The Asian economic crisis and bureaucratic development: a veto player analysis

The Asian economic crisis ravaged numerous economies in thelate 1990s. Significant social and political disruption followedthe fall in Asian currency prices. The newly industrializedstates of Asia were particularly hard hit, yet some also experiencedswift turnarounds, reaching pre-crisis currency rates and economicoutput. The enduring puzzle of the crisis is the role of bureaucratic-businessties as a background cause of the crisis and determinant ofgovernmental policy responses. In this paper, we adapt Tsebelis'veto player model to include bureaucracy as a formal actor inthe adjustment process. We argue that states that minimizedthe control of developmental bureaucracies over finance anddirect managerial decision-making weakened the institutionalcapacity of bureaucrats to veto adjustment policies, both beforeand after the 1997 crisis. Moreover, we find that a traditionof strategic regulatory guidance is associated with favorableeconomic performance, provided that bureaucrats had subjectedprivate firms or state-owned enterprises to competition (oreven business failure) historically, and where the risks associatedwith financial decisions were not socialized by the state.     

Corporate citizenship: Creating social capacity in developing countries

A corporation has only limited ability to create social capital through philanthropic activity, and, in the context of a decline in official aid, the corporate sector is increasingly assuming a de facto developmental role. The presence of social capital assists communities in moving towards sustainable development and may contribute to the business case for corporate–community partnerships. While it is not the role of corporations to deliver social services, their ability to enhance social capital by partnering with community organisations can contribute both to development and work to their own commercial advantage. Such partnerships, whether philanthropic or commercial, will be more effective if delivered through balanced and transparent relationships with community organisations that help to create social capacity at the local level.     

欧洲及东亚国家社会保障制度的比较与借鉴

健全与完善的社会保障制度在稳定社会环境、促进经济发展方面发挥着积极的作用。欧洲福利国家的社会保障制、新加坡的中央公积金制度及日本的社会保障制度都各具特色。     

伪满协和会分会规则的演变及成效

伪满协和会是近代日本侵略中国东北时期由日本侵略者勾结汉奸在伪满洲国发起成立的政治组织,分会既是协和会的基层组织单位,又是协和会开展活动的主体。1935年2月第一次调整协和会分会规则时,只调整了分会设置原则。1937年8月的第二次调整则对分会规则进行了全面调整。其目的都是为适应日本侵华政策的时局需要,最大限度地发挥协和会在伪满殖民统治的作用。经过这两次调整,分会数量大幅度增加,其恶劣行径所影响的范围也日趋扩大,给中国东北社会及东北人民带来深重的灾难。     

Litigation process of social movements as a driver of norm transformation?

The political science and international relations literature has extensively analysed the role of norm entrepreneurs, states, and international institutions as relevant actors generating norm transformation. However, although social movements’ reliance on courts to address core social problems has become a significant phenomenon, the role of the litigation process of social movements in norm transformation is understudied. Social movements have an ambiguous relationship with litigation. On the one hand, social movements perceive litigation to be the tool of the powerful, reproducing the status quo; on the other hand, it is argued that even when social movements lose their cases before the courts in the short term, legal mobilization can provide longer-term achievements. This article constructs a theory about the process through which the litigation of social movements impacts norm transformation. It proposes four mechanisms through which litigation plays a role in norm transformation: legal framing, legal interpretation, precedent setting and public attention. Through the examination of the Sardar Sarovar Dam as a case study, the analysis reveals that the role of the litigation process of social movements in norm transformation depends on how litigation mechanisms impact norm transformation in specific cases.     

The paradox of integration? European democracy and the debt crisis

Europe is facing both a political crisis of democracy and legitimacy and an economic crisis of debt and competitiveness. These crises seem to point in two distinct directions, growing social unrest over the Europeanized mechanisms of economic adjustment, and increasing efforts at strengthening those same institutions that regulate the adjustment process. Recent analyses have suggested that this failure of democracy will prove decisive; legitimacy for crisis management efforts requires a redemocratization of the European polity. Instead, drawing on an analysis of ordo- and neo-liberal traditions, the article explains how European integration was itself a response to the perceived threat of democratic demands at the domestic level. The body of the article then traces the crisis through three phases, arguing that efforts by state managers reflect a deliberate attempt to depoliticize policy-making processes. Yet the selective intervention—to restore accumulation whilst withdrawing social spending—has only fuelled the politicization of segments of European society. This threatens to test the limits of depoliticization as a governing strategy.     

外来族群影响下的东南亚妇女的经济角色:历史的探源

东南亚妇女在前殖民时期就从事经济生产,在外来族群的楔入和影响下成为区域经济体系的重要参与者,经历了以性关系为基础向家庭关系为基础的经济角色转换,再朝着以社会关系为基础的经济角色发展。探悉东南亚妇女经济角色的发源为其在当代社会经济活动中的积极角色提供了历史的解释,展现了其在前殖民时期至殖民时期的嬗变过程,并揭示了影响这一过程的外部因素。     

Measuring the effectiveness of social audits: experiences from Sikkim,India

India has devolved development funds totalling US$46 billion to 240,000 village self-governments. Social audits are emerging as the main tool to ensure their accountability. This article reports on research that analysed panel data of social audits from 2013 to 2015, along with the evolving policy framework. The research found that irregularities were only in the material component and had declined from 1.74% to 0.40% of expenditure, and that works were being completed at 80% of the sanctioned cost. The article proposes a results framework to measure the effectiveness of social audits that covers their punitive as well as preventive role.     

2010年国际战略与安全形势回顾

2010年，金融经济危机效应在政治、经济和社会多方面进一步发酵，推动世界大发展、大变革、大调整深化，逐步迈入“后危机时代”。“中国因素”愈加突出，和平发展的战略环境更加敏感复杂。     

An Assessment of Future Patterns of Security in Central Asia

Since the disintegration of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, various social problems left over have emerged in some Central Asian states, thus threatening social stability in the region. Under globalization, the former Soviet republics in Central Asia have made great efforts to develop constructive relations with others in the hope of strengthening their security. However, the threat of terrorism, extremism and separatism still exists. These non-traditional security issues play a role in current international politics, and the countries in the region are trylng to meet new challenges.     

Support provided by corporate social responsibility programmes for the creation of universal access to ICT: a content analysis of corporate websites

ABSTRACT

This study analyses messages within corporate web pages as physical indicators of the following: the extent to which sampled companies provide information communication technology (ICT) to the South African society in terms of geographical spread; the types of ICTs they provide; the nature of their support; and the members of society targeted. Through latent coding, it seeks to deduce whether the companies realise their role in social development by focusing their corporate social responsibility programmes on societal needs and to establish whether their support is broadly aligned with government priorities.

Although the study is exploratory in nature, it reveals the following noteworthy issues: The geographical spread indicates that seven of the 11 companies analysed focus their support for ICT on the country as a whole; most companies tend to provide a whole range of technological equipment rather than one type; the provision of equipment is coupled with training; and the support for ICT is largely aimed at schools.

It is inferred that the companies realise their societal obligations; support government priorities; and are committed to social development by creating appropriate mechanisms for access to ICT.     

The role of religion in Islamist radicalisation processes

ABSTRACT

This article attempts to bridge the gap between social and religious explanations for Islamist radicalisation in the West by understanding the role of religion through the under-utilised perspective of sociology of religious emotions and Wiktorowicz’s concept of cognitive openness. The article draws on interviews with 23 different actors with first-hand knowledge of Islamist radicalisation, and analyses five in-depth interviews with former so-called radicals, four of whom were converts to Islam. The analysis thus has a special focus on the narratives and experiences of converts to radical Islamist worldviews. The radicalisation process of the formers was characterised by an interplay between context specific experiences and individual religiosity. There are social causes for seeking religion as it can provide an emotional meaningfulness in a state of cognitive openness connected to personal family social background, which can stretch over a long period. However, the interviews also show that religiosity affects the social: the religious emotions within radical Islamist groups create a tight-knit community of self-perceived righteous believers, tied to an emotional experience of empowerment that amplifies their radicalisation. The article concludes that the primary role of religion is to structure and direct the emotions from which so-called radical Islamists think and act within religious frameworks.     

Operationalising participatory research and farmer-to-farmer extension: the Kamayoq in Peru

While rural poverty is endemic in the Andean region, structural adjustment programmes have led to a dismemberment of agricultural research and extension services so that they are unable to serve the needs of smallholder farmers. The NGO Practical Action has been working in the Andes to address farmers' veterinary and agriculture needs. The work has included the training of farmer-to-farmer extension agents, known locally as Kamayoq. The Kamayoq have encouraged farmer participatory research, and local farmers pay them for their veterinary and crop advisory services in cash or in kind. The Kamayoq model is largely an unsubsidised approach to the provision of appropriate technical services and encouragement of farmer participation. The model also illustrates that, in the context of encouraging farmer participation and innovation, NGOs have advantages over research organisations because of their long-term presence, ability to establish trust with local farmers, and their emphasis on social and community processes.     

俄罗斯国家治理模式的演进及其对中国的启示

俄罗斯于20世纪90年代初启动的制度转型,彻底改变了原苏联高度集权的全能主义国家治理模式,并促使政府、市场与社会各自内部的制度结构以及三者之间的耦合关系发生了剧烈重构。全能主义国家治理模式虽然一度对其社会经济发展有过积极作用,但随着社会经济发展的深入推进其固有的弊端凸现出来。当全能主义国家治理模式解体之后,现代国家治理模式的构建就提上议事日程。虽然俄罗斯的国家治理模式进行了长时间的边际性调整,但只有到普京执政以后,俄罗斯的国家治理模式的重大调整才取得显著成效。     

NGOs: Fragmented dreams

Development NGOs are in crisis. They are losing their capacity to engage in critical analysis and propose global solutions; to react to or seize the political initiative; or to situate themselves on the cutting edge of those social and political processes in which new approaches and potential solutions might be found. While some NGOs have sought to accommodate themselves around donors' policies and projects that focus on reducing the negative effects of structural adjustment, the raison d'être of NGOs is to have the autonomy, initiative, and flexibility that non-governmental status confers upon them. A growing split between NGOs' capacity to lobby and do research and their grassroots work reflects a deeper division that exists-- both practical and theoretical --between the concept and process of development and the concept and process of democratisation. The author argues that human development and participatory and representative democracy are both mutually reinforcing and indivisible and that the challenge the NGOs face is to link--theoretically and practically--democracy with development.     

NGO–business collaboration following the Indian CSR Bill 2013: trust-building collaborative social sector partnerships

The CSR Bill of 2013 introduced systematic corporate participation into social development in India. In the light of this law, this article argues that NGOs will play a decisive role in determining the benefits of corporate involvement and recommends that NGO–business partnerships are needed for meaningful social change. The article identifies a trust deficit between NGOs and businesses in India as a key obstacle to the success of NGO–business collaborations in the social sector. It suggests practices that could be adopted by NGOs to build trust in their partnerships with business partners, using a case study of one NGO, SNEHA (Society for Nutrition, Education and Health Action).     

States as laboratories: The politics of social welfare policies in India

ABSTRACT

This article examines the role of India’s states in shaping the implementation and framing of social policy within India’s federal system. Since the 2000s, the central government has overseen a substantial expansion of social welfare policies partly through a new push toward rights-based social provision. Yet, it is India’s states that are both responsible for an increasing proportion of total public expenditure on social welfare provision as well as determining the nature and effectiveness of that provision across space. Drawing on a comparative research program across pairs of Indian states, three critical factors explaining how state-level political environments shape social policy are identified: the role of policy legacies in shaping policy frames; the role of social coalitions underpinning political party competition; and the role of political leaders in strengthening state capacity to achieve program goals.     

论伊斯兰伦理道德的社会应用

伊斯兰伦理道德是社会稳定的构成要素。它作为重大的社会财富保持着稳定的社会功能,促进了阿拉伯民族延绵不断的文化传承。在社会应用层面,伊斯兰伦理道德在社会生活中发挥着有效作用,这便是其价值所在。伊斯兰伦理道德立足于社会实践,服务于世俗生活,故为世俗生活而制定,它具有神圣性的规范要求,即敬畏安拉,并将这一规范变为道德义务和纲纪,成为最重要的内容和精神支柱。伊斯兰伦理道德属于稳定的社会基础,为社会成员所接受和维护,用伊斯兰伦理道德的眼光评判人和事物,是穆斯林的主要思维方式,这就使伦理道德成为社会进步发展的重要精神资源。伊斯兰伦理道德文化内涵的重要性在于它对当今伊斯兰社会依然具有社会现实价值,对塑造穆斯林的精神世界、价值观有着很强的规范和指导作用。     

黑龙江省高校第二外语教学创新研究

当前,世界性经济结构的调整和世界范围的科技进步已成为不可阻挡的趋势,中国经济也在复杂的局面中实现稳中求进。俄罗斯成功加入世贸组织为黑龙江省进一步扩大对俄开放与合作提供了难得机遇。黑龙江省高校应适应新形势,创新人才培养模式,特别是创新第二外语教学,培养出黑龙江省经济社会发展急需的人才。     

Women in Command: The Impact of Female Leadership on International Organisations

After the unsuccessful search for a female UN General Secretary in 2016, the question about what would be the impact of more women leading international organisations (IOs) seems more relevant than ever. This study argues that female leaders of IOs are more inclined towards social policies than their male peers due to being socialised into the role of caregivers, and, therefore, provoke a change in the focus of their institutions’ agendas. First, it provides a detailed discussion of the presence of female leaders in IOs from 1875 to 2018. Then, it analyses both the policy agendas and the discourse of Sadako Ogata and Ruud Lubbers of UNHCR to emphasise the difference in terms of their policy outlook. Although the findings cannot definitely prove a causal relationship, they suggest that it is plausible that women promote more social policies than men, which could change the way international affairs are conducted if the number of female leaders keeps increasing.