Singapore Beyond Ethnicity: Rethinking the Group Representative Constituency Scheme

Abstract

The resounding victory of the People’s Action Party (PAP) in the 2015 Singapore general elections surprised many observers. Several observers had considered the previous election, held in 2011, to be the new normal in Singapore politics, with the Workers’ Party being the first opposition party to win a Group Representative Constituency (GRC). Instead of its popular vote sliding from 60% in 2011, the PAP secured almost a 10% increase in its fortunes. Analysts have spoken about PAP’s hard work and the opposition’s failures when commenting on the ruling party’s success; this article, however, points out how Singapore’s electoral system, especially the GRC, continues to favour the ruling party and why it should be rethought. Introduced in 1988, the scheme ensures minority candidates (non-Chinese) are voted into parliament. Candidates contesting in a GRC form a team of Members of Parliament (MPs) with at least one minority candidate in each team. This article argues that the 2015 election results proves that Singaporeans no longer vote along ethnic lines, and non-Chinese MPs have comfortably led the GRCs and won in Single Member Constituencies. To be sure, the GRC scheme does new PAP candidates a disfavour: it weakens their legitimacy with voters, since they remain under the shadows of senior PAP candidates and cannot win elections on their own accord.     

Gender Equality (And its Absence) in Singapore’s 2015 General Elections

Abstract

With the dust settled after Singapore’s 2015 parliamentary elections, the only aspect pundits and Singaporean politics watchers could agree on was that the People’s Action Party’s comeback from its performance at the 2011 elections, although not of Lazarus proportions, was most certainly unexpected. While the result of the 2015 elections has gone through several post-election analytical mills, what has been oddly absent in such analyses is a discussion of gender in Singaporean politics. This article considers the relationship between gender and Singaporean politics through the experience of the 2015 election and its results. It shows that while Singapore has moved some way towards assuaging the demands of liberal feminists for greater representation in the political sphere, much more has to be done in order for gender equality to be achieved. The article argues for the Group Representation Constituency method of electing parliamentarians to be adapted to ensure a greater number of female parliamentarians while a quota system may be required for cabinet to be truly representative of the female demographic of Singapore.     

Popular post-separation parenting smartphone apps: An evaluation

In recent years a bewildering array of smartphone applications (“apps”) has emerged to support separated parents' communication. Post-separation parenting apps vary in cost and features; they typically comprise a messaging tool, shared calendar, expense tracker and a means to export records for legal purposes. A key challenge for separated parents and family law practitioners alike is knowing which apps or app feature(s) can work well for different family contexts, needs and budgets. The present study sought to evaluate nine popular post-separation parenting apps and their features using small-n Human–Computer Interaction methods. Mediators role-played high conflict ex-couples while completing a set of five common post-separation communication or organizational tasks. A cross-case analysis of ratings was conducted. We found that (a) many of the mediators changed their apparent enthusiasm for co-parenting apps once they had used the apps themselves; (b) all nine apps were rated somewhere between “Poor” to Fair’; and (c) features of some of the best-known apps were not rated as highly as some of the features of more recent, lesser-known apps.     

Beyond the Visible Pattern: Historical Particularities,Development, and Age at First Marriage in Transylvania, 1850–1914

The present study focused on age at first marriage in Transylvania between 1850 and 1914, a time of both social-economic change and resilient historically entrenched particularities. Based on data extracted from the Historical Population Database of Transylvania we constructed an extensive sample from settlements with a broad range of social-economic characteristics, which allowed for a comparative view into the influence of various factors on marriage timing. We examined in this sense both individual-level co-variates, such as denominational affiliation, migration background, and social-occupational status, as well as broader factors, such as the development level attained by certain settlements and the time frame. We found that the area level of development measured according to a heuristic index was in many cases more decisive than individual characteristics in shaping individuals’ constraints and opportunities on the marriage market. More significantly, the analysis showed that the ways in which the development level worked to transform marriage timing for both men and women could be explained by historically entrenched differences and specificities. At the same time, these patterns in age at first marriage, given by factors such as denomination, might be the result of other largely still invisible factors, for which the variables used are merely imperfect proxies.     

冷战时期美国的军事战略与军事思想

冷战时期,美国形成了为其全球战略服务的各种军事战略,包括"遏制战略"和各种核威慑战略,如大规模报复战略、灵活反应战略、限制损伤战略、确保摧毁战略、现实威慑战略、总体威慑战略、有限核威慑战略和新的灵活反应战略。与此相适应,军事思想也发生了很大的变化,强调"空军第一"、"争夺制海权"、"质量建军",并形成了新的作战思想。这些战略和军事思想使美国赢得了冷战的胜利,但是也产生了许多问题。     

关于国民会议运动的几点看法

中国共产党于1923年7月发布的《中国共产党第二次对时局的主张》中指出:“北京之国会已成为封建军阀的傀儡,国民已否认其代表资格,只有国民会议才能真正代表国民,才能制定出宪法,才能建立新的政府统一中国。”[1](P178)该主张逐渐为孙中山所代表的革命民主派和各界人民广泛接受,并在1925年春发展成规模巨大的政治运动。     

修改《中华人民共和国海商法》的诉求与时机

从中国航运业和国际国内相关立法发展以及《中华人民共和国海商法》（简称《海商法》）自身不足的角度出发,分析修改《海商法》的必要性,并在此基础上提出,中国海事诉讼与仲裁实践经验以及成体系性的司法解释为《海商法》的修改提供了可能性,而《鹿特丹规则》的出台更为《海商法》的修改提供了时机性。     

Voting for peace,mobilizing for war: post-conflict voter turnout and civil war recurrence

In democratic elections around the world, high levels of voter turnout are frequently praised as a sign of democratic legitimacy and consolidation. However, while popular participation should be lauded in many circumstances, under certain conditions it can also have nefarious side effects. In post-conflict countries, high levels of voter turnout may make it easier for militants to return to arms because everyday people are invested in the political process and the electoral outcome. Through the use of survival modelling, this study finds that voter turnout is positively correlated with civil war recidivism in post-conflict first elections. Even when elections are not particularly contentious or when structural factors (such as level of development) are auspicious, voter turnout continues to have a positive and statistically significant relationship with recidivism.     

铸造忠诚警魂必须坚持德育为先——读《中国共产党教育理论与实践》有感

德育工作对人才培养发挥着方向性和导向性作用,是我国社会主义教育的灵魂。公安工作的特殊性决定了所需人才必须具有坚定的政治信念、良好的为人民服务的职业素养,这些都需要在公安院校经过系统的、完整的教育、教学过程来完成。公安高等院校要通过提高认识、转变观念、发挥思想政治理论课的主渠道作用、教师的言传身教、加强学生心理健康教育等几方面,贯彻"育人为本,德育为先"的理念,以铸造忠诚警魂为根本和学生全面发展为目标,促进公安高等教育健康发展。