Three cheers for liberal modesty

ABSTRACT

Many liberals have been immodest in postulating that their own progressive, secular liberalism is the only one that can be justified in public reason. In Liberalism’s Religion, I articulate a more modest theory of liberalism and religion. While I personally endorse progressive secular liberalism, I argue that it is only one of the reasonable conceptions of liberal justice. This liberal modesty has profound, hitherto unnoticed implications for (i) the role of religious arguments in the public sphere, (ii) the legitimacy of religious establishment, and (iii) the justifiability of religious exemptions. In this article, I defend these three claims by providing replies to my critics.     

抗战至抗战胜利初期陕甘宁边区的选举法及其实施

抗战至抗战胜利初期 ,陕甘宁边区逐步制定了一套完整的选举法规 ,同时 ,在选举实践中采取了一些行之有效的做法 ,创造与积累了若干有益的经验。     

稳定:中国改革和发展的社会阈值——江泽民同志维护社会稳定思想简论

江泽民同志关于维护社会稳定的一系列论述,是十三年来中国共产党第三代中央领导集体坚定不移地贯彻邓小平关于“稳定压倒一切”的思想,正确处理改革、发展、稳定的三者关系,领导全国人民建设中国特色社会主义伟大实践的科学总结,是在实践基础上的理论创新。(一)全面而深刻地揭示了改革、发展、稳定三者的“内在联系”。一是改革、发展、稳定共处于一个统一体,是辩证统一的关系。二是改革、发展、稳定三者间存在着一种总的联系,“把改革的力度、发展的速度和社会可承受的程度统一起来”是其中最有规律性的联系;而“不断改善人民生活”则是这种“总的联系”中的重要结合点。(二)在理论上已初步形成了较为完整的观念体系。一是具备了理论认识价值;二是生成了一系列论述观点的概念集合;三是提出了检验其理论的实践标准。(三)在实践上回答了正确处理改革、发展、稳定三者关系的一系列重大问题,制定了一整套策略措施。一是总揽全局,整体推进;二是注重关联,把握过程;三是抓住关键,巩固基础;四是先务当务之急,不务不急之务;五是为之于未有,治之于未乱。     

Stammwähler und die opportunistische Wahl parteipolitischer Programme

This article explains political radicalism by the number of voters who are biased towards a party. With little voters biased in favor of a party, this party has to rely more heavily on its programmatic distance to other parties. Because large parties – i.e.: parties with a high number of biased voters – gain votes when they move to the center of the political spectrum, parties with a lower number of voters that are biased in their favor are forced to the edges of the policy space. We draw on a computational model of political competition between four parties in a two‐dimensional policy space to investigate this relationship. We use panel corrected OLS estimates to analyze the data generated by the computer simulation. Our results substantiate the hypothesis of a negative relationship between the number of biased voters and the inclination of a party to adopt a more extreme policy stance.     

纳西族文化变迁中的非均衡性

文化变迁是一场纷繁复杂、生动万千的过程 ,不是某种文化在同一时间全部发生变迁。从纵向看 ,文化变迁的速度越来越快 ;从横向上看 ,文化变迁始于文化中某个成分的变化。一个民族与周围民族的交往 ,往往会打破其文化运作的均衡状态 ,又终因文化的整体性特征而形成新的平衡。由于民族间及国家间交往的频繁 ,文化变迁中的自变量越来越难以预测     

Mixed electoral rules’ impact on party systems

The growing literature about mixed electoral systems has addressed their effect on party systems, voting behavior, campaign strategies, legislative roll-call voting, and other issues in a handful of countries. But, the effect of mixed systems has not been fully evaluated cross-nationally or longitudinally. Using data from the World Bank’s Database of Political Institutions, we address this gap in the literature by investigating two related questions. First, do mixed electoral rules produce different election outcomes than other election rules? Second, are these results attenuated by the definitions of mixed systems that scholars employ? We find that mixed systems generate outcomes that are distinct from other electoral systems and that these findings are generally robust across different definitions.     

Mexicans react to electoral fraud and political corruption: an assessment of public opinion and voting behavior

Despite various electoral reforms enacted in Mexico between 1988 and 1994, large numbers of Mexicans doubted the honesty of elections and the general integrity of their country's policy making process. Such doubts did not automatically lead, however, to support for opposition parties that called for greater democratization. Rather, voter preferences were largely dependent on judgments about the opposition's viability and competence. Widespread suspicions about fraud and corruption in Mexico did affect electoral outcomes by making it less likely that potential opposition supporters turned out to vote. Data are drawn from seven national public opinion surveys conducted in Mexico in 1986, 1988, 1991, 1994 (3 polls), and 1995.     

2004年美国大选对美国选举制度的影响

2004 年美国大选中技术构件的改进,提高了美国选举制度的可操作性和合理性;竞选开销创历史新高,加深了金钱政治对选举制度民主公平原则的侵蚀;候选人通过谎言和反面信息争取选票,违背了选举制度的诚信道德准则。     

奥巴马政府监管的行为法经济学分析——“成本收益国家”在“行为时代”的人性化改革

奥巴马政府以行为科学和行为法经济学的成果为科学基础，从完善监管和监管审查，促进国际监管合作，以及减少监管负担三个主要方面进行了政府监管改革。这是对成本收益分析传统的完善和补充，是一种更加符合行为法经济学实证和规范要求的人性化和合理化政府监管模式。     

The effects of technical parties and partisan election management bodies on voting outcomes

Research on election integrity has noted the important role of election administration in facilitating free and fair practices. However, limited research has assessed how the staffing of polling station level election commissions may influence voting. Using extensive personnel and election data from Ukraine, this article investigates how partisanship and liberal registration rules permit major parties to “stack” election commissions with sympathetic officials. The empirical analysis demonstrates that the placement of representatives from major parties, or affiliated parties, in leadership positions on polling station commissions is associated with improved election outcomes.