Campaign Individualisation before and after the Bailout: A Comparison between Greece and Portugal

The elections that took place in Greece and Portugal before and after the intervention of the so-called Troika allow us to examine to what extent the austerity period has affected the nature and style of electoral campaigns, especially in terms of individualisation. Our results show that campaigns in Greece and Portugal were quite different and that Greek candidates supported by the two main parties are more likely to emphasise their role. Yet the short-term impact of the crisis has been negligible, as there have been insignificant shifts in the communicative focus on the personalisation of the agendas and on the means used in the campaign after the intervention of the Troika.     

Local Elections and the Turkish Voter: Looking for the Determinants of Party Choice

On 30 March 2014 Turkish voters elected their local (city) councillors. Their party preferences seem to indicate considerable correspondence with the national vote choices. So, do voters' choices in local elections differ from voters' party preferences at the national legislative elections? Based on previous research findings on Turkish voting behaviour, a list of hypotheses was compiled and tested, using binary logistic regression analyses and survey data collected immediately prior to the 2009 and 2014 local elections. The main findings are that the party lists are supported at the ballot boxes on the basis of the voters' party identification, ideological positions, and economic (dis)satisfaction, whether in national or local elections.     

Why Berlusconi’s landslide return? A comment on the 2008 Italian general election

At the Italian parliamentary election of April 2008 the centre-right coalition, led by media tycoon Silvio Berlusconi, prevailed with 3.3 million votes over the centre-left coalition, led by Walter Veltroni, former mayor of Rome. This commentary analyzes the electoral results by looking at three factors which affected the vote: the institutional context, the electoral campaigns of both coalitions, and the voters’ behaviour. The article claims that the electoral outcome originated from an asymmetrical abstention of centre-left voters who did not turn out, and from a high-level of swing-voting which favoured the centre-right. It is argued that this election hardly signals a political realignment. Rather than value changes, valence politics and government performance are at the basis of the centre-right victory.      

“Institutions and Economic Performance: The Use and Abuse of Culture in New Institutional Economics”: A Response to Heydemann

Applications of institutional analysis to the explanation of economic performance come in many flavors. Some economists have made use of an economics-oriented flavor in treating culture as one component of that analysis. Steven Heydemann uses a more political flavor of institutional analysis to argue that two of these economists, Douglass North and Avner Greif, have overly simplified and homogenized the concept of culture and the way in which it affects economic performance. He goes on to identify several instances in both the economic history and contemporary experience of the Middle East where he claims that such over-simplification has led to shortcomings in the analysis. This paper suggests that while some of Heydemann’s claims have merit, several others are exaggerated.

从经济互补性看中国与菲律宾的经济合作

中国与菲律宾经济存在竞争性的同时,也蕴含着巨大的互补性,为两国经济合作的展开提供了基础。本文从中国与菲律宾经济发展现状出发,在探讨中国与菲律宾经济互补性的基础上分析了中菲经济合作的现状、特点及存在问题,并展望两国经济合作的前景。     

实施主体功能区战略的宏观调控法思考

改革开放以来,我国经济建设主要走的是外延粗放式发展道路,不具有可持续性。促进区域经济协调发展和推进形成全国主体功能区,是新时期落实科学发展观,转变经济增长方式的重大战略部署和举措。《“十二五”规划纲要》所提出的“实施主体功能区战略”,有赖于一系列宏观调控措施的综合运用及相关法律制度的保障。     

论经侦工作效能的延伸

当前,我国经济犯罪形势日趋严峻。打击经济犯罪仍是经侦工作的主要职能,经侦部门应当紧紧围绕这个主业,在积极探索新的侦查方式的同时,深入挖掘其潜能,促进打击效能向服务和参谋等方面延伸。     

俄罗斯资源依赖型经济的长期增长

"资源的诅咒"是发展经济学中的一个著名命题,丰裕的资源禀赋已经被视为长期经济增长的障碍。近年来俄罗斯经济呈现出较明显的资源依赖特征,其经济增长面临一定的风险。针对俄罗斯自然资源制约经济增长的问题,应通过适当的经济和政策支持来维持资源依赖型经济的长期增长,俄罗斯经济如果要实现持续增长,短期内应维持能源产业的持续增长,而在长期内则应从完善制度和政策环境入手。     

越南与欧盟缔结自贸协议的考量和影响

2019年6月30日,《越南与欧盟自由贸易协定》正式签署。本文以越欧批准签署FTA为切入点,首先论述了双方启动FTA谈判的背景,认为双方参与FTA有助于实现各自的全球对外贸易战略目标,近年来越欧日益紧密的经贸关系为双方缔结FTA创造了良好的前提条件;进而从越南视域角度分析双方缔结FTA的动机,认为越南与欧盟缔结FTA是出于对经济、政治和大国关系平衡三方面的综合考虑;最后阐述了该协定的内容及协议生效对越南、WTO多边自由贸易体制、东盟地区经济一体化以及中越经济关系产生的影响。     

The judicialisation of EMU politics: Resistance to the EU's new economic governance mechanisms at the domestic level

Courts are increasingly asked to deal with fundamental political disagreements in liberal democracies. Because of its political salience and the extent of its consequences, the crisis of the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) has exposed such fundamental disagreements between and within its member states, which numerous plaintiffs have brought before domestic courts and the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU). This article analyses this judicialisation of the EMU crisis. Using a database on lawsuits introduced in all 28 member states with regard to crisis measures and the new EMU governance mechanisms introduced since 2010, the authors study which actors use the courts and under which circumstances. Based on a combination of judicialisation and political economy approaches, the article develops a series of assumptions on actors’ motivations in order to understand the reasons for judicialisation in debtor and creditor countries.