Democratization by decree: the case of Bhutan

The small Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan is one of the most recent recruits to the world's democratic nations after more than a century of rule by the Wangchuck dynasty. The first national democratic elections were held in 2007 and 2008 and mark the formal transition from authoritarian rule, albeit of an enlightened nature, to democracy. But most conventional explanations of democratic transition are unconvincing when applied to the Bhutanese experience. This article reviews these explanations and demonstrates their lack of fit with structures and events in Bhutan. The two causal factors which do seem to explain the democratic transition are the strong state and transformational leadership. This is an unusual combination which not only challenges orthodoxy but also extends our understanding of the ways in which democratization can occur, a paradoxical way where, without any elite or popular pressure, monarchical powers are directed towards enabling democratization.     

A tale of culture-bound regime evolution: the centennial democratic trend and its recent reversal

Using a new measure of “comprehensive democracy,” our analysis traces the global democratic trend over the last 116 years, from 1900 until 2016, looking in particular at the centennial trend’s cultural zoning. As it turns out, democracy has been proceeding and continues to differentiate the world’s nations in a strongly culture-bound manner: high levels of democracy remain a distinctive feature of nations in which emancipative values have grown strong over the generations. By the same token, backsliding and autocratization are limited to cultures with under-developed emancipative values. In line with this finding, public support for democracy neither favours democratization, nor does it prevent autocratization in disjunction from emancipative values. On the contrary, public support for democracy shows such pro-democratic effects if – and only if – it co-exists in close association with emancipative values. The reason is that – in disconnect from emancipative values – support for democracy frequently reverts its meaning, indicating the exact opposite of what intuition suggests: namely, support for autocracy. In conclusion, the prospects for democracy are bleak where emancipative values remain weak.     

A Critical Evaluation of Nuclear Power and Renewable Electricity in Asia

This article judges modern nuclear power and renewable electricity technologies according to six criteria: cost; fuel availability; land degradation; water use; climate change; and safety/security. It concludes that when these criteria are taken into consideration, renewable electricity technologies present policy makers with a superior alternative for minimising the risk of fuel interruptions and shortages, helping improve the fragile transmission network and reducing environmental harm. These more environmentally-friendly generators cost less to construct, produce power in smaller increments and need not rely on continuous government subsidies. They generate little to no waste, have fewer greenhouse gas emissions per unit of electricity produced and do not substantially contribute to the risk of accidents. In contrast, the costs for nuclear plant construction, fuel, reprocessing, storage, decommissioning and further research are expected to rise. Modern nuclear reactors are prone to accidents, failures, shortages of high quality uranium ore may be imminent and the thermoelectric fuel cycle of nuclear plants consumes and degrades vast quantities of water. Greenhouse gas emissions associated with the nuclear lifecycle are notable and reactors and waste storage sites can degrade land and the natural environment. Thus, the article concludes that any effective response to electricity demand in an Asia facing climate change should promote the rapid expansion of renewable technologies and a more limited use of nuclear power.     

Place-Based Policy in Climate Change: Flexible and Path-Dependent Elements

The idea of place-based policy, the collaborative management of issues specific to a geographic area, has been widely used in the context of climate change. The outstanding features of more coherence across countries or the ability to address complex environmental aspects in an interdisciplinary and interdepartmental way made it an attractive tool for governments. Often emphasized is also the flexibility of placed-based approaches (PBAs) in terms of adapting to changes and tailoring policy accordingly. However, every policy within an administration also carries the burden of being path. This bares the question of how much flexibility PBAs need regarding environmental issues and how much consistency would be necessary to succeed. The article explores these questions and develops a framework with four adaption options based on cases in the field of carbon tax and carbon emission policy in British Columbia (Canada), New Zealand, Oregon (USA), and Quebec (Canada).     

Notes on contributors

This article investigates the political impact of the introduction of state subsidies to political parties. The arguments for and against subsidising political parties are outlined. Different models of party subsidies, and their regulatory frameworks, are discussed. We find little evidence of a cross‐national impact of the introduction of party subsidies. The subsidies cannot explain the decline in party membership. Nor is there evidence to suggest that the subsidies were introduced as a response to membership decline. There is no support for the allegation that party subsidies lead to the petrification of party systems. The subsidies have not meant that other income sources have lost their significance for political parties.     

Green Drive

正In the face of environmental degradation,a replacement needs to be fostered for gasoline automobiles By Deng YaqingAs the atmosphere is increasingly affected by the burning of fossil fuels,the use of new-energy cars,theoretically including electric vehicles,plug-in hybrid electric vehicles and fuel cell vehicles,represents an inexorable trend for the automobile industry.     

近期非洲政局突变及对党的执政能力建设的启示

近期非洲多国由于民生危机、专权腐败、内政僵化和外交失败等原因,导致执政几十年且长期保持稳定的强人政治风云突变。非洲多国政局突变给我们的启示是：党的执政地位不是与生俱来的,也不是一劳永逸的。中国共产党作为马克思主义执政党,只有立党为公、执政为民,着力保障和改善民生,严治贪腐,促进社会的公平正义和民主进步,才能保证党的执政地位稳坐的船！     

The Anglo‐Irish Agreement: 25 Years On

This article examines the surprisingly muted commemoration of the 25th anniversary of the Anglo‐Irish Agreement. It was surprising because not only was the Agreement a major innovation in relations between the two states but it was also the defining political issue in Northern Ireland for almost a decade. It is argued that the significance of the Agreement has been diminished because of retrospective narratives which serve the political convenience of the key parties to the Northern Ireland conflict. The article adapts Oakeshott's notion of the ‘dry wall’ to re‐assess and to re‐state the Agreement's place in recent history.     

Understanding Employee Motivation to Innovate: Evidence from Front Line Employees in United States Federal Agencies

In a period of ongoing public sector reform in the United States (US), federal government agencies have been pushed to find new ways of performing their public functions more effectively and efficiently. Frontline public sector employees are a particularly vital source of innovations in organisational function and form. This study seeks to identify factors that motivate front line employees in the US federal bureaucracy to engage in innovative behaviour. The empirical analysis is based on data from the 2006 Federal Human Capital Survey. The results show that a constellation of factors encourage bottom‐up innovation, including the expectancy of innovation being rewarded, employee training and development, employee empowerment and involvement in decision‐making, and high‐exchange dyadic relationships with supervisors.     

科学认识论的一次革命性变革——爱因斯坦科学认识论思想述评

目前通行的哲学认识论描述人的认识活动过程,是从对认识对象的现象到对认识对象的本质和规律的认识运动和发展路径,而蕴含在爱因斯坦创立相对论的科学理论研究活动中的科学认识活动过程,是从揭示认识对象或实在的本质和规律到描述认识对象的基本现象的认识运动和发展路径。爱因斯坦通过对日常思维本性的批判性考查,揭示了人们的日常思维与科学思维在本质上的一致性,从而完成了科学认识论发展史上的一次革命性变革。