参与式治理与根本政治制度的生活化——“一体多元”与国家微观民主的建设

政治制度本质上是一种关于利益和权利义务的关系组合。这种关系组合影响到人们对制度的合作或者冲突。因为观念和利益的多元化,社会成员与制度的冲突引发了高发的群体性事件。因此,解决当前公共治理问题,关键是要考虑体制改进。通过落实宪法所规定的人民代表大会制与民众直接参与式治理的结合,可以提升微观民主建设的质量,保障多元民主,为宏观民主治理提供制度基础。     

历史唯物主义重建之下的民主观念

伍德把民主视为超越资本主义的一种力量。她虽然肯定在资本主义条件下,政治民主有所发展,但更为根本的是,经济并不是民主的,而是充满压迫与强制的。因此,民主的发展,必然要超出资本主义社会。为此,她对历史唯物主义的一些基本范畴进行了重新思考,包括经济"基础"与上层建筑的关系。她不同意把经济与政治视为截然分离的两个领域,而是把资本主义社会所特有的这种分离视为资本主义本身政治功能的分化。伍德的民主理论,是力图从马克思主义视角来回应当代资本主义的民主理论,与所谓的后马克思主义有着重大的差别。     

Can't get no satisfaction with the Westminster model? Winners,losers and the effects of consensual and direct democratic institutions on satisfaction with democracy

Are citizens in consensus democracies with developed direct democratic institutions more satisfied with their political system than those in majoritarian democracies? In this article, individual‐level data from the second wave of the Comparative Study of Electoral Systems and an updated version of Lijphart's multivariate measure of consensus and majoritarian democracy covering 24 countries are used to investigate this question. The findings from logistic multilevel models indicate that consensual cabinet types and direct democratic institutions are associated with higher levels of citizens' satisfaction with democracy. Furthermore, consensus democracy in these institutions closes the gap in satisfaction with democracy between losers and winners of elections by both comforting losers and reducing the satisfaction of winners. Simultaneously, consensus democracy in terms of electoral rules, the executive–legislative power balance, interest groups and the party system reduces the satisfaction of election winners, but does not enhance that of losers.     

In Praise of Social Democracy

This article makes the case for social democracy in the context of difficult national and international economic conditions and changes in domestic politics that see a Conservative‐dominated Coalition government and the Labour party in Opposition for the first time since 1997. It rejects much current thinking in the Labour party and instead argues that traditional social democratic values, such as equality and social justice, are of contemporary relevance and can only be achieved through a strong central state committed to those values.     

Reflections on experimentalist governance

This article critically engages with Sabel and Zeitlin's important notion of experimentalist governance (EG). It is cast as a “recursive process of provisional goal‐setting and revision based on learning from the comparison of alternative approaches to advancing them in different contexts.” This is a useful heuristic device to capture policymaking and implementation in complex, dynamic, and highly diverse political entities. This article discusses the micro‐foundations underpinning EG, how it relates to hierarchical modes of governing, and how well it captures the distinctive traits of the EU. It also discusses EG from a democratic perspective. In democratic terms EG is understood as a form of direct deliberative polyarchy. This article notes that the question of EG's contribution to democratization cannot, however, be adequately addressed unless we pay more systematic attention to representation and representative democracy.     

组合式选举:党内公推直选的模式选择与体制约束

公推直选是近年来党内民主发展的突出标志。作为基层党组织选举改革的主导方法,公推直选带有"组合式"选举的特征,它实现了竞争性选举与组织选拔制度的结合,组织选拔、群众参与和党员选举的组合,以及党内民主对人民民主的带动。然而,这一选举模式也潜在地隐含着竞争选举与组织选拔、党内民主与人民民主的内在张力。推动公推直选改革的深入,需要不断规范公推直选的操作机制,推进公推直选的制度化及配套制度建设,同时要适时地推进公推直选在地方党委的试点工作,不断拓展公推直选的适用范围。     

选人用人机制科学化的三个理论问题

本文在对近年来干部人事制度改革主要措施分析的基础上,提出当前推进选人用人机制科学化,必须解决三个方面的深层次理论问题：一是要认清我国公务员队伍作为执政群体的政治属性,从体现公务员队伍政治代表功能的角度,确立多样化的选人标准和选拔方式;二是要从科学配置干部任用权的角度,从提名权主体多元化的误区中摆脱出来;三是要对群众在干部选拔任用中的作用有科学定位,厘清干部选拔任用中民主的形式和限度。     

司法民主：理论与现实的困境

在新一轮司法改革的背景下,司法民主化备受关注。“司法以实现正义为目标”是考虑司法民主举措问题的根本认识前提,以急功近利心态的片面追求司法的社会认同,放弃了对民主因素介入司法的方式和制度上精雕细琢,司法民主将面临着在实践中走向偏离并最终陷入“司法无存”的困境。     

The use of referendums in Ireland: an analysis

The referendum is a phenomenon which is becoming increasingly normalised in the constitutional practice of many countries. Ireland is an EU member state with particularly extensive experience of the referendum as a decision-making tool. To date, it has held 39 referendums on a variety of issues – ranking it among the top four states in Western Europe in this regard.

This article seeks to review the emergence of referendums in Ireland as a decision-making instrument and to ask what constitutional, legal or institutional factors have led to referendums enjoying such comparatively extensive use there. It seeks to examine which political issues have formed the subject of referendums in Ireland, and to investigate what kinds of issues have succeeded in gaining electoral approval and what kinds have not. The extent of electoral participation in (and thus representativity of) Irish referendums is also scrutinised, and factors affecting participation rates examined.     

RETHINKING DEMOCRACY AND RULE OF LAW FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF RHETORIC

With its revival in recent years, rhetoric has provided a special perspective for modern people. If we take rhetoric as a framework to rethink democracy and rule of law, we may not only grasp a new understanding of them, but also gain more knowledge of the possible role of rhetoric in the contemporary world. We will find that rhetoric was closely related to democracy and rule of law, and is still fully accordant with ideas of democracy and rule of law in modern society. Moreover, rhetoric can provide intellectual support to these concepts.