Grounds for self-government? Changes in land ownership and democratic participation in Chinese communities

Do variations in land ownership affect people’s democratic participation? Quantitative, cross-country research on this topic suffers from the non-comparability of regulatory systems and cultures, and the use of crude indicators to identify participation. This study attempts to overcome these methodological problems, by employing indicators of procedural and substantive participation in a structured, diachronic comparison of qualitative data from five sites in China – an authoritarian state, which, however, requires residents of urban communities and villages to participate in ‘self-government’. It examines whether and why changing land from collective ownership to state ownership, and residents’ compensated acquisition of cash and secure, fungible assets, strengthens or weakens participation in self-government. In the research sites, collective land ownership is found to stimulate participation in self-government. Transformation of the land to state ownership and people’s acquisition of private property weakens participation. The robust results of the study support the direction of a causal argument that collective land ownership is conducive to democratic participation. These findings imply that scholars and policymakers should consider the potentially adverse political consequences of changing land ownership. A further implication is that, absent substantial political reform, an urbanized China might be less rather than more democratic at the community level.     

‘Feel what I feel’: making da(r)ta with teen girls for creative activisms on how sexual violence matters

Abstract

Inspired by feminist new materialist and posthuman activist philosophy, this paper speculates on what happens when data entangles with arts-based methodologies in a school-based participatory activist project with six teen girls (age 15) on gender-based and sexual violence. Mapping the journey of how data become da(r)ta and how da(r)ta become d/artaphacts, the paper follows how the Runway of Disrespect, the Shame Chain, the Ruler-Skirt and the Tagged Heart ripple through peer cultures, school assemblies and national policy landscapes. Each journey provides a small glimpse into how bodies, space, objects, affects and discourse ‘intra-act’ in dynamic assemblages to produce d/artaphacts crafted from and carrying experience. The paper concludes to consider the ethical-political affordances of how participatory arts-based methodologies and the im/personal vitality of objects might support young people to safely and creatively communicate and potentially transform oppressive sexual cultures and practices.     

Global poverty and inequality: are the revised estimates open to an alternative interpretation?

The level of, and trends in, global inequality and global poverty are indicative assessments of who has benefited from economic growth. The revision of price data has led to a reassessment of those estimates. Through an extensive overview of the implications, we argue that the data can be read in different ways. Official estimates show global extreme poverty and global inequality are considerably lower than previously thought. We argue that these changes are much less significant than they at first appear, and we present a more nuanced alternative interpretation by exploring changes across the entire global distribution.     

新型城镇化背景下传统文化的传承与利用——以闽江口历史文化名镇名村为例

新型城镇化强调以人为本和可持续发展,有别于传统的以房地产推动的发展模式。在此背景下,传统村落要可持续发展,不仅需保护好古建筑等物质文化遗产,传承非物质文化遗产,还要让文化遗产保护与改善村民生活环境、提高就业收入相结合。政府应负起公共文化服务责任,加大资金投入,加强文化遗产保护的政策法规供给,发挥农民的主体作用,引导社会力量和知识分子参与,通过发展文化旅游业、社区营造等手段,使历史文化名镇名村在内的传统村落的优秀传统文化得以充分利用和传承延续。     

自由裁量权论纲

学界对自由裁量权的合理性和必要性一直存有争论。鉴于法律本身的先天性缺陷,自由裁量权所具有的协调、弥补理想与现实之间差距的功能便必不可少,但由此而带来的滥用情形也对民众的权利构成了严重的威胁。我们应当从立法、司法、行政和社会外部四个方面来加强对自由裁量权的规制,这种努力在现代法治社会中已经呈现出新的趋势。     

New normal with new force in Chinese society

Chinese society by the rule of man society should transition to the rule of law, you have to have the production and development of new social strata, the transition is one of transition, if thanks to ...     

司法人道主义的历史进步——晚清司法改革的价值变向

作为对外部挑战与内部情势的司法回应,晚清修律和司法改革运动首先意味着司法理念与司法原则的历史性转变,进而标志着一种区别于传统司法文明价值系统的近代型司法文明价值系统的应运而生,展示了从传统走向现代的司法文明进步成长的历史图景。这场司法变革运动的启动性举措,乃是删除最重之法,推行恤刑庶狱,彰显了司法人道主义的价值取向,从而为编订《大清现行刑律》和《大清新刑律》奠定了重要基础,在近代中国法律与司法发展进程中产生了深远影响。     

新基建机遇下陕西城际铁路发展研究

抢抓新基建机遇,把握国家支持政策,充分认识城际高速铁路对都市圈、城市群发展的重要推动作用,正视陕西目前城际高速铁路发展的短板和问题,加强项目规划引领,加大政策支撑力度,强化建设资金保障,完善循环发展机制,做强做大做优产业平台,构建上下游产业体系,为区域经济社会发展蓄势聚能。     

The Catalytic Effect of IMF Lending: Evidence from Sectoral FDI Data

Our study contributes to the search for the elusive catalytic effect of International Monetary Fund (IMF) lending on inflows of foreign direct investment (FDI). Recent scholarship has found that the catalytic effect is conditional on political regime and program stringency. We contribute to this literature by developing and testing a theory which describes how the catalytic effect also varies by economic sector. This is a departure from existing studies, which have tended to focus on aggregate FDI flows after crises. Our findings corroborate previous research, which finds that in general IMF lending has a substantial and negative effect on FDI. However, we find that the negative effect is concentrated in sectors that are highly dependent on external capital and have low sunk costs in the host country. Our findings are robust to several alternative explanations common in IMF literature, namely the importance of IMF program design and the ability of governments to make credible commitments to reform. Substantively, our findings suggest that investors are more likely to use IMF lending as an escape hatch in countries where FDI is dependent on external capital and has low sunk costs.     

Facts,power and global evidence: a new empire of truth

Abstract

What are the epistemological and political contours of evidence today? This introduction to the special issue lays out key shifts in the contemporary politics of knowledge and describes the collective contribution of the six papers as an articulation of what we describe as a ‘new empiricism’, exploring how earlier historical appeals to evidence to defend political power and decision-making both chime with and differ from those of the contemporary era. We outline some emerging empirical frontiers in the study of instruments of calculation, from the evolution of the randomized controlled trial (RCT) to the growing importance of big data, and explore how these methodological transformations intersect with the alleged crisis of expertise in the ‘post-truth’ era. In so doing, we suggest that the ambiguity of evidence can be a powerful tool in itself, and we relate this ambiguity to the ideological commitment and moral fervour that is elicited through appeals to, and the performance of, evaluation.