比较政治

AJPS — 2026-06-27 Original Getting on the grid: A field experiment on bottom‐up political pressure and access to essential public services

CQ — pp. 1-17 2026-06-25 Original How Public Opinion Monitoring Services Are Reshaping Chinese Media Haiyan Wang, Chunyan Huang, Liangen Yin Abstract Abstract Faced with the pressures of digital transformation, media organizations in China are undergoing a “think-tank turn,” in which Public Opinion Monitoring Services (POMS) are playing an integral role. This study uses POMS as a case to examine the digital transformation of Chinese media organizations and to explore the broader shifts in the political economy of Chinese media in the digital age. Combining in-depth interviews, fieldwork and analysis of secondary documents, this qualitative research study identifies the emergence of consulting as a “third role” of Chinese media, supplementing the traditional roles of news reporting and ideological propagation. This new role caters to the government’s need to govern the online space and manage public opinion through three primary operations: “timely firefighting” against dissident voices, “regular monitoring” of public opinion and the “periodic training” of information officials. In this context, POMS not only enable media organizations to navigate financial challenges but also significantly reshape their role and relationship with the state.

JOP — 2026-06-22 Original Scarcity, Strategy, and the Racialized Politics of Refugee Admission in the Global North Andrew S. Rosenberg Abstract （原文未提供摘要） 中文 稀缺性、战略与全球北方难民接纳的种族化政治 Andrew S. Rosenberg

APSR — pp. 1-22 2026-06-22 Original Portraits of Power: Facial Appearance and the Tacit Domain of Political Selection in China JUNYAN JIANG, SONGPO YANG Abstract As the epitome of modern, rational organizations, bureaucracies are often believed to select candidates based on rules and reason. We argue that intuitive—and even instinctive—assessments of candidates’ external appearances sometimes underpin seemingly rational and calculated decisions. Using a novel, AI-based algorithm that learns and reproduces human assessments of facial appearances at scale, we examine how perceived facial traits influence the careers of over four thousand mid- and senior-level Chinese officials. We find that officials who look more competent, trustworthy, and less aggressive enjoy significantly better promotion prospects and lower purge risk than their peers. Warmth-related traits (e.g., trustworthiness and non-aggressiveness) are especially valued at higher-level promotions and for male candidates. Additional analyses, including conjoint experiments with real officials, demonstrate that appearances’ influence over selection preferences is comparable to performance or political connections. These findings challenge the prevailing meritocratic and relation-based theories of bureaucratic selection and highlight the role of impressions in the workings of government institutions.

GOV 39/3 2026-06-19 Original The Safety Tether: How China Manages Civil Society Through Lawfare Timothy Hildebrandt, Blake Miller Abstract ABSTRACT How do authoritarian regimes benefit from civil society organizations' expertise and capacity while mitigating the potential risks they pose? Using machine learning and interrupted time series modeling of an original custom‐annotated dataset of all historical NGO registrations in China, we find that NGO policy is unevenly implemented. This unevenness, however, is not random. China uses NGO registration policies to facilitate local risk utility tradeoffs in line with threat perceptions and governance needs. This, we argue, is a form of lawfare—using legal means to achieve political or repressive ends. Examining a 2013 policy shift, we find local governments relax sponsorship requirements more in policy domains with low state capacity and less where civil society poses a threat, tailoring national mandates to shape local conditions. We show how lawfare is a complex instrument providing local flexibility in repression and cooptation of civil society, under the guise of routine legal and administrative procedures.

GOV 39/3 2026-06-19 Original How Centralization Benefits Public Provision and Local Political Trust: The Case of Taiwan Matthew Yi‐Hsiu Lee

APSR — pp. 1-24 2026-06-17 Original Vernacular Architecture and Grassroots Urban Politics: How Politics Is Embedded in Residential Design PAIGE BOLLEN, NOAH L. NATHAN Abstract The physical structures in which urban life occurs are an underappreciated determinant of how grassroots urban politics unfolds. In many rapidly growing cities, housing scarcity forces residents into multifamily buildings that create daily exposure to neighbors. We argue that these exposures affect political behavior by shaping residents’ access to political information and capacity for collective action. We focus on the informal, vernacular architecture of West Africa’s dominant urban housing form—the compound house. Compound house residents in urban Ghana participate more in politics than similar residents of other housing types. Leveraging an original survey, including novel measures of tenants’ spatial network centrality within their residential buildings, we suggest that key mechanisms for this relationship emerge from the effects of architectural design on visibility and social ties among co-tenants. Ultimately, built environments must be studied alongside demographic environments to best understand contextual effects on political behavior.

JOP — 2026-06-16 Original The Effects of Religious Communication on Gendered Political Attitudes: Experimental Evidence from Colombia Radha Sarkar, Ana Sofia Elverdin, Sebastian Lucek

CQ — pp. 1-13 2026-06-11 Original The Cultural Root of Gendered Social Network Segregation in China Anning Hu Abstract Abstract This report examines gender differences in trust-based social networks in contemporary China. Using data collected from a uniquely designed survey, respondents rate the trustworthiness of 24 prototypical social roles, enabling our construction of gender-specific networks. Community detection analysis reveals a tripartite structure in men’s networks – older-generation kin, same-generation kin and non-kin – versus a simpler kin/non-kin split among women. Two explanatory pathways are tested: cultural dispositions and life chance access. Matching analyses suggest cultural orientation as the primary driver: when men and women both embrace traditional ideas to the same degree, their network partitioning differences cease to exist. Further analyses suggest that the gender difference in social network partitioning lies in the fact that men are more traditionally oriented than women. This study highlights a gendered cultural configuration in which men appear relatively more “traditional” and women more “modern” as played out through gendered forms of social networking.

PMR — pp. 1-28 2026-06-11 Original Did populist governance change corruption risks during crises across European countries? Giuliana Ioannidis Abstract This study examines whether populist governance shaped public procurement corruption risks during COVID-19 across 23 EU Member States. Despite common emergency rules, corruption risks varied markedly. Using fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis and the Corruption Risk Index, the study finds that populist governance combined with poor integrity norms is sufficient to explain high corruption risk increases. Populist-led governments intensify risks by undermining oversight, exploiting legal loopholes, and legitimizing rule-breaking through anti-elite narratives, particularly where accountability cultures are weak. Anti-corruption strategies must therefore account for crisis conditions and politicized governance, ensuring independent oversight mechanisms remain intact under populist rule.