China’s foreign aid system: structure,agencies, and identities

China’s rise as a (re)emerging donor has attracted attention over the last decade, with a focus on Chinese development assistance as a challenge to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) aid norms. Knowledge of China’s domestic aid structure is needed to understand Chinese aid abroad. This paper addresses gaps in the literature and challenges the accepted nostrum that China’s Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) dominates China’s aid programme. Building on the authors’ experience as Chinese aid practitioners and scholars over more than a decade and drawing on over 300 interviews, the paper explores China’s aid decision-making processes by examining the main agencies, identities and informal interactions. We argue that the Chinese aid system is characterised by fierce and ongoing competition for influence among actors, especially MOFCOM, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) and the Ministry of Finance (MoF), as well as the companies responsible for implementing Chinese aid projects.     

创新持续到创新深化:地方政府治理创新能力构建的关键要素

在推进国家治理能力和治理体系现代化的进程中,地方政府治理创新能力的构建至关重要,从关注“创新持续”到“创新深化”视角的转化,正是体现地方政府治理创新能力发生着深刻的重构。论文以创新持续到创新深化的内生化理论模型为基础,识别五个创新深化的核心要素,即组织创新文化、多元主体嵌入、技术嵌入便捷性、创新模块开放性、领导者赋能,并选取地方政府创新奖中西北地区的十个案例,运用定性比较分析,探索并验证核心要素的多重并发因果路径。论文研究表明,五个核心要素在领导者赋能为基础条件下,形成创新文化型创新、模块嵌套型创新、外在嵌入型创新三种创新路径模式。     

论国际战略的历史演进与新时代中国力量的文化呈现

从世界历史来看,国际战略总体遵循一种“军事战-经济战-知识战”的演进流程,即权力由以武力为基础转向以资本为基础、再转向以知识文化为基础。当今世界,文化越来越成为一种重要的权力资源,在中国国家综合国力的要素构成中,文化的作用日益受到重视、地位不断提升。文化蕴涵的权力属性进一步彰显。中国特色社会主义进入新时代,中国在发展成一个全球经济大国的同时,也在着力开掘中华民族优秀传统文化的战略张力,着眼于文化创新和知识创新,增强国家的文化软实力,成长为一个更加自信的文化强国。     

走向共赢的格局:中国环境治理与地方政府跨区域合作

多年以来跨界的环境污染得不到有效的解决,已经成为中国环境治理上一个反复发作的顽症.究其原因主要在于现行行政体制的"分割性".因此,地方政府间建立跨区域合作机制不仅必要,而且是可能的.各级政府之间的"环境共治"是中国未来环境保护体系的一个发展主轴.而观念创新与区域认同意识的强化、中央政府的主动性与支持、政府间的协调与合作组织的建立、法制的保障与境外管辖权的试行,是本文对如何就环境治理进行跨区域合作的一些建议.这种环境治理的跨区域合作是一种"新区域合作主义"。     

Public–Private Partnerships: An International Performance Review

Public–private partnerships are enjoying a global resurgence in popularity, but there is still much confusion around notions of partnership, what can be learned from our history with partnerships, and what is new about the partnership forms that are in vogue today. Looking at one particular family of public–private partnerships, the long-term infrastructure contract, this article argues that evaluations thus far point to contradictory results regarding their effectiveness. Despite their continuing popularity with governments, greater care is needed to strengthen future evaluations and conduct such assessments away from the policy cheerleaders.     

A study of the effects of a Micelle Encapsulator Fire Suppression Agent on dynamic headspace analysis of fire debris samples

The effects of a Micelle Encapsulator Fire Suppression Agent (F-500, Hazard Control Technologies Inc., Fayetteville, Georgia) on the routine analysis of fire debris samples by Gas Chromatography (GC) were studied. When mixed with water the product can be used in the suppression of Class A and Class B fires. Laboratory tests were performed to determine whether or not the product has any effect on the analysis for ignitable liquids by GC, in particular for gasoline, medium petroleum distillates. and heavy petroleum distillates. Test burns were suppressed using either the micelle encapsulator or water and samples collected from these burns were analyzed. The results of analysis show that use of the micelle encapsulator at a fire scene may affect the chromatographic data obtained from samples collected by the investigator. However, the effect does not prevent the identification of common ignitable liquids in fire debris samples.     

Crafting village democracy in China: The roles, networking, and strategies of provincial elites

There is no obvious and direct correlation between the provincial level of economic development and democratic level of village elections. There is a great disparity in the level of rural democratization and the implementation of village self-governance among and within provinces. The modernization model alone cannot explain why village elections work well in some provinces but not in others. This paper looks at the political elite’s ongoing efforts at provincial level to conduct village elections and implement village self-governance in rural China. These efforts include the strategies for crafting village democracy employed by provincial elites: elite cooperation, local legislature, political responsibility, political programming, and the art of balancing party leadership and village elections. He has published extensively on China’s village elections and local governance. He is author and coauthor of several books. His current research interests include the development of non-state, local governance, and political participation. The author gratefully acknowledges the anonymous reviewers, Professor He Baogang of Deakin University and Professor Zhong Yang of University of Tennessee for their suggestions on an earlier draft. My special thanks to Professor Joseph Fewsmith of Boston University, Professor Tan Qingshan of Cleveland State University, and three anonymous reviewers for their insightful comments, as well as to East Asian Institute of National University of Singapore for providing support for this research.     

Art. 20a GG in der Hand des Bundesverfassungsgerichts – Potential für einen Anspruch auf Gesetzgebung?

Natur und Recht - Als allein objektive Verfassungsnorm kann Art. 20a GG für sich genommen dem Einzelnen kein subjektives Recht auf Klima-Gesetzgebung verleihen. Hieran ändert auch der...