The times make a hero: Street-level policy entrepreneurship in major crisis responses in China

Street-level bureaucrats are often grassroots officials, and they are regarded as passive practitioners of policy with no authority to change policy or innovate, while policy entrepreneurs are usually high-level officials. Based on observations of China's responses to two national crises, this study found that the times do make a hero. When acting as innovative frontline technocrats, major transboundary crisis practitioners, and management savvy operators within the top-down bureaucracy, street-level bureaucrats can become policy entrepreneurs. To innovate and drive policy change, street-level policy entrepreneurs will adopt innovative strategies. They will make efficient use of their expertise and discretion, integrate various resources, strive for attention from superiors, consolidate their achievements, and expand their influence.     

How do interests,ideas, and institutions affect multisectoral governance? The case of tobacco governance in two Pacific small island developing states

Multisectoral governance has been recognized to be vital to regulate harmful commodity industries, yet countries struggle with reaching policy coherence due to government agencies' conflicting mandates and industry interference. Limited empirical evidence is available on how interests, ideas, and institutions intersect and influence multisectoral governance in low- and middle-income countries, particularly in Pacific small island developing states (PSIDS), often exploited by vested industry interests and whose non-communicable disease crisis commands urgent action to regulate harmful commodities. This study assessed the ways interests, ideas, and institutions intersect and shape multisectoral tobacco governance in PSIDS. Interviewee data collected in Fiji and Vanuatu show that the idea of individual responsibility, the limited recognition of commercial determinants of health, the centralization of authority, and the vulnerabilities of small island developing states, (including small population, land, economy, geographic isolation, and status as a developing economy), prevent these states from achieving policy coherence in multisectoral tobacco governance.     

The Social Psychology of Policy Analysis

This article illustrates how some of the core concepts of social psychology can increase understanding of the practice of policy analysis. Policy analysis is shown to be a form of rhetoric subject to social psychological principles of attitude change. The article argues that policy analysts are primarily concerned with changing policymakers' beliefs about the consequences of alternative policies, but that preferences for alternative policies are largely the result of values. Values are formed and modified primarily by social comparison processes, conformity pressures, and the dynamics of group decision making rather than by rational argument. As a result, policy analysts could become more effective by addressing issues of values in their analyses or by mediating the social processes that might interfere with good policy choices.     

缅甸对印度人和孟加拉人的政策

印度人在缅甸社会比其他外侨更不受欢迎。这是由于印度人同缅甸原住民在种族和宗教上的差异很大 ,且印度人很不容易接受缅甸的语言、服装和风土习俗。因此 ,缅甸人叫他们“嘎拉”。值得关注的是 ,由于早期历史上的交往因素 ,缅甸与印度在文化特别是在宗教方面有牢固的关系。在殖民地时代 ,印度人的地位很显著 ,虽然他们排在欧洲人之后 ,位居第二 ,但他们把资金分投到农业、制造业和服务业。 196 2年以来 ,印度人的政治、经济和社会自主权明显下降 ,但自 1988年 9月现军人政府上台后 ,印度人的状况已得到改善。     

Foreign Policy “On the Cheap”: Latvia’s Foreign Policy Experience from the Economic Crisis

This article assesses whether the reduction of budgetary allocations to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Latvia in 2008–2012 led to more modest foreign policy in the sense of both objectives and execution. After assessing four goals of Latvian foreign policy since 2008 – regional cooperation, bilateral development cooperation, facilitation of Latvia’s economic interests abroad, and relations with the Latvian diaspora – the authors conclude that the decrease in funding for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had little impact on Latvia’s ability to achieve foreign policy objectives.     

试析美国移民法及移民政策的实用主义

美国建国以来移民法及移民政策的制定以及每一次的修订,都深受其政治、经济因素的影响,总是以国家利益为原则,力求最大限度符合其国家利益的需要。纵观美国各时期的移民法和移民政策都体现出较强的实用主义特征。     

拜登政府对华态势考察：非战略军事阵线

拜登政府执政八个月,在战略军事领域不断强化和升级对中国的戒备、威胁、围堵和反推。在战略军事阵线之外,拜登政府的对华态势和行为更加凸显竞争和对抗。它在贸易领域持续挑起涉华贸易争端和发动主要针对中国的供应链重组;在高新技术领域全面施行高技术"脱钩"和遏止;在外交领域推进旨在围堵和孤立中国的涉华盟友外交。在中美合作方面,可能的具体合作必然甚为有限,并且与两国间在世界威望、全球治理领导地位、意识形态影响和经济/技术方面的竞争复杂交织。拜登总统将中美之间愈发激烈的竞斗当成更广泛的全球意识形态竞斗,怀着一项自命的使命("拜登主义"),即面对所谓"专制主义的威胁"和21世纪的其他挑战,要证明民主依然管用。拜登政府对华政策总纲正在浮现:中国是美国短期、中期和长期的近乎全面的"敌对威胁"和竞争对手,美国的相关目标不仅是对华竞而胜之,而且是对华完胜。中国既要不低估拜登政府的能力和已取得的效果,也要密切注意其客观困难和主观表现的上下波动,因而须对拜登治下的美国的综合实力和多方潜能进行经久的开放性观察。量力而行、量利而行、注重成本、提防风险应当是起码的和迫在眉睫的基本方针,以此为前提才可正确谋划长远的未来方向。     

宽严相济刑事政策下裁量不起诉制度的价值取向及其运行

裁量不起诉是我国现行刑事诉讼法确立的基本制度之一,其在价值功能等方面与"宽严相济"刑事政策更相契合.目前,裁量不起诉制度的运行还存在不少问题,为了贯彻"宽严相济"刑事政策,促进构建和谐社会,检察机关必须依法充分行使裁量不起诉权.     

我国国际私法关于“公共秩序”立法的审视

"公共秩序"是国际私法上一项必不可少的制度,但它的内涵和外延却具有相当大的弹性和模糊性,这一特性既可以说是它天生的缺陷,更可以说是它的生命力之所在.就当前采用这一制度的各国立法司法实践与国际立法的重要走势及对这种走势的科学分析来看,中国目前的立法将"公共秩序"表述为"社会公共利益"是不准确的,有关立法与司法实践中存在种种不当,须加以改进.     

民事诉讼调解结案率实证研究

实证研究发现,近年来无论一审、二审还是再审调解结案率都呈现曲折增长而非持续增长态势。无论一审、二审还是再审抑或婚姻家庭类案件、合同类案件还是权属侵权类案件,调解结案率一般都未超过60%。而且总体上看,一审调解结案率高于二审和再审,再审调解结案率高于二审,婚姻家庭类案件调解结案率高于合同类案件,合同类案件高于权属侵权类案件。当下中国法院调解结案率呈现如此面相,既是调解政策驱动、各法院领导重视程度不同所致,也有个案差异、案件性质不同等原因。这种"运动性"调解的负面效应在司法实践中越发凸显,未来中国应在深刻反思基础上理性对待和设计法院调解制度。