Challenging Privatization: A Conceptual and Theoretical Argument

This is the second of a three-part polemic against the destruction of state owned enterprises in China (the first, “Against Privatization: A Historical and Empirical Argument”, is published in JCPS 13:1, 2008). It critically examines the ideology of privatization and argues for alternative guidelines of reform. The central contention is that a healthy market economy does not require domination of private property; rather it relies on apposite political-legal-ideological power and regulatory-monitoring regimes of accumulation and distribution socially legitimated within a given public culture. Rejecting the fallacies of ownership determinism and precision requirement on property rights for morality and efficiency, this essay clarifies distinction between the notion of exclusive properties and the vision of their socialized utility and management. Justifications for reforming state and private sectors alike in accordance with a unifying commons of social defense and feasibilities of innovative reform measures and policy proposals in that direction, will be elaborated in a third essay titled “Overcoming Privatization: A Strategic and Institutional Argument”.

Tackling unemployment in China: state capacity and governance issues

Abstract

This paper considers China's state capacity and changing governance as revealed through its policies to tackle unemployment. Despite high levels of growth, economic restructuring has resulted in rising unemployment over the last decade. The Chinese state has been able to manage job losses from state enterprises, demonstrating some state capacity in relation to this sector and some persistent command economy governance mechanisms. However both design and implementation of policies to compensate and assist particular groups among the unemployed have been shaped by weak state capacity in several other areas. First, capacity to gather accurate employment data is limited, meaning local and central governments do not have a good understanding of the extent and nature of unemployment. Second, the sustainability of supposedly mandatory unemployment insurance schemes is threatened by poor capacity to enforce participation. Third, poor central state capacity to ensure local governments implement policies effectively leads to poor unemployment insurance fund capacity, resulting in provision for only a narrow segment of the unemployed and low quality employment services. Although the adoption of unemployment insurance (and its extension to employers and employees in the private sector), the introduction of a Labour Contract Law in 2007, and the delivery of employment services by private businesses indicate a shift towards the use of new governance mechanisms based on entitlement, contract and private sector delivery of public-sector goods, that shift is undermined by poor state capacity in relation to some of these new mechanisms.     

Ideas and agency in immigration policy: A discursive institutionalist approach

Political science literature tends to depict the role of ideas in policy in two distinct ways: as strategic tools mobilised by agents to achieve pre‐given preferences; or as structures imposing constraints on what is considered legitimate or feasible. Discursive institutionalism seeks to combine these insights, suggesting that while actors are indeed constrained by deeply entrenched ideas, they nonetheless enjoy some autonomy in selecting and combining ideas. This article seeks to further develop this approach in two ways. First, it identifies three discursive strategies through which policy actors can selectively mobilise ideas: they may foreground one level over others; exploit ambivalence in public philosophies; or link programme ideas over time by invoking ‘policy legacies’. Second, the article elucidates the mechanisms through which such strategic selections can in turn modify existing public philosophies and programme ideas, thereby influencing policy change. These claims are examined by comparing discourse on immigration policy liberalisation in Germany and the United Kingdom between 2000 and 2008. Evidence is found of all three discursive strategies. Moreover, the article shows how, in the German case, these discursive representations led to longer‐term adjustments in underlying programme ideas and public philosophies on immigration.     

The ‘third way’ and the politics of law and order: Explaining differences in law and order policies between Blair's New Labour and Schröder's SPD

Advocating more repressive law and order policies along the slogan ‘tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime’ in their election manifesto, Tony Blair in the United Kingdom and Gerhard Schröder in Germany were elected in the late 1990s. Once in power, however, only New Labour substantially toughened law and order policies, whereas the German Social Democrats did not change the legal status quo, to a similar extent, during their mandate. This article tackles this puzzle, arguing that the preferences of the ministers and the formal and informal rules shaping the balance of power in government are crucial to understanding why two governments that initially advocated similar policies adopted a rather different policy stance. The results are based on meticulous process tracing and a series of elite interviews concerning two major topics in the realm of law and order during the 1990s: policies directed at sexual offenders, and policies responding to the terrorist attacks of 9/11.     

公共政策绩效损失的实证分析--以G省农业水价综合改革政策为例

绩效管理的核心目的是改进绩效,而绩效损失这一分析视角业已成为审视绩效生产与绩效提升的一个重要维度。以G省农业水价综合改革政策为例,对“治理缺陷型”和“价值偏离型”两类绩效损失的生成机理与影响因素进行分析。研究发现:两类绩效损失是在公共政策组织管理系统和公共价值建构系统中交互形成的,其公共价值因素与组织管理因素相互影响,共同作用于整体绩效损失的生成;其中,社会价值建构缺失构成了整体绩效损失生成的逻辑起点。此外,在绩效损失的生成过程中,经济发展水平和自然区位要素与其他影响因素耦合互动,并对绩效损失产生“放大效应”。未来应进一步开展相关的定量研究以探索绩效损失形成的关键区域,并提出具有针对性与可行性的矫正策略和治理路径。     

中国PPP政策工具选择及其选择模式研究——基于中央政策的文本分析

为深入了解我国PPP政策工具选择现状,基于政策工具视角,采用文本内容分析方法,以中央政府层面(2013-2017年)颁布的PPP政策文本为分析对象,从政策工具、政策目标、项目生命周期三个维度构建了PPP政策三维分析框架。研究发现:PPP政策工具选择偏好明显,在基本政策工具维度上偏重环境型政策工具,政策目标维度偏重PPP模式推广和合作环境营造,项目生命周期维度偏重项目采购与执行;PPP政策工具选择模式明显,具体表现为两种模式四条路径。     

Universities and State Policy Formation: Rationalizing a Nanotechnology Strategy in Pennsylvania

Technology‐based economic development programs have become a salient feature of the state policy landscape since the 1980s. While much research exists on the topic, little attention has been given to the processes of policy formation. State programs have moved towards high technology areas emphasized at the federal level over the past decades, and nanotechnology became one of the latest targets. This paper examines the eight‐year process through which Pennsylvania adopted a “state‐wide strategy,” culminating in the Pennsylvania Initiative for Nanotechnology. In this process, programs that responded to the interests of multiple agents came first, and a state policy was formulated after the fact. This pattern of “rationalized policy formation,” as opposed to rational policy formation, may be more common than suspected. Its strengths and weaknesses in this Pennsylvania case are discussed.     

Equality and Human Rights Commission: A Decade in the Making

This article traces the origins of the Commission over the decade before it opened its doors in October 2007, and the contentious debates and political trade-offs which led to its emergence in its current form; a history which throws light on the challenges it now faces. Inclusion of human rights in a 'single equality body', concessions on disability, the promise of a single Equality Act and the Commission's third arm, community relations, were major fault lines in debates complicated by devolution and fragmentation of responsibility in Whitehall but strengthened by an unusual degree of engagement with external stakeholders and by the scrutiny of the Joint Committee on Human Rights in Parliament. The outcome extends beyond establishment of a Commission with a powerful mandate. A process that began with separate equality interests competing to ensure their constituency did not lose out, fostered enthusiasm for collaboration to achieve the vision of society the Commission is tasked, by S3 Equality Act 2006, to deliver.'     

Agenda Setting in Emergent R&D Policy Subsystems: Examining Discourse Effects of the 21st Century Nanotechnology Research and Development Act

The literature on government responsiveness to societal issues is extensive but provides a mixed assessment of effectiveness. We examine this issue in the case of policy addressing effective and safe management of research and development in the emerging field of nanotechnology. Specifically, we examine the agenda setting effects of the 21st Century Nanotechnology Research and Development Act (the Act), a piece of legislation designed to be implemented by a network of actors in the nanotechnology research and development policy subsystem. We adopt a public values lens in our examination of discourse related to societal concerns. Policy documents from Congress, an agency, and federal funding recipients are examined. Findings suggest a narrowing of public values discourse around more specific societal concerns in the documents crafted after the Act was passed.     

百年以来中国共产党推进国家现代化的历史演进——基于概念史研究的论析

推进国家现代化是百年以来中国共产党孜孜以求的奋斗目标。为应对资本主义现代化的冲击,中国共产党在长期的革命斗争中逐渐明晰:现代化之于中国的首要意义在于改变落后挨打的命运,赢得国家独立,迎接现代化成为先进政党改变落后国家状态的战略选择。新中国成立后,中国共产党最初将现代化定义为工业化,将其作为摆脱贫穷落后面貌的根本途径,并在探索中逐步明确和丰富了“社会主义现代化”的发展目标与基本内涵,开启了追赶世界现代化的征程。党的十八大以来,中国共产党人愈加自信,“社会主义现代化”就是要实现中华民族的伟大复兴和人民对美好生活的向往,而中国式现代化道路也是可以引领世界现代化前进方向的中国智慧。     

Security Sector Reform from a Policy Transfer Perspective: A Comparative Study of International Interventions in the Palestinian Territories,Liberia and Timor-Leste

Security sector reform (SSR), targeting security forces and their management and oversight institutions, has become a major feature of international peace- and statebuilding activities. The article draws on policy transfer research to assess substantive and procedural changes in how international actors intervene in the security governance of fragile or post-conflict states. By comparing transfer processes in Liberia, Timor-Leste and the Palestinian Territories, the article shows that despite variations across political, economic and strategic factors in each domestic context, external SSR interventions showed distinct similarities. SSR interventions expanded their substantive scope over time; less directly coercive mechanisms of persuasion and socialization increasingly replaced the direct imposition of external models of security governance; and the influence of domestic elite actors on transfer processes increased over the duration of interventions.     

Toward a Model of International Environmental Action: A Case Study of Japan's Environmental Conversion and Participation in the Climate Change Environmental Regime

This article explains the empirical puzzle of Japan's green conversion from an environmental pariah to a leading player in the climate change environmental regime. My argument is that Japan pursued environmental action to reconstruct its international image and demonstrate itself to be a responsible global actor. Claiming that existing explanations fall short, I delineate an international environmental action model that incorporates a more comprehensive cost–benefit framework examining both real and ideational factors. To test the model, I examine four key episodes of Japan's participation in the climate change environmental regime. The empirical analysis reveals the relevancy of the environmental action model, as all four episodes are either fully or partially explained by the model's mechanisms. Finally, I provide some conclusions, suggest that this model fills in the gap in the literature on environmental foreign policy, and provide topics for future research.     

Autonomy and Control in Australian Agencies: Data and Preliminary Findings from a Cross‐National Empirical Study

This article is developed from data gathered through the analysis of a survey of ‘agencies’ at Commonwealth and Australian Capital Territory (ACT) levels of government, undertaken as the Australian component of a cross‐national empirical study of autonomy and control in non‐departmental public sector organisations. It presents preliminary findings from one part of what is potentially a very important enterprise in comparative research, along with discussion of methodological issues which need to be confronted in many such comparative exercises. The data reveal that Australia agencies have been granted more autonomy than agencies in other countries contributing to this survey, though that autonomy varies markedly across functions such as personnel management and financial management. While the article represents just a snapshot in time in agency autonomy, we believe it provides a robust baseline for future changes in the way agencies are managed in the Australian public sector.     

合作中的竞争：非营利组织与政府的新型关系

非营利组织与政府合作关系的作用已经被许多学者所重视。由于对抗关系的历史缺位,在我国非营利组织的成长过程中这种合作关系缺乏独立性,无法使政府与非营利组织建立真正的合作关系。在两者的合作中加入竞争的因素,建立一种合作中竞争的新型关系,对解决我国目前非营利组织与政府关系存在的问题起着重要的作用,并在此基础上,通过增强非营利组织的自主性,提高政府的行政效率。     

Within and beyond citizenship: alternative educational initiatives in the Arab society in Israel

In recent years, Arab-Palestinian citizens in Israel are in search of ‘a new vocabulary of citizenship’, among other ways, by resorting to ‘alternative educational initiatives’. We investigate and compare three alternative schools, each challenging the contested conception of Israeli citizenship. Our findings reveal different educational strategies to become ‘claimants of rights’, yet all initiatives demonstrate the constraints Arab citizens face while trying to become ‘activist citizens’ (E.F. Isin, 2009. Citizenship in flux: the figure of the activist citizen. Subjectivity, 29 (1), 367–388.).     

The Nature and Incidence of Workgroup Innovation in the Australian Public Sector: Evidence from the Australian 2011 State of the Service Survey

Using data from a nationally representative survey of all Australian Government employees, we explore the nature of innovation implemented at the workgroup level and assess the multi‐dimensionality of the workgroup's ‘most significant innovation’ (MSI). Of the 10222 survey respondents, 48% reported at least one innovation implemented by their workgroup, with an innovation more commonly reported with an increase in the respondent's age, seniority, and service experience; among men and university graduates. The results reveal that 54% of the reported MSIs incorporate between two and five dimensions of innovation types (policy, service, service delivery, administrative/organizational, and conceptual), and most of these dimensions reinforce each other. Different dimensions of the MSI draw on different sources of ideas (with senior leaders having the broadest impact), face different ‘revealed’ barriers, require different levels of workplace creativity, and produce different beneficial effects. Our findings help strengthen an understanding of the influencing factors and the effects of multi‐dimensional public sector innovations.     

中日韩高中生的身心健康:指标、现状及影响因素

本研究从高中生身心良好状态的前提条件入手,构建出高中生的身心健康指标体系,并运用2010年中日韩三国高中生调查数据,分析三国高中生身心健康的现状和影响因素。结果表明:三国高中生的总体状况处于中等水平,运动和睡眠难以保障;国别、学校类型、年级和学业成绩都会显著影响高中生的身心健康状况。     

对《夏商周断代工程1996—2000年阶段成果报告·简本》的质疑

《夏商周断代工程1996—2000年阶段成果报告.简本》中,除依据《尚书.召诰》的记载而得出成王元年为公元前1042年这一条是正确的外,其余论述都不够严谨,或明显是错误的,因此不可轻信。依据现存先秦文献,可以求得周武王灭纣的准确日期、西周及西周以前若干位帝王的在位年代或其元年。依据出土西周青铜器的铭文,可以求得西周某几位周王的在位年代。结合青铜器的铭文及先秦文献记载,已求得西周共和元年以前全部十位周王(武王、成王、康王、昭王、穆王、共王、懿王、孝王、夷王、厉王)的在位年代。现存先秦文献中,有唐虞夏商周历代帝王在位年代记载的唯一文献是《竹书纪年》。《竹书纪年》中,从西周初年至西周共和元年这段时间内的记载,的确已被后人篡改,因此不可置信。但除此之外,《竹书纪年》中西周共和元年以后的记载、唐虞夏商时期的记载,没有遭受后人篡改,仍基本保持着晋代出土时的原貌,因此应与《古本竹书纪年》的记载一样,是完全可信的。由以上所述可知,从唐帝尧元年(公元前2145年)至西周末年历代帝王的在位年代,都已可一一列出。因此,现在可以着手编写一册可令世人信服的《唐虞夏商周年表》了。