区域合作、利益协调与机制设计——基于泛珠三角与东盟跨边界次区域经济合作的研究

在区域经济利益协调机制的建设进程中,政府是推动区域合作的组织机制,具有内生动力功能的是市场机制.在泛珠三角和东盟区域经济合作处于初始阶段的约束条件下,评价和激励机制对象应该主要针对区域合作中的地方政府,如果缺乏政府间的协调机制,市场经济的利益最大化和资源配置规律决定双方区域经济合作的发展结局可能是差异性发展和掠夺性竞争.促进泛珠三角与东盟的区域经济合作,必须注意避免无序竞争,扩大区域市场范围,确立利益协调机制与政府规制的边界,从而降低区域交易成本.与此同时,尤其需要制定与实施带有路径依赖性质的制度安排:规则约束机制、信息合作机制、绩效激励机制、利益补偿机制.     

试析中日韩三国合作秘书处的功能性定位

中日韩合作进程中面临着诸多障碍和不确定性因素，刚成立不久的中日韩三国合作秘书处因此也就面临着诸多挑战，如何进行准确的功能性定位是秘书处工作能否取得实效的关键。作者认为秘书处现阶段的工作重点和立足点应该以低敏感性非传统安全合作议题为突破口，从经贸合作、减灾救灾协调、突发事件应对、警务合作、文化交流等低敏感性领域入手，并逐步完善秘书处内部的各项机构建设，设立各专门-＇k-员会，循序渐进地为推进中日韩合作全局服务。     

论中国—东盟自由贸易区税收协调

近年来,中国参与国际区域经济合作的步伐不断加快,合作领域日益拓宽.中国-东盟自由贸易区建设标志着我国在参与国际区域经济一体化方面迈出了实质性步伐.本文在比较中国与东盟各国税收制度的基础上,借鉴欧盟税收协调的经验,提出中国-东盟自由贸易区税收协调的步骤和主要内容,并重点分析了税收协调的效应,最后据此提出相关政策建议.     

粤港澳大湾区养老服务业协同发展研究

养老服务业协同发展有利于粤港澳大湾区深层次融合,保障老年人养老权益的实现和促进经济社会全面发展。大湾区养老服务业在资源禀赋方面存在互补关系,且三地政府也注重在养老服务领域开展合作。但当前的合作中存在着发展水平较低、制度间协调不足和专门合作机制缺位等问题。在协同发展理论指导下,粤港澳大湾区养老服务业合作的重点是打破发展过程中的体制、机制障碍。对此建议制定协同发展规划、创新协同治理机制、提升养老服务法治化水平和加强新兴养老服务领域合作。     

Electoral coordination in Anglophone Africa

Electoral coordination has been a primary concern for scholars of African politics, interested in topics such as ethnic conflict mitigation and democratisation, for decades. However, understanding of micro-level electoral coordination in Sub-Saharan Africa is generally still very limited. This study is the first to investigate voter coordination in Sub-Saharan Africa using constituency-level election results. Studying 20 single-member district elections during the period 1990–2010 in five Anglophone African countries (Botswana, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi and Zambia) demonstrates that many African elections continue to show low levels of electoral coordination. Using a multi-level regression analysis, the study shows that the most important explanation for low levels of coordination across Africa is high voter volatility. It is argued that insufficient information makes it hard for voters and candidates to act strategically. However, the level of democracy, which has been emphasised in earlier aggregate level research, does not significantly affect the level of coordination.     

The coordination of policy priorities among regional institutions from the Baltic Sea to the Arctic: the institutions – coordination dilemma

We examine the coordination of policy priorities among the Arctic Council, the Barents Euro-Arctic Council, the Council of Baltic Sea States, and the Nordic Council of Ministers. The member states of these groups established these institutions to coordinate their regional cooperation. However, the member states ended up having to coordinate the parallel work of these institutions. This coordination effort influenced their cooperation, creating an institutional coordination dilemma. We analyze how interests, leadership, and identity politics influence this dilemma and how negative, problem-solving, and positive forms of coordination can amend its effects regarding the temporal consistency of policy priorities and their sectoral overlap.     

东亚安全:合作模式与结构

在安全体簇生的东亚地区,并存有美国主导的东亚联盟体系式安全合作、东盟地区主义式安全合作、中国倡行的多边协治式安全合作等三种安全合作模式,其中,美国的东亚联盟体系式安全合作模式在复合型的东亚安全结构中占据主导地位,而东盟和中国所倡行的安全合作模式,还停留在安全合作观念倡导和通过集体联合来尝试性建构地区制度性安全纽带的层面。东亚地区所存在的三种安全合作模式之间,是一种不平等的权力相互制衡关系。再加上地区范围内大国间的结构性对抗和潜在冲突,东亚安全困境的产生和存在成为必然。东亚目前不具备建构地区多边安全合作机制的可能,三种安全合作模式的共存仍将是地区安全结构的主要内容,复合型的安全结构态势将长期存在。     

‘New friends,easier partners and bigger brothers’: The influence of the emerging powers on agriculture and food security in Malawi

Emerging powers are credited with influencing development cooperation, but field-based studies incorporating the viewpoints of recipient developing country actors are scarce. This article analyses the presence and the material, ideational and institutional influence of assistance in agriculture and food security in Malawi by the governments of Brazil, India, China and South Africa. The findings suggest first that, despite a similar and powerful discourse linking these four states, in practice the emerging powers' approaches diverge to a large extent. Second, the material influence of these emerging powers is relatively limited and consequently so is their influence on Malawi's decision-making process with regard to development. Finally, perceptions about the emerging powers' potential contribution to addressing development challenges differ greatly between the Malawian government and the traditional donor community. This difference arises from limited coordination and cooperation on the one hand and the importance of ideational influence on the other.     

External engagement: The Baltic experience

Abstract

The analysis of the Baltic transition reveals the importance of external actors' participation in the process of state transformation. Based on the experiences of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, this article establishes six broad policy principles for effective external engagement. First, the nature, level, and scope of engagement directly correlates with the sustainability of transition. Second, equality in bilateral cooperation brings trust and openness among partners. Third, for a transitional state to succeed it needs sufficient external motivation to sustain it through political and economic fluctuations. Fourth, if foreign aid does not come hand in hand with adequate accountability standards, it brings corruption and stagnation. Fifth, building local (and not foreign) capacity is the primary duty of an external actor. Finally, the reputation of an external actor is as important as the work that this actor conducts. All these principles form the backbone of successful and sustainable actor-to-actor cooperation.     

Emerging New East Asian Regionalism

East Asian regionalism is emerging starting with a process of “ASEAN plus three” cooperation and moving to a final East Asian Community. The foundation of East Asian regionalism lies in increasing regional common or shared interests. The significance of East Asian cooperation and integration is its developing process. “10?+?3” framework is not just an economic cooperation process but also has political significance. The process of East Asian cooperation plays a dual role in community building: reconciliation among the countries, and cultivation of each member itself. The major role of regional institutional building is peace making through cooperation under a regional framework. The cooperation between China and Japan is crucial for East Asian Community building.     

东亚合作与中韩关系

探究东亚合作首先要区分东亚、东亚合作以及东亚与东亚合作所确指的行为体三个基本概念。东亚合作本质上是一种单一的经济合作进程,在安全合作领域存在严重的不足。其前景大致包括两种,一是既有框架下的东亚合作,二是继续泛化为亚洲合作。在东亚合作的视域下,中韩经济合作与安全合作不仅有利于发展中韩战略合作伙伴关系,也有助于东亚经济合作尤其是安全合作进程的推进。     

The establishment of the South African Development Partnership Agency: Institutional complexities and political exigencies

Since 2007 there has been discussion to formalise, rationalise, coordinate and provide structure to South Africa's development cooperation through the establishment of a centralised South African Development Partnership Agency (SADPA). Progress in rolling out the new institution, however, has been extremely slow, owing to the political and technical complexities of South Africa's institutional environment. This paper elaborates on the rationale and driving forces which have led to the establishment of SADPA and the steps which have been taken to gradually operationalise the new agency and the partnership fund dedicated to providing development support on the continent. As plans move forward, will SADPA be expected to manage all of South Africa's development cooperation — bilateral, multilateral, regional, trilateral — as well as concessional loans, humanitarian aid and development financing, public and private? Clarity of roles and coordination is critical. The paper will examine the different mechanisms for the financing, implementation and oversight that need to be in place to take forward Pretoria's development cooperation, and the challenges of leadership, coordination, accountability and information management that face the new agency.     

America's Rebalance to Asia and its Implications for Japan-US-Australia Security Cooperation

How does America's greater focus on Asia impact the security policies of Japan and Australia? How does it change the nature of the Japan-US-Australia security partnership? This paper attempts to answer these questions by looking at Japanese and Australian responses to the Obama Administration's new security policy toward Asia called “rebalancing.” After examining them, it argues that the regional allied response to America's new security posture has generated greater momentum for both allies to collaborate in wider areas in a more timely and effective way than before. It concludes asserting that, in the era of rebalance, Japan, the United States, and Australia have not only deepened their existing cooperation, but also have expanded potential areas of cooperation toward a more “dynamic” partnership.     

Welfare State Restructuring without Grand Coalitions: The Role of Informal Cooperation in Blame Avoidance

This article argues that welfare state restructuring, which is highly unpopular among voters, is politically feasible if government and opposition parties cooperate informally with one another. Contrary to what key arguments made in the literature assert, restructuring does not require the formation of a grand coalition to diffuse blame from voters. Informal cooperation between parties is a distinctive blame-avoiding strategy, which differs not only from other party-oriented strategies such as building a grand coalition, but also from voter-oriented ones, such as obfuscation and exemption. By analysing the politics of pension reform in Germany, this article shows that informal cooperation enables political parties to restructure the welfare state without running the risk of electoral failure.     

东北亚油气合作的现实选择:来自中国在中亚的成功经验

东北亚和中亚地区凭借丰富的油气资源,在世界能源版图中的地位日渐上升。近年来,中亚地区油气合作发展迅速,但是在资源总量上更具优势的东北亚油气合作之路却充满曲折。在地区性统一能源市场形成之前,政府间多边协调机制仍然是东北亚油气合作的现实选择。中国在互利双赢的理念指导下,以良好的政治互信为基础,以油气运输管线为纽带,通过以双边合作为主、双边合作带动多边合作的方式,循序渐进地稳步推进了与中亚国家的油气合作。因此,中国在推动地区油气合作方面积累了一定的成功经验,提高了驾驭复杂局面的能力,理应在推进东北亚油气合作方面发挥更积极的作用。     

Why Triangular Development Cooperation? Germany and the Emerging Powers

Triangular development cooperation (TriCo) is a relatively new form of technical cooperation (expert advice), which includes, besides the traditional actors of the donor and the receiver, a third country: the new provider. At first sight, OECD donors' engagement in TriCo cannot be explained by any of the traditional explanations for aid provision. On the one hand, donors pass on their strategically favourable position to the new providers, whereas on the other hand, from a practitioners' view, TriCo is not necessarily beneficial for receiving countries. Therefore, donors' participation in TriCo constitutes a stunning puzzle of international politics. An in-depth case study assesses why Germany has recently engaged in TriCo. Exploring this empirical riddle does not only contribute to understanding this specific cooperation modality, but it also reveals insights for the general study of international cooperation: emerging powers are changing the landscape of international relations.     

Brexit,Development Aid,and the Commonwealth

Abstract

Development cooperation between the European Union (EU) and the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) group of states has provided a vehicle for the UK’s ongoing relationship with the majority of the Commonwealth, although this was widely overlooked in the run-up to the UK referendum and its aftermath. Membership of the EU has provided the UK with the opportunity to collectivise its obligations to ACP Commonwealth states and a framework for its development cooperation relations across the Global South. This has augmented British leadership in global development and the alignment of development policy and practice at the global, regional and national levels. This paper argues that withdrawal from the EU would be a lengthy and costly process that threatens to undermine the UK’s position in global development, current levels and sources of development funding and existing and nascent trade relations. While this will present particular challenges for ACP Commonwealth states, there may also be opportunities to propose and advocate for alternative frameworks. However, recent changes to the UK’s post-referendum political leadership does not augur well for those hoping for a roll back of pressures for liberalisation and associated reforms.     

‘Regimes Theory’ as an Approach to Understanding Educational Cooperation in CARICOM and Commonwealth Countries

ABSTRACT

This article discusses the implication of soft diplomacy in education, in the form of educational cooperation, for the governance of regimes. In drawing upon regime theory, it suggests that the Commonwealth should be viewed as a regime, and its survival is partly dependent upon how it uses educational cooperation to coordinate its functional areas, such as education. Moreover, educational cooperation at the transnational level is different from traditional South-South cooperation in that it is based on the coordination of hierarchic mechanisms. In drawing lessons from the experiences of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) project and extending them to the Commonwealth project, it argues that soft diplomacy, around perceived global norms, propels national educational agenda-setting attitudes. From this it follows that educational cooperation is the new order of things in an era defined by educational multistakeholderism where new regimes and institutions arise and coexist alongside other regimes. In other words, the Commonwealth must now retool itself in an era driven by regime complex(es) where it must coexist and compete with issue-specific regimes as well as complex entities which are comprised of more than one regime.     

中日东亚货币合作——国际关系视角的分析

当今国际政治经济格局与美元霸权是东亚货币合作的大背景,在这一背景下,东亚货币合作有着更深刻的国际利益分配的潜在内涵,而不只是单纯的区域货币合作问题.美、日、中三方的利益关切共同推动和影响着东亚货币合作的进程.日元和人民币都不具备独立作为东亚主导货币的条件,东亚各国或地区的经济发展水平差异较大,货币合作的政治基础比较薄弱等现实条件,促使合作成为中日双方的最佳选择,其中,中日双方政治互信的改善对东亚货币合作尤为重要.     

The BRICS and the South Atlantic: Emerging arena for South–South cooperation

Over the past decade, power dynamics within the South Atlantic region have undergone significant changes. While the area has historically been dominated by North–South ties, both in terms of material flows and with respect to political influence, more recently there has been a surge in cooperation between developing countries within this space. As trade, investment and other forms of exchange and dialogue increase among actors from within the region (notably between South America and Africa) and with states located outside the region, the BRICS countries become more relevant to the South Atlantic. Individually, they have become relevant players in the South Atlantic's economic, political and security dimensions. Collectively, as inter-BRICS flows and political coordination intensify, new configurations of cooperation emerge within the South Atlantic. These initiatives suggest that rising powers are contributing towards making the South Atlantic – long dominated by North–South ties – a space where South–South cooperation and norms predominate.