Challenges and Opportunities Facing Nonprofit Organizations

Books reviewed in this article:
Lester M. Salamon (ed.), The State of Nonprofit America
Peter Frumkin, On Being Nonprofit: A Conceptual and Policy Primer
Paul C. Light, Pathways to Nonprofit Excellence     

Winnowing in Environmental Policy: Jurisdictional Challenges and Opportunities

While scholars developed an understanding of the processes moving issues from the systemic to the institutional agenda, we know little about the inner workings of the institutional agenda. Winnowing theory addresses this gap by examining the leadership, bill sponsor, and contextual factors helping bills move through the institutional agenda. By expanding winnowing theory to incorporate a fragmented policy domain, the environment, we find that multiple referral status actually helps a bill's chances of receiving attention and passing through the committee.     

Design Thinking in Policymaking Processes: Opportunities and Challenges

Design thinking has the potential to improve problem definition and mechanism design in policymaking processes. By promoting greater understanding of how citizens experience government services, design thinking can support public managers who desire to enhance public value. In Australia, as elsewhere, design thinking currently remains separated from mainstream policymaking efforts. This article clarifies the essence of design thinking and its applicability to policy development. Five design thinking strategies are discussed, all of which have lengthy histories as social science methodologies. They are (1) environmental scanning, (2) participant observation, (3) open‐to‐learning conversations, (4) mapping, and (5) sensemaking. Recent examples from Australia and New Zealand are used to illustrate how these strategies have been incorporated into policymaking efforts. The article concludes by considering how design thinking might be more broadly applied in policymaking, and the training and resourcing requirements that would entail.     

机遇与挑战:自媒体时代的高校思想政治教育研究

自媒体时代给高校思想政治教育带来了发展机遇,同时也带来了新的挑战。采用了文献资料法等方法对自媒体时代高校思想政治教育中存在的机遇与挑战进行分析,旨在通过对自媒体时代高校思想政治教育的问题和发展机遇分析,提出自媒体时代高校思想政治教育发展的对策。     

合同制治理:城市治理面临的机遇与挑战

由新公共管理运动引发的政府治理方式的重要变革之一,是政府的公共政策和公共行政将越来越依靠合同推进.合同制治理为城市治理带来了机遇:即合同制治理可以提升城市政府管理效率,合同制治理可以带来经济利益和潜在社会收益.在合同制治理框架下我国城市治理也面临着挑战:即在合作方式选择阶段的效率与公共性的考量,在合同设计、谈判阶段的委托-代理与信息不完全,在合同执行、监管阶段的政治风险与法律责任等问题.因此,加强城市政府合同制治理能力建设重在:确保市场主体的充分竞争,创造公平的竞争环境;设立独立的合同执行与监管机构,提高政府合同管理能力;完善相应法律制度,维护合作双方利益.     

Civil Society Actors and EU Fundamental Rights Policy: Opportunities and Challenges

This paper examines how civil society actors in the EU utilize the political and legal opportunities provided by the EU’s fundamental rights policy to mobilize against discrimination, notably racism, and xenophobia. It emphasizes the multiple enabling roles that this policy provides to civil society associations engaged in judicial activism, political advocacy, and service delivery both at the EU and Member State levels, and assesses their effectiveness. It describes several factors that hinder the implementation of EU fundamental rights policy and reviews the strategies of civil society to overcome them. It highlights the reluctance of parts of public opinion to combat ethnic prejudice, considers reactions against what at a time of crisis is perceived as a costly project of social regulation, and examines civil society responses. The data sources consist of interviews with bureaucratic and civil society actors at EU level.     

Governance in the Post‐Soviet Era: Challenges and Opportunities

In the aftermath of the Soviet Union's demise, the countries formerly comprising it embarked on massive reforms to transition from socialist to market‐driven economies. This transition also required substantial transformation of their governance systems. In this Viewpoint essay, the authors reflect on critical reforms in human resource management, ethics management, and anti‐corruption, and highlight successful initiatives in these fields. They also discuss the role of the Astana Civil Service Hub in helping the countries in the region to jointly look for solutions to common governance challenges and to learn from policies and strategies that proved effective for their peers. The authors conclude by identifying the common elements of effective public administration reforms in the post‐Soviet setting.     

积极应对经济全球化的机遇与挑战

经济全球化浪潮正以迅猛之势席卷整个世界 ,并直接影响到社会的各个方面 ,因而成为世人关注的热点。江泽民同志指出 :“经济全球化使各国的经济联系更加紧密 ,也为各国的发展提供了机遇。”但是 ,在经济全球化的进程中 ,各国的地位和处境是很不相同的。在发达国家尽享全球化‘红利’的同时 ,广大发展中国家却仍饱受贫穷落后之苦。发展资金匮乏、债务负担沉重、贸易条件恶化、金融风险增加以及技术水平的落后 ,使发展中国家总体上处于更为不利的地位。更令人担忧的是 ,当前发展中国家的经济安全和经济主权正面临着空前的压力和挑战。这不仅不…     

The Four Predicaments of American Liberalism: Challenges and Opportunities in a Presidential Election Year

The presidential campaigns of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have indicated an apparent resurgence in American liberalism. More significantly, they have underlined both the highly problematic nature of the liberal legacy within the Democratic Party and the difficulties of mobilising liberal themes in the battle of ideas that characterises the conduct of politics in the United States. The article examines the difficulty of the issue by reference to four predicaments that persistently condition the status and deployment of liberal themes. In analysing the problems of strategy, historical narrative, political positioning and ideational engagement, the study analyses the negative connotations of contemporary liberalism, the multiple limitations of liberal reform, and liberalism's deficiencies in the politics of America's core ideas. A revived liberal prospectus will depend upon the ingenuity of liberal forces in challenging the conservative ascendancy in ideational competition, and in renegotiating a public settlement of their own with the central strands of political legitimacy.     

城镇化战略:农村职业教育的发展机遇和挑战

城镇化战略中,农村富余劳动力大转移为农村职业教育带来了发展机遇和挑战。农村职业教育只有与时俱进,以创新的姿态谋求办学形式、办学层次、专业结构、师资结构的变革,成为农村富余劳动力合理有序转移的平台。既为三农服务,又推动自身发展。     

论电子政务与行政效率

电子政务已经成为各级政府转变职能,创新管理方式,提高行政能力的重要途径和手段,是全方位提高行政效率的一场革命。要从实际出发,探讨加快电子政务建设提高行政效率有效的途径。     

电子政务绩效评估：经验与途径

电子政务是在当今信息时代,政府利用先进的信息通讯技术对传统的政府组织结构和办事流程的一次再造,其核心目标旨在实现一个开放的、有回应力的、透明的、办事高效率的服务型政府。发达国家或部门(如联合国经济与社会事务部、美国)在电子政务绩效评估方面积累了很多有益的经验。而我国的电子政务绩效评估只是处于摸索和尝试期,提高我国电子政务绩效评估水平的途径:一是政府、公民、社会第三方机构共同参与电子政务的绩效评估;二是建立一套科学的电子政务绩效评估指标体系;三是电子政务绩效评估需要法律的保障。     

互联网时代廉政文化建设面临的机遇与挑战

互联网是现代社会发展的产物,廉政文化建设与互联网融合发展成为必然趋势。一方面,互联网便捷迅速的特质提高了公众参与度,为廉政文化建设提供新机遇;另一方面,互联网开放自由的特性引发价值多元,给廉政文化建设带来新挑战。因此,既要充分发挥互联网的优势,丰富和提升廉政文化建设,又要因势利导防范情绪化、娱乐化、自由化取向对廉政文化建设的消解。应加强载体建设,创新宣传模式,开发联动平台,深化网络监督,纵深推进社会主义廉政文化建设健康持续发展。     

State Agencies’ Use of Administrative Data for Improved Practice: Needs,Challenges, and Opportunities

Growing interest in the use of administrative data to answer questions around program implementation and effectiveness has led to greater discussion of how government agencies can develop the necessary internal data infrastructure, analytic capacity, and office culture. However, there is a need for more systematic research into how states find different pathways and strategies to build administrative data capacity. Drawing on interviews with almost 100 human service agency staff and their data partners, the authors examine the realities of administrative data use. They summarize the experiences of data users in order to address two main challenges: limited analytic capacity and challenges to linking or sharing data resources. The article concludes by examining a range of approaches that government agencies take to improve data quality and capacity to analyze that data.     

Policy Transfer of Branding and Reputation Management: Motivations,Challenges, and Opportunities for a Small Rural Municipality

Abstract

This paper seeks to convey a broader understanding of policy transfers between different sectors, focusing on transfers from the for-profit sector to local government. Specifically, we study the reasoning in a transfer process of branding and reputation management policy. Our case is a rural Norwegian municipality struggling to combat depopulation. This study is longitudinal. We discover that some original program elements cannot easily be transferred to the democratic context of local government. The transfer involves both interpretations and adjustments of the policy because of municipal institutional characteristics and values. The success of transfer depends here on the ability to balance the original policy with practices widely valued within the new setting.     

世博会期间大学思想政治工作的机遇和挑战

百年世博会为大学生思想政治工作带来了新的机遇。原因在于世博精神与大学精神具有内在的一致性。同时,世博会也是对大学生进行思想政治工作教育的生动课堂。世博期间广大大学生志愿者和志愿者背后的志愿者通过参与世博、服务世博、奉献世博,使他们的爱国热情得到升华,服务社会的意愿得到践行。     

加入WTO:我国廉政建设面临的机遇与挑战

加入WTO ,标志着中国社会主义经济建设将完全融入世界经济体系之中。它所产生的影响是多方面的 ,其中不可忽视的是对我党廉政建设和反腐败斗争将产生重大而深远的影响。我们要充分利用加入WTO给廉政建设带来的机遇 ,积极应对挑战 ,探索新时期廉政建设和反腐败斗争的新方法和新途径