Locke, Darwin, and the American Science of Modern Virtue

American “progress” has typically been reconstructed in terms of the Lockean understanding of who we are. That “progress” is only ambiguously progress. It highlights the truth about our personal freedom, but at the expense of the truth about who we are as free and relational beings. So our Lockeanism receives and deserves Darwinian criticism—criticism from the point of view of the social animals evolutionary theory says we are. This article is a scientific prelude to our openness to a theory that incorporates what’s true about Locke, what’s true about Darwin, and more.     

从执行研究到治理的发展:方法论视角

在政策过程研究中,执行一直是最具变化同时也是最具争议的一个研究领域.相关研究"范式"经历了诸多的转变,并形成了大量的理论模式.本文对执行研究的发展进行了较为全面的梳理.其主要观点是,从"行动者-结构"的方法论视角切入,执行研究的内在发展脉络将得到一个较为清晰的解释.这一方法论分析还将有助与解释近年来在政策研究中,治理与政策网络分析的兴起.对于执行研究中长期存在的方法论冲突,一种结合治理理论的政策网络分析其实包含着某种整合性的回答.     

Australia's Progress Undefined: A Critical Review of Measures of Australia's Progress (MAP)

Indicator systems to report on concepts such as sustainability and progress have become a key policy response by governments to concerns over environmental degradation and social and economic instability. When developed by a national bureau, public service imperatives suggest that concepts such as ‘sustainability’ and ‘progress’ should be addressed without offending the ideology of political actors. We offer a case study of the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) Measures of Australia's Progress (MAP) indicator system. The ABS has chosen to avoid offering a clear definition of what progress means, or a conceptual framework linked to a definition to explain the selection of indicators. ‘Progress’, however, is a socially defined, normative concept. Such concepts cannot be understood without reference to cultural and political processes. By seeking to avoid a perception of cultural or political bias the ABS has limited MAP's capacity to measure progress. We conclude with suggestions on how MAP might be improved.     

Progress,fascism and the Last Humans

This paper re-evaluates the notion of progress in light of the trauma represented by interwar European fascism. It critically examines the widespread assumption that interwar European fascism demonstrates the illusory, or even pernicious, nature of progress. Seeing fascists as enraged crusaders against the march of history, whose aim was to impede the further rise of what Nietzsche contemptuously referred to as ‘the Last Humans,’ affords a perspective from which progress, at least in its main current, no longer appears invalidated by fascism. The criterion of democratic mass empowerment, furthermore, can usefully distinguish between two mutually exclusive notions of progress: the first, of largely Hegelian provenance, was committed to mass empowerment; the second, while intractably opposing progress as a democratic enterprise, also appropriated it for radically anti-democratic purposes, transmuting its meaning so that the Last Humans are no longer conceived as its beneficiaries but, at most, as its tools.     

Economic Freedom,Government Policy and the Trade-Off Between Equity and Economic Growth

This study investigates the role that economicfreedom plays in economic growth and in the distribution in marketincome, the role of government policy in advancingeconomic progress and in promoting income equality, and the effectthat the rate of economic progress has on thedistribution of market income. Structural and reduced formmodels are estimated that reveal that economic freedompromotes both economic growth and equity, and that there is apositive but relatively small trade-off between growth andincome inequality.     

论我国公益慈善事业管理机制的创新

伴随着经济社会领域的整体进步,我国的慈善事业步入了新的发展时期,取得了可喜的发展进步,但与转型期公益慈善事业呈井喷式发展不相适应的是,公益慈善事业的法制建设及管理机制还没得到及时的配套和完善,阻碍了公益慈善事业的发展进程。本文通过考察当前我国公益慈善事业管理机制的现状,剖析其存在的问题,借鉴发达国家公益慈善事业管理的先进理念,提出了创新我国公益慈善事业管理机制的对策建议。     

Analyzing the progress and prospects of financial inclusion in India

Taking data from Financial Access Survey, Global Findex and Reserve Bank of India bulletin, this paper tries to analyze the progress occurred and the future prospect of financial inclusion in India. Our analysis depicts that India has witnessed a quick progress in financial inclusion. Though there is long way to go to achieve the dream of universal financial inclusion, there is no doubt that tremendous progress has been achieved in the recent time. Specifically, after the implementation Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana in August 2014, much improvement has happened in opening of bank deposit accounts. Similarly, the post‐dimerization period has seen a rapid growth of digital finance in India. Despite high growth of digital transaction, digital payment among the women, rural people, elderly people, and less educated people is much less than other groups of people. The provision of good digital infrastructure to the remote area, opening of more financial literacy centers and extension of credit to the marginalized people can help to fulfill the true essence of financial inclusion in India.     

Public Financial Management Reform in South African Provincial Basic Education Departments

Since the transition to democracy in 1994, the South African government has engaged in a sustained programme of public financial management (PFM) reform across the national, provincial and local spheres of government. This study evaluates the progress of the nine provincial education departments (PEDs) in implementing the Public Finance Management Act of 1999 and explores the factors that facilitated or impeded reform. A PFM progress (PFMP) index is constructed to track each PED's performance from 1997/1998 to 2013/2014 and then used to benchmark its progress over time and relative to the education sector as a whole. The indicators comprising the PFMP index assess key PFM functions (budgeting, accounting, financial auditing and audits of performance information), financial leadership and the effectiveness of governance institutions such as audit committees. While there has been considerable progress in PFM, distinct differences in the quality and effectiveness of PFM practices across the nine PEDs remain. Stable top administrative leadership, availability of PFM skills, varying degrees of accountability and departmental capacity to establish PFM systems that conform to new accounting standards drive variances in reform outcomes. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Technical progress in bureaucracies

In this paper we raise the question whether in bureaucracies incentives are existing to implement technical progress into public goods production as it may be observed in the private sector. Therefore the well-known models of the theory of bureaucracy will be enhanced by technical progress modelled as process innovations. Depending on bureaucrats' preferences two results can be obtained: (a) If bureaucrats maximize their budget or if output or the classical production factors enter their utility function, R&D will be used efficiently due to cost reductions increasing the bureaucrats' budget or utility; (b) if bureaucrats prefer R&D as an end itself, they will use this factor like other factors by more than the efficient amount. In both cases an allocative inefficient output of the public good is produced. As a consequence society cannot benefit from gains by technical progress since net social welfare is appropriated totally by bureaucrats, even if it is increased by R&D-efforts.     

国际社会反腐败的新进展:以《联合国反腐败公约》及其实施评估为视角(下)

三、深化反腐败的国际司法和执法合作正如李昌道所指出的那样,《联合国反腐败公约》是联合国历史上第一部指导国际社会反腐败的法律文件,标志着国际社会进入通过国际合作打击腐败的新阶段,被称为"21世纪国际合作的里程碑"。《公约》在促进、便利和支持反腐败国际合作方面的主要成就如下:     

Improving the organization and management of civil service training in Zambia

This paper describes the first phase (1981-1984) of a programme being carried out by the Government of Zambia to improve the organization and management of in-service training for civil servants. General guidelines for an effective training function are outlined. These are compared to the problems of civil service training in Zambia in 1981, where responsibility was fragmented, co-ordination was poor, work concentrated on routine administration, and the background of training staff was often inappropriate. A set of recommendations was agreed for resolving these problems, including the creation of a central training directorate and a cadre of full-time training staff. The package of proposals was designed to increase accountability, improve co-ordination, improve the quality of training staff, and introduce systematic training procedures. The progress with implementing these changes is evaluated; the greatest progress was in setting up the cadre of training staff, although significant progress was also made in other areas. The paper concludes that the conditions for an effective training function have been created and that a longer-term programme to develop the new training cadre is now required. The Zambian example provides a possible model for any country thinking of introducing similar changes.     

中国现代史学发展史上的重要篇章——正确评价建国后十七年史学成就

认真辨析和总结建国后十七年史学成就,不仅关系到正确认识中国现代史学发展的道路,澄清人们存在的严重误解,而且关系到认清当前史学发展的方向。本文试从通史、断代史、专史研究的成就,对重大历史问题认识的推进,整理出版大型历史文献的巨大成绩,学科建设取得的显著进展等四个方面进行初步的总结。     

The Government's Plans for Decentralisation and Localism: A Progress Report

This article assesses progress on the coalition government's ambitious agenda for decentralisation and localism against six actions set out in the government's own guide to decentralisation. It critically examines the government's case that the previous government's centralised approach failed. The six actions cover reducing bureaucracy, community empowerment, more local control of public funding, provider diversification, more public scrutiny and stronger local accountability. The paper concludes that accountability is the most challenging and that progress is hampered by tensions between the actions and between government departments. It argues that the government needs a clearer, shared vision for localism going forward.     

历史唯物主义重建之下的民主观念

伍德把民主视为超越资本主义的一种力量。她虽然肯定在资本主义条件下,政治民主有所发展,但更为根本的是,经济并不是民主的,而是充满压迫与强制的。因此,民主的发展,必然要超出资本主义社会。为此,她对历史唯物主义的一些基本范畴进行了重新思考,包括经济"基础"与上层建筑的关系。她不同意把经济与政治视为截然分离的两个领域,而是把资本主义社会所特有的这种分离视为资本主义本身政治功能的分化。伍德的民主理论,是力图从马克思主义视角来回应当代资本主义的民主理论,与所谓的后马克思主义有着重大的差别。     

The Role of Social Scientists in Accelerating Innovation in Regenerative Medicine

The expertise of social scientists is vital in the field of regenerative medicine. By providing a comprehensive framework to include both technology and market conditions, as well as considering social, economic, and ethical values, they can inform policy decisions and influence the rate and direction of progress in new medical research. This paper deals with four potential conditions to which social science should pay special attention and assess: market conditions, technological opportunities, mechanisms of appropriability, and risk regulation of products and practices. The interplay of these factors must be understood as providing the right environment for this paradigm to progress. More empirical evidence is necessary to validate these factors in their international context, and this assigns a pivotal role to these experts.     

The Historico-poetic Materialism of Benjamin and Celan

This article explores the relationship between the historical materialism of Walter Benjamin and the poetics of Paul Celan, and claims that within Celan’s poetics, we find a form for thinking Benjamin’s Marxism beyond Benjamin. The driving force of Benjamin’s critique of historicism is the desire to free Marx’s ideas (class struggle, classless society, progress) from the empty time of progress. By attending to the “breathturns” at the heart of Celan’s, The Meridian, this article uncovers a poetic historiography grounded in Benjamin’s now-time. It is with this conception of history that Marx’s ideas can be reimagined as a historico-poetic materialism and reinvigorated with revolutionary force.     

Innovation Agents in the Public Sector: Applying Champion and Promotor Theory to Explore Innovation in the Australian Public Service

Innovation is critical to organisational success and is a process steered, and potentially thwarted, by individuals. However, despite the importance of public sector innovation given the complexity of policy issues faced and the sector's specific contextual features, our understanding of innovation processes in government requires expansion. This study, using in‐depth case analyses of three Australian Public Service agencies, focuses on understanding the ‘human component’ of the innovation process by drawing on both innovation champion and promotor theories to explore, through the lens of organisational power, how multiple human agents progress public sector innovations. The results highlight the key, and often tandem, roles of individuals at multiple organisational levels who work to inspire and motivate others to progress an innovation (champions) and those with specific power bases who help overcome organisational barriers to innovation (promotors).     

中国改革是对资本的否定之否定

中国改革的历程可以用"商品-货币-资本-公有资本"来概括,其中前三个概念借用的是<资本论>中描述资本主义发展历程的概念,第四个是有中国特色社会主义实践所要建塑的特殊概念.其中每一个后者都是前者的派生,同时又是对前者的提升和优化.本文对此的论证是从资本的善恶二重性谈起;进而从方法论上辨析对资本应是扬弃而非抛弃,特别是系统论意义上的扬弃;最后推出总论:中国改革是对资本的否定之否定.     

A comparison of management adaptations for joined‐up government: Lessons from New Zealand

Despite considerable attention, helping agencies to work more effectively together is one of the most important contemporary challenges of public administration theory and practice. The New Zealand Better Public Services (BPS) Results program has been an unexpected success in this area and provides a positive case study. In 2012, the New Zealand government set targets for solving 11 important social problems where responsibility crossed agency boundaries and has made significant measurable progress in all 11 problems. This paper explores the conditions that may have enabled the most progress and possible management adaptations when these initial conditions are not fully met. In particular, the case demonstrates how goal commitment can be supported where there exist a large number of potential actors and how interagency trust can be built in the absence of existing relationships.     

Chinese IR Sino-centrism tradition and its influence on the Chinese School Movement

The Chinese School Movement, which aims to create a Chinese theory of international relations, has developed over the last 30 years. It is usually portrayed as an ongoing effort by Chinese scholars to provide a theory that accounts for anomalies within Western IR theories. Despite its academic potential, the movement has made extremely slow progress in theory building. This slow progress is attributed to the prevalence of the Sino-centrism in Chinese IR which assumes the superiority of Chinese international experience in knowledge making and evaluation. This epistemological tradition rises, falls, and resurges in Chinese IR disciplinary history and finds its latest expression in the Chinese School Movement, which turns it into a pseudo-scientific enterprise. Under its influence, the Chinese School Movement is constantly applauded by Chinese IR scholars despite the difficulty in yielding scientific output. The most urgent task for Chinese scholars is therefore not to further strengthen the Sino-centrism tradition by searching for a unique Chinese understanding of international relations but to deconstruct it for better communication between Chinese and Western IR scholars.