It's economic size,stupid! How global advocacy mirrors state power

Numerous empirical studies suggest that global interest communities are heavily biased in favor of wealthier countries. This research note critically reviews these works suggesting that they (i) lack a benchmark to assess the biased nature of global interest communities and (ii) conflate the concepts of “wealth” (based on GDP per capita) and “economic power” (based on GDP) into one analytical category. As a corrective to these problems, we compare variation in global interest group mobilization across countries to the size of these countries' national economies. Relying on an original dataset mapping interest groups communities at the World Trade Organization (1997–2012) and the United Nations Climate Summits (1997–2011), we show that (i) global interest representation almost perfectly reflects differences in countries' relative economic power and (ii) contrary to the conventional wisdom, wealthier countries are, relative to their economic size, actually underrepresented in global interest communities.     

西南水电资源开发中少数民族移民问题与对策

无论从水电资源的分布还是从开发程度看,大西南都是我国水电资源开发的重点区域。移民问题在水电资源开发中从来就占有极其重要的地位。旧的计划经济体制下的西南水电资源开发在总体上形成了广大移民尤其是少数民族移民“念开发愈穷”的严重问题,必须通过等价赔偿、资源入股的市场化制度改革,以及对少数民族移民的特殊关注,方能理顺国家、水电企业与少数民族移民的经济关系,使水电资源开发摆脱传统的计划经济体制的羁绊,成为国家、企业和当地少数民族移民共同发展、稳定、富裕的源泉。     

论中国利益群体参与公共政策制定存在的问题

处于社会转型期的中国,如何处理利益群体参政问题关乎改革开放的历史进程和社会稳定。中国的渐进式改革路径在保持社会稳定方面发挥了重要的作用,但是这种渐进式改革更多地表现在经济领域,而政治领域的改革,特别是公民参政权的落实则略显迟滞和不够。由此引起的矛盾和问题使人们产生了诸多不满和怨恨,因此探讨中国利益群体在参与公共政策制定上存在的问题,对于进一步完善中国利益群体参政的路径、提高政府的执政能力和管理创新能力,其理论价值和现实意义不言而喻。     

弱势群体社会资本缺失的因素分析

社会资本缺失既是弱势群体的重要特征,又是其弱势地位形成的重要因素。弱势群体的社会资本缺失主要表现在资本因素、结构因素、文化因素、制度因素及组织因素等几方面。     

合法性视域中的弱势群体问题研究

社会弱势群体的大量出现已经成为一个非常突出和不容忽视的社会问题。这一问题的凸现,直接影响到我国改革开放的深入发展和社会主义市场经济的进程,并对党的执政合法性提出了严峻的挑战。     

城市弱势群体贫困的政策分析

城市弱势群体的贫困问题在世界各国都是普遍存在的。如由于农村人口涌入城市形成贫民窟、因为经济不景气导致大量失业等等。但我国城市贫困的形成原因却有所不同,我国城市贫困问题的主要原因是社会转型时期政策失误。具体表现为相关政策的缺位以及已有政策中存在的诸多不合理。     

论编辑思想的出版功能及构建

编辑思想是编辑出版活动反映在编辑人员意识中经过思维而产生的结果,是贯穿编辑出版活动的工作思路的总和。在出版活动中,编辑思想体现出了信息选择和文化导向功能、出版活动的组织功能和文化创造的优化功能。编辑思想的构建呼唤科学研究精神,编辑人员要抱着终生学习的态度,博采众长,不断拓宽思想界面,加深思想深度,紧跟时代步伐,与时俱进。     

Are they listening? Public opinion,interest groups and government responsiveness

What is the role of interest groups in the transmission of issues between the public and government policy? While government responsiveness to voters has received widespread scholarly attention, little is known about the role of interest groups in the transmission of public opinion to government. It is argued here that interest groups importantly influence government responsiveness to public opinion, but that the effect varies by type of interest group: while cause groups increase the responsiveness of governments to their electorate, sectional groups decrease government responsiveness. Drawing on a new and unique dataset, this article examines the relationship between public opinion, interest groups and government expenditure across 13 policy areas in Germany from 1986 until 2012 and shows that interest groups indeed have a differential effect on the responsiveness of governments. The article’s findings have important implications for understanding political representation and the largely overlooked relationship between public opinion, interest groups and government policy.     

From the State to the Streets: The Debate over the Civil Union Bill and Conservative Strategic Change in Peru

The adoption of SOGI policies depends on the strategies activists choose to support or oppose them. Nevertheless, the conditions that explain why some strategies are prioritised over others are not evident. In Peru, the 2013 debate over civil unions prompted a strategic shift in which the conservative wing started to benefit from intensive street mobilisation strategies. Why did this change occur? We argue that a deeply divided electoral competition and the decay of the Catholic Church's moral authority favoured this outcome. This article analyses the trajectory of these strategies over time to identify the conditions that contributed to the shift.     

Third molar development in a London population of White British and Black British or other Black ethnicity

Population differences in dental development between Black and White ethnic groups have been debated but not previously studied in the UK. Using inappropriate data for dental age estimation (DAE) could lead to erroneous results and injustice. Data were collected from dental panoramic radiographs of 5590 subjects aged 6–24 years in a teaching hospital archive. Demirjian stages were determined for left-sided teeth and third molars and data collected regarding hypodontia and third molar agenesis. Third molar development in self-assigned Black British, including other self-assigned Black ethnicity, was compared with that of self-assigned White British subjects. Data were compared for males and females in the two ethnic groups using T-tests for Demirjian Stages A–G of third molar development and Mann-Whitney tests for Stage H once a cut-off age at the maximum age for Stage G had been imposed. Third molar development occurred earlier in subjects of Black ancestry compared to those of White ancestry. While both ethnic groups showed large age ranges for every third molar stage, in female subjects these generally occurred at least 1.5 years earlier, and in males at least one year earlier. Hypodontia and third molar agenesis were more prevalent in White British, but the ethnic difference in third molar development persisted in subjects with complete dentitions. This is a large study that confirms ethnic differences in a London population, emphasises the difficulties of establishing the 18-year-old threshold using DAE, and confirms the risk of overestimating the age of individuals of Black ethnicity using White ethnic reference data.