A majorization comparison of apportionment methods in proportional representation

From the inception of the proportional representation movement it has been an issue whether larger parties are favored at the expense of smaller parties in one apportionment of seats as compared to another apportionment. A number of methods have been proposed and are used in countries with a proportional representation system. These apportionment methods exhibit a regularity of order, as discussed in the present paper, that captures the preferential treatment of larger versus smaller parties. This order, namely majorization, permits the comparison of seat allocations in two apportionments. For divisor methods, we show that one method is majorized by another method if and only if their signpost ratios are increasing. This criterion is satisfied for the divisor methods with power-mean rounding, and for the divisor methods with stationary rounding. Majorization places the five traditional apportionment methods in the order as they are known to favor larger parties over smaller parties: Adams, Dean, Hill, Webster, and Jefferson. Received: 5 August 2000/Accepted: 24 October 2001     

Territorial Modernity and Public Space: Lessons from the Politics of Water Conflict Along the US/Canadian Border

Conflict over water resources is a major problem throughout the world. This essay describes the long-standing and often successful effort to insulate decisions on how to allot water among contending users, and how to reduce water pollution along a 5000-mile international border. The effort has been fraught with political and scientific complexity. Yet, after more than 90 years of experience, it provides a model that other nations are beginning to examine as relevant to their own efforts to find solutions.     

Binding the Generations: Household Formation Patterns among Vietnamese Refugees1

Much of the analysis of refugee and immigrant adaptation has stressed the interaction of prior experience with the requirements of life in a new country. For refugees, that interaction has often been jarring because of the after‐effects of their flight and their relative inability to prepare for a new life in a new country. Yet refugees have often done rather well in economic terms in that new country. The reasons for that relative success have been phrased in cultural terms (e.g., the predisposition toward education) and in general socioeconomic terms (e.g., refugees as educated and skilled). This article examines a set of factors that lie between these customary cultural and socioeconomic categories. Specifically, the paper examines key features of household formation among Vietnamese refugees. An examination of historical data from southern Vietnam indicates patterns in household formation that appear durable over time yet are not shared across the breadth of Vietnam and cannot thus be viewed as “cultural” in the usual sense. A comparison of the historical data with recent national survey data on refugees in the United States indicates that these patterns continue among Vietnamese refugees and are ‐ as compared to other refugees ‐ distinctive to them. These patterns of household formation provide Vietnamese refugees with important options in adaptation to a new country.     

困境中的执著与前行——转型时期俄罗斯哲学研究现状综述

解体之后的哲学在俄罗斯遭到了前所未有的冷落,它既面临着俄罗斯是否还需要哲学的问题,又面临着被终结的可能,但是俄罗斯哲学以自己一贯的优秀品质在低靡的社会现实中艰难地跋涉,关注着一些积极而有意义的同社会生活密切相关的问题。暂时摆脱意识形态束缚的俄罗斯哲学,更加清醒理智地期待哲学的美好未来。     

加强"两课"建设促进人才发展

文章理论联系实际,比较系统总结了华中农业大学“两课”建设与改革的经验:高度重视,加强领导,整体规划,加大投入;开齐课程,加强建设,精选教材,抓好落实;重视教师队伍建设,不断加强培训提高;深化教学改革,教改成绩突出,教学效果显著。     

贵阳市花溪区花溪镇社区建设调查研究报告

笔者通过对花溪镇第四居委会的社区建设情况的问卷调查 ,了解到该社区居民的需求状况、以及社区服务与管理的现状 ,根据对本次实地调查结果的分析 ,为花溪镇政府的城市社区建设方案提出了一些切实可行的建议。笔者认为花溪镇政府在制定社会建设总体目标时应以花溪旅游目的地为特征 ,以居民认同感和归属感为纽带 ,以社区党建为核心 ,以居委会为依托 ,以社区成员自治为重点 ,以强化社区动能 ,提高社区居民生活质量为目的。在加强社区组织的建设和管理 ,培养两支社区服务队伍和作好广泛社区建设宣传动员等工作的基础上 ,把花溪建设成为现代旅游目的地社区     

洛克论宗教宽容

洛克的《论宗教宽容》,是现代西方处理宗教冲突的基本理论依据。但新近发现的文献表明,洛克早年是反对宗教宽容的。本文将洛克对宗教宽容的几次讨论放在十六十七世纪英国宗教冲突的政治背景之下,指出洛克前后期虽然主张不同,但都遵循同样的理论基础,即《第二篇政府短论》中提出的"神法—人法—兄弟法—私人法"的法律结构,只是针对英国现实问题,在这一框架当中适当调整。无论他主张宗教宽容还是不宽容,目的都是为了清除天主教在英国政治中的势力,围绕圣公会建立一个独立的民族国家。他晚年与普洛斯特有过多次争论,但所涉及的并不是原则性的分歧。我们今天思考宗教冲突与宽容问题,应该看到洛克宗教宽容思想的理论基础。     

论苗族刺绣及其传承

苗族刺绣已被列入首批国家级非物质文化遗产，具有鲜明的艺术特色，但由于受传承方式等的影响，苗绣有濒临失传危机。因此，必须采取多种措施，强化苗绣的保护传承和开发利用。