Can participation be induced? Some evidence from developing countries 1

Influenced by Amartya Sen, over the last decade, The World Bank has allocated nearly US$80 billion to local participatory development projects targeting poverty, improved public service delivery, and strengthened social cohesion and government accountability. But the success of these programs is hindered by both endogenous local factors and flawed program design and implementation. Two especially important local obstacles are (1) entrenched interests of political agents, civil bureaucrats, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) with either incentives to resist or capabilities to appropriate program resources, and (2) poverty and illiteracy, as the poor and illiterate participate less and benefit less from participatory projects than do the wealthier, more educated, and more connected. After reviewing hundreds of participatory projects, three lessons are clear for program planning. First, contextual factors like inequality, history, geography, and political systems (among others) are important. Second, communities do not necessarily have a ready stock of ‘social capital’ to mobilize. Third, induced participatory interventions work best when supported by a responsive state – donors cannot substitute for a non-functional state, and successful programs combine enlightened state action from above with social mobilization from below. Future participatory development projects would benefit substantially from revised planning and considerably more attention paid to evaluation and monitoring. Project managers have historically paid little attention to context, monitoring, or evaluation, in part because The World Bank’s operational policies did not provide incentives to do so. Donor agencies should also exercise greater patience and allow for flexible, long-term engagement to facilitate contextual and programmatic learning, including learning from failure.     

寻找学术自由之奥义:学术—政治关系的宪政维度

学术自由与学术规范相为里、表,共同体现着话语权的分散化配置,并由此关联着共和精神和分力格局。学术自由故而为宪政的题中之义。宪政体制下政治系统对学术自由的尊重和对学术的纯粹性的敬畏,自有其内在逻辑。当代的情形则是,学术被纳入了相应的政治动员之中,从而形成了学术—政治关系的复杂形态。不过,宪政体制下对学术的政治动员和法治—宪政进程中对学术的政治动员呈现出不同的情形。     

"激活"人大预算审批权力——评承德政府预算两遭人大驳回

人大掌控政府预算审批权是民主政治的基本要求,也是预防腐败、增进民众信任、建设社会主义和谐社会的重要保障。但目前我国在人大代表人员组成、会议议期、议事规则、预算财政年度、初审程序、预算信息公开等方面的制度缺陷,直接限制了人大监督作用的发挥。同时,人大代表缺少对预算草案的修正权也间接妨碍了人大审批权的实际实施。欲激活人大的预算审批权,应进一步推进财政信息公开、赋予代表对预算案的修正权、调整预算年度、强化预算初审,并逐步完善我国的人民代表大会制度。     

地方政府或有隐性负债问题研究--以农村合作基金会为例

20世纪的80年代末到90年代初,我国农村合作基金会经历了从兴起、发展到衰败的全过程.尽管农村合作基金会作为一种非正规金融组织从形式上已经消失,但随着时间的推移,由此而引发的地方政府或有隐性负债及财政风险问题却愈加突出.通过详述农基会的发展历史,分析了农村合作基金会及其债务形成的主要原因,并根据汉娜的"政府风险矩阵"理论分析农村合作基金会及其债务对地方政府及其财政带来的影响,进而提出增强地方政府财政风险意识、减少非理性行政干预和推动农村金融体制改革的建议.     

英国新宪政改革述评

近几年 ,英国开展了规模宏大的宪政改革 ,涉及到王权、议会、选举制度和地方权限等诸多方面 ,其广度和深度令人惊叹 ,显示出该国巨大的勇气和开拓精神。论述了 1997-2 0 0 2年间英国宪政改革的主要内容及初步成果 ,并探讨了其对我国制度改革的借鉴意义。     

地方财政条件约束下的民事司法偏好——以清代州县为中心

传统国家的地方财政状况无法保证日益增长的商业社会控制的需要和公共产品的供给.由于受制于政治体制、考绩考成制度、地方财政供给严重不足等各种制约因素,清代州县官员在民商事案件的司法中往往采取的是一种消极和被动应付的态度.各种客观政治和财政条件的约束,理应成为我们研究传统司法的重要角度,而不应仅从国家意识形态宣传等官方表述去研究,方能更全面、客观地认识传统司法的真相.     

A Survival Analysis of U.S. Municipalities in Fiscal Distress

This article uses survival analysis to investigate fiscal distress in U.S. municipalities. We hypothesize that fiscal distress is positively correlated with revenue concentration and debt usage, and negatively correlated with administrative costs and entity resources. We develop a model that can predict the likelihood of fiscal distress and correctly classify up to 86 percent of the sampled governments. The model enables users to analyze the impact of a change in the risk factors. Fiscal distress can be reduced most effectively by increasing tax revenues as a percent of total revenues or decreasing total debt as a percent of total revenues.     

论财政支出公开

财政支出公开是公共财政的本质要求。财政支出公开,不仅有助于保障公民的知情权、参与权和监督权,而且有助于财政公平和财政民主,是透明政府建设的重要内容。我国的财政支出公开制度尚不健全,其进一步改革的方向应当是确立财政支出公开中的权利本位理念,走向形式公开与实质公开的统一。     

消除体制性梗阻加大新农村建设财政资金投入力度

近年来我国财政支农投入不断下降,对“三农”方面的资金投入严重不足,难以顺利推进新农村建设。其主要原因是现行财税体制仍然没有理顺,财政资金投入新农村建设的渠道存在体制性梗阻。解决问题的根本出路在于加快财税体制改革,合理划分各级政府的事权和财权,实行等级分税制;规范转移支付制度;树立公共财政理念,加大财政支农资金投入。但这是一个长期的渐进过程,近期可选择的政策是逐步降低涉农项目配套资金比例;改善财政涉农资金管理体制,整合分散资金,提高资金使用效率。