民族地区新社会阶层政治参与制约因素分析——以青海为例

考察民族地区新社会阶层政治参与状况,对引导民族地区新社会阶层有序政治参与,发挥其在民族地区民主政治建设中的作用,具有重要意义。本文以青海为例,试图以经济、政治、文化、社会等客观因素为视角,就民族地区新社会阶层政治参与的制约因素进行分析研判。     

协商民主——民族地区新社会阶层有序政治参与的路径选择

民族地区新社会阶层有序政治参与具有重要价值和意义。而协商民主作为一种民主形式,与我国民族地区新社会阶层有序政治参与的客观要求相契合。现阶段,进一步完善协商民主制度、进一步培育协商民主的社会基础、进一步丰富协商民主的内涵和形式,是引导民族地区新社会阶层有序政治参与的路径选择。     

民族地区新社会阶层政治参与状况考察——以青海为个案

考察民族地区新社会阶层政治参与状况,把握其特殊性,对更好地引导民族地区新社会阶层有序政治参与,发挥其在民族地区民主政治建设中的作用,具有重要意义。本课题组以青海为个案,从政治参与态度、政治参与基本认知、政治参与行为、政治参与特性表现等方面,对青海新社会阶层政治参与状况进行了考察,初步获得了青海新社会阶层政治参与状况的基本认知,并从政治参与的直接动因、政治参与的主体、政治参与的行为等方面分析了特性表现。     

新社会阶层政治参与与正确引导

新社会阶层政治参与是在我国基本经济制度等一系列制度和政策调整的条件下形成的。新社会阶层的政治参与具有积极因素,也有其不足方面。只有认真分析和研究新社会阶层政治意识及政治参与的特点,同时采取积极的政策措施,才能引导新社会阶层的政治参与的有序发展,从而在建设和谐社会中发挥新社会阶层的积极作用。     

西部民族地区发展社会主义协商民主的几个问题

大力发展社会主义协商民主是当代中国政治建设中的一个新的思路和重大举措,也是西部民族地区政治建设,乃至整个社会和谐发展的内在要求和特色优势所在。本文结合新的社会阶层发展问题,就西部民族地区发展协商民主的深远意义、现实条件、重要主体、推动因素、制度依托和实践思路等问题作一探究。     

青藏新民族地区文化教育与区域稳定发展研究

青藏新民族地区的文化教育问题,牵动着该区域经济、政治和社会发展的全局。以文化教育与社会经济等诸多变量的内层关联为视角,是研究该区域经济社会发展问题的重要切入点。由此,高度重视并不断加强青藏新民族地区的文化教育事业,成为实现该区域社会稳定发展的关键和纽带。     

少数民族政治参与及其保障机制的若干问题——以青海等省区藏族聚居区为例

政治参与既是推进民主政治建设的一个尺度,也是维护社会政治稳定的重要保障。对于民族地区的政治参与,既要大力推进,充分发挥其积极作用,又要加强引导和规范,使其步入制度化和有序化的健康轨道。本文以青海等省区藏族聚居区为例,就此展开调查研究,具体从政治参与的历史发展、存在问题及其成因、对策思路和保障机制等层面,对少数民族政治参与问题作一分析。     

民族团结进步促使大通 经济社会又好又快发展

大通回族土族自治县是由25个民族共同组成的民族自治县。事实证明,没有各民族的共同团结进步,就没有大通的繁荣发展,加强民族团结进步,保持社会稳定,促进民族地区经济社会又好又快发展是符合大通各族人民的根本利益的。     

加快民族地区群众文化建设 促进民族地区社会和谐

群众文化是社会主义事业的重要组成部分,是新形势下进行思想政治工作的有效载体。加快民族地区群众文化建设,有利于各族人民开发智慧,增强认知事物的能力;对促进民族地区经济社会又好又快发展,维护民族团结,构建和谐社会,具有十分重要的意义。     

试论"五化"背景下民族地区又好又快发展的几个问题

本文主要论述了五化背景下民族地区又好又快发展的几个问题。本文认为,随着五化向广度和深度发展,给民族地区又好又快发展带来了基础设施建设、经济发展方式转变、促进城镇化进程、市场经济体制不断完善、扩大国际合作机遇。但是,由于社会运转节奏加快,在五化背景下,民族地区发展也面临着诸多新的挑战。例如:差距拉大、少数民族流动人口服务管理问题增多、抵御境外敌对势力实施渗透的任务加重等等。因而,要促进民族地区经济社会又好又快发展,国家对民族地区必须要加大政策扶持力度,大力发展民族地区文化、教育及各项社会事业。同时,加强民族问题研究,妥善解决处理新矛盾、新摩擦,实现民族地区又好又快发展。     

Transnational turnout. Determinants of emigrant voting in home country elections

A wide majority of countries acknowledge non-resident citizens' right to vote in elections in their country of origin. However, classical turnout theories do not take into account how electoral mobilisation has expanded into a transnational political field that reaches beyond national state borders. This paper analyses the determinants of emigrant turnout based on an original dataset of 25 countries of origin and each of the counties of residence where these voters reside. We find that emigrant communities from developing democracies experience a steep political learning curve that prompts their participation in home country politics, especially if they reside in countries with solid democratic institutions and linkages with their host societies. Our research also shows that remittances not only indicate commitment to family members’ welfare in home countries, but positively influence participation in home country politics.     

Internationalisation of the Chinese subnational state and capital: the case of Yunnan and the Greater Mekong Subregion

This article examines the participation of China's Yunnan Province in the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) in order to understand the dynamics behind the regionalisation and internationalisation strategies adopted by a Chinese subnational state. It argues that the Yunnan case demonstrates the outflow of state capital—both national and provincially based—to have been instrumental in harnessing Beijing's and Kunming's political support for programs of subregional economic cooperation. This political support has led to a state capital alliance underpinning the economic expansion of provincial state capital into the GMS. It also argues that subregional governance arrangements, such as those featuring in the GMS, embed the competitive advantage of state capital through new forms of extra-territorial governance that ostensibly de-emphasises the political dimensions of state capital. The internationalisation of Yunnan subnational state is reflected in its political strategy of subregional governance. These changes point to complex rescaling of not just national state but also subnational states in Asia that find expression in variegated regional and subregional political projects.     

Civic Education and Political Knowledge in Australia

As part of the renewed emphasis on national identity and citizenship, interest in civic education in Australia has increased. Although both Labor and Liberal national governments have been committed to introducing civic education, there is little research to show that the politically knowledgeable citizen is the more sophisticated and competent citizen. This paper uses survey data collected in 1996 to examine the extent of political knowledge in Australia and to analyse its consequences for political literacy, competence, and participation. The results show that the median citizen could answer two out of seven factual questions correctly, with women, the young and those with less education being more likely to provide incorrect answers. The relationship between knowledge and attitudes and behaviour shows that factual knowledge increases political literacy and, to a lesser extent, competence. However, knowledge has little effect on political participation, a major goal for civic education among politicians. Overall, the increased political knowledge that civic education creates is more effective in generating positive views of democratic institutions, and less effective in shaping political behaviour. The democratic citizen is expected to be well informed about political affairs to know what the issues are, what their history is, what the relevant facts are, what alternatives are proposed, what the party stands for, what the likely consequences are. (Berelson, Lazarsfeld and McPhee 1966, 308)     

Clientelism,Political Culture and Ethnic Politics in Australia

The discussion of political culture in Australia that exists focuses on the supposedly traditional traits of egalitarianism, utilitarianism, conformism, materialism and so on. While not wishing to deny the British influence on political institutions in Australia, to think that the massive nature of non-British postwar migration has not influenced political culture in Australia is not only naive but incorrect. In not paying attention to the impact of immigrants from NESB, political cultures and practices such as clientelism have not been the subject of Australian political discussion. Where ethnic participation in the political system has been examined, some have argued that it is based on corruption and has led political actors to deviate from national political and cultural norms. This paper argues that clientelism can provide a more useful and positive framework for understanding ethnic politics in Australia. After examining various views on political culture and ethnicity in Australia, this paper summarises some of the key points of recent approaches to clientelism. It suggests that clientelism has a positive face, especially as a form of representation for minority groups such as immigrants from NESB. The second section then describes the key features of clientelism in the Australian 'ethnic electorate'. It has evolved in ethnic electorates because of the process of ethnic community formation, the nature of case-work in ethnic electorates and the ability and willingness of political actors and parties to adapt their style to suit the environment.     

澳洲华人的中产阶级地位及其参政诉求：2007年大选以来的变化

论文以2007年本尼朗选战为起点,分析了澳洲华人新获得的中产阶级地位及其对政治参与意向的影响,包括2007年大选以来出现在澳洲华人社区的参政、议政诉求,华人参与澳洲政治生活的各种形式以及影响他们参与的若干因素。认为在澳华人已经成为澳洲社会政治和经济生活中一个非常具有活力的组成部分。他们的政治参与程度及其影响力正在显著提高,并且已经成为各方关注的一个重要议题。     

Land,Life and Labour: Indo‐Fijian Claims to Citizenship in a Changing Fiji

Since the coup of May 2000 an estimated 24,000 Indo‐Fijians have left Fiji, the majority of them moving to Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the US. Those who remain in Fiji have faced increasing marginalisation as the government of Prime Minister Qarase has proposed significant reforms to both the administration of land and Constitutional arrangements of political representation. The situation has been further compounded through Qarase's recently proposed ‘Unity Bill’, which would grant amnesty to some of those responsible for the 2000 coup. These reforms are all part of an effort to ensure the ‘paramountcy’ of indigenous Fijians as well as to limit Indo‐Fijian participation in Fijian national politics. In this paper, I employ Greenhouse's concept of ‘empirical citizenship’ to analyse Indo‐Fijian responses to their political marginalisation in Fiji. After considering how national identities and sentiments of belonging are expressed in Indo‐Fijian discourse through the symbolic inter‐connection of the land and the Indo‐Fijian body, I argue that even if Indo‐Fijians are openly willing to recognize indigenous Fijian supremacy in national politics and the project of nation‐making, assertions of their right to live and labour on Fijian land constitute claims to ‘citizenship’ that are highly contestable in Fiji's current political climate.     

The Road Not Taken. Effects of residential mobility on local electoral turnout

Although the effects of population stability on electoral turnout rates are relatively well-known, the role of the characteristics of hosting cities in this relationship are largely unexplored. This paper analyzes the moderating effect of city size on the relationship between residential mobility and electoral turnout. Residential mobility is known to depress civic engagement and political participation at the local level. We argue that this relationship is moderated by the characteristics of hosting cities, approached through city size. The main argument is that smaller cities offer better chances to newcomers to reconnect to the political process. Working with census data from more than 5500 different municipalities, we find that city size has a negative moderating effect on the relationship between residential mobility and turnout. On the one hand, residential mobility and city size do have separate negative effects on turnout, but on the other, the expected negative effects of mobility on turnout are actually stronger in larger than in smaller municipalities. Results indicate, therefore, that smaller communities not only provide more favorable conditions for political participation to their life-long residents, but they also seem to offer newcomers better chances to reconnect to the political process than larger cities.     

Devolution and national identity: the rules of English (dis)engagement

ABSTRACT. In this article I consider why the expected English backlash to the asymmetric UK devolution settlement has not yet materialised. Using a corpus of conversational interviews, I discuss the various ways in which people in England currently understand the relationship between national identity and political entitlement. I conclude that English political quiescence, far from constituting an enigma, is comprehensible in the light of the fact that members of the general public do not usually base their assessments of political legitimacy on calculations of English national self‐interest defined in contrast to Scotland. Rather, political issues tend to be judged with reference to principles of equity and procedural justice. English identity is rarely considered legitimate grounds for political voice. Rather, people are inclined to demonstrate a concern to balance the recognition of Scottish rights to national self‐determination, with a display of public reason, civility and civic responsibility understood to be normatively incumbent upon the English majority.     

Gendered Structures of Local Politics in Turkey

Indicators offered by available international statistical data and observations of many researchers point out that women's formal political involvement at the local level is stronger than that at the national level for the majority of states. However, gendered political patterns in Turkey have been following a rather different path. One and the most significant contradictory aspect is that women's representation at local elected organs is weaker than the national parliament. This article, first, investigates the reasons for this relatively weak existence in formal local politics. The references of this relativity are both national formal politics of Turkey, and the dominant worldwide model. Secondly, the article tries to establish country‐specific links between formal and informal local politics concerning women's participation. The experience in Turkey has proven that women's local engagement does not necessarily propel decision‐making power and women's empowerment. Women's local mobilization in Turkey has been mostly limited to socio‐cultural and charity activities instead of central decisions on the settlement, and of efforts for establishing women's local political agendas. Moreover, as a very prominent factor concerning the maintenance of asymmetric gendered structures of local politics, women's movement at the national level has been lacking in systematic political interest in the issue until very recently. In this article, these pretensions and future prospects are discussed in terms of the actual global‐national circumstances affecting local politics as well as women's local conditions. To these ends, existing quantitative‐qualitative research, data and analysis, and relevant findings of the author's recent (2000–2003) original research, as well as her observations through participation in recent feminist activism targeting local politics are being evaluated.