The innovative personality? Policy making and experimentation in an authoritarian bureaucracy

Why do local officials in an authoritarian bureaucracy experiment with policy, even when directed not to do so by central‐level officials? This study suggests that policy experimentation in this institutional environment can best be understood as an interaction between the structure in which local officials are embedded and individual‐level personality attributes. Leveraging a new data set from a series of original surveys with local policy makers in mainland China, conducted between 2016 and 2018, we discern three baseline personality types: authoritarian, consultative, and entrepreneurial. We thereafter examine the individual‐level characteristics of local officials who will innovate irrespective of a centralization of bureaucratic power and interests, as currently experienced under Chinese President Xi Jinping. We find that local policy makers engage in policy innovation when they are more focused on resolving governance problems and that increased risk reduces but does not eliminate their willingness to innovate. Based on these findings, we contend that future studies of policy innovation should use an evolutionary framework to examine the interaction between preferences and selection pressures.     

社会冲突与社会整合

转型期是社会结构不断分化的时期,也是冲突的多发期.社会整合是化解社会冲突的主要途径,面对新型社会冲突的挑战,需要实现社会整合方式的转变,在利益整合的基础之上,全面调动、发挥社会各种力量在社会整合与和谐社会构建中的作用.通过多元化复合整合走向和谐社会     

社会公正与社会协商机制--荷兰模式的启示

社会不公并不是处于转型期的社会主义国家独有的现象,西方发达国家同样也面临着不少与社会公正有关的难题。尽管社会主义国家在转型过程中出现的社会不公现象,无论是在实质上还是在形式上,都不同于西方发达国家,但从西方的经验中,我们不难发现一些有益的启示。     

作为社会运动的企业社会责任论

企业社会责任产生于西方,它与西方企业发展程度、社会生活状况有着密切关联。早期狭义的企业社会责任关注的是有限责任,现代企业社会责任则强调扩展了的社会责任。后者促成了消费者主权、员工参与等新的社会观念的产生,从而修正、限制了企业所有者的权力。从社会运动的角度考察企业社会责任,将为我们全面、正确理解企业社会责任提供新思路。     

社会资本、社会和谐与我国社会主义和谐社会建设

社会资本的培育能够提升公民的宽容和妥协精神、提升公民对制度的认同感、增强公民的合作参与的品质。在转型时期,我国社会资本存在着严重缺失现象,制约着社会的良性运行和协调发展。因此,通过增强政民之间的信任、引入"善治"的社会治理范式、完善规范等社会资本的培育应当成为构建和谐社会的一个重要视角。     

社会保障体系的完善与社会稳定

社会保障决定和影响着社会稳定。社会保障体系的不完善与不适应,使社会稳定面临着严峻的挑战。为了维持社会稳定,必须加快完善社会保障体系。     

Advancing the study of political cleavages through experimentation: Revisiting regionalism and redistributive preferences in Canada

The maintenance of welfare state policies requires citizen support for the provision of a social safety net through taxation and redistribution. Research has shown that a diverse political polity presents a risk to the welfare state; however, Canada bucks the trend and does not see citizen support for economic redistribution decline in response to immigration-based population diversity. Using Canada as our case, we argue that scholars of welfare state politics and redistribution should turn their attention to other sources of population heterogeneity in an effort to better understand how different political cleavages affect citizens’ redistributive preferences. We use an online experimental survey to manipulate the in-group identity of 500 Canadians. The survey enables respondents to identify with other in-group identities along regional, linguistic, income-group, and urban/rural characteristics. Our results find that while Canadians do have a strong baseline preference for redistributive behaviour, regional and linguistic cleavages moderate this outcome.     

Legal enclaves as a test environment for innovative products: Toward legally resilient experimentation policies1

Many countries adhere to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development creed that innovation is good for the economy. Experiments are often used to intentionally create space for innovation. Decisions allowing experiments result in temporary legal enclaves for a few, excluding many others. Therefore, they come with risks. The aim of this article is to provide a set of guidelines that help improve the legal resilience of experimentation policies, so they are better able to withstand legal attacks when they occur. To do so, we first arranged the existing diversity of legal experiments in a theoretical model. Special attention was paid to two archetypes of legal experiments: statutory experiments and regulatory sandboxes. Second, we analyzed the impact of both types of experiments on four core legal principles: legality, certainty, equality, and public accountability. From this assessment, we eventually formulated a set of guidelines to secure or improve legal resilience.     

关于社会和谐与社会矛盾的思考

建设社会主义和谐社会是中国特色社会主义道路的宏伟目标之一,社会矛盾的产生是社会发展不可避免的结果,中国到建党百年时要实现建成富强、民主、文明、和谐的社会主义现代化国家离不开对社会和谐与社会矛盾的研究。针对当前对社会和谐解读的不全面性,要求正确把握社会和谐与社会矛盾的辩证关系,坚持用唯物辩证法的矛盾观来促进社会和谐。     

社会资本理论与社会公正问题

社会资本理论的兴起为社会公正实现的研究提供了新思路。社会资本与社会公正之间存在着结构性依赖和制约的关系。目前,我国的社会资本存在诸多缺陷,制约着社会公正的普遍形成。为此,通过转变政府职能、界定政府权力,加强制度整合、推动法治化进程,培育公民社会的公民意识和公共精神以及促进民间组织的健康发展,进而实现社会资本从传统到现代的转型,是实现社会公正的重要前提和题中应有之义。     

社会资本与社会组织运转——以甘东用水协会为例

促进人们之间相互合作有三种机制——科层、市场和自组织.三种机制在官僚成本、交易成本与结社成本低的情况下都能很好地促进民众之间的合作,但是在缺少社会资本的地方,随着三种成本的上升,合作机制可能都会导致不合作行为的发生.根据对中国目前唯一的整体实行参与式灌溉管理改革并取得成功的中型灌区——甘东用水协会进行实地调研,从协会在现实中所遇到的用水户合作困境出发,针对甘东用水协会内用水户为什么不积极参与和自己利益密切相关的社会组织的建设这个问题,从科层影子、扭曲市场和公民社会缺乏三个方面对甘东用水协会困境进行了分析.得出:政府或者其他外部机构在社会资本缺乏、市场机制难以奏效的地方建立用水协会这类社会组织,要想实现其可持续发展,必须使其脱离科层控制;而且政府或者外部机构在投资方向上也要更加侧重于促进地方社会资本增加的项目,而不是用时髦的、现代的、复杂的组织或者设备来简单代替原来的基础设施.