Civic Networks, Legitimacy and the Policy Process

In ethnically divided developing countries, avenues permitting popular participation in the policy process seem essential if the state is to be viewed as legitimate. Frequently, however, mechanisms intended to build legitimacy by providing for popular participation fail to achieve this target. This article analyzes the policy process in Mauritius, and argues that it combines characteristics of both policy networks and civil society. We term this form of popular consultation on policy a "civic network," and we present research which suggests that it has been successful in building legitimacy. By comparing this civic network with other forms of popular participation, we are able to identify the characteristics which seem to make it more effective. The effects of popular participation on the policy capacity of a state are more mixed, but in the case of Mauritius, we conclude that by increasing legitimacy, the civic network also increased state policy capacity.     

政策谣言的生发与治理

政策谣言即未经证实合乎政策事实的民间政策传言;只有那些完全缺乏政策事实的政策传言才是真正的政策谣言,其他的属于准政策谣言。政策谣言的生发诱因主要包括政策价值的重要性、政策信息的模糊性、社会环境和个体心理、政府公信力缺失等多个方面。互联网和新媒体时代的到来,助推了政策谣言的传播;政策谣言的典型传播机制主要有社会流瀑、群体极化和偏颇吸收等。政府应从五个方面提升政府的政策谣言治理能力和水平:增强政府公信力;强化政策的宣传、解读与回应;提升政务信息公开水平;建立健全辟谣工作系统,分类治理政策谣言;加强对新媒体信息传播的监管。     

'Appropriate' Policy Knowledge, and Institutional and Governance Implications

The papers in this special section of AJPA are the product of a symposium held in Brisbane in February 2003, which was jointly sponsored by the School of Political Science and International Studies at the University of Queensland and the Queensland Department of Premier and Cabinet. Three papers were delivered. David Adams, from the Victorian Public Service, delivered a paper entitled 'Usable knowledge and public policy'. Wayne Parsons, from the University of London, gave a paper 'Not just steering but weaving: Relevant knowledge and the craft of building policy capacity'. Randal Stewart, a policy consultant based in Sydney, gave a paper entitled 'Public sector reform knowledge production'. The purposes of this paper are to highlight salient points from the papers and to assess briefly the institutional and governance implications of taking at last some steps beyond the currently prevailing rationalist approaches to policy and governance.     

Policy Networks,Elections, and State Subsidies1

What are the effects of electoral competition on the disbursement of state subsidies in industrialized democracies? I argue that the scope of subsidies, which ranges from economy‐wide to regional and industry‐specific subsidies, is determined by the extent of political (electoral) monopoly conditioned by economic threats from foreign competition. The mechanism through which electoral competition is linked to subsidies is the policy network. I assess this argument by examining thirteen Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries in the period 1990–1993. The findings offer amendments to models of policy networks and speak to the importance of domestic institutions on factor mobility and trade policy.     

政策网络：流派、类型与价值

网络分析方法是西方社会科学界近几年兴起的一种理论分析工具,具体到政治学和行政学领域,形成了政策网络的理论体系。政策网络理论本身是庞大而复杂的,一般而言,可以划分为美国学派、英国学派和欧洲学派。政策网络既是一种治理模式,也是一种利益中介结构。由于政策网络理论的复杂性,学者们根据不同的标准对政策网络进行了分类,为其在政治科学中的进一步运用奠定了基础。     

Statecraft, Social Policy, and Governance in Latin America

This article develops an analytical framework designed to examine social policy as a strategic approach to issues of state-society relations and the problem of governance in Latin America. It argues that in Latin America and particularly Brazil social protection policy flowed from initiating capacity concentrated originally in the state, and specifically in a techno-bureaucratic elite connected to a strong executive. The policy, however, produced structures wherein initiative capacity was dispersed into a multiple of intermediate points at the nexus between the state and civil society. This in turn led to an immobilized dissipation of initiative cizpacity in this specific policy area which was symptomatic of, and reinforcing to, a generalized immobilism or power implosion that periodically has gripped these sociopolitical formations, producing shifts from formally democratic to authoritarian regimes and vice versa.     

政策网络：概念、类型及发展前景

随着传统政府治理模式的衰微,20世纪70年代末以来政策网络逐渐成为政策分析领域的主流话语和研究途径.政策网络是一群互赖行动者之间建立某种稳定程度的社会关系形态,以促成政策方案的形成或发展.学术界普遍认为可以将政策网络划分为作为分析工具的利益协调模式和作为实践创新的治理模式两种典范.尽管作为政策网络理论仍存在种种缺陷,但是它已经展现出巨大的生命力,对于理解公共政策以及国家与社会关系具有重要的意义.     

政策能力与国家公共治理

最近二三十年以来,由于市场经济放任模式一再出现危机以及失灵现象,国家公共政策能力问题摆到了政府和学者们的面前。政策能力成为当前各国政府关注的热点,也成为学术研究的重点。然而。政策能力并不是孤立的’它与国家能力、行政能力之间存在着内在的关联性。它们之间既存在上下结构关系,又存在着相互的联动关系。这三个方面的能力共同构成了所谓的公共治理能力。不同国家对政策能力自然具有各自的评价标准,更应具有形成这方面能力的支持系统。论文对以上这些复杂的关系做一尝试性的梳理。     

Globalization, Governance, and the Political-Economy of Public Policy Reform in East Asia

In the wake of the crisis that developed in East Asia during 1997, perceptions of the region have been transformed. Critics claim that East Asian political practices and economic structures must be reformed if the region is to prosper in an era of globalization. In short, the region must adopt a different sort of public policy, one associated with an influential agenda of "good governance." This paper critically assesses this discourse and the predominately "Western" assumptions that underpin it. It is argued that, not only is this reformist agenda likely to be resisted by powerful vested interests, but the institutional infrastructure to support such a style of governance is inadequately developed in East Asia.     

区块链治理研究:技术、机制与政策

新技术引发新业态并进而提出新的治理需求,是伴随区块链技术发展及产业应用过程中出现的新议题,但作为一种颠覆性技术,区块链本身的复杂性对决策者提出挑战。"记录""交易""组织"构成了分析区块链技术原理的基本框架,而针对个体行为的相关激励、约束条件的设置则成为区块链机制设计的核心。基于对区块链技术原理和机制设计的理解,从代码层、机制层、行为层等三个层面形成区块链治理的公共政策框架,既为未来的制度创新提供分析视角,也对具体的政策议题提供解决思路。     

政策不作为:基本类型、驱动因素与治理展望

考察并审视政策过程可以发现,公共政策实践中政策不作为现象大量存在。政策不作为是指决策者对社会问题“无所作为”的情况,包括五种类型:有计划的政策不作为、意识上的政策不作为、受迫的政策不作为、不情愿的政策不作为和无意的政策不作为。政策不作为的驱动因素,包括政策制定者的行为模式、公共组织的信息病态、政府机构和程序的缺陷运作以及网络结构的不协调和可行性缺乏。基于此,应从政策不作为研究的四个探索方向即识别政策不作为、解释政策不作为、评估政策不作为和治理政策不作为入手,通过对其深入分析,不断丰富和推进政策科学对政策不作为的研究。     

Church Engagement, Religious Values, and Mass-Elite Policy Agenda Agreement in Local Communities

We provide evidence on two prominent but heretofore untested expectations about the relevance of religion for the democratic process: (1) that greater engagement in churches or comparable religious institutions and their organizational life enhances representational processes; and (2) that religious values in a community have greater influence on the latter processes, with more liberal religious values expected to enhance the responsiveness of community leaders to general public preferences. Using data on local communities in the United States in the late 1960s, we find strong support for the expected relevance of religious liberalism for representation, but none for the expected effect of church engagement. We provide evidence, too, that our findings about religious values are generalizable to present-day politics.     

论乡村治理中的沟通网络

沟通网络是乡村秩序重建的重要构成要素。乡村治理中存在权力结构失衡所引致的不公正、信任关系缺失所引致的不合作、沟通渠道不畅所引致的不稳定等沟通网络问题,需要优化权力结构以推进乡村主体权能的均衡化,培育地方性共识以提高乡村主体之间的合作程度,拓宽沟通渠道以维护乡村社会的稳定。     

民营企业发展升级的瓶颈、问题及治理

在经济新常态的国内宏观经济运行背景下,在国际贸易保护主义愈演愈烈的外部环境下,我国经济由高速增长阶段向高质量发展阶段转变。2019年政府工作报告提出要促进民营经济发展升级,民营企业也进入变革时期。针对民营企业发展升级面临的形势,从营商环境、产权结构、内部治理以及社会责任等四个层面,剖析了制约民营企业发展升级的现实困境,并提出治理的对策建议。     

The National and International Context of French Policy Communities

There are numerous, well-organized policy communities in France, based upon specialized corps of senior administrative officials in symbiosis with the environment they are responsible for regulating and managing. They also derive their strength from the integration of the groups concerned in the policy process, allowing them to compensate for the weakness of their organization and social base by the privileged access and legitimacy they acquire. Nevertheless, the traditional way in which the policy process is structured is modified by the territorial shift (both local and international) in the arenas in which public policies are made.     

Policy Learning and British Governance in the 1960s

Book reviewed: Hugh Pemberton. Policy Learning and British Governance in the 1960s.
Reviewed by DAVID P. DOLOWITZ