Policy capacity in Saskatchewan: strengthening the equilibrium

Abstract: This article examines the views of provincial public servants concerning how policy capacity can be strengthened. The findings are based on interviews conducted in 1997 with thirty-three senior public servants in the Province of Saskatchewan. Findings indicate that most public servants regard their role in policy-making as both natural and important to maintain, but they all accept the division of responsibilities in the policy process between themselves, as system stabilizers, and politicians, as the providers of energy in the system. In this regard, the public servants interviewed welcome clearly articulated goals that apply directly to their departmental concerns. Overall, the responses indicate that policy capacity can be strengthened by improving the government's policy processes, especially those linking cabinet and the bureaucracy, and those that operate horizontally across departments. These views are consistent with the traditional self-image of senior career officials who see themselves as policy managers overseeing a process that invests decisions with a high degree of legitimacy, power and accuracy. Sommaire: Dans cet article, on examine I'avis des functionaries provinciaux en ce qui conceme le renforcement de la capacité de prise de décisions politiques. Les constatations découlent d'entrevues avec 33 hauts fonctionnaires de la Saskatchewan, effectuées en 1997. Selon les constatations, la plupart des fonctionnaires voient leur rôle de décideurs politiques comme étant naturel et important à maintenir, mais ils acceptent tous le partage des responsabilités dam le processus décisionnel, entre, d'une part, eux-mêmes en tant que stabilisateurs du système, et d'autre part, les politiciens comme source de dynamisation. Sur ce point, les fonctionnaires interviewés aimeraient voir des objectifs clairement formulés s'appliquant directement à leurs préoccupations ministérielles. Dans l'ensemble, les réponses indiquent qu'on peut renforcer la capacité décisionnelle en améliorant les processus décisionnels du-gouvernement, particulièrement ceux qui relient le conseil des ministres au fonctionnariat et ceux qui assurent le lien horizontal entre les ministères. Ces avis cadrent bien avec la perception de soi classique des hauts fonctionnaires qui se perçoivent comme des gérants de politiques souhaitant que le processus qu'ils surveillent accorde aux décisions plus de légitimité, de puissance et de précision.     

青年女性嫁人就嫁灰太狼现象的心理学解读

动画片<喜羊羊与灰太狼>中的灰太狼,不仅受到儿童的喜爱,也被很多青年女性视为好男人的典型代表,从而出现了嫁人就嫁灰太狼的现象并备受社会关注.对于这种现象,我们要正确分析、积极评价,帮助青年女性树立理性的择偶观.     

What Workers Want Depends: Legal Knowledge and the Desire for Workplace Change among Day Laborers

In this article, we identify legal knowledge as a key difference between workers who desire workplace change and those who do not. Based on surveys with 121 day laborers, we find that not all day laborers are equally dissatisfied with their jobs, despite uniformly difficult working conditions. Some day laborers do not want to make any real changes to the day labor industry, while others desire a range of industry changes, from higher wages to greater government regulation and unionization. A key difference between these workers is their knowledge of employment law: Those who know the law are more likely to desire workplace change.     

Graffiti vandalism: Frequency and context differences between the sexes

This paper explores a popular yet highly destructive form of property crime — graffiti vandalism. The localities of such destruction selected for study were male and female restrooms. Three hundred and ninety-two cases were collected and analyzed. Prior research theorized the existence of a significant difference in the amount of graffiti produced between the sexes. (It was believed that males produce more graffiti than females). Analysis, however, revealed equal production of graffiti by males and females.Content differences between the sexes were hypothesized. The content categories included homosexual, heterosexual, nonsexual (humorous and political statements) and racial graffiti. The findings as they relate to content differences between the sexes are presented and discussed relative to sex-role socialization theory.     

试论高职教师队伍职业化建设

高职培养目标是高等技术应用性人才，教师队伍职业化建设关系到高职院校教育改革、发展。探讨师资队伍职业化建设存在的问题和培养途径。将有助于促进高职教师队伍职业化建设和推动高等职业教育健康发展。     

Judging Bias: Juror Confidence and Judicial Rulings on Challenges for Cause

The judge in a jury trial is charged with excusing prospective jurors who will not be impartial. To assess impartiality, prospective jurors are typically asked whether they can be fair. Using an experimental paradigm, we found that small changes in jurors' self‐reported confidence in their ability to be fair affected judges' decisions about bias but did not affect the judgments of either attorneys or jurors. We suggest why a judge's role and unique relationship with jurors is likely to foster a decision strategy based on reported juror confidence, and we discuss the implications of our analysis for current legal debates over jury selection practices. Unexpected patterns in our results also highlight the ways in which perceptions of impartiality are affected, in part, by the social characteristics of the observer.     

马克思人道主义研究的合理思维方式

合理思维方式是正确理解马克思人道主义的关键。马克思人道主义研究的传统思维方式,是一种两极对立、非此即彼的形而上学思维方式,亦即传统哲学本体论思维方式。由于其存在巨大的思维局限和不合理之处,于是通过这种思维方式既不能正确理解马克思哲学精神蕴意,更不能准确把握马克思人道主义实质。实践观点及其思维方式的确立,是马克思哲学变革的实质。因而,实践观点思维方式即是正确理解和准确把握马克思人道主义的合理思维方式。     

高校人事组织的设计与分析

高校人事组织设计是体现现代大学制度精神,体现当代高校三种社会功能的重要组织保证和依托.对国外高校已经形成的中央集权式管理、地方分权式管理、直线制管理三种人事组织设计模式进行分析、归纳获得了有益启示.我国高校人事组织设计也要构建分权与权力下放、所有权与经营权分离、构建政治权力、行政权力和学术权力三方制衡体系等机制,同时需要注意结合我国国情、不能盲目求成、要符合高校定位等问题.     

The effectiveness of NGO self‐regulation: theory and evidence from Africa

Non‐governmental organizations (NGOs) play an increasingly important role in public service provision and policy making in sub‐Saharan Africa, stimulating demand for new forms of regulatory oversight. In response, a number of initiatives in NGO self‐regulation have emerged. Using cross‐national data on 20 African countries, the article shows that self‐regulation in Africa falls into three types: national‐level guilds, NGO‐led clubs and voluntary codes of conduct. Each displays significant weaknesses from a regulatory policy perspective. National guilds have a broad scope, but require high administrative oversight capacity on the part of NGOs. Voluntary clubs have stronger standards but typically have much weaker coverage. Voluntary codes are the most common form of self‐regulation, but have the weakest regulatory strength. This article argues that the weakness of current attempts to improve the accountability and regulatory environment of NGOs stems in part from a mismatch between the goals of regulation and the institutional incentives embedded in the structure of most self‐regulatory regimes. The article uses the logic of collective action to illustrate the nature of this mismatch and the tradeoffs between the potential breadth and strength of various forms of NGO self‐regulation using three detailed case studies. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.