把握宪法根本 维护公民权利

宪法的核心和根本是对公民在国家生活和 社会生活中享有的基本权利和自由予以确认和保障，准确理解宪法这一精神实质，分析探讨维护公民宪法权利的难题和应对措施，对于进一步完善和贯彻落实宪法有着至关重要的影响，也是构建以人为本的民主法治社会需要面对和解决的一个重大课题。     

社会契约论与市民社会理论的早期发展

市民社会理论研究是当前中国社会现代化理论研究中的一个重要的领域。市民社会理论以社会与国家的关系为核心,试图为中国的现代化发展提供一条自下而上的现代化发展的思路,这种研究是非常有益的。     

《新时代公民道德建设实施纲要》的新义解读－－基于两个《纲要》比较的研究

《新时代公民道德建设实施纲要》立足于中国特色社会主义新时代的历史背景，阐释了公民道德建设的诸多新义：结合中国特色社会主义新时代的社会转型背景阐释了当代中国公民道德建设的新形势下，实现中华优秀传统道德文化的创新性现代转化开掘其世界意义的文化使命；在公民道德建设的内容方面，阐明了个人品德作为公民道德建设第四个着力点的必要性及个人品德建设中的实践问题；在实践举措方面，提出了全学科、全过程、全阵地的道德教育理念；阐明了社会新媒介化态势下公民道德建设的新任务；加强网络空间道德建设与道德领域热点问题的引导。在公共政策的设计、制定和实施执行方面，明确了公共政策的道德要求，提出了加强对公共政策道德风险与道德效果评估的新要求。     

Making Citizen Participation Work: The Challenging Search for New Forms of Local Democracy in The Netherlands

Governance theory shows that governments no longer operate as actors that take unilateral decisions but instead have to share power and influence with various other actors. There is also a large body of literature that shows a growing discontent with (local) democracy. These two trends lead various local governments to either reaffirm representative democracy, or to introduce elements of direct participatory democracy. In practice the combination of the two – representative and direct participatory democracy – can be problematic. This paper describes the experiences of Hoogeveen, a medium-sized municipality in the Netherlands with a far-reaching programme of direct participatory democracy. In Hoogeveen, local residents can decide on yearly budgets for their neighbourhood and become involved in the long-term planning of its development. The Hoogeveen case shows that direct participatory and representative democracy can be balanced with the help of (1) connecting arrangements, (2) professional connectors and (3) steady political support.     

Using Appreciative Inquiry to Engage the Citizenry: Four Potential Challenges for Public Administrators

In the United States, calls for new citizen engagement strategies have continued to grow at the local government level. One answer is Appreciative Inquiry. As part of a larger study conducted in 2007, the question was posed to public administrators, “What challenges do you see regarding using an Appreciative Inquiry approach to increase citizen participation in local government?” Findings based on a content analysis of the data identified four challenges in particular. Discussion suggests public managers need to be aware of these challenges but depending on local conditions they can be mitigated or overcome.     

Citizen Participation in German and Spanish Local Governments: A Comparative Study

In recent decades, citizens have become more and more disenchanted with the traditional institutions of representative government, detached from political parties, and disillusioned with old forms of civic engagement and participation. This has favored a renewed interest in citizen engagement and citizen participation and a growing re-emergence in academic and political discourse of ideas and values of community, localism, and citizen participation. This article analyzes the main objectives and the actual implementation of citizen participation initiatives in the local governments of two European Continental countries, Germany and Spain. The aim is to find out the factors that affect the possible decoupling between the objectives and the “real” uses of citizen participation. Our results show that most local governments in these two countries are using citizen participation only to increase the level of perceived legitimacy or to comply minimally with legal requirements, without really taking advantage of citizen participation to enhance decision-making processes. These findings confirm that institutional theory becomes the rationale to explain the implementation of citizen participation in these two European Continental countries.     

Citizens' Learning,Involvement, and Participation in Decision-Making Under the Democratic Ethos: A Theoretical Framework and the Israeli Experience

Public administration literature usually assumes that citizens' participation in administrative decision-making (PDM) processes can improve public sector performance and trust. In this article, we question the universality of this assumption, arguing that PDM processes will have positive results in terms of performance and trust only when there are available channels to influence policy outcomes and democratic participatory behavior. We construct theoretical arguments based on a mechanism of social learning and illustrate them by reference to the case of Israel. The framework highlights the centrality and importance of culture and social characters for the study and planning of public administration reforms.     

The relationship between disorder,perceived risk,and collective efficacy: a look into the indirect pathways of the broken windows thesis

The broken windows thesis suggests that disorder is a key part of a cycle of community decline that leaves neighborhoods vulnerable to crime. Some recent research has challenged this thesis by finding limited support for a direct relationship between disorder and crime. However, others argued that such studies ignore the indirect pathways posited in the thesis. The current study sheds light on this debate by examining the relationships between disorder, fear of crime, and collective efficacy and finds support for the relationships suggested by the broken windows model. However, the findings also suggest that the model is overly simplistic and needs to consider other mediating factors in addition to fear. Additionally, the findings show that perceptions of disorder may have different impacts for residents of an area vs. people who work at a business in the area. Implications for theory and policy are discussed.     

马萨诸塞州诉美国联邦环保局案的述评

马萨诸塞州诉美国联邦环保局案是美国第一件具有里程碑意义的气候变化公益诉讼案件,该案体现了美国各州和民间力量通过公民诉讼方式促进政府采取温室气体减排行动的艰巨努力。该案从联邦上诉法院一审到联邦最高法院再审,始终存在较大争议,其中关于原告诉讼资格的争议更是人声鼎沸。在联邦最高法院判决中,原告仅以微弱优势胜诉。尽管关于原告胜诉的理由仍有颇多争议,但该案在明确温室气体属于《清洁空气法》的调整范围、拓展气候变化公民诉讼原告的诉讼资格以及确立公民诉讼可以促进政府采取减排行动等方面,都具有非常积极的意义。