Financial industry groups' adaptation to the post‐crisis regulatory environment: Changing approaches to the policy cycle

This article explores the advocacy efforts of financial industry groups since the financial crisis. I describe key changes in the post‐crisis financial regulatory environment and argue that financial industry groups have adapted their advocacy strategies to these new conditions in innovative ways. Faced with a more challenging environment, financial industry groups have shifted their emphasis along the different stages of the policy cycle. Specifically, increased issue salience and a strained policy network have weakened financial industry groups' capacity to veto regulatory proposals at the stage of actual policy formulation. Focusing on the advocacy strategies of the global banking and derivatives industries, I show evidence that the response has been to invest in more subtle advocacy strategies which focus on other stages of the policymaking cycle. Self‐regulatory moves attempt to affect the agenda setting stage of policymaking, and a strong focus on the timing, rather than the content of new regulations, has attempted to affect the implementation stage. Such a transformation of advocacy strategies differs sharply from most depictions of financial industry groups simply “blocking” regulatory change since the global financial crisis.     

From the Balconies to the Barricades,and Back? Trajectories of Participation in Contentious Politics

Scholars have long been interested in explaining why some individuals engage in civil society through acts of protest while others do not. However, what happens after individuals are involved? Using a nationally representative panel data set that follows Americans from 1965 until 1997, I show that almost half of participants either engage in ‘individual abeyance’, moving in and out of engagement over time, or disengage. I examine the role of socio-political orientations, resources, biography or life-course factors, and group affiliation in predicting patterns of civil society participation over time. Past work suggests that persistent activists differ from those who disengage due to the formers’ particular socio-political orientations. However, I show that there are no significant differences in these orientations between those who persist and those who do not. Instead, biographical changes and engagement in political groups are the most important factors predicting persistent participation over time.     

Fragile States: A Donor-serving Concept? Issues with Interpretations of Fragile Statehood in Afghanistan

Abstract

The paradox of attempting to (re)construct state institutions without considering the socio-political cohesion of societies recurs throughout the world, most notably today in the Middle East, Africa and the Balkans. This essay tries to shed some light on the debate around the concepts of state and nation-building. Drawing on a sociological understanding of the modern nation-state, it contends that it is impossible to conceive of statebuilding as a process separate from nation-building. This essay identifies two different schools of thought in the discussion concerning the statebuilding process, each of which reflects different sociological understandings of the state. The first one, an ‘institutional approach’ closely related to the Weberian conception of the state, focuses on the importance of institutional reconstruction and postulates that statebuilding activities do not necessarily require a concomitant nation-building effort. The second, a ‘legitimacy approach’ influenced by Durkheimian sociology, recognizes the need to consolidate central state institutions, but puts more emphasis on the importance of socio-political cohesion in the process. Building on this second approach and demonstrating its relevance in contemporary statebuilding, this article concludes with a discussion of recent statebuilding attempts and the ways external actors can effectively contribute to statebuilding processes.     

‘High Resolution’ Indicators in Peacebuilding: The Utility of Political Memory

This article explores the use of political memory in examining, and providing indicators for, everyday processes of peacebuilding in divided societies, using Northern Ireland as a brief case study. Adopting a position critical of many formal peacebuilding indicators, the article argues for the utility of informal, ‘high resolution’ indicators that can be supplied by examining localized and everyday forms of post-conflict memory. In so doing, the article views the ‘dealing with the past’ and reconciliatory paradigm of social memory in identity driven conflicts as being inadequate for this purpose, and instead posits a more nuanced form of examining memory as a political arena. A case study of political memory in east Belfast is introduced to illustrate both the need for nuance in highlighting localized activity, and need to better reflect a complex and ambiguous peacebuilding environment. Suggestions for methodological approaches geared to capturing processes of everyday political memory, and how these processes can inform praxis, concludes the study.     

通识教育视域下我国高校思政课教学的困境与革新

通识教育是许多发达国家对大学生进行思想政治教育的重要途径。我国高校已将思政课列为大学生的通识教育课程之一,但在实际教学过程中却与通识教育的目标要求呈现出"两张皮"的现象。提高我国高校思政课的教学实效,教师必须深入分析教学过程中面临的诸多困境与挑战,不断转变教学理念、关注教学过程、革新教学内容、转变教学模式、营造教学环境和变革教学评价体系,实现教学方法体系的创新。     

我国刑法中牵连关系的形态及其实质分析

牵连犯作为一种罪数形态,在刑法理论中具有重要地位。刑法理论中对牵连犯的判断是以牵连关系为标准,牵连关系在理论上不仅存在两种基本形式,而且也存在多种观点分歧。事实上,牵连关系与犯罪构成要件之间联系密切。当数行为之间的牵连关系属于同一犯罪构成要件之间的牵连时,应认定为一罪,应按从一从重的处断原则处罚;反之,如果数行为属于数个不同犯罪构成要件之间的牵连,则构成数罪,应实行并罚。     

“90后”大学生思想特点及引导路径探析

“90后”大学生群体的思想特点有：“我”成为个体的中心词;家庭中呈现依赖与反依赖的矛盾特性;社会追求上无所适从的矛盾心理等。这是特定的教育背景、生活环境以及身心发展规律等多方面因素影响的结果。在平等与互动中放大家庭的引导,在显性与隐性中渗透学校的教育,以内在与外在的方式催生社会自觉,应该成为对“90”后大学生进行思想政治教育的路径选择。     

人的合理需要视角下的思想政治教育实效性研究

思想政治教育实效性体现在其教育效果上。脱离了人的合理需要前提下开展的思想政治教育,容易使思想政治教育工作失去方向性、先进性与超前指导性。实现思想政治教育效果的前提是满足人的合理需要,在满足人的合理需要的过程中,要处理好利益认同和价值认同的关系。     

中德公民思想政治教育方法比较及启示

德国的公民思想政治教育重视从青少年时期进行政治养成教育,注重伦理道德教育、宗教教育、心理咨询和大众传媒教育,彰显一定的教育优势。我国应该借鉴德国的教育方法,将隐性教育与显性教育有机结合,加强道德实践活动,通过心理健康教育、大众传媒渗透、合理发挥宗教的优势等,增强思想政治教育的实效性。     

汉代罪己诏中的政治观

罪己诏是古代帝王在面对灾异发生或政治失误等情况下所下的自责悔过的反省文书。正式的罪己诏最早出现在汉代,且数量较多。罪己诏的颁布一定程度上与汉代独特的政治观念有着联系,对维护和调整汉代政治统治、收买人心起着积极的作用,同时对古代政治治理模式的发展也具有深远的影响。