避免地带有一定的偏见性。     

行政听证制度之法理思考

行政听证制度是行政程序法的重要组成部分。作者从听证制度的概念比较分析入手,探讨了行政听证制度的法理基础,阐述了行政听证制度与行政法治化、民主行政和行政效率之间的关系,从法理层面上揭示了听证制度存在的价值,以期对我国行政听证立法做些理性思考。     

应对全球化新浪潮 发展社会主义民主——评《全球背景下的中国民主建设》一书

从16世纪起,全球化经历了三次浪潮.全球化的三次浪潮也就是全球民主化的三次浪潮.我国应该怎样应对这个全球化、民主化的新浪潮,这是我国学者应该重点研究的一个重大政治理论课题.<全球化背景下的中国民主建设>一书能够着眼民主化浪潮汹涌澎湃的全球背景,立足我国社会主义初级阶段的实际,对我国民主建设作了全方位、多层次、宽领域的考察,既肯定成绩、总结经验,又点明不足、展望未来.     

Deliberation,Democratic Decision-Making and Internal Political Efficacy

Empirical research into the possible positive consequences of deliberation increasingly reveals that there is a complex relationship between deliberation and its effects on citizens. In this experimental study I examine the relationship between internal political efficacy and one type of deliberation: deliberative decision-making. I also test whether different structures of decision-making mediate between deliberation and internal political efficacy. The data suggest that deliberative decision-making had no direct effect on a global measure of internal political efficacy. Participants in face-to-face deliberative decision-making, though, had higher scores on a situation-specific measure of internal political efficacy than participants who only voted. The structures of decision-making had no effect on either measure of internal political efficacy. These results support claims that deliberation will not necessarily lead to direct, positive effects on citizens internal political efficacy, but they also highlight the likelihood that face-to-face deliberation can lead citizens to feel more competent in their deliberative abilities.     

从政党与公民社会的关系看当代西方政党的发展趋势

当代西方国家基本上完成了国家和社会的分离,形成了较为成熟的公民社会。①在此背景下,从政党和公民社会的关系的视角来研究当代西方政党的发展趋势。共分为三个部分,在第一部分,简要地阐述了西方政党与公民社会的历史关系;在第二部分,主要论述了当代西方政党和公民社会的关系;第三部分,对当代西方政党的发展趋势进行了简单的探讨。     

直接民主制的困境和代议制民主的防护保障机制

直接民主制作为民主的一种实现形式,是人类政治文明发展史上的一项伟大创举。然而,随着人类历史的发展以及民族国家的兴起,直接民主制从政治实践到理论本身都面临着困境。代议制民主的产生为民主车轮继续前行注入新的动力。但是,代议制民主自身同样也面临着天然的或衍生的缺陷,必须为其构建防护机制,以保障其有效运行。     

“被时代”引发的关于信息权的思考

近两年,网络上不断出现"被"词语,"被时代"来临,无论是被自杀,被代表,还是"被自愿"都表现出了话语权弱势一方的无奈,透过现象看本质,被时代的出现也折射出当今信息时代社会传播的失衡,政府、媒介和公民之间的传播链条出现症结,引起我们的深刻反思。政府与媒介,政府与公众,媒介与公众之间的关系需要改善和协调,从而促进信息民主的实现。     

Assessing the psychological and mechanical impact of electoral rules: A quasi-experiment

The paper assesses the influence of electoral rules on vote choice and election outcomes using a quasi-experiment conducted during a recent Canadian provincial election. Respondents were invited to vote under three voting systems (first past the post, alternative voting and proportional representation) and to answer a short questionnaire. We examine how the distribution of votes and seats is affected, and we ascertain how much of the total difference is due to psychological and mechanical effects. We find that a PR system would have increased legislative fractionalization by the equivalent of one effective party and that the mechanical effect is much more important than the psychological effect. As for AV, its mechanical and psychological effects act in opposite directions.