Poor Nations, Rich Nations: A Theory of Governance

This article argues that the difference between poor countries and rich countries has to do with governance rather than resources. In emphasizing the importance of public administration in explaining economic success and failure, the author examines three general theories of governance (organizational, cultural, and structural‐functional) presented in Ferrel Heady's textbook in comparative administration. Political elasticity theory is introduced as a way to reconcile and overcome the weaknesses of these theories and to explain a number of unresolved questions in the literature having to do with decentralization, corruption, democracy, culture, and globalization, using comparative case studies (the Netherlands and Ghana, Singapore and Jamaica, and Japan and Nigeria). The implications of political elasticity theory for foreign aid are suggested at the conclusion, illustrated by a comparison of Spain and Mexico. What ties these case studies together is the heretofore unnoticed and/or unexplained fact that as countries prosper, political power takes on “rubber‐band” and “balloon” characteristics.     

“工作贫困”及其社会风险探析——以韩国青年贫困现象为例

20世纪末以来,欧美等国相继推行新自由主义的经济政策,减少国家对经济的管制,致使国家、市场、社会的关系失衡。最终出现了勤奋工作而仍然贫穷的"工作贫困"现象。韩国自1997年采取"美国式新自由主义"的发展模式后,也出现了规模庞大的"工作贫困阶层",大部分青年成为该阶层的主要组成部分;青年"工作贫困"现象具有边缘性、高学历化、综合贫困、隐形贫困等特点;如果社会保障制度继续缺位,青年"工作贫困"扩大化将会带来较大的社会风险。     

Is Democracy Good for the Poor?

Many scholars claim that democracy improves the welfare of the poor. This article uses data on infant and child mortality to challenge this claim. Cross-national studies tend to exclude from their samples nondemocratic states that have performed well; this leads to the mistaken inference that nondemocracies have worse records than democracies. Once these and other flaws are corrected, democracy has little or no effect on infant and child mortality rates. Democracies spend more money on education and health than nondemocracies, but these benefits seem to accrue to middle- and upper-income groups.     

关于贫富两极分化与财富分布失衡问题的思考

本文从方法论的角度,对我国改革开放以来有关贫富分化和财富分布失衡问题的研究,进行了评价,并提出自己在这个问题上的见解。     

我国城市贫困儿童的现状、问题及对策

我国城乡二元结构的体制,在一定程度上导致了对我国城市贫困儿童问题的忽视。笔者在对武汉、西安、福建三地调研基础上得出以下结论:我国城市贫困家庭中的儿童的生存与发展现状并不乐观。我国城市反贫困政策在儿童保护方面仍存在许多缺陷,需要进一步完善。     

Political Parties and Representation of the Poor in the American States

Motivated by recent work suggesting that low‐income citizens are virtually ignored in the American policymaking process, this article asks whether a similar bias shapes the policy positions adopted by political parties much earlier in the policymaking process. While the normative hope is that parties serve as linkage institutions enhancing representation of those with fewer resources to organize, the resource‐dependent campaign environment in which parties operate provides incentives to appeal to citizens with the greatest resources. Using newly developed measures of state party positions, we examine whether low‐income preferences get incorporated in parties’ campaign appeals at this early stage in the policymaking process—finding little evidence that they do. This differential responsiveness was most pronounced for Democratic parties in states with greater income inequality; it was least evident for Republicans’ social policy platforms. We discuss the implications of these findings for representation in this era of growing economic inequality.     

对我国城市贫困人群问题的思考

城市贫困人群问题是城市化进程中面临的重大现实问题之一。我国的城市贫困人群主要表现为城市相对贫困人群和绝对贫困人群两种类型。其产生的原因是国有和集体企业职工大量下岗失业、社会保障制度不完善、劳动力配置市场化程度不高、分配制度改革存在缺陷等等。解决城市贫困人群问题的对策,主要是健全社会保障制度、优化产业结构、发展非正规就业、转变政府公共服务职能、防止贫困的代际传递及有序引导农村富余劳动人口进城务工等。     

A Poverty of Imagination: Blaming the Poor for Inequality

Inequality in Britain today is now so deep that the top 10 per cent own 100 times more than the bottom 10 per cent, yet there is remarkably little public concern or anger about poverty. Indeed, compassion and concern for the poorest in society has actually declined in recent years due to the continued, and even increased, prevalence of the view that poverty is largely caused by laziness and lack of willpower, or is simply an unavoidable fact of modern life. Either way, many people tacitly accept that ‘the poor will always be with us’. Moreover, much of the British public believes that there are sufficient opportunities to succeed for those who try hard enough, and also that it is the middle class which actually struggles the most, economically or financially. These assumptions are highly conservative in their ideological and political implications because they limit public support for egalitarianism and extensive wealth redistribution from rich to poor.     

贫富差距对构建和谐社会的障碍及其消解

贫富差距则是当前我国最为严重的社会问题之一,对于和谐社会的构建是一个重大障碍.当前我国继续扩大的城乡差距、区域发展失衡、阶层比例失调等贫富差距现象已经对和谐社会的构建形成了多重障碍.和谐社会语境下贫富差距消解的对策包括:实现对贫富差距的控制、促进区域之间的均衡发展以及引导社会阶层的和谐共进等.     

South Africa's Poor Whites and Whiteness Studies: Afrikaner Ethnicity,Scientific Racism,and White Misery

This article introduces a new way to evaluate the political and theoretical significance of the Carnegie Commission Poor White Study conducted from 1927 to 1932 in South Africa. Building on the recent literature on whiteness and the older literature on scientific racism, I argue that the scientific language about biology and physiognomy that is usually linked to scientific racism must be brought back into conversation with the literary, historical, legal, and cultural analysis of critical whiteness studies to be a more effective scholarly rejoinder to white supremacy. Critical whiteness studies must track the institutional and professional investments in the creation of white supremacy and white nationalism through various colonial relations across geographical and territorial space. In a productive turn toward the specificity of South African history, this essay also makes claims about the nature of whiteness vis-à-vis Afrikaner and British identity that provide powerful antidotes to the historiographical obsession with autochthonous ethnic identities among white supremacists. Finally, through close attention to the actual experiences of “poor whites” a set of moral directives and knowledge claims emerge about the urgency of anti-racist research that makes this racial formation more than simply an add-on in the litany of radical projects.