Cabinet Government in the Twentieth Century

This paper examines the main features of the cabinet system as it had emerged during the twentieth century, and which Jennings did so much to crystallize in his pioneering study on Cabinet Government. It then assesses the main changes that have occurred over successive administrations since the late 1970s, and concludes that even if cabinet government seemed to return in 1990 and 2003, it was without the cabinet system that had underpinned and made it effective in the past.     

Organizing to rule: structure,agent, and explaining presidential management styles in Africa

Recent studies of comparative presidentialism have emphasized the importance of informal relationships between presidents and other political actors in explaining how presidents build governing coalitions. What has generally been under-investigated in the literature is how the characteristics of “presidents as agents” impact how they interact with other political actors – in particular, how presidents relate to their cabinets in terms of turnover and inclusiveness. We hypothesize that presidents who were former rebel leaders will behave very differently from presidents that do not have such backgrounds. To test our hypotheses, we collected data from 36 countries that are classified either as presidential or semi-presidential systems in Africa with 93 individual presidential administrations from 1990 to 2009. We found that presidents who were former rebel leaders were less likely to have major cabinet turnovers than other presidents. However, former rebel leaders did not have less politically inclusive cabinets (at least in partisan terms) but did have less ethnically inclusive cabinets than presidents with other backgrounds. The results suggest that agent characteristics, that is, the previous experiences of the president as a decision maker, are as important as the structural constraints he or she faces.     

超市自动存包服务法律性质探析

超市自动存包服务的法律性质应当视顾客的行为具体分析:当顾客进入超市消费成为消费者时,自动存包服务是商家的附属服务,消费者寄存物丢失毁损的,消费者可以依照《消费者权益保护法》获得赔偿;当顾客进入超市尚未消费而未成为消费者时,超市自动存包柜服务是商家的先契约义务,其利用超市自动存包柜寄存的物品发生丢失毁损的,顾客可以依据《合同法》,诉之法院获得赔偿。     

Cabinet ministers and inequality

Scholars and commentators increasingly wonder whether governments’ failure to address socio-economic inequalities is the result of unequal representation. Recent literature on policy responsiveness in the United States and Europe finds evidence that party and parliamentary policy proposals and actual policy outcomes are closer to the preferences of the rich than of the poor. However, the extent and character of such unequal representation remains thinly understood. Among the most thinly understood mechanisms are the political conditions that link socio-economic inequalities to unequal representation. This paper thickens our understanding of (unequal) representation by investigating the class composition of parliamentary cabinets and its effect on social welfare policy. With the aid of a new dataset on cabinet ministers’ social class, the paper shows that responsiveness to the social welfare preferences of poorer voters varies by cabinet ministers’ professional backgrounds, above and beyond the partisan orientation of the government.     

The United Kingdom National Security Strategy: the Need for New Bearings in Security Policy

The first ever UK National Security Strategy statement reflect shifts in perspective on the nature of security concerns and the character of risks and threats in an era of globalisation. However, the UK National Security Strategy itself is a major disappointment. It fails as an attempt to conceive of a genuine strategy. It also fails to engage explicitly and fully with key imperatives for UK security policy, such as Islamist terrorism and the emerging power of China. However, the UK National Security Strategy, despite being weak and disappointing, offers important new bearings on where the National Security Strategy and the government's means to security policy should go from here, identifying areas to strengthen and develop national security structures.     

三木内阁的“等距离外交”与中日缔约谈判

三木内阁试图利用中苏矛盾在两国之间奉行“等距离外交”，一方面表示要全力推进中日缔约，稳步发展中日友好关系，以此提高对苏交涉地位；另一方面又不想开罪苏联，在中日缔约上施加种种限制，积极推动日苏对话，以增加对关战略博弈的资本，加重对中国谈判的筹码。三木内阁企图从中苏对抗中渔翁得利、两头通吃的作法反而使日本在苏联的压力下陷入被动，也引起了美国的反感和否定，从而使其推行的“等距离外交”在实践中四处碰壁，而不得不草草收场。     

宋教仁政治思想研究综述

宋教仁是我国著名的资产阶级革命家、政治家、民主宪政的积极倡导者。研究宋教仁,不仅对研究辛亥革命有典型意义,而且对我国当代民主宪政思想资源的丰富、民主宪政的建设具有积极意义。     

From Blair to Brown: The Condition of British Government

Peter Hennessy examines the conduct of central government since 1997, especially Cabinet processes during the build-up to the Iraq war of 2003. He discusses the degree to which both Blair and Brown over the past months have appeared to run against aspects of the governing style of the administrations they have jointly dominated. He assesses what Gordon Brown's floated idea of a written constitution might mean in practical terms and makes a particular case for a War Powers Act.     

Word on the Street: The Persistence of Leftist-dominated Protest in Europe

Classic studies of protest politics have traditionally defended the dominant left-wing orientation of protesters. However, some recent research has highlighted the general spread of protest by the increasing participation of right-wing individuals. Has this process meant an ‘ideological normalisation’ of protesters? The present article tackles this question by examining competing hypotheses regarding the relationship between ideology and political protest. Through a hierarchical multilevel design, the article tests whether left-wing (or right-wing) supporters are more likely to stay at home when left-wing (right-wing) parties are in power and whether they intensify their protest activities when they are more distant from the government’s ideological position. The article shows that left-wing individuals protest more under right-wing governments than under left-wing governments and yet, they are the group which protest the most also under left-wing governments. Both party mobilisation and values appear to be behind these individuals' greater propensity to participate regardless of the governments' ideological orientation.     

近代日本宪政党内阁研究

宪政党内阁在日本近代政治史上开辟了一个重要的历史阶段,以本届内阁为转折点,在此之前持续的萨长藩阀交替执政的政权模式宣告终结。作为近代日本政党内阁的首度尝试,宪政党内阁时期出现了猎官、内部倾轧、与藩阀势力妥协等一系列负面现象。由于宪政党内阁是由藩阀开明势力的代表——元老伊藤博文推荐产生,而以山县有朋为代表的诸元老鉴于当时藩阀政府难以掌控政权,故被迫在表面上同意宪政党组阁。因此,无论是在宪政党最初组阁还是在其施政过程中,都受到以山县有朋为代表的元老、官僚、贵族院、军部势力的掣肘,加之宪政党内部的明争暗斗,由此导致了宪政党分裂和宪政党内阁瓦解。