Personnel Reform in the States: A Look at Progress Fifteen Years after the Winter Commission

Trends in states’ civil service reforms since the Winter Commission’s report was published in 1993 are described and evaluated in the context of its recommendations. The authors argue that the commission’s reform agenda relies on a public service bargain that requires public employees, elected officials, and other stakeholders to respect, trust, and support each other’s efforts to serve the public interest. Its recommendations for modernizing state and local personnel systems are discussed and related to the “reinvention” and New Public Management initiatives of the past 20 years. Many of these ideas have been adopted by state governments, but there is no single reform model that has been followed across the states. Some states, such as Georgia and Florida, have engaged in radical reforms that include replacing traditional merit systems with at‐will employment models. The general pattern involves decentralization, deregulation, and limitation of employee protections. While many of the management‐oriented changes advocated by the Winter Commission are staples of states’ civil service reforms, its emphasis on a “trust and lead” strategy based on public service values, partnership, and leadership in the public interest has not received much attention. In general, objective evaluations of states’ reforms are needed to determine whether their purposes are being achieved.     

试论阿拉伯语在云南回族语言中的运用

阿拉伯语是阿拉伯各民族使用的语言,是世界上非常古老的语言之一.回族作为阿拉伯先民与中华民族结合而形成的民族类型,由于其形成过程的特殊性,决定了阿拉伯文化对回族的巨大影响力.云南回族由于地理环境的封闭性,继承的阿拉伯语言虽然在语音、语调甚至语意上发生了一些变化,但至今仍在宗教活动和生活中使用.     

Human Security and Constructivism

This article explores the concept of "human security" as an academic and fledgling policy movement that seeks to place the individual—or people collectively—as the referent of security. It does this against a background of evolving transnational norms relating to security and governance, and the development of scientific understanding that challenges orthodox conceptions of security. It suggests that human security is not a coherent or objective school of thought. Rather, there are different, and sometimes competing, conceptions of human security that may reflect different sociological/cultural and geostrategic orientations. The article argues that the emergence of the concept of human security—as a broad, multifaceted, and evolving conception of security—rreflects the impact of values and norms on international relations. It also embraces a range of alliances, actors, and agendas that have taken us beyond the traditional scope of international politics and diplomacy. As a demonstration of change in international relations, of evolving identities and interests, this is best explained with reference to "social constructivist" thought, in contradistinction with the structural realist mainstream of international relations. In a constructivist vein, the article suggests that empirical research is already building a case in support of human security thinking that is, slowly, being acknowledged by decision-makers, against the logic of realist determinism.     

Competing Interpretations of Buddhism's Revival in the Russian Republic of Kalmykia

This article uses a multiple methods framework to interrogate notions of religious revival among Buddhists in the Russian republic of Kalmykia. Survey results indicate high levels of self-identification among Kalmyks as Buddhists, as well as general support for the notion that the religion has re-established its place in the public sphere in the post-Soviet period. This straightforward interpretation of religious revival is contested, however, in interviews with religious elites and focus group conversations. Interlocutors in these forums were more critical and more nuanced in their understanding of Buddhism's role in contemporary Kalmykia.     

实体经济发展中产业工人思想政治引领的实践路径探索——基于全国12家企业、6所职业院校的调查

目前我国经济已经进入高质量发展阶段,需要建设现代化经济体系、振兴实体经济,而产业工人队伍是振兴实体经济,支撑中国制造、中国创造的重要基础.本研究基于12家企业以及6所职业院校的调研情况,发现当前产业工人在思想上存在职业自豪感不强、主人翁意识淡薄、学技能动力不足、建功新时代着力点不清等问题.这些问题产生的原因主要是产业工...     

Repairing the safety net: Is the EITC the right patch?

Using data from the Michigan Panel Study of Income Dynamics, this article estimates the impact of the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) on economic risk. Risk is measured through the variance of full income (income holding labor supply constant). The results show that the EITC significantly reduces economic risk, but its effects are weaker dollar for dollar than traditional means-tested programs like Food Stamps. The difference is not statistically significant, however. Moreover, for many middle-class people, the risk-reduction benefits of the EITC exceed the tax burden it imposes. This is less true of means-tested transfers. These results are significant for the politics of antipoverty policy. They show that a real-world antipoverty program can generate enough middle-class economic security to build for itself a solid base of political support.     

高绩效政府的创建与公信力问题

高绩效政府是政府形象建设的一个重要方面,而良好的政府形象无疑是提升政府公信力的法宝。从这个意义上来看,政府公信力的提升有赖于高绩效政府的创建。高绩效政府是一个公众满意度高的政府、是一个有限而强大的政府、是一个服务型政府。高绩效政府的创建需要政府百折不挠的努力,有赖于政府对信誉的重视,需要重视领导艺术,是一个共同参与的过程。     

高校治理体系和治理能力现代化视域下教代会改革创新 ：理论逻辑与实践指向

从党的十八届三中全会到十九届四中全会,国家治理体系和治理能力现代化从理论内涵到实践路径不断得以明确,为高校治理体系和治理能力现代化指明了方向、提出了要求。民主治理是新时期高校治理现代化的重要方面之一,因此,教代会工作的改革创新也就成为了这一目标下的必然要求。本研究在论证教代会改革创新的理论逻辑必然性的基础上,通过重新审视高校教代会的工作现状和改革创新面临的困境,探讨了加强党对教代会工作的全面领导、完善教代会改革创新的运行和保障机制,以及夯实教代会民主治校工作中源头参与的实效举措这三方面的治理实践指向。