Between Interculturalism and Ethnocentrism: Local Government and the Indigenous Movement in Otavalo‐Ecuador

To what extent might an indigenous mayor govern beyond ethnically defined grievances, without being labelled traitor by the indigenous organisation? This article deals with the challenges faced by the Ecuadorian indigenous movement when it attains power in local government. The issue will be explored through the case of Mario Conejo, who in 2000 became the first indigenous mayor of Otavalo representing the indigenous political movement Pachakutik. Although ethnically based tensions in the local indigenous movement were evident throughout the period, 2006 saw Conejo leave Pachakutik and create a new political movement. This rupture can be traced, I argue, to an intercultural dilemma and the difficulties of ethnically defined political movements.     

地方政府改善民生绩效评估体系的构建

改善民生是构建和谐社会的根本问题。它是科学发展观的本质诉求，是执政为民理念的集中体现，是解决社会矛盾的有效选择。地方政府改善民生绩效评估体系构建要树立民本的核心价值追寻，建立和完善公众参与的多元主体评估机制，构建以改善民生为轴心的指标体系。     

新时期调整中央与地方关系的理性探索

新时期调整中央与地方关系,应科学界定明晰中央与地方的职责权限划分,建立健全财权与事权相匹配的财税体制。完善中央对地方权力运行的监督制约机制,还需建立协调、规范、互利的中央与地方新型利益关系,实现双方利益均衡。     

对我国地方立法中职务犯罪预防措施的评价——以《联合国反腐败公约》为视角

《联合国反腐败公约》在强调打击腐败犯罪的同时，更强调对腐败犯罪实施综合预防战略。《公约》设立专章，对预防腐败措施作了系统的规定。目前，我国尚无预防腐败措施方面的中央级专门立法，但是，许多省、自治区、直辖市和较大市都进行了预防职务犯罪的地方立法。以《公约》为参照，借鉴国际经验，检视我国地方立法中职务犯罪预防措施，有利于促进我国预防腐败的制度建设和工作机制的进一步完善。     

论我国地方府际关系法制化的实现途径

地方府际关系是指各级地方政府之间的纵横关系网络，包括地方政府上下级之间的纵向关系和各个地方政府之间的横向关系。改革开放前后，我国地方府际关系的变化促进了我国政治、经济、社会、文化的发展，但也出现了一些问题，解决问题的关键是实现我国地方府际关系的法制化。文章从现阶段我国地方府际关系法制化涉及的主要问题出发，在借鉴西方发达国家地方府际关系法制化基本经验的基础上，探讨了我国地方府际关系法制化的实现途径。     

区域行政——一种构建和谐社会的新思路

和谐社会的内涵丰富，构建和谐社会的思路与方法也有很多，把区域行政作为构建和谐社会的思路之一，是一种创新。因为，区域行政是一种全新的区域治理模式，包含一系列丰富的内涵。区域行政思路下的和谐社会构建，就是要在区域内推进民主与法治建设，树立公平与正义的价值观，倡导诚信友爱的人际交往观念，形成充满生机与活力的发展局面，保持社会安定有序，促进人与自然和谐相处，筑牢筑实建设区域和谐社会的政治、心理、交流、动力、稳定和社会基础。     

Is a problem shared a problem halved? Shared services and municipal efficiency

It has long been argued that shared services represent an efficacious means of securing efficiencies for municipalities. Indeed, pressures from fiscal austerity, taxation limitations, and the specter of forced amalgamations have resulted in an increasing uptake of shared service arrangements. However, the extant evidence is rather inconclusive and is largely restricted to analyzing the nett efficiency outcomes for the specific service shared. We broaden this evidential base by examining the association between shared service production and the efficiency of entire municipalities. Our analysis, employing a 5‐year panel of data, suggests that shared services are associated with a statistically significant reduction in overall municipal efficiency. We conclude by explicating on the public policy implications arising from our prima facie surprising results.     

The gender politics of executive candidate selection and reselection

This research provides new theoretical and empirical insights into the gender politics of the springboards to chief executive office. The extremely masculinised composition of the relatively few top national executive positions has posed a serious impediment to empirically assessing the conditions that may facilitate women's under-representation and men's over-representation. To overcome this constraint, this study looks at the top regional executive office across four West European countries that present a multilevel state structure – namely Austria, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom. Using two original datasets, the article examines the ways in which the selection and reselection of regional prime ministerial candidates is shaped by individual, organisational and institutional factors that produce heterogeneous experiences and career opportunities across sex. The results show that women have not shattered the glass ceiling at the regional level and pinpoint the fact that they are held to higher standards, benefit less from the political resources they possess and are more dependent on the decision environment in which parties select executive candidates. The conclusion is that the rules of the game guiding selection and reselection processes are strongly biased towards men.     

Voter responses to refugee arrivals: Effects of settlement policy

In this paper we leverage a sudden shift in refugee settlement policy to study the electoral consequences of refugee settlements. After the 2013 Norwegian parliamentary election, the newly elected right-wing government made a concerted effort to spread newly arrived immigrants across the country, with the consequence that some municipalities with limited experience in settling refugees accepted to do so. We propose that such policy changes have political consequences, increasing the salience of immigration issues and shifting voters’ preferences to the right. We further propose that successful refugee integration can move (parts of) the electorate to the left, with stronger political polarization as a possible effect of the policy change. Applying difference-in-differences techniques, we find no evidence of unidirectional shifts in voter sentiments, but support for the hypothesis of stronger political polarization.