New Public Governance in the Baltic States: Flexible Administration and Rule Bending

Abstract

The New Public Governance approach advocates a more flexible and participatory public administration as means to higher efficiency and increased legitimacy. Increasing flexibility and thereby public employees’ discretion, however, may pose a risk to equality and impartiality, core values in democratic and rule-of-law societies. Using a survey among Baltic public employees, this article explores this risk. We ask whether public employees’ preferences for flexible rule application go hand in hand with acceptance of bending the rules, even if it means a breach of impartiality. We find that this is the case. We also find that contrary to what the New Public Governance approach expects, neither citizen participation nor generalized trust works as a control on rule bending. On a positive note, however, we find that control mechanisms associated with Weberian Public Administration lessen acceptance for bending the rules.     

State Transitions from Rigidity to Fragility and Failure: The Case of Middle East and North Africa

ABSTRACT

The taxonomy of the state’s effective governance capacity present in the literature is evolving around state fragility. However, this article argues that a state moves along the state transition curve, resulting in governance capacity variations over time. It begins as a fragile state, consolidating to becoming a vibrant state, only to embark, eventually, on a downward trajectory through phases of rigidity, decaying, and fragility, before becoming a failed state. About one-third of MENA (Middle East and North Africa) countries are either fragile or failed states. Only technological change and knowledge accumulation and diffusion can shift this curve upward, thereby increasing a state’s effective governance capacity.     

The discursive flexibility of ‘flex crops’: comparing oil palm and jatropha

‘Flex crops’ such as corn, oil palm and soy are understood to have multiple, interchangeable uses; they have material flexibility. We propose that discursive flexibility – the ability to strategically switch between discourses to promote an objective – equally shapes the political economy of flex crops, and thereby patterns of agrarian and environmental change. Comparing oil palm and Jatropha curcas, we find that actors who cast oil palm as a multi-scale solution to food and energy insecurity, climate change and (rural) poverty successfully reinforce its high material flexibility. Jatropha's proponents compensate for low material flexibility by positioning the crop as a ‘sustainable’ energy source that achieves both global and local goals. While this paper focuses on discourses that reinforce the oil palm and jatropha projects, understanding the power of discursive maneuvering can also inform efforts to contest them.     

打造和谐企业构建和谐社会

构建和谐社会是一项系统工程,企业作为社会经济的基本细胞,肩负着构建和谐社会的使命,企业在构建和谐社会中要有所作为,首先从创建和谐企业做起。企业家必须提升自身的素质,坚持科学发展观,并大力加强企业文化建设,在企业坚持以人为本、诚实守信的理念,营造和谐的劳动关系,强化创新意识,才能使企业做大做强。     

日本量化质化宽松货币政策效果及原因分析

面对日本长期通货紧缩与经济增长乏力,日本央行开启量化质化宽松货币政策:日本央行持续大肆增加基础货币的投放,大胆采取负利率政策,实施收益率曲线控制,引导社会公众预期。政策实施以来,通胀目标时限一再推迟,政策虽在短期内改善了经济形势,但又受到全球金融市场及外国政策的干扰。究其原因,货币政策传导机制不畅、企业部门缺乏稳定预期、少子老龄化及财政货币政策相互掣肘等因素均影响了货币政策的经济效果。     

国有企业高管产权激励的法律规制

国有企业治理问题一直是国有企业改革中的重心问题,而国有企业治理的关键则取决于国有企业高管的约束与激励。为应对市场压力,以往对国企高管的约束已逐渐淡化。为避免其道德风险,必须加强对其的激励。传统激励机制的弊端严重阻碍了高管经营效率的提高,为此必须拓展产权激励模式,并对其加以法律规范。     

私法效果的弹性化机制-以不合意、错误与合同解释为例

刚性的“要件一效果”模式,易导致个案的非正义。私法效果的弹性化,可透过要件的动态化而实现。合意与否、错误与否的判断,需在信赖合理性与归责性比较权衡的基础上透过合同解释来完成。合同解释为要件的动态化提供了场域。合同解释中,通过信赖合理性和归责性要件动态化的比较权衡,可分别得出:不合意且无责任、不合意同时承担缔约过失责任、合意且有错误而可撤销、合意虽有错误但不可撤销等结论,从而实现法律效果的弹性化。     

论我国股票期权法律制度

首先对我国企业界的股票期权实践进行了评析,指出我国实施的股票期权本质已蜕变为一种股票购买方案,不能起到其应有的激励作用,之后分析了产生这种变异的原因,最后,结合股票期权在我国面临的法律障碍,对建立我国股票期权法律制度提出了几条立法建议。     

试论法人格否认法理中的“人格混同”——日本法近期判例的启示

人格混同是法人格否认法理的适用要件之一,而非适用情形。判定人格混同应采取谨慎与灵活相结合的判定方法。     

论网络游戏中虚拟财产的刑法保护

从刑法解释论的角度讲 ,网络游戏玩家账号中的虚拟装备等网络资源属于刑法财产犯罪保护的对象 ;比较目前司法实践对这一命题的否定看法可以看出 ,我国刑事司法在遵循罪刑法定原则的前提下 ,应当进一步协调刑法确定性与适应性之间的矛盾。此外 ,在成文刑法面临新的社会需求而需要积极解释适用时 ,与刑事立法一样 ,司法适用者应当考虑刑法的谦抑性原则。