Shifting Boundaries between the Public and Private Sectors: Implications from the Economic Crisis

What are the differences between the public and private sectors as well as their interrelationships in light of the recent financial crisis? Has the global economic crisis fundamentally shifted the boundaries between the two sectors? This essay examines the nature and extent of the shift. The authors present an analysis of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) to highlight the massive transformations that are taking place and to introduce lessons for future policy initiatives. Between financial rescue missions and the economic stimulus program, government spending accounts for a bigger share of the nation’s economy—26 percent—than at any time since World War II. The government is financing 9 out of 10 new mortgages in the United States. If you buy a car from General Motors, you are buying from a company that is 60 percent owned by the government. If you take out a car loan or run up your credit card, the chances are good that the government is financing both your debt and that of your bank. —Edmund Andrews and David Sanger, New York Times, 2009     

State Policies Affecting Cities and Counties in 1991: Shifting Federalism

States experienced considerable fiscal distress in 1991 as the recession led to widespread revenue shortfalls. In this environment, discretionary spending did not fare well. This article discusses five major policy areas: (1) state financial aid; (2) major changes in the "sorting out" of responsibilities between the state and local governments; (3) revenue diversification; (4) changes in limitations imposed on local taxes; and (5) new mandates handed down to cities and counties.     

German Federalism in Historical Perspective: Federalism as a Substitute for a National State

A German national state was founded comparatively late in themodern era. In 1871 the German princes formed the German Empire.Unde Prussian hegemony, the Empire remained dependent on itsmember states. The constitution of the Weimer Republic of 1919turned the relations between the federation and the states upsidedown. The Länder, as the constituent states close to beinga decentralized unitary state. The Nazi regime centralizd it.After World War II, the West Germans and the Western Alliesagreed on forming a federal type of government. There was, however,controversy about the kind of federalism to be established.The West German Basic Law retained the tradition of a secondfederal parliamentary chamber in which the Land governmentsare represented. Sovereignty is shared and exercised jointlyby the federation and the Länder in most domestic policyfields.     

Forty Years of German Federalism: Past Trends and New Developments

This article traces the major developments in German federalismfrom 1949 to the present. From a system based on a concept of"dual federalism," which was different in important ways fromthe American system, German federalism became somewhat morelike the postwar American cooperative federalism. Criticismof this system in the 1970s led to various reform efforts, whichmade little headway until the 1980s and the formation of a CDU/CSU-FDPcoalition government under Chancellor Helmut Kohl. The "turnabout"promised by this government and carried out to some extent includedplans and policies to strengthen the Länder by some sortingout of functions. These efforts were successful at first, butthe federal government has oriented its policies more towardthe national arena. Financial constraints, the nationalizationof basic rights, technological concerns, and pressures by theEC have led to new tendencies toward intergovernmentalizingand centralizing the relations between the federation and Landgovernments.     

Economic Considerations and Reagan's New Federalism Swap Proposals

Upon coming to office, President Ronald Reagan proposed a numberof programs collectively referred to as the New Federalism.These programs were designed to alleviate some of the problemswhich the president saw as plaguing the intergovernmental systemand to accomplish Reagan's goal of decentralizing authority.One of the most highly publicized and debated— indeed,probably the most controversial—aspect of the President'sNew Federalism package was the "Big Swap" plan. Both versionsof this plan, however, were bad deals for the states and theircommunities, and it would appear that several interrelated economicconcerns played a role in the opposition of many state and localofficials to these proposals. To demonstrate just how bad theseproposals were, the article documents the effect that inflationand recession had had on the fiscal health of state and localgovernments, and the projected impact that these plans wouldhave had on state and local revenue and tax systems.     

Globalization and Fiscal Federalism: Does Openness Constrain Subnational Budget Imbalances?

Recent research has shown that more globalized countries—defined as those with stronger international trade and financial linkages—tend to have larger governments. The empirical evidence reported in this paper shows that globalization is also associated with the government's fiscal stance, nationally and subnationally. Greater access to external sources of finance, which can be facilitated through globalization, is associated with increased market scrutiny over policies, resulting in a higher premium on fiscal discipline.     

Economic Insecurity and the Globalization of Production

A central question in the international and comparative political economy literatures on globalization is whether economic integration increases worker insecurity in advanced economies. Previous research has focused on the role of international trade and has failed to produce convincing evidence that such a link exists. In this article, we argue that globalization increases worker insecurity, but that foreign direct investment (FDI) by multinational enterprises (MNEs) is the key aspect of integration generating risk. FDI by MNEs increases firms' elasticity of demand for labor. More-elastic labor demands, in turn, raise the volatility of wages and employment, all of which tends to make workers feel less secure. We present new empirical evidence, based on the analysis of panel data from Great Britain collected from 1991 to 1999, that FDI activity in the industries in which individuals work is positively correlated with individual perceptions of economic insecurity. This correlation holds in analyses accounting for individual-specific effects and a wide variety of control variables.     

German Federalism After Unification: The Legal/Constitutional Response

The collapse of communism in East Germany and the resultingGerman unification produced a new focus on the operation offederalism in a unified Germany and on certain reforms concerningfiscal federalism and various constitutional amendments. Theinitial decisions about financing the new Länder in theEast soon proved to be inadequate, and after much controversya new "solidarity pact" was concluded between the federal andLand governments in March 1993. To counter recent trends towardincreasing centralization, a constitutional commission proposeda number of amendments, now under consideration by the federalparliament, which would strengthen the Länder vis-à-visthe federal government. The Länder have also been concernedabout the growing interference by Brussels in their affairs.As a result of recent changes in the Basic Law, they have strengthenedtheir position in relationship to the federal government andthe European Union.     

略论经济全球化的实质

经济全球化的基本内容是三个自由化:贸易自由化、投资自由化、金融自由化.经济全球化的实质,是西方发达国家、特别是美国通过推行三个自由化进行资本的国际扩张,对全球市场和资源进行再分配.发展中国家要勇于应对这种挑战,善于同国际垄断资本进行周旋,趋利避害,实行"设有安全护栏的对外开放政策",在国际竞争中求得生存和发展.     

经济全球化与"体面劳动"

在经济全球化的背景下,世界各国劳资关系力量对比处于一种极端不平衡的状态之中.国际上关于"社会条款"和"体面劳动"的提议,或者是出于贸易保护的目的,或者是出于保障现实中被忽视和侵害的劳动者权益的目的,或者两者兼而有之.为适应加入WTO后的新形势,为尽早在中国实现"体面劳动",中国应该以国际劳工标准和"体面劳动"的内容要求为参照,完善劳动法律体系,建立起一套保障劳动者权益的法律机制.     

经济全球化与党的自身建设

经济全球化 ,是世界范围内的科技进步和生产力发展的必然结果 ,它使生产资源在全球范围内配置和利用 ,并促进了国际分工的深化 ,大大提高了经济效益。经济全球化的强劲发展 ,使每个寻求现代化建设的国家都积极参与其中。我国改革开放二十多年的历程 ,实际上就是同经济全球化相联系而不断发展的过程 ,随着我国即将加入ＷＴＯ ,这种联系将变得更加紧密。作为领导中国人民进行现代化建设并不断走向世界的中国共产党 ,也必然面临着加强自身建设的问题 ,尤其是在经济全球化所带来的机遇挑战不断强化的情况下 ,作为马克思主义政党加强自身建设的紧…     

Economic Globalization and Political Atrophy

Economic globalization is the systematic expansion of corporate capital across national boundaries in search of markets, raw materials, low-cost labor, and technological advantage, which is made possible by growing capital mobility and facilitated by increasingly open conditions of trade, communications and information-sharing. The process has extended its speed and scope over the past few decades, further solidifying the world capitalist system and with it the leading national and international centers of power. Yet economic trends associated with corporate expansion into every region of the globe have no parallel in the realm of politics, where we see diminution of national and local governing structures, erosion of established ideologies, depoliticization of social movements and NGOs, and the failure of any international system of governance to take hold. We are presently witnessing a profound depoliticizing dynamic in which the global triumphs over the local, the commodity over culture, homogenization over diversity, and economics over politics. This political impasse reflects not only a certain Hobbesian character of global civil society but also the crisis of the left and the limits of Seattle-style protests. More basically, it points toward tremendous material and ideological obstacles facing popular struggles against corporatedriven globalization under any circumstances.     

经济全球化与人事制度创新

在金球化时代,人事制度创新既包括非正式的以价值观念为核心的内在制度的创新,也包括以政府为主导的正式的外在制度的创新。外在人事制度创新主要包括:建立和完善人力资本的投资与回报制度、激励制度、人才评价制度、人才市场制度、人事聘用制度、权益保障制度等。     

经济全球化与我国行政法制建设

经济全球化必将进一步影响各国的文化与政治法律制度的发展方向.我国的行政法制建设也应适应经济全球化的需要,明确政府职能定位,加强市场经济管理立法、规范行政执法行为等等都是我国行政法制建设的重要内容.     

经济全球化与中国特色社会主义

科学社会主义理论从一开始就是全球观的社会主义理论,马克思主义社会主义理论与实践是与世界经济的历史发展分不开的。邓小平理论是经济全球化时代中国的马克思主义;经济全球化是中国特色社会主义事业发展的一个基本的外部环境和制定经济发展战略的基点。     

Federalism and Decentralization: Ownership Rights and the Superiority of Federalism

The benefits and costs usually ascribed to federalism are benefitsand costs of decentralization; they are, therefore, presentin unitary states that are in fact all decentralized. The benefitsand costs specific to federalism pertain to ownership rightsin constitutional powers. Federalism is superior to confederalismand unitarianism because the ownership rights peculiar to thatsystem of government are such that they ensure the perduranceof competition when one or more competitors are unsuccessful.They do so because under federalism, powers cannot be repossessedunilaterally. Ownership rights have to be enforced; as a consequence,there are also costs that are specific to federalism.     

Globalization and the Boundaries of the State: A Framework for Analyzing the Changing Practice of Sovereignty

The impact of globalization on the sovereignty of the modern state has been a source of great controversy among political scientists. In this article, I offer a framework for understanding the state as a boundary-setting institution, which changes shape and role over time and place. I argue that, rather than undermining the state, globalization is a product of a rearrangement of the purposes, boundaries, and sovereign authority of the state. Focusing on the United States, the article traces the changing shape of state sovereignty through a study of the patterns of immigration policy and politics over the past three decades. Immigration policy, I argue, provides a unique insight into the continuities and changes in the role of the state in an era of globalization.     

The Economics of Nigerian Federalism: Selected Issues in Economic Management

Nigeria's economic difficulties are due primarily to public-sectormismanagement exacerbated by the dynamics of federalism andstate creation and by the growth in centralized federal power.Monetary policy has been inadequate, fiscal policy has rewardedstate governments but not brought their spending policies inline with their own resources and with national economic objectives,and resources have been consistently misallocated, largely becauseof the principle of "federal character." Recent efforts to deregulateand privatize the economy show promise, but the success of economicdevelopment will depend greatly on the future civilian or militarygovernance of Nigeria.     

经济全球化、当代资本主义和社会主义

在经济全球化条件下,当代资本主义的发展进入了一个新的历史阶段,即金融垄断资本主义阶段。金融垄断资本主义显示出资本主义基本矛盾发展的阶段性特征。这些特征成为当代资本主义历史定位的主要依据。同时,资本主义和社会主义之间矛盾对立统一关系的实质并没有改变,但是它们之间关系的内容和形式却发生很大变化。这种并存性没有也不可能改变资本主义的历史命运以及社会主义取代资本主义的历史发展趋势。