Measuring Economic Integration in Developing Countries: The Case of Central America

This article builds a composite index, the Central American Integration Index (IIC-AMPI), to measure economic integration. This index utilises a robust methodology and conceptual framework. The study shows that IIC-AMPI is responsive to variable changes and resistant to outliers. The findings indicate that the Deep Integration Process initiative dominates the current integration trend, as seen in the regional average score from 2015 to 2017, aligning with Guatemala and Honduras. Nicaragua demonstrates the most consistent progress, while Panama lags behind. The evidence supports the Customs Union as Central America's future integration path, highlighting the index's ability to capture the dynamic reality of economic integration.     

准确定位 科学布局 积极推动试验区建设

宁夏发展内陆开放型经济没有突出优势,在产业布局方面与建设中国—阿拉伯国家及世界穆斯林地区经贸合作大平台的要求尚有差距。必须站在世界经济发展的高端,进一步明确试验区发展定位和目标,优化产业布局,为我国发展内陆开放型经济、完善对外开放格局探索新路径。     

State transformation and cross-border regionalism in Indonesia’s periphery: contesting the centre

Abstract

This article examines how the decentralisation and fragmentation of the Indonesian state and resultant central–local dynamics affect cross-border regionalism in Indonesia’s periphery. It argues that cross-border regionalism projects are best understood as sites for scalar contestation over regulatory control between central and local government. Moreover, scalar contestation around cross-border regional projects is characterised by the struggles to control relationships with transnational capital between elites operating at different tiers of the state. When elites at different scales have conflicting interests and strategies, this can cause policy incoherence, inhibiting the development of cross-border regionalism. Conversely, when they align, and intersect with the interests of transnational business, cross-border regionalism can succeed. To illustrate the argument, this article utilises the comparative case studies of the Batam free trade zone and West Kalimantan–Sarawak cross-border cooperation.     

组织管理理论视野下的河南警务改革

在河南全省范围内实施的＂局所合一＂的警务改革撤销了所有省辖市的公安分局,改变了全国统一的＂市公安局——公安分局——派出所＂三级管理模式,建立了＂市公安局——派出所＂的两级管理模式。用管理理论进行分析可知,激励保健理论显示了其积极和消极两方面的影响,动态平衡理论证明了其加强了组织合作与沟通,开放系统理论说明了这场改革是势在必行的。     

Virtual regionalism,regional structures and regime security in Central Asia

The failures of regionalism and regional structures for cooperation between the five CIS Central Asian states are well studied. However, explanations so far do not convincingly account for the apparent enthusiasm of these states for the macro-regional frameworks of the Eurasian Economic Community, the Collective Security Treaty Organization and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. This article argues that, as with previous efforts at Central Asian regional self-organization, these broader organizations still largely represent a form of ‘virtual regionalism’. But for the Central Asian states they offer a new and increasingly important function, that of ‘protective integration’. This takes the form of collective political solidarity or ‘bandwagoning’ with Russia (and China in the SCO) against processes and pressures that are perceived as challenging incumbent leaders and their political entourage. A primary motivation for Central Asian leaders' engagement in the EAEC, CSTO and SCO, therefore, is the reinforcement of domestic regime security and the resistance of ‘external’ agendas of good governance or democracy promotion. These goals are concealed behind a discourse that denigrates the imposition of external ‘values’ and continues to give pride of place to national sovereignty. This offers little to overcome the underlying fractures between states in Central Asia.     

试论我国中央集权——地方分权混合体制的合理性

不同国家在不同时期对于中央与地方关系的模式选择都会有所不同和有所侧重。我国采用中央集权——地方分权混合体制的关系模式,从市场经济的内在特性、中央与地方的政府职能配合、中央与地方的利益关系协调、集权制与分权制的优势互补来看,都具有深刻的合理性意义。     

实行厂务公开 推进企业民主管理

实行厂务公开,推进企业民主管理,是贯彻落实党的“十六大”精神,发展社会主义民主的需要。     

改革开放三十年中国经济回顾

改革开放30年来，中国经济结构优化升级，产业升级，经济效益、节能环保快速发展，出口快速增长，出口结构逐步升级，国内生产总值快速增长，经济效益显著提高，财政收入加速增长，呈现健康发展的局面。     

Foreign Investment and Trade in Cuban Development: A 50-Year Reassessment with Emphasis on the Post-1990 Period

This article provides a 50-year reassessment of foreign investment and trade in Cuba and locates this analysis within Cuban debates on development and the economics of transition. Transformations contextualised in these debates cover three periods. The 1959–1989 period was characterised by nationalisations and expropriations, the imposition of the US trade embargo, and the trade and economic assistance agreements signed with the Soviet Union. The Special Period crisis emerged in the 1990s and Cuba had to turn to foreign investment and alternative trade options while continuing to reject the adoption of open regionalism and neoliberal policies. The 2005–2008 period was characterised by Cuba's incorporation into the Bolivarian Alternative, a new regional integration model.     

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.