Cherry‐picking participation: Explaining the fate of proposals from participatory processes

What happens to the proposals generated by participatory processes? One of the key aspects of participatory processes that has been the subject of rare systematic analysis and comparison is the fate of their outputs: their policy proposals. Which specific factors explain whether these proposals are accepted, rejected or transformed by public authorities? In this article contextual and proposal‐related factors are identified that are likely to affect the prospect of proposals being implemented. The explanatory power of these factors are tested through multilevel analysis on a diverse set of 571 policy proposals. The findings offer evidence that both contextual and proposal‐related variables are important. The design of participatory processes affects the degree of implementation, with participatory budgeting and higher quality processes being particularly effective. Most significant for explaining outcomes are proposal‐level, economic and political factors: a proposal's cost, the extent to which it challenges existing policy and the degree of support it has within the municipality all strongly affect the chance of implementation.     

Moving beyond input legitimacy: When do democratic innovations affect policy making?

This article makes three key contributions to debates surrounding the effectiveness of democratic innovation, deliberation and participation in representative political systems. In the first instance, it argues that more attention should be paid to the role that participation actually plays in governance. The literature on democratic institutional design often neglects concern about the effects of innovative institutional designs on more traditional representative fora, at the expense of concerns about their internal procedures. Second, the article argues that despite limitations, replicable systematic comparison of the effects of institutional design is both necessary and possible even at the level of national governance. A comparative analysis of 31 cases of National Public Policy Conferences (NPPCs) in Brazil is presented. Finally, the article shows that popular deliberative assemblies that vary in their familiarity and their policy area of interest, and that organise their structure and sequence deliberation in different ways can be associated with differential effects on both option analysis and option selection stages of the policy process, respectively.     

Mixed evidence for a relationship of cognitive fatigue to political engagement

Daily cognitive fatigue is widespread, yet we are still learning about its influence on political behavior. Existing research suggests fatigue will reduce consumption of politics at the margin. Moreover, when fatigued individuals do engage with political material, they should be more likely to choose content and decision rules that require minimal effort. We find mixed empirical evidence for these claims. In observational data, we find a negative relationship between fatigue and engagement, on average, but the coefficients are typically small and statistically insignificant and we find substantial variation across different measures of fatigue. In three experiments, we find mixed evidence that manipulated fatigue reduces the demand for political content over sports and other non-political entertainment. In a fourth experiment, we find no evidence that manipulated fatigue shapes heuristic versus systematic processing. We discuss the limitations of our study, its relationship to existing work, and avenues for future research.     

邓小平民主政治思想特色研究

社会主义民主政治理论是邓小平理论的重要组成部分。邓小平在探索和研究社会主义国家民主政治建设的规律及经验教训的基础上,继承和发展了毛泽东的民主政治思想,形成了自己的鲜明特色。邓小平民主政治思想对我国社会主义民主政治实践的发展具有巨大的推动作用,对社会主义政治文明建设具有重大的指导意义。     

Why Do Citizens Vote Against Their Basic Political Values?

The literature on correct and consistent voting has focused on issue‐opinions and argument‐positions when examining whether vote decisions correspond to individual political preferences. However, the question whether vote decisions align with basic political values has largely been neglected so far. This paper introduces a novel measure named value consistent voting. It finds that, in Switzerland, around 25% jettison their basic political values when deciding on proposals. Using multilevel regression analysis of survey data, this paper investigates the determinants of value consistent voting. Three theoretical approaches are tested; the sophistication, identification and ambivalence hypotheses. The results show that political sophistication and identification foster value consistent voting. Moreover, there is an interaction between education and adhering to the preferred party’s vote recommendation. This finding supports the thesis that highly educated citizens use heuristics most efficiently. However, the more ambivalent people are, the more often they vote against their basic political values.     

Community engagement in Australian local governments: a closer look and strategic implications

Public input into decision-making through participatory and deliberative democratic practices has become a widely accepted and legislated responsibility of Australian local governments. At any one time, councils are leading submission processes, workshops and online surveys on a multitude of projects, ranging from long-term community strategic plans to public art projects. The increase in these practices has been exponential, leaving little time for critical reflection. The lack of empirical data to illustrate how community engagement is understood and practised in different councils has hindered sector-wide reflection. This paper presents the findings of the ‘Local Government Community Engagement Census’, a survey of 175 councils – approximately half – from 4 of Australia’s eastern states. This sectoral snapshot provides a picture of how councils understand, prioritise and practise community engagement, allowing critical reflection, an interpretation of implications and suggesting areas for future research.     

浅论民主评议企业领导干部

民主评议企业领导干部,有利于落实全心全意依靠工人阶级这一根本指导方针,有利于建立有效的企业内部监督机制和约束机制,有利于党风和廉政建设,统一思想,形成共识,加强职代会民主评议干部的监督机制,健全和完善民主评议干部的法律制度,努力提高评议和监督的质量.     

面对挑战 民主党派如何更加有效地参政议政

新世纪为中国共产党领导的多党合作制度提出了许多全新的理论课题和更高的实践要求,各民主党派参政议政的内外部环境发生了巨大的变化。面对挑战,各民主党派只有从理论上端正认识、摆正方向,在实践中调整策略、抓住关键,从素质上加强建设、苦练内功,方能在新世纪更加有效地发挥参政议政作用。     

民主监督与反腐败

民主监督与反腐败是紧密相连的 ,它关系着反腐败斗争的成败。我们只有从思想上高度重视民主监督 ,逐步建立起切实可行的 ,比较完善的民主监督机制 ,充分发挥民主监督作用 ,才能从源头上预防和治理腐败 ,确保反腐败斗争的胜利。     

社会转型期执政党建设的战略选择

中国正处于社会转型时期,市场经济和民主政治的发展要求党的建设必须作出战略性转变.这不仅要求从思想上、组织上和作风上把党建设成领导人民进行革命和建设的先锋队,更重要的是从党的内部机制上,按照执政党的特点,把党建设成一个能够充分发挥执政功能的先进性的政党.