Power Dynamics in an Experimental Game

We introduce a new experimental method for studying power. Drawing from multiple theoretical perspectives, we conceptualize power as relational and structural, as well as comprised of different forms through which basic human needs can be met. Thus, the method we introduce examines how, when faced with a particular need, people use multiple forms of power concurrently and within a “field of influence,” namely, the other players in a game. This enabled us to examine how one form of power is transformed into another and how power is transferred from one player to another through interaction, as well as to measure power as behavior, as the exercise of choice, as potential, and as outcomes. Two experiments using egalitarian start conditions and a survivable ecology demonstrated that participants used power to gain more power, creating inequality. Being the target of force made some players unable to “survive” in the local ecology. Theoretical and methodological issues in the study of power are discussed and the application of our game method to the study of power in other fields is considered.     

What Do We Mean by ‘Rethinking Regulation’?

This article identifies and discusses several different conceptions of regulatory reform. It subsequently looks at available evidence on trends in regulatory burdens and on the results of regulatory reform activity undertaken over the past 30 years. Thirdly, it identifies and briefly discusses the range of tools that are typically employed in implementing regulatory reform policies. It then examines some of the regulatory problems that implementation of the reform agenda has itself brought forth. It concludes with some comments which seek to assess the report of the Better Regulation Taskforce in the context of the broad overview of regulatory reform set out in the preceding sections of the article.     

NEW PUBLIC MANAGEMENT VALUES AND PERSON‐ORGANIZATION FIT: A SOCIO‐PSYCHOLOGICAL APPROACH AND EMPIRICAL EXAMINATION AMONG PUBLIC SECTOR PERSONNEL

This paper takes a socio‐psychological approach to NPM and its value‐based theory in public administration. We develop a model for the study of NPM values based on the idea of Person‐Organization Fit (POF) and examine it empirically. Findings, based on a survey of 205 Israeli local governance personnel, revealed that the POF of several core NPM values (that is, responsiveness, transparency, innovativeness, and achievement orientations) was positively related with job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and service climate, as reported by these public personnel. The findings suggest that, beyond modern strategies and effective policies for the public sector, lies an essential quest for NPM value‐fit with public personnel. Consequently, the study advocates a better theoretical and practical understanding of the socio‐psychological interfaces, such as POF, in public administration. Implications and directions for future studies are discussed, both in the context of public administration research and in the generic field of organizational behaviour theory and practice. The detailed results of the factor analyses are available directly from the authors.     

Enacting the “Incomprehensible China”: Modern European Jurisprudence and the Japanese Reconstruction of Qing Political Law

The great ambition of Japanese colonialism, from the time of its debut at the end of the nineteenth century, was the reformulation of Chinese law and politics. One of the most extraordinary examples of this ambition is The Administrative Law of the Qing Empire [Shinkoku Gyōseihō], a monumental enterprise undertaken by the Japanese colonial government in Taiwan intended not only to facilitate Japanese colonial administration of Taiwan but also to reorder the entire politico‐juridical order of China along the lines of modern rational law. This article examines the legal analysis embraced in The Administrative Law of the Qing Empire and recounts its attempt to reconstruct the Qing's “political law” (seihō) by a strange, ambiguous, and hybrid resort to “authenticity.” The strangeness of this Japanese colonial production comes from Japan's dual position as both colonizer of Taiwan and simultaneously itself colonized by “modern European jurisprudence”(kinsei hōri). In uncovering the effects of modern European jurisprudence on the Japanese enterprise, we will discover Japan's pursuit of its own cultural subjectivity embedded in The Administrative Law of the Qing Empire, epitomizing the campaign of national identities observable in the process of East Asian legal modernization.     

多党合作与和谐社会

中国特色的和谐社会,是由中国共产党领导的,以马克思主义为指导的,以最广大人民根本利益为出发点的和谐社会,是以经济和社会、城市和乡村、东中西部不同区域、人和自然、国内发展和对外开放等关系良性互动和协调发展,全体人民各尽所能、各得其所、和谐相处的社会,简言之,是一个民主法治、公平正义、诚信友爱、充满活力、安定有序、人与自然和谐相处的社会.显然,构建这样一个和谐社会是一项庞大而复杂的系统工程,既要实现各子系统内部的和谐,又要实现各子系统之间的和谐.各阶级、阶层的和谐是社会和谐的基础,政党和谐则是社会和谐的重要方面.     

环境侵权纠纷解决机制的经济法解读——以乌油污染案为例

当我国环境保护主管部门及其他相关政府经济管理主体对环境侵权案件的行政调解已经成为解决环境侵权纠纷的主要途径之一时,鉴于普通财产和人身的侵权案件中,政府不会直接介入的特质使我国环境侵权纠纷解决机制具有了经济法的属性.本文试图以乌油污染案为例,在对环境侵权纠纷解决机制的经济法属性和经济法的弱势群体特殊保护原则在环境侵权案件中的运用进行大量分析的基础上.探究环境侵权纠纷解决机制的经济法解读与民法解读的协调与互动,从而从人文关怀的角度来思考我国环境侵权纠纷解决机制的现状与未来.     

十九世纪中俄亚洲腹地行政管理制度比较研究

行政管理制度是国家政治制度的重要组成部分,俄属中亚与中国新疆在19世纪行政管理制度的变革殊途同归,最终都实现了与各自本土的划一,但是具体实施的方式和过程却不尽相同。这实质上是两种不同社会制度、价值观念和文化内涵在边疆管理制度上的体现。