Economic crisis, party system change, and the dynamics of class voting in Venezuela, 1973–2003

The breakdown of the old catch-all party system in Venezuela, and the sudden rise to power of leftist former coup leader Hugo Chávez provides an instructive case study to examine the sources of party system change, the rise of populism and the politicisation of class. Using nationally representative survey data this paper analyses different models of voting behaviour over time, and examines the extent to which the determinants of electoral choice have changed. It argues that although economic crises during the 1990s undermined support for the existing parties, it did not create a politically salient class-based response. Rather, it created the electoral space for new actors to enter the political stage and articulate new populist issue dimensions. Explanations for the politicisation of social cleavages in Venezuela can therefore best be understood in terms of ‘top-down’ approaches which emphasises the role of political agency in reshaping and re-crafting political identities, rather than more ‘bottom-up’ factors which emphasise the demands that originate within the electorate.     

构建天津物流服务平台促进东亚区域经济合作

在当今世界经济全球化的趋势下,积极推动东亚(环黄海)区域经济合作,构建服务于东亚(环黄海)区域经济合作的物流平台具有特别重要的意义.天津作为东亚(环黄海)城市市长会议的成员,具备了支撑区域经济合作发展的现代物流基础.为了实现对东亚(环黄海)和中国西部地区的双向辐射作用,天津确定了加快发展现代物流的战略,并相应确立了发展现代物流的步骤和采取的主要措施,以积极服务于东亚(环黄海)区域经济合作和中国西部大开发的战略.     

友好仲裁在国际经济争端解决机制中的运用(上)

作为解决国际经济争端的一种机制,友好仲裁有其独特的意义。据此,仲裁庭在当事人授权后可以依据公平善良原则裁断争议,从而实现当事人正当的公平期望与效率价值期望。因而友好仲裁在仲裁发达的各国法规中均有规定。1965年《华盛顿公约》对一国与他国国民之间因投资而引发的法律争端的解决机制中也明确地规定了友好仲裁。当然,由于国际社会还没有公平善良原则的客观标准,且目前国际社会还是倾向于保护投资和投资者,不利于发展中国家的利益保护,因而在授权仲裁庭友好仲裁时,发展中国家还须持谨慎的态度。     

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.

农村集体经济薄弱问题的探索

介绍了农村集体经济组织的概念,分析了我国农村集体经济组织发展的制约因素,并提出了发展策略。     

试析越南近期的经济状况——以金融动荡为研究重点

2007年下半年至今,越南金融出现了较为动荡的局面.其表现为:通货膨胀居高不下、越盾贬值、股票和房地产暴跌等.其中,通货膨胀是导致其他一系列负面经济情况产生的根源.造成这次金融动荡的原因,除了受国际经济环境的影响外,还与越南政府的宏观经济调控不力、外贸逆差急增、投资效果差有着极大的关系.面临居高不下的通货膨胀,越南政府出台了一系列对应措施,这些措施已逐步取得成效.越南经济发展的潜力无疑是很大的,但是越南经济能否稳步、顺利地发展,很大程度上取决于政府的宏观调控能力及国际经济环境的影响.     

Institutions and Caribbean Economic Performance: Insights from Jamaica

We explore the impact of social institutions on economic performance in Jamaica through a reinterpretation of the plantation economic model. In its original form, the plantation model fails to develop a causal link between the plantation legacy and persistent underdevelopment. Despite its marginalization, the model remains useful for discussions on growth and development. Consequently, we offer a reappraisal using the causal insights from Kenneth Sokoloff and Stanley Engerman. We use two examples to demonstrate how inequality encourages the formation of institutions that are inconsistent with growth, and an empirical analysis to confirm the hypothesized relationship between inequality, institutions, and economic development. Since inequality is expected to influence growth indirectly, we use a structural specification, which follows William Easterly’s recent test of Sokoloff and Engerman’s argument. Our reliance on a time-series specification is unique. We demonstrate that the expectation that, on average, inequality and growth is negatively related and that institutions may compromise growth are accurate for Jamaica, the most cited Caribbean nation in the current discourse. Our results carry several policy implications, including support for the recent calls in Jamaica for political restructuring. However, both the paucity of similar studies and the importance of the implications for sustainable growth and development demand further analyses.

韩国出兵越南对其国家发展的影响

参加越南战争对于韩国来说是一次经济发展的有利时机.在与美国关于越南战争问题的讨价还价之中,韩国不仅获得了大量的美国战争补贴,还获得了企业开拓市场的机会,同时在政治上增强了自身的国际地位和与美国讨价还价的砝码.因此,韩国出兵越南参加越南战争成为推动国家发展的一把利剑.     

经济危机、社会政策和经济发展:俄罗斯的经验

苏联解体之后,俄罗斯的社会政策保持了基本的连续性。尤其是叶利钦之后的俄罗斯,政府对社会保障和改善民生进行了巨大的投入,居民收入的增长和生活的改善非常明显。经济危机爆发之后,俄罗斯反危机政策更是赋予了社会政策以特别的使命,不仅缓解了危机的烈度,也起到了社会稳定器的作用。俄罗斯社会政策解决了国家长期发展需要面对的两个重要问题:一个是国家长期发展的人力资本积累问题,另一个是社会扩大再生产的可持续性问题。     

《经济、社会及文化权利国际公约》食物权法律解析

食物权作为一项基本人权关乎人类的生存、健康和尊严。《经济、社会及文化权利国际公约》第11条首次对食物权作出规定，并通过一系列评论文件阐明其内涵、国家权利和义务以及监督机制。有关食物权的规定的出台有着重要意义，但金融危机和粮食危机给食物权的实现带来了巨大的阻力。在该背景下，如何消除饥饿，提供足够的食物是国际社会共同面临的问题。