Cutting Oneself on Too Sharp an Administrative Knife: Problems of Implementation in Finnish Health Care Planning

Finnish public health care planning is a multi-level five year planning system which is heavily bureaucratized. The planning process is formalized and is supposed to work according to fixed time-tables. Here the system is seen to display a conflict between technical planning assumptions and the political and pluralistic setting of the system. This conflict is seen to generate bureaucratic inertia. Empirical evidence indicates that the system does not work according to the a priori set schedules and it is doubtful whether it will keep up to schedule even after the reforms that have been made.     

树立全局观念统筹区域发展

党的十六届三中全会要求“统筹区域的发展”。这对消除“陕西现象”,统筹陕西发展,具有特别重要的指导意义。一、“陕西现象”是异常发展状态的集中反映改革开放以来,陕西国内生产总值平均增长9%,居民消费水平均增长4%左右,建设成就巨大,人民生活显著改善。特别是西部大开发以来,基础设施和生态环境建设力度大大增强,各类开发区建设蓬勃展开,形势喜人。但在新情况下,出现的“陕西现象”应引起关注。“陕西现象”,主要是指“科教居明显优势,经济居明显劣势,二者排序前后反差之大为全国之最”这一异常发展状态,是指工业后进所造成的三大产业之…     

Echoes of Butler? The Conservative Research Department and the Making of Conservative Policy

Although it remains a comparatively little known institution, the Conservative Research Department (CRD) has played an important role in modern British political history. The last few years have seen a remarkable revival in its fortunes. In several important respects, this revival echoes that of the Department under the chairmanship of Rab Butler following the election defeat of 1945. This article examines some of the parallels to be drawn between the experience of the CRD between 1945 and 1951 and between 2001 and the present. It concludes by drawing some general conclusions about how the Conservative party should develop policy when in opposition.     

The Characteristics of Countries with Generational Account Imbalances

This article empirically tests competing explanations for intergenerational policy differences using a cross section of generational accounts from Kotlikoff and Leibfritz (1999). Generational imbalance rises when a public transfer program is created that benefits living generations and harms future generations. Generational imbalance is greatest in countries with a large elderly population, high income growth rate, greater income inequality, and dispersed political parties. The results are consistent with successful rent seeking by the elderly and poor, and suggest that countries with a high income growth rate and coalition government are less able to resist intergenerational redistribution.     

Partisan Differences in Nonpartisan Activity: The Case of Charitable Giving

How do political identities shape seemingly non-political behaviors, such as consumption activity? This paper explores the extent to which political divisions impact apolitical behaviors, focusing on the case of voluntary donations to charitable organizations. Drawing on recent work showing partisans’ differing use of “conspicuous consumption,” we develop and test expectations as to how charitable activity may differ for Democrats and Republicans. Using three national surveys, including an original two-wave panel study, we find sizable differences in overall giving between partisans, with Republicans giving more to charity on average. We show that partisan differences in religiosity, and not differences in beliefs about government spending or desires to signal economic status, explain partisan gaps in giving. Our findings contribute to our understanding about the broader consequences of political fragmentation in the United States and provide further evidence for the social, as opposed to ideological, roots of political identity.     

中国共产党入党标准的演变简述

在中国共产党80年的历史中，有关入党的标准出现过多次变化。本以时间为线索，对其演变作一简介。     

The Making of Empirical Political Science in the UK: Jean Blondel,David Butler and Peter Pulzer

During the winter of 2022–3, three of the most influential individuals in the development of empirical political science in Europe, died. All had been active in research between at least the early 1960s and the present century. David Butler had pioneered, especially, the study of electoral behaviour and particularly in the UK. Jean Blondel had founded the outstanding Department of Government at Essex University and he was one of the principal academics responsible for the creation and subsequent flourishing of the European Consortium for Political Research (ECPR). Peter Pulzer not only published important comparative work on European politics, but he also supervised doctoral theses on topics beyond Europe's own borders. This essay discusses their respective roles and contributions in the founding of a discipline that was only newly forming when they started their own research during the 1950s.     

充分发挥非政府组织在地方政府绩效评估中的作用

非政府组织作为地方政府绩效评估的重要外部评价主体,具有政府内部评估主体无可比拟的独特功能优势。目前,发挥非政府组织在地方政府绩效评估中的作用,面临多种因素的制约。只有在分析非政府组织在地方政府绩效评估中所遇到阻碍的基础上,加强重塑非政府组织公信力,提高政府行政透明度,培养公民社会成长土壤,才能充分发挥非政府组织在地方政府评估中的作用。