Hong Kong's Elite Structure,Legislature and the Bleak Future of Democracy under Chinese Sovereignty

A decade after retrocession to China, Hong Kong still has limited democracy. Only half of the legislature is directly elected by the people, and the Chief Executive – the leader of Hong Kong government – is chosen by an election committee of 800 people, most of them loyal to Beijing. In December 2007, the Chinese Central Government announced that the direct election of the Chief Executive and the whole legislature may be implemented from 2017 and 2020, respectively. Still, in this paper it is suggested that real democracy in the foreseeable future is unlikely. This paper demonstrates the existence of a “power elite” of tightly knit business-state networks in Hong Kong society and argues that this constitutes a systemic barrier against further democratic development. Central to the discussion is an analysis of the formation and composition of the legislature and the relations to the elite-interlocks among influential organisations in society. Mainly based on 2006‐07 data, the Elite Database which is subject to network analyses is composed of 1531 individuals holding 1854 seats from 40 listed corporations, 27 government committees, 20 non-governmental organisations, and eight universities.     

Fiscal incentives and direct foreign investment in less developed countries

This study found no support for the belief by the governments of most less developed countries (LDCs) that the provision of fiscal incentives is necessary to attract direct foreign investment and that the greater the generosity of these incentive programmes the greater would be the level of such investment. What mattered were the presence of natural resources and a proven record of economic performance. The provision of incentives could not compensate for the absence of either of these two factors. The study is a cross‐sectional one of 27 LDCs for the period 1965–73.     

China's Evolving Views of the Korean–American Alliance, 1953–2012

This article reconstructs an ideational trajectory in which China's views of the Korean–American alliance evolved during the last 60 years. The article first surveys China's general policy toward alliance and alliance-making. The article then traces the evolutionary path of Chinese views in the following four periods: (1) the Cold War era (1950s–1960s); (2) transformative years (early 1970s–mid-1990s); (3) the period of a strained alliance (late 1990s–late 2000s); and (4) an era of great reversal (late 2000s–present). Principally, the article suggests that China's view of the Korean–American alliance was intense antagonism during the Cold War era, although it was significantly watered down during the transformative years of Sino–South Korean rapprochement. With the normalization of relations between Beijing and Seoul in 1992 and a decade of progressive rule (1998–2007) in South Korea, China's view encompassed some wishful thinking about a gradually diluted alliance. The strong comeback of the conservatives in South Korean politics since 2008, however, shattered such optimism and re-awoke Beijing to some cold realities. China's view of the Korea–American alliance may grow more negative in tandem with US–China relations, irrespective of the official rhetoric of sovereignty regarding alliance and alliance-making.     

Using Cost Analysis to Examine Variability in Replications of an Efficacious Child Neglect Prevention Program

This article reports on a program- and case-level cost analysis of five replication sites of an efficacious child neglect prevention program. Approximately one-third of all sites' total labor hours were expended on direct family services and casework support for a specific family, with the remainder spent on indirect implementation support and program administration activities. Including non-personnel costs, the all-site mean total cost per family was $6,276, ranging across sites from $2,245 to $10,260. Costs varied greatly among individual families within sites. More research is needed to understand factors associated with differences in cost.     

Allele frequencies of 10 STR loci in Koreans

Allele frequencies for the 10 STR loci, D6S1043, D9S925, D7S821, D4S2368, D21S2055, GATA193A07, D12S391, D10S2326, D15S822 and D18S51 were obtained from a sample of 217-310 unrelated Koreans. In this study, 2 out of the 10 loci did not meet Hardy-Weinberg expectation. The combined probability of identity for 10 loci tested was 4.93 x 10(-14).     

知识产权许可策略探讨

中国已成为一个巨大的知识产权许可市场.中国企业在考虑将知识产权许可作为知识产权管理战略的一部分时,有必要做出几个关键决策:是否该取得许可、许可内容以及许可来源.知识产权许可有助于中国公司取得有价值的技术、节省研发费用并避免商业化的延宕.     

In Times of Sickness: Intra-household Labour Substitution in Rural Indonesian Households

In many developing countries, households with ill adults suffer not only from diminished labour supply but also from an inability to borrow against future labour income. Intra-household labour substitution may be an important coping strategy for these households. Using information about individual health status provided by Indonesia Family Life Survey, this study finds some evidence that Indonesian farm households cope with chronic illnesses of male adults through intra-household labour substitution. Yet, the results show that this strategy is not effective in the case of severe health shocks and that these households are unable to keep their family farm profits stable.