Direct democracy and subjective regime legitimacy in Europe

While much research focuses on the causes and consequences of direct democracy and regime legitimacy, little attention has been paid to the potential relationship between them. In an attempt to fill this void, this paper focuses on the legal provisions for direct democracy and its use. The key argument is that possibilities for the public’s direct involvement reflect high importance given to citizens, openness of the regime towards different modes of decision-making, and ways to avoid unpopular institutions. Consequently, citizens are likely to accept and support the regime, improving or maintaining its legitimacy. The cross-national analysis includes 38 European countries ranging from transition countries to established democracies. It uses bivariate statistical analysis and country-level data collected from legislation, secondary sources, and aggregate surveys.     

State–peasant movement relations and the politics of food sovereignty in Mexico and Ecuador

This contribution argues that the articulation between the state and peasant organizations’ internal structures – the class characteristics of their mass bases, their leaderships and the modes of interaction between the two – is critical for determining the nature of contemporary struggles guided by the discourse of food sovereignty. It will show that that counter-hegemonic demands are not synonymous with counter-hegemonic practice; rather than struggling to replace the neoliberal food regime, many peasant organizations employ the food sovereignty discourse as a political tool in their negotiations with the state in order to access resources from within the prevailing neoliberal model, not to transform it.     

Seal the Deal: Bargaining Positions,Institutional Design,and the Duration of Preferential Trade Negotiations

Multilateral negotiations at the World Trade Organization have stalled. This has contributed to a steep rise in preferential trade agreements (PTAs). At the same time, negotiations for PTAs have not always proven quick and painless: While some treaties are sealed within a few months or days only, other agreements are preceded by protracted bargaining processes in trade and trade-related issue areas. In this article, we provide a theoretical explanation for this empirical variation. More specifically, we argue that PTA negotiations take longer the greater the distance between the prospective partners’ initial bargaining positions. Moreover, we contend that negotiation processes become more protracted the higher the relative ambition of the prospective PTA. Due to the limited links to the domestic political arena in autocracies, we expect this latter effect to play out for groups of democratic bargaining partners only. We test these two hypotheses for 198 preferential trade negotiations using novel measures for bargaining templates and the ambition of PTA clauses. In our two-stage survival models, we find support for our argument. In line with qualitative evidence from recent preferential trade initiatives, our models indicate that services, investment and intellectual property rights are particularly sticky agenda items for democratic leaders at the international bargaining table.     

Silenced narratives of women’s participation in labour and political struggle in Spain, 1960–1975

ABSTRACT

This article studies women’s participation in the struggle against the dictatorship in Spain (from 1960 to 1975). Drawing on life stories of women activists from el Marco de Jerez, it examines their repertoires of actions, their frames, and the lack of recognition from both academic and political spheres. A Gramscian approach and the perspective of hegemonic masculinity contribute to explain how women organized, how represented their collective action, and why their memories have been silenced. The theoretical approach has helped to identify relations of hegemony within feminist studies and political movement.     

Rural unions and the struggle for land in Brazil

Studies of Brazil's agricultural labor movement have generally neglected its relationship to the struggle for land, but this is neither fair nor accurate. Analyzing the rural labor movement's historical contributions to the land struggle in Brazil, this contribution has been organized into three main periods, emphasizing social relations, institutional activism and policy changes. It argues that despite the peculiarities of different historical contexts, rural labor consistently provoked protest against policies that privileged large landholders, whose concentration of power over land and labor resources continually worsened Brazil's ranking as one of the most unequal of nations. For more than half a century, the most constant opponent of this situation among the peasantry has been the National Confederation of Workers in Agriculture (CONTAG), a corporatist organization of rural labor unions founded in 1963.     

关于制造业工会工作的调研与思考

朝阳区制造业工会2013年成立后,为夯实工作基础,全面了解基层企业工会组织工作现状,探索促进制造业工会工作健康发展的新路子,对行业所辖44家基层企业工会进行逐一实地走访,围绕企业状况、工会组织建设、民主管理、职工权益维护和技术创新、文体活动及职工需求等工会重点工作内容进行了专题调研,获得了大量一手信息与数据,发现了制造企业工会存在的普遍问题,并对破解问题进行了思考.     

浅谈落实党的工人政策——学习党的十八大工作报告的体会

党的十八大报告,是夺取中国特色社会主义新胜利和全面建成小康社会的纲领性文件,是代表人民、为人民谋利益的政策指南。报告就实现好、维护好、发展好工人劳动者的积极性和创造性方面重申和提出了许多方针和政策性要求。改革开放30多年的实践中,我们在依靠工人阶级方面也出现了一些杂音和问题。贯彻落实党的十八大报告精神,必须坚定不移地贯彻宪法,切实落实工人劳动者的主人翁地位;必须进一步贯彻党的"依靠"方针,更好地形成"劳动光荣"、"尊重劳动"、落实工人劳动者合法权益的良好社会环境,积极推进工人劳动者逐步实现自身的现代化;同时还要重视和发挥工会组织代表维护工人劳动者合法权益的职能作用,使党的工人政策真正落在实处。     

文化融入策略与恐怖组织的认同

恐怖组织的认同构建过程可分为三个阶段：个体恐怖分子在群体中找到自我、组织内部同一性的构建以及组织一致对外的恐怖主义活动。在整个认同构建过程中,始终贯穿着恐怖组织内外群体文化融入策略选择的矛盾,具体表现为：第一阶段,潜在恐怖分子在主流文化中认同受挫,转而寻求加入恐怖组织。第二阶段,恐怖组织以自身所处的宗教文化为基础,构建其组织文化,并积极通过各种方式加深组织成员对这一文化的认同,但与此相对,恐怖组织外群体却很难认同其组织文化。第三阶段,恐怖组织内外群体文化融入策略选择的矛盾持续激化,最终导致恐怖组织采取一致对外的恐怖主义活动。通过“伊斯兰国”作为案例,对上述恐怖组织的认同过程进行分析后发现,“伊斯兰国”的“成功”是与其“成功”的文化融入策略密切相关,而其在阿富汗的受挫,在很大程度上也是由于文化融入策略“失当”所导致的,即“伊斯兰国”在阿富汗不但无力完成与塔利班的竞争,而且无法解决组织面临的跨文化冲突问题。因此,在打击“伊斯兰国”等暴恐极端势力时,关注文化融入策略的影响并有针对性地采取对策,具有重要意义和价值。     

女性“第二轮班”现象真的存在吗 —— 基于女性教育、职业和收入特征的实证研究

本研究借助国家统计局和妇女联合会的调查数据,对比了中国不同性别城镇劳动者在有酬劳动 时间和家务劳动时间分配上的差异特征,并利用面板数据模型验证了影响女性群体时间选择偏好的主要因素。 结果表明,在中国女性城镇劳动力者中,显著存在着“第二轮班”现象,即不仅参与有酬劳动,而且负担了很 大比重的无酬家务劳动。同时,教育、职业和收入等因素对不同性别劳动者时间分配有一定程度的影响。     

中国智慧和中国方案 ：就业优先的阶段性内涵与生发机制

作为中国特色的经济社会战略名词,就业优先惟有明晰其阶段性和针对性才能充分彰显中国智 慧和中国方案的魅力。结合低中高收入水平及其各自所处阶段的发展均衡陷阱,以反贫困、反对不平等、实现 充分就业与体面就业等阶段性主要任务为媒介,可探究就业优先的阶段性内涵与生发机制。总体上就业优先的 内涵变迁可拾级而上形成三个阶段,即努力实现市场化就业优先的低等水平就业,追求就业数量优先的中等水 平就业,致力于就业质量优先的高等水平就业。就业优先由低到高的三个阶段性内涵依次对应收入水平的低等、 中低等、中高等不同阶段,但并非绝对。进入中国特色社会主义新时代,更要坚持就业优先战略,并把握好就 业质量优先这一新的阶段性内涵,进一步推动相关领域的深化改革。