WHAT SHAPES CITIZENS' EVALUATIONS OF THEIR PUBLIC OFFICIALS' ACCOUNTABILITY? EVIDENCE FROM LOCAL ETHIOPIA

In this article, we study which institutional factors shape citizens' views of the local accountability of their public officials. Our departing assumption is that evaluations of local accountability reflect not only citizens' poltical attitudes and beliefs but also whether local institutions contribute to an environment of mutual trust, accountability and ultimately democratic legitimacy. Combining public opinion data from a large‐N citizen survey (N = 10 651) with contextual information for 63 local governments in Ethiopia, we look at access to information, participatory planning and the publicness of basic services as potential predictors of citizens' evaluations of local public officials. Our findings suggest that local context matters. Jurisdictions that provide access to information on political decision making are perceived to have more accountable officials. Moreover, when local governments provide public fora that facilitate citizens' stakes in local planning processes, it positively affects citizens' evaluations of the accountability of their officials. Our study adds to the empirical literatrure by showing that establishing local institutions that can foster citizen–government relations at the local level through inclusive processes is crucial for improving public perceptions of accountability. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Political Advertising in Greek Municipal and Prefecture Elections of 2002

Abstract

Since the restoration of democracy in 1974, Greek politics have undergone a serious transformation, exemplified by the increase in political participation that strongly affected political advertising at the national and local level. The major claim of the paper is that political campaigns in major cities in Greece are “modern” while in the periphery of the country political campaigning is based more upon direct forms of interpersonal relations. Our claim is based upon an examination of the role of political advertising in the major metropolitan city of Thessaloniki (around 1.000.000 inhabitants), and the semi-peripheral city of Kastoria (around 17.000 inhabitants), both situated in Northern Greece. The primary objective of this study is to establish a strong factual foundation that can be used by policy makers, opinion leaders, and citizens in order to understand the role of political advertising in national and municipal elections in Greece.     

Independent Candidacies in Greece

Abstract

This article has as its main purpose to demonstrate that three main factors considered as keys to a successful political campaign remain the same around the globe. These basic factors are: (a) that campaign methods drawn from and designed in the USA can be adapted to needs of campaigns implemented in foreign countries; (b) the importance of polling; and, (c) that successful strategy planning and implementation depends on the candidate's attitude and cooperative spirit. The relevance of these factors is exhibited through a case study, the successful campaign strategy of an independent candidate for the post of the mayor in the city of Serres in Northern Greece during the 2002 Greek municipal elections.     

A Feminist Approach to Hybridity: Understanding Local and International Interactions in Producing Post-Conflict Gender Security

Recently, the concept of hybridity has become popular within critical peacebuilding scholarship to explain the interplay of power between local and international actors in post-conflict contexts. However, a nuanced gender lens has often been missing from these analyses. This article develops a feminist critique and approach to hybridity in order to achieve a deeper sense of the effects that experiences and perspectives of international and local actors have upon peacebuilding initiatives. It begins to develop a feminist approach to hybridity via a case study of a gender security initiative concerned with challenging the prevalence of small arms and light weapons (SALW) abuse in domestic violence in Serbia. The article concludes by highlighting how this feminist perspective allows a richer understanding of the power relations shaping local and international interactions.     

Dimensions of political conflict and party positions in multi-level democracies: evidence from the Local Manifesto Project

Partisan conflicts have been frequently analysed in comparative political science research. Yet little is known about the dimensions of political conflict at the local level in multi-level democracies. This article contributes to the literature on the estimation and analysis of party positions by first presenting a new dataset of more than 800 local party manifestos in Germany that allows for a systematic analysis of the dimensions of political conflict at the German local level. Secondly, it is demonstrated that (semi-)automatic content analysis of these texts offers a promising approach for gaining new insights into local party positions. Thirdly, the empirical analysis of German local party manifestos shows that partisan conflicts are not only structured along the left–right dimension but also along a dimension which distinguishes between parties addressing ‘local’ and ‘national’ issues to a varying degree in their manifestos, due to the different behaviour of established and populist parties.     

论我国地方治理体系中的执政党权力实现方式创新

改革开放以来,随着经济市场化、政治民主化及社会多元化的不断深入,我国地方治理体系也已经初步形成。以市场化、法治化、民主化与权力多元化为特征的地方治理,在形塑地方治理环境的同时,也极大地冲击了执政党的传统权力实现方式。这种冲击具体表现为民众政治认同感弱化、权威决策系统运行受制、政府治理能力与策略短缺等多种形式。通过对执政党介入地方宪政结构、党政结构、司法结构、层级结构与网络结构的实然方式和实际作用的深入分析,我们可以发现,政府部门必须以理念创新达成治理共识为起点,以结构创新理顺治理权力关系为基点,以职能创新确定治理格局为支点,以机制创新提升治理动力为着力点,全方位推进地方治理体系中执政党权力实现方式的创新,才能应对好当前的治理冲击和挑战。     

全面深化改革中的地方团校建设探讨

改革开放中地方团校获得了跨越式发展,团校办学领域和培训范围逐步拓展,作为教育事业单位的性质和职能得到更充分体现,内部管理制度和办学机制等方面的改革不断深化.在全面深化改革中,团校发展面临着创新特色,实现团干部教育培训机制与全面深化改革中的共青团工作实践紧密结合;扬长补短,不断增强转制到学历教育后的发展实力;齐头并进,加强团干部教育培训与学历教育的整合等一系列课题.需要通过围绕全面深化改革中党的中心和青年工作的发展,不断巩固团干部教育培训的基础性地位;积极参与国家急需人才的培养,不断提高学历教育水平;坚持与时俱进,改善和营造发展的有利环境等等路径来解决,开创新的局面.     

转型期地方政府与中央政府博弈关系探析

随着市场经济的发展,地方政府权力逐渐增大。由于激励和问责机制的不健全、"行政区经济"的弊端及中央政府宏观调控政策乏力,一些地方对中央政府的宏观调控政策采取消极贯彻执行的对策,出现不合作博弈现象。当前,必须树立科学发展观和正确的政绩观,进一步加强中央政府权威,加大宏观调控力度,确保经济社会的全面协调发展。     

建设社会主义新农村略论

以胡锦涛同志为总书记的党中央,适应新的发展要求,以总揽全局的战略眼光提出了建设社会主义新农村的重大历史任务,突出强调了全面建设小康社会和推进我国现代化的重点与难点所在。建设社会主义新农村的基本要求是“生产发展、生活宽裕、乡风文明、村容整洁、管理民主”。这5句话、20个字体现了新形势下农村经济、政治、文化和社会全面发展的要求,反映了新阶段我国农村发展的实际,概括了社会主义新农村建设的总体思路和部署。建设社会主义新农村必须按照统筹城乡发展的要求,贯彻工业反哺农业、城市带动农村的方针,坚持从农村实际出发,充分尊重农民意愿,大力推进现代农业建设、培育新型农民、深化农村改革、发展农村公共事业、增加农民收入,促进我国农村经济社会发展出现新的飞跃。     

人民政协是我国社会主义民主政治的重要形式

人民政协是我国社会主义民主政治的重要形式,它人才集聚,联系广泛,具有广泛的代表性和包容性,具有自己独特的优势和作用。在中国共产党的领导下对关系国计民生的重大问题进行广泛协商,体现了民主和集中的统一。坚持并不断完善这种民主形式,是发展社会主义民主政治的必然要求和重要内容。