Policy of decentralization and changing governance of higher education in post‐Mao China

Unlike the Mao era when educational development was entirely directed by the central government, there has been a strong trend to diversification and decentralization of education in the post‐Mao period. This article, being set in this context, examines how the policy of decentralization has affected the governance modes of higher education in Mainland China. More specifically, the article focuses on three major aspects of education governance, namely, financing, provision and regulation in education, with special attention given to examining the changing relations between the state, local governments and other agents in education delivery. One very significant consequence of the change is that the public‐good functions of education, of which the state has taken the primary role of a reliable guarantor, have diminished. Nonetheless, the state's role as a regulator and overall service coordinator has been strengthened rather than weakened under the policy of decentralization. These recent developments in China's higher education also reflect the global trend of decentralization in educational governance. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

From Nationalization to Marketization: Changing Governance in Taiwan's Higher-Education System

The shift from "government" to "governance" has been widely debated both in the West, where the debate originated, and in the Asia-Pacific, where it is a strong emergent theme. In the West, early work concentrated on problems of government failure in the realms of regulation, welfare and development. This developed into a focus on the increasingly complex challenges facing modern states. By the mid-1990s, bodies such as the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) were devoting considerable attention to issues affecting "governance in transition." At this time, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) issued its first discussion paper on governance. This emphasized the importance of bringing together the realms of governance, namely civil society, the state, and the private sector. All these developments signify a fundamental administrative paradigm shift to the "sociopolitical governance" model. This paper discusses the theme "from nationalization to marketization" by examining the origins and driving forces for changing governance in Taiwan's higher-education system. More specifically, the paper examines the changes in the role of the state in terms of three major aspects: provision, financing, and regulation in higher education, reflecting on how a new governance model has evolved in Taiwan.     

A place at the table: Policy analysis,its postpositive critics,and future of practice

Postpositivist critics have brought a new stridency to the ongoing discourse about the nature, applications, and usefulness of policy analysis. Regrettably, their critique is based on a decontextualized caricature, virtually a parody, of policy analysis training and practice. Their assertions are chilling but false, ideological rather than analytical, and detached from the inconvenient realities of policy making and management. Far from being narrowly technocratic and scientistic, policy analysis is dedicated to improving the craft of governance. It is fueled by intuition, argument, and ethical promptings; clearly engaged with the world of political action; and often identified with interests and values otherwise unrepresented at the table. Q‐methodology and other approaches to values identification and analysis can be important contributors to policy analysis practice, but postpositivists have a very long way to go if they are to be relevant to the practical challenges of democratic governance that arise in the many roles that working policy analysts perform. © 1999 by the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management.     

存在决定意识基础上对学术和政治统一性的关注——高校师生思想变化特点探求

高校师生思想状况的跟踪调查已有多年,研究其变化的规律特点尚待深入。从10年问卷数据看,高校师生对当今中国发展状况高度认可,同时也显现出对个人权益发展空间的更多关注。从整个新时期跨度看,30年中国改革开放的成功实践获国人高度认可,但纷繁的学术思潮对中国的现实存在也有不同诠释,它们构成了高校师生思想变化的肯定否定交响曲。高校师生思想的互动及其与社会的互动,体现出存在决定意识基础上对学术和政治统一性的关注与追求。     

改革开放以来的中国公共行政学

改革开放以后,中国公共行政学得以恢复与重建,并逐渐确立了其应有的学科地位,从而获得了更大的发展空间,取得了辉煌的成就:高等院校公共行政学科学院化,建立了完整的专业教育体系,专业性学术组织蓬勃发展,创办了一批专业学术期刊,积极开展国际学术交流;研究领域不断拓展,研究范式不断转换,研究方法不断改进,话语体系不断构建等。公共行政学的发展在推动我国行政体制改革、构建服务型政府、转变政府职能、培育公共精神、提升政府治理能力等方面都起到了重要作用,但在没有形成完备的本土化理论体系、研究方法的结构性失衡、公共行政的合法性危机等方面,仍面临较大的挑战。不过,全面深化改革的进一步推进、国家治理体系与治理能力现代化水平的逐步提高、互联网与大数据技术的广泛应用,也为公共行政学的发展创造了巨大的发展机遇。未来中国公共行政学的发展要立足现实,及时回应和满足社会变革的需要,创新公共行政学的研究范式与方法,构建具有中国特色的公共行政学话语体系和本土化的公共行政学理论。     

浅谈大学生心理健康教育与思想政治教育结合的必要性

随着经济快速发展和社会竞争加剧,大学生的心理健康教育问题日益凸显,而传统的思想政治教育模式已远远不能适应当前的教育对象.心理健康教育逐渐在思想政治教育中发挥着越来越重要的作用,二者的结合巴成为高等教育学生工作改革的必然趋势.     

Revealing preferences: Does deliberation increase ideological awareness among the less well educated?

Research suggests that the rightist discourse on immigration appeals to left‐leaning citizens with lower levels of education. The opposite is, however, not true for right‐wing voters with lower educational levels, and this asymmetry leaves left‐wing parties at a disadvantage compared with the right on immigration and integration issues. Deliberative theory promises that discussion, information and reflection can promote a more balanced political discussion and a more enlightened citizen. This article assesses the extent to which deliberative polling increases the ideological awareness of citizens with lower educational levels. More specifically, it gauges the extent to which especially less well educated left‐wing voters – those whose attitudes research finds to be particularly out of tune with their ideological predispositions regarding immigration and integration – adjust their attitudes as a consequence of deliberate exposure to informational input and the presentation of two‐sided arguments. Use is made of unique data generated during the first European‐wide deliberative polling project, ‘EuroPolis’, held in 2009. The results indicate that less well educated left‐wing voters indeed have slightly more negative attitudes towards immigrants than leftist voters with secondary or post‐secondary educational levels. Turning to the micro‐mechanisms of attitude change in a deliberative setting, the analyses show that both levels of education and ideological predispositions play a role in the extent to which participants of the deliberative poll adjust their attitudes. In three out of four models, evidence is found that less well educated left‐leaning citizens are indeed most likely to adjust their attitudes on immigration and integration after being presented with a more balanced discussion of the topic.     

论高校学生思想政治教育中的“二元对立”及其超越

思想政治教育是促进高校学生全面发展的重要途径。在当代,随着中国社会转型期的到来,高校学生思想政治教育所处的环境发生了很大的变化,其中,有机遇也有挑战。直面高校学生思想政治教育中的困境、剖析背后的原因并在原有基础上实现超越,对于增进高校学生思想政治教育发展,增强高校学生思想政治教育的针对性、实效性有重大意义。     

The impact of state governance structures on management and performance of public organizations: A study of higher education institutions

Legislative statutes are passed by political majorities which support structures that insulate the implementing agency from its political opponents over time. Political actors also respond to different constituencies. Depending on the broad or narrow base of these constituencies, actors favor different kinds of governance structures. We apply this theoretical framework to the question of whether the state governance structures of boards of higher education affect the way university managers allocate resources, develop sources of revenue, and promote research and undergraduate education. Over the past two decades state governments have given considerable attention to state governance issues, resulting in many universities operating in a more regulated setting today. This paper develops a classification of higher education structures and shows the effects of differences in these structures on university management and performance using a data set that covers the period from 1987 to 1998. The analysis suggests that, for most of the measures, productivity and resources are higher at universities with a statewide board that is more decentralized and has fewer regulatory powers. © 2004 by the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management.     

政治话语分析的基础理论阐释:理论前提、问题域与实践性诠释

当前,政治话语问题不断显现,政治学研究应该高度关注政治话语分析。随着意识形态斗争的形势向碎片化、复杂化、隐性化发展,不仅应该注重分析工具的选择与运用,而且应该认真思考政治话语分析的基础理论问题,弄清它的思想渊源、核心对象、基本属性及其分析路径等基本维度。通过理论与实践的观察,政治话语分析是以批判性话语分析为基础,兼顾社会语言学与实践语用学的两个支撑理论,三者之间理论范式和分析模型是相互统一的,共同构成了理解政治话语分析的前提学说。作为政治话语分析的核心对象,其问题域是以不确定性为基础的政治概念的本质存疑性,不确定性的合理性构成了政治话语分析问题域的基本要素,其决定了政治话语分析基本属性及其分析路径的形成。作为一种实践性诠释,政治话语分析指向话语主体运用本质存疑概念而构建的政治话语,其既兼顾分析性的话语阐释又要体现评价性的意义批判。在多元化的政治生活世界及其政治话语关系中,基于不同的话语环境而形成的内在要素排列组合选择构成了政治话语分析的分析路径,而政治性分析路径、类型化分析路径以及论证性分析路径已经成为具体分析情境下被广泛利用的基本典范。     

Introduction: Ideology,Propaganda, and Political Discourse in the Xi Jinping Era

The ideology, propaganda, and political discourse of the Communist Party of China (CPC) have continued to function as key elements of the political system of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in the post-Maoist period since 1978. In the first term of the Xi Jinping leadership (2012–2017), the CPC, for instance, elaborated on its guiding ideological concepts, devised inventive ideational framings of phenomena usually perceived as tangible (such as the “New Normal”), engaged in complex intellectual debates on crucial topics (such as “eco-civilization”), intensified and diversified its argumentation patterns and discursive strategies, and consolidated ideational governance over some citizens’ individual values, beliefs, and loyalties. Furthermore, it is often no longer possible to differentiate between the CPC’s internal and external propaganda, as seemingly exclusively domestic ideational and discursive issues increasingly correlate with international phenomena. However, the trends in the Xi era do not present paradigmatic shifts, but rather an overall reassertion-cum-innovation of previous Maoist and post-Maoist uses of ideology, propaganda, and political discourse, primarily aiming at strengthening one-party rule.     

Ideological influences on governance and regulation: The comparative case of supreme courts

A key influence on governance and regulation is the ideology of individual decisionmakers. However, certain branches of government – such as courts – while wielding wide ranging regulatory powers, are expected to do so with no attitudinal influence. We posit a dynamic response model to investigate attitudinal behavior in different national courts. Our ideological scores are estimated based on probability models that formalize the assumption that judicial decisions consist of ideological, strategic, and jurisprudential components. The Dynamic Comparative Attitudinal Measure estimates the attitudinal decisionmaking on the institution as a whole. Additionally, we estimate Ideological Ideal Point Preference for individual justices. Empirical results with original data for political and religious rights rulings in the Supreme Courts of the United States, Canada, India, the Philippines, and Israel corroborate the measures' validity. Future studies can utilize Ideological Ideal Point Preference and the Dynamic Comparative Attitudinal Measure to cover additional courts, legal spheres, and time frames, and to estimate government deference.     

The value of discourse analysis as a methodological tool for understanding a land reform program

The negotiation and contestation of social value, authority and knowledge is intrinsic to development interventions. Discourse analysis is growing in popularity as one of the tools through which this contestation and negotiation can be explored. This paper explores the policy issues illuminated by a discourse analysis of the Land Reform Pilot Project in the KwaZulu Natal province of South Africa. Specifically, it is argued that discourse analysis highlights human agency and ideological practices and in so doing reveals the construction and contestation of social value, authority and knowledge.     

新时代意识形态安全态势的变化向度与应对策略——深刻领会习近平关于意识形态安全重要论述的精髓要义

意识形态领域是政治安全的前沿阵地,意识形态安全关乎全局,是总体国家安全的重要基石。意识形态安全形势在与国际形势和社会转型的链接中不断发展变动,当前,我国发展进入风险挑战不断积累甚至集中显露的时期,意识形态领域的安全态势发生深刻变化。党的十八大以来,习近平总书记审视治国理政全局,科学标识意识形态安全的战略定位,深刻洞察意识形态安全态势的变化向度和未来走向,为新形势下进一步维护意识形态安全提供了思想指引和实践遵循。新时代,应以习近平总书记关于意识形态安全的重要论述为指导,积极探索维护意识形态安全的着力点,构建牢固的意识形态安全防线,从而为维护国家长治久安和社会稳定发展提供坚实支撑。     

Democratic Governance: Systems and Radical Perspectives

How might we think about democratic governance? This paper distinguishes between system governance and radical democracy. System governance borrows the language of radical democracy while missing its spirit. It advocates increased participation through networks because new institutionalists suggest networks are an efficient means of service delivery. It advocates increased consultation to build consensus because communitarians suggest consensus is needed for effective political institutions. System governance is, then, a top‐down discourse based on the alleged expertise of social scientists. Radical democrats concentrate instead on the self‐government of citizens. Instead of the incorporation of established groups in networks, they promote a pluralism within which aspects of governance are handed over to associations in civil society. And instead of consultation prior to decision making, they promote a dialogue in which citizens play an active role in making and implementing public policy.     

Judicial Self-Governance Index: Towards better understanding of the role of judges in governing the judiciary

The aim of this article is to introduce a novel view on how to evaluate the share of power held by judges in judicial governance. Its contribution to court administration and the regulation of judges is three-fold. First, it provides a novel empirically tested conceptualization of judicial governance that includes 60 competences grouped into eight dimensions (ranging from selection and education of judges to case allocation and publication of judicial decisions). Second, it proposes a new Judicial Self-Governance (JSG) Index that measures how much power domestic judges hold in these eight dimensions of judicial governance. Third, by applying the JSG Index to the longitudinal data for Germany, Italy, Czechia, and Slovakia this article demonstrates that the Judicial Council model is not the only institutional model of judicial governance leading to the empowerment of judges. This means that judges can hold many powers without the existence of judicial councils and even in the Ministry of Justice model.     

The Rationality Crisis in US Higher Education

Over the course of the last century, many of the stresses and contradictions of advanced capitalism have been displaced onto colleges and universities, which are now directly attached to the state—whether legally, politically, or financially—as an important component of the ideological and economic state apparatuses. As a component of the ideological and economic state apparatuses, the university is implicated in the state's ongoing fiscal crisis as both a cause of the crisis and a solution to the crisis. The author argues that the possibilities for crisis management within the existing corporate model of higher education have been exhausted in a rationality crisis that threatens to implode the administrative apparatus in higher education. The author calls for a radical reconstruction of power relationships within the university and in its relationships to capital and the state.     

Analysing decentralised natural resource governance: proposition for a “politicised” institutional analysis and development framework

There has often been a gap between policy intentions and outcomes in the field of natural resource governance. Analysing the factors for these discrepancies requires multi-level approaches that relate policy decisions formulated at the national and international level with the decisions of local resource users. A key asset of the Institutional Analysis and Development framework is precisely its ability to link multiple governance levels. Yet most commons literature has been limited to the study of collective action among local communities without considering higher institutional and government levels. To overcome this limitation, I posit for a methodological development of the framework, which bridges the gap between institutional analysis, power-centred and historical approaches, and discourse analysis. The application of the extended framework to the study of state afforestation policies in Vietnam highlights the need to simultaneously consider institutions, the politico-economic context and discourses across governance and government levels. As illustrated in this paper, such a framework does not only facilitate the analysis of policy shortcomings but also supports the design and dissemination of policy recommendations.     

The Evolution of a Global Labor Governance Regime

During the last decade, the approach by businesses and governments toward labor and social issues at the global level has fundamentally changed. Industrial relations are rapidly internationalizing by developing new actors and forms of governance to deal with the regulation of labor. This article looks at the evolution of self‐regulatory standards in the global labor governance debate. Key is that notwithstanding problems with the lacking legal framework of global regulation and enforceability, patterns of local self‐regulation, norm‐setting, and international codes lead not only to higher expectations of the behavior of transnationally operating firms but also to an indirect pattern of regulation. The article argues that particularly the adoption of the core labor standards by the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the setup of the Global Compact by the UN serve as points of convergence. A plethora of voluntarist initiatives that converge over time toward a shared understanding of labor standards is part of the transformation of global labor governance institutions.