Redistributive policies in decentralised systems: The effect of decentralisation on subnational social spending

This article uses cross‐national data to examine the effects of fiscal and political decentralisation on subnational governments’ social expenditures. It revisits the benefit competition hypothesis put forward by fiscal federalism research, which posits that subnational governments in decentralised countries match welfare benefit reductions by their peers to keep taxes low and avoid an in‐migration of welfare dependents. As a consequence, subnational social expenditures are assumed to plateau at similar and low levels. Using a new cross‐national dataset on social expenditures in 334 subnational units across 14 countries and 21 years, the author explores whether benefit competition causes subnational governments to converge on similar levels of social spending. The analysis reveals that as countries decentralise, subnational social spending levels begin to diverge rather than converge, with some subnational governments reducing their social expenditures and others increasing them. Furthermore, decentralisation is not likely to be associated with lowest common denominator social policies, but with more variability in social expenditure. The article also examines the effects of other macro‐level institutions and demonstrates that policy coordination influences the relationship between decentralisation and subnational social spending levels.     

Regions with regionalism? The rescaling of interest groups in six European states

In many European countries a regional or meso level of government has emerged, with significant policy responsibilities. It has been suggested that the representation of social and economic interests has not followed, so that policy communities remain state‐wide, giving ‘regions without regionalism’. This study of interest groups in six European states examines their adaptation to devolution, focusing on organisation, cognitive change and relationships. It finds there has been a regionalisation of interest representation, but it is uneven, depending on the strength of regional government, territorial identities and the interests of social actors. Business, trades unions, farmer organisations and environmental groups are all cross‐pressured on the regional question. The region is emerging in some cases as a site of interest intermediation. Territorial policy communities are emerging in some regions, but in most cases these supplement, rather than replace, state‐wide policy communities.     

Extending the “voting with the feet” proposition: the impact of local economic development actions on immigration across Mexican municipalities

Tiebout's “voting with the feet” proposition directs attention to the role of local authorities in delivering public services, and the implications of their decisions in people's choice of place of residence. Similarly, the bottom-up approach to economic development places a relevant role of local governments in promoting higher standards of living. By considering the latter, the former can be extended as citizens can choose a jurisdiction not only on the basis of a combination of taxes and public services but a broader mix of public goods. This paper analyses the effects of the fundamental features of the bottom-up or local economic development (LED) approach on population mobility among Mexican municipalities. This study finds significant evidence of a positive impact of LED elements on immigration during the period between 1990 and 2005.     

The Home Insulation Program: An Example of Australian Government Failure

The public concern surrounding the Australian Government Home Insulation Program (HIP) continues despite the abrupt termination of the program in the light of its deleterious safety consequences and fiscally wasteful management. This enduring unease has been reflected in a variety of official inquiries and reports including the Hawke Review (2010) , an inquiry by the Senate Environment, Communications and the Arts References Committee (2010), a performance audit by the Commonwealth Auditor‐General (2010) and two Departmental annual reports (DCCEE 2010; DEWHA 2010). Taking into account this body of evidence, we argue that the HIP represents an example of government failure, which, in turn, led to a range of unintended ‘human costs’ including the tragic deaths of four young installation workers. Moreover it is also argued that, in future, programs like the HIP are best administered by state/territory and local governments which are often best placed to deliver ‘on the ground’ services.     

治理类型的多样性演化与比较——求索国家治理逻辑

作为学术讨论和实践理念中的时髦词汇,治理是广大研究者关注焦点,而在此过程中其基本内涵却变得愈加模糊,这构成研究进一步深化的潜在障碍。本文基于对实践中差异明显的治理类型的理论推演和比较,避免陷入不同知识背景和研究视角下概念界定的纷争,借力类型学分析作为理论探索的切入点进而呈现治理的学术脉络及治理知识的内在秩序。展现善治、全球治理、多层次治理、互动治理、元治理与智性治理等主要治理类型的形成传播过程、理论假设、实践特点与现实影响,并通过分析各类型所隐现的治理失灵,从而客观认识治理的适应性局限,指出每一种治理类型不意味着要对其他治理模式的吞噬,其本质和共性均在包容共存的态势下求索国家治理能力和效能提升的路径,并在此基础上为定位中国国家治理战略选择的着力点提供理论依据,最后通过政治学所具有的解释的、反思的特征对各国差异化治理模式的未来研究图景做出展望。     

合作社影响下的村庄治理

村庄治理研究是目前被学者广泛关注的一个领域,合作社的研究文章也很多,但是二者结合起来研究的文章相对较少。把合作社与村庄治理联系起来研究是一种尝试。通过对目前村庄治理的变化和存在问题的分析,认为以农民为主体组织起来的合作社能够在一定程度上影响目前的村庄治理,合作社的发展会对村民自治产生一些示范效应,并可能对村庄体制内组织功能产生一些替代(经济方面)。在分析的基础上努力尝试将体制外组织资源纳入对农村治理主体的考察视野,为农村组织研究提供一个新的分析框架和思路。     

中国企业年金基金治理研究

完善的企业年金基金治理结构和健全的企业年金基金治理机制是防范企业年金基金风险和保障计划受益人利益的关键。根据中国信托型企业年金计划管理模式的特点,科学合理地阐述了我国企业年金基金治理结构,并分析了包括内部控制、托管人委托限定、信息披露和中介机构监管在内的中国企业年金基金治理机制。     

数字治理对城市政府善治的影响研究

新公共管理运动和信息技术的发展推动了城市政府治理模式的变革“,善治”成为城市政府治理模式进化的方向。同时,在信息技术和电子政务的推动下,数字治理应运而生,成为信息社会实现城市政府善治的新思路。在对城市政府善治和数字治理进行全面阐释的基础上,构造数字治理环境下城市治理主体互动模式模型、城市网络治理结构模型;结合善治和城市政府善治的基本要素,对数字治理在城市政府善治中的作用进行了深入探讨。研究表明,数字治理借助其强大的技术优势,能形成良好的网络治理结构,加固城市政府善治的合法性基础,增强城市政府的透明性与回应性,明确城市治理主体的责任性,从而能够构建有效的城市政府善治机制,成为数字时代城市政府善治的理想选择。     

测量治理：国外的研究及其对中国的启示

对治理的测量是构建经验性治理理论的基础。采用文献分析方法,首先简要介绍了国外,特别是世界银行、联合国人居署等国际组织的学者创建的测定治理的原则及指标体系,并对其获取资料和数据的调查研究方法进行了介绍。在此基础上,就中国地方治理测量指标体系的构建提出了原则性的意见,并初步设计了基层地方政府层次的治理水平测量指标体系,这为今后进一步深入研究乡镇基层地方治理发展变化奠定了基础。认为,治理理论打破了以往"政治-行政"二分法的研究取向,为政治和行政的研究与实践提供了一个更为综合的理论视野。国外学者对治理理论的价值定位和实证角度的获取资料和数据的方法也值得国内学术界借鉴。同时主张,作为一个从西方学术界引进的概念和理论,中国学者在利用这一理论来解释和分析中国的相关社会现象时要意识到其理论和测定概念指标的适用性问题。     

Ideology matters: Why decentralisation has a differentiated effect on regionalist parties' fortunes in Western democracies

This article addresses the effects of decentralisation reforms on regionalist parties' electoral strength. It takes up the debate between ‘accommodatists’ (i.e., electoral loss due to policy accommodation) and ‘institutionalists’ (i.e., electoral gain due to institutional empowerment). These effects depend on the electoral venue considered – regional or national – and on the ideological radicalism of a given regionalist party – secessionist or autonomist. This study finds that increases in the level of decentralisation are positively associated with higher scores for autonomist parties in regional elections, while they are not statistically significantly correlated with secessionist parties' electoral performances. In contrast, in national elections, decentralisation reforms seem to penalise autonomist parties more than secessionist ones. These findings are based on the analysis of a novel dataset which includes regional and national vote shares for 77 regionalist parties in 11 Western democracies from 1950 until 2010.     

论合同治理和关系治理的互补性与有效性

正式的合同治理与非正式的关系治理是互补性的。相关研究通常将关系治理和合同治理看作是可替代性的,因为信任能降低交易成本,也能够替代正式合同的刹手闸作用。研究表明:合同治理不仅不会阻止关系治理的发展或者成为关系性治理的替代者,相反,良好的、详尽的合同实际上会提升交易各方间长期的、合作性的信任关系;良好的合同缩小了与交易相关的风险范畴,并降低了其严重性,因而会鼓励和促进合作与信任关系的发展;良好的合同通过强化对有关交易的风险,如道德风险的惩罚,有助于长期交易关系的发展;关系治理也有助于合作者间发展出有关处理不确定性的柔性规则和程序,当不可预见的事件发生后,有助于合作伙伴间的相互调适,从而维持双方的交易关系,并因此提高交易效率。     

From Command Economy to Hollow State? Decentralisation in Vietnam and China

In Vietnam and China, decentralisation is a by‐product, both by default and design, of the transition to a state‐managed market economy. A dual process of horizontal and vertical decentralisation is occurring simultaneously in both the economic and political arena. There is an increasingly high level of de facto political/fiscal decentralisation, much of it occurring by default as local governing units try to meet rising demand for services. This is accompanied by the marketisation and socialisation of services such as education and health. Accompanying both of these processes is a trend towards greater ‘autonomisation’ of service delivery units, including the emergence of new ‘para‐state’ entities. Most of these decentralisation processes are the by‐product of marketisation, rather than part of a process of deliberate state restructuring in pursuit of ideals of decentralised government. The cumulative effects include a significant fragmentation of the state, a high potential for informalisation and corruption, and a growing set of performance accountability problems in the delivery of public services.