(Re‐)join the party! The effects of direct democracy on party membership in Europe

It has been argued that political parties are in decline. While they used to be responsible for connecting citizens to the state by translating their preferences into policies, they have increasingly become part of the state, acting as governors instead. While this perspective emphasises parties’ representative function, it is less clear what their role is in a more direct democratic context. Parties may gain support due to such context, but they may also be seen increasingly redundant in a situation where citizens can co‐decide directly. Focusing on party membership, this study tests these rival expectations on a panel of 16 West European democracies over the period 1980–2008 and finds that parties tend to have higher levels of party membership in a direct democratic context. The usage of referendums, however, does not contribute to this effect.     

李贽与西学

李贽晚年阐说《诗》义、发挥《学》《庸》、精研《易》理,似可看作是对利玛窦以基督教义来“合儒、补儒、超儒”的回应;他以华夏民族为天神之子,是对罗明坚宣扬的“圣灵降孕而生耶稣说”的回应,亦似可看作力图使基督教信仰中国化的最初尝试;以孔子“敬鬼神而远之”之义来批评各种求媚于鬼神的迷信活动和假道学的大言诓人,畅论不可谓祭天为祭理,亦不可谓祭气,是对利玛窦学说的发挥;其《明灯道古录》着力表彰与基督教哲学最近似的墨子学说,似乎也有寻求与西学的会通、使基督教信仰中国化的意味;其最后一部重要著作《九正易因》,从“万物统以乾元”推出“人人各正一乾之元”,因而“各具有是首出庶物之资”,更展示了一种以哲学代宗教的新思路。     

Dealing with populists in government: a framework for analysis

There is growing research on populist actors and their impact on the democratic system, but little has been written on how to deal with populist actors in government. To respond to this question, in this article we develop a theoretical framework that distinguishes three levels of analysis. First, we identify the set of domestic and external actors that can try to cope with the coming into power of populist forces. Second, we offer an overview of the different strategies that can be employed to react against populist actors in government. Third, we argue that it is important to consider the timing of the reactions. In addition, we also present a brief summary of the articles that are part of this special issue.     

Three decades of populist radical right parties in Western Europe: So what?

The populist radical right constitutes the most successful party family in postwar Western Europe. Many accounts in both academia and the media warn of the growing influence of populist radical right parties (PRRPs), the so‐called ‘verrechtsing’ (or right turn) of European politics, but few provide empirical evidence of it. This lecture provides a first comprehensive analysis of the alleged effects of the populist radical right on the people, parties, policies and polities of Western Europe. The conclusions are sobering. The effects are largely limited to the broader immigration issue, and even here PRRPs should be seen as catalysts rather than initiators, who are neither a necessary nor a sufficient condition for the introduction of stricter immigration policies. The lecture ends by providing various explanations for the limited impact of PRRPs, but it is also argued that populist parties are not destined for success in opposition and failure in government. In fact, there are at least three reasons why PRRPs might increase their impact in the near future: the tabloidisation of political discourse; the aftermath of the economic crisis; and the learning curve of PRRPs. Even in the unlikely event that PRRPs will become major players in West European politics, it is unlikely that this will lead to a fundamental transformation of the political system. PRRPs are not a normal pathology of European democracy, unrelated to its basic values, but a pathological normalcy, which strives for the radicalisation of mainstream values.     

Social movements amidst democratic transitions: Lessons from the Brazilian countryside

Democratic transitions represent unique opportunities in which movements of the poor can coalesce, place their demands on the national agenda, and institutionalise their access to authoritative decision‐making centres. The opportunities and constraints movements of the poor face during transitions, however, remain little understood and under‐theorised. This study develops an analytic approach that links national‐level democratisation processes to the local‐level movement dynamics that make collective action possible, particularly the creation and reproduction of collective identities and organisational structures. The approach theorises how changing elite alliance patterns during transition cycles, and redefinition of institutional linkages that bind state and society, shape the opportunities and constraints movements face at successive stages of democratic transitions. The utility of this approach is demonstrated by examining the new unionism in rural Brazil, in that country's democratic transition during the 1980s.     

The Role of FDI,Exports and Spillover Effects in the Regional Development of China

The objective of this analysis is to assess the impacts of export expansion, inward FDI, domestic investment and labour on the growth of China's Eastern, Central and Western regions using panel data over the period 1984 to 1998. A major contribution of the study is its tests for the presence of interregional spillover effects. The study indicates that both inward FDI and domestic investment stimulate growth in all three regions and for the PRC as a whole and that export expansion stimulates the growth of the PRC, Eastern and Central China, but not the West. Labour enhances the growth of the more traditional Western region, but not the more capital intensive Eastern seaboard or the PRC in its entirety. Finally, output growth spills over from the East to Western and Central China and from the Central area to Western China. These results are fully explained in the text.     

Circumnavigating de-Westernisation: Theoretical reflexivities in researching political communication in Africa

Abstract

Based on theoretical considerations in the course of the author's current research on the conducting of and changes in political campaign communication in post-1990 Cameroon, this article revisits central discourses on the de-Westernisation of communications studies and outlines culturally-nested theoretical considerations to comprehensively study the practices and changes in political campaign communication in Africa. The article argues that although drawing on supposedly ‘Western’ theories, overall the proposed theoretical considerations constitute an example of a more viable approach to de-Westernise communications theory. The considerations have strong potential to improve our understanding of political campaign communication practices and the changes they may effect in Africa, if they are incorporated into research and not discarded simply on the grounds of regional exceptionalism, as is predominantly the case in Africa.     

西方国家放宽经济制裁背景下的缅甸经济发展前景

西方国家对缅甸实施长期经济制裁,深刻影响了缅甸的经济发展。2011年3月,缅甸新政府执政以来,采取了一系列政治经济改革举措,得到国际社会普遍认可,也促使西方国家放宽对缅甸的经济制裁。在此背景下,缅甸未来经济发展潜力巨大,但也面临诸多问题和挑战。     

The difference of Chinese legalism and western legalism

This paper analyzes the origin of Chinese legalism, its major propositions and characteristics. It compares the difference between Chinese legalism and other Chinese philosophies including Confucianism, Taoism and Mohism. It also discloses the difference of Chinese legalism and Western legalism in relation with morality. Western legalism defended the rule-of-law but argued against the morality of law. In contrast, Chinese legalism, especially in the early Pre-Qin era, did not separate morality from law. However, the fidelity to law in Chinese legalism was interpreted as the fidelity to the monarch, and thus being different from the Western rule-of-law.