The abiding voter: The lengthy horizon of retrospective evaluations

Although the theory of retrospective voting receives wide support in the literature on voting behaviour, less agreement exists on voters’ time horizon when assessing the government's performance – that is, whether voters are myopic. Previous studies on voter myopia tend to focus on aggregate-level measures of the economy, or use an experimental approach. Using panel data, this article offers the first investigation into voter myopia that uses individual-level evaluations of government performance in a representative survey at several points during the electoral cycle. The study focuses on The Netherlands, but it also provide tests of the generalisability and robustness of the findings, and a replication in the American context. The results indicate that voter satisfaction early in the government's term adds to explaining incumbent voting. Thus, rather than the myopic voter, evidence is found of the abiding voter – steady at her or his post, evaluating government performance over a long length of time.     

行政问责制与行政自责文化建设

我国行政问责正由“权力问责”走向“制度问责”。而问责制要真正产生实效,必须有相应的行政问责文化来支持。在行政问责制的建立健全过程中,加强行政自责文化的培育十分重要和紧迫。为此,必须积极推进我国政治文明及行政文化的现代化进程,塑造公务员的现代品格,加快行政自责的制度化、法制化建设,营造良好的社会及政治环境,推进责任型政府建设。     

论官员问责制的意义及其实践困境

官员问责制在实践运行过程中取得了有目共睹的成就,并对我国政治生活产生了重要的影响。然而,官员问责制仍有待于进一步加以完善,在问责主体、问责客体、问责范围、问责标准、问责程序、问责结果等方面存在实践困境。因此,如何使官员问责制发挥应有的制度效应,促进官员问责制走向成熟,值得深入探讨和研究。     

From voluntary to mandatory corporate accountability: The politics of the German Supply Chain Due Diligence Act

Following a long-standing and highly contested policy debate, in June 2021, the German parliament passed the Supply Chain Due Diligence Act requiring mandatory due diligence (MDD) of large companies, holding them accountable for the impacts of their supply chain operations abroad. Applying the discursive agency approach and using evidence from policy documents and 21 interviews with key stakeholders, we analyze the political strategies that paved the way toward MDD in Germany. The decisive strategy was an innovative benchmarking and monitoring mechanism that provided the legitimacy for a law and opened a window of opportunity for MDD supporters. Civil society and supportive politicians used this window of opportunity to build broad political coalitions that included the support of some companies. We discuss the ramifications of these findings for understanding the domestic politics behind the newly emerging norm of foreign corporate accountability.     

Powers and Accountability of Private Police

Substantial growth in private policing has been documented in countries throughout the world, and the division of responsibilities for policing between public and private authorities has become increasingly blurred and contested during the last three decades. Because private policing is so frequently assessed on the basis of criteria established with respect to the public police, substantial myths have developed about the powers and accountability of private police; specifically, it is commonly asserted that private police have no significant power(s), and are essentially not accountable, in comparison with the public police. The author argues that such assertions misrepresent the very substantial coercive power of private police as well as the variety of mechanisms through which they may be held accountable, and also commonly exaggerate the effective accountability of the public police. The author concludes that a greater appreciation of the actual power and accountability of private police will provide an improved basis for the development of sound public policy with respect to both private and public policing, and with respect to appropriate relationships between private and public policing organisations.     

论股东责任恒定制度的确立

股东有限责任制度被法学界的许多学者誉为公司“传统的奠基石”。然而，在这一制度的框架内，股东与债权人之间利益之不平衡是显而易见的，在工业文明起始阶段，此制度之创立无疑是人类之大幸，但社会经济发展到今天，仍固守传统的有限责任制度而不作些许更改，则颇有挑战公平、正义之意味，鉴于此，笔者隧原创性地提出“股东有限责任恒定”之议题，以便能使股东与债权人在“公平与效率”之间找到一个更为适度的契合点。但愿次文能起到抛砖引玉之功效。     

行政问责若干问题探讨

从2003年非典时期开始,问责尤其是行政问责受到了实务界和理论界的高度关注,有关问责＂责任属性＂等重要问题亟待解决。文章从问责的正当性分析入手,明确了行政问责的性质定位,并对学界普遍关注的行政问责中＂异体问责＂是否缺位的问题加以辨析。     

State Discourses, Police Violence and Democratisation in Argentina

Police violence is a persistent problem throughout Latin America despite the return of electoral democracy; it is pervasive and includes torture, murder and disappearances. Certainly institutional reforms aimed at changing police practice are important. However, it is equally important that state actors maintain a clear and relatively consistent discourse in favour of democratic policing. This article argues that, in the case of Argentina, state actors do not maintain a consistent position in favour of democratic policing and instead oscillate between denying the occurrence of police violence, justifying such police action and absolving themselves of responsibility.     

服务行政框架内的行政主体重构研究

服务行政作为一种新型社会治理模式具有历史的必然性,这就为行政权的行使主体提出了新的价值要求和实践方案。而目前我国行政主体理论在理论上和实践中都出现了难以愈合的裂缝,诸如内涵与外延的冲突、主体范围的狭窄、主体种类的单一、责任定位的错误等,最终破坏的是服务行政的服务本质要求。因此,在服务行政的框架下对行政主体理论进行重构则颇具时代的紧迫性和必要性。     

Testing APS Ethics: Where's the Integrity?

In recent years there has been a good deal of discussion in Australia about public service integrity. This article seeks to consider the Australian public service's standards of integrity by analysing the ethical framework under which the public service operates and the particular ethical issues and tensions that this involves; testing and benchmarking the ethical performance of the public service; and providing some suggestions as to the next steps in ethics considerations in the Australian public service.