An oasis of democracy in an authoritarian sea? Civil society,social, and institutional trust in Georgia

We examine whether the existence of civil society in Georgia has promoted social and institutional trust in the population. As much of the literature suggests, Georgia is different from its neighbors in that civil society development is more advanced. Does participation in civil society lead to more social and institutional trust? Using survey data from the Caucasus Barometer and the World Values Survey, we find that attitudes regarding social and institutional trust are more developed in Georgia than in its neighbors, and that activity in voluntary organizations is positively associated with social and institutional trust in Georgia.     

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.     

The Unexpected: Bionic Woman at the Millennium

Wilfred Bion's A Memoir of the Future provides a point of departure for feminist thinking about the millennium. Bion problematizes hopes for the future and associates thought with catastrophic change. Women play an unexpected role in Bion's experimental autobiography, posing provocative questions and unsettling the status quo . Since Bion has little to say about women in his clinical writings, A Memoir sheds light on his thinking and on the post-Kleinian culture of the 1970s. Book I of A Memoir depicts a class- and sex-nightmare played out between men and women, and women and women, in an age of anxiety whose setting appears to be the fascist 'pacification' of Middle England during an unspecified period. In this hallucinatory drama, all encounters are reduced to a brutal fiction of dominance and submission. The violence of the action suggests the primitive mental world of psychosis. Book II of A Memoir satirizes 'the brilliance of masculine thought' through the voices and criticisms of women. But this is the purgatorial movement of Bion's autobiography, inhabited by 'idées mères' (untransformed beta-elements) and haunted by the ghosts of Bion's traumatic war-time experience. A monstrous plot is hatched to kill primitive, fascistic Man, who retaliates and takes the female spoils. Is this the prelude to catastrophic change? Book III stages a country-house debate between different characters who represent aspects of Bion's personality, recapitulating the concerns of his later writing. The debate includes a meditation on childbirth as compared to war trauma, but Bion takes his distance from feminine intuition or common sense. Women fight on both sides of the barriers in the Bionic revolution - becoming, however, figures for the 'unexpected' and precursors of emotional upheaval. The gendering of millennial thought in Bion's Memoir provides an opportunity to scrutinize our own unthought fantasies of change.     

制度差异与制度创新:多元制度互动下的大湾区改革

在一国两制的背景下,香港、澳门与内地之间的制度差异如何影响粤港澳大湾区的发展?学界对此仍关注不足。论文基于制度主义理论,构建了"制度差异-张力-制度创新"的理论框架,以深圳前海自贸区的工程建设管理制度改革为案例,分析了制度差异推动改革创新的机制。研究发现,不同的制度逻辑形塑行动主体的认知与行为,因此多元制度在互动中能够产生张力,进而激发行为主体的能动性,促使其反思、设计新的制度、采取改革行动,最终促成制度创新。中国内地与港澳的制度在"一国两制"方针下得以多元共存,制度差异在粤港澳密切互动中产生的张力是大湾区改革的创新源泉,使大湾区在国家改革与发展大局中发挥重要作用。     

The transition from limited access orders to open access orders in the post-communist Europe

This paper attempts to explain the process of institutional transition of post-communist countries applying conceptual framework proposed by D.C. North, J. J. Wallis, and B. R. Weingast. The first part of the article is devoted to outline the theory of North, Weingast, and Wallis. The second part the theory is used to analyze transformation processes in post-communist countries. An important conclusion of this paper is that cultural, religious and historical factors have crucial impact on formation of new coalitions of elites in the transitions countries. In the countries where Western values were present the transfer of the market and democratic formal institutions was easier. Also, the process of transformation was strongly influenced by external factors, especially the prospect of integration with the European Union, which encouraged elites to take action that benefited the opening of both political and economic markets. These observations suggest that, in general, the success of transformation in transition countries did not depend on the intentional actions of ruling elites.     

中国行政审批制度的结构与历史变迁——基于历史制度主义的分析范式

用历史制度主义的分析范式,检视中国行政审批制度的结构与历史变迁,是解读该项制度变迁全貌的一个新的视角.国家宏大制度背景决定行政审批制度的选择,国家制度背景的变迁也导致行政审批制度的不断变更与革新;各种相关政治变量,包括经济水平、利益关系以及意识形态等因素与行政审批制度之间存在一种序列结构,行政审批制度与其它政府政策或制度之间也存在类似的序列结构,这种政治变量序列结构使行政审批制度处于一个制度矩阵当中,影响并制约着行政审批制度的安排;制度与制度制定及执行者之行为的互动模式则推动行政审批制度的变迁.行政审批制度变迁具有路径依赖性,也存在"历史否决点",而制度激励和制度创新是打破"历史否决点",提升制度绩效的必要手段.为此,行政审批制度的进一步变迁需要重塑政府理念,打造治理型政府,并转变政府职能,推进行政体制改革.而且,行政审批制度的进一步变迁必须契合社会主义市场经济体制的客观需要,适应加入WTO新形势的迫切要求.     

The Electoral Cycle and Multi-Level Voting in Germany

The aim of this contribution is to analyse whether Land elections may (have) become uncoupled from the federal electoral process, and, if they have, to explore the implications for party competition in Germany. Initially, an overview is presented of the relevant theoretical models that can help unpack the relationship between different electoral arenas. Secondly, how these ideas have been applied to national and sub-national electoral competition in Germany is outlined, before an examination of the 'fit' of the data in both the pre- and post-unification periods. We conclude with reflections on two key features that have regularly surfaced in Gordon Smith's writings: party system change and political stability.     

中国农村的自杀问题(1980-2009)——兼与景军先生等商榷

通过对7省34村的质性访谈而获得的1980-2009年间604例农民自杀死亡案例的数据分析,本文认为当前农村自杀率仍呈显著上升态势。青年人自杀率的显著下降与老年人自杀率的急速上升并行不悖地运行于当下农村,青年女性自杀率的显著下降拉低了青年人整体自杀率并使之向下运行,然而,老年人自杀率的急速上升则拉升了农村的整体自杀率并使之向上运行。分析指出,决定这种复杂形貌的因素并非农村女性的迁移所导致,而是由于代际关系变动与离婚加速兴起所造成。其背后更为深刻的机制则表明,当前农村自杀率的复杂变化是现代性持续地侵蚀农村的产物。     

制度匮乏下亚欧合作的选择:议题、形式和方向

亚欧会议的制度匮乏源于成员中缺少强势主导国及其创设的国际机制。当前亚欧合作面临三大主要矛盾,即共同威胁上升、力量对比改变和新成员的加入。亚欧对跨区域合作的需求增加,同时合作的难度也在增大。亚欧合作需要在更新议题、调整合作的方式和方向等方面不懈探索以保持活力。为在制度短缺的前提下实现有效合作,亚欧仍适合遵循以开放和自愿为基础的弱机制模式,并需要依靠亚欧双方主导性力量加强多边协调,以务实的态度优先在低政治领域开展合作。     

不起诉决定权限制的制度逻辑与改良

我国检察机关行使的不起诉决定权受到检察系统的内部限制和外部监督机构的限制,该限制符合检察机关司法角色、规范设置、制度管理方面的逻辑要求。在我国刑事司法已经呈现出向＂精密司法＂方面发展的趋势时,为了保护人权,分流刑事案件,应当扩张不起诉决定权的行使。为了保障不起诉决定权的正当行使,应当在不起诉决定程序的制度化、公开化、公平化方面进行改良。