An Eccentric Dramatist Who Focuses on Realities

L＇Aide-Memoire, by re- nowned French playwright Jean Claude Carriere, had its Chinese premiere in October 2008, and was warmly received by local audiences. The Beijing People＇s Art Theater, where the drama was staged, was filled to over 90 percent of its capacity. ＂That＇s amazing. We didn＇t expect much attention for such a serious play and small production,＂ remarks producer Wang Jingping.     

African farmer-led irrigation development: re-framing agricultural policy and investment?

The past decade has witnessed an intensifying focus on the development of irrigation in sub-Saharan Africa. It follows a 20-year hiatus in the wake of disappointing irrigation performance during the 1970s and 1980s. Persistent low productivity in African agriculture and vulnerability of African food supplies to increasing instability in international commodity markets are driving pan-African agricultural investment initiatives, such as the Comprehensive Africa Agricultural Development Programme (CAADP), that identify as a priority the improvement in reliability of water control for agriculture. The paper argues that, for such initiatives to be effective, there needs to be a re-appraisal of current dynamics of irrigation development in sub-Saharan Africa, particularly with respect to the role of small-scale producers’ initiatives in expanding irrigation. The paper reviews the principal forms such initiatives take and argues that official narratives and statistics on African irrigation often underestimate the extent of such activities. The paper identifies five key characteristics which, it argues, contradict widely held assumptions that inform irrigation policy in Africa. The paper concludes by offering a definition of ‘farmer-led irrigation’ that embraces a range of interaction between producers and commercial, government and non-government agencies, and identifies priority areas for research on the growth potential and impact of such interactions and strategies for their future development.     

INSTITUTIONAL LAYERING IN GOVERNING HEALTHCARE QUALITY

Since the 1980s, regulated markets and New Public Management have been introduced in the public sector across the world. How they have affected existing governance mechanisms such as self‐regulation and state regulation has remained largely unexplored, however. This article examines the origins and consequences of institutional layering in governing healthcare quality. Dutch health care, where a market‐based system has been introduced, is used as a case study. The results show that this market‐based system did not replace but modified existing institutional arrangements. As a result, hospitals have to deal with the fragmentation of quality demands. Using the concept of institutional layering, this study shows how different arrangements interact. As a consequence, the introduction of a certain policy reform will work out differently in different countries and policy sectors. Our ‘archaeological’ study in this layering can be seen as an example of how such incremental change can be studied in detail.     

金融业是“社会经济”发展的“主导力量”

我国参加“WTO”以后 ,对我国冲击最大的应是金融业。我国金融业市场化程度最低 ,但它又在经济社会发展中作用最大。金融业有自身发展的规律 ,它应突破“存、贷、汇”的限制 ,走上以资本经营为主体的更大市场。金融市场的发展在客观上给社会更多的选择余地 ,分散了金融风险。金融风险是市场风险的一种 ,风险并不等于是危机。金融危机大体上有三种类型 :一是支付危机 ,二是股市危机 ,三是汇市危机。只要经济平稳发展 ,政策对头 ,危机一般都可避免。资本市场不宜过早开放 ,应以监管能力的配套为前提     

Forgotten women: Transvestism and marriage

Studies of transvestism are usually about men, the female transvestite is a rarity, and thus the term has come to refer to a man who derives pleasure from dressing in women's clothing. Variously defined as a problem, be it psychosexual, behavioural or whatever, the focus has been directed towards the transvestite himself, his problems and conflicts, the ways in which he sees himself. But there is a hidden area, submerged beneath the welter of research material: the wives, the forgotten women.