俄罗斯加速推进新一轮行政改革

俄罗斯经济转型初见成效，政治转型远未结束，行政转型任重道远。普京针对叶利钦时代遗留的有始无终的行政改革，逐步采取措施重建中央和地方关系，推进执行权力机构职能转变，开始推行新的公务员制度，俄罗斯新一轮行政改革加速进行。但由于种种因素制约，俄此轮行政改革困难重重。     

西欧各国政府社会保障职能的产生、发展与变革

９世纪末２０世纪初是西欧各国社会保障制度形成阶段，其共同特征是政府开始充当一定的角色，社会保障开始走上国家化、社会化道路。二战后是西欧社会保障制度全面建立与发展阶段，各国完成了有关社会保障制度的立法，设立了现行社会保障制度所包含的主要保险项目和管理机构，政府的作用越来越大甚至占据主导地位，并且从单纯依靠立法间接干预，发展为直接建立统一的机构，强制性推行社会保障制度并实行全面的监督与行政管理，政府财政成为社会保障资金的主要来源。５０年代至７０年代初期是西欧各国社会保障制度充分发展、进而达到鼎盛的时期。这一时期，西欧各国出现了近２０年经济迅速增长的“黄金时期”。在经济繁荣、国家税收不断增加的形势下，各国政府盲目扩大社会保险范围，提高保险津贴标准，增加福利项目，放宽公民享受社会保障的条件，结果导致社会保障费用的大幅度持续增长，从而使这一制度在７０年代中期以后因经济危机而遇到严重困难，各国不得不对社会保障制度进行调整和改革，最主要的做法是从管理体制上“开刀”，从“国家化”向“私有化”转变     

新加坡公务员培训制度的改革及发展

20世纪80年代以来，为了迎接全球化、信息化以及国际竞争加剧的挑战，新加坡政府对其公务员制度进行了一系列改革。公务员培训制度作为公务员制度的重要组成部分，也在培训机构、培训内容、培训方式等方面经历了诸多变革，反映了当今时代公务员培训制度改革和发展的某些共同趋势。了解新加坡公务员培训制度的改革和发展，合理借鉴新加坡公务员培训方面实践有效的管理经验，将对完善和发展我国公务员培训制度具有一定的启示意义。     

老挝公务员制度探析

世界各国政府都注意到国家公务员是政府宝贵的资源。本文主要是从公务员的界定标准与范围、公务员的管理机构、公务员的考试录用制度、公务员的薪酬制度和公务员的离职制度这五个方面对老挝公务员制度进行探讨。     

浅析老挝的公务员制度与改革趋势

一、老挝公务员制度的建立 1986年老挝人民革命党第四届全国代表大会的决议指出：公务员制度在现代国家中占有重要地位，它不仅是完成国家和政府使命的必要工具和手段，也是政府实现其价值目标的主要载体，是政府存在的合法性的具体体现。此次大会标志着老挝现代公务员制度的正式确立。1993年11月11日，老挝政府颁布了第一部《公务员法》，详细界定了公务员的任职资格、基本权利和义务、等级划分原则以及公务员的管理办法等。     

乌拉圭的国内形势和对外政策

乌拉圭目前政局基本稳定;经济上推行紧缩性调整和扩大出口,已取得成效,但今年较为困难;对外开展多元化、经济外交,积极参与国际事务和地区经济一体化。 一、政局基本稳定 (一)推进政治改革,维护政局稳定。1997年以来,乌政府加大政治和行政改革力度,通过全民公决修改宪法,简化混乱的选举制度,增进选举的透明度,加强了民主,促进了政治的稳定。政府还取消一批重叠的行政机构,精减大量公务员,缩减行政开支,提高了工作效率。政府也加强与各反对党等政治力量协商对话,从而为政府制定的各项改革方案在议会获得通过创造了条件,使政府的减少财政赤字计划、公民安全法等一系列法令、法规得以实施。     

新加坡21世纪公共服务体系建设及对我国的启示

廉洁的政府，高效的服务，精干的公务员队伍是新加坡经济发展、社会进步、人民富裕的根本前提。服务社会以及追求卓越是新加坡公共服务的核心价值理念。新加坡面向21世纪的公共服务虽最早提出于1995年，至今已有10多年的历史，但其影响力深远，其理念至今仍深入人心。现阶段，我国正“加快行政管理体制改革，建设服务型政府”，有必要借鉴其他国家实践有效的先进经验。因此，了解新加坡公共服务的理念及其特点，将对我国服务型政府建设具有一定的启示意义。     

俄罗斯政府职能演变下的预算制度改革

向市场经济的转轨使俄罗斯政府职能发生了根本性的转变,政府调控经济的工具也由计划经济时期的指令性计划、行政管制和所有权控制转变为公共预算。社会经济转型中出现的一系列社会矛盾和冲突,如社会公平、环境污染、医疗教育、社会保障等,都需要通过预算加以解决和保障。在这种情况下,实行预算制度改革,建立新的预算机制成为俄罗斯近年来政治经济改革的全新热点和中心。     

日本行政决策咨询体系的多层次、多元化及其对我国的借鉴作用

“谋”与“断”既相对分工，又密切合作，是现代行政决策的一大特点。所谓“谋”，是指出谋划策，它主要由政府的决策咨询参谋系统承担。所谓“断”，是指柏板决断，它是政府决策中枢系统的职权。日本政府近年来逐步形成了政府系统内部自下而上的“禀议制”、政府内部的专门咨询机构“审议会”、半官方的思想库以及充分利用民间咨询机构等多层次多元化的决策咨询体系、制度和方法，在政府决策中发挥了强有力的支持功能。这对于我国目前建立与完善适应社会主义市场经济的政府决策咨询体系具有重要的借鉴意义     

哈尔滨都市圈与“长、沈、大”都市群产业合作问题研究

在区域经济一体化和振兴东北老工业基地的背景下,哈尔滨都市圈与“长、沈、大”都市群加强产业合作具有客观必然性。在产业合作过程中,应坚持科学规划、合理分工;政府引导、利益驱动;规范管理、制度保证三项原则,并突出装备制造、北药、旅游和石化四大产业合作重点。针对哈尔滨都市圈与“长、沈、大”都市群产业合作所面临的一些观念性、体制性和制度性的制约因素,应采取树立竞合理念、加强行政区际基础设施建设、建立产业合作动力机制、强化政府宏观调控职能、协调东北四市发展规划以及建立富有权威的产业合作协调机构等措施,切实推进哈尔滨都市圈与“长、沈、大”都市群的产业合作。     

Electoral Reforms and Peace Duration Following Negotiated Settlements

One of the most common features found within peace agreements is provisions that call for post-civil war elections. Unfortunately, the initial post-war elections often increase the risk of civil war recurrence. While past research has consistently confirmed this finding, it focuses only on one element of the democracy. Rather than focusing solely on elections, this article examines the laws surrounding the electoral process. Specifically, I examine how changes in electoral laws that are called for in peace agreements impacts the risk of renewed civil war. Building on research that examines the context of post-civil war elections, I argue that reforms to electoral laws that precede the initial post-war election substantially reduce the risks associated with that election. This proposition is supported with evidence from survival models of peace failures following the establishment of comprehensive peace agreements from 1989 to 2010, demonstrating that electoral reforms reduce the risk of civil war recurrence.     

Is the Sum Greater than the Parts? The Terms of Civil War Peace Agreements and the Commitment Problem Revisited

The dominant theoretical approaches to civil war negotiations in the field of political science have sought to explain both the scarcity and high failure rates of negotiated agreements in civil conflicts. This historical pattern, however, has fundamentally changed in the last two decades as changes in international norms and laws, as well as the increased prevalence and competence of peacebuilding professionals, now require conflict actors to have a greater commitment toward negotiations and the enforcement of agreements. While actors in interstate wars seek to avoid accountability, civil war actors seem to embrace the opportunities that these new dynamics create to achieve broad‐based reforms across numerous areas of policy and government. The result, we suggest, is that stakeholders evaluate agreements based on their potential to accomplish an array of sociopolitical objectives. In addition, for strategic and practical reasons, they perceive that those agreements that include more reforms across multiple policy sectors will have the greatest potential. Our examination of nearly two hundred agreements found evidence that the peacemaking potential of a negotiated agreement between civil war adversaries is greatly enhanced when reforms are pursued across many different policy domains. Conversely, our analysis suggests that the greater the number of policy areas left untouched by a peace agreement, the more likely the stakeholders will be to follow that agreement with additional negotiations to enhance that agreement, or, alternatively, the more likely that violence will resume.     

National democratization theory and global governance: civil society and the liberalization of the Asian Development Bank

Contributing to a growing literature on democracy beyond the nation-state, this article draws on aspects of national democratization theory in order to analyse empirical processes of democracy. By combining insights from transition theory and the theory of political opportunity structures, the article examines the case of the Asian Development Bank (ADB). While the ADB for a long time has been described as a closed, unresponsive and unaccountable international organization, a recent evaluation praised the Bank for its good practices concerning transparency, participation and accountability. The article uses the analytical framework to highlight the interaction between hard-liners and soft-liners within the ADB and explores the role of different transnational civil society actors in the processes that seem to have strengthened the democratic credentials of the ADB. While finding significant divisions within the ADB as well as amongst civil society actors targeting the bank, overall the article argues that transnational civil society actors, interacting with soft-liners within the ADB, have contributed to the implementation of reforms, which in turn create political opportunities for further civil society activism. The reform processes, however, are best described as processes of liberalization – rather than democratization.     

The Inertia of Diplomacy

Diplomacy is used to manage the goals of foreign policy focusing on communication. New trends affect the institution of diplomacy in different ways. Diplomacy has received an additional tool in the form of the Internet. In various cases of interdependence and dependence interference in a country's affairs is accepted. Multilateral cooperation has created parliamentary diplomacy and a new type of diplomat, the international civil servant. States and their diplomats are in demand to curb the excesses of globalization. The fight against terrorism also brought additional work for diplomacy. Consulates are busy working to cope with the pressures of immigration. Though parts of the foreign policy agenda have been outsourced to other actors the range and importance of diplomacy did not shrink, but rather expanded.     

东盟国家金融改革与重组比较研究及启示

东南亚金融危机的爆发 ,充分暴露了东盟国家20世纪80年代以来金融自由化改革的片面性和局限性。危机之后 ,东盟各国对金融体系进行了改革 ,加速债权债务重组 ,设法清理巨额呆账 ,完善央行的监管职能 ,以便使金融业在国民经济中更好地发挥积极作用。一、东盟各国金融改革与重组举措1.重组金融体系。主要包括以下三个方面 :首先 ,改革中央银行 ,加强央行的独立性。泰国央行于2000年5月成立了货币政策局 ,2001年9月改为货币政策委员会 ,以加强央行制定和执行货币政策的职能。印尼政府于1999年5月颁布了新的央行法 ,使印尼央行拥有更大的自主权 …     

When aid builds states: party dominance and the effects of foreign aid on tax collection after civil war

ABSTRACT

Does foreign aid strengthen or weaken post-conflict states? We examine the effects of aid on tax collection after civil war, an important dimension of state effectiveness. While the literature emphasizes aid’s perverse effects, the relationship between aid dependence and the growth of tax collection is unclear. We argue that the impact of aid reflects its political utility for ruling elites in consolidating their authority after civil war. While dominant parties subvert tax strengthening reforms to solidify their political base, elites in more fractionalized settings rely on external political backing to manage internal challenges to their authority, and are more likely to comply with donor conditions. We test this argument through a Latent Curve Analysis of tax collection rate growth in post-civil war countries from 1978 to 2012. We find that aid is associated with slower growth in tax collection in dominant party settings, and more rapid tax growth in politically fractionalized settings. The findings highlight the need for attention to internal political dynamics to explain aid effectiveness after civil war, and point to opportunities to strengthen institutions in some post-conflict countries.     

Legislating a "Normal,Classic Family": The Rhetorical Construction of Families in American Welfare Policy

This essay discusses the policy construction of welfare families through an analysis of the welfare hearings and debates from the 102nd, 103rd, and 104th Congresses, all of which led to President Clinton's signing of the 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act. Throughout the legislative process, witnesses and legislators relate stories about families on welfare and compare welfare families to an ideal nuclear family. This essay demonstrates the rhetorical appeal of these stories and their powerful influence on the resulting 1996 Act. The central argument of the essay is that depictions of welfare families influence legislation that affirms a historically privileged traditional family structure. The 1996 Act and subsequent proposals reinforce this married family ideal despite significant research demonstrating that (a) many Americans do not live in traditional nuclear families, (b) there are potential negative consequences of marriage promotion, and (c) federal reforms are unlikely to result in measurable increases in marriage rates.     

Analyzing the ASEM process

  As a leading civil servant behind the ASEM process, one would expect that Dr. Reiterer would reveal more of what was and is actually happening in the ASEM process among participants and hence in the position of making insightful analysis. He is making an analysis from close quarters which is different from that of Ms. Yeo who is analyzing ASEM as an outsider. It is however also evident that Ms. Yeo had much access to the actors of ASEM and its documents and to a certain extent is close to the ASEM process. An insider's position and that of an outsider can result in different assessments but this is not the case with these two volumes. Rather both books complement each other well. Associate Professor at the School of Social Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, and Senior Research Associate of the European Institute for Asian Studies (EIASOA) in Brussels. He is also Overseas Research Fellow of Sungkonghoe University in Seoul.     

The evolution of rule of law in Cambodia

Cambodian leaders have confounded the efforts of the international community to promote rule of law. Over the past decade the Cambodian government has introduced a series of legal reforms and overseen an increase in the use of legal proceedings including defamation lawsuits against opposition politicians and members of civil society. These reforms and practices, as well as the role of the judiciary in relation to each, may be better understood through elite perceptions of the rule of law in Cambodia. Comprehending the rule of law as it is understood by the ruling elites offers better insight into the trajectory of legal development and the obstacles to Western ideals for legal reform. This article situates Cambodia within the context of illiberal democracy and examines how a thin rule of law has evolved, focusing on defamation law as a legal and political strategy of control. While the international community has pressed Cambodia to carry out liberal legal reforms for some time, the article will outline the obstacles facing reformers and the competing desires of Cambodian leaders embedded in the patronage based political order.     

Exploring the impact of mass cultural changes on the patterns of democratic reform

In this article, a typology of reforms most suitable for Western democracies is built using two dimensions. These are the aggregative–integrative dimension and the indirect–direct dimension. Using a data set of reforms, consisting of 21 democracies, reforms in the last two decades are categorized as either pendulum, consensus, voter or participatory reforms. In the second part of this article, it is explored whether patterns of reforms follow mass-level cultural changes in four egalitarian societies. Following grid-group cultural typologies some of the patterns of democratic change anticipated are: that pendulum reforms are accompanied by changes towards a more atomistic culture, consensus reforms are associated with hierarchical societies, voter reforms are guided by accelerated individualism, and finally, that participatory reforms match increasingly egalitarian societies. This article concludes that these expectations have not been met. Elites are trying to restore the slump of the hierarchical culture and with it the consensus democratic model despite the resulting mismatch with mass cultures.