Does democratic local governance facilitate local economic development? Evidence from Bangladesh

ABSTRACT

This paper tests whether the improvement of democratic local governance (DLG) positively impacts local economic development (LED). Based on a nationally representative citizen perception survey of 3,024 households across 56 Union Parishads (UPs) in Bangladesh, the results suggest that, although the UP governance program (UPGP) has improved the administrative governance of UPs, functional governance involving citizens remains weak. Thus, due to partial improvement of DLG, UPGP does not appear to have a significant impact on the overall local economic development and service delivery of UPs. A significant gap can be seen to exist between the claims of UPs and the perceptions of citizens around UPs’ governance performance, which may result from the poor awareness building structures of the UPGP. However, our results suggest that providing training to UP officials can partially offset the shortfalls of DLG in its pursuit of LED.     

民主巩固与国家能力——基于国家能力对于民主化进程影响的分析

在近代以来的多次民主化浪潮中,除少数国家之外,多数国家的民主转型和民主化进程都是一波三折,民主巩固艰难.其原因固然众多,但缺少应对和解决民主化进程中所面对的一系列问题的国家能力显然是其中非常关键的因素.本文认为,新民主政权只有有效解决转型问题、控制转型秩序、提升民主质量、促进民主文化形成,才能保障民主转型,走向民主巩固.     

新农村建设的路径选择与对策——以农民权利为中心的制度创新和法律保障为视角

新农村建设关键在于要围绕提高、尊重农民权利为中心而展开相应的制度创新。其中心主要从＂放权＂、＂限权＂和＂保权＂三个方面展开。所谓＂放权＂,即要营造实现农民与国家之间对称性互动的良性机制;所谓＂限权＂,即明确国家权力与农民自治权利之间的界限,实现由指令型政府到服务型政府的转变;所谓＂保权＂,即通过相关的制度创新和立法,保障农民各项权利平等的实现以及完善相应的权利救济体制。     

论20世纪40年代中国共产党的是主立国思想

中国共产党自“二大”提出建立民主共和国的主张以来,就一直致力于将马克思主义的民主思想与中国革命的实际相结合,在实践中创造性地发展了马克思主义的民主学说,创立了民主立国思想。主要包括民主建国论,代表式的民主体制和自治性的民主治理结构的构想,以及民主立国的原则与框架的创设等。这些思想作为中国共产党集体智慧的结晶,为新民主主义的胜利和中华人民共和国的建立奠定了坚实的理论基础。在今天。它仍有重要的政治导向意义,是当代中国民主政治发展中宝贵的思想资源。     

文化遗产数字化成果私权保护:价值、成效及制度调适

《知识产权强国建设纲要》和党的十九大报告中明确指出要加强非物质文化遗产的搜集整理和转化利用,推动中华优秀传统文化创造性转化、创新性发展,文化遗产传承和发展由此迎来自我更新的契机.我国对于文化遗产的相关法律保护目前以公法为主,私法保护取得了一定的实践成效,但其法律制度尚不完善.而数字环境下文化遗产及其元素的利用较强地依赖...     

The ‘Too Difficult Box’: Its Temptations and How to Avoid Them

Within our democratic political system too many of the pressing and serious political, economic and social challenges of our times are delayed or put off, deposited in the ‘Too Difficult Box’. This happens for a variety of reasons which include failure correctly to identify the best solution, failure to understand obstructions in implementing the proposed solution, difficulties in placating or overcoming a range of vested interests, glitches in circumnavigating a range of legal constraints, lack of appreciation of the international dimension of the issue, succumbing to the vicissitudes of the political process and evaporation of the necessary political creativity and energy. It is a responsibility of democratic politics to find ways of dealing with these problems, through more collaborative or consensual politics if necessary. Otherwise citizens will lose confidence in the ability of democracy to solve the problems which concern them.     

协商民主视野下的人民政协制度建设

以协商民主理论为参照,分析中国人民政治协商制度框架中已有制度的特点和应有制度之建设,从中可获得若干启发:即协商民主所追求的价值理念与人民政协制度建设的理念相契合;协商民主所期望的实践成果在人民政协制度建设中有具体体现;协商民主所引发的广泛讨论为中国人民政治协商制度建设改革提供了民意基础。     

强化高校教代会职能的几点探索

天津大学通过完善教职工代表大会制度,构建以教代会制度为基本形式的高校内部民主监督机制,用以强化高校内部民主管理,完善现代大学制度,推动学校中心事业稳步发展。     

我国公民有序政治参与的现状与对策

改革开放以来,我国公民的政治参与取得了很大的进步,有力地推动了社会主义民主政治的建设。但从总体上看,我国公民的有序政治参与仍处于不成熟、不完善的状态,仍存在很多现实的问题。要实现我国公民有序的政治参与,就必须坚持党的领导,健全相关法律法规制度,大力发展社会主义市场经济,增强社会主义法治观念,强化公民政治参与的意识。     

T. S. Eliot's The Waste Land in Lithuanian translation

Small states, argued Peter Katzenstein a quarter of a century ago, were different. Faced with the fluctuations of world markets, they adopt democratic corporatism and domestic compensation, thus ensuring political legitimacy and successful economic adjustment. The Baltic countries are an interesting case study for this framework, because in many ways they are “smaller” than the seven countries analyzed by Katzenstein. This article finds that, on a broader level, Katzenstein’s framework is very helpful in highlighting the key developments in the Baltic countries. On the other hand, the specific causal mechanism that can be drawn from this framework running from smallness, to democratic corporatism, to political legitimacy, as well as domestic compensation, has not developed in the Baltics.