Political parties and the transnational mobilisation of the emigrant vote

The relationship between political parties and voters is usually analysed in a national framework. However, the majority of states worldwide allow their emigrant citizens to have an absentee vote. This article analyses how parties confront the challenge of mobilising voters across borders. It presents an analytical framework for comparing the scope of party transnational mobilisation strategies across different electoral systems. Drawing on a contextualised qualitative analysis, the article analyses transnational electoral mobilisation of the emigrant vote in recent elections in Spain, France, Italy and Romania. The analysis shows that a cost–benefit analysis of electoral incentives explains the scope of transnational campaign efforts of many of the political parties. Yet the article also suggests locating the analysis of party strategies in the particular context of the transnational electoral field, including the high dispersion, uncertainty and volatility of the emigrant vote and the overlap between the electoral arenas among emigrants and at home.     

Bringing People Back in Politics: The Role of Civil Society,Political Parties,and Regional Organizations in a Changing Middle East

The Introduction briefly presents the ideas behind this collection of articles, namely to analyze popular mobilization and the role of civil society, political parties, and regional organizations in relation to the developments in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) over the last years, and to discuss theoretical approaches and paradigms of relevance for the analysis of these new regional dynamics. The MENA region experienced, in connection with and following the Arab uprisings, a hitherto unseen popular mobilization. Despite the recent highly problematic situation in several Middle Eastern states, the Introduction emphasizes the continued relevance of focusing on a repoliticized MENA reality. The Middle East is still on the move away from the established image of unshakeable authoritarianism attributed to the region, which made the upgrading authoritarianism paradigm seem forever relevant and without any realistic alternative for the decades to come—therefore, the relevance, offered in this collection of articles, of bringing people back in politics.     

以人为本、民主公正：社会主义核心价值的科学内涵

社会主义核心价值的科学内涵可概括为“以人为本,民主公正”。以人为本,侧重于社会主义性质和本质的层面界定社会主义的核心价值,即回答社会主义是一种怎样的社会形态（价值理念）;民主公正,则侧重于从政治关系和社会关系变革的层面界定社会主义的核心价值,即回答如何完善和发展社会主义社会形态（价值指向、价值标准）。社会主义核心价值是社会主义核心价值体系的本质和主导,离开核心价值的最本质方面,社会主义核心价值体系的相关内容则会流于空谈,甚至会走偏方向。在当前我国关键发展时期,坚持和弘扬以人为本、民主公正的核心价值,在以人为本、民主公正的基点上引领社会思潮、统一思想认识、化解社会矛盾、推动社会进步,具有更加特殊的现实意义。     

Is the Democratic Party’s superdelegate system unfair to voters?

Among the reasons for the historic nature of the 2008 Democratic primary race was the attention paid to the “superdelegates”. The competitiveness of the primary and the important role the superdelegates played has led to calls for reform. This paper develops a formal model that explains why superdelegates selected one candidate over the other and why some superdelegates committed early in the primary season while others waited. Hypotheses are tested using an original dataset collected during the 2008 Democratic primary. The results suggest that although some superdelegates made their decision based on personal, idiosyncratic factors, for many superdelegates, Democratic voters played the most important role in their commitment process.     

Kinshasa: An urban elite considers city,nation and state

The declining salience of the nation state has led to an interest in whether other socially constructed forms, such as the city, have replaced it as a source of accumulation, belief and identity. This article seeks to explore whether this is true in the case of the capital of one of Africa's least successful states, Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). A survey explored the views towards the city of Kinshasa on the past of a variety of middle-class professional people as potential leaders in different occupations resident in different quarters of the city with roots in different parts of the DRC. Despite their somewhat abject material condition and despite extensive contacts internationally, the old dream of the nation state remains relatively strong among them while feelings towards the city largely reflect its situation in that dream rather than any new kind of loyalty. Members this class have extensive national networks of professional contact that help define their identity. New kinds of urban identity with cultural or political meaning beyond this could not be discerned contrary to the perspective held out initially.     

Soviet conspiracy theories and political culture in Ukraine: Understanding Viktor Yanukovych and the Party of Regions

Conspiracy theories in Ukraine draw on inherited Soviet political culture and political technology imported from Russia where such ideas had gained ascendancy under President Vladimir Putin. Eastern Ukrainian and Russian elites believed that the US was behind the 2000 Serbian Bulldozer, 2003 Georgian Rose and 2004 Orange democratic revolutions. The Kuchmagate crisis, impending succession crisis, 2004 presidential elections and Orange Revolution – all of which took up most of Leonid Kuchma’s second term in office – were the first significant domestic threats to Ukraine’s new, post-communist ruling elites and in response Ukraine’s elites revived Soviet style theories of conspiracies and ideological tirades against the US and Ukrainian nationalism. Opposition candidate Viktor Yushchenko became the focal point against which the conspiracies and tirades were launched because his support base lay in ‘nationalist’ Western Ukraine and he has a Ukrainian-American spouse. The revival of Soviet style conspiracy theories has become important since Viktor Yanukovyc’s election as Ukrainian president in 2010 because this political culture permeates his administration, government and Party of Regions determining their worldview and influencing their domestic and foreign policies.     

以改革创新精神推进人民政协的民主监督

政协民主监督是在我国社会主义政党体制内,在团结合作的政党关系基础上,通过民主的方式对共产党实行的一种政治监督。政协民主监督具有自己独特的优势。然而,由于思想上、制度上和机制上的原因,人民政协民主监督存在不同程度的问题。坚持和完善人民政协民主监督,是我国政治制度赋予人民政协的重要职能,是坚定不移发展社会主义民主政治的必然要求。     

“五五体制”与经济—社会转型——日本自民党政权后半期的国家治理研究

20世纪50-70年代,日本的经济社会发展开始显现继工业化转型之后的又一次转型特征。在自民党政权五五体制下,该转型过程托出了强制性经济治理、无责任体系政府治理,并伴有观念、意识形态和社会政策的转换。为有效化解转型危机阶段政治领导能力缺位的症结,需要开启同社会演化方式相吻合的国家体制改革与国家治理发展轨迹。     

“四个全面”视域下政治安全探究

政治安全是国家安全的根本,具有丰富的内涵。政治安全可定义为政治制度、政治体系、法治体系及其主导的意识形态等各因素,保持自身结构相对稳定和有效,能够抵御国内外各种威胁,发挥其正常功能。当前,我国政治安全面临着政治认同弱化、改革中坚守政治定力、推进社会主义民主政治法治化和党的建设面临风险等挑战。全面建成小康社会要增进政治认同、全面深化改革要坚守政治定力、全面依法治国推进社会主义民主政治法治化、全面从严治党营造良好的政治生态,是四个全面视域下维护政治安全的战略策略。     

从国民党“结构崩解”检视南台湾县市政府的两岸交流政策

2012年“大选”之后,国民党在南台湾的选举动员逐步进入一个“结构崩解”的阶段,影响所及,国民党不仅在南台湾各类选举中难以取胜,也因为其所掌握的社会支持网络更趋于弱化,国民党在南台湾绿营执政县市作为一个在野政党的监督力量也随之弱化。因之,即便在多数南台湾各县市议会中,国民党仍掌握较多正副议长席次,但由国民党掌握的县市议会,却对民进党县市政府的消极的两岸交流政策难有影响。检视国民党在南台湾“结构崩解”的情况、影响及民进党县市政府和县市首长的两岸交流政策,并研判其发展趋势,无疑对深入了解南台湾政治社会状况具有十分重要的意义。