Voting in China’s grassroots elections is more of a ritual than a right. For most citizens especially in the urban areas, the results of the local elections have little effect on their lives. Indeed, ...despite the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) campaigns to get the vote out in local elections, voter turnout is relatively low especially among younger voters. Beyond local political campaigns to remind citizens of their duty to vote is the community pressure and engagement. How does community interaction influence voter turnout in authoritarian grassroots elections? That is, are more socially engaged citizens more likely to vote in ritual elections? Moreover, does community engagement mitigate the age gap in voter turnout in grassroots elections in China? Scant literature exits on the relationship between community interaction and ritual voting in authoritarian regimes. Using the 2013 Chinese General Social Survey, this paper finds that community interaction plays a significant role in voter turnout. In addition, young people, who interact with neighbors, are just as likely to vote as the more socially connected older residents. The results have important implications for political behavior as well as for the grassroots elections in China.
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DOBA, EMUNI, FIS, FZAB, GEOZS, GIS, IJS, IMTLJ, IZUM, KILJ, KISLJ, MFDPS, NLZOH, NUK, ODKLJ, OILJ, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, SBMB, SBNM, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK, VKSCE, ZAGLJ
The global phase 3 IMpower010 study evaluated adjuvant atezolizumab versus best supportive care (BSC) following platinum‐based chemotherapy in patients with resected stage IB–IIIA non‐small cell lung ...cancer (NSCLC). Here, we report a subgroup analysis in patients enrolled in Japan. Eligible patients had complete resection of histologically or cytologically confirmed stage IB (tumors ≥4 cm)–IIIA NSCLC. Upon completing 1–4 cycles of adjuvant cisplatin‐based chemotherapy, patients were randomized 1:1 to receive atezolizumab (fixed dose of 1200 mg every 21 days; 16 cycles or 1 year) or BSC. The primary endpoint of the global IMpower010 study was investigator‐assessed disease‐free survival, tested hierarchically first in patients with stage II–IIIA NSCLC whose tumors expressed programmed death‐ligand 1 (PD‐L1) on ≥1% of tumor cells, then in all randomized patients with stage II–IIIA NSCLC, and finally in the intention‐to‐treat (ITT) population (stage IB–IIIA NSCLC). Safety was evaluated in all patients who received atezolizumab or BSC. The study comprised 149 enrolled patients in three populations: ITT (n = 117; atezolizumab, n = 59; BSC, n = 58), all‐randomized stage II–IIIA (n = 113; atezolizumab, n = 56; BSC, n = 57), and PD‐L1 tumor cells ≥1% stage II–IIIA (n = 74; atezolizumab, n = 41; BSC, n = 33). At the data cutoff date (January 21, 2021), a trend toward disease‐free survival improvement with atezolizumab vs BSC was observed in the PD‐L1 tumor cells ≥1% stage II–IIIA (unstratified hazard ratio HR, 0.52; 95% confidence interval CI, 0.25–1.08), all‐randomized stage II–IIIA (unstratified HR, 0.62; 95% CI, 0.35–1.11), and ITT (unstratified HR, 0.61; 95% CI, 0.34–1.10) populations. Atezolizumab‐related grade 3/4 adverse events occurred in 16% of patients; no treatment‐related grade 5 events occurred. Adjuvant atezolizumab showed disease‐free survival improvement and a tolerable toxicity profile in Japanese patients in IMpower010, consistent with the global study results.
This manuscript reports a subgroup analysis of Japanese patients in the global phase 3 IMpower010 study evaluating adjuvant atezolizumab vs best supportive care (BSC) following platinum‐based chemotherapy in resected stage IB‐IIIA non‐small cell lung cancer. Disease‐free survival (DFS) improvement with atezolizumab versus BSC was observed in the Japanese stage II‐IIIA population with PD‐L1 expression on ≥1% of tumor cells; in the Japanese all‐randomized stage II‐IIIA and ITT (stage IB‐IIIA) populations, unstratified DFS hazard ratios favored atezolizumab vs BSC. Adjuvant atezolizumab had a tolerable toxicity profile in Japanese patients in IMpower010, consistent with the global study results.
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BFBNIB, FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
Authoritarian leaders often claim that they promote democratic institutions such as elections and democratic values. In China, the central propaganda often promotes the right and duty of citizens to ...vote in local elections as well as the importance of citizens’ input into the policy making process. However, there is often a gap between government rhetoric and reality. In this article, we use the China General Social Survey (CGSS) 2013 to evaluate the determinants of voting in local elections and democratic values (attitudes) in rural and urban China. The results show that respondents with higher education tend to have lower levels of democratic values and participate less in local elections, but respondents with only compulsory education are more likely to display democratic orientations and vote. This suggests the relative success as well as the limits of authoritarian democratic propaganda.
Labour policies have large impacts on gender equality in the workplace. While political parties play critical roles in policy making, it remains unclear if party-level women’s representation impacts ...labour policies. Therefore, this study examines the relationship between women’s representation in intra-party leadership and party policy positions on gender equality in employment. The analyses of 1,955 political parties in 169 countries from 1970 to 2019 find that a higher proportion of women in intra-party leadership results in the party taking stances more likely to favor gender equality in employment. Even among the parties we would expect to be the least women-friendly, a greater representation of women in intra-party leadership has positive influence. More women in leadership means stronger party support for gender equality regardless of ideological party placement. Furthermore, the findings also suggest that women party leaders have greater impacts on labour policies when a party leadership has greater decision-making power.
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NUK, OILJ, SAZU, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
When there are obstacles to access public services, citizens tend to resort to social connections to get things done. While the existing studies suggest that people rely on connections to compensate ...for ineffective formal institutions, it remains unclear if people rely less on social connections when the formal institutions are more effective. The use of connections entails unequal public service access between those with and without connections. Social connections may only fill in the gaps when the formal institutions are ineffective lacking adequate information and service provision. Effective formal institutions may mitigate the reliance on social connections to access public services. Therefore, this study examines the influence of formal institutional capacities on the use of social connections in the case of health service access in China. Using the China Family Panel Studies 2010 data and China Health Statistical Yearbook 2010 data, this study finds that greater health institutional capacities indeed mitigate the use of personal connections (guanxi) to access health services. The statistical analyses of the data suggest that there is less use of personal connections (guanxi) to see a doctor in provinces with greater health institutional capacities. The analyses of the Chinese General Social Survey 2010 data also find that the provincial health institutional capacities have a positive influence on perceived healthcare access. These results suggest that in provinces with greater health institutional capacities, people perceive that they can more easily access healthcare services, and they are less likely to rely on personal connections to access health services. Further, the qualitative analyses of the interview data add a more nuanced understanding to the roles of social connections and institutions, and suggest that social connections stay relevant and persist to play important roles even when the institutional capacities are greater. The interviews with women about their prenatal care service access in an urban city in China indicate that most interviewees had access to standardized care services regardless of their use of social connections. Still, there were two institutional gaps: long wait time and short doctor-patient interaction time. These gaps stem from overcrowding hospitals, and made the access to services and information more difficult. Under this context, many interviewees used social connections with friends and colleagues to obtain information about pregnancy and prenatal exams, compensating for the lack of information provided by the doctors. The use of online networks was also popular among them to fill in the informational gap. Interpersonal connections (guanxi) can also facilitate prenatal care service access by making it easier to see a doctor in face of the long wait time and overcrowding hospitals. These findings suggest that social connections play different roles based on particular institutional gaps they fill in. No institutions are fully efficient in providing perfect information and services. While the reliance on or substitutive effect of connections can become mitigated when the formal institutions are more effective, social connections continue to play different roles under different institutional contexts. Social connections and formal institutions interact and shape people’s behaviors and access to public services. This study offers implications for the studies on social connections and governance as well as public service institutional developments in other countries, ongoing health system reforms in China, and for the authoritarian resilience that stems from the government’s public service provision.
Social media presents a contradictory relationship with democracy. Once, it was regarded as a tool for democracy, providing alternative sources of information and coordinating social movements for ...democratization. Later it also became a tool for authoritarian regimes to control information and spread propaganda to stay in power. This mixed perception suggests that both democratic and authoritarian forces can use social media to influence public opinion. This presents a puzzle to the relationship between social media use and democratic understanding. Does social media promote or erode understanding of democracy? This study argues that the effect of social media use on understanding of democracy depends on higher education. The relationship also differs between democracies and non-democracies. Using the newest wave of the World Values Survey (wave 7, 2017-2020), this study analyses the influence of social media use on understanding of democracy in non-democracies and democracies. The findings suggest that social media use positively affects understanding of democracy in democratic countries. However, the democratic effect of social media is nullified in non-democracy unless it interacts with higher education. The findings offer implications for the relationship between social media, higher education, and understanding of democracy.
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BFBNIB, NUK, PILJ, SAZU, UL, UM, UPUK
While western media reports describe China’s increasing economic and political influence as “China threat” that can undermine U.S. influence and affect the existing international hegemonic order, ...public opinion poll data shows that Africans tend to have more favorable views of China. Previous literature suggests that China’s soft power, such as scholarships, Confucius Institute, and iconic social infrastructure buildings, may be working to produce positive perceptions of China in African nations. However, few studies examine the causal link between China’s soft power investments and public perceptions of China (i.e. the effectiveness of China’s soft power projection). Numerous factors influence perceptions toward China including China’s hard economic investment such as industrial infrastructure projects as well as trade. Thus this study addresses the following question: Has China’s soft power investments generated positive perceptions of China among the populations in African nations? This question is examined within a framework of direct and indirect soft power. The goal of this study is to disentangle the influence of China’s hard and soft power investment on African perceptions of China as well as the distinction between direct and indirect soft power. The findings reveal that China’s soft power investments are not as effective as other studies suggest. Instead, this study suggests that China’s image in African nations is most strongly influenced by the domestic media in each country and whether they portray China in a positive or negative manner.
The radical cation of octaisopropylcyclotetragermane, (
iPr
2Ge)
4, generated by the pulse radiolysis technique showed two transient absorption bands at 305 and 435 nm. These transient peaks were ...quenched with diphenylamine and triphenylamine as radical cation scavengers.
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IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK
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