新媒体视角下社会管理创新探讨

新媒体时代的到来,改变了信息传播的方式,改变了人们的生活、生产方式,给社会管理创新带来了机遇和挑战.新媒体视角下,如何推进社会管理创新,是当前各级政府面临的重大课题.社会管理者应树立现代媒体意识,运用新媒体技术,预防和减少社会矛盾,改进社会管理方式,以实现社会治理的科学化.     

依法治理视域下人民调解发展向度探析

面对我国社会转型期各种社会矛盾和民间纠纷高发频发多发的态势,需要在推进国家治理体系和治理能力现代化这一深化改革的总目标下,充分认识人民调解具有的社会治理属性,在依法治国要求下更加重视和加强人民调解工作,拓展职责内涵,强化法治思维,完善制度保障,更好地发挥其在国家治理体系中作为社会矛盾化解器的重要基础性作用。     

Forensic psychiatric units in Italy from the 1960s to the present

This article addresses the long-standing continuities in the history of the Italian forensic psychiatric units and views them as the result of conflicting forces, interests, mentalities and strategies at the cross-road of forensic psychiatry, psychiatry, prison and health services. It focuses on the period from the 1960s to the present and deals with, among other issues, the long-term impact of the anti-asylum movements and the on-going debate on the ‘phasing out’ of the forensic psychiatric units.     

Can justice be achieved for slave descendents in Mauritius?

This article discusses challenges to achieving justice for slave descendents in Mauritius 177 years after the abolition of slavery. It reflects on the 2009 institution of a Truth and Justice Commission (TJC) in Mauritius to investigate the legacies of slavery and indentured labour. It is argued that time, the ethnic and cultural complexity of Mauritius as well as the TJC itself makes it difficult for Mauritians to achieve restorative justice for slave descendents. Reviewing transitional and restorative justice, the article argues that the Mauritius case study is potentially useful to reflections on the issue of social justice for ancient atrocities and for reflections on the challenges of reparations in complex and democratic societies. It concludes that the greater participation of civil society is required in decisions regarding reparations and that such decisions need to be grounded in contemporary and democratic approaches to achieving justice and the protection of human rights.     

A political economy for social movements and revolution: popular media access,power and cultural hegemony

Abstract

One key marker of mass social movements transitioning to participatory democratic governance is popular media access. This essay argues that democratic media access by public constituencies becomes a site for constructing social revolution and simultaneously a manifest empirical measure of the extent of democratic participation in the production, distribution, and use of communication with new cultural possibilities. The participatory production practices (with citizens producing and hosting their own programs) and the democratic content (of oral histories, local issues, critiques of government and business, and everyday vernacular) reflect the hegemony of emerging ‘Bolivarian’ twenty-first century socialism expressed as popular participation in media production. Bolstered by constitutional changes and public funding, popular social movements of civil society, indigenous, women, and working class organizations have gained revolutionary ground by securing in practice the right of media production. Findings indicate that public and community media (that move beyond alternative sites of local expression and concerns) provide a startling revolutionary contrast to the commercial media operations in every nation. Popular media constructions suggest a new radically democratic cultural hegemony based on human solidarity with collective, participatory decision-making and cooperation offering real possibilities and experiences for increased equality and social justice.     

Terms of service and bills of rights: new mechanisms of constitutionalisation in the social media environment?

ABSTRACT

From a cursory look at the terms of service of the main social networking websites, it is immediately possible to detect that Facebook’s show a peculiar configuration. Although they represent a mere contract between private parties, these terms adopt the traditional jargon of constitutional texts and articulate their contents in terms of rights, principles and duties. This curious pairing between norms regulating social media and the constitutional sphere is also apparent in a series of non-binding documents that are unequivocally named ‘bill of rights’ and seek to articulate a set of principles to protect social media users. This paper examines whether the emergence of a constitutional tone in this limited number of texts could be related to the effective, or aspirational, constitutional function that these documents exercise. The identification of a series of significant shortcomings will lead to exclude that social media’s terms of service and bills of rights of social media users currently play a constitutionalising role. Nevertheless, the possibility to theoretically justify the use of these documents as mechanisms of constitutionalisation in the social media environment will be adduced as an evidence of the potential constitutional aspirations of these texts.     

Improvising Peace: Towards New Social Contracts in Tunisia

ABSTRACT

Eight years after the Arab Spring revolutions, Tunisia's state and citizens are crafting an increasingly resilient national social contract, despite setbacks. This case study examines what is driving Tunisia's efforts, focusing in particular on key transition initiatives – including a national dialogue and a forward-looking constitution adopted by broad consensus, following nation-wide consultations. The case examines how informed and empowered Tunisians built these structures to leverage the inherent resilience capacities of the people, which developed throughout state and civil society formation, women's movements, labour movements, and civic education. The research suggests that two issues that gave rise to the revolution have remained particular challenges for efforts to mediate and address conflict: political and social polarisation and lack of livelihoods. It reveals how Tunisians are calling for more inclusion and institutionalised citizen engagement as a means to address them. Conclusions point to how post-revolution, democratisation gains as well as values of compromise, tolerance, dialogue appear to be immunising Tunisia against irreparable reversals and are laying the foundations for sustainable democratic peace.     

新中国成立以来党和国家防控重大疫情的历程、经验与启示

新中国成立以来,面对不同历史时期出现的重大疫情,党和国家高度重视防控化解工作,为维护人民健康福祉和公共卫生安全提供了坚实保障.70多年来,党和国家积累了有关防控重大疫情的丰富经验,即必须始终把坚持党的领导摆在核心位置,必须形成对重大疫情的科学认知,必须高度重视医疗卫生相关制度和体系的发展与完善,必须紧紧依靠广大人民群众的支持和深化国际合作.面对新冠肺炎疫情带来的安全挑战,党和国家的疫情防控工作已彰显出了一些新的特征,以史为鉴,当前必须进一步推进舆论引导机制、疫情上报机制、卫生保障机制、监督问责机制和协同参与机制的发展完善,以确保党和国家防控重大疫情的水平和能力得到不断提升.     

中国反贫困进程中的福利制度建构——基于“社会中国”的视角

中国政府为何在大力推进社会保障制度建设的同时,实施大规模的反贫困战略与行动?立足于这一战略追问,从社会政策学的视角,回顾、比较早期中西福利制度建设中的基本理念、基本概念与内涵的差异,提炼中国反贫困政策实践中的福利元素,以此理解中国福利制度建设中存在的理念、政策与对象等几大困惑,并在此基础上论述"社会中国"视角下反贫困机制的福利制度建设框架。研究认为:(1)中国的反贫困政策中包含了大量的社会福利元素,体现了科学社会主义而非社会民主主义的战略安排、中国共产党的"初心"理念、全民参与的政策特征、每家每户的对象特征;(2)从"社会中国"的福利框架对反贫困政策的实践进行理论整合,可以建构以社会公民权为基础的福利理念、具有整合性的跨越地域与身份差别的社会福利体系、以无差别的社会公民身份为识别对象的社会福利建设模式。     

Accountability from the perspective of the forum: citizens’ attitudes towards accountability in Europe

The aim of this article is to analyse citizens’ attitudes towards governmental accountability in 24 European countries and to examine the influence of contextual and individual factors on perceptions of accountability. Using as a dataset the 2012 European Social Survey, the results show that citizens respond positively when the media provides reliable information on which to judge the government, when individuals perceive that governments perform well, when individuals live in more extensive and generous welfare states and when they live in countries where the rule of law is firmly established. In addition, the findings also provide evidence that compared to politically left-wing citizens, right-wing supporters have, on average, a higher perception of governmental accountability. In particular, the findings show strong positive evaluations of right-wing governments by right-wing voters in comparison with left-wing governments by left-wing voters.