Conceptualising Party-State Governance and Rule in Laos

ABSTRACT

This article develops a framework for conceptualising authoritarian governance and rule in the Lao People’s Democratic Republic. After introducing the national and academic context, which go a significant way towards understanding the paucity of comparative political work on Laos, we propose an approach to studying post-socialist authoritarian and single-party rule that highlights the key political-institutional, cultural-historical and spatial-environmental sources of party-state power and authority. In adopting this approach, we seek to redirect attention to the centralising structures of rule under the Lao People’s Revolutionary Party, illustrating how authoritarian institutions of the “party-state” operate in and through multiple scales, from the central to the local level. At a time when the country is garnering greater attention than at any time since the Vietnam War, we argue that this examination of critical transitions in Laos under conditions of resource-intensive development, intensifying regional and global integration, and durable one-party authoritarian rule, establishes a framework for future research on the party-state system in Laos, and for understanding and contextualising the Lao People’s Revolutionary Party regime in regional comparative perspective.     

Running to stand still: aggressive immobility and the limits of power in Russia

The common conception of Russian politics as an elite game of rent-seeking and autocratic management masks a great deal of ‘mundane’ policymaking, and few areas of social and economic activity have escaped at least some degree of reform in recent years. This article takes a closer look at four such reform attempts – involving higher education, welfare, housing and regional policy – in an effort to discern broad patterns governing how and when the state succeeds or fails. The evidence suggests that both masses and mid-level elites actively defend informality – usually interpreted in the literature as an agent-led response to deinstitutionalization and the breakdown of structure – creating a strong brake on state power. More than a quarter century into the post-Soviet period, this pattern of “aggressive immobility” – the purposeful and concerted defense by citizens of a weakly institutionalized state – has in fact become an entrenched, structural element in Russian politics.     

The limits of agency: Emily Hobhouse’s international activism and the politics of suffering

Abstract

This article pieces together the activism of the British welfare worker and feminist-pacifist Emily Hobhouse (1860–1926) during two largely unrecorded episodes of transnational activism: firstly, her ministry of Cornish miners in Virginia, Minnesota, in the United States; and secondly, her interventions during the period of reconstruction following the South African War (1899–1902). The article endeavors to contextualize Hobhouse’s activism and offer a broader understanding of the limitations and restraints on her actions. Ultimately, her activism required a platform that was in the gift of political actors and establishment figures, and dependent on fluctuations within specific political and bureaucratic situations. Based on close inspection of undocumented material in both South African and British archives, the article investigates Hobhouse’s repertoire of missionary and philanthropic roles within a wider context of humanitarian politics. It demonstrates how women’s activism and their behind-the-scenes politicking informed political decision-making in modern imperial and international affairs.     

告知承诺政策:一种政府给予民众的制度化信任资源

在国务院全面推行告知承诺制的政策背景之下,如何准确解读告知承诺政策的理论内涵已经成为一项十分重要的学术任务。究其根本,告知承诺政策乃是一种政府给予民众的制度化信任资源。这种制度化信任资源具备实践方式的行政性、价值导向的利他性以及灵活避险的决断性等基本特征。其实践路径应当包含重视信息甄别、跟进信息追踪、倡导德法并举、关切风险补偿等方面内容。从政府给予民众的制度化信任资源层面界定告知承诺政策,建构相关理论分析框架,有助于更深刻理解和剖析告知承诺政策的内涵本质,更好地明确和把握其具体实践策略,也为扩展和深化政策科学领域信任问题的相关研究视角提供了必要且极具针对性的现实依托。     

中国反贫困进程中的福利制度建构——基于“社会中国”的视角

中国政府为何在大力推进社会保障制度建设的同时,实施大规模的反贫困战略与行动?立足于这一战略追问,从社会政策学的视角,回顾、比较早期中西福利制度建设中的基本理念、基本概念与内涵的差异,提炼中国反贫困政策实践中的福利元素,以此理解中国福利制度建设中存在的理念、政策与对象等几大困惑,并在此基础上论述"社会中国"视角下反贫困机制的福利制度建设框架。研究认为:(1)中国的反贫困政策中包含了大量的社会福利元素,体现了科学社会主义而非社会民主主义的战略安排、中国共产党的"初心"理念、全民参与的政策特征、每家每户的对象特征;(2)从"社会中国"的福利框架对反贫困政策的实践进行理论整合,可以建构以社会公民权为基础的福利理念、具有整合性的跨越地域与身份差别的社会福利体系、以无差别的社会公民身份为识别对象的社会福利建设模式。     

关于合作共赢的认识和思考:基于新型国际关系理念

合作共赢是中国在国际关系问题上首倡的一个价值理念,对于构建新型国际关系和人类命运共同体、站在人类道义和历史进步的制高点、促进世界持久和平和普遍繁荣、推动人类社会文明发展、实现全球有效治理等具有非常重大和深远的意义。习近平总书记深入、系统、现实地推进了合作共赢理念的完善和发展,使之成为当今中国对外关系思想的重大新理念和显著特色之一。实现合作共赢的关键在于价值上求同存异,根本在于寻求各国利益交汇点,长远考虑在于提升全人类的现代文明素养。     

从中国国情看马克思主义中国化的文化背景

马克思主义的中国化,意味着马克思主义必须有机地融入中国文化及其传统。因此,从中国国情的角度了解并把握中国文化的特质,对于深入阐释马克思主义中国化在学理上的可能性具有重要的前提意义。土地、农民、儒学,既是中国国情的特点,又塑造着中国传统文化本身。从明清之际的"西学中源"说,到晚近的"马克思主义中源"说,虽然是特定历史语境中的某种文化心态的反映,但也从某个侧面折射着马克思主义中国化的可能性。以毛泽东为代表的中国共产党人之所以能够创造性地实现马克思主义中国化,其重要原因之一就在于他们熟谙中国国情。由中国国情所塑造的中国文化背景,在自觉和无意识的双重意义上,决定了马克思主义中国化的可能性。     

There’s an app for that: Modernizing domestic violence support through the creation of new technologies,tools, and services

With domestic violence (DV) at an all-time high, police departments are drastically underutilizing technology to combat DV. Currently, New York police departments complete a “Domestic Incident Report” at the scene of domestic incidents but fail to adequately facilitate support services. New York State should mandate a services component into police DV protocols, specifically by commissioning: (1) an application linked to DV organizations presented at the scene of domestic incidents; and (2) a gateway application to refer victims to the correct services. Such tools would allow for the rendering of more efficient support to DV victims in times of immediate crisis.     

中国行政体制改革的进展及其重点

当前中国的行政体制改革,在推进行政审批制度改革、商事制度改革、政务公开、政府重大决策科学化民主化和法治化、政府工作的第三方评估和社会评价、公正有效地提供公共产品和公共服务、地方政府的权力和责任清单制度改革、公车制度改革、公务员职务与职级并行制度改革、贯彻中央八项规定深入反腐倡廉等十个方面,取得了显著进展。推及未来“,十三五”期间的中国行政体制改革将重点围绕推动简政放权、放管结合、优化服务改革向纵深发展,大力推行“互联网+政务服务”、推进政府信息化建设,推进大部制改革、优化行政层级和行政区划设置,推进事业单位制度改革,加快和加大力度建设“四个政府”,推进政府廉洁履职和反腐败斗争,坚决处理为官不为、克服庸政懒政怠政,推进国家治理体系现代化,提升国家治理能力,加快各项行政制度的更加成熟定型等十个任务展开。     

国家治理现代化与执政方式的完善

执政者是国家治理中最为关键的能动者,其执政方式的合理与否直接决定着国家治理的效果,也关系到执政者的地位。中国共产党是国家治理现代化的倡导者和推动者,也因应着现代化的需要不断进行着自身的现代化。党的执政方式有很强的历史传承性,深受党的革命历程和成功经验的影响。党建立新中国后,开始在自己创建的国家治理体系中进行执政方式的现代化探索,当下正进行第三次现代化的探索,要根据国家治理体系和治理能力现代化的总要求抓住关键环节,加以改进和提高。