Salience‐Based Congruence Between Parties & their Voters: The Swiss Case

Policy congruence between parties and their voters is a prerequisite for the latter's representation. Related research typically focuses on the left‐right dimension. We contribute to this literature by conceiving the alignment between citizens and political elites as congruence on issues that individual citizens consider important (salience‐based congruence). Furthermore, we approach salience from the citizen's perspective and measure it at the individual level. Based on data from the Swiss Election Study (2007), we demonstrate that the assessment of party representation changes once we take salience into account. Policy congruence on salient issues is high and niche parties perform better than mainstream parties. Our arguments and findings about the role personal issue salience plays at the individual and party levels have important repercussions for contemporary debates on representation and policy congruence.     

当前我国政策绩效的价值取向解读

理论上,政策绩效不同于政策结果之处在于它对其内在价值及其行为方式改变的特别关注,因而具有较强的价值意蕴.政策绩效在社会转型中的"应然"状态与"实然"现实之间的差别,就是政策问题存在的闭区间.在此基础上,公共政策的自由裁量权、公共政策的回应性、有效性、公共性、公民精神以及治理、善治等作为一种"绩效指标",对政策绩效及其实现程度等都有很大的影响.社会转型时期各种特质的社会问题的大量积聚、政府主导的政策模式、公民社会的不健全等,首先作为一种"自变量",影响着当下我国的现实政策绩效,某种程度上决定了公共政策的自由裁量权、回应性、有效性、公共性、公民精神等的存在形式和发生作用路径;另一方面,作为"因变量",它们被嵌入不同的制度运行、政策实践以及社会生活的各个环节中,成为一种既定的公共政策价值取向,决定着当下各种利益诉求、利益整合、利益分配、利益落实等的性质和内容.在技术和价值之间,政策绩效找到了其存在的基本空间.     

A Reevaluation of the Effects of State and ACA Dependent Coverage Mandates on Health Insurance Coverage

We study state and federal health insurance coverage mandates for young adults. Despite consistent findings that the Affordable Care Act's (ACA) federal mandate was effective, research has disagreed on whether preexisting, state-level mandates were successful in increasing coverage. We reconsider the issue with a new analytical perspective and newly available accurate data on state mandates. We show that the impact of the state mandates was substantive and concentrated among young adults between ages 19 and 23. Our estimates indicate that dependent coverage rose by 3.9 percentage points and overall coverage rose by 3.3 percentage points. Crowd-out of coverage through young adults’ own jobs was negligible. For those above 23, we find little evidence of changes in coverage. We incorporate these insights into analysis of the ACA's mandate, showing its effects were focused among those who were not eligible for state mandates, or were eligible but older than 23. Our results suggest that eligibility restrictions played important roles in limiting the scope of the state mandates, but they can be practical and effective tools for policymakers looking to ensure or expand coverage for young adults in the face of uncertainty about the ACA.     

当代中国传媒、民意与公共决策的互动探析——以电话初装费政策调整和取消为案例

描述和分析了1990年末期以来由传媒参与、促进公共政策议程的个案。在该个案中,社会意见表达得以实现,促成了公共讨论,并导致了政府对在公共讨论基础上形成之民意的政策回应。对这一进程的发生及促成因素进行了分析和解释,研究表明:传媒、民意与公共决策的互动过程有三个重要关节点:民意表达、公共讨论、政府回应。在这个过程中,传媒起到了关键性作用,它充当了形成公共意见的"公共领域"的角色与功能。除了探讨传媒、民意与公共决策的互动过程与机制之外,对本个案中表现出的遗憾与局限也做了讨论。通过本个案研究,希望为当代中国传媒、民意与公共决策互动问题提供一个微观视角。     

出生性别比偏高治理中的公共政策失效原因分析

为了分析我国出生性别比偏高问题治理的公共政策失效的原因,通过国家官方网站和中国期刊网检索了出生性别比偏高问题治理的56项政策文本和43篇政策分析类文献,并基于社会性别公平理念和公共政策系统协调性分析框架,采用内容分析方法对上述政策文本和文献进行了深入分析。结果显示,公共政策系统的不协调是出生性别比偏高问题未能得到有效治理的主要原因,该不协调体现在政策的主体子系统内部、客体子系统内部、主体与客体子系统之间、本政策系统与其他政策之间以及本政策系统与环境之间五个方面。研究结论对于中国出生性别比偏高问题的治理、国家关爱女孩行动的顺利开展等都具有一定的借鉴和指导意义;同时也丰富和发展了政策评估方法。     

Conduit or contributor? The role of media in policy change theory

The policy change literature is contradictory about the role the media plays in policy change: a conduit for policy participants, with media accounts transmitting multiple policy beliefs of those involved in policy debates or a contributor in the policy process, with media accounts supplying consistent policy beliefs with congruent narrative framing strategies to construct a policy story. The purpose of this study is to empirically test whether the role of the media is that of a conduit or contributor in the policy change process. This study tests whether there are differences in policy beliefs and narrative framing strategies between local and national print media coverage of two contentious policy issues in the Greater Yellowstone Area between 1986 and 2006, that of snowmobile access and wolf reintroduction. In the Greater Yellowstone Area policy arena, local media accounts are believed to be aligned with the Old West Advocacy Coalition, whereas the national media accounts are thought to be part of the New West Advocacy Coalition. With a methodology informed by narrative policy analysis, one hundred seventy five local and national print newspaper accounts were content analyzed to determine whether these media accounts were policy narratives, with embedded policy beliefs and narrative framing strategies. The results indicate that there are statistical differences between local and national media coverage for five of the seven hypotheses. Media accounts are generally policy stories, suggesting that the media’s role is more of a contributor than a conduit in the policy change process.

澳门的多语现象与语言政策

澳门自古以来就是中国的领土,但是由于历史的原因,澳门社会制度多次发生了根本的变化,这就使得其使用的语言异常复杂,澳门被誉为“语言博物馆”。澳门地区语言现象的复杂性使澳门的语言政策几经变化。在澳门回归祖国10周年之即,对澳门多语现象和语言政策进行探讨,有利于我们进一步了解澳门地区的语言发展现状,具有一定的现实意义。     

战略伙伴关系框架下中国与印尼经济关系的发展与对策研究

中国与印尼的双边经济关系近年得到迅速发展,中国已成为印尼的第四大贸易伙伴。双方应继续努力拓展贸易与投资关系,深化在旅游、农业、渔业、纺织服装、信息与通讯技术、基础设施以及能源领域的合作。这些部门将是近期中印尼经济合作最具潜力并易取得成效的行业。     

韩美同盟的现状:以战略同盟构想为中心

本文旨在以李明博政府的韩美战略同盟构想为中心,对韩美同盟的现状进行探讨。李明博政府正力图将现有韩美安保同盟发展为一揽子战略同盟,以此提升国力。由于面临着霸权的现实性局限,深感全球层面的同盟合作变得更加切合实际的美国奥巴马政府正在接受这一构想,但是对于具体的方案,两国的理解并不完全一致。而这一点正是本文的要旨之所在。     

冷战后新保守主义影响美国对华政策的主要手段

美国新保守主义的外交思想及政策具有浓厚的意识形态色彩和强烈的进攻性。冷战后,新保守主义者仍然固守冷战思维,鼓吹“中国威胁论”,主张对华奉行强硬的“遏制政策”。他们通过参与政治实践;操纵媒体、引导舆论;控制国会、影响立法等手段影响政府的对华政策,使布什政府的对华政策具有明显的新保守主义特征。