China's Politics and Bilateral Trade Linkages

Abstract

China's position in the world economy during the past half-century provides vital information for investigating the relation between politics and trade. Although there is a substantial number of studies in this area, the current study extends the literature in at least three ways: (1) it is one of the first studies that investigates the problem of a potential sample selection bias—as a result of the fact that countries taken up in the analysis are not randomly sampled from all countries in the world; (2) it considers third-country effects that follow from the fact that China's relation with any two countries is affected by the relation between these countries themselves; and (3) it tests the impact of five political arrangements simultaneously, which is more comprehensive than any former study. By using data as to 78 of China's trade partners over the 1950–2002 period, this study provides empirical evidence for the hypotheses that the establishment of diplomatic relations, cooperation, visits of heads of states and political system similarity are associated with greater trade flows. The hypothesis that member countries of a Preferential Trading Agreement have had smaller trade flows with China, which is no member of any of these Preferential Trading Agreements, is not supported by the results.     

试析当代西方绿色政治理论的形成与影响

当代西方社会政治运动中出现了一种新兴思想流派——绿色政治理论。它随着环保运动的深入发展和绿党在西方政坛的崛起,对西方社会产生了越来越广泛的影响。它是在科学技术高度发展、地球生态环境急剧恶化、资本主义社会危机日益严重和世界和平运动深入开展的形势下产生的。这一理论对人类传统的价值理念、西方社会政治生活和政坛产生了巨大的冲击,对我国社会主义现代化建设也具有重要的借鉴意义     

Don't call me a populist! The meaning of populism for western European parties and politicians

In recent years a common understanding of the core elements of populist communication has been achieved in academia. Yet, we know less about how the term populism is used by political parties themselves, despite widespread assumptions about the use of populism as a battle term to disqualify competitors. Based on a quantitative and qualitative content analysis of Twitter content from mainstream and populist actors in six western European countries, this study finds that populism is indeed used by mainstream parties in a pejorative way in order to label political competitors. Yet, not only populist but also mainstream competitors are labeled populist by the center parties linking a variety of different negative meanings to the term, which are often of a less demonizing nature not questioning the legitimacy of others. Populists in Italy and France refer to the term in a positive way, while Spanish and German populists rather reject the label.     

Political Finance Regimes in Southeast Asia: Introduction

ABSTRACT

The three articles in this themed collection investigate the interplay between political finance regimes and the quality of democracy in Southeast Asia. Andreas Ufen's piece on political finance in Malaysia and Singapore argues that the semi-authoritarian regimes in both states have blocked the reform of campaign and party funding regulations in order to keep their opposition in check. The article on Indonesia, authored by Marcus Mietzner, showcases the country's dysfunctional political finance system as a major hurdle toward further democratization. In their contribution on Thailand, Napisa Waitoolkiat and Paul Chambers show that weak political finance regulations have contributed significantly to the shallowness of Thai parties. Overall, the collection demonstrates that without meaningful political finance reforms, Southeast Asia's democratic stagnation is likely to persist for many years to come.     

增强社会主义意识形态的吸引力和凝聚力——基于高校思想政治教育工作的考量

增强社会主义意识形态的吸引力和凝聚力，是党的十七大提出的文化建设的重大战略任务。当代大学生是我国青年人中知识较丰富、思想较敏锐的群体，是祖国的未来、民族的希望。在社会思想大活跃、观念大碰撞、文化大交融的背景下，如何保证和增强社会主义意识形态对大学生群体的吸引力和凝聚力，这是社会主义意识形态领域中备受关注的内容之一，也是大学生思想政治教育中遇到的一个重大课题。积极探索增强社会主义意识形态对大学生吸引力的有效途径，对于在全社会开展社会主义核心价值体系的宣传教育，增强社会主义意识形态的吸引力和凝聚力大有裨益。     

试论中国特色政党制度功能与价值的变动规律

中国特色政党制度的功能与价值在不同的历史时期呈现出不同的特点，在同一历史时期不同功能发挥的强弱也有较大差异。这表明：政党制度的功能与价值在特定的历史阶段有主导与非主导方面，但随着社会政治生态和社会结构的变迁其主导与非主导方面也是变动不居的。对中国特色政党制度功能与价值的主导与非主导方面及其变动规律进行研究，明确现阶段我国政党制度功能与价值建设的着力点，可以为推进中国特色政党制度发展提供必要的目标指向。     

基于政治现代化的角度看新时期党的执政能力建设

中国共产党自成立起就有着鲜明的政治现代化导向,并一直在为实现中国社会的政治现代化进行着理论探索和实践活动。作为中国政治现代化的领导者,中国共产党只有不断加强执政能力建设,才能适应政治现代化的要求,并推进中国政治现代化的进程。与时俱进,实现党的政治现代化是顺应时代的历史要求,是执政党执政能力建设的根本问题;政治现代化的首要问题是政策现代化,需要有干部队伍和思想理论现代化的有效支持;执政体制改革是党的政治现代化建设的关键,它须以党的组织制度的民主建设为前提。     

Parties, rules and government legislative control in Central Europe: The case of Poland

A distinguishing feature of Central European polities is a strong policy-shaping role of parliaments. This article demonstrates how party political and procedural factors set the scene for the executive's loss of legislative control in Poland. Parties undermine the governmental grip because of their limited internal cohesion and competitive coalitional strategies. Parliamentary rules reinforce such party effects. The executive can shield its bills from amendments by relying mainly on partisan controls, not formal privileges. But, as an analysis of over 300 bills shows, when party discipline and coalition cooperation are in short supply, partisan controls are ineffective as instruments of legislative control.     

用社会主义核心价值体系统领高校思想政治理论课

思想政治理论课作为大学生思想政治教育的主阵地,要把社会主义核心价值体系切实融入其成长成才全过程,立足实效性,创新思想政治理论课.其中教师是关键,课堂是重点,网络是软肋,环境是难点.