Critical Misunderstandings: Ineffective International Governance and the UK Nuclear Industry

In 2017, significant media and political interest was sparked by the UK decision to leave Euratom, the European Atomic Energy Community. While such interest in nuclear matters has to be welcomed, the apparent lack of knowledge displayed in the regulatory governance of the UK nuclear industry is disquieting. This article therefore offers an overview of the publicly funded UK nuclear industry and its regulatory governance including its links with European and global nuclear agencies to inform the debate and to identify critical issues in need of resolution.     

A Comparative Study of Denmark and New Zealand’s National Health Targets

This paper investigates the influence of nationally imposed health targets on current management control practices in New Zealand and Denmark. It reveals how variants of New Public Management (NPM), arising from specific historical socio-political contexts, rise to the challenge of national differences. The study finds that both nations are challenged to ensure data registration procedures produce valid and comparable performance measures. Denmark’s reliance on a single efficiency measure of health sector performance reflects a historic socio-political context that reduces the feasibility of additional measures whereas New Zealand’s context enables the government to impose a more extensive range of health targets.     

Senior Public Managers’ Engagement: A Person–Situation-Interactionist Perspective

This article examines the engagement of senior public managers by developing a person–situation-interactionist perspective. It integrates the literature on social exchange theory and person–organization fit to explore the effects of decision autonomy and shared vision on the engagement of more than 2,000 senior public sector managers in the central government agencies of three continental European countries: France, Germany, and The Netherlands. Then, it examines whether the locus of control of those managers moderates the decision autonomy–engagement and shared vision–engagement relationships. The structural equation modeling results suggest that there are positive relationships between both decision autonomy and shared vision and employee engagement. Further analysis revealed that an internal locus of control strengthened the decision autonomy–engagement relationship, but that it weakened the shared vision–engagement relationship.     

Smart and secure borders through automated border control systems in the EU? The views of political stakeholders in the Member States

The European Commission launched the “Smart Borders” policy process in 2011 to enhance border security in the European Union (EU) using technologisation and harmonisation. This includes the use of automated border control (ABC) systems. The Member States crucially shape the process, weighing security technologies and costs, privacy and rights, and further institutional choices. We examine the views of political stakeholders in four Member States by conducting a systematic empirical and comparative study unprecedented in the existing, political-theory-inspired research. In our Q methodological experiments, political stakeholders in Finland, Romania, Spain and the UK rank-ordered a sample of statements on Smart Borders, ABC and harmonisation. The factor analysis of the results yielded three main views: the first criticising ABC as a security technology, the second welcoming the security gains of automation and the third opposing harmonised border control. While impeding harmonisation, the results offer a consensus facilitating common policy.     

防治重新犯罪与构建和谐社会——重新犯罪现状与对策的实证研究

社会转型和城市化进程加速引发了人员迁徙浪潮和社会关系的急剧变化,犯罪率和重新犯罪率呈持续攀升,并突破历史的高点。人员迁徙,社会管理保障不配套,引发犯罪和再犯罪;教育滞后,低素质面临高诱惑、强竞争,引发犯罪和再犯罪;道德缺位,导致亚文化盛行,行为内控力、制约力弱化,放纵犯罪和再犯罪。改造罪犯压力剧增,监狱在解决自身矛盾中工作没及时调整到位,难以有效扼制重新犯罪和大要案的发生,已成为构建和谐社会过程中突出而尖锐的问题。     

关于强化城市大气环境管理若干问题的思考

我国城市大气环境质量不容乐观,特别是煤烟加汽车尾气复合型污染是当前急待解决的问题。要强化大气环境管理,应建立有效的大气环境管理运行机制,制定大气污染防治目标和对策,积极推进各种管理手段的改革和深化,坚持科研为管理服务,加强科学研究。     

加强刑嫌调控的思考

面对刑事犯罪的急剧变化情况,刑嫌调控工作虽有所发展,但仍不能适应斗争的需要。加强刑嫌调控工作,可以掌握斗争主动权,先发制敌,主动出击,以有限警力、物力和时间,获取较大侦查破案效果。加强刑嫌调控工作,应根据形势变化调整刑嫌对象,诸警种尤其派出所密切配合,与阵地控制、刑事特情、犯罪情报资料工作相结合。     

美国《2018年出口管制法》评析与启示

美国《2018年出口管制法》在术语定义和政策声明、出口管制的权限和管理、许可证、确定和控制"新兴和基础技术"出口的要求、涉及与美国全面禁运的国家有关的审查、惩罚和强制执行等方面作出了许多新规定。该法使美国出口管制体系走向法典化、系统化和多边化,建立跨部门许可审查机制,确立"合规协助"条款,扩大了"新兴和基础技术"这一出口管制范围,并扩张出口管制域外管辖权,同时加强了惩罚和执行力度。我国应注重"新兴与基础技术"的管制,完善出口管制系列清单,扩大出口管制管理机构的执法权限,为出口经营者出口合规提供具体指导,严格执行阻断法,推进双边与多边出口管制标准的设立以应对该法的实施。     

Democratically consolidated,externally threatened,and NATO aligned: finding unexpected deficiencies in civilian control

It has long been presumed in the literature that consolidated democracies that face serious external threats or are NATO-aligned should feature strong, civilian control institutions and personnel. This study of Israel, India, Taiwan, Spain and Poland reveals otherwise. Utilizing biographical data compiled by the authors, we researched civilian personnel within each country’s defence ministry – the organizational hub of civil-military relations. Rather than finding evidence of strong civilian control, what we found instead were ministries with serious deficiencies: they did not have effective power; they failed to engage in defence planning or provide strategic guidance to the armed forces; they were led by military personnel and staffed by civilian employees not properly qualified to handle defence affairs. To explain these discrepancies, we argue that long-standing deficits in civilian expertise spur the delegation of ministerial defence positions to more knowledgeable officers. Comparisons are made with benchmark states that have achieved civilian ministerial control.     

RACIALLY HOMOPHILOUS SOCIAL TIES AND INFORMAL SOCIAL CONTROL

Social disorganization theory argues that racial/ethnic heterogeneity is a key neighborhood characteristic leading to social disorganization and, consequently, higher levels of crime. Heterogeneity's effect is argued to be a result of its fragmentation of social ties along racial/ethnic lines, which creates racially homophilous social networks with few ties bridging racial/ethnic groups. Most studies of social ties in social disorganization models, however, have examined their quantity and left unaddressed the extent to which ties are within or across different racial groups. This study goes beyond previous studies by examining the effects of both racially homophilous and interracial friendship networks on informal social control. Using multilevel models and data from 66 neighborhoods with approximately 2,300 respondents, we found that heterogeneity actually increased the average percentage of residents with interracial friendship networks, but the percentage of residents with interracial networks decreased the likelihood of informal social control. In contrast, the percentage of residents with White racially homophilous networks increased the likelihood of informal social control. Examining the microcontext of individuals’ networks, however, we found residents with interracial ties reported higher likelihoods of informal social control and that this effect was enhanced in neighborhoods with higher percentages of non‐White racially homophilous networks.