Two strategies for building a personal vote: Personalized representation in the UK and Denmark

Across parliamentary democracies, elected representatives constitute the link between citizens and government. MPs can connect with voters via the party label, or through personalized forms of representation, which is seen to be increasing in importance. However, scholars disagree on what explains variation in MPs' use of personalized representation strategies. In this article, we argue that politicians use different strategies to personalize the link between themselves and citizens: a constituency-oriented and a person-oriented strategy. To test our argument, we develop a new and novel dataset with behavioral measures of personalized representation. Using a content analyses of 698 British and Danish MPs’ personal websites, we demonstrate that the use of personalization strategies is conditional on the incentives MPs face in terms of electoral insecurity, candidate selection procedures, and the electoral context of the system. Our findings show that the level and type of personalized politics vary across political systems and may pose different types of challenges to party democracies.     

Mobilizing different types of voters: The influence of campaign intensity on turnout in direct democratic votes

A well-established body of literature links voter turnout to political campaigns. In this view, intensive campaigns increase the perceived salience of a decision, fostering information-seeking and, ultimately, turnout. The existing literature has also advanced our understanding of how direct democratic institutions influence turnout in elections. Yet we still know little about whether and to what extent campaign efforts influence voter turnout in direct democratic votes, and we know even less about who is mobilized. We claim that campaign intensity has differentiated effects across voters, depending on voters’ participation profile. To test this claim we use a rich dataset of official turnout data covering more than 40 direct democratic votes in Switzerland. The results support our claim. While intensive political campaigns overall foster citizens to turn out to vote, they do so especially for “selective” (or “intermittent”) voters, who need to decide anew at each ballot whether to turn out or not. Interestingly, we also find that frequent abstainers are not immune from campaign effects, and get almost as strongly mobilized as selective voters in highly intensive campaigns.     

Losers lose more than winners win: Asymmetrical effects of winning and losing in elections

Being on the winning or the losing side in elections has important consequences for voters’ perceptions of democracy. This article contributes to the existing literature by showing that being on the losing side has persistent effects over a surprisingly long time. Based on a dataset that measures voters’ satisfaction with democracy three years after elections were held, it first shows that losers are significantly more dissatisfied with democracy than winners on both input and output side measures of perceptions of democracy. Furthermore, the article shows that turning from winning to losing has significant negative effects on voters’ satisfaction, and that this finding is robust across a number of different specifications. These results are remarkable given that the data used is from Denmark – a country that constitutes a least-likely case for finding effects of being on the winning or the losing side.     

What can deliberative mini-publics contribute to democratic systems?

Can deliberative mini-publics contribute to deepening the democratic dimensions of electoral democracies? The question is framed in this article using a problem-based approach to democratic theory–to count as democratic, political systems must accomplish three basic functions related to inclusion, communication and deliberation, and decision making. This approach is elaborated with an analysis of a real-world case: a deliberative mini-public with a citizens’ assembly design, focused on urban planning convened in Vancouver, Canada. This example was chosen because the context was one in which the city's legacy institutions of representative democracy had significant democratic deficits in all three areas, and the mini-public was a direct response to these deficits. It was found that Vancouver's deliberative mini-public helped policy makers, activists and affected residents move a stalemated planning process forward, and did do so in ways that improved the democratic performance of the political system. Depending on when and how they are sequenced into democratic processes, deliberative mini-publics can supplement existing legacy institutions and practices to deepen their democratic performance.     

再论“一国两制”是实现祖国完全统一的最佳模式

作为实现祖国完全统一的最佳模式,＂一国两制＂在台湾的接受程度遭遇瓶颈。本文正视现实,探讨了两岸政治定位、互动框架和实践模式等基础问题,在理论上借鉴＂协合式民主＂精神,立足于两岸关系实际,对＂一国两制＂台湾模式加以深化和拓展。维护＂一个中国＂的统一性,保持台湾在单纯内部事务上具有独占性权利或完全自主权,在两岸事务上台湾得适用否决性权利,在一般性的国家事务上台湾享有比例性权利;通过协合式民主的治理方式,促进两岸间异质性民主的正常运转,实现和维护两岸权力分享、国家权威的统一与稳定。     

社会主义协商民主制度化的逻辑和价值

在当代世界民主政治建设的进程中,民主的制度建设无疑具有重要的引领作用。包括协商民主在内的选举民主、远程民主、管理民主、决策民主等民主机制不断完善和逐步成熟,推动着民主政治化与民主社会化发展进程。社会主义协商民主作为我国人民民主的重要形式,在中国特色社会主义民主政治制度建设过程中,其制度化发展具有自身的逻辑;在我国继续深化和推进全方位改革的关键时期,对于坚持中国特色社会主义政治发展道路,推进政治体制改革,健全社会主义协商民主制度,其制度化发展具有自身的价值。     

The political effects of referendums: An analysis of institutional innovations in Eastern and Central Europe

Theory suggests that the political effects of referendums should vary according to the institutional provisions that allow for direct involvement of citizens in decision-making. Relying on extant theoretical models the paper proposes initial tests of some implications for the newly democratized countries in Eastern and Central Europe. The constitutions of these countries distinguish themselves by a wide variety of institutional provisions for referendums. Taking advantage of this increased variance, the paper demonstrates effects of different institutional provisions on policy outcomes, which, so far, have only been demonstrated at the sub-national level, for example, in the United States and Switzerland.     

日常生活理论视阈下幸福建设研究

日常生活理论视阈下探讨幸福建设有助于针对不同领域,理清不同主体的建设责任,采取针对性举措,并随着建设进程而逐步改变建设重点和内容。在日常生活领域,主要是满足群众日常消费、日常交往、日常休闲和日常观念等需要,而在非日常生活领域重点在于推进社会主义民主法治,以公共政策等引领和提升日常生活。     

常识与理性（八）：司法理性之逻辑与悖论

基于司法理性之逻辑必然，现代司法在迈向专业化或者职业化过程中，不可避免地存在着贵族化与精英化之内在趋向。其中，专业化程度被认为是引领司法达至“效果最优”的基本要素，但贵族化趋向则被认为是诱导司法走向“悖论”的基本因素-它使得司法很可能被异化为一个远离大众、甚至背离常识的封闭市场。为弥补司法职业理性之缺陷，化解其内在的逻辑“悖论”，有必要在制度安排上为生活理性渗入高度职业化的司法过程设置某种管道或者窗口，使得司法程序、法官质素以及司法判决更具包容性，并为包容性司法之成长创设制度环境。     

论党的建设中参政党党内民主建设

在中国共产党领导的多党合作制度中，执政党发展党内民主，参政党也应当发展党内民主，这是多党合作制度整体发展完善的必然要求。同时，参政党与执政党的自身建设在许多方面存在着共同规律，参政党发展党内民主可以学习借鉴执政党发展党内民主的做法，也可以成为执政党发展党内民主的先行先试。在执政党提出以党内民主带动人民民主的背景下，如果参政党发展党内民主可以促进执政党党内民主的发展，也就是间接推动了人民民主的发展。