Public commitment strategies in intergovernmental negotiations on the EU Constitutional Treaty

We analyze the impact of public commitment strategies as bargaining tools in the negotiations on the EU Constitutional Treaty using a sequential-bargaining model with incomplete information. The analysis suggests selection bias in observable public commitments with respect to the kind of issues that are publicly challenged as well as the kind of governments that will ‘go public’. Public commitments are more likely under high uncertainty over audience costs. Further, the effect of public commitments on the duration and outcome of negotiation is conditional as well. In our empirical analysis, where we analyze the intergovernmental stage of the negotiations on the European Constitutional Treaty, we find strong empirical support for each of our theoretical predictions. Governments were most likely to commit publicly if they represented a domestic constituency that was negative about the EU Constitution and, at the same time, contained many undecided respondents. Moreover, these public commitments were generally quickly accommodated. In contrast, public commitments were less likely to lead to any changes if they were made by governments representing a domestic constituency that was relatively positive about the draft Constitution or negative and decided. In the latter case, however, public statements made bargaining deadlock more likely.

Jewish Religiosity and Political Attitudes in the United States and Israel

Does religious commitment have a common political impact across national frontiers? To date, that question has been explored empirically only for Roman Catholics, who might be expected to behave similarly because of centralizing resources in their tradition. This article explores the extent of transnational political attitudes among Jews in the United States and Israel, two groups with less centralized authority structures and radically different religious situations. Parallel surveys of Jews in the United States and Israel, analyzed by OLS regression with the slope dummy approach, indicate that Jewish religiosity has a common influence on most political issues but often has much sharper effects in one society than the other. Given our expectation that Jews would exhibit lower levels of transnational similarity than Roman Catholics, the findings reinforce scholars who perceive religion as a potent transnational political factor.     

Antecedents and consequences of interpersonal trust： An empirical study

The main purpose of this paper is to explore the effect of empowerment, participation and feedback as antecedents of interpersonal trust and organizational commitment and productivity as consequences of interpersonal trust. This study also attempts to find the influence of empowerment, participation and feedback on positive organizational outcomes such as organizational commitment and productivity. A quantitative research design was employed. Data were collected through survey instrument from 186 participants comprising professional, administrative and support staff working in one municipality of Istanbul （Turkey） government. The research results indicate that interpersonal trust is vital to positive organizational outcomes such as organizational commitment and productivity and to enhance the interpersonal trust and positive organizational outcomes, which are characterized by empowerment, participation and feedback are very important.     

司法精神病鉴定基本问题研究

近年来我国刑事司法实践中曝光的若干典型个案凸显精神病鉴定的混乱状况。实证调研发现,精神病鉴定自身的特征——对象的复杂性、过程的回溯性、知识背景的跨学科性、手段的有限性与结论的主观性,影响到其客观性与可信度。目前精神病鉴定存在的问题主要包括启动难、鉴定过程中医学与法学学科错位、诉讼权利保障机制欠缺、强制医疗制度带有行政化特征以及鉴定体制改革引发的问题。应当在坚持职权主义启动模式的基础上,对部分死刑案件增设强制启动机制,增设申请启动鉴定的上诉途径,细化启动考量标准;司法精神病专家与法律职业群体之间应当重新分工;应当增设被鉴定人由于鉴定导致人身自由被剥夺的法定强制措施以及在专家辅助人的帮助下对鉴定意见的质证权;强制医疗程序应当进行司法化改造并通过社会化途径加强执行能力;在鉴定管理体制上,应当取消现有鉴定主体限于医院的规定,恢复等级化的体系设置并建立鉴定人准入与培养机制。     

Does commitment affect the meaning of fairness?: Commonality and stability of fairness criteria in a political setting

This study explored political fairness criteria in Japan: examining their commonality and stability. Respondents were divided into three groups according to their commitment to the incumbent Government, as measured by neutrality, trust, and respect. Regression analyses revealed that Procedural Fairness was the commonly used criterion in judging the total fairness of the consumption tax. Citizens' commitment affected fairness criteria and their relative weights. Another regression analysis was performed to examine the meaning of procedural fairness. A comparison with our previous study (Takenishi and Takenishi, 1990) indicated that the procedural fairness criteria remained stable: however, voice became a criterion because of the Government's campaign. Results suggested than democratic ethicality, which consists of social values and beliefs, was important.Each author contributed equally.     

多边主义与东亚高政治合作

中国在国际关系中积极倡导多边主义,充分体现了中国外交与时俱进的精神和当代中国外交文化的先进性内涵.推动东亚政治合作是面向21世纪中国奉行多边主义外交战略的重要步骤,它事关东亚能否崛起为世界重要一极.中国在东亚的多边主义战略目标是构建一个和谐的东亚政治经济和安全环境.由于传统和历史的原因,东亚国家一直比较重视在"低政治"领域展开合作,但对"高政治"领域的合作却畏首畏尾,显得比较缓慢和迟钝.其实,东亚国家在战后初期就存在着大国主导"高政治"领域合作的空间.东亚虽然是世界主要的文明发祥地、战后各主要国家也先后实现了经济的起飞,但是政治上的作用却未能很好发挥出来.相反,东亚却成为霸权主义和强权政治轻易得手和随意操纵的地方,特别是由于政治合作意愿淡薄,直接导致了东亚大国政治上的分散化和政治问题的频繁发生,进而也威胁到经济社会发展领域,中日关系就是一个突出的例子.解决朝核问题的多边主义模式应该机制化,这是东亚"高政治"合作的重要起点,而中国应该成为该机制化过程中的主导力量.     

Implicit Consitutional Change-Changing the Meaning of the Constitution Without Changing the Text of the Document

Constitutional change is often thought of as explicit constitutional change, i.e., as change that implies a modified wording of the constitutional document. In this paper, the possibilities of implicit constitutional change, i.e., change that is not accompanied by formally changing the constitution, are analyzed. The separation of powers a la Montesquieu is taken as a starting point and it will be argued that constitutional change can be brought about by all government branches, i.e., by the executive, the legislature, and the judiciary. If this argument is accepted it follows that the judiciary-even when endowed with the competence of judicial review-is not the ultimate arbiter in supervising constitutional change. It is the main hypothesis of this paper that the judiciary in bringing about implicit constitutional change is subject to a number of constraints among which the original document plays a rather marginal role. Instead, it is claimed that the current preferences of the other government organs as well as those of the population are more relevant in ascertaining the meaning of the constitution at a given point in time.     

Community not the Councillors: A Study of Commitment of Australian Senior Council Officers Working under a Politicised Employment Relationship

Council officers as public managers are expected to work for the community. Yet, it has been argued that council officers working under a politicised employment relationship are likely to be more committed to the elected councillors than to the community. This proposition has been examined through a survey of senior council officers across Australia and the results are presented in this article. This study develops an analytical approach which combines for the first time the multi-focus and the multiple bases of managerial commitment approaches, applies this to the case of Australian local government managers and finds that although most senior council officers perceive that their employment is politicised they remain committed to the community. Based upon these findings, it is argued that a conceptual framework utilising a combined multi-focus and multiple bases approach is more appropriate to the study of commitment of local government managers and to managers in the public sector in general than the use of either approach alone.     

JOURNEY FROM SUCCESS TO SIGNIFICANCE

One of the most important journeys that we can take as individuals is the journey from success to significance. Success is what we become and what we achieve when we value ourselves. Significance, however, is what we become and what we achieve when we value others. In this article, based on remarks by Judge David W. Young at the May 2007 “Summit on Unified Family Courts,” Judge Young invites us on a journey, first described by John Maxwell in The Journey from Success to Significance. Judge Young further explores what the journey from success to significance entails and reminds us that any success we have will leave the world with us while our significance will continue to live on in future generations through our service to children, families, and others.     

Credibility and Flexibility: Political Institutions,Governance, and Foreign Direct Investment

This article argues that the relationship between political institutions and foreign direct investment is both nonlinear and conditional upon status quo policies. The empirical analysis demonstrates an inverted U-shaped relationship between political institutions and foreign direct investment in developing countries, with four veto players being the most attractive institutional arrangement. Countries with too few or too many veto players are not favored because of either high policy uncertainty or high policy rigidity. In addition, the benefits and costs of credibility and flexibility vary in good times and hard times. The benefits of maintaining status quo tend to outweigh the costs in countries with good initial regulatory environment. The costs of maintaining status quo tend to outweigh the benefits when countries are more vulnerable to exogenous shocks.