Analyzing Multiple-Item Measures of Crime and Deviance I: Item Response Theory Scaling

Multiple-item measures of self-reported offending typically provide the principal outcome measures for individual level research on the causes of crime and deviance. This article directs attention to the substantial problems presented by the task of forming composite scores for these measures, and it presents a possible solution to those problems. We consider scaling by means of the graded response model from item response theory (IRT) as a potential means of overcoming the shortcomings of traditional summative scaling and of obtaining valuable information about the strengths and weaknesses of our measures. We illustrate this strategy through a scale analysis of a fourteen-item, self-report measure of delinquency, using three years of data from the Monitoring the Future study, an annual national survey of high school seniors. The graded response model proves to be consistent with the data, and it provides results that address important substantive questions about self-report measures. The findings are informative about the strengths and weaknesses of alternative strategies for developing self-report instruments, indicating that there is little to be gained by making fine distinctions in the frequency of individual delinquent acts.     

县域政府治理绩效的实证研究：公众满意度的视角--基于佛山市 A 区的治理实践

以佛山市 A 区为个案,对如何测量中国县（区）层级的政府治理绩效进行实证探索。在借鉴世界治理指标（WGI)的基础上,构建了一个本土化的地方政府治理绩效指标体系,对 A 区政府的治理绩效水平进行量化评估,并且通过构建一个多元回归模型深入挖掘影响其总体治理水平的相关因素。结果表明：公众对于 A 区政府的总体治理水平处于“一般”到“比较满意”之间;在六个维度的治理绩效中,公众满意度最低的是“腐败控制”和“法治”,最高的是“政府稳定和暴力避免”和“政府有效性”;除了“管制质量”和“政府稳定与暴力避免”之外,其他四个维度的治理绩效对 A 区政府的总体治理水平都具有显著影响,其中,“政府有效性”对总体治理水平的影响最大。     

State as resource,mediator and performer: understanding the local and global politics of gold mining in Kyrgyzstan

The inability of the state to maintain security and the rule of law for the purposes of foreign direct investment and industrial production is often taken as a sign of its weakness. However, such judgments say little about the actual functions of the state for global extraction industries and local political forces which demand their share of the pie. Whilst coercive state power may have decreased since Kyrgyzstan became independent, more important is the fact that the state itself has been transformed under the ruptures of, on the one hand, economic and political liberalization and, on the other, the effects of so-called ‘revolutions' of 2005 and 2010 which led to the wholesale restructuring of national structures of clientelism. Based on ethnographic research conducted in Talas province, documentary sources and interviews with gold mining companies and state officials, the paper investigates the state's shifting roles with respect to Kyrgyzstan's gold mining sector. Firstly, it explores the state as a source of rents for officials who grant and rescind licences in exchange for formal and informal payments from foreign investors, often via offshore vehicles. Secondly, it considers the role of the state as mediator between foreign investors and their access to sites. Finally, it identifies the state as performer of its status as sovereign power despite its inability to prevent uprisings and actually guarantee the promised access to its territory.     

Global Astana: nation branding as a legitimization tool for authoritarian regimes

This paper examines how, in post-Soviet Kazakhstan, both channels of elite and banal nationalism (such as sports and higher education) serve as instruments to promote the country. Through these channels, Kazakhstan is portrayed as an open, dynamic and successful country, an image which is in serious disjuncture with the authoritarian nature of the regime. Taking advantage of massive oil revenues, the government organized a significant OSCE general conference in 2010, while chairing the institution. In addition, it created the Astana professional cycling team, which rapidly became a world leader in the sport. Last but not least, Nazarbayev University, attracting prominent Western scholars, is now designed to make the country compete in the international arena of academic rankings. Domestic and international performances are thus treated as instruments to promote the legitimacy of the state at national and global levels. But this would not be possible without the help of individual actors who actively participate in this process. A close investigation shows that their social capital is based on global connections in various spheres (sports, finance and academia). This paper draws on evidence gathered through qualitative methods of enquiry (participant observation and semi-structured interviews). Finally, Astana is treated as a Latourian actor-network that has its own life and agency, thanks to the global association of various human actors and material objects.     

Imagery Metaphors Narration in The Book of Songs and Its Generation Mechanism

Imagery metaphors narration is the main operational method of Chinese literature, especially the pre-Qin literature, and the Book of Songs in this pioneering and exemplary significance. It started by describing the most national characteristics of speech mode, and with the aid of flowers, fruit, firewood, mulberries, fish, rain, the typical ‘YuXiang’ (imagery metaphors) to construct the text, will and emotion. And farming civilization created by the concept of harmony and on the basis of the formation of the Imagery thinking constitute the Book of Songs imagery metaphors narration mechanism of the narration.     

哪种改革最重要——来自新西兰的证据

在公共行政界,新西兰有两大事实广为人知。第一,新西兰实施了全面的公共部门改革,并且处于新公共管理运动的最前沿。第二,在几个衡量政府绩效的国际排行榜上,新西兰成绩不俗。本文通过观察新西兰财务管理、制度结构、信息管理和委任程序方面的改革,分析了这些事实之间可能存在的相互关系。通过运用政府主持的新西兰人调查的最新数据,我们考察了政府绩效的哪一部分对新西兰人最重要。结论显示,尽管大多数评论家强调财政改革和体制变革,然而早期关于信息公开、非政治任命和公共责任的改革对新西兰人最重要。     

以绩效预算制度为核心的财政预算交易成本控制研究

财政预算的本质,是社会公众与政府之间围绕预算资金使用和公共产品供给进行的委托代理交易。作为交易,财政预算存在交易成本,即财政预算的运行程序成本。制度经济学认为,交易成本过高会降低交易绩效。那么财政预算的交易成本过高也会降低预算绩效。为了控制财政预算交易成本,应当在预算法中构建一种有效的内部激励机制,保证预算执行主体的本位利益与社会公共利益挂钩,促进预算执行主体自觉地以社会公共利益最大化为目标运用财政资金,即绩效预算法律制度。     

情绪工作研究的理论综述

情绪工作是近20多年来西方组织行为学研究中一个新兴的研究领域。文章主要介绍了情绪工作的概念,情绪工作的维度与测量工具、情绪工作的影响因素,并进一步分析了情绪工作的未来研究趋向,以期为深入研究情绪工作提供理论基础。     

论量刑建议权的有效行使

量刑建议权有效行使以司法分权理论、程序过程理论为其理论依据。在量刑建议权有效行使的标准上存在着两个误区——将审判监督权与量刑建议权行使标准等同和将公诉权中的定罪请求权与量刑请求权的有效行使标准等同。有必要确立有效行使标准的原则,并确立量刑建议权有效行使的宏观标准和微观标准。     

新时期公安机关绩效管理探讨

绩效考核是一把双刃剑,考核合理可以推动公安管理效能,反之,则挫伤民警的工作积极性,影响公安机关的长远发展。公安机关绩效管理应以有利于公安工作的长远发展为目标,坚持正确的价值取向,积极引进先进的绩效管理工具,不断完善公安机关绩效考核机制,促进公安工作创新,提升公安工作效率,实现公安机关的可持续发展。