Reproductive health services: “Business-in-a-Box” as a model social innovation

Access to reproductive health services and products in remote and rural communities is a critical area of concern for developing countries. This article considers a pilot intervention in three districts of Pakistan where “Business-in-a-Box” as a model of place-based social innovation is used to improve the socio-economic conditions of women in remote rural settings through socially responsible micro-franchising. It finds that such programmes help build a sense of community, ownership and grassroots capabilities and skills. The article also discusses the impacts of such actions on the individual and community life, and the need to upscale and sustain these initiatives.     

试论构建“东亚共同体”的思想文化基础——从历史启迪与未来追求的视角

创建共同合作、协同发展的“东亚共同体”,业已成为不可抗拒的发展趋势。历史事实证明:东亚地区是世界历史上最早“一体化”的区域;它既有成功的、进步的古代“东亚文化圈”,也有反动的、失败的近代“大东亚共荣圈”,还有设想中的“东亚共同体”。然而,现实中的“历史认识问题”,是直接关系到“东亚共同体”能否迅速建立的前提条件。为促进未来“东亚共同体”区域内的沟通和交流,需要在汉字的基础上创建共通文字,这不是复旧,而是与时俱进的创新。当人们思考构建“东亚共同体”时,在普遍关注经济协作的情况下,尤应重视思想文化观念的问题,因为东亚各国间的政治的、经济的、外交的问题,不能光靠政治的、经济的、外交的手段来解决,而确实需要从思想文化观念方面去寻求解决问题的办法。     

从泰国军人干政看发展中国家政治制度危机

军事政变不仅是一种军事行动,更是一种政治行动.本文试图通过对泰国军事政变的分析,探讨在发展中国家军人干政的原理.本文认为,政变的发生取决于一个国家的社会结构因素和政治制度因素,其中政治参与的无序化与领导人退出机制的不完善是引发军事政变的最重要原因.虽然军人干政在历史上曾经起过积极作用,但在现代社会,军人干政已经不适应甚至危害民主政治的发展.为解决这个问题,发展中国家应该从调整社会结构、扩大政治参与和提升政治制度化水平等三个方面持续地付出努力.     

“常识”与传统中国州县司法——从一个疑难案件(新会田坦案)展开的思考

自晚清变法修律以来,学界多批评传统州县司法的主要弊端是行政兼理司法和与此相关的非专业化司法,现在发现了大量反映传统司法实际运作的司法档案材料,此种观点有了反思的必要和可能。事实上,从传统中国州县司法的实际运作来看,其重点是查清案情和进行判决,起决定作用的是“常识”而非“专业知识”,而且“常识”才是传统地方司法所真正需要的。这种“常识”包括了“律学常识”、官员“伦理常识”和“地方性常识”等部分,从而具有浓厚的主观性、地方性和个人化特征,使得传统地方司法更依赖于官员个体。从司法独立和专业司法的眼光来审视传统是一种时代错位,它忽略了制度与社会需要之间的对应关系,既不利于学术研究,同时也回避了建立现代司法体系的真正阻力所在。     

中国-东盟关系四十年发展的历程及其启示:共同利益的视角

中国-东盟关系的发展历程表明,双方关系是随着彼此间共同利益的日益增加而不断发展的,因此,双方关系发展的过程就是不断建构共同利益的过程.建构共同利益是中国-东盟关系发展的基本经验.未来双方要进一步发展关系,应继续致力于共同利益的建构.     

Having the cake and eating it too: efficient penalty clauses in Common and Civil contract law

In this paper we examine one of the areas where there is a marked difference between Civil and Common contract law, that of the enforcement of liquidated damages and more particularly of penalty clauses. Common law judges are quite reluctant to enforce liquidated damages, especially if they believe that they include penalty clauses which are not enforceable. On the contrary, in almost all European contract laws liquidated damages are readily enforced, as are penalty clauses when they are not manifestly excessive. Although most law and economics scholars have criticized Common law courts for the non-enforcement of penalty clauses, there is a sizable minority of scholars who have defended the Common law “non-enforcement” policy on the ground that penalty clauses are inefficient because they hinder efficient breach. However, and despite the merits of the arguments advanced by advocates of the non-enforcement of penalty clauses, we believe that Common law’s rejection of penalty clauses is inefficient. We further show that the Civil law solution to the problem is not only comparatively more efficient, but that it can also appease the worries of those scholars who are afraid that efficient breaches will be deterred. The solution that Civil law systems give to the problem manages to enforce the parties’ wishes and to avoid deterring efficient breaches. However, we point out that in order for the Civil law systems to take advantage of this superiority, the interpretation of their Civil Codes should be guided by economic analysis and the respect to the wishes of the contracting parties.     

中国和平崛起的可能、困难和对策

“和平崛起”是中国改革开放以来内政外交大政方针的总结提炼 ,也是中国新世纪发展战略的精辟概括。对国家利益和安全观念的新认识 ,对中国特色社会主义内涵的深刻把握 ,对多极化的正确理解 ,是和平崛起论的基本依据。和平崛起的实现 ,受国内外许多不利因素的制约 ,必须正确应对各种复杂的威胁和挑战。坚持和平崛起 ,我们要坚持经济建设与国防建设的统一 ,坚持主权的坚定性和主权实现形式的灵活性 ,并要特别处理好与大国的关系。     

Accountability mechanisms in community-driven reconstruction in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo

A lack of accountability is often considered a root cause of conflict. Many post-conflict reconstruction efforts therefore aim to enhance accountability between authorities and the population through community-driven reconstruction programmes. This article examines the accountability mechanisms in the Tushiriki community-driven reconstruction programme in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. The ethnographic research found little impact of formal programme accountability. Rather, accountability was shaped differently and had its own context-specific meaning. To make accountability more sustainable, stronger embeddedness in local institutions and more appropriate translations of abstract concepts into the local context are needed.     

Demands,responsibility, and influence in Malawi’s participatory agricultural extension services

Participatory governance offers the potential to deliver responsive and accountable services. This article tests this expectation by looking at how members of participatory extension platforms in Malawi understand the meaning of “demand-driven” services, and allocate responsibility and influence in service provision. Results show that most respondents agree on bottom-up extension services that respond to expressed farmers’ needs (86% of respondents), and assign responsibility and influence widely across state and non-state actors. While these findings suggest that these participatory mechanisms can promote responsiveness to farmers’ needs and accountability, they also point toward different governance challenges in extension services.     

Does online voting change the outcome? Evidence from a multi-mode public policy referendum

Do online and offline voters differ in terms of policy preferences? The growth of Internet voting in recent years has opened up new channels of participation. Whether or not political outcomes change as a consequence of new modes of voting is an open question. Here we analyze all the votes cast both offline (n = 5.7 million) and online (n = 1.3 million) and compare the actual vote choices in a public policy referendum, the world's largest participatory budgeting process, in Rio Grande do Sul in June 2014. In addition to examining aggregate outcomes, we also conducted two surveys to better understand the demographic profiles of who chooses to vote online and offline. We find that policy preferences of online and offline voters are no different, even though our data suggest important demographic differences between offline and online voters.