Cross-Border Interest Group Learning in Canada and the United States

Many of the most prominent US interest groups have formal or informal relationships with Canadian groups. Yet groups in the two countries often have little incentive to share political strategies – to learn from each other. This article proposes that such learning can take place only when four factors are present: a stable relationship with governmental institutions; the resources to acquire useful political information; shared issues of concern; and a sense of being part of a well-defined cross-border region. The presence of these factors can promote the creation of enduring group networks, which in turn make cross-border political learning possible. The article presents case studies of environmental and business organizations in the New England/Atlantic Canada region to show the relationship between these determinants.     

地方治理与利益诉求:民国初年陕绥划界纠纷研究

陕绥划界是民国初年西北地区省界调整中发生的一起政治事件。上自北京政府、陕绥各级地方政府,下到争议区的伊克昭盟王公、士绅民众,分别从国家政令统一、边疆安全、争议区经济利益归属、基层社会事务决策权归属等角度,围绕蒙陕边界地区的划界问题展开利益诉求。蒙陕边界地带士绅民众在清末督办蒙旗垦务大臣贻谷整理垦务时期认购土地,拥有了争议区土地的所有权,其是否会因为政权更迭而发生改变,遂成为陕绥划界纠纷的核心问题。在近八年的纠纷过程中,北京政府与地方政府、地方政府与地方政府(陕、绥双方)、地方各系势力与两级政府之间展开利益角逐。最终,北京政府让步于既成事实的陕西一方,即移民不可能退回去的事实。而陕北沿边地方政府和士绅利用自身的威望和号召力,对争议区内民众进行宣传和引导,组建利益共同体,维护地方社会事务话语权的“正当性”。     

农地征用中的利益博弈与立法选择

当前农地征用中失地农民与地方政府之间存在明显的利益分歧,利益博弈各方时常处于零和的状态。某些土地制度规定的相对滞后和地方政府行为的错位及＂官本位＂格局下强政府——弱农民的力量对比态势,成为利益零和博弈的根本原因。明晰农地产权主体,重构农地产权制度,创建一个有效而公平的谈判协商机制,创建农民组织,规范政府行为,这些都是立法选择方面的主要构想。     

Coalition Stability and Belief Change: Advocacy Coalitions in U.S. Foreign Policy and the Creation of Israel, 1922–44

This study examines whether advocacy coalitions are stable over time by examining legislative hearings data concerning U.S. foreign policy and the creation of Israel. It uses content analysis of 19 different policy core and deep core belief components applied to testimonies given in 1922 and in 1944. These belief components are used to identify members of advocacy coalitions and to test the coalitions' relative stability of membership over time. In addition, this research examines the stability of the belief systems of these advocacy coalitions. It finds that the structures of the advocacy coalitions remained relatively stable, yet new components of policy core beliefs emerged among all three advocacy coalitions, and such components are converging toward the belief system of the coalition advocating for the creation of Israel.     

让作文教学变得快乐起来的尝试

面对毫无写作兴趣的学生,如果只是简单地告诉他们作文的要求,读几篇范文,然后叫他们写作,这样效果肯定不好。因此在设计写作主题时必须抓住学生感兴趣的内容,让他们想说爱说,让他们萌发写作的欲望,进而产生写好作文的信心。     

Constructing Policy Narratives in 140 Characters or Less: The Case of Gun Policy Organizations

This study examines interest groups’ framing of gun policy issues via an analysis of nearly 10,000 tweets by the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence and the National Rifle Association spanning from 2009 to 2014. Utilizing the Narrative Policy Framework (NPF), I investigate the extent to which interest groups use social media to construct policy narratives. This research shows that much can be conveyed in 140 characters; both gun control and gun rights organizations used Twitter to identify victims, blame “villains,” commend “heroes,” and offer policy solutions. This research sheds light on the politics of gun control by revealing trends over time in groups’ framing and suggests refinements for hypotheses of the NPF. Finally, this work underscores the importance of social media for public policy scholarship.     

The Eurozone crisis and Italian corporate governance: the end of blockholding?

This article explains the process of change in domestic corporate governance. An actor-centred coalitional approach is applied to the Italian case to show how the main features of domestic corporate governance are a product of behavioural patterns (i.e. informal institutions), rather than formal legislation. Leveraging their superior financial means, business elites act as institutional incumbents shaping these informal institutions according to their preferences. It is argued that a change in corporate practices is more likely to be triggered by a socio-economic crisis, which weakens the domestic elite’s influence, rather than a legal reform. These findings call into question the excessively formalistic approach of many corporate governance scholars, and are confirmed by the Italian trajectory. After having resisted 20 years of liberalising legal reforms aimed at eroding their power, Italian blockholders are now being forced, as a consequence of the Eurozone sovereign debt crisis, to dismantle their cross-shareholding networks.     

PRECEDENT AND NATIONALISM IN THE SUPREME COURT OF CANADA

This article employs literature on federalism to explore the ways in which national Canadian interest groups develop federative structures in order to conduct advocacy work within Québec. It first identifies institutional reasons for the development of federalist structures for Canadian groups, and it then explores asymmetries between the treatment of Québec chapters of these groups and of chapters elsewhere in Canada. Drawing on interviews with the political directors of groups active at the national level in Canada, this article shows that the degree to which groups grant power to their provincial or Québec subunits varies according to the benefits sought by groups.     

《归侨侨眷权益保护法》法律责任设置论析

论文针对《中华人民共和国归侨侨眷权益保护法》（简称《归侨法》）＂法律责任条款＂的制定及实施情况进行全面考察,认为法律责任条款设置与法律文本中的＂义务性条款＂设置应相对应,并且还要考虑与相关法律的协调。《归侨法》的法律责任条款设置存在一些技术缺陷,如与《归侨法》中义务性条款不对称、设置的重复性、与相关部门法脱节以及其他相关问题,在此基础上,对法律责任条款的修改与完善提出了具体的建议。     

Widespread Policy Disruption and Interest Mobilization

We consider the involvement of different interests in policymaking following disruptions that affect the agendas of multiple subsystems. The policy process literature suggests that increased policy uncertainty and jurisdictional ambiguity could lead to substantial upheavals in interest involvement. We address these possibilities in studying the mobilization of different interests after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, for eight disrupted policy subsystems. Contrary to expectations derived from the literature, we find limited evidence of interest upheaval or cross-subsystem spillovers in interest involvement. We suggest this is because policymakers sought to reduce policy uncertainty by calling upon those interests that were best equipped to help craft and implement policy solutions. These findings point to the stabilizing influence of policy subsystems in buffering against the effects of widespread disruptions.