Spatial voting in non-partisan cities: A case study

In spatial voting theory, voters choose the candidate whose policy preferences are most like their own. This requires that (a) voters and candidates have policy preferences that can be meaningfully summarized in terms of low-dimensional “ideal points” on a left-right scale; (b) voters are able to discern, either directly or through relevant cues, the ideal points of the candidates who are running for office; and (c) voters incorporate this information into the choices they make at the ballot box. Perhaps more than in any other elections, it is not clear that any of these requirements are met in non-partisan municipal elections: policy preferences may not be ideologically structured, information may be inadequate, and voters may choose candidates for reasons other than ideology. This makes non-partisan municipal elections an especially hard test for spatial voting theory. Using novel data from both municipal candidates and eligible voters in a major non-partisan municipal election in Canada, we show that municipal policy attitudes are ideologically structured and that these municipal policy ideal points are strongly related to mayoral and council vote choice. Thus, despite the institutional and informational obstacles, spatial voting can play an important role in non-partisan municipal elections.     

“Journalism ideology” and its influence on the producers of Radio Sonder Grense radio current affairs

In the same way that people can have a political or a personal ideology, their professional identities and how they practise a craft or an occupation may be influenced by what can be labelled as a “professional ideology”. Through conducting interviews with the producers of the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) Afrikaans radio programmes Monitor, Spektrum and Naweek-Aktueel, this article reports on research which showed that there is indeed such a thing as a “journalism ideology”. The interviews focused on how “internal influences” – such as a journalist's background and training, newsroom routines – and “external influences” – such as the audience – influenced the decisions they made in choosing news stories and producing content. This “journalism ideology” influences the producers and in turn the news content of these current affairs programmes that are listened to daily by almost two million listeners. The conclusion drawn from the study is that, although the participants’ “journalism ideology” largely determines the news stories for their programmes, structural forces, newsroom routines and organisational constraints often dictate their actions. Finally, although all the participants saw themselves as “watchdogs of democracy”, internal pressures within the SABC could endanger that role.     

对落实公安部《关于县级公安机关机构设置指导意见》的几点思考

机构设置是各级公安机关的基本单元素,其设置是否科学、合理,直接影响着公安机关职能作用的发挥。笔者结合本地实际,对贯彻落实公安部《关于县级公安机关机构设置指导意见》作一粗浅的探讨。     

指导性案例何以作为法律渊源? ——兼反思我国法源理论与法源实践之关系

“指导性案例是不是法律渊源”是一个关乎指导性案例研究与实践的重要基础性命题,该命题也可以作为反思与重构我国法源理论与法源实践之关系的一个切入点。为此,应当从多个维度来界定法律渊源的基本内涵与属性,以明确相关讨论的大前提。在此基础之上,还需要反思当代中国法源理论与法源实践之间的复杂关系,并倡导一种“规范多元主义”的法源观念。基于上述分析框架,指导性案例作为当代中国的一种法源类型,不仅在理论上成立,而且也具备重要的现实意义以及相当程度的可行性。     

An empirical test of presidentialism's effect on party competition

This article argues that party competition in legislative elections is partly a function of presidential elections. Previous research on spatial competition has assumed that parties are competing in parliamentary regimes, where the only election of concern for parties and voters is the legislative election. However, in presidential regimes, presidential elections lead to relatively centrist positioning of candidates, and coattail effects from the presidential elections help shape the legislative elections. Using data from the Comparative Manifestos Project, I show that the major parties of the left and right in legislative elections are ideologically closer to each other in presidential regimes than major parties in parliamentary regimes.     

Ideological change and the economics of voting behavior in the US, 1920–2008

This paper tests the proposition that voters advance a more liberal agenda in prosperous times and turn more conservative in dire economic times. A reference-dependent utility model suggests that, with income growth, the relative demand for public goods increases and the median voter is more likely to vote Democrat. With slowing income growth, the median voter derives increased marginal utility from personal income—making taxation more painful—and is more likely to vote Republican. Ordinary and instrumented analyses of a new time series for the US median voter are encouraging of this income growth model. This work links voting behavior to economic business cycles and shows that ideological change is endogenous to income growth rates.     

“生态问题意识形态化”批判

“生态问题意识形态化”是由“生态主义意识形态化”发展而来的,是“后意识形态”时代生态问题工具化、生态问题解释权精英化、生态问题与新自由主义意识形态联系紧密化的反映,是“绿党政治”发展后期右翼支持者与环保主义者巨大对立造成的生态问题孤岛的体现,是气候问题在当前争议愈演愈烈的映照,是对当前生态问题更深层次的探讨。我国在面对当前“生态问题意识形态化”倾向时,更应该坚守生态文明建设理念,走出符合中国特色的生态文明建设之路。     

民事程序类指导案例的构建与运用

成文民事诉讼规则具有对个案所适用的司法环境难以清晰表达、对当事人就程序性争议所秉持的诉讼态度和诉讼心理难以描述、对类型化的程序要素无法一一明细等固有局限.目前最高人民法院已公布的程序类指导案例数量较为匮乏、对个案诉讼场景的展示不充分、对程序价值理念的彰显和分析不足.为此,应加强对待建程序类指导案例所精选素材的描述,同时...     

American Republican Religion? Disentangling the Causal Link Between Religion and Politics in the US

Recent research in American political behavior has examined at length the link between evangelical Protestants and the Republican Party. These works however do not consider the idiosyncratic nature of religiosity in the US, and insist on treating religion as an ‘unmoved mover’ with respect to political contexts. The question posed herein is: during the participation of religious communities in partisan politics, should we expect politics to eventually constrain religious behavior? Motivated by a political social identity approach, I use American National Election Study panel data and structural equation modeling techniques to explore the untested possibility that religious and political factors are linked through reciprocal causation. Conditional upon religious and temporal context, findings highlight the causal impact of ideology and partisanship in shaping religious behavior.     

社会主义社会产生和发展的两种方式与马克思主义意识形态建设——从马克思主义革命理论的产生到科学发展观的形成

社会意识形态在漫长的形成和发展中,往往都经历社会发展的“常态”与“非常态”的发展过程。当代中国社会主义的意识形态建设,无论是从外部资本主义的发展,还是中国内部社会主义的发展来分析,已进入了一个“常态”发展阶段。与19世纪马克思主义产生的外部和内部环境、20世纪社会主义产生和发展的世界环境不同,当代社会主义不仅面对着资本主义的常态化发展,而且面对着自身的常态化发展。社会主义的意识形态建设,必须正视这些方面的“常态”内容,充分吸收这些常态化的制度建设、社会建设的成果,作为意识形态建设的基础和根基。当代中国共产党思想理论建设取得的成果———科学发展观正是以此为基点的建设性收获。