Security Beyond the State: Private Security and International Politics

Toward a Political Economy of Development: A Rational Choice Perspective. Edited by Robert H. Bates. Berkeley, Los Angeles, CA and London: University of California Press, 1988. Pp.x + 393. $48.50 and $14.95. ISBN (not provided for HB edition) and 0 520 06052 0.

Politics and Class Analysis. By Barry Hindess. Oxford and New York: Basil Blackwell, 1987. Pp.136. £29.95 (hardback); £7.95 (paperback). ISBN 0 631 15067 6.

Farmers’ Movements in India. By M.V. Nadkarni. Ahmedabad: Allied Private Publishers, 1987. Pp.xiv + 237. Rs.100.     

Ideals Without Institutions: Understandings of Democracy and Democratic Participation Among Ecuadorian Youth

Many scholars of democratization have identified citizen support for democracy as an important determinant of democratic consolidation and deepening. Fewer have explored in depth what everyday citizens actually understand democracy to mean. If mass values shape democratic prospects, what specific notion of “democracy” are the masses inclined to support? This study addresses this question through focus groups conducted with 186 young people in Ecuador, a country that has epitomized challenges of democratic discontent and instability in Latin America. As compared to the dominant survey-based literature, interactive focus group conversations offer a more complex and complete picture of youth democratic perspectives, thus sharpening our analysis of the link between citizen attitudes and democratic performance. Findings have relevance for contemporary debates about “authoritarian drift” in the region, showing youth as strongly invested in democratic freedoms, though highly skeptical of the institutions that allegedly guarantee them. More broadly, the analysis provides a window into how youth conceive of and practice democracy in contexts of unstable democratization.     

上海青少年社团在构建和谐社会及预防犯罪中的能力建设

一、增强社团组织在构建和谐社会及预防犯罪中的学习能力青少年的科学文化素质和精神文明素质已经成为市场经济发展的根本资源和基础动力。然而,实现和谐社会,既包含着人对环境的改造,也包括对自身的改造。但是,在社会转型期,青少年的总体素质与社会主义和谐发展的要求还不一致,有些甚至还成为实现社会和谐发展的严重障碍。因此,不断加强青少年的学习,提升青少年的文明素养,是社团组织在构建和谐社会中的重要任务。     

联合国是非政府组织参与国际事务的重要舞台

近年来,以国际非政府组织为代表的公民社会组织在参与联合国政策制定方面日趋活跃,进入联合国开展活动的组织数量成倍增加,作用和影响力不断扩大。主管经济和社会事务的前联合国副秘书长德赛认为：“非政府组织不再单单是联合国的‘消费者’,它们还起到了新点子促进者的作用,警醒国际社会关注凸显的问题,还发展了专门技术和才干。这些在政策和行动层面为联合国的工作起到了至关重要的作用。”     

中国参与国际货币体系改革需关注的几个问题

在经历了百年一遇的全球金融危机后,中国深切地体会到当前国际货币体系对中国经济和金融发展的掣肘。中国必须高度关注国际货币体系的改革,即使现在没有实力完全主导国际货币体系的改革方向与进程,但必须努力促使其改革有利于中国经济发展的方向进行。     

试析中国的多边制度外交——以中国参与国际反贪腐制度为例

近十多年中国参与了诸多国际制度,中国参与多边制度外交是审视中国多边外交的视角之一。中国在参与国际反贪腐制度时采用了更加灵活多元的多边外交方式,体现了中国多边外交从形式到理念的新特点。     

Divergence in Community Participation Policy: Analysing Localism and Community Empowerment Using a Theory of Change Approach

The last two decades have witnessed a significant turn towards community participation in public policy around the globe, raising concerns that states are resorting to ‘government through community’, shifting responsibilities onto communities. In order to unpack the ambiguous rhetoric of policy statements, this article employs ideas from evaluation methodology to develop a generic theory of change for community participation policy. The model is then utilised to analyse and compare the UK Coalition Government’s Big Society/Localism agenda and the Scottish Government’s Community Empowerment approach, demonstrating the ways in which these represent a clear example of policy divergence, and potentially significant alternatives to state–community relations in the context of austerity. The article also demonstrates the potential wider applicability of ‘theories of change’ methodology for policy analysis.     

Thermometer or sauna?: Performance measurement and democratic assistance in the United States Agency for International Development (USAID)

This article presents a case study of performance measurement in the United States Agency for International Development's (USAID's) democracy and governance program. Its purpose is to illustrate the juxtaposition (and sometimes contradiction) between the high standards of causal logic and accuracy required of performance measurement, and the untidiness involved in the 'politics of democratization'. Based on USAID experiences in numerous countries, the article concentrates on four specific themes drawn mainly from the literature on re-engineering but also from new public administration. These are: the complexity of politics; the challenge of attribution; the danger of distortive incentives; and the interrelated questions of product and process and quantitative and qualitative measures. Problems of measurement are clearly complicated by the fact that the Agency does not deliver service directly, has limited control over its expenditures, and, in the case of democracy assistance, by the need to operate in a complex and sensitive area, across international borders and diverse political systems and cultures. The article includes a discussion of some innovative qualitatively-oriented USAID responses to these problems.     

“经典路径”与国际关系理论建构——对国际关系学科史上“第二次论战”的再思考

长期以来,学界对国际关系学科史上的第二次论战存在误解,实质上这场论战围绕如何对国际关系进行理论化概括展开,经典路径和科学路径的信奉者分别构建了不同形态的国际关系理论。经典路径构建的理论是一种哲理性思想,它由一系列有关国际关系且彼此间密切联系的普遍性命题构成,其重点是展示对国际关系中心问题的哲理思考;科学路径构建的理论是一种简洁的理论模型,它由一整套彼此联系且清晰扼要的假说组成,其重点是揭示特定研究领域的组织原则和内在逻辑。两种形态的理论各有特殊价值,难以相互取代。科学路径在理论构建过程中离不开经典路径的思维工具,这有助于破除以单一的实证主义标准来衡量理论合理性的观念。     

The American University in Bulgaria and U.S. Agency for International Development Relationship

Abstract

Upon recognizing a need for a center of western oriented university education, an initiative committee including representatives from the Republic of Bulgaria, the city of Blagoevgrad, and the University of Maine obtained support from philanthropist George Soros's Open Society Institute and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to start a university in Bulgaria in 1991. The hallmark of its existence was that its programs would be oriented toward teaching democratic values through the American liberal arts tradition. Instruction would be in English so it could draw on students throughout the region if they were proficient in English. The university has grown from a small enrollment of 208 students to over 700 students in several disciplines in the humanities and social sciences. As the American University in Bulgaria (AUBG) has become a regional institution, the AUBG–USAID relationship has been crucial. Now it is beginning to offer an EMBA program and has developed an excellent reputation through its graduated students.     

Situating Property in Transformation: Beyond the Private and the Collective

In most parts of the post-socialist world high expectations regarding privatisation were quickly disappointed when it became obvious that property practices did not follow the ideal type predicted by market models. The article addresses this divergence and emphasises the necessity of overcoming the dualism of an ideal type of property rights on the one hand and the way property is handled in everyday life on the other. It argues that concrete situations as well as the necessary justifications of practices have hitherto both been widely neglected as empirical foci in studies on property relations. Five brief episodes from the privatisation of collective farms in rural Russia serve as examples to illustrate how situations and justifications are reflexively linked by drawing on and negotiating about differing ‘orders of worth’.     

Developing a Model Intervention to Prevent Abuse in Relationships Among Caribbean and Caribbean-American Youth by Partnering with Schools

SUMMARY

This paper proposes a model intervention to prevent relationship abuse among Caribbean and Caribbean-American adolescents. Specifically, the model partners with a high school with a strong Caribbean student population and incorporates education, prevention and intervention, as the three core components. This paper highlights the importance of working with young people in a school setting, working with young people before they have fully tackled the developmental task of defining norms of and values in relationships, utilizing culturally competent staff and specialized programming, and emphasizing the need for early intervention in the instances of adolescent relationship violence before its evolution into adult domestic violence. The model proposed serves as an outline for further development of culturally-specific and competent interventions to prevent and address relationship violence among adolescents.     

意大利的青少年犯罪与青少年司法状况

意大利青少年犯罪状况逐年恶化,意大利的青少年犯罪率呈现出北部高于中部及南部地区特点。意大利青少年犯罪与社会经济、政治的状况相关,但更表现出与非法移民之间的联系。针对这种状况,在意大利,实施意大利模式的青少年司法,对青少年广泛适用恢复性司法,对治理青少年犯罪,取得了良好的效国。     

Voting Counts: Participation in the Measurement of Democracy

The measures of democracy commonly used in empirical research suffer notable limitations, primarily the exclusion of participation. As a result, quantitative studies may undervalue the effect of democracy on important social outcomes or misinterpret the aspect of democracy responsible for that effect. We respond by introducing and validating two variants of a new indicator, the Participation Enhanced Polity Score (PEPS), which augments institutional factors with the breadth of citizen participation. We demonstrate, using statistical evidence on democratic persistence, basic needs fulfillment, and gender equality, that no measure of democracy can be considered an accurate representation of its basic character without directly including participation as a core component. Bruce E. Moon is professor of international relations at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. He is the author ofThe Political Economy of Basic Human Needs (Cornell University Press. 1991) and two editions ofThe Dilemmas of International Trade (Westview Press, 1996, 2000). Jennifer Harvey Birdsall is a researcher for a NGO in Geneva, Switzerland. She received her B.A. in international relations and economics from Lehigh University and her M.S. in global affairs from Rutgers University-Newark. Sylvia Ciesluk is pursuing an M.A. at the Fletcher School at Tufts University. She received her B.S. in economics from Lehigh University. Lauren M. Garlett is a geography teacher at Bellamy Middle School in Chicopee, Massachusetts. She received both her B.A in international relations and her M.Ed. in secondary education from Lehigh University. Joshua J. Hermias is associate director of the Global Young Leaders Conference in Washington, D.C. He received his B.A. in economics from Lehigh University and his M.A. in international development from the University of East Anglia, Norwich, England. Elizabeth Mendenhall is pursuing a Masters in International Affairs (MIA) in economic and political development at Columbia University. She received a B.A. in international relations at Lehigh University. Patrick D. Schmid is a Ph.D. candidate in computer science at Lehigh University. He received both his B.S. and M.S. in computer science from Lehigh University. Wai Hong Wong is a research associate at FactSet Research Systems. He received his B.A. in international relations and economics at Lehigh University. We are grateful for the helpful suggestions of Frank Davis, Bill Dixon, Chaim Kaufmann, Rajan Menon, Pamela Paxton, Larry Taylor, and the anonymous reviewers.     

“We Were Not Merely Participating; We Were Leading the Discussions”: Participation and Self-Representation of Refugee Young People in International Advocacy

Abstract

There is increased commitment to the participation and self-representation of people with lived experiences as refugees and asylum seekers in advocacy, especially at international, high-level events. However, we know very little about what opportunities and challenges such processes present. This paper reports on findings from a research project on youth participation and self-representation at the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in collaboration with two young women and two young men from refugee backgrounds who live in Australia. We contribute new perspectives to contemporary debates on the potential for participation and self-representation in high-level consultations to effect policy change.