革命动员视角下的苏区民主政治建设

土地革命战争时期,中国共产党在各苏维埃区域进行了声势浩大的民主政治建设。在这一建设中,中华苏维埃共和国临时中央政府不仅从制度上和程序上进行了有利于工农群众享有民主的设计,而且从宪法和其他法律上对苏区群众的各项民主权利给予充分的保障,希望藉此来建设一个有利于革命动员的政治新秩序。广泛的民主政治建设,不仅满足了残酷战争环境下革命动员的需要,而且促使苏区民众的精神面貌产生了质的变化,并逐渐形成了执政为民、廉洁奉公、民主平等以及无私奉献等苏区人所特有的精神气质。     

在细小处把握 筑牢廉政之基

加强监督永远是防止腐败最有效的方式之一,缺失监督必然导致腐败,建立健全全方位的监督体系,完善安全生产执法监管权力制衡和群众参与的监督制约机制,防止权力滥用,做到见微知著,从小事上洞察大问题,不让小瑕疵长成大毒瘤。     

廉洁城市:反腐倡廉建设目标的一个重要层次

建设廉洁城市的理念与实践是我国反腐倡廉建设取得的新突破,值得肯定。在廉洁城市成为诸多城市决策者设定的重要目标的同时,还应看到廉洁城市建设只是反腐倡廉建设目标的一个重要层次,不可能建成"廉洁孤岛"。廉洁城市建设必然受制于必要的外部法制条件,需要在廉洁政治的顶层目标下,形成廉洁城市促进廉洁政治建设、廉洁政治带动廉洁城市建设的良性互动机制和环境氛围。     

基于合法律性的合法性——从韦伯到哈贝马斯

韦伯具有强烈的民族主义情结,这种情结使他尤为强调学术的文化政治担当,亦使其具有学者和"群众性政治家"双重身份。作为学者,他对现代社会"基于合法律性的合法性"(法理型统治)模式进行了详尽分析;作为群众性政治家,他又明确提出了"领袖民主"(卡理斯玛型统治)合法化模式。这两种理论模式均具有政治现实主义和实证论倾向。哈贝马斯总体上拒绝了韦伯合法化模式的描述性路径,并极力批判了其领袖民主模式;但他亦将其合法化论说建基于韦伯式基于合法律性的合法性模式之上,并做出了可以容纳道德性内容的理论重构。     

Disrupting the South African parliament: performing opposition 1994–2010

The article focuses on the most common form of institutionally punished disruption seen in South Africa's National Assembly since 1994: orders for individual MPs to withdraw from the chamber. The shifting dynamics of such “set-piece” dramatizations of opposition and their relationship with the established analyses of political opposition in post-apartheid South Africa, especially “dominant party democracy” theory are explored. There have been two main styles of disruptive performance in the National Assembly since 1994. Firstly, performances of perceived political marginalization, and secondly, performances that paradoxically lay claim to uphold parliamentary democracy through rule-breaking, which are termed performances of procedure-as-democracy. The article examines how opposition politicians have justified disruption and unpicks the symbolism of prominent incidents. The focus is upon the performance of disruption and its performative aspects, particular the articulation of race and gender. It is argued that performances of procedure-as-democracy are actually one of the principal means by which opposition political parties perform narratives of ANC dominance and as such require much more attention and critical engagement from political scholars interested in dominant party democracy.     

Developing a critical pedagogy of ‘research-based’ teaching in Islamic studies

Studying Islam and Middle Eastern politics has become highly popular, particularly in American and British universities after the 9/11 and 7/7 terrorist events. Unfortunately, the increasing interest in Islam and Muslims in the West is often based on (mis)recognition of images of Muslims in the media. This has created a new set of problems of ignorance and misunderstandings about terrorism and the Islamic world. The intent of this article is to outline a ‘critical pedagogy’ of research-based teaching for Islamic studies and illustrate how this kind of pedagogical engagement better equips students to ‘problematise the natural, cultural and historical reality’ and dominant Orientalist assumptions about the relationship between Islam and terrorism. This article shows how research-based teaching can help students to become critical thinkers to connect knowledge and power while studying Islam and Middle Eastern politics.     

法治与政治文明关系三论

政治文明是人类政治活动的进步状态,它与法治一脉相承,溶为一体.政治文明是法治的内核和精义;法治是政治文明的基本方式;政治法治化是建设政治文明的必由之路.     

Democracy Transformed? Reforms in Britain and The Netherlands (1990–2010)

This article focuses on democratic reform in Britain and the Netherlands since 1990. The question is whether the UK has become less ‘majoritarian’ and the Netherlands less ‘consensual’, as some have argued. If we look at the formalised institutions of the national system of representative democracy the overall conclusion is that convergence has been rather limited. But, if we extend our analysis to non-formal, sub-national and non-representative democratic institutions also, the picture becomes more nuanced. We also looked at traces of direct democracy. Our analysis shows that both countries have witnessed changes that incline to voter democracy (directly-majoritarian) and participatory democracy (directly-integrative), although the Dutch case exhibits a somewhat stronger tendency to participatory democracy than the British case. A general lesson to be drawn is that thinking in terms of pure types of democracy has become obsolete.     

Fixers as Shadow “Public Servants”: A Case Study of Israel

Fixers can thrive in any level of political, bureaucratic, or institutional development. Paradoxically the academic research of the phenomenon of fixers is in its infancy. There exists no accepted definition of fixers; the boundaries between fixers and lobbyists remain murky, in terms of comparative administration only limited knowledge about the forces that breed different types of fixers in different political settings is available; and no deductive theory was articulated that might determine when and how fixing might become dysfunctional and corruptive. In an attempt to better understand the phenomenon of fixers more theoretically; this study analyzes fixers in view of three theories of bureaucratic corruption, and in view of the emerging theory of alternative politics. Using Israel as a case in point, the study shows that within certain national and local branches of government fixers not only create a shadow copy of official institutions, but also foster institutional corruption.     

Capture Theory and the Public Interest: Balancing Competing Values to Ensure Regulatory Effectiveness

Problems arise when a regulatory agency acts in the interests of the industry it is charged with regulating, rather than in the public interest. When a governmental agency established to regulate an industry for the benefit of society acts instead for the interests of the industry it is regulating, it has been “captured” by the industry. This article examines the level of input received from the regulated community and the tendency of regulatory agency capture. Here, the proposed zone of effectiveness suggests a balance between the two scopes by incorporating a stronger focus on public interest.