MODELS, THEORIES, AND THE THEORY OF POLITICAL PARTIES

… a deliberate attempt to transpose into political science the technique of the 'working model', that is, fundamentally, to restore to favour, in a new guise, the methodical use of hypothesis in science.
MAURICE DUVERGER, Political Parties , p. xiv.     

THE CORRUPT STATE: THE CASE OF ROME RECONSIDERED

This mighty state remarkable for the smallness of its origin, as well as for the greatness to which it attained, has by the splendour of its national exertions … or by its internal revolution and reverses of fortune ever been a principal object of interest to all the more enlightened nations of the western world…. To know it well is to know mankind. There is merit in attempting to promote the study of this subject even if the effect should not correspond with the design.     

THE PRIVATISATION OF HUMAN SERVICES IN AUSTRALIA: HAS IT HAPPENED?

Abstract: The privatisation of Australia's public services has been one of the major challenges facing public administration since the early 1980s. Its enthusiastic proponents and their equally fervent opponents have generated considerable controversy. Yet its impact may have been exaggerated. A number of writers have deplored its spread in Australia's human services. Yet their evidence for privatisation does not stand scrutiny. As well, if privatisation had occurred, it would have had an impact upon the flow of public finance and that should be reflected in public finance data. An examination of that data provides almost no support for the claim that the 1980s saw significant privatisation of Australia's human services.
The current debate on privatisation … indicates a movement to return social welfare provision to sectors or systems other than government (ACOSS 1989 p.6).
The re-emergence of the voluntary sector has been facilitated by public policies designed to transfer responsibility for welfare services from the government to the non-government sector (Baldock 1990, p. 109).
with the more systematic transfer of services to the non-governmental sector (Baldock 1990, p. 113).
over the past two decades … a number of functions such as service delivery and management have been transferred from the state in a way that in most terms amounts to privatisation (NCOSS 1989, p.2).
This rebirth of the non-government sector can arguably be seen as a privatisation of the welfare state (NCOSS 1989, p.22).
Human services in New South Wales have been and continue to be the subject of a wide range of reviews intended to produce changes which fit under the general rubric of "privatisation" (Evatt Research Centre 1989, p.208).
The moves towards privatisation, if they are to continue, will have serious long term consequences (Graycar & Jamrozik 1989, p.296).     

东方哲学智慧与辩证法的新规律——谈“分合互动律”

黑格尔的欧式辩证法,侧重"分",即从"一分为二"的角度去说明矛盾存在于事物内部,并且是发展的动力。而中国哲学侧重"合",从"合二为一"的角度说明矛盾的性质及认识的规律。如果把矛盾的"分"与"合"、"一分为二"与"合二为一"结合起来,则可以在矛盾规律的本体论与认识论方面达到更高的境界。这就是"分合互动律"的含义。     

地方政府绩效评估的悖论及其消解

中国在推进地方政府绩效评估中遇到的悖论是:绩效评估的科学理念与传统政绩观的悖论、绩效评估的信度要求与信息不对称的悖论、绩效评估的多元主体与单一治理主体的悖论、绩效评估的绩效测量与政府产出特殊性的悖论。其主要原因在于:地方政府绩效评估价值缺失、地方政府绩效评估测量工具选择单一、地方政府职能转变滞后。消解悖论的主要路径在于:建立以科学发展观为核心的地方政府绩效评估价值体系、形成具有中国特色的地方政府绩效评估体系。     

论文化矛盾与社会稳定的关系

文化矛盾是指社会思想文化领域内和人们的精神世界中的矛盾和冲突,它本质上是社会物质利益矛盾的反映,但又具有自身的相对独立性,通常表现为人们的信仰、思维、观念、意识、心理、情感等方面的一系列矛盾和冲突。文化矛盾和文化冲突是影响社会稳定的一个特殊而关键的因素,是引起社会动荡的内在诱因。全球化进程中的文化冲突和我国社会转型时期的文化矛盾,已对我国社会稳定和国家安全构成不容忽视的影响。化解文化矛盾,必须提高领导和工作艺术,正确处理实践运作中的一些重大关系。     

读《20年危机(1919—1939)国际关系研究导论》——思和谐世界观

理想主义和现实主义作为国际政治理论中两大学派观点迥异,争论不休。本文首先考查了国际政治理论争论中的一个基本问题:理想与现实的矛盾。以此为基础,阐述了和谐世界观超越西方国际政治理论的特质。最后,概括出本文的结论:和谐世界观不仅调和了国际政治理论的冲突,而且超越了理想主义与现实主义的狭隘,为解决国际争端与冲突,维护国际和平提供了可能。     

BENCHMARKING OR THE SEARCH FOR INDUSTRY BEST-PRACTICE: A SURVEY OF THE WESTERN AUSTRALIAN PUBLIC SECTOR

Abstract: "The continuous process of measuring products, services, and practices against the toughest competitors or those companies recognised as industry leaders. (That is)… the search for industry best practices that will lead to superior performance" (Camp 1989. p. 10).
"Benchmarking" or the "Search for Industry Best Practices" has been accepted as a useful strategic tool. The move into the public administration arena is more recent. The underlying research in both cases is limited. The paper considers the advantage of benchmarking over business intelligence systems. Also, the government's stance on establishing quality programs and the relationships to benchmarking are considered.
The paper is based on research conducted in the public sector in Westem Australia to determine the extent to which benchmarking is used. The results indicate that whilst the concept is being embraced, the full range of benefits that could accrue is as yet not being realised. Indicators as to why this is so are outlined.     

Self‐Ownership vs. Divine Ownership: A Lockean Solution to a Liberal Democratic Dilemma

While the role of religion in the public life of contemporary liberal democracies constitutes a significant and ongoing topic of debate in political theory, scholars have thus far stopped short of addressing the root of this contentious issue in the apparent contradiction between self‐ownership and Divine ownership. I argue that a hitherto unnoticed and persuasive means of resolving this contradiction is implicit in the thought of John Locke. In fact, one of the more controversial issues in recent Lockean scholarship concerns the manner in which Locke's assertions of human self‐ownership cohere with his prominent theological commitments. These two sides of Locke's thought may be reconciled, and a potential pathway through the liberal democratic dilemma illumined, by elaborating upon a sophisticated theory of ownership that is implicitly present in Locke's Two Treatises of Government and his An Essay Concerning Human Understanding.     

"两个转换"是高校思想政治课教学的基本矛盾

“教材体系”与“教学体系”、“教学体系”与“学生能力——素质体系”之间的矛盾是高校思想政治理论课教学的基本矛盾。要解决这一基本矛盾，提高高校思想政治课教师的教学能力与教学效果，就需要创新教学体系，实现从“教材体系”向“教学体系”的转换以及从“教学体系”向“学生能力——素质体系”的转换，即实现“两个转换”。     

从马克思的市民社会观到当代社会观——市民社会理论视域下的中国"社会建设"

西方的市民社会理论经历了三个发展阶段，首先是市民社会与野蛮社会的分离，其次是市民社会与政治国家的分离，最后是市民社会与经济社会的分离。马克思的市民社会观处于第二个阶段，他剖析了现代市民社会的产生和内在矛盾，揭示了市民社会的本质和发展方向。中国的“社会”正处于西方市民社会发展的第二阶段。而其历史背景却处于西方第二和第三阶段交错的现代性背景中。根据历史的经验与中国的现实，中国目前的社会建设首先要健全市场经济体制，推进政治体制改革；其次要加强以改善民生为主的社会建设，培育公民社会；最后要促进社会与国家的良性互动，克服市民社会的内在矛盾。     

矛盾分析法在大学生思想政治教育中的具体运用

矛盾分析法是大学生思想政治教育的根本方法。大学生思想政治教育过程是一个充满矛盾并不断化解矛盾的过程,对大学生思想政治教育过程中的矛盾,我们要坚持具体问题具体分析,善于抓主要矛盾和矛盾的主要方面,积极促使矛盾转化。     

社会主义文化管理人才素质论要

社会主义文化管理人才是复合型人才,必须具备政治素质、道德素质、文化素质、市场素质、教育素质、心理素质和创新素质等,并能将这些素质有机结合起来形成实际管理能力。其中,社会主义文化高级管理人才还应具备正确处理文化价值观的一元性与多元性、文化表现形式的高雅性与通俗性、文化产品的社会效益与经济效益等矛盾关系的高水平素质。     

State of Change: Global Turmoil and Government Reinvention

The current global credit crisis is unfolding in a context in which new dynamics in the engagement of the public sector and the market are taking shape. This article explores some of these dynamics, especially the reemergence of (re)nationalization initiatives, as well as the growing use of private methodologies for asset management on the part of some governments, which behave as both financial market players and domestic economic stabilizers. Hence, the article discusses the return of the state as a traditional "public leviathan" involved in financial regulation, as well as the work of sovereign wealth funds. The author concludes that at the heart of capitalism's endurance lies this diversity of public responses, which ultimately reveal governments' adaptable agendas and heterogeneous tasks.

I think that capitalism, wisely managed, can probably be made more efficient for attaining economic ends than any alternative system yet in sight, but that in itself it is in many ways extremely objectionable. Our problem is to work out a social organisation which shall be as efficient as possible without offending our notions of a satisfactory way of life.
—John Maynard Keynes, The End of Laissez-Faire , 1926
The all-powerful market which is always right is finished.…We have to have a new balance between the state and the market.
—French president Nicolas Sarkozy, 2008

     

Political Ontology and Institutional Design in Montesquieu and Rousseau

Historians of political thought have been puzzled by Montesquieu's simultaneous appeals to the diversity of human practices and eternal norms of justice. Isaiah Berlin famously referred to this as an impassable “contradiction” burdening his work. Careful examination of Rousseau's appropriations from and developments on Montesquieu, however, reveal that these observations are not merely reconcilable—they provide a fruitful way to approach legislation and constitution drafting. This is accomplished by understanding his employment of the principle of transcendent constrained indeterminacy.     

Political Ambivalence as Praxis: The Limits of Consensus in Habermas's Theory of the Public Sphere

This paper argues that ambivalence can serve as a proxy for consensus-based debates in public discourse as it allows for individuals to maintain flexible and analytic perspectives on matters that otherwise appear contradictory. In particular, an affirmative understanding of ambivalence will be presented to supplement the highly influential Habermasian approach by drawing from sociological theories of ambivalence found in the work of Simmel, Bauman and Ko?akowski. While the theme of ambivalence is not completely absent from Habermas’s work on the public sphere, it is typically described as a structural consequence of contradiction rather than a form of action that is capable of working with and around inconsistencies in ethics, knowledge and social values. This allows for participation to be sustained through contradiction, rather than being withdrawn in frustration, while also encouraging open-minded judgements capable of avoiding forms of fanaticism.     

The Socio-Economic Background of the Gwangju Uprising

The Gwangju Uprising is fully explained when it is viewed not as a single event for 10 days but as the eruption of socio-economic contradictions of South Korean society in the late 1970s. Located between the Bak Jeong-hee dictatorship and the June Breakthrough of the working class in 1987, it was an explosion of the confrontation between monopoly capitalists and the unruling classes that had been alienated in the process of industrialization in the 1960s to 1970s. This contradiction appeared as the confrontation of troops commanded by the new military coup leaders versus Gwangju citizens demanding democratization.     

农地确权:化解人地矛盾的根本途径——兼谈我国农地产权制度改革的路径选择

通过农地确权化解人地矛盾以保证国家稳定,谋取社会发展,促进民生幸福,古今中外的实践验证或体现了这一规律性的认识。据此,我们提出了我国今后农地产权制度改革的路径:界定农地归村民小组集体所有;继续将土地权利"排他性"地界定给农户;鼓励农地权能分离组合,进行规模化经营;试探实行股权农地+保障农地的产权改革。     

URBAN GOVERNMENT, URBAN POLITICS AND THE FABRICATION OF URBAN ISSUES: THE IMPOSSIBILITY OF URBAN POLICY

An "urban" definition of public policy problems raises great difficulties for the policy maker. If we emphasize implementation as a primary factor in evaluating public policy, we have good grounds for questioning the wisdom of an urban perspective. But urban questions have been and still are major areas of concern in public policy formulation. The ALP federal platform contains a long section on urban policies, reiterating what the Department of Urban and Regional Development (DURD) was striving to achieve under the Whitlam Government. At state level, urban problems have been tackled with varying degrees of success and seriousness, although at this level overall urban perspectives tend to be ignored, for reasons we shall indicate. However urban planning authorities have been tried in most capital cities, and metropolitan plans have been drawn up for all of them. They have concentrated mainly on land use and urban form. By the 1970s a common criticism of such planning was that it left aside many social and economic aspects of urban growth. For example, one (admittedly partisan) government source—the N.S.W. Department of Decentralization and Development—noted "a massive and increasing trend towards socio-economic segregation":
…the remoteness of central city facilities …the cost of commuter transport and the inadequacy of community facilities in low-income outer suburbs are operating to perpetuate economic under-privilege.