Mafia-Related Prejudice and the Rise of Italian Americans in the United States

Italian immigrants to the United States and their offspring have long been the target of prejudicial accusations concerning their allegedly prominent role in criminal activities. This article investigates the influence of such an ethnic bias on their political ascent. Although politicians of Italian descent have benefitted from connections to gangsters and racketeers, especially in the Prohibition years, underworld-related charges have for the most part limited their political success because they have undermined voters' trust in candidates of Italian ancestry. The Mafia-connection stereotype gained momentum in the aftermath of the revelations of the Kefauver Committee in the early 1950s. However, it continued to have significant influence on the election campaigns of Italian Americans at least until Geraldine Ferraro's 1992 bid for the US Senate. Despite the progressive assimilation of Italian Americans, the perception of members of this ethnic group as potential criminals has persisted, and still haunts politicians of Italian extraction. Significantly, even Italian-American candidates have recently resorted to the Mafia prejudice to discredit fellow ethnic opponents.     

A crisis of trust: history,politics, religion and the polio controversy in Northern Nigeria

ABSTRACT

In the middle of 2003, disagreement over the safety of the oral polio vaccine pitted ordinary citizens and community leaders in the predominantly Muslim north of Nigeria against the World Health Organization, the United Nations Children's Fund and Nigeria's federal authorities. During the crisis that ensued, five northern states (Niger, Bauchi, Kano, Zamfara and Kaduna) banned the use of the controversial vaccine on children in their respective domains. Underpinning Obadare's paper is the assumption that the immunization crisis is best understood after considering developments in the broader politico-religious contexts, both local and global. Thus, he locates the controversy as a whole against the background of the deepening interface between health and politics. He suggests that the crisis is best seen as emanating from a dearth of trust in social intercourse between ordinary citizens and the Nigerian state on the one hand, and between the same citizens and international health agencies and pharmaceutical companies on the other. The analysis of trust is historically embedded in order to illuminate the dynamics of relations among the identified actors.     

Still three Wales? Social location and electoral behaviour in contemporary Wales

Wales provides a notable exception to the contemporary academic consensus that electoral behaviour is best studied via choice-based approaches. In Wales, the orthodoxy remains that of the Three-Wales Model, an approach formulated in the 1980s which saw voting behaviour as defined by class, language and national identity. This article submits the Three-Wales Model to detailed scrutiny for the first time. The model is argued to have been constructed on a very narrow theoretical basis, and on flawed measurements. Most importantly, however, the Three-Wales Model is shown to have little empirical leverage on voting behaviour in Wales – either for the period when it was formulated or for more recent elections. Factors associated with ‘valence politics’ theories are shown to provide far greater insight into voting behaviour in contemporary Wales.     

中央—地方吏制范式分析与改革趋向

中央—地方吏制主要有三种范式:"地方分权式"、"中央集权式"和"还权于民式",其各有优点与缺点。若实行法治,要求"中央集权式"取代"地方分权式";如果要推行民主,则要求"还权于民式"取代"中央集权式"。或许最佳的中央—地方吏制是普选基础上的地方分权与中央集权的混合。     

立法机构在公共政策制定中的功能与作用——韩国国会与中国全国人大的比较

国会的立法决策是公共政策的最基本形式之一。在议会政治中,政党、国会议员代表选民输入利益需求,经过立法活动的整合、调整,最终形成能够代表或反映特定利益诉求的、以法律或其他特定权威形式表现出来的公共政策。本文以韩国国会在公共政策制定中所扮演的角色、发挥的功能为参照,对比中国全国人大在公共政策制定中的作用和影响,通过总结韩国国会的经验和教训,试图为全国人大的制度建设提供有益的借鉴和启发。     

Carbon Taxation and Policy Labeling: Experience from American States and Canadian Provinces

A vast economics literature embraces taxation of the carbon content of fossil fuels as the superior policy approach for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. However, experience around the world suggests that carbon taxes face exceedingly difficult political hurdles. Federal experience in the United States and in Canada confirms this pattern. This article reviews sub‐federal policy development among American states and Canadian provinces, a great many of which have pursued climate policy development. With one major exception, explicit carbon taxation appears to remain a political nonstarter. At the same time, states and provinces have been placing indirect carbon prices on fossil fuel use through a wide range of policies. These tend to strategically alter labeling, avoiding the terms of “tax” and “carbon” in imposing costs. The article offers a framework for considering such strategies and examines common design features, including direct linkage between cost imposition and fund usage to build political support.     

Market making via regulation: The role of the state in carbon markets

Proponents as well as critics of carbon trading underestimate the institutional and political underpinnings of evolving carbon markets. Based on institutionalist approaches, this paper argues that the strong embeddedness of carbon markets explains why certain characteristics (positive and negative) materialize. Focusing on the actors who initiate and who influence carbon markets, this article also shows that currently only states and intergovernmental agreements provide the necessary regulation for carbon markets to exist and to work. Today, neither market actors nor NGOs nor public private partnerships have the political power to set up, regulate or capture evolving market structures. Thus, whether or not market‐based instruments bring about the desired results depends on good public regulation, which is – at least up to now – represented by the state. Four instances of the commodification of carbon serve as illustrations: the European Union Emission Trading System (EU ETS); the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM); the voluntary market; and new sectoral approaches, particularly Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD+).     

我国公民有序政治参与的现状与对策

改革开放以来,我国公民的政治参与取得了很大的进步,有力地推动了社会主义民主政治的建设。但从总体上看,我国公民的有序政治参与仍处于不成熟、不完善的状态,仍存在很多现实的问题。要实现我国公民有序的政治参与,就必须坚持党的领导,健全相关法律法规制度,大力发展社会主义市场经济,增强社会主义法治观念,强化公民政治参与的意识。     

当代中国社会保障权之可诉性透视——基于《人民法院案例选》（1992-2010）的文本分析

国家义务是实现社会保障权的法定义务。探讨社会保障权的可诉性,对全面把握和评判社会保障权之国家义务履行状况,具有决定性意义。以《人民法院案例选》（1992-2010）为参照系,当前中国对社会保障权的维护主要体现在社会保险权之工伤保险领域,在内容上主要表现为国家的尊重和保护义务。在明显具有给付性质或特征的社会保险权之养老保险、社会救助权、社会福利权等领域,国家对其法定义务的履行还任重而道远。在工伤认定案件中,法院对劳动者权利诉求的支持;以及在社会优抚权案件中,法院对《行政诉讼法》的扩张性解释,这些人性化举措都将如星星之火,可以燎原。     

紧急权力法及其理论的演变

紧急权力法律制度是一种内在矛盾的组合,其古代形态是古罗马专政制度和中止一般执法活动制度,近代形态主要是戒严法和围困状态法,现代则以紧急状态和紧急权力的规范形式兴盛于全球。西方的法律与紧急权力理论有例外型和规训型两类,前者主张紧急权力居于法律之外,后者主张紧急权力应受法律的充分规训。法律与紧急权力共有五种理论模式:调适、例外法、惯常、政治动员和权威专政。除惯常模式以外,其他四种模式都在中国出现过。中国现行紧急权力制度遵循政治动员、调适和例外法三种模式,未来发展是建立融合政治动员和例外法模式优点的调适模式制度。