Persistently Biased: The Devil Shift in Water Privatization in Jakarta

This article operationalizes an underinvestigated element of the Advocacy Coalition Framework—the “devil shift”—on the controversial issue of water privatization. In doing so, it offers a methodological premise for investigating intractable opposition to policies that are politically salient and high in technical content. It uses the Q methodology on the case of Jakarta, Indonesia to uncover seven discourse coalitions within the anti‐privatization groups. They confirm two key hypotheses within the devil shift, namely the underestimation of a coalition's resources compared with their opponents and the exaggeration of opponents’ unreasonableness. Intriguingly, it finds that the “devil” is constructed in three different ways by this coalition—the profiteer, the Goliath, and the ineffectual governor. The narrative strength of the combination of these beliefs answers an apparent paradox in the devil shift viz that of rational actors persisting in unreasonable beliefs concerning their opponents. It also offers some specific solutions on how to deal with public hostility in water privatization in Jakarta.     

Beyond (and Within) City Limits: Climate Policy in an Intergovernmental System

This analysis explores the role of city‐level and state‐level variables to explain why some cities make more progress on climate‐related policy implementation than others. Using multilevel modeling, we find little support for the influence of state factors on local government leadership among the 812 cities in the dataset, but local government institutional and community variables are strongly associated with climate policy initiatives. We argue for a rethinking of the notion of the limited and constrained city and suggest that, in the realm of climate protection and environmental policy, cities are leading a bottom‐up federalism. Moreover, where some political analysts and scholars have argued that climate protection and environmental policies may not be economically rational for cities to pursue, we theorize that cities are acting locally to further their self‐interest in an increasingly global economy.     

Organized elite power and clean energy: A study of negative policy experimentations with renewable portfolio standards

Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS) is one of the most widely adopted clean energy policies in the U.S. However, organized elite power groups, backed by ample political and economic resources, have been known to lead RPS termination efforts. In the context of state renewable energy politics, organized elite power includes legislators affiliated with American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and anti-renewable energy business groups. Focusing on the roles of organized elite power, this study investigates the drivers of the formulation of RPS rollback (goal freeze) and termination bills, which we refer to collectively as negative policy experimentations. We find that RPS termination attempts are explained by the presence of ALEC legislators and anti-renewable energy business groups, whereas RPS goal freeze bills are better explained by conditions of policy operations. This study contributes to the policy process theory by providing critical insights into the post adoption decisions, including policy termination and rollback legislations, with a focus on the role of organized elite power.     

Political Environment and Policy Change: The National Endowment for the Arts in the 1990s

The relationship between changes in the stability of the political environment and policy changes are examined through the case of the National Endowment for the Arts in the 1990s. The terminologies of Hall's first-, second-, and third-order policy change and Baumgartner and Jones’ punctuation equilibrium theory of policy change are employed to analyze the relationship evident in the policy history of the Arts Endowment. The case of the Arts Endowment in the 1990s suggests that first-order changes generally occur in a stable political environment (i.e., policy equilibrium) while great instability in a political environment (i.e., policy punctuation) allows the larger second- and the largest third-orders of policy change.     

论抵押权顺位的处分问题

抵押权是以不移转抵押物的占有为其鲜明特征的一种优先受偿的权利,所以“一物数押”现象难以避免,这样就产生了抵押权顺位及其处分问题.让与、变更和抛弃是抵押权顺位处分的三种表现形式,三者之间在内容和法律效果上既有联系又有区别,其辨析对现实生活和法律实践均有重要意义.     

新形势下培训教育探究

新形势对培训教育提出了新要求。如何保证培训教育质量，充分体现以人为本，以需求为导向，按需施教等教育理念，不仅需要更新观念，注重培训实效，科学设计培训内容，而且需要强化培训教育体系，提高教师队伍素质，建立培训质量评估机制。     

论资本会计调账的司法会计受理和鉴定——析新华电站公司和GE公司股东纠纷案

司法会计是21世纪会计发展的新领域,是会计与法律相结合产生的一门边缘学科。司法会计鉴定属于司法会计活动,也是司法鉴定的组成部分之一,其主要内容就是由专业鉴定人对会计专业问题作出鉴定意见,从而使诉讼更加具有公正性。     

论俄罗斯中小企业在技术创新中的地位与作用

在俄罗斯经济转轨过程中,中小企业的技术创新效果显著,中小企业成为俄罗斯经济走向复苏的增长点。俄罗斯的中小企业既有许多与市场经济发达国家相同的特点,又有自己的特色。为充分发挥中小企业在俄罗斯经济转轨中的作用和潜力,俄罗斯政府采取了积极有效的措施。政府扶持中小企业创业的重要目标之一就是保护并提高整个经济体科技潜力以及在制造业加强创新活动。     

试析斯大林在党政关系上的畸变及其教训

20世纪90年代初苏共倒台，江山易帜，根本的原因是斯大林时期形成的苏联模式，这一模式的内核应是斯大林在处理党政关系上的畸变。本旨在透过斯大林从理论上对列宁党政关系原则的片面阐释到实践中背离的畸变过程，揭示出作为执政党应吸取的经验教训。     

国家政权建设与居委会行政化的历史变迁——基于“国家与社会”视角的考察

国家政权建设，是国家政权的科层化与理性化程度不断提高，以及在破除国家整体论，迈向多层级、具体化国家基础上的对社会渗透与引领不断强化的过程。研究通过对建国以来居委会产生、发展、曲折与扭曲、改革与完善过程“知识系谱”的历史检视，发现居委会行政化与现代国家政权建设的过程是“同频共振”的。在居民委员会发展的不同阶段，国家通过政权建设的逻辑、革命的逻辑以及改革的逻辑实现了对居委会的不断渗透与控制，呈现出强国家与弱社会下基层的政治动员与国家与社会的一体化策略，国家统合社会中革命的传统与基层治理的失序运行，以及国家渗透与社会成长中国家与社会治理空间的转换与变迁。本质上是国家政权建设逻辑在基层社区中的展演与映射。