统治与治理:国家与社会关系的演进

国家与社会关系分离程度较低,国家的相对自主程度在某种程度上超越社会的限度或制约,统治也就成为政府管理的基本实现形式。政府的失效与市场的失败出现,治理理论应运而生。从取向而言,政府治理所依赖的国家与社会的关系体现在:国家存在于社会;国家受制于社会;国家统一于社会。政府管理方式由统治方式向治理方式转变必须以国家与社会关系的调整变化为基础:从两者合一到两者分离的转变;从两者的分离到两者的合作。     

Chinas Governance Puzzle: Enabling Transparency and Participation in a Single-Party State by Jonathan R. Stromseth,Edmund J. Malesky,and Dimitar D. Gueorguiev

Journal of Chinese Political Science -     

The Evolution of the Centre-right and the State of Scottish Conservatism

This article considers the decline of Scottish Conservatism, 1951–97. The statistical data indicate that 91 percent of the variance in Tory support is accounted for by an underlying negative trend against time, that similar patterns appear when the data is disaggregated by region, and that short-term fluctuations have been more in conformity with English results than is conventionally understood. The process of generational change is seen as a waning of the cultural conditions which produced the centre-right coalition that dominated Scottish politics, 1931–64, and its fragmentation into Conservatism, Liberalism, and Scottish Nationalism. The changed circumstances are not seen as peculiarly Scottish, but the consequences for Scottish Conservatism of an evolution affecting the centre-right across the United Kingdom.     

Bypassing a Centralized State: The Case of the Greek Subnational Mobilization in the European Union

For over 25 years successive administrative reforms have taken place in Greece, with a view to modernizing the subnational institutions. The European pressures come across as an influential factor inducing the process of change. But what has been the subnational responsiveness related to the rationalization initiatives? The aim of this paper is to investigate the Greek subnational authorities’ mobilization in the European arena, providing evidence of their bypassing the central state from a multi-level governance perspective. Building on the division between ‘financial' and ‘regulatory' mobilization, empirical data are drawn from the EU's environmental policy financial mechanism and the subnational representation and networking in Brussels. The figures show that only a few Greek subnational authorities financially mobilize; the vast majority show inertia. Moreover, their regulatory mobilization is hardly evident. It is argued that although the EU offers substantial incentives for mobilizing, domestic institutional capacity also accounts for much variation.     

The Impact of the European Union on Coalition Formation in a Minority System: The Case of Denmark

Does European Union membership influence coalition patterns in national parliaments? For governments in the Scandinavian countries – with their relatively high share of minority governments requiring external parliamentary support to form parliamentary majorities – the question of ‘coalition management’ is highly relevant. This article provides an empirical test of three central arguments in the Europeanisation literature on the impact of EU membership on national parliaments when political parties pass legislation in the Danish Folketing. The effect of EU content in a law on coalition patterns is compared across policy areas and four electoral periods from 1998 to 2011 encompassing 2,894 laws. The data provide support for the argument that the loss of national agenda‐setting over the legislative process has an impact on coalition patterns in the Danish parliament. It is shown that the coalition patterns on Europeanised legislation are both broader and more stable compared to national, non‐EU‐related legislation. The focus on Europeanisation of legislative coalitions goes beyond previous analysis with an institutional focus, and demonstrates an example of how the EU systematically has an effect on legislative coalition formation in a national parliamentary system.     

Equity and Accountability: The Impact of State Accountability Systems on School Finance

Using an 11‐year panel data set containing information on revenues, expenditures, and demographics for every school district in the United States, we examine the effects of state‐adopted school accountability systems on the adequacy and equity of school resources. We find little relationship between state implementation of accountability systems and changes in school finance equity, though we do find evidence that states in which courts overturned the school finance system during the decade exhibited significant equity improvements. Additionally, while implementation of accountability per se does not appear linked to changes in resource adequacy, states that implemented strong accountability systems did experience improvements.     

嬗变与重构:新中国成立以来公共服务模式转型分析

公共服务是国家与政府的基本职能,是政权合法性的基础。新中国成立以来,公共服务模式经历了从"集权熔合—公平至上"型模式向"解制分立—效率优先"型模式,并最终向"多元竞合—均等共享"型模式嬗变的历程。模式转型意味着其内在价值理念、制度设计以及技术选择的革新。回溯中国公共服务模式转型历程,有助于在中国语境下解析公共服务模式的转型,探寻其进一步创新的现实路径,包括政府、市场和社会之间关系边界的重塑、政府角色的合理定位以及政府与公民关系的重构。     

Nicholas R. Lardy,ed., The State Strikes Back: The End of Economic Reform in China

Journal of Chinese Political Science -     

The Impact of the Tax Revolt Era State Fiscal Caps: A Research Update

Fiscal caps, the most common form of fiscal limit adopted during the tax revolt era, are again on the agendas of state government. In this article, we evaluate the claims made by cap supporters and opponents by examining the impacts of caps adopted during the tax revolt. Updating Lowery and Cox's (1990) analysis of the impact of state fiscal caps through 1991 using a comparative state, interrupted time-series design, we find some evidence—albeit very weak—that fiscal caps may have modestly reduced the size of government and no evidence that they have been evaded through budget end-runs.