A Natural Experiment in Political Decentralization: Local Institutions and Citizens' Political Engagement in Uruguay

The potential democratizing effect of political decentralization reforms has been a matter of substantial theoretical and empirical debate. This article analyzes the effect of local democratic institution building on the political attitudes and behavior of citizens living in small towns in Uruguay. More specifically, using a natural experiment design, this research seeks to establish the causal impact of recently established elections of local authorities on individuals' political engagement. It develops a comparative case study analyzing the consequences of this institutional innovation in two towns. It shows that individuals from the town where citizens have the opportunity to elect their local authorities have more positive attitudes toward politics than those from the town without such elections.     

Reforming Local Government in Germany: Institutional Changes and Performance Impacts

The article analyses trajectories and impacts of local government reforms in Germany. It scrutinises four major approaches of reform that have affected the local authorities since the beginning of the 1990s: decentralisation, privatisation, administrative reforms (‘New Steering Model’) and the direct election of mayors. The objective of the article is to encompass the multifaceted elements and effects of local government reform in Germany. Firstly, the author examines the institutional changes that have occurred in the local councils. Secondly, the broader effects and impacts of the institutional transformations are dealt with, analysing how the latter has enhanced performance, steering capacity and political accountability. Finally, the author evaluates the extent to which the reforms have put their mark on the inherited and historic tradition of the German local government system.     

From Utopia to Pragmatism: the Heritage of Basismo in Local Government in the Greater Buenos Aires Region1

Abstract – Contemporary municipal politics and administration in the poor outer suburbs of Buenos Aires is heavily influenced on one hand by the heritage of grassroots Peronist activism of the 1970s and on the other by the exigencies of contemporary neo-liberalism. The paper explores the tensions between these pressures.     

Governance from Below in Bolivia: A Theory of Local Government with Two Empirical Tests

This article examines decentralization through the lens of the local dynamics it unleashed in the much‐noted case of Bolivia. It argues that the national effects of decentralization are largely the sum of its local‐level effects. To understand decentralization, therefore, we must first understand how local government works. The article explores the deep economic and institutional determinants of government quality in two extremes of municipal performance. From this it derives a model of local government responsiveness as the product of political openness and substantive competition. The quality of local politics, in turn, emerges endogenously as the joint product of the lobbying and political engagement of local firms and interests and the organizational density and ability of civil society. The analysis tests the theory's predictions on a database containing all Bolivian municipalities. The theory proves robust. The combined methodology provides a higher‐order empirical rigor than either approach can alone.     

嬗变中的“他者”形象:论后苏哈托时代印尼当地社会华族观

1998年"五月风暴"后,在反思过往民族政策的基础上,印尼新政府开始转变新秩序时代以来的华族观。本文在实地考察的基础上,结合问卷调查、访谈和笔者切身观察所得,认为在印尼政府的影响和推动下,整个印尼社会,包括中央及地方政府、军队势力和穆斯林普通民众的华族观正在发生积极的转变,华人生存空间得以扩大,同时在一定程度上亦推动了印尼民主化进程的向前发展,无形中更提高了印尼的国际民主形象。     

Between Interculturalism and Ethnocentrism: Local Government and the Indigenous Movement in Otavalo‐Ecuador

To what extent might an indigenous mayor govern beyond ethnically defined grievances, without being labelled traitor by the indigenous organisation? This article deals with the challenges faced by the Ecuadorian indigenous movement when it attains power in local government. The issue will be explored through the case of Mario Conejo, who in 2000 became the first indigenous mayor of Otavalo representing the indigenous political movement Pachakutik. Although ethnically based tensions in the local indigenous movement were evident throughout the period, 2006 saw Conejo leave Pachakutik and create a new political movement. This rupture can be traced, I argue, to an intercultural dilemma and the difficulties of ethnically defined political movements.     

后美国时代的权力结构变迁与国际制度改革——基于八国集团改革的理论思考

权力结构与制度变革的关系探讨历来是国际问题研究的核心之一。金融危机爆发后,国际权力结构进入一个后美国时代,权力的分散但非匀质化是其显著特征。本文认为,制度改革是权力结构变迁过程中的合理性诉求,结构的变迁会对原有制度框架内的支配国和受益者形成某种改革压力。另一方面,权力结构变迁的长期性决定了制度改革的继承性和包容性。从总体上看,世界权力关系的变迁将会导致国际规则的调整和完善,倾向于制度的不断演化而非完全替代。     

Economic or Political Development: The Evolution of "Native" Local Government Policy in the Territory of Papua and New Guinea, 1945–1963

In 1969, Speaker of the House Assembly of Papua and New Guinea John Guise, spoke of a "quiet decision" to limit the activities of "Native" Local Government Councils in the Territory, so that "they seem to be much more like those of Australian Shire Councils" . The present essay suggests that this "quiet decision", contrary to conventional wisdom, was not simply part of a colonial policy designed to serve "assimilationist purposes". Rather, the restricted role finally accorded to local councils was a corollary of the enhanced, post-war capacity of the metropolitan state. Early local government policy never envisaged councils as a first step toward self-government. Rather, councils were to be vehicles for securing the "systematic development of native agricultural potential". The decision to limit the scope of local government policy reflected not a rejection of this initial intent, but rather agrarian reform after 1956 was re-constituted as an object of direct government control. The legacy of local government in Papua New Guinea is not so much one of 'white' colonialism, but of 'development' entrapped in trusteeship.     

Handout or Hand‐up: Ongoing Tensions in the Long History of Government Response to Drought in Australia

In 2014 the Coalition government announced a 320 million dollar package for drought‐hit farmers. In describing this initiative as a “hand‐up” not a “hand out” Prime Minister Tony Abbott encapsulated more than 150 years of tension over whether government drought response should be unconditional limited relief or conditional longer‐term assistance. This paper considers the long history of drought assistance in Australia as seen through government legislation, year books, newspapers and personal papers. It argues that despite changing political and social circumstances, contradictions in the approach to government drought response, as well as in public and personal reactions to those policies, have remained remarkably consistent. We further suggest that lack of consensus over the inherent nature of drought is not sufficient to explain the dilemma.     

Many Voices,One Ambition: Local Government,Post-War Reconstruction and Northern Development in Australia

Established in 1944, the North Queensland Local Government Association made an impact on post-war reconstruction and northern development in Australia. The association modernised infrastructure and improved social conditions in Queensland's north, as well as launching an influential publicity campaign to promote a massive northern development scheme. In an era when federal proposals for developing Australia's northern regions often struggled to make a convincing case for Commonwealth investment, these were significant contributions to nation-building. Putting substance before parochialism, the association fostered cooperation among municipal authorities and patiently lobbied the Queensland government. But some members complained that their region was part of a “neglected north” and called for a more assertive campaign. By the late 1950s, having developed regional infrastructure, grown in confidence, and looking for new challenges, the association shifted its lobbying to target the Commonwealth government. The change led to the “People the North” publicity campaign, which influenced federal northern development policy. This article analyses the campaigns led by the North Queensland Local Government Association in the twenty years after 1944. It illuminates a neglected part of Australia's political history: the contribution of regional political voices from Australia's north to nation-building projects such as post-war reconstruction and northern development.     

DPRK Troop Dispatches and Military Support in the Middle East: Change from Military Support to Arms Trade in the 1970s

The DPRK now trades in arms with the Middle East. However, in the October War (1973) the DPRK first began military cooperation with the Middle East by sending troops and providing unrequited military support. This switch was made to win support within the UN from these Middle Eastern countries, and so to counteract the US presence in the UN. Failing this, the DPRK withdrew from the UN in 1976. The DPRK then turned to arms trading both to build up its foreign currency reserves and to help liberate developing countries from US control.     

战后国民政府对缅遣侨问题初探

二战期间,英美两国倡导创建联合国善后救济总署(UNRRA),统筹协调战后世界各国难民的救助与遣返工作.战后,在联合国善后救济总署的指导与帮助下,国民政府精心筹划组织,动用大量人财物力,开展艰苦卓绝的东南亚华侨遣返复员工作.因国民政府对缅遣侨过程最为复杂,外交交涉最为困难,遣返人数亦最多,故成为整个遣侨工作的重中之重.     

民族国家意识的培育与廉政文化建设——西方和亚洲国家廉政文化建设经验研究

廉政文化建设与民族国家意识的培育之间存在较高的关联度。领导层热爱祖国,通常会拥有高尚的道德情操,廉洁奉公。国民富有民族国家意识,有益于形成以符合国家利益为尺度衡量的善恶价值观念,形成公平、公正、诚实、向善的道德风尚。引导经济社会快速发展,加强对爱国主义的宣传教育,是提升民族国家意识的重要途径。     

Japan and China: A Fresh Start in a Difficult Era

No relationship is more important to the future of Asia than the one between Japan and China. PM Abe’s visit to Beijing last month put the relationship back on a firmer footing. Yet diplomacy alone will not stabilize Sino-Japanese relations. Popular attitudes in both countries also matter, and will be shaped by the success or failure of leaders to manage the growing complexity of this relationship from food security to fisheries management to national defense and new solutions to China’s growing influence over the daily lives of Japanese. Across Asia too, Japan and China will need to coexist without impeding each other’s influence. Next year’s visit to Japan by President Xi offers ample opportunity for expanding the foundation of this latest round of diplomatic “fresh starts” in the Japan-China relationship. Uncertainty over the US role in Asia, however, has made this a more difficult task.     

From Antagonistic Autonomy to Relational Autonomy: A Theoretical Reflection from the Southern Cone

The concept of autonomy has acquired a plurality of meanings in international relations; this article analyzes the distinct uses given to this term in Latin America and its relationship to theoretical contributions from outside the region. The authors propose a far-reaching reconceptualization of autonomy appropriate to Latin America's new circumstances in the global context. They argue that these new circumstances favor the shift from autonomy as traditionally defined to what they call relational autonomy, a construct based on contributions from classical political theory, political sociology, gender studies, social and philosophical psychology, and the theory of complex thought.