Participation,education, and pluralism: towards a new extension ethic

The concern driving current debate on agricultural extension is increasingly that of how to help farmers learn how to deal with the complex world around them responsibly and profitably, in such a way that the extension worker is ancillary. This article seeks to deconstruct and provide a more reasoned assessment of agricultural extension services through a reflection on development paradigms, adult education, individual empowerment, and institutional pluralism. By calling into question the underlying ethical dimensions of agricultural extension, it is possible to develop an alternative paradigm and thereby generate new insights into it. The article concludes that the raison d'être of agricultural extension today must be to create an ethical basis which ensures that extension practices are more inclusive and thus responsive to the needs of farmers and other rural populations, integrating individual expectations into the wider socio-economic, cultural, political, and geographical environment.     

Increasing strategic accountability: a framework for international NGOs

The accountability of international development NGOs (INGOs) has attracted a great deal of interest from academics and development practitioners. INGO accountability falls into two categories: practical accountability (for the use of inputs, the way activities are performed, and outputs) and strategic accountability for INGOs' performance in relation to their mission. This article presents a conceptual framework for exploring INGO accountability. It is based on information collected through a literature review and semi-structured interviews with representatives from 20 UK-based INGOs. The research found that INGOs tend to use a number of quality-assurance mechanisms to achieve ‘practical’ accountability. However, it is suggested that this kind of accountability will not necessarily enable INGOs to achieve their missions to alleviate poverty and eliminate injustice. Furthermore, the predominant use of practical accountability has led to a number of gaps in INGO accountability. It is suggested that, like the term ‘participation’ before it, accountability has been co-opted for its instrumental benefits to INGO project performance and management. It is argued that if INGOs are to achieve their missions, this will require more ‘strategic’ forms of accountability, geared towards fundamentally changing those social, economic, and political structures that promote poverty.     

DOES DISPERSED PUBLIC OWNERSHIP IMPAIR EFFICIENCY? THE CASE OF REFUSE COLLECTION IN NORWAY

Corporate governance theory suggests that companies with dispersed and indirect ownership suffer from agency costs. A worst case is where several political authorities jointly own a company, which allows managers to operate with inferior efficiency. In political economy, the manager is not the major agency problem. Elected politicians may impair efficiency to improve their re‐election prospects. Since politicians have less influence in jointly owned firms, such companies are expected to perform better than those owned by a single public authority. Consistent with corporate governance – but not political economy – the empirical analysis suggests that dispersed municipal ownership impairs cost efficiency. In the Norwegian case of municipal refuse collection presented here, costs of dispersed ownership often outstrip gains from economies of scale. Use of jointly owned companies is not necessarily a proper response to efficiency problems inherent a fragmented local government structure.     

中非携手加强第三世界国家的团结与合作

尊敬的各非洲国家驻华使节:尊敬的英国国际发展部驻华代表,以及到会的国内外专家、学者:女士们、先生们、朋友们:首先,请允许我代表中国社会科学院,向出席“中国与非洲共同发展”国际学术研讨会的各位嘉宾、各位朋友、各位专家学者,表示热烈的欢迎和衷心的感谢!2006年,是新中国同非洲国家开启外交关系50周年。值此之际,我们共聚一堂,以“中国与非洲共同发展”为主题进行研讨交流,具有重要的意义。2006年,被称为中国外交的“非洲年”,这一年有5件大事引起了国内外媒体对中国与非洲关系的强烈关注。一是中国外长李肇星于1月11日赴佛得角、塞内…     

A CROSS‐NATIONAL TEST OF BONGER'S THEORY OF CRIMINALITY AND ECONOMIC CONDITIONS*

Using international data for 100 countries, we test two hypotheses derived from Bonger's Marxian theory of crime. The analyses support the hypothesis that the degree of capitalism significantly predicts homicide rates, but they fail to confirm that the de‐moralization of the population (loss of moral feelings for others) mediates the relationship between capitalism and homicide. Although capitalism is not the best predictor among those considered, overall, the results underline the importance of Bonger's ideas because both capitalism and corruption (our indicator of de‐moralization) show reasonably strong relationships with homicide rates and compete with other variables commonly used as predictors of international homicide rates. The results confirm the usefulness of attempting to subject Marxian ideas to positivist, quantitative tests, with an eye to integrating Marxian theories with other mainstream theories, such as institutional anomie theory.     

新破产法的制定与中国信用文化和信用制度

信用制度是市场经济现代模式中最核心的一项制度.①良性的市场经济与良好的信用文化和信用制度是一致的,一个具备良好信用传统和信用基础的市场经济必然是成本最低和效率最高的.目前的中国正处于一个经济转型期,转型的目标和方向是市场经济.在这一时期,旧有的信用制度、信用文化以及信用保障系统被新的经济结构和制度结构所动摇,而市场经济所需要的信用制度和信用文化尚处于缓慢的生长过程之中.在这个生长过程中,法律制度正在并必将要起到至关重要的作用.     

论法治的社会基础

市民社会是法治的社会基础。自治是市民社会的内在要求,法治需以社会自治为基础。市民社会蕴含的公民意识是法治精神的基础。只有大力推进市民社会建设,才能从根本上实现法治。     

关于美国变性人歧视问题介绍

变性人在就业、教育、医疗保险等很多领域遭受歧视,本文分析变性人在这些领域遭受的歧视。对于如何解决歧视问题,需要各种政策和措施,尤其需要政府予以立法来保护变性人的权利。     

Sa-Skya Pandita’s Buddhist Argument For Linguistic Study

Journal of Indian Philosophy -     

中共创建时期的重要文章《告中国的农民》作者考

《告中国的农民》一文,是中国共产党创建时期较早、较系统地阐述中国农民问题的一篇重要文章。但是,由于该文的开头部分“被上海法捕房没收走了”,遂给后人留下了一个历史之谜,使人们难以知道该文的作者是谁。85年来,特别是1949年以来,这个问题一直没有得到很好的解决。从该文和周佛海的有关情况来分析,特别是依据该文和周佛海的文章中对“设若”、“甚么”、“那末”等词语的习惯性运用,可以断定该文的作者就是当时日本共产主义小组的成员周佛海。