我的中国之行

应中国和平发展基金会邀请,尼泊尔总理巴特拉伊的夫人西斯拉·雅米(Hisila Yami)于2012年8月16-28日率尼泊尔主流媒体考察团一行14人访华.雅米生于1956年6月,毕业于印度德里大学,获计划和建筑学学士学位,曾长期从事建筑业.1996年2月至2006年6月参加尼泊尔共产党(毛主义)发动的“人民战争”,任党中央政治局委员.2007年,尼泊尔共产党(毛主义)与其他党派达成共识,宣布停火并参加制宪会议选举.2008年4月,尼共(毛)在尼泊尔制宪议会选举中成为立宪议会中的最大政党,雅米当选为制宪会议议员.2008年8月,新政府正式成立,雅米担任旅游与民航部部长.雅米与现任尼总理巴特拉伊于1981年3月结婚,有一女.此文是雅米在华访问期间记录下的点滴心得体会,8月28日回国次日即在尼泊尔《加德满都邮报》上刊登.     

里约大冒险:一个南美城市的盛世梦想

正狂欢节之都里约热内卢,一个天堂与地狱共存的地方,不仅有阳光和沙滩,足球、桑巴和巴西烤肉,也遍布着过度城市化带来的一个个黑帮统治的小国家。第31届夏季奥林匹克运动会于8月5日至21日在里约热内卢举行。每届奥运会之前,全球媒体都会用挑剔的眼光看待东道主的筹备工作。从距开幕式还有一个月之久开始,在对奥运会的预热情绪之下,全世界就兴起了对本届奥运会的关注,以及对里约热内卢这个面积     

奥巴马非洲之行及其对中国的影响

习近平主席的非洲之行是一种宣示。他在就任后出访的第一批国家包括坦桑尼亚、南非和刚果（布）三个非洲国家,这具有十分重要的意义。首先,它说明中国新一届领导对非洲的发展充满信心。     

喀纳斯之行

喀纳斯湖旅游环境和人文资源别具异彩,此地具有“云海佛光”、“变色湖”、“浮木长堤”、“湖怪”的传说,在世人的心目中,一直是个神秘莫测、可言而不可即的地方。近期与友人结伴前往一游,至今难以忘怀,令人陶醉。     

难忘的也门之行

不久前,我有幸跟随中国共产党友好代表团访问了也门.这是多年来我首次出访阿拉伯国家.兴奋之余,不免有些好奇.百闻不如一见,在也门访问虽只有短短的几天,却给我留下了深刻印象.     

TCL远洋之行

在2004年的早春,中国企业界和舆论界突然感受到,不仅仅是TCL及其董事长李东生将为以下三个瞬间的光辉而灿烂:之一,2004年1月28日的法兰西,在中国国家主席胡锦涛和法国总理的注目下,李东生代表TCL与国际老牌家电品牌汤姆逊签订组建全球最大彩电合资企业的协议,TCL控股67％。之二,1月30日,在深圳股票交易所。"TCL集团"整体上市,李东生及其管理团队凭借各自所获得的企业股份,瞬间成为亿万富翁。之三,2月16日,在香港,《财富》杂志亚洲版的     

尼泊尔主流媒体和友好团体考察团中国之行观感

正应中共中央对外联络部邀请,我有幸作为尼泊尔主流媒体和友好团体考察团成员,于2015年9月8—18日赴中国北京、四川和西藏考察。考察团一行共15人,由尼泊尔国家电视台副台长迪达尔先生(Deepak Mani Dhital)任团长。在北京,中共中央对外联络部副部长陈凤翔会见考察团,并接受了我们来自尼泊尔国家电视台、尼泊尔广播电台等媒体     

一个村庄里的中国

中国农民在担负最多的改革成本后,求生本能使其成为世界上最可爱的人他们也将在中国腾飞世界之时获得前所未有的尊敬。     

一个汉学家眼中的中国

在中国以及中国学盛行之地,费正清(John King Fairbank,1907~1991)这一名字远较他的英文名字更具知名度。这至少说明两个问题:费正清的中国学影响非凡,费正清与中国人交往极深。蒋介石为什么会丢掉中国大陆?毛泽东有着什么样的缺憾?为什么延安访问团没能扭转美国对中共的政策?中国人口将来是否倍增?邓小平领导的中国变革将会走向何方?中国将如何走向公民社会……在《费正清中国回忆录》中,费正清记录了他     

给中国一个机会

2012年全国两会的一个特殊性意义在于:它隐喻和折射着中国通往未来的道路。有一种焦虑在弥散:在一系列困局中,中国能够突围吗?正是在这种氛围中,处于改革开放前沿,对此感触最深的广东改革群体发声,力图推动改革进一步深化。中共中央政治局委员、广东省委书记汪洋说,要进一步深化改革,解决利     

Exploring the E-Government Gap in South America

Abstract

The transition to an information society requires the implementation of effective actions by the different actors of the new society and economy. The private sector has already started to get involved. It is now public administration’s turn, and, although far behind the business world, it has been provided with an important tool: the electronic government model.

Although several projects have been carried out all over the globe, the development of such initiatives is very much unequal, depending on not only the region of the world but also varying from country to country within each region. Thus, while countries such as the United States, Great Britain, Sweden, Singapore, Australia, and Canada are the leaders when it comes to implementing electronic government programs, the same cannot be said about most Latin American nations.

It is the intention of this article to address this unequal situation, which will be called the e-government divide, emphasizing the global and the regional e-government gaps.     

Financial investment via ADRs in Mexico and South America

American depository receipts (ADRs) are dollar-denominated, negotiable instruments issued by a depository bank to represent ownership of a foreign security in the bank's possession. They are the primary method employed by Latin American corporations to raise equity capital in the United States. One flequently overlooked aspect about ADRs is that their investment performance provides a gauge not only on management's performance but also a measure of the foreign government's ability to provide a political, legal, economic and social climate that is conducive to international investment. This paper investigates the returns and risks associated with foreign investment in Mexico and South America. First, we show that the weekly returns to Latin American stocks are weakly correlated with the U.S. stock market which suggests that they can reduce the risk of a portfolio that is fully diversified within the U.S. market. Second, we find that ADRs from this region are more risky than U.S. common stocks. However, we find little evidence that foreign exchange rate risk should be a major factor in the investment decision. Third, we examine the effects of the devaluation of the Mexican peso and show that political factors can significantly increase the risk and reduce the return to foreign investment. Finally, the results show that investors do not pay a significantly larger relative transaction cost premium for investing in Mexican and South American equity vis-à-vis U.S. common stock. We conclude that ADRs provide the ability for the U.S. investor to realize potentially superior gains from companies located in these emerging economies. However, the willingness by the U.S. investor to disinvest means that politicians and managers have a powerful incentive to continue reforms that lead to improved standards of living for their citizens and employees.     

“向南看”与“向外看”：美拉关系的新局面

2011年3月19—23日,美国总统奥巴马先后对巴西、智利和萨尔瓦多进行为期5天的访问,这也是奥巴马就任美国总统以来对中、南美洲的首次出访,距离布什总统2007年3月访问南美洲整整过去了四年时间。     

Transformation and Decay: the de-institutionalisation of party systems in South America

This article surveys the evolution of party systems in South America in terms of their level of institutionalisation. In recent times political competition in much of South America has become less structured by political parties proper and has moved in the direction of candidate-centred movements and electoral vehicles led by political entrepreneurs. Most countries in South America (Brazil, Chile and Uruguay are exceptions) have experienced party system de-institutionalisation during the 1990s and 2000s, as voters have systematically punished traditional parties, often rendering them marginal or forcing their disappearance. The scale of decomposition varies across cases but it has affected countries with historically well institutionalised party systems (Colombia, Venezuela) and those with inchoate party systems (Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia) alike.     

Territorial dispossession: dynamics of capitalist expansion in rural territories in South America

The rural territories of the Agrarian South have been occupying a central role as epicentres for the recent dynamics of capitalist expansion. Over the last years this has led to an increase in the process of control and extraction of natural common goods by different mechanisms such as agribusiness, mining-energetic projects, mega-infrastructure building, cultural dispossession and so on. Taking the territory as the central analytical approach that involves different dimensions and scales, we analyse the recent transformations in several rural sceneries from South America where various forms of dispossession of natural goods have been presented. With this perspective, we hope to contribute to the analysis and understanding of the agrarian transformations in the Agrarian South.     

The politics of neoliberal economic reform in South America, 1980–1994

What political conditions facilitate market-oriented reform? Prior research suggests that neoliberal policies are inherently unpopular, politically hazardous, and consequently dependent upon the existence of strong and relative autonomous governments. This study reassesses the political costs and benefits of market-oriented reform and attempts to offer insights for future theory building by exploring five hypotheses on the basis of the post-1980 South American experience. The findings suggest that the political obstacles to reform have been exaggerated and theoretically misspecified. Neoliberal policies are less the product of the triumph of technocratic expertise over political calculus than of the structure of political incentives and opportunities created by broader sets of factors, including economic circumstances, structural conditions, pluralist pressures, institutional constraints, and international linkages.     

High rates of suicide and attempted suicide using pesticides in Nickerie, Suriname, South America

Suicide and attempted suicide are identified as a serious mental health problem in Suriname, especially in the district of Nickerie. An epidemiological study in the Nickerie catchment area revealed high rates of suicide (48 per 100,000) and attempted suicide (207 per 100,000) on average in the years 2000-2004. Particularly remarkable is the high number of attempted suicides among males (49%), and the use of pesticides in both fatal (55%) and nonfatal suicidal behavior (44%). Probably this high incidence of suicidal behavior reflects the very poor economic situation of the district, poverty of most of the population, high levels of alcohol misuse, domestic violence, the rigidity of Hindustani culture regarding family traditions, the accessibility of pesticides, and the lack of future perspectives. Health care alone will not be sufficient to tackle this problem. One of the most urgent measures to prevent suicides is to stow away pesticides in locked cabinets with the key held by the proprietor.     

NGO strategies beyond aid: Perspectives from Central and South America and the Philippines

Though unevenly spread, many developing countries are experiencing a decline in aid flows. This paper explores and compares NGDO responses in regions and countries in or entering a 'beyond-aid scenario'. The comparison shows that, despite a diversity of contexts and histories, the quest for self-sustainability has become a common and dominant concern. Within a framework of options, examples show what is being attempted in terms of NGDOs altering their resource profile and the problems they encounter in doing so. Emerging evidence suggests that NGDOs are more likely to sustain themselves if they (a) look beyond finance to adopt an integrated, capacity-based approach to sustainability and internal organisational reform and (b) put effort into making good their 'relational deficit' with a wider array of domestic constituencies.     

Life Satisfaction in Latin America: A Size-of-Place Analysis

In Latin America, countries can be divided into two groups: those where people in villages and small towns are happier than people in middle sized cities, and those where they are less happy. Four possible reasons for these patterns are explored: level of economic development, social values, public social spending, and presence of indigenous population. In regressions on happiness of each explanatory factor separately, development and public social spending (especially on health, housing, and social security) are the most important. In a joint regression, public social spending is found to be the main explanation of the different happiness patterns.