性别失衡下的中国农村养老及其政策启示

中国社会转型期性别失衡带来的男性婚姻挤压问题对农村养老的影响是中国人口社会可持续发展的重大问题之一。本文利用2008—2010年的三次农村人口专项抽样调查数据,从性别、年代、婚姻、区域、人口流动等多视角综合分析了性别失衡背景下农村居民的养老意愿、代际支持行为以及男性失婚对父母生活满意度的影响,并探讨了婚姻挤压对中国农村养老带来的挑战及政策建议。研究发现,男性婚姻挤压问题已经对农村养老产生了重要影响:大龄未婚男性成为打算依靠政府救济养老的主要人群;大龄未婚男性给予父母的代际支持较弱、父母的生活满意度较低。文章丰富和发展了养老研究的视角,初步识别了性别失衡给农村养老所带来的负面后果,研究有利于进一步认识性别失衡的人口社会后果,并为综合治理性别失衡问题提供现实依据。     

Gender, Policy, Politics, and Work: Feminist Comparative and Transnational Research

abstract This article reviews feminist comparative and transnational research on workplace policy, politics and the state. The first section examines a range of theoretical approaches to the topic. We then present a variety of methodologies for conducting comparative and transnational research on policy developments. Informed by a number of case studies included in the symposium, we explore the dynamics and determinants, both national and supranational, of policy formation and its impacts. Finally, we tease out the implicit and explicit notions of gender equity for future policy analysis.     

Gender Stereotypes and the Policy Priorities of Women in Congress

Political Behavior - Scholars find that women who run for Congress are just as likely to win as men are, yet women face considerable challenges related to their sex on the campaign trail. Women are...     

Learning about Learning: Discovering the Work of Policy

The development of policy rests on skilled practice by knowledgeable practitioners – ‘policy work’ – and it is important to know what skills and knowledge this work calls upon, and where these are learned. Although there is substantial academic knowledge and courses in this field, many practitioners will argue that policy work is ‘as much an art as a science’ and is something that ‘you learn as you go’. This article reports on an exploratory study of policy practitioners’ accounts of their practice, what counts as knowledge, and in what contexts it is ‘useful’. We examine the discourses through which policy work is accomplished, the way in which people learn to do it, and the place of academic work in the constitution of these discourses. Drawing on our respondents understanding of policy practice, we discuss what more might be done to facilitate learning about the work of policy.     

Government with a Cast of Dozens: Policy Capacity Risks and Policy Work in the Northern Territory

There are a number challenges to maintaining high‐quality policy capacity in sparsely populated areas such as Australia's Northern Territory (e.g. natural resource dependent economy, prominence of Indigenous issues, provision of local services). Moreover, the Territory government has recently been undergoing a host of public sector changes. This paper utilises survey methodologies of policy workers that were recently developed in Canada and examines nine risk factors to policy work. A survey of 119 policy workers in the Northern Territory was conducted in 2013. The analysis examined four key policy‐work areas (policy activities, barriers, areas for improved policy capacity, nature of change in work environment). The survey findings offer some practical insights for managers. Formal policy‐work training is recognised as critical. Policy capacity may be increased through better inter‐departmental (and potentially inter‐governmental) cooperation and information sharing, more opportunities to engage with non‐governmental stakeholders, and more opportunities for those leaving the full‐time Northern Territory policy workforce to continue to contribute. From a conceptual point of view, the extent to which ‘policy capacity’ as commonly conceived in the literature is applicable to contexts, such as Australia's Northern Territory, warrants further examination.     

The Postcapitalist Transition: Policy Implications for the Left

The postcapitalism thesis asserts that open source and collaborative non-profit organisations represent a new, non-market sector in which the profit motive and monetary exchange no longer drive economic activity; in Marxist political economy terms, they are a new means for suppressing the law of value . Information technology has produced four systemic dysfunctions, limiting capitalism’s ability to function as a complex adaptive system: the zero marginal cost effect, the tendency to delink work from wages, positive network effects, and information asymmetries. In response, in addition to the traditional remedies of social democracy for a stagnant neoliberal economic model, left parties must adopt a programme of transition: aggressively breaking up technological monopolies; promoting universal basic income and basic service solutions; outlawing rent-seeking business models; and promoting data democracy.     

Policy Diversity and Policy Learning in a Federation: The Case of Australian State Betting Law

A case study of the evolution of gambling laws in Australiais the vehicle for an analysis of changing patterns of diversityand uniformity in state policies. A pattern of diverse responsesto the gambling problem in 1930–1960 is explained as theexpression of distinctive state political and other factors.In accounting for the rapid adoption from 1960 of a uniformpolicy in each of the states, explanations are sought both inthe changing nature of these differences and in the interactiveeffects of membership in a federal polity. Particular attentionis paid to the role of "policy learning" among the states andto the "domino effect" of state-by-state adoptions. It is concludedthat such "federal effects" can account for diversity givingway to uniformity in outputs, and that this uniformity doesnot imply a rejection of underlying rationales for federalism.     

European Gender Mainstreaming: Promises and Pitfalls of Transformative Policy1

abstract Gender mainstreaming requires a radical redefinition of policy values and practices. This initial discussion explores the way the mainstreaming approach attempts to change the definitions of the situation so that equality in gender relations becomes an element at the point of departure. Factors that may affect whether gender mainstreaming will become an institutional innovation include the extent to which there is a commitment to a gender mission, the level of sophistication in terms of gender and policy issues in the administrative setting, the level of resistance to gender equality, and the extent to which gender experts play a role. This article investigates the role of these contextual factors as related to experiences in the European Union Commission and several states in Northern Europe.     

Understanding the Policy Process: The Work of Henry Mintzberg

Do Henry Mintzberg's writings make an enduring, invaluable contribution to our understanding of the contemporary public policy process? Mintzberg argues that organizations display eight structural configurations and corresponding coordinating mechanisms. Such structural configurations are shaped by a variety of contingency factors, especially power and environmental ones. Using Mintzberg's work, eight policy modes, corresponding to structural configurations within government organizations and political systems, are identified and placed on a matrix that comprises two dimensions: standardization and centralization. Six polarities in the policy process arise from this matrix. Mintzberg's work, the paper argues, remains of enduring value because it provides a seminal framework for a richer understanding of the current policy process, by offering a contingency theory of structures and policy modes, as well as by frank acknowledgment of the protean nature of the policy process.     

Hospital Waiting Lists in British Columbia: Evidence and Policy Implications

This study reports the results of a survey of specialist physicians practicing in British Columbia. The survey identifies the extent to which patients are waiting for hospital treatments and attempts a rough quantification of the costs to the provincial economy associated with the rationing of health care. The identifiable costs associated with reduced productivity should be weighed against the resource savings gained from rationing access to the health care system.     

Unintended Consequences: Implications of the 2014 Australian Defence Force Pay Deal

The Workplace Remuneration Arrangement agreed between the Australian Government and the Australian Defence Force (ADF) provides for a 4.5% pay over 3 years for ADF personnel. This article makes use of the concept of the psychological contract to argue that this pay deal represents a breach of the Australian Government's obligations towards ADF personnel that is likely to have unintended consequences for their long‐term commitment to their ADF careers.     

Globalization, Gender, and Work: Perspectives on Global Regulation

abstract This article proposes a working definition of globalization, which, although recognizing power asymmetries and risks, focuses on the changing options of actors. I link globalization to the options of diverse actors such as feminist networks and supranational and state institutions and enterprises. These options are related to resources, power, and capacities. The United Nations Decades of Women provided a dramatically opening opportunity structure for the global women's movement that could enlarge and diversify their options. They had developed a common charter while respecting differences and capacities for global orientation. Finally, I illustrate the argument by looking at processes of feminist regulations, which were negotiated by women's movements in Japan and Germany. Both cases suggest that negotiations and regulations in the global context are possible from an asymmetric position and that innovative capacities for transnational and global orientation and horizontal organization are crucial. Further research is necessary on innovative and egalitarian forms of regulation in globalization.     

民众表达行动的转型及其政策含义——以G县企业军转干部为例(2000-2007年)

军转干部与农民群体属于不同的社会群体,但两者的表达行动十分相近。在行动之前,往往选择沉默或"和平性行动";然后,选择"施压性行动";最后,走向"合法合理性行动"。军转干部何以起而表达并持续行动,可以从"结构"、"动员"与"文化"的综合模型得到解释。他们的行动并非反体制、反社会,因此并不足畏、也不必畏。他们的行动并没有产生诸如骚乱之类的严重后果,相反出现了理性化转型。其中原因,既有行动者个人尤其是其组织的自我约束,更有政府学习能力的快速提升以及政策调整的到位。确立弹性而动态的稳定观,将民众的日常表达行为及其组织正式立法,乃是谋求社会政治稳定的应有选择。     

Managing Nanotechnology Risks in Vulnerable Populations: A Case for Gender Diversity

Funded by the National Science Foundation and the National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network (NNIN), this study asks qualitatively analyzes interviews with 48 nanoscientist users at four NNIN facilities. The main research questions were: (1) Do nanotechnologies pose unique social and ethical concerns?; (2) how are the risks associated with nanotechnology distributed among different human populations?; (3) what are specific policy steps that can be used to manage such risks? This study purposefully oversampled female scientists to correct for the historical underrepresentation of women in the nanotechnology workforce. By amplifying the voice of this science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) workforce minority, the policy discussion contained herein better reflects the concerns of the general population. The results, analyzed with the aid of qualitative data analysis software, yield interesting differences in risk characterization among the scientists and innovative policy suggestions for the nanoscience community and regulators alike.     

Work Sharing Policy: Power Sharing and Stalemate in American Federalism

Work sharing benefits are partial unemployment benefits, andfederal policy related to them is in an administrative muddle.A lack of leadership by the federal government has stalled stateimplementation. During economic downturns when political voltageis high, policy makers look to work sharing as one way to managejob loss. Conversely, work sharing is often forgotten duringprosperous times. This article describes how federalism sometimesfacilitates state initiation of work sharing policy and at othertimes impedes it. The authors discuss work sharing through sixpolicy phases during a thirty-year era of devolving federalauthority to states for employment services and job training,and they make observations about the stalemate in federal policy.     

Gender Analysis and Community Consultation: The Role of Women's Policy Units

Community consultation has become a widely accepted part of policy development in Australia. In this article, we consider how, in an Australian context, consultation can be incorporated within gender analysis processes. Gender analysis refers to systematic procedures to detect and correct gender bias in the full range of government programs, projects and policies. We draw upon insights from a qualitative case study to argue that policy workers located within women's policy units could play a key role in designing and coordinating meaningful and inclusive consultation. We conclude that well‐resourced women's policy offices within Australian governments are essential to ensuring effective, equitable consultation exercises are included within gender analysis processes.