The Big Society: Back to the Future

This article contributes to the steady flow of critiques of the big society idea contained in The Political Quarterly. It focuses chiefly on two sets of parallels. The first is between the big society and the policies pursued by the Thatcher government which, despite their obvious rhetorical differences, contain many striking similarities, including their neoliberal origins, application of the ‘crowding out’ thesis and uncritically idealised notions of community. The second is between the big society and a policy with the same name pursued doggedly by the Chinese Communist Party for nearly 20 years until being abandoned as a failure. Lessons for the Prime Minister's flagship policy are drawn from the Chinese experience. The article concludes with a welcome for the rediscovery of the social by public policy and some suggestions as to how a more participative and democratic state could follow from this breakthrough.     

冲突与构建和谐社会的逻辑起点

构建社会主义和谐社会,是新一届中央领导集体从新世纪新阶段现实出发,提出的重要治国目标、治国方略和治国机制。这一重大现实命题的提出,使中国特色社会主义事业的总体布局由经济建设、政治建设、文化建设“三位一体”优化和提升为包含社会建设在内的“四位一体”。面对这样一个重大的现实问题,社会科学工作者需要从不同的学科视界进行深入和系统的研究。在马克思主义的政治学看来,我们所生活和所建设的社会无疑是由众多社会成员个体、组织、团体、群体、阶层、阶级等单元或要素组合而成的复杂系统或有机体,这其中利益博弈是各类要素或单元之间的基本作用机制,利益关系是其基础性的关系,利益结构是社会系统和政治系统的深层结构,构成社会和政治运行的内在动力。本专栏的五位作者从政治学角度对社会利益关系与和谐社会建设之间深层次的关联进行学术层面的探讨,得出了比较新鲜和富有启发性的结论。     

政务大数据在腐败评估预警中的应用

对政府权力运行过程中所产生的各类信息的观测是判断腐败发生风险及其严重程度的重要方式。传统权力运行制度下,隐秘性信息不对称与敏感性信息不对称构成了腐败评估与风险预防的严重障碍。现代信息技术发展尤其是政务大数据的挖掘应用,给腐败行为的全过程控制与预防提供了信息保障和技术支持。腐败评估预警能够通过运用计算机处理手段和信息集成系统,对行政权力运行中产生的各项指标和数据进行综合处理与分析。腐败评估预警指标体系可以根据"主观-客观"和"过程-结果"两个纬度分成四个象限,具体包括自我测评类指标、腐败感知类指标、业务开展类指标、案件查处类指标。     

论唐初缔建和合社会的精神架构与文化约束

唐初统治者通过“王权”思想的广泛物化导致社会各阶层的精神敬畏;一元政治文化模式主导社会文化的发展方向;法律约束的深入细分规范社会行为;民本关怀引导社会道德精神走向。完善了一整套社会精神控制和文化约束的体制,为当时社会统治和和谐发展打下了良好的基础。     

Silence and Catastrophe: New Reasons Why Politics Matters in the Early Years of the Twenty‐first Century

Megaprojects are systems of highly concentrated power whose footprints, or radius of effects, are without precedent in human history. Once upon a time, even under imperial conditions, most people on our planet lived and loved, worked and played within geographically limited communities. They never had to reckon with all of humanity as a factor in their daily lives. Whenever they acted recklessly within their environment, for instance, they had the option of moving on, safe in the knowledge that there was plenty of Earth and not many others. Whenever bad things happened, they happened within limits. Their effects were local. The politics of megaprojects radically alters this equation; it poses new questions about the governance of risk and the nature and limits of democratic politics. The politics of megaprojects—put simply—raises fundamental questions about the ‘life and death of democracy’.     

大数据视阈下公职人员廉政风险动态监测及预警

廉政风险防控具有前瞻性和高效益,属治本之策。大数据为公职人员廉政风险防控提供了新的研究视角和方法,可通过协同联动的廉政风险防控平台深度挖掘规模剧增的海量数据进行动态监测及预警。基于目前理论研究和实践现状,以公职人员为无差别微观研究主体,将公职人员廉政风险预警流程设计为廉政风险信息采集、廉政风险信息分析、廉政风险信息评估、廉政风险信息处理四部分,利用大数据量化研判,实现公职人员个体相关数据的分析评估和实时监测,可及时防控和遏制腐败行为的发生。     

周初德刑思想探析

周武王的军队占领殷都朝歌,统治了六百余年1的商朝灭亡,周朝由此建立。周朝建立之后,以周公为代表的周初统治者巧妙地使用了"德"这个概念,将天与王权结合起来,为武王克商找到了合理依据,同时也为周王朝未来的统治提出了合理性规划。"德"以及德治思想的提出既体现了周人思想体系中天命思想的羁绊,也是人文精神萌发的开始。     

“The Big Society,” Public Expenditure,and Volunteering

The debate on volunteering has paid insufficient attention to the relationship between public spending and volunteering. The importance of this relationship is highlighted by the British government's “Big Society” plan, which asserts that an increase in volunteering will compensate for the withdrawal of public agencies and spending. This idea is based on the widely held belief that a high degree of government intervention decreases voluntary activities. This article uses a multidisciplinary approach to improve understanding of how public spending affects the decision to volunteer. A theoretical model conceptualizes this relationship in terms of time donation by employed individuals. The model is tested empirically through an econometric analysis of two survey data sets and interpretative analysis of narratives of local volunteers and public professionals. The results suggest that volunteering is likely to decline when government intervention decreases and that a collaborative approach to sustaining volunteering is needed.