以色列议会选举制的特点

本文①认为,以色列虽实行西方式的议会民主制,但其选举制度与英、美等西方国家相去甚远,特点鲜明。以色列议会选举采用单一选区比例代表制度,即全国为一个选区,以政党或集团为单位参加竞选,然后根据各党派在全国范围所得总票数,按比例分配议席。其结果是,各政党或联盟从未获得单独组阁所需半数以上的议席(61席),均不能单独组阁,必须组成联合政府。以色列议会选举制是造成国内党派滋生和政坛混乱的主要根源,它为代表少数人利益的小党充斥以色列政坛提供契机,中小党派的"剩余能量"和"超常影响力"又激励了中小党派的产生,导致恶性循环。     

The Electoral Politics of Economic Reform in Australia: The 1998 Election

Like many other advanced industrial democracies, Australia has experienced major and ongoing economic reform over the last two decades, the pace of which has, if anything, increased since the election of the Liberal‐National government in 1996. These developments have led to a growing sense of economic insecurity among many voters. Many of these concerns were focused on the 1998 election, when the Liberal‐National Coalition advocated the introduction of a goods and services tax. This paper uses the 1998 Australian Election Study (AES) survey to examine the impact of economic evaluations, economic insecurity and economic issues on voting in the election. The results demonstrate the existence of widespread economic concerns across the electorate, but that the Coalition gained a marginal electoral advantage on the tax reform issue. Economic issues were also a cause of defection to the new One Nation Party, although further analysis reveals that its support was motivated more by race and ethnic concerns than by economic discontent.     

The Occurrence and Consequences of Electoral Mandates in Historical Context

This study revisits the debate over electoral mandates by assessing the occurrence and consequences of landslide electoral victories since the 1860s. The study builds on Keeler's (1993) formulation of mandates in terms of the opportunities afforded by an election. Viewing elections as creating policy opportunities allows a more straightforward assessment of the relation between election outcomes and the legislative activity that follows. The idea of policy windows also avoids some of the criticisms directed at electoral mandates. Using public laws enacted from 1860 to 1998,1 find that landslide electoral victories precede less active Congresses almost as often as they precede surges of legislative activity. Using qualitative historical information, I further find that the legislative opportunities afforded by a landslide victory are conditional upon unity of the president's party.     

The Ideological Foundations of Arguments About Native Title

The political disputes over native title in Australia have generally been interpreted without recourse to ordinary ideological categories. The general failure to engage with ideology has hampered scholarly analysis, stunting the vocabulary and content of debate, as well as giving the content of public deliberation on the issue a curiously free-floating quality. In this article it is contended that arguments about native title are amenable to being understood as a product of the interaction of a range of well-known normative frameworks: liberalism, social democracy, conservatism, nationalism, socialism and transcendentalism. Each of these six ideologies furnishes rationales both for and against native title by focusing on different elements or preoccupations within the respective ideological traditions. A typological framework is proposed which outlines a range of ideal type positions in relation to native title.     

西安事变与日本的对华政策

日本在1936年8月全面确立以分裂华北为中心的对华政策,随后即初步付诸实施.西安事变的爆发打乱了其侵华步骤,也使得"一致抗日"成为当时中国最具国内号召力和国际影响力的目标.事变期间,日本最初采取"沿续并促进"的方针,企图趁机继续实施以往的对华政策;在明确情况后,被迫采取静观待变的态度,却又坚决干预中国的"容共"问题.事变的迅速和平解决,最终打破了日本的阴谋.事变后,中国团结抗战局面的形成,迫使日本统治集团重新认识中国,日本政局也出现大动荡.林内阁期间,主要以"佐藤外交"修改以往的对华策略,但并未根本放弃既定的对华政策."佐藤外交"夭折后,近卫内阁又回归于广田内阁时期的对华政策,最终在"七·七"事变后走向全面侵华之路.     

浅析瑞士银行业发展的原因

瑞士银行运用传统的诚信体制,使用高级的保密制度,利用优秀的服务质量,采用完备的管理技术,应用先进的金融设备,通过几代人的不断努力创新后,创造了无与伦比的银行文化。目前在银行这个重要的服务领域内,很少有一个国家能够像瑞士那样称霸长达上百年的。     

Shades of Orange: The Electoral Geography of Ukraine's 2004 Presidential Elections

Two American geographers and noted specialists on the electoral geography of post-Soviet Russia and Ukraine describe and analyze the three rounds of Ukraine's pivotal and highly contested presidential elections in late 2004. In an effort to shed light on the underlying demographic and socio-economic correlates of the vote (e.g., age, income, urban/rural residence, language/ethnicity), the authors pay special attention to changes among the rounds, providing background to widespread allegations of electoral fraud in round two (first runoff). Finally, they summarize results of bivariate and multivariate regression analyses that reveal which among the various correlates contribute most to explaining differences in the vote. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: H10, O18, R10. 6 figures, 5 tables, 26 references.     

Stuck in a Rut: The Problem with Australia's Electoral Apparatus

The origins of the distinguishing features of the Australian Electoral Commission can be found in nineteenth-century South Australia, when that colony led the world in electoral administration. It was the first jurisdiction to develop a professional, permanent, independent election management body, with salaried electoral officials, and to pursue continuous, State-initiated enrolment. South Australia evolved this way because, to extend path dependence terminology, it was ‘locked out’ of inefficient British practices. After Federation in 1901, the new Australian Electoral Office, largely based on the South Australian model, continued the tradition. One unique and defining feature was the strong, permanent role of divisional returning officers –‘Electoral Kings’, in the words of the first Australian Chief Electoral Officer. The ‘Kings’ were an integral component of much that was good about Australia's way of running elections. However, this structure is no longer the most appropriate for an organisation such as the AEC. It has long outlived its usefulness and is holding the Commission back. And, perhaps ironically for an organisation with a long record of resistance to political interference, it is House of Representatives politicians, of all major parties, who are restraining the AEC from adopting sensible arrangements. The AEC is now, in path dependence terms, ‘locked in’ to inefficient practices.     

战后日本的中国研究

战后初期,在日本,最先活跃民间的中国研究机构是中国研究所(简称中研)。它成立于1946年1月,由战争期间在满铁调查研究机关工作的人员、新闻记者、左翼人士等组成。中研以向日本国民介绍和宣传中国革命和新中国的实际情况为己任。关于新中国的状况、中国共产党的方针、毛泽东思想等资料除外务省以及外联团体作为内部资料收集整理以外,到50年代前半期,由中研介绍的资料占很大比重,在增进日本国民对新中国的了解和关注方面,中研所起的作用可谓不小。     

日本12团体呼吁书——不能把否定宪法、踏上国际孤立道路的教科书传授给孩子们

由“新历史教科书编纂会”成员执笔编写的中学历史教科书已经部科学省公布审定合格,可供社会选用了。     

日本农业保险的发展概况与启示

日本的农业保险被认为是世界农业保险的“成功经验”。文章介绍了日本农业保险的发展概况、制度结构和主要经验,并以农作物保险为例介绍了农业保险的主要内容。日本发展农业保险的主要经验有:强有力的立法保障;财政的大力支持;一定的强制性;先进的农险统计系统和政府的再保险支持。日本经验对我国的启示意义主要有四:一是加快推进农业保险立法;二是加大财政补贴力度,驱动农业保险发展;三是实行强制保险与自愿保险相结合,提高参与率;四是建立农业再保险机制。