Parties and political change in South Asia

Over the past seven decades and more political parties have become an essential feature of the political landscape of the South Asian subcontinent, serving both as a conduit and product of the tumultuous change the region has experienced. Yet they have not been the focus of sustained scholarly attention. This collection focuses on different aspects of how major parties have been agents of – and subject to – change in three South Asian states (India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka), examining some of the apparent paradoxes of politics in the subcontinent. Recurring themes are the importance of charismatic leaders and their families (and the corresponding neglect of institutionalisation) and the lack of pluralism in intraparty affairs, factors that render parties and political systems vulnerable to degeneration.     

The territorial genealogies of Russia's political parties and the transferability of political machines

This article uses statistical analysis of aggregate electoral returns in order to establish continuities in the territorial patterns of support between four major political parties of contemporary Russia, on the one hand, and those parties that contested national legislative (Duma) elections from 1993 through 2007, on the other hand. It is hypothesized that such continuities, dubbed “territorial genealogies,” are largely rooted in the migration of region-based gubernatorial political machines from one national party to another, which constitutes a major flow of organizational continuity in the development of political parties. Statistical analysis confirms that the main hubs of machine politics in Russia's regions, originating from the intra-elite struggles of the 1990s, provide United Russia with the territorial core of its current support. Other political parties retain electoral salience in those regions where their electoral appeal is not mitigated by the presence of political machines, which underscores the importance of non-machine party organization for their electoral destinies.     

多中心理论视角下的中国地方公共服务供给——从民间“老板消防队”得到的启示

转型期政府职能的重点转向服务经济建设,社会公共服务职能履行的空间出现缺位,迫切需要一种新的供给模式取代以政府为单一中心的供给模式,从而更好地响应地方经济发展所引致的迅速增加的公共服务需求.以浙江瑞安"老板消防队"为例,围绕多中心理论讨论民间自发组织在提供地方公共服务上所应有的经济角色,并构建一般效用函数模型,分析公共服务不同供给模式的可能局限以及多中心供给的效率改善.结论表明:引入民间自发组织等多主体参与公共服务供给能充分反映地方公共服务的需求和偏好;多中心供给模式是克服政府单一供给局限的有效途径.     

当事人真实义务刍议

当事人真实义务是民事诉讼诚实信用原则的重要内容之一。但要求当事人在诉讼中承担绝对的真实陈述义务,有破坏辩论主义原则、颠倒举证责任分配规则的危险。而且仅贯彻当事人真实义务并不必然提高案件处理的实体公正性。只有确立一种有限度的当事人真实义务,合理配置违反真实义务的制裁措施,才能发挥真实义务的积极效用。     

Schism on the Left: the Motivations and Impact of Ralph Nader's Candidacy

In the United States there is noticeably less controversy over the third party candidacy of Ralph Nader in this year's election than there has been in the previous two. Nader was blamed by many on the left for the Democratic Party's loss of the 2000 election. He has further provoked the ire of the Democrats by claiming that there is no difference between the Democratic and Republican parties. This article will focus on addressing several of the emergent questions from the Nader candidacies, namely: is there a difference between the two parties in the United States? Did Ralph Nader cost the Democrats the election in 2000? Are citizens better off voting for the ideal candidate or settling for the best candidate who has a chance of victory?     

测量治理：国外的研究及其对中国的启示

对治理的测量是构建经验性治理理论的基础。采用文献分析方法,首先简要介绍了国外,特别是世界银行、联合国人居署等国际组织的学者创建的测定治理的原则及指标体系,并对其获取资料和数据的调查研究方法进行了介绍。在此基础上,就中国地方治理测量指标体系的构建提出了原则性的意见,并初步设计了基层地方政府层次的治理水平测量指标体系,这为今后进一步深入研究乡镇基层地方治理发展变化奠定了基础。认为,治理理论打破了以往"政治-行政"二分法的研究取向,为政治和行政的研究与实践提供了一个更为综合的理论视野。国外学者对治理理论的价值定位和实证角度的获取资料和数据的方法也值得国内学术界借鉴。同时主张,作为一个从西方学术界引进的概念和理论,中国学者在利用这一理论来解释和分析中国的相关社会现象时要意识到其理论和测定概念指标的适用性问题。     

Making Decentralization Work: A Cross-national Examination of Local Governments and Natural Resource Governance in Latin America

There has been increased emphasis in the last three decades on the decentralization of natural resource governance decisions to local government in developing countries as a means of improving environmental quality, public service delivery, and the accountability of local officials. We examine the performance of decentralization of natural resource management services in a large sample of municipal governments in four Latin American countries. Our analysis includes a variety of factors discussed in the literature as important in influencing the responsiveness of government officials to local needs. We provide a nested institutional model in which local officials respond to incentives created by the structure of formal political institutions at both the local and national level. The results provide support for the importance of considering local and national institutional arrangements as these co-determine the political incentives within decentralized systems.

西北少数民族地区公民教育地方课程开发探析

我国西北少数民族地区多种文化、宗教共存,如何培养具有多元文化意识、能够在多元文化环境中和谐共处、共存的公民问题受到重视。针对西北少数民族地区公民教育的特殊需求,可以通过具有区域特点的地方课程开发实现。     

地方餐厨垃圾管理立法之探析

餐厨垃圾管理是我国各大城市共同面临的环境保护问题。地方餐厨垃圾管理立法已经起步,并以较快的速度在发展。但地方餐厨垃圾管理立法在立法目的、立法内容等方面存在缺陷,我国应对此加以完善,并建立餐厨垃圾有偿收集制度、餐厨垃圾管理信息公开制度等各项制度。     

我国地方政府政策评估困境的政策生态学分析——兼析S市车牌拍卖政策评估

政策评估对检验政策效果、确定政策走向、明确政策责任、推进民主参与、优化资源配置、教育和动员公众等方面具有重要意义,但实际中,地方政府政策评估存在许多困境,影响了其效果.本文运用政策生态学理论,结合S市政府具体政策,阐述地方政府政策评估困境及其成因,以期完善政策评估制度.