How interest groups influence public opinion: Arguments matter more than the sources

Through what mechanism do interest groups shape public opinion on concrete policies? In this article, three hypotheses are proposed that distinguish between the effect of the arguments conveyed by interest groups and the effect of interest groups as source cues. Two survey experiments on the proposed Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TIPP) and the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change allow the testing of these hypotheses. The resulting evidence from several countries shows that, with respect to interest groups’ attempts at shaping public opinion, arguments matter more than their sources. This is so even when accounting for people's trust in the interest groups that serve as source cues and for people's level of information about a policy. The finding that interest groups affect public opinion via arguments rather than as source cues has implications for the literature on elite influence on public opinion and the normative evaluation of interest group activities.     

文化、文明、民族

文明是文化的实体,文化是文明中最根本的东西。文化水平的高低上可以看出一个国家、一个民族或者一个社会的文明程度。文化是文明的沃土,文明是文化的结晶。文化中产生文明,而在文明中产生新的文化。没有文化环境就不可能有文明的成果。文化多样性是一种客观存在,它标志着各个不同民族的并存。因为,文化的最大的、最直接的载体就是民族。对中国而言,中华文化不是某一单一民族的文化,它是中国各民族共同创造的文化。因此,它不需要分层次,更不允许划等级。必须承认,文化既是民族的生存方式,也是不同民族的精神家园。     

法治文明的二元权力观解读

在对权力这一现象的研究中,不少人已开始注意到国家权力和社会权力的对立冲突对于法治建设的巨大影响,特别是近年来,社会权力的蓬勃发展更加强了人们对它进行深刻认识的要求。马克思主义的经典理论在讨论权力这一社会现象时,也肯定了权力最初起源于社会,只是当阶级分化、国家出现后,权力才集中于国家手中。因此,在建设法治文明的过程中,必须要以国家权力与社会权力和谐并存的二元权力范式来构建我们的制度。     

Multinational-firm responses to an Asian-crisis comeback: evidence from European transnationals

Abstract

Despite many predictions to the contrary, the Republic of Korea (ROK) is currently one of the countries with most pro-American attitudes. We investigate what is behind the extraordinary resilience in US popular standing in an allegedly least likely setting. Using survey data from 2002 and 2007 and a novel methodology, Classification and Regression Tree models, we test whether US standing is: (1) a matter of interests, i.e. a reward that the USA receives because it either provides security or international public goods; or (2) whether it is a matter of image, i.e. the recognition that the USA is a role model to emulate. We find that across a large number of predictors, the Korean public mostly liked the USA because they liked American ways of doing business, which gives support to the image hypothesis. Security interests played a secondary role in shaping US standing, while the provision of international public goods had no impact in the popular assessment of the USA in the ROK.     

法治反腐:党的十八大报告的一大亮点

党的十八大报告的重大亮点之一是法治反腐。其主要表现在四个方面:健全反腐败法律制度,更加科学有效地防治腐败;规范和制约公权力的行使,确保国家机关按照法定权限和程序行使权力;完善权力公开制度和权力监督体系,让权力在阳光下运行;依法惩治腐败分子,安全文明办案。法治反腐是众望所归,也是反腐败斗争向纵深发展的必然趋势。     

Crime: The amount and disparity of sentencing – A comparison of corporate and occupational white collar criminals

Research carried out previously, aimed at examining differences in the length of the sentencing and type of offence, have typically compared white collar and street criminality. The main aim of the current study is to examine the differences in sentence length for white collar occupational and corporate offenders from street crime offenses and to identify which factors eventually could explain such differences. The crime amount was smaller in occupational convictions despite the fact that the average crime amount was significantly less in this group compared to the crime amount among corporate criminals. Socioeconomic status and company size were not found to be associated with the length of the sentence. We discuss whether the difference in length of the sentence could be explained by the fact that occupational crime is committed for the criminals' own purposes or enrichment, while this is often not the case among corporate criminals.     

美国调整对华战略及其影响

小布什入主白宫后，美国新政府便开始调整对华战略，将克林顿时期的对华“接触　＋遏制”战略，改为“遏制＋接触”。其原因是小布什政府看到了对华战略的侧重点发生了　重大变化，其动机是企图达到谋取建立世界政治、军事、经济和文化霸权的目的。美国调　整对华战略，必将对我国的国家安全造成新的威胁，对此，我们应予以正确的评估。     

Presidential mandates and ministerial institutions: Summitry of the Americas, the Organization of American States (OAS) and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB)

The periodic Summits of the Americas are the highest form of regional multilateralism in the Western Hemisphere, but summits lack their own means to implement their mandates. Hence, Summit Plans of Action assign many initiatives to existing regional institutions, especially the Organization of American States (OAS) and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). But a notable difference exists in the character and degree to which these two institutions have responded to their unfunded mandates, in that the OAS has become “nested” under the hierarchy of summitry, while the IDB has eschewed subordination in favor of a “parallel” relationship pursuing largely convergent activities. Relying on extensive interviews and reviews of open source and internal documents, six variables are found to explain this differential response: ministerial authorities, competing mandates, institutional missions, internal structures, membership and leadership. Yet for both regional institutions there remains a wide gap between the directives emanating from the Summits and what the two regional institutions have been—and could be—accomplishing. The study concludes with recommendations to improve institutional design. JEL codes L31 · F42 · F02 · D73 · F1     

深入贯彻党的十六大精神开创共青团工作新局面

深入学习贯彻党的十六大精神,就是要高举一面伟大旗帜,坚持三个理论品质;就是要结合河北实际,树正气、讲团结、求发展;就是要明确一个奋斗目标,投身三个文明实践,团结带领团员青年在全面建设小康社会的伟大征程中建功立业;就是要立足发展一个要务,推进团的三项建设,全面开创新世纪新阶段共青团工作的新局面。     

关于中国政治体制改革的理论思考

改革开放以来,关于政治体制改革的研究成果很多,但鲜有从党代会报告的角度进行研究的。而作为改革两大主体工程之一,十二大以来,政治体制改革成为历届党代会报告的重要内容,报告成为中国政治体制改革的指挥棒和指南针。本文拟从党代会报告的角度对中国政治体制改革进行分析和探讨,着重谈了党政关系改革、选举制度改革、行政体制改革、依法治国和社会主义政治文明几个方面。