A Democracy That Works Western democracies have failed to address people’s livelihood concerns while the Chinese practice has made notable achievements

More than 200 scholars,researchers,former government o!cials and party leaders from over 50 countries gathered in the sprawling building of the Chinese Academy of History in Beijing on 20 March for the third International Forum on Democracy:The Shared Human Values.The forum debated the concept of democracy,its trajectories and prospects,and,more importantly,how it can be made to work and deliver tangible results for di"erent countries.

Updating Western Democracies for the 21st Century:A Move for Replacing a Zero-Sum System by a Win-Win One

The surrounding world is changing.Uncertainty is the only certain thing projected.The Western Civilization is moving from the 20th century orderly and stable Modernity to the chaotic and unstable reality of the 21st century.Technology is galloping fast and high,society moves from poverty to prosperity,from scarcity to affluent and democracy celebrates it becoming the dominant form of government.However,while everything around is shaking,democracy,in principle,remained stable and unchanged,similar to its theoretical model.Many youngsters dislike such an old-fashioned system.It is pronounced by decreasing participation in general election,by increasing the importance and effects of the social networks and by the growing number of varieties of minority groups.The author suggests several amendments and for updating democracy and make it suitable for the Digital Era’s requirements.Among the proposed adjustments are:Introducing and legitimizing Referendums,expanding E-government activities and creating a government based on a Grand-Coalition,composed of the two largest parties,instead of the coalition-opposition traditional set up.For by-passing bureaucracy,a permanent channel of exceptional committees should be established.Bureaucracy must be revitalized to be more human-oriented and customer-friendly.The article ends with proposing a practical course for implementation.

Shepherding Public Discourse Practices： Homiletic Form Aligned to the Logic Operative in Racial Rhetoric and Public Theological Discourse for Secular Liberal Democracies

Given that preaching is the primary mode of public theological discourse for most Christian ministers, an intellectual virtue of verbal restraint is required when practicing public theology and it is wise to address the ways that homilies can shepherd public discourse practices. A theology of rhetoric includes the homilist＇s moral purpose. Homilies either enhance public discourse or pervert it. This essay sketches a pattern of sermon movement that respects the logic operative in public theology, given the social context of America. Homilies can help cultivate the pastoral care of public rhetoric by modeling discourse that nurtures the politics of accountability. While many call for a public ethos where divergent moral voices engage each other in highly contested arenas, a precondition to practicing effective public theology requires that one exercises discourse in a way that respects the social limits on the free exercise of religion. It is important that a public theology of rhetoric clarifies the original social agreement for acceptable religious discourse in the public arena. Homiletics, as a dimension of practical theology, can teach preachers methods of pastoral care for public discourse. The social agreement in liberal democracies to contain the combative nature of religious discourse assumes a logic that is circumscribed by commitments to （1） religious pluralism, （2） theological agnosticism, and （3） epistemological pragmatism. Here we propose that a sermon＇s form, which implicitly touches upon these commitments, can tap into the basic modes of persuasion in secular liberal societies. This respects the moral purposes previously agreed upon and expected of partisans during highly contestable times. This calls for incarnational humility on the part of the Christian public theologian and it guides her/his practice.

Projecting Wintertime Newly Formed Arctic Sea Ice through Weighting CMIP6 Model Performance and Independence

Precipitous Arctic sea-ice decline and the corresponding increase in Arctic open-water areas in summer months give more space for sea-ice growth in the subsequent cold seasons. Compared to the decline of the entire Arctic multiyear sea ice,changes in newly formed sea ice indicate more thermodynamic and dynamic information on Arctic atmosphere–ocean–ice interaction and northern mid–high latitude atmospheric teleconnections. Here, we use a large multimodel ensemble from phase 6 of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project(CMIP6) to investigate future changes in wintertime newly formed Arctic sea ice. The commonly used model-democracy approach that gives equal weight to each model essentially assumes that all models are independent and equally plausible, which contradicts with the fact that there are large interdependencies in the ensemble and discrepancies in models' performances in reproducing observations. Therefore, instead of using the arithmetic mean of well-performing models or all available models for projections like in previous studies, we employ a newly developed model weighting scheme that weights all models in the ensemble with consideration of their performance and independence to provide more reliable projections. Model democracy leads to evident bias and large intermodel spread in CMIP6 projections of newly formed Arctic sea ice. However, we show that both the bias and the intermodel spread can be effectively reduced by the weighting scheme. Projections from the weighted models indicate that wintertime newly formed Arctic sea ice is likely to increase dramatically until the middle of this century regardless of the emissions scenario.Thereafter, it may decrease(or remain stable) if the Arctic warming crosses a threshold(or is extensively constrained).

Health Democracy and Storytelling:A Synthesis of Knowledge

Aims:Health democracy requires tools and methodologies to involve non-scientific actors in the development and implementation of health policies.Storytelling could be one of the tools to make health democracy effective.Our aim is to describe how storytelling is used in relation to health democracy,the aims of its use,the methodology adopted and the results obtained.Procedure:We conducted a narrative review of the literature.Our search equation was composed by the keyword“narration”and its variations“récit de vie”,“histoire de vie”and“medécine narrative”and by the keyword“démocratie en santé”/“démocratie sanitaire”.Results:We obtained 135 results and included six articles,published between 2015 and 2022.The interest of storytelling in a health democracy approach concerns six main themes:a)the plurality of experiences;b)empowerment;c)the recognition of different types of knowledge;d)the involvement of all care actors in care;storytelling as a lever for change;e)in the care pathway;f)in health policies.Conclusion:The limited number of articles included in this literature review raises questions about the diffusion of the concept of health democracy associated with that of storytelling.Storytelling can contribute to the dissemination and effectiveness of health democracy:it is a complementary tool to quantitative tools for understanding the experiences of users of the health care system,and its use is particularly relevant to chronic diseases such as cancer.

Pour un accompagnement des familles endeuillées avec un enfant en basâge Supporting Bereaved Families with Young Children

Objective:The violent death of a young parent from cancer has a profound effect on both spouse and children.The family must adapt to the absence of the bereaved and reorganize to raise the children as best they can.Very young children are particularly vulnerable,as they are generally unable to express their suffering.To give them a voice,we have designed an innovative system,The Little Match Girl,as part of a health democracy approach.Methods:We assessed the effects of their participation in the group for a population of eight children and their parents.The six parents assessed their child(ren)’s emotion regulation before and after therapy using the ERC-vf scale.The FACES IV enabled us to assess the cohesion and adaptability of each family.Results:All eight children showed improved emotion regulation.The program promotes family resilience.However,difficulties persist in rigid or disengaged families.Conclusion:We hope that other cancer centers will follow our model to give a place to very young children dealing with the death of a parent from cancer,and to encourage family empowerment.

Graduation of Patients at the University:An Innovative Program to Train Patients as Care Partners in Oncology

This article presents the history and challenges of patient graduation,positioning it as a means of supporting patient engagement and user involvement in the healthcare system.A set of laws related to patient rights and healthcare quality allows for the integration of patients into the healthcare system,but they face the unpreparedness of institutions in this new field of practices.Patient graduation requires transformations in the modes of reception and financing of universities,as well as in the pedagogical methods that need to be tailored to the reception and training of individuals in vulnerable situations.The article provides a detailed description of the example,history,and effects of the creation of the first open diploma in oncology for patient partners in France and concludes by emphasizing the need for concrete mechanisms for social recognition of user engagement in the healthcare system.

Patients Involved in Funding Research.A Look Back at the Unique Experience of the ECLAIR Working Group of Canceropole CLARA

This article aims to share an innovative experience of organizing and funding research involving those most directly affected:patients.The“ECLAIR”working group of the Canceropole Lyon Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes(CLARA)was created at the end of 2020 with the goal of contributing to the development of a call for projects on the patient experience in oncology,which was launched in January 2021.Initially composed of 8 members,including 7 patients,coordinated by a project manager from CLARA,the ECLAIR working group actively participated in drafting the specifications of the call for projects,developing the eligibility criteria for applications,revising the evaluation and selection criteria for projects,and monitoring the selected projects.This experience was repeated twice.With significant freedom of action,the working group made two decisions that strongly demonstrate the commitment to supporting research partnerships and the active involvement of those affected:firstly,by making partnership a mandatory requirement for the eligibility of applications,and secondly,by conducting the selection of projects themselves,after an independent scientific evaluation phase.Seeking to shed light on the“black box”of partnership,the article also presents the concrete modalities of interaction among the working group members,the adjustments made between different editions of the call for projects,and the relationships maintained with CLARA.

Inherent Features and Future Practice of Whole-Process People's Democracy from a Comparative Perspective

Democracy is a common value pursued by human society and is often viewed as an important symbol of the development level of a political civilization. However, after a review of the histories of different countries around the world。

Western Democracy:A Democracy in Distress

Western experts and scholars share their opinions about Western democracy and Chinese democracy at the Second International Forum on Democracy:The Shared Human Values.THE Summit for Democracy 2023 held on March 28 in the U.S.is the host country’s latest try to accuse other countries of being authoritarian,based on its own standard and the hegemonistic mindset.Is such an accusation well-grounded?Participants of the Second International Forum on Democracy,which concluded days earlier on March 23 in Beijing,beg to differ,including voices from some Western countries.

The Core of the Chinese Democracy Is to Respect and Protect Human Rights——A Summary of the Academic Seminar on Chinese Democracy and Human Rights Protection

On March 26,2023,a Seminar on Chinese Democracy and Human Rights Protection was held,jointly organized by the National Human Rights Education and Training Base and the Human Rights Research Center of Central South University under the guidance of the Chinese Society for Human Rights Studies.The event adopted a combination of online and offline channels.Over 30 experts and scholars from universities,research institutions,and practical departments across the country participated in extensive discussions on“Theoretical and Practical Aspects of Chinese Democracy and Protection of Human Rights.”The seminar aimed to focused on the essence,characteristics,advantages,and human rights implications of Chinese democracy and interpreted the concept of Chinese democracy and the protection of human rights through academic and theoretical methods.

An Analysis of the Current State of Civil Society Participation in Ensuring the National Security of Mongolia

In this article, the researchers tried to evaluate the contribution of civil society to Mongolian democracy and the problems faced by civil society. In addition, the article aimed to determine the unique national criteria of Mongolian democracy and the need to create an organization to monitor the process of democracy. The process of identifying important documents and ideals for the development of Mongolian civil society today is still in its early stages. It can be said that the approval of the democratic constitution and the first free and fair parliamentary elections as a country that has newly and restored democracy became another impetus for the creation of a new type of citizen organization. It is characterized by trying to study the changes that have occurred since this historical period at the intersection of political science and security studies. One of the most important issues today is to find out how many non-governmental and civil society organizations exist in Mongolia today, which are Western-oriented, focused on specific issues, have their own position and opinion, are specialized, and are capable of influencing government policy. On the other hand, in this article, we emphasize whether non-governmental and civil society organizations, which aim to hold the government accountable, and carry out influence and control activities, are fully developed.

Human Rights in China:Exploration and Development of Whole-process People’s Democracy

Whole-process people’s democracy represents a new exploration of socialism with Chinese characteristics for a new era as well as a novel and important method for protecting the human rights of the Chinese people.It is conducive to solving a multitude of problems hindering the protection of civil rights and political rights.The greatest highlight of whole-process people’s democracy is that the people are the masters of their own country and exercise the power to govern the state through“extensive participation and consultation.”China’s experience and approaches in advancing whole-process people’s democracy provide a reference for other countries.

Reassessing Human Rights VS Democracy of the Public:A Necessary Challenge?

Today,we are witnessing a profound transformation of the dominant model of representative democracy which is increasingly giving way to a new form of democracy of the public,as Bernard Manin defined it.In a democracy of the public,parties tend to personalise themselves,becoming machines serving one particular person,who embodies public feelings.Participation and social organization within the territory are progressively replaced by a widespread communication and social media framework where the citizens become just passive spectators.To this,we must add that the spectacularisation of the current democratic systems,adopted to satisfy the audience,leads to negative effects on the protection of fundamental rights.This article will analyse the aspects that characterise the democracies of the public,and their social and legal effects on the consideration of human rights.The article goes further without being limited to this issue.In fact,it wants to emphasise the way human rights are crucial to bolstering democracies,rather than merely the other way around.Doctrines and politics have frequently emphasised the need for democracy,and,more specifically,the export of democracies to advance human rights.Contrarily,a shift in perspective is required in order to preserve liberal democracies.

民粹主义是西方民主的伴生物——对欧洲民粹主义与民主关系的辨析

民粹主义与民主的关系这一问题既涉及对民粹主义发展的社会政治动因的理解,也涉及了对欧洲传统民主政治运行机制及其发展方向的理解。在此问题上,主流政党、媒体以及学术界的立场不尽相同。主流社会在诉诸民主捍卫欧洲主流价值而抵制民粹主义的同时,却忽视了对既有的民主制度问题的反思。

五四民主观的前世今生

民主作为一个政治与思想系统的概念发源于西方,其在近代被引入中国之时,人们首先关注的是这一概念所指称的民主制度及这种制度的具体机构--议会。之后才逐步开始介绍和关注这一概念所包含的观念,如直接民主观、间接民主观。其间,改良派的梁启超和革命派的孙中山,为民主观念的传播与建构作出了最重要的贡献。五四时期,在国内爱国主义运动和国际上十月革命的胜利以及第一次世界大战结束的时代背景下,各种民主观念开始出现,其中,陈独秀与李大钊的革命民主主义观念是这一时期主导性的民主观念,这种民主观念也成为了新民主主义革命展开之初的第一个理论成果。同时,也出现了以孙中山为代表的"民本主义的民主观"和以胡适为代表的"自由主义民主"观,但后两种民主观由于其学理问题或不符合中国当时的国情而昙花一现。

“清理”自由主义——读谢尔登·沃林的《政治与构想》

谢尔登·沃林在《政治与构想》中,找寻到一个有别于自由主义的新的政治思想传统,即先于自由主义的民主激进主义。沃林认为,自由主义者们混淆了这两个不同的政治思想传统,并试图将民主从自由主义那里分离出来;而分离的关键便是对后者进行"清理"。通过批评自由主义将哲学局限在"自然状态",揭露其将政治社会的延续与经济财产建立永久联系的企图,揭示出自由主义是一种产生于恐惧,滋养于不抱幻想的"神经质"哲学,沃林完成了对自由主义的"清理"。尔后,沃林提出"fugitive democracy"概念,并最终将民主与自由主义分离开来。

Why Democracy is Its Own Worst Enemy？

The challenges that lay ahead for democracy are so serious that few political scientists have the courage to risk theirreputation and pin down with relative accuracy what will happen on a 5/10/15 year basis. As a matter of fact, whenthe term ＂democracy＂ and ＂enemy＂ is used in the same sentence there＇s a natural and immediate tendency---forthose who are lucky enough to live in electoral democracies---to look over the fence and not to our own backyard.That is to say, democracy＇s enemies, our enemies, are some sort of mythological creatures that live far away fi＇omour perfect democratic bubble. This reasoning can be in part seen in the on-going debate about democracy＇sstruggle against its external enemies. During the Cold War period democracy was at ＂war＂ with communism and,before that, with national-socialism and fascism. Currently, democracy faces new enemies： global authoritarianism,international terrorism, religious extremism, and Islamic fundamentalism. This thoughtfulness is only partly true.At least it＇s not the only reason why we are debating this matter today. According to this paper, and that＇s preciselypart of the problem, democracy is to some extent its own worst enemy. Why？ Because most of the issues that we＇redebating today are the result of a certain apathy and disentanglement of liberal democracies around the world in thelast decade.

Analysis on Morality of the Protagonist of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is honored as the most typical novel of American literature after the Civil War. This story unveils the hypocrisy of religion and scoffs at the conventional social principle. Affected by the deep-rooted racial discrimination, Huck pays little respect to the black slaves as other white people do at first. After embarking on the raft with Jim together, he has got the chance to know more about what the black slave truly is. He never stops struggling inside, and eventually Jim's kindness and loyalty helps Huck to waken humanity in his heart and defeat his moral conflict. Therefore through the deepened analysis of the plot and the author, the reasons for the change of Huck's morality can boil down to social conventions, Huck's complicated character, and moreover the democratic ideal of Twain.

Elections in the United States

惊奇常常是在箱子里出现:包在彩色包装纸里面的生日礼物,朋友寄来牛皮纸包的包裹。不论是怎样的箱子,人们都喜欢打开来看看里面是什么。在美国以及其它许多国家,有一个特殊的箱子关系着未来。