Governing migration from a distance: interactions between climate,migration, and security in the South Mediterranean

Links between security and migration are well established and are associated with the meaning, status, and practice of borders in the international political system. This article assesses how and with what effects the effects of environmental and climate change have entered this relationship between migration and security. It does so by assessing the EU’s external governance of migration in “South Mediterranean Partner Countries” (SMPCs): Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Libya, Morocco, Palestine, Syria, and Tunisia. It is argued that a focus on promoting “adaptation” and building “resilience” has developed that is consistent with the logic of governing migration from a distance. However, the article challenges ideas that environmental/climate change act as simple migration “triggers” and instead explores implications of movement towards and not away from risk, as well as the potential for populations to be trapped in areas that expose them to risk. It is shown that both have important implications for the relationship between migration, environmental/climate change, and security in SMPCs.     

Persistently Biased: The Devil Shift in Water Privatization in Jakarta

This article operationalizes an underinvestigated element of the Advocacy Coalition Framework—the “devil shift”—on the controversial issue of water privatization. In doing so, it offers a methodological premise for investigating intractable opposition to policies that are politically salient and high in technical content. It uses the Q methodology on the case of Jakarta, Indonesia to uncover seven discourse coalitions within the anti‐privatization groups. They confirm two key hypotheses within the devil shift, namely the underestimation of a coalition's resources compared with their opponents and the exaggeration of opponents’ unreasonableness. Intriguingly, it finds that the “devil” is constructed in three different ways by this coalition—the profiteer, the Goliath, and the ineffectual governor. The narrative strength of the combination of these beliefs answers an apparent paradox in the devil shift viz that of rational actors persisting in unreasonable beliefs concerning their opponents. It also offers some specific solutions on how to deal with public hostility in water privatization in Jakarta.     

Beyond (and Within) City Limits: Climate Policy in an Intergovernmental System

This analysis explores the role of city‐level and state‐level variables to explain why some cities make more progress on climate‐related policy implementation than others. Using multilevel modeling, we find little support for the influence of state factors on local government leadership among the 812 cities in the dataset, but local government institutional and community variables are strongly associated with climate policy initiatives. We argue for a rethinking of the notion of the limited and constrained city and suggest that, in the realm of climate protection and environmental policy, cities are leading a bottom‐up federalism. Moreover, where some political analysts and scholars have argued that climate protection and environmental policies may not be economically rational for cities to pursue, we theorize that cities are acting locally to further their self‐interest in an increasingly global economy.     

Organized elite power and clean energy: A study of negative policy experimentations with renewable portfolio standards

Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS) is one of the most widely adopted clean energy policies in the U.S. However, organized elite power groups, backed by ample political and economic resources, have been known to lead RPS termination efforts. In the context of state renewable energy politics, organized elite power includes legislators affiliated with American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and anti-renewable energy business groups. Focusing on the roles of organized elite power, this study investigates the drivers of the formulation of RPS rollback (goal freeze) and termination bills, which we refer to collectively as negative policy experimentations. We find that RPS termination attempts are explained by the presence of ALEC legislators and anti-renewable energy business groups, whereas RPS goal freeze bills are better explained by conditions of policy operations. This study contributes to the policy process theory by providing critical insights into the post adoption decisions, including policy termination and rollback legislations, with a focus on the role of organized elite power.     

Political Environment and Policy Change: The National Endowment for the Arts in the 1990s

The relationship between changes in the stability of the political environment and policy changes are examined through the case of the National Endowment for the Arts in the 1990s. The terminologies of Hall's first-, second-, and third-order policy change and Baumgartner and Jones’ punctuation equilibrium theory of policy change are employed to analyze the relationship evident in the policy history of the Arts Endowment. The case of the Arts Endowment in the 1990s suggests that first-order changes generally occur in a stable political environment (i.e., policy equilibrium) while great instability in a political environment (i.e., policy punctuation) allows the larger second- and the largest third-orders of policy change.     

论抵押权顺位的处分问题

抵押权是以不移转抵押物的占有为其鲜明特征的一种优先受偿的权利,所以“一物数押”现象难以避免,这样就产生了抵押权顺位及其处分问题.让与、变更和抛弃是抵押权顺位处分的三种表现形式,三者之间在内容和法律效果上既有联系又有区别,其辨析对现实生活和法律实践均有重要意义.     

新形势下培训教育探究

新形势对培训教育提出了新要求。如何保证培训教育质量，充分体现以人为本，以需求为导向，按需施教等教育理念，不仅需要更新观念，注重培训实效，科学设计培训内容，而且需要强化培训教育体系，提高教师队伍素质，建立培训质量评估机制。     

论资本会计调账的司法会计受理和鉴定——析新华电站公司和GE公司股东纠纷案

司法会计是21世纪会计发展的新领域,是会计与法律相结合产生的一门边缘学科。司法会计鉴定属于司法会计活动,也是司法鉴定的组成部分之一,其主要内容就是由专业鉴定人对会计专业问题作出鉴定意见,从而使诉讼更加具有公正性。     

试析斯大林在党政关系上的畸变及其教训

20世纪90年代初苏共倒台，江山易帜，根本的原因是斯大林时期形成的苏联模式，这一模式的内核应是斯大林在处理党政关系上的畸变。本旨在透过斯大林从理论上对列宁党政关系原则的片面阐释到实践中背离的畸变过程，揭示出作为执政党应吸取的经验教训。