Transfiguring the golem: technicism,human relations technology,and the human project

The original Minnowbrook perspective is described as part of a broader human relations technology movement in which the organization of human activity could be accomplished without the negative features of bureaucracy—routinization, rationalization, depersonalization, mechanization, computerization. But, the problem is really not bureaucracy, it is technicism—the technological imperative. The article contrasts masculine and feminine perspectives on organizations and the implications of this contrast for wars between nation-states, human and organizational communication, and human relations technology. In this technicism era, public administered institutions are the best bet to hold together the fabric of society.     

2007年的日本外交走向

2006年9月,安倍当选自民党总裁、出任日本内阁总理大臣并组成新内阁后,提出要推进"有主张的外交".日本对外政策也因此而发生了一些引人注目的变化.     

Discussions of international relations in post-communism Russia

The article describes the progress in Russian theoretical thinking about the world. The author reviews the post-Soviet IR discussions and traces how they progressed from one paradigm to another in response to shifts in social issues and political agenda. The paper concludes that although realism has emerged as a prominent theoretical paradigm, Russian IR is still in process of its self-definition and remains widely open to various intellectual influences.     

与时俱进 开拓创新 努力开创山东友城工作新局面

山东省经济社会发展进入了全面建设小康社会，加快推进工业化、城镇化、市场化、国际化进程的历史新阶段。作为对外开放的重要桥梁和纽带，友城工作必须以全新的姿态把握机遇，迎接挑战，努力谋求新跨越，更好地服务大局，以适应当前新的形势和任务的要求。     

美欧关系的变化与趋势

对于伊拉克战争的立场，使法德等传统盟友与美国的关系一度趋冷，但2005年以来，随着德、英、法等欧洲大国领导人的换届，美欧关系开始转暖，这种发展趋势值得关注；     

互联网在现代国家和国际关系中的作用探析

在21世纪的晨曦中,伴随着经济全球化的迅猛发展,人类步入了信息时代的大门.计算机与互联网技术作为新科学技术革命的重要成果在人类生活各个领域的广泛应用与普及,极大地促进了世界各国经济与社会的发展,赋予了现代国家和国际关系许多崭新的特点.     

Industrial relations and manpower

This article provides the first empirical evidence on the impact of Best Value processes on local service quality, costs, efficiency and accountability. Views were obtained from a wide range of personnel involved in the pilot programme in Wales by means of a postal questionnaire and interviews. The evidence shows that so far Best Value has had a positive impact on quality and accountability but little impact on service costs. Perceptions of the impact of Best Value are significantly more positive in authorities that adopted a corporate approach to the pilot process.     

徜徉在中日关系的春光里——福田首相访华后发展中日关系的几点思考

对于中日关系而言，2008年的春天既是寒暑交替的时令变化，更是政治意义上充满希望和播撒种子的季节。两国关系在过去一年半中经历了由“破冰”到“融冰”，及至“迎春”等数个旅程后，已经开始进入春花待放的佳期。按照两国政府的约定，胡锦涛主席将在樱花盛开的季节访问日本，本着中国人民对日本“和平共处，世代友好，互利合作，共同发展”的原则精神，去开辟中日关系充满希望的春天。     

Reform: intergovernmental relations

The Italian system of territorial government-traditionally a quite centralized one- is presently sustaining deep changes that expand the role played by sub-national governments. Tax autonomy of sub-national governments has been expanded and new legislation has devolved many of central government administrative responsibilities to regional governments, provinces and municipalities. In Italy, the growing dissatisfaction with the dismal performance of the central government and with the redistribution among regions operated through the central budget seems to be the main factor behind the reform movement.     

Behavioural and material determinants of production relations in agriculture

In this essay we develop a framework for analysing the major institutions governing the production and exchange of output and the primary factors of production in rural areas. The analysis incorporates general considerations of risk and information constraints jointly with the principal material attributes of agriculture and of agricultural production factors. The framework is used to analyse barriers to the existence of the major intertemporal and factor markets. It is applied specifically to land‐scarce environments for which it provides an internally consistent explanation for many of the well‐documented institutional features of such settings. In addition, the analysis provides new implications for, among other phenomena, the inter‐relationships among ownership holdings, operational scale, family size and factor productivity; for the scarcity of animal rental markets and use of animals as collateral; for the renting out of land by small landowners; and for the existence of plantations for certain crops.     

和睦相处增大共识--中印两国关系发展的新阶段

中印两国关系是中国发展周边国家关系中的重要关系之一.中印两国自建交以来,共同倡导了和平共处五项原则,缔结了友好关系,也经受了暂时的冲突和一度的挫折,并在关系恢复中走向成熟.时至今日,中印两国关系又有着新的发展合作的空间与领域更加广阔,在边界问题上双方已进行了三轮会晤,以期达成基本满意的方案.印度新政府继续推动中印两国长期建设性合作伙伴关系不断地发展,两国关系进入成熟与全面发展的新阶段.     

Administrative decentralisation and changing state-society relations in china

This study seeks to explain the evolution of the state and state policies under China's decentralised system by taking into consideration the political input from society and the dynamics of state-society interaction. It argues that the emergence of unorganised collective action creates an unique channel of political inputs from the society, while the diffusion of the power centre and the flattening of bureaucratic hierarchies make local leaders much more sensitive and responsive to political demands from the local populace. These two conditions together provide the basis for the state-society interaction in the reform era, leading to the collapse of the state's institutional levers of coercion (such as the commune and the brigade in rural areas and to some extent the unit or “danwei” in urban areas), resulting in new state-society relations.     

The challenge of design of intergovernmental relations in economies in transition

The governments of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union are at a crucial juncture in their movement from highly centralized command economies to more decentralized market economies. While there is a belief in these countries that decentralization brings greater economic efficiency, the reality is that such a transition is a difficult process. This paper examines what types of administrative reforms are needed for the decentralization process, how far along the countries are with respect to these reforms, and what reforms are missing. As we discuss, many of the necessary administration reforms are missing and we argue that more attention must be paid to these elements for successful decentralization of these governments.

This paper examines the recent experience and reform needs of the key administrative aspects of the design of intergovernmental relations in countries in transition in Eastern Europe and in the former Soviet Union. There is a widespread realization in all of these countries that decentralizing government will help increase efficiency in the public sector just as privatization will improve efficiency in their economies. Decentralization of government operations is also attractive as a way to cement a democratic form of government. Despite the appearances of the existence of an already decentralized system, such as in the case of the Soviet Union, this experiment started in practically all cases with a lack of institutions and experience on how decentralized government operations should be organized.

As different as these countries are, there are many similarities in the reform process they are following in order to decentralize government structure. While the basic components of a decentralized system of government are emerging in many of these countries the structure of government has not fully evolved in a manner that can support such a decentralized system. Often, governments remain structured along a vertical hierarchy: information, budgetary authority, and revenue pass from the central government down to subnational levels of government while little communication or interaction exists at a horizontal level. In general, the assignment of revenue and expenditure has not been clearly defined among the two or three levels of government, central government transfers continue to occur in a relatively ad hoc manner, and the entire budgeting system still rests in many cases on more or less formal system of negotiations and bargaining among the different levels of government. There has been some change in this structure in certain countries. Over the last three years, both Poland and Hungary have legally increased the automony of subnational governments. In 1994 in Russia a new and more transparent system of intergovernmental grants has been established between the federal government and the regions. In 1994 also, Latvia introduced a more transparent formula-driven, transfer formula for the regional and municipal governments.

The focus of this paper is to develop a “blue print” for necessary changes in organization and administration of intergovernmental relations in countries in transition. While many experts have recently been discussing the public finance policy components of this new, evolving relationship among levels of government, less attention has been paid to the structural and administrative challenges and the information design issues that must be met in order to develop and support a system of intergovernmental relations.

The paper is organized as follows: First we review the major responsibilities and their allocation among levels of government, the assignment of revenue sources, and the system of transfers. We then turn to a discussion of the current experience of Eastern European and NIS countries in the context of the structural components of an intergovernmental fiscal system. Next, we analyze the organizational reforms that are necessary for the efficient functioning of a decentralized system of government in the economies in transition. Finally we “rate” the transition economies in relation to their current design of the system of intergovernmental relations and support mechanisms.     

欧盟对外关系的动态评析

欧盟对外关系的调整，2005年初显端倪，2006年酝酿成熟，2007年充分湿现。这种调整，是在由国际格局多极化和世界经济拿球化深入发展引动的同际关系大调整的背景下发生的，是很自然和正常的。大国的对外关系都在调整，无论是中国还是美国或日本，无论足欧盟还是俄罗斯或印度。     

南奥塞梯局势与俄格关系

最近,格鲁吉亚与地方政权南奥塞梯之间的冲突一度升温.7月6日,格军警拦截并扣留了向俄驻南奥地区维和部队运输武器物资的俄军车辆;教小时后,俄和南奥维和部队还以颜色,在当地扣留了格军维和部队指挥官凯巴兹上校及与其同行的格军维和士兵;7月7日,南奥武装人员解除了该地区一格族人居住村内50名格维和士兵武装;7月8日,格政府军与南奥武装在利阿赫夫斯基峡谷发生冲突,造成2名格士兵受伤,1人被俘.     

大国关系与中国因素

今年以来,大国关系总体上仍保持平稳态势,但同时也出现了一些新的变化和调整.自"9·11"以来,以反恐为粘合剂的大国合作向传统大国关系回摆,地缘政治和多边政治因素成为大国互动的着力点.美国因素依然是大国互动的重要牵动力,同时中国因素日益成为大国关注的重点.     

The paradox of Turkish–Iranian relations in the Syrian Crisis

Abstract

Iran and Turkey have competed for regional power projection in Syria and sought through cooperation to find a peaceful end to the conflict in the Astana talks, while also at the same time confronting each other in Idlib province via proxies. This simultaneity of competition, cooperation and confrontation in the Syrian Crisis presents a picture of a relationship that is riddled with contradictions and is in effect a paradox. The question that must be asked is, how can we understand this puzzle of competition, cooperation and confrontation in Turkish–Iranian relations in the Syrian Crisis? International historical sociology (IHS) research brings in discussions on the longue durée, narratives, domestic constraints and, most important, the international which can help decipher this intellectual puzzle. Moreover, the ‘relationality’ of each country’s policies in Syria combined with IHS can help unlock the puzzle of the Turkish–Iranian relationship in the Syrian Crisis and provide insight into the debate surrounding the outbreak of war.