Institutions and Economic Performance: The Use and Abuse of Culture in New Institutional Economics

Important research programs within New Institutional Economics advance culturalist arguments to explain failures of economic development. Focusing on the work of Douglass C. North and Avner Greif, this article argues that such arguments rely on an essentialist conception of culture that is both historically inaccurate and analytically misleading. Greif’s work in particular rests on a selective use of empirical data that ultimately distorts the deductive models that are at the core of his work. As a result, both scholars use culture to account for outcomes that are more adequately explained as the product of social conflict and political struggles—struggles in which culture plays a far more contingent and destabilizing role than the one they attribute to it. What is needed, I argue, is to link arguments about the persistence of inefficient institutions with a sociologically informed conception of culture as an ensemble of resources that enhance rather than constrain the scope of individual agency. To come to terms with the effects of culture on institutional formation and change it is necessary to replace the essentialism articulated by North and Greif with a strategic-instrumentalist view in which culture is compatible with a wide spectrum of economic behaviors, individual actions, and thus institutional trajectories.

Open Societies and Closed Minds

Karl Popper’s equation of the closed society with tribalism is reviewed and modified. The German origins of the anthropological concept of culture and its related ideas of the folk culture and cultural relativism are explored. The vicissitudes of the idea of The Folk and its swing from Right to Left are related to contemporary neo-primitivism. The open society and high culture are defended.

修己安人、内圣外王——论企业家的文化建设思路

企业的文化管理与建设是一个自上而下的过程，在这一过程中，企业领导人的作用是至关重要的，也是企业里其他人无法替代的，首先，管理根植于文化之中，其本质是文化；而一个企业其文化的精髓源于企业家个人的价值观，企业家要明确自己在文化建设中所担当的角色，厘清思路，发挥自身应有的作用，与员工一起建立起企业共有的价值观念，为建设百年基业奠定文化基础。     

关于警务现场照相中影像模糊的成因及对策研讨

影像模糊问题，是警务现场照相工作中需要解决的一个基本的、关键的问题。目前，我国对于影像模糊的后期处理方法，还没有太多的对策，因此，前期影像录入过程中确保避免影像模糊现象的出现，成了警务现场照相工作中亟待解决的重要课题。本文旨在分析径向模糊、抖动模糊形成原因的基础上．讨论了如何有效地避免上述影像模糊的途径与方法，对于影像模糊现象的专项研究具有一定的参考价值。     

国外政府信息公开中存在的问题

国外政府信息公开过程中的问题主要体现在政府观念问题，漠视公众权利；信息公开立法规定笼统，信息公开与保密文化冲突；政府信息公开管理不当，权责主体不明确；政府信息公开的费用支付问题；政府机关受理信息公开申请后的处理期限问题以及权利救济问题等。这些问题的存在可以预示我国在实施《政府信息公开条例》过程中可能遇到的困境。     

梭罗的个人主义理想与个人的道德良心

19世纪美国超验主义思想家H.D.梭罗的个人主义深受美国传统渊源的影响,同时也颇具个性,主要体现在他对"个人道德良心"的呼唤.他把个人良心看作比法律更高的一种道德原则.他主张:个人利益高于机构利益.任何机构化了的组织不能将自己的意志强加于人,而应当尊重每一个人的权利,使人人有机会按自己的良心行事,实现自己的生活目标.梭罗的<论公民不服从>和<瓦尔登湖>这两部作品集中表达了他的个人主义的观点,梭罗正是从个人道德良心的角度来阐释其个人主义主张的.他的个人主义理想影响了美国民族文化的建构,并已成为整个美国文化的一个重要组成部分.     

Another Textual Frontier: Contemporary Fiction on the Northern Mexican Border

This article approaches fiction writing from the northern Mexican frontier from the perspective of the border. It perceives the border between Mexico and the United States as a multispace that permeates fictional texts from the area. In clear contrast with most Chicano and Border Studies perspectives, the border is viewed here as a physical rather that metaphorical space whose dynamics formulates textual discourses and aesthetics. The fiction works of Luis Humberto Crosthwaite and Jesús Gardea are analysed from this perspective.     

超越传统——现代化进程中古代吏治文化借鉴之研究

现代化进程中古代吏治文化的借鉴分析，就是对中国古代吏治文化的批判继承。中国古代吏治文化内容博大而精深，其吏治思想、官吏的选拔、任用、考核、奖惩、监督等诸多方面，都有不少可资批判性借鉴之处。结合时代特征，立足现代化进程的需要，批判地继承古代吏治思想，掘取其合理内核，抹去其历史的尘垢，对于完善社会主义干部人事制度以及加强干部廉政建设等，都是大有裨益的。     

Gender,Culture and the Law: Approaches to ‘Honour Crimes’ in the UK

This article examines the debate on whether to analyse ‘honour crimes’ as gender-based violence, or as cultural tradition, and the effects of either stance on protection from and prevention of these crimes. In particular, the article argues that the categorisation of honour-related violence as primarily cultural ignores its position within the wider spectrum of gender violence, and may result in a number of unfortunate side-effects, including lesser protection of the rights of women within minority communities, and the stigmatisation of those communities. At the same time it is problematic to completely dismiss any cultural aspects of violence against women, and a nuanced approach is required which carefully balances the benefits and detriments of taking cultural factors into account. The article examines the issues within the context of the legal response to cases involving honour-related violence, arguing that although the judiciary has in a number of cases inclined towards viewing ‘honour’ as primarily cultural rather than patriarchal, in some cases they have begun to take a more gender-based or ‘mature multiculturalism’ approach.

基因伦理研究的文化价值

基因伦理研究立足于现实的技术现象及其伦理难题，通过技术观的变革，实现技术创新与人文关怀的结合；通过伦理观的变革，实现价值选择与制度安排的统一；通过生命观的变革，坚持人的尊严。体现了基因伦理研究的文化价值。