To adapt or to disregard? Parties’ reactions to external shocks

How do parties react to unanticipated events such as external shocks? Do they adapt to the consequences of the external shock or do they disregard them? Using the global financial crisis as an empirical example and testing the expectations for parties’ economic policy shifts in 23 European democracies based on Chapel Hill Expert Survey data, the article demonstrates that government parties react more to an external shock than opposition parties, particularly in countries where the external shock has been more severe. This has implications for a broader literature in comparative politics by fostering the dialogue between the political economy literature on external shocks and the literature on party policy shifts by showing the significant impact exogenous events can have on party positioning.     

加快推进中国企业“走出去”战略对策研究

实施企业“走出去”战略，鼓励和支持有条件的企业开展多种形式的对外投资合作，以充分利用“两种市场，两种资源”来发展中国经济，增强企业的竞争力，是中国在新一轮对外开放，促进国民经济持续健康发展的重要措施。该文总结了中国企业“走出去”的总体现状，分析了目前中国实施企业走出去存在的问题和障碍，从国家管理体制机制、金融财税政策、产业部门职能、行业中介组织、人才培养以及企业自身等方面提出了有利于加快推进中国企业“走出去”的对策建议。     

当前浙江经济发展主要问题和经济犯罪态势

浙江地处我国东南沿海地区，市场经济先发，民营经济发达，经济对外依存度很高，国际金融危机不仅严重影响浙江经济和民生，而且诱发诸多经济犯罪问题。浙江经济犯罪活动一直处于发案数量增多、涉案金额攀高、作案手段升级、危害后果加重的状态，呈现出原生性、示范性、区域性等特征。受国际金融危机的冲击和影响，浙江经济领域中的利益冲突、矛盾碰撞明显加剧，诱发各类经济犯罪的因素不断增多，预计当前和今后一个时期，浙江经济犯罪尤其是经济大要案仍将继续呈现多发、高发的态势。     

关于政治学理论研究三个重大前沿问题的思考

政治学理论研究中存在着众多的重大问题,对这些问题研究的理论深度将影响到未来政治的发展。当今政治学理论研究领域最值得探讨的三个重大前沿问题是公民社会、全球治理和善治。     

现行跨国公司之法律管制缺陷评析

跨国公司是全球化的动力,同时也是全球化时代各种矛盾的聚焦点。组成跨国公司的各实体在经济上的一体性与法律上的独立性之间的矛盾,使得有效管制跨国公司成为世界性的难题。恰当地进行法律设计的一个重要前提是,对现行跨国公司法律管制机制的缺陷进行科学的分析,从而寻找克服缺陷的方法,探索新型跨国公司法律管制的模式——全球管制治理机制。     

Gender Mainstreaming and Global Governance

This article seeks to explain the variable implementation of gender mainstreaming as a `policy frame' over time and across various international organisations (I.O.s). In the years since the U.N. Fourth World Women's Conference in Beijing (1995),mainstreaming has been endorsed and adopted by a wide range of international organisations, and we compare the adoption and implementation of mainstreaming in four specific I.O.s: the World Bank, the United Nations Development Programme, the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, and the European Union. The rhetorical acceptance of mainstreaming by various international organisations, however, obscures considerable variation in both the timing and the nature of the mainstreaming process within and among organisations. This variation, in turn, can be explained in terms of the categories of political opportunity, mobilising structures and strategic framing, which have been put forward by social movement theorists. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Globalization by the Numbers: Quantitative Indicators and the Role of Policy

Many writers have sought empirical referents for globalization. The most persuasive work has considered economic, political, cultural, and environmental indicators. Attempts to combine indicators from different spheres into a single index appear unpromising.     

Forest certification as a global environmental governance tool: What is the macro-effectiveness of the Forest Stewardship Council?

Sustainable forest management is a key challenge for local and global governance. The Forest Stewardship Council has emerged as one of the solutions to global forest deterioration and is generally regarded as the prime example of certification as a global governance tool. This article examines the macro-effectiveness of certification on halting deforestation and examines the relationship between certification and governance institutions. The article finds that the macro-effectiveness of certification on halting deforestation is still limited due to the “stuck at the bottom” problem of developing countries, which are kept out of the certification process, and the market-driven nature of certification initiatives. The article does not find a relationship between certification and governance institutions at the macro level. It does find, however, significant variation in certification uptake between countries, pointing to the potential of this policy tool. The implications of the results are discussed.     

The meat of the global food crisis

The global food crisis has been widely described in terms of the volatility of grain and oilseed markets and the associated worsening conditions of food security facing many poor people. Various explanations have been given for this volatility, including increasingly meat-centered diets and rising demand for animal feed, especially in China. This is a very partial reading, as the food crisis runs much deeper than recent market turbulence; when it is understood in terms of the biophysical contradictions of the industrial grain–oilseed–livestock complex and how they are now accelerating, meat moves to the center of the story. Industrial livestock production is the driving force behind rising meat consumption on a world scale, and the process of cycling great volumes of industrial grains and oilseeds through soaring populations of concentrated animals serves to magnify the land and resource budgets, pollution, and greenhouse gas emissions associated with agriculture. These dynamics not only reflect disparities but are exacerbating them, foremost through climate change. Thus, this paper suggests that rising meat consumption and industrial livestock production should be understood together to comprise a powerful long-term vector of global inequality.