Contracting out local public services in Slovakia

In our paper, we focus on how local self-governments perform in the delivery of local public services to citizen. The paper is based on concrete data, collected from 200l to 2008 by our research team, including following services--waste collection and disposal, street maintenance, public green, public lighting, cemeteries. Local self-governments are responsible for a large number of public services and their share in total public expenditures is almost 7%. However, our concrete data for evaluated services clearly show that large decentralization did not deliver immediate results and much remains to be done to improve the processes of local service delivery. The problems are not so much connected with existing legislation, but the core issue is the quality and effectiveness of functioning of all involved institutions. Outsourcing decisions are not well ex-ante reviewed, neither ex-post comprehensively evaluated for their outcomes and results. In many cases, competitive tendering is not used to get the best bid. The main purposes for such situation are lack of accountability and compliance control, the most important corrective measures are proposed in the last part of the paper.     

争点整理程序与即决判决制度的确立

争点整理程序是即决判决的前提,而即决判决的过滤案件功能实现了争点整理程序的部分制度目的,两者相辅相成,互为依托.我国的争点整理程序虽有不足,但已具备争点整理功能,且有不断完善之趋势,然而却没有即决判决制度与之配套,导致案件无论繁简、是否存有争议,均须通过庭审程序方可作出判决.这种"一刀切"的做法机械烦琐,无法实现案件繁简分流,制约了争点整理程序的部分制度功能,浪费了诉讼资源,因此,我国有必要确立即决判决制度.     

Identifying Barriers to Permanency: The Recruitment,Selection, and Training of Resource Parents

Staff and resource parents in the public child welfare agency and private child care facilities were invited to participate in research in one state to examine the barriers surrounding resource parent recruitment, training and selection, and strategies for achieving more timely permanency. Issues identified included the need for a shared vision among all stakeholders and the need to focus more on developing public and private agency partnerships. Data-driven strategies were then designed to address identified barriers. This process can serve as an example of how systems may use solicited input from the field to develop interventions or modify casework practice in an attempt to improve child and family outcomes as needed.     

The World Bank on ‘agriculture for development’: a failure of imagination or the power of ideology?

The paper provides a critique of the World Bank's 2008 World Development Report on the role of agriculture in the development process, specifically its conception of capitalist farming as a pathway out of rural poverty. It is argued that the Report is unable to overcome a fundamental deficit in development thinking based on modernisation theory and an ideological predisposition towards (and belief in) the agency and working of the market. The paper also argues that the failure of the Report to propose radical land redistributive measures for tackling rural poverty derives from its failure to grasp the fundamental cause and dynamics of rural poverty.     

Questioning pathways out of poverty: Indonesia as an illustrative case for the World Bank's transforming countries

The World Development Report 2008 uses Indonesia as an illustrative case for what it calls ‘transforming countries’. The main argument of this paper is that the three pathways out of poverty (commercially-oriented entrepreneurial smallholder farming; rural non-farm enterprise development, and out-migration) prescribed by the Report should be theoretically and empirically questioned because of the possibility of a reverse consequence: the perpetuation of poverty in Indonesia.     

扫黑除恶的刑事法治原则及技术对策

扫黑除恶专项斗争是贯彻、落实习近平总书记重要指示精神,维护社会治安、保障公民安全、稳固基层政权的重要决策,是国家和社会治理的必然选择。在黑恶势力逐步从硬暴力转向软暴力、帮派转向公司、黑色产业转向白色产业以及寻"伞"到变"伞"的转型背景下,基于传统的组织犯罪理论,黑恶势力将给我国公民安全、经济发展、政治环境以及政权稳定带来连锁性威胁。当前,扫黑除恶需要坚守法治思维,维护现代法治基本原则,在此前提下创设新型法律制度,应对黑恶势力的变化。     

仲裁实施权配置论视阈下的撤回仲裁请求制度研究

针对同一仲裁标的,纠纷当事人均享有积极仲裁实施权与消极仲裁实施权,但一方行使积极仲裁实施权的,对方只能且必须行使消极仲裁实施权。撤回仲裁请求是申请人处分积极仲裁实施权的自由,但申请人处分其积极仲裁实施权涉嫌损害被申请人合法权益的,被申请人可以无缝衔接地行使相应的积极仲裁实施权,以捍卫其通过本次仲裁程序彻底解决纠纷的利益。被申请人不同意申请人撤回仲裁请求的,仲裁庭应当允许或将其视为被申请人提出了相应的反请求,并由被申请人负责垫付确保仲裁程序继续进行的案件处理费。     

Couplets

“Couplets” moves back and forth, swapping thought images, turns of phrase and story lines conjured up to get inside the machine and spread of a thing. Curiosity is a thought muscle throwing weight against fake foundations. The airs of a day make rhythm promises and labor demands. Paying attention is a starting point but no guarantee when there’s no floor. Things are happening.     

Contracting Out Local Government Services to Private Agents: An Analysis of Contract Design and Service Delivery Performance in Ghana

Contracting out is generally justified on the principle that as governments contract out part of their responsibilities in service provision to private agents, they harness the power of market competition which leads to efficiency in service provision. In working with private contractors, local governments (LGs) face problems related to agent opportunism, while agents also face risks such as dereliction of payment responsibility by LGs for services delivered. The literature shows that these problems are addressed through a web of contractual arrangements. Using agency theory, this study investigates the relationship between contract design and quality of services delivery in three Ghanaian cities (Accra, Kumasi and Tema). The study found a surprising negative correlation between contract document and agents' performance. The paper concludes that effectiveness of contracting out documents depends on contract management capacity of government administrators. In its absence, LGs that contract out are exposed to risks. The paper uses the findings to reflect on the inherent deficiencies in agency theory and Africanist literature on patronage.     

退出，呼吁和忠诚模型视角下的群体性事件分析

群体性事件是民众面对政府绩效衰退时的一种呼吁,民众无法自由迁徙则是退出权的缺失。认为退出权的不同和忠诚即民众对政府的信任是群体性事件频发的两个重要原因,此外还包括参与人数,呼吁的成本,需求质量弹性等。降低群体性事件,应加强民众对政府的信任（提高忠诚感）,逐步实现人口的自由迁徙（增加退出权）,畅通利益诉求渠道（提高呼吁有效性）。