Do voters reward rebellion? The electoral accountability of MPs in Britain

To hold their Members of Parliament individually accountable for their legislative behaviour, British voters would need to base their decision to vote for an MP at least partially on the extent to which the MP's legislative voting behaviour deviated from that of the MP's party leadership. Voters should evaluate this deviation contingent on their views of the party leadership. MP rebellion can signal that voter–MP congruence is greater than that of the voter and the MP's party leadership. In this article it is found that only constituents with negative attitudes toward the Labour government reward rebellious Labour MPs, albeit to a limited extent. A similar conditional association is not observed on a single issue: Iraq. The policy accountability of MPs is relatively weak and general rather than issue‐specific.     

网络时代的政治传播研究

随着网络技术的飞速发展,网络对政治传播产生着巨大的影响。一方面,作为政治传播的推进器,它为政治传播提供了新的传播媒介,使草根一族获得了政治传播的话语权,使双向互动的政治传播模式得到极大发挥;另一方面,网络在给政治传播带来推动作用的同时,也带来了如政治流言泛滥、政治传播者的权威受到挑战、政治传播的监管难度加大等问题。为此,要加强对网络时代政治传播的引导和监管,加强网络立法,提高广大网民的政治传播素养,使网络更好地为政治传播服务。     

Becoming black,becoming president

ABSTRACT

Speculation about the relationship between Barack Obama's election to the presidency and race in the United States was rife prior to, during and after his successful campaign. King looks at three aspects of this issue. First, as a kind of outsider, Obama had to prove himself black enough for African Americans of the traditional sort and not too dangerous for Whites. How did he achieve this? Second, Obama's election was made possible by changes in the voting behaviour of white Americans, particularly in the North, and the way that African Americans like Obama gained a foothold in, and at times control of, urban political machines, such as, in his case, Chicago. How have American historians treated this shift in white voting behaviour? Finally, the central question of how race still impinges on President Obama's performance as president. King concludes with a look at issues such as colour blindness and whiteness, the nature of black political identity and solidarity, and the variety of political roles from which a black leader such Obama can choose.     

大学生思想政治教育工作亟需改进

加强和改进大学生思想政治教育,提高他们的思想政治素质,是每位教育工作者应尽的义务。高校教师必须提高思想认识,高度重视此项工作,在教育教学中不断探索和实践。同时,高校要加强校园文化的建设,充分利用有利于人才培养的优秀文化去感染学生,达到对大学生进行思想政治教育的目的。     

第三代政治传播及其对政治的影响

以新媒介的崛起为标志,第三代政治传播成为影响政治生活的重要力量。它颠覆了传统的权力关系,使政治生活变得更加复杂。认识和把握第三代政治传播及其基本特征,分析第三代政治传播对现代政治的影响,有利于更好地运作政治权力,促进政治发展,维护社会稳定。第三代政治传播的主要特征表现为：政治传播媒介立体化发展、政治传播深刻影响政治关系、政治传播职业化发展、政治活动营销化、政治传播互动性增强等。第三代政治传播深刻影响着政治的诸多方面,包括对政治体系的影响,对政治过程的影响,政治生活的娱乐化,使西方民主政治经历了一个螺旋式的循环过程等。     

Informal politics: the role of Congressional letters in legislative behaviour and careers

Members of the United States Congress are cross-pressured by constituents, party leaders, the president, and even by their own career goals. Yet, they are limited in their time and resources, and must maximise the tools available to them. Given that Congressional letter writing to the president as a tool available to all members occurs so widely, such behaviour informs a deeper understanding of how legislators seek to professionalise as politicians in competitive national politics. Utilising a data set of nearly 13,000 Congressional letters across eight Congresses, the author finds that letter writers systematically differ from non-letter writers, shedding light on the value of letter writing in Congressional behaviour and career aspirations, as well as the drivers behind this form of behaviour. Letter content varies based on the institutional and individual characteristics of the letter writer, suggesting members differ in how they view and use this tool.     

Dying to win: Elections,political violence,and institutional decay in Kenya

This paper examines the lessons learned from Kenya's 2007 post election violence and what has happened since then. It notes that the root causes of the violence still persist, have not been addressed, and easily could be reignited. Faced with a situation where institutions and the rule of law have been weakened deliberately and where diffused violence is widespread, both Kenya's transition to democracy and the fate of the nation remain vulnerable. The argument here is that the problems faced in holding and managing elections in conflict situations often are not simply technical. Instead, in Kenya and elsewhere, many difficulties are symptomatic of larger political and institutional questions related to democratic change that are more difficult to analyze in causal terms or to address.     

The discourse on Japanese commitment to Africa: The planning process of the fourth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD IV)

TICAD was held for the fourth time in 2008, raising unprecedented public interest about Africa in Japan attracting attention not only from aid, diplomatic, trade and research communities but also among the general public. Due to geographic distance and limited historical connection, it has always been a matter of debate as to why Japan should increase its commitment to Africa. The different interest groups that have participated throughout the TICAD process have always had varying answers to this question. Through analysis of newspapers, journal articles and various documents this article seeks to untangle the process of TICAD's policy making and its outcomes.     

Governing Morality Issues through Procedural Policies

Abstract: Morality issues such as the death penalty, drug consumption, gambling, and same‐sex‐marriage often constitute intractable policy controversies. Classical “morality politics” scholars predict two types of governmental responses to such public problems: either a substantive policy design if there is a broad consensus among electoral constituencies or a non‐decision if there is a fundamental clash of values. We argue that the adoption of a procedural policy design represents a third option. Providing empirical evidence on the plausibility of this hypothesis, we compare the Swiss regulation of four morality issues in the medical field: reproductive medicine and embryo‐related research; abortion; euthanasia; and organ transplant. In fact, “moral values” frames are not always dominant, as the multi‐dimensionality of each morality issue allows for concurrent policy frames promoted by various policy actors.     

期许与无奈——辛亥女性参政问题的性别化透视

辛亥革命时期,我国女性解放从对人格平等的憧憬开始向着政治觉醒的方向转化。女国民意识是这一时期女性政治意识觉醒的重要标识和女权运动的主要内容。女性革命先驱们期许革命时尽国民之责任,也期待革命成功后与男子共享国民之权利。南京临时政府成立,女性心怀憧憬,提出了女子参政的要求,并为此掀起了民初的女子参政运动。但女子参政要求不仅遭到了袁世凯北京临时政府的否决,在以孙中山为首、由革命派控制的南京临时政府也没有获得通过。女子参政运动的失败,体现着鲜明的性别歧视面相,也与女性的弱势与性别认识上的误区密切相关。