Deliberative participatory budgeting: A case study of Zeguo Town in China

The search for a better practice instrument of civic engagement has led to participatory budgeting and deliberative polling in recent years. Participatory budgeting stresses empowerment and citizens' struggle against the establishment and unequal social structures, whereas deliberative polling works within the system and focuses on improving democratic decision‐making processes by applying credible social science methods. Often, these two processes are presented as being in conflict with each other, which is to the detriment of the search for best practice in deliberative governance. This paper develops a theoretical analysis of deliberative participatory budgeting which is distinguished from unrepresentative and non‐deliberative but self‐selected participatory budgeting; that is, it considers how the quality of participatory budgeting can be improved through deliberative polling. This theoretical analysis is backed by an empirical study of deliberative participatory budgeting in Zeguo Township, Zhejiang Province, China. It explores whether, how, and under what conditions it is possible to combine deliberative polling and participatory budgeting. It details four experiments and assesses the successes, failures, limitations, and problems of the experiments. The case of Zeguo offers scholars, activists, and officials lessons about how to pursue best deliberative practice in both authoritarian states and democratic societies.     

Alternative South–South development collaboration? The role of China in the Coega Special Economic Zone in South Africa

Aid, in the form of financial aid and investment, has become increasingly prevalent in both bilateral and multilateral partnerships in the BRICS. In Africa, the Forum on China–Africa Cooperation provides the official framings for forms of development assistance to the continent, with financial forms of aid available through the New Development Bank and the China–Africa Development Bank (CADFund). This article explores how Chinese international development assistance has influenced South Africa's economic growth and development strategies and is reshaping South Africa as “gateway” to Africa and continental leader. Special economic zones (SEZs) have become a prioritised form of BRICS development collaboration particularly in terms of Chinese trade and investment expansionism into Africa through South Africa. Chinese international development assistance and foreign direct investment in South Africa in particular are very notable and have been strengthened during the Chinese official state visit prior to the Johannesburg BRICS Summit in 2018. The article critically analyses the development policy discourse on BRICS spearheading an alternative model of South–South international cooperation by examining the Coega SEZ in South Africa, hailed as the most SEZ in Africa. The article critically examines the development alternative potential of the Coega SEZ.     

Policy Narratives across Two Languages: A Comparative Study using the Narrative Policy Framework

The Narrative Policy Framework (NPF) focuses on the role of narratives, drawing from a rich scholarship in narrative, language, and culture. Despite the understanding that narratives are constructions of language and that narrative construction differs across languages, NPF studies have not focused on policy narratives in languages other than English. Language characteristics of narratives are important to assess the stability of policy narratives when there are multiple dominant languages in a political system. This study investigates the use of narrative elements in policy narratives in agricultural biotechnology policy in India across Hindi and English media coverage to examine the NPF assumption that narratives have generalizable narrative elements irrespective of variation in linguistic context and, specifically, tests the transportability of narrative elements. Findings validate the transportability of narrative elements in Hindi narratives, indicate variation in the use of narrative elements over time, and have implications for applying NPF across languages.     

中国共产党90年来探索解决民族问题发展道路探析

理论创新是实践的必然要求,中国共产党90年来不断把马列主义民族理论创造性地运用于解决中国民族问题的实践,制定了符合中国国情的民族政策,开展了卓有成效的民族工作,促进了中国民族问题的解决,丰富和发展了马列主义民族理论。新世纪新阶段,民族工作面临机遇与挑战,我们要在以胡锦涛同志为总书记的党中央领导下,紧扣各民族共同团结奋斗、共同繁荣发展的民族工作主题,努力探索解决民族问题的新途径,促进各民族的团结和发展繁荣。     

开放出“法治中国”命题的问题域——《法治中国》对中国法理学研究与教学的启示意义

《法治中国——学习习近平总书记关于法治的重要论述》一书较为全面地开放出法治中国命题的问题域,且更新了法理学教材体系中对法治论部分的理论认识,是中国发展中法治的共时态学科回应之显现。从教材编撰的角度审视,该书具有典范意义,即沟通了法理学教学所必须直面的理论场域和实践场域这两个意义世界。     

当代大学校园文化建设需融入中国梦教育

以习近平为总书记的新一届中央领导集体将中国梦提到了新的高度,对大学生进行中国梦教育适应了时代发展的要求。校园文化是进行中国梦教育的重要载体,大学校园文化建设中融入中国梦教育,并逐步构建起校园文化建设中融入中国梦教育的主体内容。积极探索校园文化建设中融入中国梦教育的有效路径,从而增强中国梦教育的实效。     

以和谐人格助推美丽中国建设

美丽中国是人与人、人与自然、人与社会之间和谐及共生共荣的状态。当前美丽中国的愿景与现实尚存在较大反差。要缩小反差,实现上述三种和谐,归根结底取决于人与上述三者之间的互动行为。在人类行为中稳定地发挥作用的人格对人的行为模式则又起着基础性作用。建设美丽中国必须培育国民的和谐人格。和谐人格的构建要在提升价值理性,调节本我欲望;协调各种冲突,修炼坚强自我;增强伦理意识,壮大超我能量中实现。     

女性文学批评本土化过程中的语境差异

西方女性主义文学批评进入中国后遇到了完全不同于其理论源头的接受环境。这些接受环境差异包括:一、历史背景的差异,其主要表现为西方女性主义文学批评是先“破”后“立”,而中国本土则是先“立”后“破”;二、意识形态差异,主要表现为西方文化中的民主传统与中国传统文化中的集权思想形成的对照;三、学术背景差异,西方女性主义文学批评是以反拨“新批评”的学术革命开始的,而中国本土则得益于马克思主义的社会历史批评的滋养。这些差异既决定了中国女性主义文学批评的独特面貌,同时又呼唤西方理论本土化研究的新思路。     

经济与安全“再平衡”下的美国对华政策调整

2008年金融危机加剧了美国自伊拉克和阿富汗战争以来所面临的内外挑战,重建美国力量和影响成为奥巴马政府的核心任务。为此,奥巴马政府提出进行经济"再平衡"和安全"再平衡"。他们认为,美国过去那种由消费信贷和赤字财政所刺激的繁荣是不可持续的,必须重新平衡储蓄、投资、借贷和出口的关系。在此,扩大对华出口与投资是其中一个重要手段。与此同时,美国一些高层人士认为,过去将反恐作为首要战略目标为中国在亚洲地区的扩张提供了机会。随着恐怖主义威胁的降低,美国必须重返亚洲,确保地区主导权。在中短期内,美国对华地缘政治"再平衡"必然会影响到其对华经济"再平衡"的方向;从长远来看,经济交往的深入发展将进一步缓解两国地缘政治关系的紧张。     

中日甲午战争与东北亚国际关系的变化

中日甲午战争中清朝的惨败给中国社会带来空前严重的社会危机,大大加深了中国社会半殖民地化的程度。而战胜国日本则国力日益强大,跻身于资本主义列强的行列。甲午战争后,日本的崛起和扩张加剧了东亚地区国家关系的变化,给这一地区的国际关系带来直接而深远的影响。东亚国际秩序由以中国为中心的传统宗藩朝贡体系向近代殖民条约体系转型,中朝日近代新型的国家关系逐渐建立起来,传统的宗藩体系土崩瓦解。本文以中日甲午战争的爆发与传统华夷秩序的瓦解为切入点,探讨甲午战争后东亚传统邻邦中朝日三国新型近代国家关系建立始末及其对三国关系产生的影响。