Introduction: not a normal election: roots and consequences

The March 2018 Italian general elections can be described as a historic turning point, another watershed moment in the turbulent history of contemporary Italian politics. After a stormy and complex legislative term, characterized by a variety of institutional and political phenomena, Italy has faced one of the most important electoral challenges since the return of democracy in the mid-1940s. After examining the major political events that led to the latest general elections, this introductory article presents and analyses the rules, the actors and the outcomes of the electoral contest that has seen the victory of two anti-establishment parties: the Five Star Movement and the League. In the concluding section, the article discusses the potential tensions that may emerge from the clash between the populist attitude of the new governing parties and the constitutional constraints of a liberal democratic regime.     

克林顿总统时期美国对华政策形成的特点--以总统、国会在对华贸易最惠国待遇问题上的争论为例

通过对克林顿时期总统与国会围绕是否给予中国贸易最惠国待遇问题的争论的历史考察,可以发现在这一时期美国对华政策形成具有如下特点第一,从行政与立法机构之间关系的角度来看,关键时刻总统和国会两院在事关国家利益的重大问题上最终总能达成共识;第二,从行政和国会与两党之间及两党相互之间关系的角度来看,对经济问题的考虑是它们的共同点,也是美国对华政策的重点,美国对华政策中的政治利益往往通过经济手段来实现;第三,从政策实现的途径来分析,总统靠游说国会和呼吁公众支持来实现自己的政策,国会则靠立法来体现其主张,而且国会在大多时候采取主动出击的方式,而总统则在多数时候保持反应式的决策模式。     

Disproportionality and bias in US Presidential Elections: How geography helped Bush defeat Gore but couldn't help Kerry beat Bush

The 2000 and 2004 US Presidential elections were closely fought contests, with in the first case victory in the Electoral College being denied to the candidate with the largest share of the popular vote. Disproportionality in the translation of votes into seats (in this case, from popular votes to votes in the Electoral College) is common to contests using a winner-takes-all electoral system. So is bias, whereby that disproportionality does not apply equally to each candidate. Analysis of the bias at those two elections shows that Bush was favoured at the first but not at the second. Identification of the bias components shows that Bush was advantaged by variations in the number of popular votes per Electoral College voter across the states, and also by variation in turnout. In 2000, his popular votes were also more efficiently distributed than Gore's; in 2004 they were less efficiently distributed than Kerry's, largely because of increased turnout – producing larger numbers of surplus votes – in states that were already safe for Bush.     

The election of the tenth President of the Italian Republic

Abstract

The election on the first ballot of Carlo Azeglio Ciampi to the Presidency of the Republic came as a surprise. This article explores how it occurred by analysing the criteria usually employed to screen the candidates for President and the misplaced efforts by the secretary of the Partito popolare to win the office for a candidate of his party. An assessment of the powers of the President, in particular those concerning the appointment of the Prime Minister and the dissolution of parliament, is offered with reference to the experience of outgoing President Oscar Luigi Scalfaro. The success of Walter Veltroni, secretary of the Leftist Democrats, and of Gianfranco Fini, leader of the National Alliance, in persuading the opposition to vote for Ciampi is related to their interest in reigniting a process for the reform of the political system and the construction of a majoritarian and bipolar democracy. President Ciampi may prove to be very helpful in this difficult task, but most of the initiative and responsibility lie with party leaders and members of parliament.     

试析杜鲁门总统民权委员会的活动

为了回应“两难困境”的挑战,杜鲁门总统颁布行政命令,创立了总统民权委员会。委员会对美国的种族关系和民权问题进行了全面的调研和评估,向总统提交了《保障这些权利》的报告。报告体现了战后美国政府和人们对种族问题的反思,也是对解决种族问题的探索和尝试。报告的大量发行和人们的竞相阅读,对增进美国民众的种族正义观念产生了重要的影响。     

卡特总统与1978年美国文官制度改革

1978年卡特总统的文官制度改革．不仅是20世纪美国历史上的一个重大事件．而且是继1883年《彭德尔顿法》颁布以来美国联邦政府文官制度发展史上的又一个重要的里程碑。这次文官制度改革不仅涉及到联邦政府高级文官结构的变化,中级文官报酬制度的改革,下级文官利益的重新分配等问题．而且也触及到联邦政府文官管理机构的调整与改组。因此．改革不仅影响到联邦政府行政工作效率的提高,而且关系到总统对联邦文官的政治控制。     

Post-electoral politics in Italy: institutional problems and political perspectives

A dysfunctional electoral law and an obsolete bicameral Parliament contributed to the surprising results of the 24–25 February 2013 Italian elections, which have solved none of Italy's institutional and political problems. This article briefly analyses the distribution of votes, stressing especially that the success of the Five Stars Movement derives from the dissatisfaction and the protest of a significant sector of the electorate. Beppe Grillo, like Silvio Berlusconi, is a political entrepreneur, who through patience, hard work and commitment has constructed an organization with a wide geographical following. The presence in Parliament of the Five Stars Movement made the election of the President of the Republic very difficult. President Napolitano was obliged to accept an unprecedented second term and then led the Democratic Party, the People of Freedom and Civic Choice to form an unusual government, almost a sort of Grand Coalition. The government is here briefly assessed. The article ends underlining two critical aspects of the situation. Neither the Italian parties nor the party system have succeeded in reaching a satisfactory level of consolidation and stability. This means that the President of the Republic has been obliged to make good the shortcomings of the political parties. Even malgré soi, the President's behaviour has given rise to a situation in which his own position raises the urgent need for institutional reforms along the lines of the semi-presidential mould of the French Fifth Republic to bring to a close Italy's overlong political transition.     

国会解散与进步党的分裂瓦解

1913年11月4日袁世凯以非法命令取消国民党议员资格,致使国会不足法定人数而解散,这是斩断中华民国法统的重大事变.国民党被查禁后,进步党是唯一的重要政党,但熊梁内阁副署命令引发进步党分裂为国会派(议会民主派)和内阁派(开明专制派).以熊希龄、梁启超为首的内阁派基于开明专制思想,希望通过依附北洋派的专制力量推行自己的开明政策;而以国会议员为主体的国会派坚持议会政治理想,不肯通过牺牲国会的尊严来延续国会的存在.维持国会的活动终于失败,进步党也在两派纷争之中逐渐瓦解.进步党的失败标志着民初各派分享权力格局的结束和袁世凯独裁统治的开始.     

Presidential Oral History: The Clinton Presidential History Project

Most conventional oral history takes a bottom-up approach tothe past, focusing on settings where there is little in theway of a functional written record. This essay discusses thevalue of oral history in the opposite case of the American presidency.The written archive and journalistic record on each presidentis immense. Yet oral history is a valuable resource in thiselite environment, too. There are routine silences in even thebest of presidential papers, which oral history interviews canhelp fill. Moreover, the White House has become a workplacewhere recorded details can be hazardous to one's political health.Accordingly, few presidential aides today keep diaries or notesof key meetings—impoverishing the archive future historianswill use to study the presidency of our times. Oral historythus fortifies a weakening documentary record. This essay exploresthese broad issues and how they are being dealt with in theconduct of the William J. Clinton Presidential History Project.