Attitudes to voting rules and electoral system preferences: Evidence from the 1999 and 2003 Scottish Parliament elections

Researchers have paid little attention to the way citizens evaluate different electoral systems. This reflects the limited knowledge citizens are presumed to have about alternative electoral arrangements. However, the establishment of a legislature under new electoral rules creates conditions in which citizens can make more informed judgements. Such a situation occurred with the establishment of the Scottish Parliament in 1999, elected under the Additional Member system. Using data collected in 1999 and 2003, we consider Scottish voters’ reactions to the new electoral rules. We examine how voters evaluated various features and outcomes of the rules, the structure of voters’ attitudes, and which features and outcomes of the rules were decisive in shaping overall support for plurality and proportional voting systems.     

Electoral institutions and campaigning in comparative perspective: Electioneering in European Parliament elections

This article develops and tests a number of competing expectations (institutional, party and individual) about what influenced the campaign activity of individual parliamentary candidates for the 2004 European Parliament elections. The principal interest is in the effects of variations in the design of electoral institutions across the Member States of the European Union. Based on the analysis, it is argued that an important distinction needs to be made between campaign effort and campaign goals, with electoral institutional factors having a more significant role over the latter.     

群体性事件的原因与防范:协商民主的分析视角

社会转型时期以利益矛盾为主的群体性事件呈现上升趋势。群体性事件频发暴露出公民利益表达渠道的不畅通和公共政策的局部失衡,也反映出政府在利益协调、协商治理方面能力的不足。产生群体性事件的深层次原因是公民权利保障机制不完善,公共参与缺失造成的制度供给不足、应得权利失衡和权力缺少有效监督。从协商民主的视角看,扩大公共参与和实现协商治理是解决社会冲突的适宜选择。     

How Can Deliberative Democracy Get a Grip?

One of the most exciting innovations within ‘practical democratic theory’ in recent years has been the emergence of deliberative democracy, as a theoretically refined ideal with by now some well‐honed mechanisms for its implementation on a small scale. Its greatest remaining challenge is to figure out some way to connect those highly controlled, small‐scale deliberative exercises to the ‘main game’, politically. I sketch some limited and indirect ways in which that might happen in national politics, before going on to propose a more novel way in which such deliberative events might be used literally to make international law of a certain sort.     

Voice and trust in parliamentary representation

In both social and political matters, individuals trust those they believe will treat them fairly. Individuals in democracies have little objection to abiding by policies instituted by parties they did not vote for because the system by which the parliament is formed is considered fair. However, even among democracies, some electoral systems are fairer than others. It stands to reason that trust in parliament is affected by the perceived fairness of the electoral system. This research demonstrates that actual or perceived provision of voice in parliamentary representation does increase individual trust in parliament. Systems designed with the intent to provide fair representation and those that provide the illusion of fair representation produce higher levels of trust in parliament.     

协商民主视野下的人民政协制度建设

以协商民主理论为参照,分析中国人民政治协商制度框架中已有制度的特点和应有制度之建设,从中可获得若干启发:即协商民主所追求的价值理念与人民政协制度建设的理念相契合;协商民主所期望的实践成果在人民政协制度建设中有具体体现;协商民主所引发的广泛讨论为中国人民政治协商制度建设改革提供了民意基础。     

Party unity and presidential dominance: parliamentary development in the fourth republic of Ghana

Political power in contemporary sub-Saharan Africa is often portrayed as being highly informal and heavily personalised. The assumption that personalised politics is how ‘Africa works’ has led to the neglect of the study of Africa's formal institutions, including parliaments. This article assesses the position of the Parliament of Ghana under the Fourth Republic. It displays evidence suggesting that over successive parliamentary terms parliamentary committees became increasingly adept at handling legislation, and inputting into the policy process. It also shows that the parliament was increasingly able to oversee the implementation of legislation. Although the findings of hitherto undocumented progress represent a valuable nuance, the argument that the parliament became increasingly able to input into the legislative process says exactly that; while the parliament became increasingly capable of amending legislation rarely was this witnessed. The article argues that parliamentary development in Ghana has been a function of three interacting structural factors: the constitution; unified government since 1992; and political party unity. The strong partisan identities of legislators from the two major political parties – the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and National Democratic Congress (NDC) – provide the executive with extra leverage to control the parliament. Throughout the Ghanaian parliament is juxtaposed with the Kenyan National Assembly. More substantially, the article seeks to force a revision of the dominant narrative that generalises African party systems as fluid and fragmented, and African political parties as lacking any recognisable internal cohesion or ideology.     

From data to disruption

Organized crime groups and law enforcement agencies are caught in complex system similar to a continuous game of cat-and-mouse, in which the latter frequently remains two or more steps behind. Law enforcement agencies are therefore seeking for more proactive strategies in targeting these criminal network structures more effectively. This starts with a better understanding of the way they operate and adapt over time. A key element to developing this understanding remained largely unexploited: big data and big data analytics. This provides novel insight into how criminal cooperations on a micro- and meso level are embedded in small-world criminal macro-networks and how this fosters its resillience against disruption. This paper discusses the opportunities and the limitations of this data-driven approach and its implications for both law enforcement practice and scientific research.     

关于推动厂务公开工作深入发展的思考

推行厂务公开是贯彻“三个代表”重要思想的具体体现 ,是企业改革发展稳定的内在要求。深化厂务公开要在服务大局、突出重点、融入制度、求实重效上下功夫。还要从企业管理体制和运行机制上解决好厂务公开制度化、规范化问题 ,把职工的知情权、参与权、监督权落到实处。     

城乡分治政策与农民犯罪

在我国现阶段,农民具有特定的身份含义.不平等的政治和经济地位使得农民犯罪无论在城乡都非常严重,并呈日益上升态势.要遏制这种犯罪趋势,必须彻底改革城乡分治政策.