Economic crisis,downsizing and “layoff survivor's syndrome”

This article deals with layoff survivor's syndrome following the 1997 economic crisis in South Korea. South Korea has been credited with quickly recovering from its economic crisis by implementing policies aimed at economic restructuring. However, researchers have discovered that, in addition to those directly affected by a lay-off, layoff survivors as well suffer from impacts on their mental health — hence the name, layoff survivors' syndrome. The present research focuses on the socio-psychological impact of downsizing on layoff survivors on the basis of a nationwide survey. The findings reveal a significant difference in work attitudes after downsizing, as well as a significant impact on survivors' mental health. The study concludes that these negative impacts may negatively influence organizational productivity, and thus downsizing as a blanket strategy for organizational renewal needs to be reconsidered.     

Paisaje antes de la batalla. Notas sobre el contexto de la guerra contra las drogas en México

Mexico’s security crisis and Felipe Calderón’s (2006-2012) security strategy had its roots in drug trafficking, the prohibition of drugs, contraband and the border shared with the United States. Standard accounts of the violence experienced in the country, which reduce it to confrontations between drug cartels, are of little use. This article presents part of the context in which the security crisis developed, putting it in a historical perspective, and attempting to take a step towards a more nuanced interpretation. It holds that drug trafficking between Mexico and the United States is a complex, many-sided reality which admits dense symbolic elaboration. Apart from the very concrete shipping of drugs, drug trafficking is part of Mexico’s relation with the United States, a register that imbues the asymmetry between both countries with meaning, a space of political negotiation and a resource of American global diplomacy which is crystallized in a clandestine foreign policy system. Furthermore, through the demystification of the imagery that envelopes organized crime, corruption and contraband are examined, conceiving these two as phenomena that are integrated organically into borderland society.     

Financial transitions in the PRC: banking on the state?

The reappearance of substantial debt in China after 2008 has refocused attention on the sustainability of the existing financial ‘model’. It’s not just that ‘traditional’ forms of bank-centred debt have re-emerged, but that the informal ‘shadow banking’ sector also seems increasingly fragile, generating debts that do not seem easy to repay. Explanations for the current situation focus on the way in which China responded to the global financial crisis, and on the incentives that exist to go outside the formal and more regulated banking system into often riskier activities. But there are more fundamental structural issues. The current financial system contains within it some of the dna of its predecessor, while the spatial distribution of power and authority is inextricably linked to the way the financial system functions. While it might be possible to tinker with some elements of current financial problems, the relationship between local government financing, land, the banking system and key economic sectors makes it difficult to resolve more structural issues without taking a holistic approach; one that would have fundamental consequences for the nature of the Chinese state, and the distribution of power within it.     

Understanding Regulatory Governance in Northeast Asia: Environmental and Technological Cooperation among China,Japan and Korea

After the early 1990s, the wave of regionalism covered broader areas in the world, and Northeast Asia, which had weak regional cohesion largely due to history-oriented animosity, gradually developed initiatives for regional cooperation since the late 1990s. This article seeks to address why and how China, Japan, and South Korea have pursued regional cooperation by relying on the concept of ‘regional governance’. It advances two arguments. First, the governments of China, Japan, and South Korea have identified the avoidance of risk from uncertainty as a major objective of promoting trilateral cooperation in specific functional areas. Second, they have gradually intensified the harmonisation of regulatory frameworks in the cooperative process in collaboration with non-state actors. The article examines the arguments by tracing the evolution of trilateral cooperation in environmental protection and information technology (IT) development.     

Rape Crisis Centers and Programs: “Doing Amazing,Wonderful Things on Peanuts”

Even though the anti-rape movement began more than 30 years ago and there is greater awareness of sexual violence, are rape crisis centers or programs financially secure? Data from interviews with 63 rape crisis workers and volunteers from 6 rape crisis centers or programs located in 4 East Coast states indicate not only that rape crisis centers/programs continue to struggle financially but also that lack of funding continues to present challenges. When rape crisis centers/programs experience reductions in funding, staff positions are eliminated, remaining staff and volunteers are overworked, efforts to recruit and train volunteers are compromised, services for victims are reduced, and education and outreach to the communities become less available. Lack of funding negatively affects rape crisis centers/programs and jeopardizes their future.     

构建全息指挥与协同应急新模式

全息指挥是对传统应急指挥模式的突破,它基于应急效率对于应急信息的直接依赖性,利用成熟的网络技术和音频与视频技术,开发具有立体全面、实时直观、信息共享、准确高效等特点的全息指挥平台。借助这个技术平台,应对突发灾难事件的有关各方可以更容易建立联合指挥与协同应对的合理机制,克服应急过程中越级指挥、多头指挥和无序指挥等较为普遍的问题,促进资源整合,优化应急流程,提高应急水平。     

学校应急管理:特点、机制和策略

学校突发事件作为公共应急管理的一个特殊领域,与其它领域相比有一定的特殊性。以往的应急管理研究对学校的特点重视不够,导致应急管理实践效果不很理想。本文分析了学校突发事件所具有的时段性、情绪性、脆弱性、连带性以及责任先定性等特点,提出了学校突发事件应急管理的基本原则,在此基础上研究了学校应急管理的一般要求,并从校园自然灾害、校园安全事故、学校多发事件三类学校突发事件分别提出了应对的机制和策略。     

协同学语境下的公共危机管理模式创新探讨

目前,我国公共危机管理体系已具雏形,但处于"粗放"状态,形式主义比较严重,应急反应结构单一,"条条"与"块块"分割,难以形成整体的协同效应。要打破各地为阵、自成体系的格局,既强化危机时中央政府的统一决断权,又保证平时组织机构正常的分权运作,同时调动多元社会力量协同应对,就必须创新公共危机管理模式。为此,本文根据协同学的科学原理,尝试性地提出构建公共危机协同治理模式的主张。在此基础上,进一步地界定公共危机协同治理的概念,揭示公共危机协同治理的特征、结构与层次,探究构建公共危机协同治理机制的路径。     

危机动员与中国社会团体的发展

在全球化的国际环境背景下 ,现代社会既是一个常态管理的社会 ,也是一个呈现多种危机的非常态管理社会。在处理危机事件中 ,不仅需要采用行政动员和政治动员的常规形式 ,而且还需要启用符合社会主义市场经济的社会动员形式 ,充分发挥社会团体在危机动员中的积极作用 ,开发社会总资源 ,降低社会总成本 ,及时有效地扼制危机事件 ,使社会尽快回复到正常的生活和工作状态。政府在确立危机意识、成本意识和主体意识的同时 ,应适时进行制度安排 ,把社会团体在危机应对中的重要作用显现在各种制度安排中 ,真正构建起政府、市场与社会三元关系良性循环的新型结构     

欧洲主权债务危机分析

继美国在2007-2009年处于世界经济震荡中心之后,自2009年9月开始,欧洲多国相继爆发主权债务危机,危及欧元区乃至欧盟的发展和存在,并且祸延世界.危机最主要的成因是福利过度化、产业空心化和欧元区在结构上的缺陷——财政政策和货币政策不匹配.应对危机的举措,一是以受援国实行财政紧缩为条件,提供援助贷款;二是在欧元区内缔结政府间条约,建设财政联盟,实行统一的财政政策的解决危机方案.2013年第2季度终于迎来了欧元区走出了历史上最长衰退期的消息.