Outcome‐focussed planning in Australian local government: How council plans and cultural development plans measure up

Contemporary public policy increasingly emphasises a focus on outcomes, the difference that occurs in the lives of citizens from policy and activity of government. Other contemporary imperatives for effective planning include: recognition of the values of the community whom plans serve, direction towards goals and objectives, utilisation of evidence, articulation of theories of change that underpin planning and responsiveness to evaluation. This article reports a desk‐based research project to assess how local government planning documents meet these imperatives. Two documents are examined for 67 councils across Australia: the major strategic document, council plan or other‐named document and the cultural development plan (CDP) or other‐named document that directs staff and investment aimed at cultural enrichment of the LGA. Findings indicate that the majority of councils’ documents appeared only concordant with one or two of these planning imperatives. No plan addressed more than three. Overall, council plans and cultural development plans did not clearly indicate their responsiveness to values of their communities, nor include objectives that formed measurable steps towards goals or formally refer to the use of evidence in decision‐making. No plans included theories of change to underpin decision‐making. This analysis indicates clear areas of improvement for planning for local governance.     

Constitutional courts as arbiters of post-conflict territorial self-government: Bosnia and Macedonia

Constitutional and supreme courts frequently end up examining the political and legal questions at the heart of peace agreements and post-conflict constitutions. Where a peace agreement has included territorial self-government (TSG) provisions courts are often endowed with the capacity to adjudicate disputes between state and sub-state levels of government. The effectiveness of courts in fulfilling this role as not been comprehensively examined. This article fills this important gap examining whether the results of existing research on the role of constitutional and supreme courts in resolving disputes in traditional federalism also apply in these particular circumstances. It finds that where TSG is used as a conflict management mechanism judicial review can have centralizing tendencies if this occurs it can largely be attributed to the processes used to select though the devolutionary multinational nature of the states is also relevant.     

英、美、澳地方政府绩效评估指标比较及启示

在分析了英国、美国、澳大利亚几个国家对地方政府进行评估而采用的指标体系和框架之后,通过比较他们的共同点与不同之处,提出了对中国地方政府绩效评估有价值的启示,以更加完善的评估指标体系来引导地方政府真正为了人民群众公共利益而提升责任性和绩效管理水平。     

Offender’s Personal Circumstances and Punishment: Toward a More Refined Model for the Explanation of Sentencing Disparities

Prior research suggests that offender sex, age, and race are often influential determinants of sentencing outcomes. According to focal concerns theory, they affect sentencing because—due to limited time and information—judges rely on stereotypical behavioral expectations when assessing offender blameworthiness and dangerousness. As such, extralegal offender characteristics may serve as proxies for more specific risk indicators. Whether more complete information on additional risk factors helps account for the effects of extralegal characteristics, however, remains an untested assumption. Therefore, this study analyzes the Dutch data on standardized pre-sentencing reports to examine the influence of personal circumstances of the offender, such as employment, family, and drug use factors, on the likelihood and length of incarceration. The results suggest that personal circumstances exert inconsistent influence over sentencing outcomes and that they fail to significantly mitigate the direct effects of sex and age, but do mitigate the effects of national origin.     

论外交保护中用尽当地救济的法律地位与规则性质

外交保护是国家保护海外公民最重要的手段之一。用尽当地救济是外交保护的前提条件。长期以来,它一直被认为是国际习惯。随着国际争端解决方式的多样化以及保护人权呼声的高涨,一些学者开始质疑该规则的国际习惯地位。但是这种质疑不具有合理性和可行性。在法律地位的基础上,国际社会对用尽当地救济的规则性质始终莫衷一是。事实上,应当对侵害行为区分不同情况,分别判定用尽当地救济是程序法性质的,还是实体法性质的。     

政府行为失范下的维稳困境——基于转型期我国地方政府失范拆迁行为的思考

随着我国社会转型的不断深入，利益分化程度不断加剧，各种群体性突发事件明显增多，特别是近几年来，由于地方政府行为失范所诱发的各种拆迁矛盾层出不穷，愈演愈烈，致使我国维稳陷入困境。为此，规范地方政府行为，维护社会稳定、和谐，是目前摆在我们面前的一个重大任务。     

清末宪政改革中的地方自治——以《清末筹备立宪档案史料》为中心的考察

早在“百日维新”前夕,朝廷官员袁世凯就提出了异于康梁的、自地方变起的改革思路。1901年后,袁氏利用自己的影响力和权力资源,在天津推动地方自治改革,颇有成效。终于,以预备立宪为契机,地方自治改革得以在全国推行。本文试图以《清末筹备立宪档案史料》为基本依据,展现士大夫观念之先进(他们对立宪与地方自治之认知程度可能远远超过我们的想象),以及在中央权威弱化的背景下推行地方自治政策之困局。     

中法两国中央与地方关系之比较

如何正确处理好中央与地方的关系是当今世界诸多国家面临的而又必须要解决好的现实课题 ,中国也不例外。因此 ,研究中央与地方关系 ,不仅具有重要的理论意义 ,而且具有很强的实践意义。试图通过对中法两国最近 50年来中央与地方关系的比较研究 ,以期为我国改革中央与地方关系提供一点有益的启示。     

长三角一体化进程中地方政府行为选择——以江苏为例

随着我国对外开放政策的逐步深入,长江三角洲地区成为亚太地区最具活力的经济增长极和中国融入世界经济竞争的最具实力的中心区域。但是,沪、苏、浙等地方政府行为的选择与长三角区域经济一体化的战略目标是相矛盾的。文章基于区域经济发展的视角,分析了空间统筹布局、基础设施建设、跨区域的环境综合整治、土地资源协调和产业发展协调对地方政府积极融入长三角一体化协调发展进程的作用机制和影响,并在此基础上以江苏省为例提出了地方政府所应该选择的正确行为。     

略论现阶段我国地方艾滋病立法

17年来的中国地方艾滋病立法取得了一定成绩,但也存在许多问题与不足。现实的选择是必须在遵循立法的指导思想和坚持立法的基本原则的基础上,根据立法依据尽快制定符合本地特色的防治条例。立法的总思路是转变观念,正视现实,先易后难,逐步建立与完善地方艾滋病立法体系。其内容包括条例的名称、规范、条文以及有关条例的说明和解释、条例生效或施行时间等。