State transformation and the domestic politics of foreign aid in Taiwan

Abstract

This article challenges the dominant narrative that overlooks the role of domestic factors in Taiwanese foreign aid in favour of politics cast at the cross-Strait and international levels. It examines the emergence and effects of partisan politics on Taipei's foreign aid policies, including aid budgets and the motivation for providing foreign aid. It argues that, rather than the cross-Strait conflict as such, it was contests and rivalries among Taiwan's political parties and government agencies – underpinned by ongoing projects of state building – that shaped the variable objectives, policies and processes of Taipei's foreign aid-giving.     

State-owned enterprises,state capitalism and social distribution in Singapore

State-owned enterprises and sovereign wealth funds have ‘insured’ Singapore's domestic economy against financial crisis and restructuring interventions from multilateral institutions, engendered elite cohesion and political stability, binding middle class employees to the political system. This essay analyses paths by which the Singapore government established state-owned enterprises and transformed them into global enterprises. It also examines how sovereign wealth funds contribute to government social expenditure without increasing taxes. Such redistribution through state capitalism resonates with the People's Action Partys social democratic origins, inviting comparisons with contemporary developments in Chinese state-capitalism.     

Uzbekistan's diplomacy in the modern international relations system

The article is dedicated to the issue of Uzbekistan's diplomacy in the 21st century. It shows the evolutional path of Uzbek diplomacy that plays an important role in pursuing national interests on the global scale in the framework of foreign policy. Article shows that Uzbekistan has clearly defined foreign policy priorities; it will follow in the foreseeable future. Such aspects as more active participation in the multilateral cooperation and at the same time retaining healthy pragmatism as a result of pursuing bilateral relations both with neighboring countries and great powers are also underlined. The main advantage and novelty of the article are that the author provides clear‐cut periodization of Uzbekistan's diplomacy—a feature that has never been met in any of Uzbek or foreign researches. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Introducing Computed Tomography Standards for Age Estimation of Modern Australian Subadults Using Postnatal Ossification Timings of Select Cranial and Cervical Sites,

Contemporary, population‐specific ossification timings of the cranium are lacking in current literature due to challenges in obtaining large repositories of documented subadult material, forcing Australian practitioners to rely on North American, arguably antiquated reference standards for age estimation. This study assessed the temporal pattern of ossification of the cranium and provides recalibrated probabilistic information for age estimation of modern Australian children. Fusion status of the occipital and frontal bones, atlas, and axis was scored using a modified two‐ to four‐tier system from cranial/cervical DICOM datasets of 585 children aged birth to 10 years. Transition analysis was applied to elucidate maximum‐likelihood estimates between consecutive fusion stages, in conjunction with Bayesian statistics to calculate credible intervals for age estimation. Results demonstrate significant sex differences in skeletal maturation (p < 0.05) and earlier timings in comparison with major literary sources, underscoring the requisite of updated standards for age estimation of modern individuals.     

HS-GC内标曲线法测定血中乙醇含量的不确定度评估

目的建立自动顶空-气相色谱(HS-GC)内标曲线法测定血中乙醇含量的不确定评估方法。方法从分析测定程序着手,依据不确定度评定的指导性文件,分析不确定度来源,量化不确定度分量,计算检测结果的合成标准不确定度和扩展不确定度。结果各相对不确定度来自于检材重复性检测为3.4%,乙醇标准溶液为0.71%,检材为0.61%,叔丁醇内标溶液为0.41%,标准曲线为1.1%,气相色谱仪为1.3%,血液中乙醇的相对扩展不确定度为3.9%。结论血液中乙醇含量的不确定度主要来源于检材重复性检测、气相色谱仪、乙醇标准曲线。     

“Bad enough governance”: state capacity and quality of institutions in post-Soviet autocracies

This article contributes to current discussions on state capacity, quality of institutions, and political regimes. Our analysis demonstrates that the J-curve argument (“good institutions” in autocracies as compared to hybrid and transitional regimes) may not be generic and is not well supported by empirical evidence from the sample of post-Soviet countries. An explanatory model of the “King of the Mountain” is instead provided. Its focus is on the monopoly of political rent as a precondition for extraction of economic rent. It demonstrates an inverse correlation between the quality of institutions and the extraction of political and economic rent, and explains why an autocrat may not have an incentive to improve institutions that may make his/her monopoly vulnerable, and rather would prefer to preserve a low quality of institutions and “bad enough governance.” An analysis of a variety of external and domestic factors that may endanger this monopoly is provided. Finally, the autocrat's alternative strategic choices are analyzed. It is argued that better payoffs for the autocrat – paradoxically – may result from partial reforms and improvement of the quality of institutions. However, for various reasons, this is not occurring in post-Soviet autocracies.     

Empowering peace: service provision and state legitimacy in Nepal’s peace-building process

There is growing demand for an understanding of peace beyond the absence of violence. As such research focuses increasingly on the issue of state legitimacy as a tool to assess and understand peace processes. In this paper the relationship between service provision and state legitimacy is studied to assess whether the provision of services like electricity to rural communities of war-torn countries through state actors contributes to the consolidation of the post-war political system. The qualitative analysis of two localities in post-war Nepal highlights that service provision in the form of electricity through micro-hydropower yields tremendously positive socio-economic effects for rural communities. However, socio-economic development in combination with interactions among villagers has strengthened local autonomy through emphasising alternative local governance structures. This highlights that the relationship between service provision and state legitimacy is more complex than previous research anticipates. The absence of a positive effect on state legitimacy raises the question of whether in its current case-specific form service provision is conducive to the broader peace-building efforts in post-war Nepal, because it stresses the divide between state and society.     

Support seeking,system avoidance,and citizenship: Social safety net usage after incarceration

Scholars have long described the American penal state and welfare state as joined by a common logic of social marginalization. But researchers have only recently begun to explore how the individuals who pass through the carceral system also interact with welfare state programs. Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979, in this article, I explore how formerly incarcerated individuals make claims on the welfare state and how participation varies across social programs and states, as well as by race, drawing on theories of social welfare rights-claiming and system avoidance. In so doing, I provide the first nationwide estimates of the extent to which previously incarcerated adults use social safety net resources. I find that participation in welfare programs varies with incarceration history, program structure, and race. Rather than finding patterns consistent with system avoidance, I find that previously incarcerated White Americans seem to engage in active rights claiming, participating in public assistance programs more than similarly eligible never-incarcerated counterparts. All formerly incarcerated individuals, however, have limited access to more generous social insurance programs, and the shift to an increasingly employment-based social safety net seems likely to further limit access to the welfare state for the growing population of Americans leaving prison.     

对我国被害人国家补偿制度的研究

在我国,虽然现实中已经有了对犯罪被害人给予国家补偿的个别做法,但被害人补偿并未制度化和法律化。建立被害人国家补偿制度符合被害人权利保护的发展趋势,对推进我国的人权保障和司法制度产生重要影响。特别是在"构建社会主义和谐社会"的今天,对被害人的补偿,无疑对被害人的正常生活、对社会秩序的稳定、防止被害人因为被害而走上犯罪道路均有重要意义。     

论国际环境犯罪与国家刑事责任的承担

国际环境犯罪正严重威胁着人类的生存环境,国际社会已意识到各国应共同合作,以刑法的手段保护我们的家园。但是,国家在特定情况下能否对特定环境犯罪行为承担国家刑事责任,学界至今未能达成一致意见。鉴此,从理论的角度阐述国际环境犯罪的范围,并对国家承担刑事责任的必要性和法定要件进行界定．将有助于问题的妥善解决。