Business as usual? Civil society organizations in a marketized Swedish welfare state

ABSTRACT

This article aims to examine the participation of pensioners’ organizations in a context of marketization within local elderly care. The literature on New Public Management (NPM) points out different views on the effects of marketization on the participation of civil society organizations within the decision-making process. One view states marketization implies less of participation by civil society organizations since this stands in conflict with inherent values of NPM, such as efficiency and the citizen as customer on a market. An opposite view states that marketization does not cause this effect, i.e., civil society organizations participate in the same manner as before. The empirical investigation consists of results from a questionnaire sent out to pensioners’ organizations in Swedish municipalities with a marketized elderly care. The main result is that marketization does not cause any major crowding out effect on civil society organizations from the decision-making process. However, according to the survey, there exists a variation in this respect – participation varies between municipalities.     

我国城镇化进程与进城农村青年的人文关怀

城镇化指农村人口转化为城镇人口的过程,是工业化、现代化进程必然经历的历史阶段。改革开放之后,我国大量农村人口向城市的转移为现代化、城镇化注入生机和活力,丰富了城镇建设的人力资源,这支力量的主体是青年。在这一过程中进城农村青年经历了很多艰辛,主要表现为权利平等、权益维护、人格尊严、资源共享、社会保障等方面的缺失,即社会人文关怀的缺失。加强对进城农村青年的人文关怀、推进市民化进程,需要制定政策、形成制度。     

我国生产者责任延伸制度实施困境分析——从家电以旧换新政策实施谈起

生产者责任延伸是解决废弃产品问题的一项新兴的环境策略,在我国已初步构建并开始实施。为拉动经济增长,促进废旧电器电子产品的循环利用,我国实施了家电以旧换新政策。但该政策实施后遇到的一些问题,如回收企业技术落后不能满足回收的大量废弃电器电子产品的无害化资源化处置、生产者组织和废弃产品处理基金制度没有有效建立、政府行政干预机制和经济激励机制的缺位、法律规定的空白等阻碍着生产者责任延伸制度的实施。     

浅析大学生思想政治教育人文关怀的几大转换

长期以来大学生思想政治教育人文关怀一直没有很好地落实,文章针对这一现状,指出在落实大学生思想政治教育人文关怀时,需要注意几大转换,即要从教育重心、教育对象、教育内容、教育策略、教育方法这五个方面进行转换思路。     

Rich doctors and poor patients: Market failure and health care systems in developing countries

This article argues that, in developing countries, health care systems (HCS) have been facing the problem of market failure, implying that the fair rules of market principles do not apply and patients often become losers. Explaining the theoretical issues involved, the article examines various causes of market failures in HCS, including: rent-seeking activities by doctors, asymmetric information between doctors and patients, between patients and insurance companies, and the oligopolistic behaviour of health care practitioners. The policy implications of the study suggest that, in many cases, government intervention is essential to eliminate market failures in the HCS in developing countries.     

广西民族地区农村居家养老模式探析

居家养老模式是家庭养老和机构养老的有效整合,是未来我国养老事业重点建设的目标之一。中国目前居家养老服务多为政府购买服务、民间组织提供服务或社区承办服务等模式。广西民族地区农村人口老龄化速度快、经济欠发达、家庭结构失衡、养老设施匮乏,居家养老模式应成为养老方式的首选。建设广西农村居家养老模式应重点完善农村基本医疗照顾,加强农村传统邻里互助关系,保护和传承少数民族文化习俗。     

Mapping Urban Revitalization: Using GIS Spatial Analysis to Evaluate a New Housing Policy

This longitudinal, multimethod study uses geographical information system (GIS) software to evaluate the community-wide impact of a neighborhood revitalization project. Unsystematic visual examination and analysis of GIS maps are offered as a complementary tool to quantitative analysis and one that is much more compelling, meaningful, and effective in presentation to community and nonscientific professional audiences. The centerpiece of the intervention was the development of a new, middle-class housing subdivision in an area that was declining physically and economically. This represents three major urban/housing policy directions: (1) the emphasis on home ownership for working-class families, (2) the deconcentration of poverty through development of mixed-income neighborhoods, and (3) the clean up and redevelopment of contaminated, former industrial brownfields. Resident survey responses, objective environmental assessment observations, and building permit data were collected, geocoded at the address level, and aggregated to the block level on 60 street blocks in the older neighborhoods surrounding the new housing in two waves: during site clearing and housing construction (Time 1: 1993–95) and three years post-completion (Time 2: 1998–99). Variables mapped include (a) Time 1–2 change in self-reported home repairs and improvements, (b) change in the assessed physical condition of yards and exteriors of 925 individual residential properties, (c) change in residents' home pride, and (d) a city archive of building permits at Time 2. Physical conditions improved overall in the neighborhood, but spatial analysis of the maps suggest that the spillover effects, if any, of the new housing were geographically limited and included unintended negative psychological consequences. Results argue for greater use of GIS and the street block level in community research and of psychological and behavioral variables in planning research and decisions.     

Historical political economy and liberal democratic capitalism

This paper explores the ways in which pregnancy is increasingly portrayed as a state requiring careful and detailed risk prevention. The subject of risk reduction in not the pregnant woman; the effort here is not to reduce maternalrisk during pregnancy, but rather to reduce possible risks to the foetus due to maternal behaviour.

The deployment of risk discourse regarding foetal endangerment through maternal diet, exercise, lifestyle choices and personal habits is investigated using popular advice manuals directed at pregnant women. Through an examination of these materials, connections are made between the use of this ‘risk talk’ in prenatal advice to pregnant women and a larger practice of ‘self-regulation’ that occurs in advanced liberal rule.     

我国网络自制剧发展的现状及对策

互联网时代的到来,为网络自制剧的产生和发展准备了技术条件和受众基础,在视频网站和政策引导等多重因素推动下,网络自制剧成为了一种将与传统电视剧相抗衡的新兴文化形态.2014年各大视频网站纷纷投入巨资加入到网络自制剧的制作中来,被称为网络自制剧元年.网络自制剧具有制作成本低、周期短、制播合一、题材多元、内容贴近生活、交互性强等特点,深受年轻网民的喜欢.网络自制剧的发展有得天独厚的优势,也存在诸如质量低、格调低俗、同质化严重、盈利模式有待拓展等问题.要实现网络自制剧的健康发展还需要在内容、盈利模式、产业链条等多方面进行探索.