Corporate interests and public affairs: organised business–government relations in EU member states

The internationalisation of economic and political affairs changes the way in which business interests are brought to bear on public policy. This is a global phenomenon but can, in particular, be observed in Europe. The construction of the European Union, the development of the Single Market and the build‐up of the policy institutions to go with it, together change business–government relations profoundly. This paper answers the question of how organised business interests relate to government agencies and political institutions. By using the example of trade associations in the Netherlands and Germany, the paper shows that, despite the internationalisation of public affairs in Europe, the national political level remains strategically important for the representation of business interests. The paper thus argues that changes in European business–government relations are institutionally embedded at both the European and the national level. The implication for future research is that much of the dynamics of economic and political internationalisation materialises within the domestic arrangements of interest politics. Copyright © 2004 Henry Stewart Publications     

Of change,training and public affairs in Europe

European public affairs practitioners need to be increasingly professional in their reactions to an EU undergoing transformational change. The paper offers a comprehensive summary of the subtleties of institutional change in Commission, Parliament and Council in 2004. In particular, the author argues that expansion from 15 member states to 25 has fundamentally changed the nature of the Union's politics and the skills required to influence it. This new EU requires more of practitioners than experience and amateur instinct: to achieve results and avoid restrictive regulation, the public affairs community must adopt effective training strategies, challenging competence targets and regular self‐assessment of its performance and ethics. Copyright © 2004 Henry Stewart Publications     

Mexicans react to electoral fraud and political corruption: an assessment of public opinion and voting behavior

Despite various electoral reforms enacted in Mexico between 1988 and 1994, large numbers of Mexicans doubted the honesty of elections and the general integrity of their country's policy making process. Such doubts did not automatically lead, however, to support for opposition parties that called for greater democratization. Rather, voter preferences were largely dependent on judgments about the opposition's viability and competence. Widespread suspicions about fraud and corruption in Mexico did affect electoral outcomes by making it less likely that potential opposition supporters turned out to vote. Data are drawn from seven national public opinion surveys conducted in Mexico in 1986, 1988, 1991, 1994 (3 polls), and 1995.     

中国妇女参政十年回顾与评估

该文对于1995年至2005年的中国妇女参政进行回顾评估,从四个方面展开:第一,将十年妇女参政置于解放后的历史背景下,描述加强制定性别保障政策的意义和实践。第二,发现女性民主参与对我国公共政策推进的价值。第三,与国际社会妇女参政进行比较,与我国民主党派进行比较,分析这十年妇女参政停滞不前的状况和原因。第四,分析参政女性在权力结构中的边缘地位,认为导致女性政治参与更多表现出的是非权力的外围参与,对公共政策的影响效果有限。     

Who Toes the Party Line? Cues, Values, and Individual Differences

This article explores individual differences in citizens’ reliance on cues and values in political thinking. It uses experimental evidence to identify which citizens are likely to engage in heuristic processing and which citizens are likely to engage in systematic processing in developing opinions about a novel issue. The evidence suggests that political awareness crisply distinguishes between heuristic and systematic processors. The less politically aware rely on party cues and not on an issue-relevant value. As political awareness increases, reliance on party cues drops and reliance on an issue-relevant value rises. Need for cognition fails to yield clear results. The results suggest two routes to opinion formation: heuristic processing and systematic processing. Political awareness, not need for cognition, predicts which route citizens will take.     

Money for our people? Decentralisation and corruption in Romania: the cases of the equalisation,infrastructure and pre‐university education funds

In spite of the attempts, in the most recent years, to introduce simple, accountable and rule‐based mechanisms governing the flows of funds for Romanian local governments (LGs) there is evidence showing that deviations from the norms are still widespread and undermine the stated goals of many policies. This article aims to explore to what extent the political factor (party affiliation, i.e. local informal power networks) interferes with the allocation of public funds as far as three main areas of decentralised policy are concerned: (i) the general purpose equalisation transfers; (ii) the Roads Fund grants and (iii) the transfers for financing the pre‐university education. These components represent a relatively large share of the local budgets and are illustrative for two important attributions Romanian LGs perform today: maintaining the local infrastructure and providing essential social services. Through a set of variables—measuring, on the one hand, the real pattern of resource allocation and on the other hand, the intensity of politicisation in the three areas—we tested the hypothesis that intergovernmental financial flows in Romania are to a large extent captured by rent‐seeking groups. It turns out that this is indeed the case with the funds for infrastructure, and much less so with the transfers financing pre‐university education. Some conclusions from these contrasting situations are drawn which reflect on the broader discussion, the link between decentralisation and corruption. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

党务公开：发展党内民主的理论和制度创新

党的十六届四中全会《决定》首次明确提出逐步推进党务公开,这是党的执政理念的新突破和提高党的执政能力的新举措。党务公开是发展党内民主的内在要求,贯穿于党内民主建设的各个方面和环节。推进党务公开,进一步扩大了党员和群众对党内事务的知情权、参与权、选择权和监督权,成为新时期发展党内民主的理论和制度创新。     

新加坡人民行动党执政模式分析

新加坡政党政治最为显著的特征是人民行动党一党长期执政.新加坡政党政治的特征和政治文明的成就,使得新加坡人民行动党成为便于借鉴和值得借鉴的执政模式.新加坡人民行动党的执政模式主要表现为:(1)一党独大、多党竞争的政党关系模式;(2)代表全国利益、反映各方意见的政党立场模式;(3)以权制权、以法治权的权力制衡模式;(4)主动"猎人"、科学选人的人才选用模式;(5)老一代主动退位让贤、新一代"自行决定"领袖的权力交接模式.     

The Making of a Corporatist State in Hong Kong: The Road to Sectoral Intervention

Extant Hong Kong studies have under-stated the corporatist nature of the Hong Kong state. From the 1980s, as part of its political strategy, the Chinese government had helped to build a corporatist state in Hong Kong that incorporated various sectoral elites, leading to a change in the role of the state after 1997. Through an empirical study of the behaviour of functional constituency legislators and policy outputs after 1997, this article shows that the functional constituencies as a corporatist structure introduced many sector-oriented demands. These sectoral representatives lobbied for favourable polices, increased representation for their sectors, and more state resources. This drove the post-1997 Hong Kong state to sectoral intervention, as resources were diverted to selected sectors, creating new legitimacy problems for the regime.     

保险人明确说明义务批判

保险合同法可以体系化地解读为意思自治、给付均衡与合理期待三个核心原则的组合。立法者希望籍说明义务来消减信息不对称,贯彻意思自治。但在建构制度规范时,并未考虑信息传送方的履行成本,对信息接收方的识别成本与关注焦点也存在认识误区。这种过度理想化的设计已被实践证明是失败的。立法应废止实质性的明确说明义务,代之以形式化的信息提供义务。对于意思自治的不足,可以通过提升给付均衡度和更有效保障被保险人对获取保险产品的合理期待加以填补。