From Cronyism to Oligarchy? Privatisation and Business Elites in Myanmar

Privatisation is often contentious yet in Myanmar it has not so much been its merits or drawbacks that have attracted attention as questions around implementation. In Myanmar, the implementation of privatisation has broad significance for the political economy. A first phase of privatisation was focused on small and medium-sized enterprises and did not have a significant economic impact. A second phase, commenced in 2008, consolidated the interests of a business elite with personal connections to the military regime. The impact of this second phase of privatisation was such that some elements of this elite strengthened to the extent that they no longer relied entirely on patronage, creating opportunities for diversification in their strategies of wealth creation and defence. For this reason, it is argued, the wealthiest strata of Myanmar’s business elite is now best conceived as not simply consisting of cronies but rather as a nascent form of oligarchy. In theoretical terms, this suggests that greater attention to the qualitative difference between cronyism and oligarchy is warranted, as is close study of processes – like privatisation and political reform – that enable or require a wider range of strategies of wealth defence.     

Military frames and Canada’s Conservative government: from extending to transforming perceptions of Canadian identity

This article looks at framing strategies behind the recent Canadian Conservative government’s rhetoric on the military. Critics argue that Conservative rhetoric has politicised Canadian history and overemphasised the armed forces. Few scholars, however, have looked at the specific forms this rhetoric took and the strategies it suggested. The article presents the results of a systematic analysis of Conservative rhetoric between 2005 and 2015. It argues that three key frame alignment strategies were at the heart of the Conservative Government’s rhetoric: extension, consolidation and transformation, with truly transformative rhetoric transpiring only in the last phase. While agreeing with critics that this emphasis on the military aimed to alter perceptions of Canadian identity, the article shows that Conservative rhetoric was far from and monolithic.     

Children's rights in a risk society: the case of schooling in Japan

The purpose of this paper is to examine the ongoing discourse on children's rights and related attitudes towards individualisation and risk in contemporary Japan's education system. The paper is also interested in how this discourse is translated into concrete change. The concepts of ‘children's rights’ and ‘risk society’ both have their origins in Western conceptions of the relationship between the individual and society, and the place of children and young people in that society. This paper explores the way that these concepts have been transformed by their adoption into domestic Japanese discourse on education reform. After a discussion of how the classical liberal concepts of positive and negative human rights can be applied to the specific case of children's rights, the discussion moves on to show how this debate has developed in Japan since the 1980s. Then the paradigm of the ‘Risk Society’ is introduced and the concepts of ‘positive risks’ and ‘negative risks’ are explored, first with reference to schooling in Western countries and then in relation to Japan. Finally, the relationship between risk, rights and neoliberalism is discussed, and it is shown how Western notions of individualisation have met strong resistance from various actors on both sides of the political spectrum. In the case of the Japanese education system, the shift of responsibility from state bureaucracies to individuals and private-sector organisations that is predicted by Risk Society theory has only partially taken place.     

How does democracy influence citizens’ perceptions of government corruption? A cross-national study

We examine the effect of democracy as an institutional context on individuals’ perceptions of government corruption. To do so, we compile an integrated dataset from the Asian, Afro, and Latino Barometer Surveys and use a hierarchical linear regression model. Our primary finding is that the effect of democracy has different effects on ordinary citizens’ perceptions of corruption in different contexts. In general, people in countries with higher levels of democracy tend to perceive their governments to be more corrupt. However, more importantly, conditional models show that in countries with more developed democratic institutions, individuals with stronger democratic values are less likely to perceive the government to be corrupt. Moreover, people in such countries are less likely to assess their government based on their perceptions of economic situation.     

Sex,Statistics, Peacekeepers and Power: UN Data on Sexual Exploitation and Abuse and the Quest for Legal Reform

The UN Secretariat provides annual statistics on allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse made against peacekeeping personnel, with reduced numbers of allegations leading to claims of success for the UN's ‘zero tolerance’ policy. This article explores the use of data as ‘technologies’ of global governance, to examine the function that these annual statistics serve for the UN and the impact that they have on calls for legal reform. Thus far, the statistics have attracted little academic appraisal. Yet, they have been used to establish the UN's authority to resolve the ‘problem’ of sexual exploitation and abuse, diminishing the space for critique of UN policy and undermining the quest for improved legal arrangements.     

开放政府与修改《政府信息公开条例》的内容定位

修改《政府信息公开条例》要处理好《政府信息公开条例》与其他行政公开立法的分工,重大行政决策过程公开、行政执法公开等为行政行为中的公开机制,可在行政程序立法中予以规定。修法应当回归《政府信息公开条例》作为权利法的法律属性,实现知情权法定,确立公开原则,扩展公开范围,取消限制公民知情权实现的相关机制。修法还应回应互联网时代对开放政府数据提出的立法需求,完善政府数据开放的内部与外部机制。     

中国检察制度三十年

中国检察制度自恢复重建至今三十年,清晰地展现了从寻求定位到夯实基础再到探索改革的发展历程.在第一个十年的恢复重建阶段,检察机关的起步围绕法律监督的基本职能定位展开;在第二个十年的稳固发展阶段,检察制度在搞好基础建设:和寻求工作重点方面有所作为;在第三个十年的纵深改革阶段.检察制度积极展开了探索和改革,在尝试创新的同时也适时稳固推广了极富价值的改革成果.对域外检察制度的关注与借鉴,检察实践的冲锋陷阵,以及检察理论研究与检察文化的繁荣,分别构成了三十年检察制度发展的基本推力.     

制度变迁理论视角下的公安教育改革

公安教育改革是公安教育为适应新时期公安工作特点而进行的体制变革,其目标是提高公安教育有效供给。制度变迁理论是新制度经济学的核心理论,通过此理论可以从动力因素、主体选择、变迁路径等角度审视公安教育改革的进程,论证公安教育改革的内在机理。     

论高等院校计算机基础课的教学改革

针对高校计算机基础课程教育的特点,在教学改革中应进行开放性教学及开放性思维训练,采用多媒体教学应示系统,开发网络化教学环境,改革上机操作教学,创新计算机考试方法,探索学生创新能力的培养途径。     

地方服务型政府建设的财政困境及其排解

政府职能转变是决定公共财政活动的根本前提,公共财政是政府职能有效实施的物质基础,因此,从公共财政与政府职能的内在关联性出发来反思我国地方服务型政府建设的可能路径无疑是个有益的尝试。而分税制财政体制不完善、地方公共财政资源严重不足以及地方公共财政支出管理混乱这三大财政“瓶颈”成为制约我国地方服务型政府建设成功的重要因素。为此,必须着力构建公共服务型财政体制,以此来加快地方服务型政府建设进程。