间断—平衡模型：长期政策变迁的非线性解释

政策变迁并非只是渐进的过程,重大的政策转变和政策中断也时常发生。以逻辑经验主义为基础的渐进主义模型只强调政策的渐进性变迁,而忽略政策的间断性变迁。建立在库恩科学范式基础上的政策研究不仅关注政策的渐进性变迁,而且也关注政策的间断性变迁。＂间断-平衡模型＂建立在有限理性决策和制度结构基础上,认为政府政策制定具有稳定性和间断性的特点。该模型有效解释了长期政策稳定过程中伴有偶尔急剧变迁的现象,为长期政策变迁提供了新的解释框架。本文介绍了＂间断-平衡模型＂的缘起、理论基础、核心观点、解释过程等几个方面,最后对模型进行简要评述。     

情势变更原则的类型化研究

情势变更原则具有内涵抽象、标准不明、极易被滥用的弊端,在理论和实践上具有极大争议。为正确把握情势变更原则的适用条件,妥当设置情势变更原则适用的法律后果,除参考各国立法例和理论研究成果之外,还应以总结裁判经验为最有效的研究方法。在研究判决材料的基础上,认知司法者对情势变更原则的理解程度和行动取向,可以为我国司法实践正确处理情势变更问题提供稳妥且具有可操作性的学理指引。     

SCM协议中财税措施地区专向性特别规定初探——兼评美国对华反补贴调查的相关案例及我国的对策

SCM协议地区专向性标准条款中的财税措施特别规定具有经济合理性,并符合WTO的政治考虑。该特别规定认定“有资格”的地方各级政府所采取的“确定或者改变”在其辖区内“普遍适用”税率的补贴措施不具有SCM协议意义上的专向性。我国应充分利用该特别规定提供的政策空间,深化税制改革,协调地方政府地区补贴与SCM协议之间的关系。     

网络舆论与政府的引导调控

网络舆论是公众的意见与网络传播媒介相结合的产物。它在给社会和谐发展带来积极影响的同时,也带来一些负面效应,因而需要对网络舆论特点及过程演变的规律进行研究,以便引导调控网络舆论。对此,应认真分析网络舆论特点,对公共事件网络舆论的过程演变规律进行探索和总结,并由此提出政府引导调控网络舆论的策略。     

Absolute and limited war: The possibility of foreign‐imposed regime change

This paper examines the relationship between foreign imposed regime change and war participation. The oppertunity and willingness of an opponent to impose a new regime on a war participant affects the likelihood that such a change will occur. Results from a logistic regression model suggest that (1) winning or losing the war, (2) the amount of war costs the participant endures, (3) the power of the participant relative to its opponent, (4) the amount of war costs the opponent endures, (5) the occurrence of a domestic regime change during the war, and (6) the difference between the authority structures of the war participant and its opponent all have a significant and sizable impact on the probability that a war participant endures a foreign imposed regime change. The first three variables measure the opponent's opportunity to force a regime change, while the last three measure its willingness. I suggest that these results increase our ability to evaluate the likely consequences of a war, and may have important implications for our understanding of the decision to enter and terminate a war.     

Heavy Metal Accumulation and DNA Changes in Plants Around an Electronic Waste Dumpsite Suggested Environmental Management Plan

This research studied accumulation of heavy metals in soil and three plant species in E-waste dumpsite in Kalasin Province, Thailand. DNA changes in the plants were accessed by DNA fingerprinting and genomic template stability (GTS) analyses. Concentrations of the metals were in the order of Zn > Pb > Cd > Cr. The Bioconcentration Factor (BCF), Translocation Factor (TF), and Enrichment Factor (EF) values showed that Typha angustifolia was suitable for phytoremediation of Cd, Pb, and Zn. However, after the process of phytoremediation, appropriate abolishment of the heavy-metal containing plants should be taken to prevent the metals from passing along the food web. The GTS values ranged from 54.23 to 69.35%. These results suggest that heavy metals have affected the genotoxicity of plants grown in the electronic waste dumpsite.     

The reconstruction of business interests after the ISI collapse: unpacking the effect of institutional change in Chile and Uruguay

Abstract

This paper focuses on understanding the different evolutions of business’ associational paths in post-Import Substitution Industrialization (ISI) Chile and Uruguay, offering an explanation at the crossroads of the institutional change and international trade literatures. The argument is that the different forms in which ISI institutions were transformed during the liberalisation period facilitated a greater mobility of factors to different degrees, triggering divergent enduring associational strategies on the part of business. The proliferation of narrow-based special benefits during the ISI fuelled preferences for the formation of sector-based coalitions oriented towards rent-seeking activities. Nevertheless, while ISI regulations were displaced in Chile during the military period, Uruguay followed a gradual process of layering of new rules alongside old ones. These diverging strategies, having different effect on established inter-sectoral regulatory distortions, propitiated alternative associational paths of local business.     

Expectations from Administrative Reforms: An Attempt to Implement the Balanced Scorecard in a Public Sector Organization

The aim of this case study is to explore what actors in a Swedish municipality expect from a new administrative reform (i.e., an attempt to implement the Balanced Scorecard). The findings show that the expectations on changes are highest among the politicians, moderate among the administrators, and lowest among the operative employees. The differences can be explained by the way the reform is anticipated to favor or disfavor the actors, who in turn are influenced by the actors' past experiences. Most of the expressed expectations concern expectations of the outcome of the administrative reform, but some concern expectations on the reform itself.     

Managerial Innovations in the Egyptian Public Health Sector: An Empirical Investigation

The purpose of this article is to analyze the process of restructuring the Egyptian public health sector according to the new mode of governance principles and the concomitant dilemmas in the process. Based on an interpretative methodology, the findings of this research indicate that (a) despite some positive changes, serious doubts remain over the commercialization of basic public services; (b) confusions have emerged regarding the identity of public hospitals; (c) despite the introduction of the business management principles, the centralized hierarchical power of the state over the local governmental hospitals remains intact; (d) the new system has degraded the professional standards of medical practitioners and made them subservient to the whims of the financial management professionals; and (e) there have been some negative effects on equity.