《中华人民共和国仲裁法》修改暨中国仲裁协会章程起草研究工作座谈会综述

国务院法制办于2006年4月18~20日在厦门主持召开了《仲裁法》修改暨中国仲裁协会章程起草研究工作座谈会。出席会议的有国务院法制办领导以及全国十几家仲裁机构的主要负责人等。与会代表围绕此次会议的两个主要议题积极发言,献计献策,最终形成了一个面向全国仲裁机构征求意见的《仲裁法》修改草案,并且初步完成了中国仲裁协会章程的起草工作,为进一步征求各方意见并最终成立协会做好了准备。     

试论破坏选举罪适用范围之扩展

民主选举是社会主义民主的重要体现和保障，现实中破坏选举的行为层出不穷。而破坏选举罪适用范围上过于狭窄，致使不少严重危害行为置于刑法的射程之外。因此，应将破坏选举罪适用范围扩展到相当范围的政治性选举活动，具体到我国，应包涵基层群众自治组织选举、中国共产党党内选举、人民政治协商会议选举、各级人大代表法律议案表决活动等国家政治生活中重要的选举。     

论“全国统一战线之模范”战动总会的典范意义

成立抗日民族统一战线组织第二战区民族革命战争战地总动员委员会,是中共中央为推动全国抗日民族统一战线的早日建立和巩固而实施的一项重大决策,也是配合八路军挺进山西,立足华北敌后,实践党的全面抗战路线的一项重大决策。战动总会在组织形式和抗日斗争中,都充分体现了党关于建立抗日民族统一战线的科学思想,并成为当时全国统一战线的一个典范。     

Pre-electoral coalitions in comparative perspective: A test of existing hypotheses

Despite the vast coalition literature, pre-electoral coalitions have never been at the center of any systematic, cross-national research. Given their prevalence and potential impact on government composition and policies, this represents a serious omission in our knowledge of coalitions. I begin to remedy this situation by testing two hypotheses found in the literature on party coalitions. The first is that pre-electoral coalitions are more likely to form in disproportional systems if there are a sufficiently large number of parties. The second is that pre-electoral coalitions are more likely to form if voters face high uncertainty about the identity of future governments. These hypotheses are tested using a new dataset comprising legislative elections in 22 advanced industrialized countries between 1946 and 1998. The results of the statistical analysis support the first hypothesis, but not the second.     

Malapportionment and democracy: A curvilinear relationship

This article examines electoral malapportionment by illuminating the relationship between malapportionment level and democracy. Although a seminal study rejects this relationship, we argue that a logical and empirically significant relationship exists, which is curvilinear and is based on a framework focusing on incumbent politicians' incentives and the constraints they face regarding malapportionment. Malapportionment is lowest in established democracies and electoral authoritarian regimes with an overwhelmingly strong incumbent; it is relatively high in new democracies and authoritarian regimes with robust opposition forces. The seminal study's null finding is due to the mismatch between theoretical mechanisms and choice of democracy indices. Employing an original cross-national dataset, we conduct regression analyses; the results support our claims. Furthermore, on controlling the degree of democracy, the single-member district system's effects become insignificant. Australia, Belarus, the Gambia, Japan, Malaysia, Tunisia, and the United States illustrate the political logic underlying curvilinear relations at democracy's various levels.     

The classification of electoral systems: Bringing legislators back in

It is widely assumed that electoral institutions shape politicians' incentive for personal vote-seeking, with important behavioral and policy consequences. Yet, there is a surprising lack of consensus on how to compare real-world electoral institutions. Using new data this paper examines how legislators' own perception of their electoral incentives in fifteen democracies correspond to some of the most seminal classification schemes in political science. Our survey of 2326 legislators – the empirically broadest study of personal vote orientation so far conducted – demonstrates that legislators do not always understand electoral incentives in the same way scholarly rankings do, highlighting the need for scholars of political institutions to justify their choice of classification scheme. If not, an entire body of literature may be misguided.     

Do volatile voters vote less correctly? An analysis of correct voting among vote (intention) switchers in US presidential election campaigns

The literature on electoral volatility and the literature on electoral campaigns hold contradictory views on voters switching vote (intention) during the campaign. In this note, we shed new light on this contradiction, making two contributions. First, we investigate the extent to which stable and volatile voters choose the correct party. Second, we distinguish levels of correct voting and the impact of the act of switching on the correctness of the vote. Our analyses of vote-switching in American elections show that, while volatile voters are less likely to vote correctly, they are more likely to switch from an incorrect to the correct party than vice versa. Furthermore, we show that following the campaign more closely makes voters more likely to switch vote (intention) towards the correct party.     

新时代的机构编制管理:战略定位、辩证关系与改革路径

机构编制管理关系到行政成本的高低和行政机构的效能。机构编制管理中的突出问题在于编制配置不科学、不合理,规范化和制度化建设相对滞后。新时代的机构编制管理需要站在治国理政和治理能力现代化的战略高度,平衡“管牢”与“管活”双重目标,处理好事业发展需要与总量控制、“条线”要求与编制管理整体、短期成效与长期成本、编制增加与编制减少、编制管理部门收紧与财政部门宽松之间的辩证关系。在此基础上,通过立法保障、全盘统筹、规划引领、观念更新、机制联动等多维度改革为国家治理能力现代化奠定坚实的组织基础。     

Applying behavioural science to the annual electoral canvass in England: Evidence from a large-scale randomised controlled trial

Local authorities in Great Britain are required to ensure that their electoral registers are as accurate and complete as possible. To this end, Household Enquiry Forms (HEFs) are mailed to all properties annually to collect updated details from residents, and any eligible unregistered residents will subsequently be invited to register to vote. Unfortunately, HEF nonresponse is pervasive and costly. Using insights from behavioural science, we modified letters and envelopes posted to households as part of the annual canvass, and evaluated their effects using a randomised controlled trial across two local authorities in England (N=226,528 properties). We find that modified materials – particularly redesigned envelopes – significantly increase initial response rates and savings. However, we find no effects on voter registration. While certain behavioural interventions can improve the efficiency of the annual canvass, other approaches or interventions may be needed to increase voter registration rates and update voter information.