Political Science Research on China: Making the Most of Diversity

This article aims at stimulating debate on the future development of political science research in and on China by bringing into clearer view the diversity of social science research in the West. It argues that far from monolithic, political science is itself engaged in a broad controversy on common goals and shared standards. Secondly, addressing international students of Chinese politics the article observes that we are currently witnessing a transformation of the field as we experience a slight shift toward more quantitative work. However, those China scholars working in a qualitative tradition should not see this as a hostile takeover of the field. Rather they should take this as a stimulating opportunity to employ more refined methodologies from within their own tradition as well as engage in multi-method research. The challenge is to make the most of diversity and to engage in fruitful cross-cultural dialogue based on respect for each other’s viewpoints. Three major divides need to be bridged: between qualitative and quantitative approaches, between political science and area studies as well as between Chinese and Western scholars.     

从节目元素看新派电视交友节目的性质及功能——以《非诚勿扰》为例

本文回顾了我国电视相亲交友节目的大致发展历程,并着重对现阶段以江苏卫视《非诚勿扰》栏目为代表的新派电视交友节目的元素进行了分析和解构,即娱乐元素、“真人秀”元素、话题性元素、情感元素、服务元素以及表演元素,以此为基础,文章对这类节目的性质与功能进行了初步界定。     

论风险社会中的决策

在工业社会中,政治的文明化和科学技术的进步意味着人的一切理性化的行动都是在决策的前提下进行的。民主决策和科学决策是两种基本的决策模式,特别是在20世纪得到了自觉的建构,成为成熟的决策模式。这两种决策与工业社会中普遍存在的社会化大分工是一致的,都是专门性的活动。民主决策表现为政治精英和社会治理专家的职业活动,而科学决策则属于政策科学家的专业活动。因而,都存在决策者与执行者相分离的问题。与一切社会活动一样,专业化使决策显示出优势,但在风险社会中,也就是在社会的高度复杂性和高度不确定性条件下,这种分离则会使决策脱离实际和出现时间滞后等问题。因此,我们主张一种新型的行动中的决策。行动中的决策是一种即时决策,行动者既是决策者也是执行者,是决策与执行的统一化。     

Making Up the Government's Mind: Agenda Setting in a Parliamentary System

One of the most important aspects of policymaking in any political system is the pre-decision stage at which a potentially wide range of concerns and preferences are fashioned into some actionable list of proposals or a recognizable hierarchy of priorities. As well as indicating which concerns may dominate the thinking of officials who will later take formal decisions, it is at this early stage of policy development that non-government elites and other key actors may succeed or fail in their attempts to exercise significant power and influence (Schattschneider 1960; Downs 1972; Lukes 1974).     

简评洋务派的中体西用论

本文从社会背景、目的、实践与对维新运动的影响、理论等五方面对洋务运动的中体西用论进行分析,最后得出中体西用论一定程度地推动了中国的近代化,但不能从根本上改变中国的落后面貌的见解.     

中国医疗卫生体制改革的政策议程分析

公共政策议程研究是西方政策研究领域中一个新兴的研究热点。20世纪70年代以来,西方学者基于西方政治体系中的政策实践总结归纳出了政策议程的很多准入条件和模型。而中国学者在议程问题的研究上还处于萌芽阶段,基于本国实践的同类研究不仅数量稀少,而且解释的力度和系统性都欠缺。约翰·金顿（John·Kingdon）的多源流分析框架为基础对我国医疗卫生体制改革的政策议程有现实的指导意义。     

Making a Crisis out of a Drama: The Political Analysis of BSE Policy-Making in the UK

Political analysis presents the episode of BSE (bovine spongiform encephalopathy) as a crisis, a policy failure and a policy disaster, revealing fundamental problems with the political and administrative system in the UK. Associated with this finding is the view that trust in government has been damaged by the failure to communicate fully the potential risks to the public of eating beef. These conventional judgements are challenged here, on the basis of an exploration of the episode, the findings of the official inquiry into BSE, and the relationship between risk and trust. I conclude that the drama over BSE and variant Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease does not amount to a crisis, a failure or a disaster, and cannot serve as a critique of the UK political system. Instead, the complexity of the case suggests that it is an intractable policy problem.     

Making the most of the best: Formulating a knowledge management strategy for a government advisory body

‘Well, there seems to be a growing consensus among companies doing knowledge management that the correct focus should be neither on the individual nor the enterprise, but instead on some grouping of people who share common context, stories and passion, around a subject’ (Larry Prusak).¹ What do you get when some 20 people meet every three or four months, each one at the top of their respective fields and from different organisations and with different backgrounds, in different cities around Australia? In the case of the Family Law Council you get scintillating intellectual pyrotechnics, sharing of insights and even, in a typically understated Australian way, passion. The Family Law Council (the Council) is a government advisory body. Advisory bodies have two primary functions: to provide expert and representative advice in an increasingly specialised and complex social environment; and to open up channels of communication between government and the people (Hughes 1995). This article examines how the tools and analytical techniques of knowledge management (KM) can add value to the two primary functions of the Council. Drawing on the conceptual framework of KM, and on the basis that the Council forms a knowledge system, this article will examine the workings of the Council. It will look at its statutory role, environmental background and logistics, in order to propose a KM strategy adapted to its specific circumstances. And it will, where appropriate, illustrate points with discussions based on methodologies and case studies from the flourishing academic field of KM.     

Jiwei Qian,The Political Economy of Making and Implementing Social Policy in China

Journal of Chinese Political Science -     

Making monsters

His research centers on extreme techniques of influence and social control. He shared in a 1979 Pulitzer prize for an exposé of Synanon. Among his other books are Interpersonal Behavior in Small Groups;and Utility and Choice in Social Interaction.