Environmental attitudes and concerns of the environmental protection bureaucrats in guangzhou,people's republic of china: Implications for environmental policy implementation

This article analyzes the questions of implementation failure in environmental policy in China. Using empirical data collected in Guangzhou, People's Republic of China, die article documents the environmental attitude of Guangzhou's Environmental Protection bureaucrats. In interpreting the data, the article seeks to assess and evaluate the present state of environmental administration in China. This article provides evidence that although China has made much progress in developing environmental legislation and a regulatory framework, the economic growth and devolution of power unleashed by reforms have also created new environmental stresses and, to some extent, reduced the regulatory capabilities of governments in China.     

Book reviews

Clay G. Westcott (ed.), Key Governance Issues in Cambodia, Lao PDR, Thailand, and Viet Nam (Manila: Asian Development Bank, 2001), 71 pages.

Michael Jacobsen and Ole Bruun (eds.), Human Rights and Asian Values: Contesting National Identities and Cultural Representations in Asia (Surrey, Great Britain: Curzon Press, 2000), 330 pages.

Robert H. Taylor (ed.), Burma: Political Economy Under Military Rules (London: Hurst & Company, 2001).

Satu Kahkonen and Anthony Lanyi (eds.), Institutions, Incentives and Economic Reforms in India (New Delhi: Sage Publications, 2000).

Kyung‐Ae Park and Dalchoong Kim (eds.), Korean Security Dynamics and Transition (New York: Palgrave, 2001), 209 pages.     

Authoritarian Co-optation in the Age of Globalisation: Evidence from Hong Kong

The existing literature on authoritarian survival, implicitly or explicitly, assumes that political challenges faced by authoritarian regimes are all domestic. I argue that globalisation exposes authoritarian regimes to new sources of threat. In particular, capital mobility forces authoritarian regimes to deal with not only those who dare to voice out dissatisfaction, but also those who exit. While repression may be the best strategy to silence the vocal, co-optation would be a more effective tool to retain the runaway. It is, however, often impossible to co-opt all the capital owners. As such, authoritarian regimes have to be selective when choosing co-optation targets. I argue that authoritarian regimes would co-opt renowned firms because these firms yield the greatest demonstration effect. Hong Kong provides an interesting case to illustrate my arguments. Beijing strategically co-opted the stakeholders of renowned firms in Hong Kong in order to solve the city's pervasive confidence crisis prior to 1997. I test my arguments with data on firms listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. I find that firms owned by well-known and prestigious elite families were more likely to build political connections with Beijing. To test the causal linkage more rigorously, I use both the genetic matching and instrumental variable approaches. The empirical results provide strong support to my arguments.     

Spirituality and punitiveness: An exploration of Christian,Buddhist, and non-religious attitudes towards crime

Studies measuring religious views towards crime and punishment have mainly focused on Christianity and its denominations in a western setting. They have also used measures that are exclusive to the Christian faith. Other major religions have largely been ignored. This study attempts to rectify this by exploring the attitudes of Christians, Buddhists and those identifying themselves as non-religious towards crime. The results indicate some apparent contradictory findings as the more spiritual Buddhists are, the more they attribute crime to both individual and environmental causes as well as greater support for both coercive and social intervention measures. When compared to the Buddhists, Christians and the non-religious are more supportive of assistance towards the treatment of offenders in this study.     

Diversion from youth courts in five Asia Pacific jurisdictions: welfare or restorative solutions

Since the 1970s, there has been a trend to move away from punitive and retributive approaches to reintegrative practices. This article provides an account of how young offenders in five Asia Pacific jurisdictions are diverted from being prosecuted in the youth courts and of to where they are diverted. The five cases demonstrate that diversionary measures in the Australasian jurisdictions tend to be more restorative in their practices than are those in Chinese-dominated jurisdictions, which adopt welfare responses. It is concluded that although there is some progress in the areas of decarceration and delegalization, the diversion goals of decategorization and deprofessionalization in Chinese-dominated jurisdictions have yet to be achieved. Such diversionary strategies carry the risk that many more young people committing minor offences may be subject to more intrusive measures and disguised social control in the name of diversion, welfare, or the prevention of future offending.     

Books received 2000–2001

Publications Received

Books received 2000–2001     

Social Policy Under One Country, Two Systems: Institutional Dynamics in China and Hong Kong since 1997

Hong Kong's 1997 reversion to Chinese sovereignty brought two hitherto distinctive social policy systems into one country. As Hong Kong is gradually assimilated into China in the coming decades, the two social policy systems will need to identify elements of convergence. In this article, we argue those elements can be found in parallel efforts to curtail the reach of the state, extend the role of the market, enhance individual responsibility, and in the development of a productivist social policy orientation in both societies. The social policy systems of the two societies remain strikingly different in many ways, reflecting their diametrically opposed starting points. But their reform trajectories appear to be pointing in similar directions.     

Peer Relations and Chinese-Canadian Delinquency

The main and interactive effects of delinquent friends, peer attachment, and association with Chinese friends on delinquency are examined based on a sample of Chinese-Canadian youths. The results reveal that association with delinquent friends increases delinquency involvement, whereas attachment to peers has just the opposite effect. In terms of interactive effects, it is found that strong attachment to peers dampens the criminogenic effect of delinquent friends. There is also the unexpected finding that association with Chinese friends increases the likelihood of delinquency involvement. Further analyses have shown that association with Chinese friends may indicate the degree of balance between same-ethnic and cross-ethnic friendship ties that, in turn, affects delinquency. The results underscore the importance of both cultural adherence and friendship ties in the prevention of delinquency.     

Constituency Delimitation and Electoral Authoritarianism in Malaysia

This article explains how the electoral one-party state of United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) in Malaysia is maintained through constituency delimitation. It examines how the means of inter-state malapportionment, intra-state malapportionment, gerrymandering, pre-delimitation boundary changes and seat increase are used in the on-going delimitation exercises. Malapportionment and gerrymandering in the last cycle of delimitation exercises in 2003–5 had secured Prime Minister Najib Razak a comfortable 60% parliamentary majority in 2013 despite winning only 47% of popular votes. While Razak may suffer greater attrition of votes due to his global financial scandal involving Malaysia’s state sovereign fund, 1MDB, he may still win a bigger parliamentary majority in the upcoming election, which must be held latest by August 2018. The article questions if the First-Past-the-Post (FPTP) electoral system, which is not only susceptible to manipulations, but also very winner-takes-all in nature, suits Malaysia’s plural society.     

Household structure as a response to economic adjustments: evidence from urban Mexico in the 1980s

"This paper presents the results of exploratory efforts to examine the determinants of the structure of households in urban areas of Mexico, focusing on those of women with young children.... The empirical analysis uses two cross-sectional national surveys of Mexico, the 'Encuesta Nacional Demografica' 1982 and the 'Encuesta Nacional de Fecundidad y Salud' 1987...." (SUMMARY IN ENG)