Electoral coordination in mixed‐member systems: Does the level of democratic experience matter?

A number of institutional and non‐institutional factors hamper electoral coordination and, hence, increase party system fragmentation in the nominal tier of mixed electoral systems. Contrary to expectations, the number of electoral parties is not lower in all old democracies. Nevertheless, the level of democratic experience modifies the effect of other variables like the type of mixed electoral system or the closeness of the races. Econometric tests evaluate this phenomenon in a diverse sample of 15 countries and a total of 57 elections with more than 10,000 observations at the district level.     

Chile Shares the Chinese Dream– An Interview with Chilean Ambassador to China,Luis Schmidt Montes简

Despite his over 40 visits to China, it was still a surprise to Luis Schmidt Montes when he was appointed Chilean ambassador to China in 2010. Our interview with His Excellency started with the issue of bilateral trade - for Montes played a major role in the China-Chile free trade pact that came into effect on October 1,2006.     

Sowing the Seeds of Colombia

正COLOMBIAN to the core,Carmenza Jaramillo became the first Latin American woman to serve as an ambassador to China,two decades after her post as consul general of Colombia in Hong Kong.With her usual ease,she talked to China Today about the current state of relations between the two countries.     

David and China

BACK in 2006, David Barrionuevo Gareia was a national-level judo coach in Spain, also teaching golf in his hometown, Carabanchel in Madrid. In 2008, this PE degree holder won a chance to workwith the Beijing Olympics Organizing Committee. At the beginning of 2008, when David knew that judo would be his ticket to the Olympics, he decided to share his dream with his ＂partner＂ - the bicycle he calls Milana, which would eventually change his whole life.     

Coffee Growing in a Tea Town

正AHEAD of his visit to Belgium in late March,2014,Chinese President Xi Jinping published an article in the local newspaper Le Soir,titled"Friendship and Cooperation Bring Better Life to Both China and Europe."It recounted the story of a young Belgian who has taught Chinese farmers how to grow high-quality coffee.His name is Wouter De Smet.     

Government survival in semi‐presidential regimes

As semi‐presidentialism has become increasingly common in European democracies, so have the debates about the consequences of several of its political and institutional features. In particular, in those regimes, cohabitation between presidents and cabinets of different parties and cabinet dismissal powers on the part of presidents are thought to be a source of inter‐branch conflict and government instability. However, so far, most empirical work on government survival has failed to confirm any of these expectations. This article addresses this disjuncture between theory and empirical results by making a twofold contribution. First, it takes into account the internal diversity within semi‐presidentialism, modeling the implications for government survival of different configurations between presidential powers’ of cabinet dismissal, parliament dissolution and cohabitation in European semi‐presidential systems. Second, it reconsiders traditional government survival using the competing risks framework by adding a distinction between two different types of non‐electoral replacement: those where replacements imply a change in the party of the prime minister and those where they do not. Once such an approach is adopted, that presidential powers of parliamentary dissolution and cabinet dismissal indeed emerge as highly relevant for explaining government survival in these regimes.     

Ideology, Institutions and Ideas: Explaining Political Change in Venezuela

This article scrutinises the links between patterns and modes of political participation and the emergence of Bolivarianism in Venezuela in the early 1990s. I study how Bolivarianism triumphed over competing projects in a period characterised by widespread unrest and its relationship to the Punto-Fijo institutional structure it overthrew. I argue that the ideas of Bolivarianism are derived from contradictions inherent to the existing institutions, and can only be understood in relation to the values and practices embedded in them, which Bolivarianism aimed to replace.     

Coyotaje and Drugs: Two Different Businesses

This article, based on a qualitative methodology that includes in‐depth interviews with 85 migrant‐smugglers who operate at the border between Mexico and the United States, addresses three research questions: do migrant‐smugglers take part in organised crime? Are criminal groups involved in migrant smuggling? And are migrant‐smugglers engaged in drug trafficking? It concludes that many smugglers have become part of organised crime groups but only after leaving the migrant‐smuggling business; that criminal organisations do not help migrants to cross the border; and that migrant‐smugglers do not carry drugs.     

Shenzhen–Steadfast in Sustaining the Reform and Opening-up Policy

正VISITING Shenzhen affords an interesting return journey through the history of the reform and opening-up policy.Already 35 years have passed since December 1978 when the Third Plenary Session of the 11th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China decided to open up the country and reform its economy.When Shenzhen was established as a