The limits of policy

This article uses public documents and first-hand accounts of late 19th and early 20th centuries child life to examine attempts by public policymakers in the United States and New Zealand to change the quality of rural child life in those countries through compulsory schooling and other related measures. These attempts, however, largely failed due to the demands of the farming economy and the unwillingness of public officials to go to extraordinary lengths on behalf of farm children, as opposed to urban children. Rural children's lives would be changed, not by policy, but by technological developments and the vagaries of the farm economy.     

Prison Populations as Political Constructs: the Case of Finland,Holland and Sweden

Countries such as Finland, Holland and Sweden have witnessed similar economic and social developments and have been affected by similar crime trends. However, over the past 50 years, the daily prison populations in these three Northern European countries have developed very differently. An attempt is made here to discuss these diverse developments in the light of a perspective that treats daily prison populations as political constructs.1 ¹I am grateful to my translator, David Shannon, and two anonymous referees for their helpful comments.      

Crime and Psychiatry in Problematic Coexistence: Four Domestic Homicides and the Nineteenth-Century Courts

Four domestic murder cases of a fairly similar character are described: a man killing his child or children, and in one case also his wife. They occurred in three neighbouring rural parishes in northern Sweden in the mid-nineteenth century within a period of about 20 years.

The four offenders showed all the signs of being seriously mentally deranged. Three of them made either unsuccessful attempts to commit suicide or expressed the intention of committing suicide. The motives of the offenders contain elements of a father's wanting to spare his children from social, economic, or religious suffering.

The key question is why the outcomes of the similar cases differed. Legal, religious, medical, and some popular, normative standards are considered. As well as elements used in the medico-legal examinations, other considerations obviously contributed to the different outcomes, such as the various backgrounds of the offenders and whether they showed regret or not in court.

The different outcomes illustrate a recurring problem, namely how to reconcile ideas emanating from various professional traditions and standards. This is of current interest as evidenced by the number of recent cases where a legal way of thinking is sometimes contrary to prevalent medical ones.     

Party organizational development and the electoral performance of the radical right: exploring the role of local candidates in the breakthrough elections of the Sweden democrats 2002–2014

It is today commonplace to view radical right parties as masters of their own fates. However, whereas most authors in the field focus on dominant leaders, the impact of party organizations remains understudied. To remedy some of this, we study the impact of three unique measures of organizational development on the electoral performance of the Sweden Democrats (SD) in four consecutive local elections between 2002 and 2014. When controlling for crucial demand- and supply-side factors, while holding the appeal of the national leadership constant, we find that the size, competence, and stability of the local candidate base were all decisive for explaining the success of the SD. These findings suggest that a developed organizational base not only matters to the long-term persistence of radical right parties, but also to their electoral breakthrough. Additionally, we suggest that party organizations are likely to have a greater impact in countries where radical right parties are already established. We conclude by arguing that our findings potentially provide insights into mechanisms that explain how new parties in general establish themselves.     

社会力量助推乡村振兴的内源性发展路径研究--基于“振兴村”试点的分析

乡村振兴背景下,如何实现城乡资源要素的合理流动,培养农民参与乡村振兴的主体性意识,实现农村的内源性发展是当前亟需解决的问题。文章以一个乡村振兴试点村为例,探讨了以退休干部牵头的社会组织,通过社会力量助推乡村内源性发展的策略和路径。研究表明:社会组织可以通过“融入-培育-助推”的行动逻辑来助推以农民为主体的乡村振兴,具体表现为:社会组织通过融入国家政策体系、地方行政体系和乡村社会体系,引入外源式资源培育农民公共事务参与意识和集体行动能力,助推村社实现产业和治理的组织化,推动农村内源性发展。这种发展路径与社会力量不同阶段的助推策略相呼应,且各阶段相互交错,是一个双向非线性的过程。在此过程中,社会力量促进了外来资源引入与内生动力培育的融合,实现了村庄的内源性发展。     

农村妇女土地承包经营权之法律保障——以社会性别为视角

土地权利是农村妇女实现自我生存与发展的重要保障。虽然我国现行法律对农村妇女土地承包经营权有了较为明确的规定,但从实际操作来看,各农村地区侵害妇女土地承包经营权的情形还是时有发生。究其根源,仍在于男女两性的生理差别和由来已久的“男女平等”较量。因此,有必要在农村妇女的权益保障中引入社会性别视角,从提高法律法规的实际可操作性;强化行政司法救济途径等入手,为真正实现农村妇女土地承包经营权提供法律保障。     

乡村混混的历史转向

本文从年轻人愿意当混混的主要原因、主要活动场域、使用暴力的方式、组织化程度、与村庄政治的关系等几个方面入手,考察了混混自1980年代初在乡村社会重新出现到当下这个时间段内所发生的历史转向。     

后乡土社会视角下农民集中居住区秩序重建及反思--基于苏北的实证调查北大核心SSCI

随着乡村振兴战略全面实施及新农村建设深入推进,人口、产业、生态等资源要素在城乡互惠流动的同时,传统乡土性逐渐消解式微,如何重塑后乡土社会地域认同及整合机制是农民集中居住区重建的关键。基于后乡土社会理论视角,从地域空间、组织体系及社会结构维度考察苏北农民集中居住区秩序重建的实践过程发现,完成物理空间整合的农民集中居住区依然不同程度延续着传统乡土社会整合机制,使得现代普遍主义价值取向的地域关联及社会认同机制难以有效建立,后乡土社会样态的农民集中居住区公共性重建缺乏必要的社会基础。因此,如何突破制度红利型动力机制及行政主导实践逻辑重塑后乡土社会整合机制,就成为农民集中居住区重建地域公共性并顺利过渡到社会生活共同体的关键。     

从“乡约”到村规民约:比较与反思

村规民约是村民自治的重要载体。基于乡村振兴调查数据与实地调查资料发现,村规民约在实行中存在不足,将村规民约视为管理乡村的制度,忽视了村规民约的社会组织功能;村规民约在实践中受到行政力量的较大干预;契约性不足。在此基础之上,比较分析了“乡约”与村规民约存在的一些共同的特征,基层性、政府的干预、村民的教化及遵从,构成了村规民约实践的先天缺陷。基于“三角模型”对实践中的不足进行反思,可以从村民、村民自治组织以及政府三个方面进一步推进村规民约的实行。     

国家如何塑造乡村精英?——关于乡村精英变迁中的国家角色述评

围绕"村民自治制度实行以来,国家如何塑造乡村精英"这一核心问题,本文对相关研究领域的文献进行了梳理。本文将国家对乡村精英的塑造区分为两个层次:一是作为"整体的国家"以宏观政策方式塑造乡村精英。其中,意识形态话语的变迁使乡村精英由"政治型精英"转变为"经济型精英",基层制度设计的变迁使乡村精英由"单一政治型精英"转变为"多元化精英",资源性政策的变迁则使得"新代理人"登上村庄政治舞台。二是基层政府作为与乡村精英直接互动的行动者塑造乡村精英。其中,压力型科层制使基层政府根据中心工作的性质来塑造乡村精英,使乡村精英经历了税费时期的"灰黑化"、税费改革后前几年的"老好人化",以及资源下放时期的"新代理人化";乡村关系则使得基层政府根据与乡村社会的博弈来塑造乡村精英:强乡弱村的乡村关系使乡村精英由"兼业化"走向"职业化",强村弱乡的乡村关系使得乡村精英主要由"有声望的村民"来担任。