俄罗斯学者眼中的世界政治版图

针对西方研究机构所谓的民主或自由排行榜,俄罗斯学术界开始尝试建立自己的一套政治制度评判标准.最近,由俄罗斯官方策划的一项名为"世界政治版图"的研究在俄罗斯引起了广泛关注.据俄罗斯权威信息透露,俄罗斯外交部门近期将把此成果提交给联合国,作为国际上衡量政治民主进程的评价体系,以应对西方社会在民主和人权问题上的"双重标准".     

农村基层民主的发展趋势

以村民自治为载体的农村基层民主已有大概30年的发展历史,成就斐然,也颇受质疑,本文认为未来农村基层民主的发展呈现如下趋势:由制度输入到能力提升——农村基层民主发展重心的转换;由个体参与到组织化参与——农村基层民主发展的关键;顶层设计与基层创新的结合——农村基层民主发展的动力;由封闭走向开放——农村基层民主发展的时代特征;由组织重建走向权利保障——农村基层民主发展的价值回归;由选举式民主单兵突进走向四个民主齐头并进——农村基层民主发展的全面深化。     

民主因何而退潮?

2008年经济危机的冲击并没有导致具有决定性的民主崩溃"回潮"。拉里·戴蒙德认为,决定新兴脆弱的民主命运的并不是经济衰退的影响,而是国内治理不善、腐败和滥用权力猖獗,以及极端的不平等等政治因素演了更加重要的角色。因此,戴蒙德强调,即使世界经济从当前的衰退中迅速恢复并充满活力,如果不提高治理质量和遏制权力滥用,那么更多的民主仍将趋于崩溃。     

寓协商于选举：中国式民主的制度创新

中国式民主的鲜明特征之一就是，将协商寓于选举之中，实现了协商民主和选举民主的“形式互嵌”,彰显出全过程人民民主的特质与价值，是中国式民主的实践探索和制度创新成果。“寓协商于选举”就是在充分认识选举民主罅隙的基础上，将协商民主引入选举民主，在“有事好商量”和“最大公约数”中广泛凝聚共识，防止由单纯选举民主可能引发的社会撕裂；同时，协商民主和选举民主的结合也有利于提升协商民主的效率。作为中国式民主的创新性探索，“寓协商于选举”体现出中国式民主建构的基本方法论：民主建构要基于国家的基本国情和历史文化传统，并以系统观念推进民主建设。总而言之，“寓协商于选举”平衡了民主的不同结构、凸显了民主的各项功能、展现了民主的治理绩效，开创了民主的新型实践形态。     

操作性党内民主：中国式的民主政治发展道路

操作性党内民主主要是指党员定期选出党的领导人的一种制度安排,通过这样一种制度安排某些党员可以通过争取其他党员的选票而获得党的领导职位。这样一个概念强调的是党内民主的切实可行性。这一实践路径是由中国政治民主化的性质和模式及中国的社会现实所决定的：首先,中国政治民主化的性质在于它是由中国共产党所领导和推动的;其次,中国民主化的模式是一种不同于西方的体制内模式;再次,从中国的社会现实来看,历史上的中国缺乏政治民主传统,就现阶段而言,也没有发育出作为民主政治土壤的公民文化,而且政治发展极不平衡。这些都决定了中国的政治民主化只能先从中国共产党内部开始,走一条从党内到党外、从高层到基层、从精英到大众的渐进模式。操作性党内民主主要应体现为差额选举,以差额选举为主要内容的操作性党内民主符合现代民主政治的原则,是有效整合党内不同政策取向和思想分歧的有效途径,是实现党内民主和中国政治民主化的突破。     

伊拉克的后萨达姆时代生活

2012年1月5日，美国总统奥巴马发布了题为“维持美国的全球领导地位：21世纪国防的优先任务”的新军事战略报告，表示今后美国将避免发动类似阿富汗和伊拉克这样持续时间很长的战争，侧面承认了美国现时无力把伊拉克变成一个新的民主国家。2010@3月7日，伊拉克人迎来了历史上第一次由选民直接投票的选举，这被视为伊拉克民主重建的真正开始。两年过去了，“民主”究竟怎样改变了伊拉克及伊拉克人，那里的人们如何看待这个新事物甲     

地缘政治、民主转型与俄罗斯外交政策

在俄罗斯整个历史上,以地理扩张以及由此催生的救世使命为根本内核的地缘政治思想不仅在保障国家安全方面打下了不可磨灭的烙印,且造就了俄罗斯与西方之间的安全两难。冷战后俄罗斯地缘政治的一大现实就是欧亚大陆外围势力向核心区域渗透,而不是传统上的核心影响边缘。在这一地缘政治条件下,俄罗斯国家的民主转型根本改变了作用于对外政策制定的几乎所有因素,致使俄罗斯外交政策不可避免地成为国内政治的主要议题之一,结果使得可以进行新的选择的俄罗斯常常感到自己缺乏这样做的力量。新生俄罗斯外交政策的基本出发点之一就是自身的不安全感,而外交政策的紊乱恰恰是地缘政治和民主转型双重作用的结果,是其不安全感的具体表现。     

地缘政治、民主转型与俄罗斯外交政策

在俄罗斯整个历史上,以地理扩张以及由此催生的救世使命为根本内核的地缘政治思想不仅在保障国家安全方面打下了不可磨灭的烙印,且造就了俄罗斯与西方之间的安全两难.冷战后俄罗斯地缘政治的一大现实就是欧亚大陆外围势力向核心区域渗透,而不是传统上的核心影响边缘.在这一地缘政治条件下,俄罗斯国家的民主转型根本改变了作用于对外政策制定的几乎所有因素,致使俄罗斯外交政策不可避免地成为国内政治的主要议题之一,结果使得可以进行新的选择的俄罗斯常常感到自己缺乏这样做的力量.新生俄罗斯外交政策的基本出发点之一就是自身的不安全感,而外交政策的紊乱恰恰是地缘政治和民主转型双重作用的结果,是其不安全感的具体表现.     

资本民主与小股东利益保护机制

公司民主是股份民主、资本民主，股东的权力建立在所持股份的基础上，这由公司的“资合性”所决定。现代公司制度在坚持资本民主的前提下，设立各种机制为小股东权利的保护和实现提供制度平台，以表面上不平等的手段达到真正的实质的平等这一目标，使得作为资本联合体企业形态的公司有一个长久持续和稳定发展的基础。相对于发达国家，我国企业在小股东利益保护方面存在诸多制度缺失，确立、完善小股东利益保护机制，已成为确保我国公司长远发展的一个重要课题。     

通过党章考察党员权利的演变与党内民主建设的科学化

党内民主建设的主体是党员。健全和保障党员权利是提高党内民主建设科学化的基本前提。作为党的总规矩和总章程,党章逐渐将党员权利加以明确化,并经历了一个由确立到取消再到确立最后到不断完善的过程。十二大以前修正的党章对党员权利的健全和保障不力,制约着党内民主建设的发展。文化大革命后,十二大修正的党章及时将党员权利进行了确定。此后修正的党章又对党员权利进行了健全和完善,有力地推动了党内民主建设的科学化。但是,由于受到各种现实条件的限制和约束,党章规定的党员权利还没有得到真正贯彻和落实,以致于党内民主建设的科学化水平还受到相当程度的制约。     

Democracy and the press: A comparative analysis of pluralism in the international print media

The relationship between democracy and press pluralism is assessed in seven countries: China, Colombia, Egypt, Germany, India, Lithuania, and Russia. The term “pluralism” is defined as the extent to which diverse and competing views appear in the content of the mainstream press on a given news topic. Content analysis of 2,172 articles from the 10 largest newspapers in each country, published in the first months after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, is used to evaluate the level of press pluralism. The main indicator of democracy is based on data from the Freedom House organization, though other democracy indexes are considered. Previous studies have offered conflicting views on the relationship between democracy and press pluralism. Although this study finds mixed results, the general tendency, which is based on 10 major news issues surrounding the events of 9/11, supports the perspective that democracy is not always positively associated with press pluralism. Much of the debate over 9/11 in countries ranked as highly democratic was less pluralistic than in countries with weaker democratic institutions.     

Civilizational Nationalism

“Civilizational nationalism,” the view that Russia follows a special path that predisposes it to authoritarian government, affects both the country's prospects for full-fledged democracy and the way in which academic and political circles discuss those prospects.     

The Pussy Riot Case

The performance put on by the feminist punk group Pussy Riot in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior (CCS) in Moscow is rightly considered a major event in the international protest movement of 2012. The Pussy Riot case became a litmus test for liberalism and for the schisms in Russian society, raising a wave of irreconcilable criticism from the radically inclined pro-Putin majority, including politicians, the clergy of the Russian Orthodox Church, and journalists. A central theme in the criticism directed against Pussy Riot was anti-Western rhetoric. Asserting that the West supported Pussy Riot's actions, the critics portrayed the performance as an attack on the authority of the Russian Orthodox Church and on Russian statehood. In the ideological components of the anti-Western campaign against this punk group, a parallel emerges between the Pussy Riot case and the Beilis trial held a hundred years earlier in terms of social antagonism and the appraisal of liberal values. Whereas Beilis's acquittal on the eve of World War I marked a tendency toward the establishment of democracy in Russia at that time, the conviction in the Pussy Riot case was a triumph for antidemocratic and anti-Western values, showing that contemporary Russia has completed its transition to an authoritarian regime.     

Democracy and poverty: The implementation of social reforms in the countries of central and eastern Europe

Why has the political and economic transformation in Russia and central and eastern Europe been accompanied by deteriorating living standards? Many of the reform programmes have contained social elements, but these have been neglected in the implementation process. Certain barriers to change – mental, cultural, political and economic – have made the implementation difficult. Russia and central and eastern Europe have to pass through a problematic dual transformation, from authoritarianism to democracy and from centrally planned economies to market economies. Experiences from Latin America show that such transitions are virtually impossible. The social results from the transformations in central and eastern Europe have been disappointing, which has been documented by scholars in this field. Nevertheless, if the political and economic transformation processes continue, the prospectes for the future are relatively bright. But there is also a negative scenario with authoritarianism and civil war as endpoints. A more cautious transition to a market economy might improve social welfare and living standards.     

关于俄联邦新民法典的一点思考

编纂于20世纪90年代的《俄联邦民法典》是俄罗斯十几年政治、经济改革的经验总结,在私法领域中标志着计划经济向市场经济的过渡,标志着私法自治精神在民法上的回归,为俄罗斯经济和社会的全面发展提供了必要的法律基础和制度保障。但由于传统与现代因素的综合作用,新民法典在未来的朝向中任重道远。我国制定21世纪的新民法典必须崇扬私法自治精神,但如何克服俄联邦新民法典中残留的公法因素,培育和发展作为私法自治基础的市民社会,以及如何协调强制性规范和任意性规范的设置,实现私法自治目标也是我国制定民法典时应当审慎思考的问题。     

Gender,work, and childcare in Kazakhstan,Mongolia, and Russia

The current study seeks to understand the nature of gender relations within a post‐Soviet welfare model in Kazakhstan, Mongolia, and Russia. On the basis of the analysis of key labour market indicators, parental leave, and childcare policies, it finds that the welfare models in the three countries are hybrid, and neither authoritarianism in Kazakhstan and Russia nor democracy in Mongolia lead to substantive gender equality outcomes. Persistent gender inequality in these countries is underpinned by the neo‐liberal approach to welfare provision, conservative social norms, and limited agency of civil society to influence the policy agenda. Nonetheless, these states have distributed to the population with an emphasis on working mothers, and this policy choice has been driven by economic, demographic, and political considerations, which ultimately serve to support, rather than transform, the patriarchal power structure in these societies.     

两种民主观和民主观念的现代性变革

在民主化的过程中 ,树立正确的民主观念是至关重要的。然而 ,在民主问题上历来存在分歧和争论。在最具争议的两种民主版本中 ,民主主义和自由主义分别开发了共性型的民主观和个性型的民主观。其中 ,自由主义者对传统的民主理论进行了重大的修订 ,从而带来了民主观念的现代性变革     

Russia

The author clarifies the concept of "historical politics"; compares its practice in Poland, Ukraine, the Baltic states, and (over the last two to three years) Russia; and considers its harmful consequences for both international relations and domestic political pluralism.     

The Eternal Triangle: Sixty Years of the Centre–Periphery Relationship in the National Health Service

The history of the National Health Service in England is marked by a paradox. Even while successive governments used the rhetoric of power to the periphery, the exhort‐and‐hope system of 1948 was transformed into a command‐and‐control system over the next 60 years. The contrast between rhetorical aspirations and policy trajectory can be traced back, this article argues, to a debate in the 1945 Cabinet about the design of the NHS: a debate which set out the tension between three policy goals – equity, efficiency and democracy. The pursuit of equity and efficiency (variously defined) has provided the rationale for centralization, at the expense of democracy seen as control by elected local bodies. The major change over time has been less in central government's policy ambitions than in its administrative capacity. New organizational structures and managerial techniques made it possible to exploit opportunities created by information technology.     

Deliberative policy-making and its limitations: the case of the Charter of Human Rights for Seoul Citizens in South Korea

Recent criticism of representative liberal democracy has spurred democratic experiments involving citizen consultations in deliberative forums. However, more research is needed in order to understand the conditions necessary to make them work. The aim of this paper is to help mitigate this deficiency and at the same time contribute to an informed reflection over the specific conditions for deliberative democracy in Korea. The study focuses on a unique deliberative process organized in order to establish a Charter of Human Rights for Seoul Citizens. Several lessons from this democratic experiment are discussed. While the process worked surprisingly well, its legitimacy was questioned because of controversies over the representativeness of participants and the involvement of external stakeholders. Although a complete consensus was not reached, initially disrespectful attitudes changed within the process to a situation where diverging positions were better acknowledged. How ideas of deliberation can be implemented in real-world public policy-making is discussed based on these findings.