Desire for Smart Growth: A Survey of Residential Preferences in the Salt Lake Region of Utah

As an alternative to sprawling development, smart growth combines proximity to work, proximity to shopping and other destinations, neighborhood housing mix, shared and paid parking, complete street designs, and proximity to public transit. This article uses a stated-choice experiment to determine residents' attitudes toward these various aspects of smart growth in the Salt Lake region of Utah. Utah is a conservative state, where attitudes toward auto-oriented suburbia may be more positive than in other parts of the United States. So, one might wonder whether changing national attitudes toward smart growth, documented in several surveys, apply to residents of the Salt Lake region. In this stated-choice experiment, respondents were asked to choose between pairs of housing scenarios with different attributes and different prices. Mixed logit (random parameters logit) was used to relate individuals' choices to attributes, prices, and sociodemographic characteristics of respondents. The results show that, generally, respondents have positive attitudes toward most aspects of smart growth but still express preferences for single-family neighborhoods with free parking in their own driveways or garages. Different life cycle cohorts have different preferences. Proximity to work is more important for childless young adults. Young families with children place higher value on living in a neighborhood with only single-family homes and transit access. Retired empty nesters favor a mix of housing types over single-family housing on one-acre-plus lots. The results suggest that while residents of the Salt Lake region like suburban neighborhoods with primarily single-family houses, they would also like to have improved accessibility to amenities in the suburbs.     

Covenant of Mayors: Reasons for Being an Environmentally and Energy Friendly Municipality

The Covenant of Mayors (CM) is the mainstream European movement involving local authorities who voluntarily commit to increase energy efficiency and the use of renewable energy sources within their territories with the aim of reducing CO₂ emissions and meet the European Union objectives by 2020. One country that has a greater number of signatories of this agreement is Spain. This article analyzes which factors influence the decision of Spanish local authorities to join the ever‐growing movement. An empirical model is formulated to describe the behavior of Spanish local governments, this being a binary choice model which is a function of various political, economic, and technical factors. Among the prominent factors that influence this decision are population, availability of renewable energy, fiscal and environmental stress, citizens’ political preference, the contagion effect of neighboring municipalities, the existence of covenant coordinators, and finally, economic motivations.     

论加强新时代党的全面领导的法规制度建设

新时代党的领导以全面领导为特征,以法治化为基本方向,为此,必须在准确把握党的全面领导内涵的前提下,完善党的全面领导的法规制度,使党的全面领导做到有法可依、有法必依。党的全面领导以政治领导为核心和根本,在党的全面领导的法规制度建设中,要着重围绕政治领导,首先从《宪法》《党章》层面对党的全面领导做出规定,同时也要在党的全面领导的主要领域做到有规可依,注重用党内法规制度解决党的全面领导存在的突出问题,这样才能更好地保证党的全面领导要求得到真正贯彻落实。     

困境与革命——对合同相对性的第三人解读

合同相对性原则是合同法的一块基石。但是在合同相对性的本质中,就已经孕育了革命的种子——第三人。20世纪以来,经济的复杂化和交易的日趋频繁。使得这粒种子茁壮成长,并突破了它的内核,因此,应当承认革命者的地位,重新界定合同相对性的内核,建立第三人制度,平衡第三人与合同当事人利益。     

论新形势下我党对社会意识形态的领导

一个社会的稳定和发展,必须要有一种强大的主流意识形态作为其精神支柱。执政党作为一个国家的领导集团,要想保持强大的执政基础,获得广大民众的长期支持,则必须注重对这样一种主流意识形态的构建。当前在改革开放和社会主义市场经济深入发展的新形势下,如何进一步加强马克思主义主流意识形态的指导地位,继续引领和不断整合多样化的社会思潮和思想观念,就成了摆在我党面前的一项紧迫任务。     

What's the point of voting advice applications? Competing perspectives on democracy and citizenship

Voting advice applications (VAAs) are interactive online tools designed to assist voters by improving the basis on which they decide how to vote. Current VAAs typically aim to do so by matching users' policy-preferences with the positions of parties or candidates. But this ‘matching model’ depends crucially on implicit, contestable presuppositions about the proper functioning of the electoral process and about the forms of competence required for good citizenship—presuppositions associated with the social choice conception of democracy. This paper aims to make those presuppositions explicit and to contrast them with two possible alternative perspectives on VAAs, associated with deliberative and agonistic conceptions of democracy and citizenship.     

在深化改革中不断提高党校教学质量

党校作为培训各级领导干部的主阵地、主渠道,必须适应形势发展变化,通过以下几个方面深化教学改革,以不断提高党校教学质量：一是转变教学思路,大胆借鉴＂现代培训理念＂的精华;二是创新教学形式,大力推行＂研究式教学＂模式;三是改革教学内容,努力做到＂依需定学、因需施教＂;四是提升教师能力素质,构建＂开放型师资队伍＂。     

中国共产党执政的社会基础拓展要素分析

拥有广泛而强大的社会基础是中国共产党完成执政使命的依靠力量,是党实现长期执政的重要前提。变动的社会背景下中国共产党要促进执政目标的达成,就必须努力赢得最广大民众的情感支撑和执政认同,持续不断地拓展和扩大社会基础。而其中的影响或制约要素包涵了多个层级和维度,它们共同交织在一起,纳入到现代政党政治运作的指标体系当中。深入分析和研究这些要素,对于中国共产党有效实现社会整合、重塑政治权威意义巨大。     

关于土地革命战争时期的毛泽东党建思想研究

土地革命战争时期,毛泽东在多篇重要的讲话、报告和文章中探讨了在当时的历史背号下中国共产党的自身建设问题,其内容主要涉及到党的思想建设、组织建设和作风建设等方面。进入21世纪,中国共产党人重温毛泽东土地革命战争时期的党建思想,对做好新时期的党建工作给予诸多而有益的重要历史启示。     

“三型”马克思主义执政党:开拓党的建设新境界

党的十八大报告中首次提出"建设学习型、服务型、创新型的马克思主义执政党",而且将这个党的建设总目标写入了新修改的党章。从党的建设总目标的历史探索轨迹和党的建设总布局的形成发展轨迹看,从对执政党建设的理论意义和现实意义看,要把中国共产党建设成为学习型、服务型、创新型的马克思主义执政党确实是一项全新的重大课题。"学习型、服务型、创新型"既是一个系统的价值整体,同时,在这个系统中,又必须凸显全心全意为人民服务的根本宗旨,紧紧围绕改进服务方式、提高服务质量来加强学习、开拓创新,惟其如此,才能真正体现马克思主义执政党作为实现、维护和发展人民群众利益的工具的本质。