“加强政党交往，推动塞中两国友好合作”——采访塞内加尔负责国际和人道主义事务的部长，民主党指导委员会委员、外事书记马马杜·拉明·巴

记者：您此次访华的主要目的是什么？希望通过这次访问取得哪些成果？ 拉明·巴：我们此次访华是应中国共产党的邀请，目的是加强塞内加尔民主党与中国共产党的政治合作。自从中塞两国复交以来，塞内加尔民主党就希望能与塞内加尔政府一道通过加强政党交往，推动塞中两国友好合作。     

日本小学生的“战争预言”

一个日本的小学教师给他的学生布置了这样一道历史题：“日本跟中国每一百年就打一次仗，19世纪打了日清战争（即甲午战争），20世纪打了一场日中战争（即抗日战争），21世纪如果跟中国开火，你认为大概是什么时候？可能的远因和近因在哪里？如果日本赢了，赢在什么地方？输了，又输在什么地方？分析之!”     

拨亮山区小学英语教师心灯的人

“罗慧慧在全国信息技术与课程整合展示中获得一等奖了!又在中央电教馆组织的多媒体大赛中获得一等奖了……”郧县小学英语教师获奖的喜讯接踵而来。一个偏僻落后的山区县缘何在不到两年的时间里．小学英语能荣获省级以上大奖27项？     

站在苦恼里仰望幸福

“还不去听英语!”妈妈又对着我大声地喊道。“听什么听啊，我今天不是已经听过两遍了？”我厌烦地反诘。“听过两遍就不能听了？明天就要考试了，多听一遍会死吗!”妈妈有点被激怒了。     

麻生上台后的日本政局及其对华政策

2008年9月22日，在日本首相福田康夫宣布辞职3周后，日本自民党举行总裁选举，前干事长麻生太郎高票当选。这是自民党两年内的第三次总裁选举，也是两年内出现的第四位总裁。无论是日本国内，还是国际舆论，普遍关心与之相关的系列问题：两位前任安倍和福田的政权寿命都是一年，面对已坐拥参议院多数的反对党强有力挑战，麻生政权的前途命运又将如何？他的上台对于日本政坛及其内外政策又将产生哪些影响？     

兰花泡沫的破灭

问题一，如果你家附近有一家餐厅，东西又贵又难吃，桌上还爬着蟑螂，你会因为它很近很方便，就一而再再而三地光临吗？回答：谁那么笨，花钱买罪受？     

芝加哥的靴子

这是什么？2006年6月的一天，芝加哥格兰公园的草地上，我非常惊讶。一双双黑色的大皮靴子，整整齐齐排列着。草地有两个足球场那么大，靴子黑压压的，一大片，少说也有上千双。这些年，我看多了五花八门的现代派艺术，怪诞异常，在这里，又会翻出一个什么新的花样呢？我好奇地走了过去。     

从布什总统中东之行，看2008年中东热点问题的走向

2008年新年伊始，布什总统对中东7国进行了8天访问。临行前，布什表示，中东之行有两个目的，一是督促巴以加快落实安纳波利斯中东和会达成的协议，争取双方能在其任内达成和平协议。二是说服中东地区亲美国家组建反对伊朗联合阵线，遏制伊朗在地区的势力扩张。布什高调中东之行能否摆脱美在中东的困境？对地区热点问题的走向又会产生什么影响？值得密切关注。     

看点

唐代才女鱼玄机缘何沦为荡妇，傻瓜皇帝司马衷与恶毒皇后贾南风，二十四孝之《乳姑不怠》，司马昭之心，路人皆知又如何     

奥巴马当政一年话得失

奥巴马总统当政一年了。他接受了前任留下的一场危机、两场战争，也可以说是临危授命。他在竞选中高举变革的旗帜，许下了许多诺言，这些承诺在头一年里兑现得怎样？在他上任一年之际，我们来进行一个大致的盘点。     

Power and transformational and transactional leadership in public and private organizations

Ten public and 35 private organizations located in Central New York State participated in a university- sponsored research project to study the effects of organizational characteristics upon types of leadership (transformational/transactional) and power demonstrated by supervisors. Public sector organizations in which managers had low control over rewards were compared to private sector organizations in which managers had high control over rewards.

Followers perceived public sector supervisors as more inspirational by their followers and they used more active management-by-exception behavior than those in private organizations. Private sector supervisors had more reward, legitimate and coercive power than supervisors in public sector organizations.     

Russian stereotypes and myths of Ukraine and Ukrainians and why Novorossiya failed

This article discusses two inter-related issues. Firstly, the factors lying behind Russia's fervent belief that its Novorossiya (New Russia) project, aimed to bring back to Russia eight oblasts of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kharkiv, Dnipro, Zaporizhhya, Odesa, Mykolayiv, and Kherson in eastern and southern Ukraine and launched during the 2014 “Russian Spring,” would be successful. Russian identity misunderstood, and continues to misunderstand, Ukraine and Ukrainians through stereotypes and myths of Ukraine as an “artificial state” and Ukraine's Russian speakers as “fraternal brothers” and Russians and Ukrainians as “one people” (odin narod). Secondly, why Ukrainian national identity was different than these Russian stereotypes and myths and how this led to the failure of the Novorossiya project. Russian stereotypes and myths of Ukraine and Ukrainians came face to face with the reality of Russian-speaking Ukrainian patriotism and their low support for the Russkij Mir (Russian World). The article compares Russian stereotypes and myths of Ukraine and Ukrainians with how Ukrainians see themselves to explain the roots of the 2014 crisis, “Russian Spring,” and failure of Russian President Vladimir Putin's Novorossiya project.     

Natural Resources and Small Island Economies: Mauritius and Trinidad and Tobago

Abstract

Historically, small economies, especially resource-rich ones, underperformed on average relative to their larger counterparts. Small island economies appear still more disadvantaged due to remoteness from both markets and agglomeration economies. Yet a comparison of two small island economies with similar initial conditions other than their mineral endowment suggests that policy outweighs size, isolation and resource endowment in determining economic performance. Resource-poor Mauritius adopted an unfashionable policy of export manufacturing that systematically eliminated surplus labour, which drove economic diversification that sustained rapid GDP growth and political maturation. Like most resource-rich economies, Trinidad and Tobago pursued policies that absorbed rent too rapidly, which impeded diversification and created an illusory prosperity vulnerable to collapse.     

Country size and economic growth and development

This paper attempts to provide limited empirical evidence on the nature of the relationship between country size and rates of economic growth and levels of economic development, and on the possible effects of trade concentration and dependence on trade on this relationship. It suggests that there is no discernible association between country size and economic development, nor between country size and economic growth, and that neither the dependence on trade of small countries nor their commodity and geographic export concentration are necessarily important factors in economic growth and economic development.     

Government and Corruption: Scylla and Charybdis

Using public sector employment and corruption perception data for 72 countries across the world, this article demonstrates that despite common notion countries with “smaller” governments do not tend to have lower corruption. Under general assumptions, one can demonstrate that there is an optimal size of public sector employment corresponding to the highest capital intensity. The model has several implications: lower optimal sizes of governments for labor intensive countries and higher sizes for capital intensive ones, possibility to reduce corruption paying a cost of suboptimal output, and a higher “price” of an oversized government for labor intensive countries.     

“两抢”犯罪的趋势与防控

根据最近16年的统计数据，我国“两抢”犯罪总体呈上升态势，且出现多方面的特点。当前，影响“两抢”犯罪变化趋势的因素主要有：社会管理机制完善的程度、社会成员之间收入的差距、“两抢”犯罪主体特点、社会成员的防范意识以及公安机关的防控机制等。预防“两抢”犯罪需要整个社会尤其是公安机关的共同努力。     

现代化与未成年人犯罪

未成人犯罪随着现代化的发展而发展，这可以说是一种国际现象。在现代化进程中，我国未成年人犯罪大量增多的原因在于：未成年人生理、心理发展不平衡，家庭教育存在缺失，学校教育存在不足，社会上存在着很多消极因素。在现代化进程中，必须采取有效对策，控制未成年人犯罪增多，才能保障未成年人健康成长。     

Earnings and ethnicity in Trinidad and Tobago

This study employs 1993 Continuous Sample Survey of the Population (CSSP) data for Trinidad and Tobago to investigate the determinants of earnings by ethnicity. The data, organised into three ethnic groupings, reveal lower levels of remuneration in the labour market for Africans and Indians than for individuals of other ethnicities taken as a whole. While the larger portion of the earnings differentials generally appears to be explained by ethnic differences in characteristics valued by the labour market, Africans and Indians would benefit substantially if they were to receive the same rates of remuneration for their educational endowments as workers of other ethnicities in the Trinidad and Tobago labour market. Notwithstanding Indians’ lowest average earnings, Africans appear more likely to be discriminated against.