Public Participation and Environmental Impact Assessment in Mainland China and Taiwan: Political Foundations of Environmental Management

This article explores the role of agro-ecological factors associated with agricultural growth and poverty outcomes in India. Using a new operationalisation of agro-ecological factors and incorporating within-State variations in poverty and other variables we show that agricultural growth and poverty reduction appear to depend on underlying agro-ecological conditions which are favourable to the spread of irrigation and hence agricultural development, which in turn in associated with poverty reduction. Promotion of agriculture in less favoured areas in unlikely to have similar effects on agriculture in less favoured areas is unlikely to have similar effects on agricultural growth even if the effects of agricultural growth on poverty remain similar, unless conditions for irrigation are favourable or rainfall is sufficiently abundant and reliable. This suggests that considerable caution may be needed in drawing policy conclusions from empirical analysis by state alone, and without regard to their underlying factor endowments.     

Trade Liberalisation and Export Performance in Selected Developing Countries

This article examines the impact of trade liberalisation on export growth for a sample of 22 developing economies. The research applies dynamic panel data models based on fixed-effects and generalised methods of moments (GMM) estimators. In addition, heterogeneous panels for the complete sample, as well as for different regions of the world, are estimated using a time-series/cross-section technique. The main findings are that trade liberalisation is a significant determinant of export performance, but its effect varies across continents. Export duties have a small detrimental effect on export growth, while relative price changes and world income growth have the expected signs.     

Structural and Behavioural Characteristics of Informal Service Employment: Evidence from a Survey in New Delhi

This article argues that at least two distinct categories within the informal sector - informal services and informal manufacturing - exhibit different structural and behavioural characteristics. While some segments of informal manufacturing may indeed be 'dynamic' as noted by some recent studies, the hypothesis is tested for the informal service employment on the basis of a survey by the author in New Delhi, India. It examines investment, earnings, returns to human capital, socio economic characteristics and scope for upward mobility of informal service employment. It finds formal education does not explain differences in earnings in the sample but background characteristics do; earnings in the informal service sector are neither the lowest in the economy nor are they comparable to wages in the urban formal unskilled sector, when differences between migrants and non-migrants are taken into account. On the basis of these results, the paper reflects on the nature of growth and structural change in the Indian economy and draws some analytical and policy implications.     

Capacity Development for Good Governance in Developing Countries: Some Lessons from the Field

Good governance is essential for sustaining economic transformation in developing countries. However, many developing countries currently lack the capacity, as opposed to the will, to both achieve and sustain a climate of good governance. This article addresses, from a practitioner's field perspective, the fundamental objectives, principles, and key areas that need to be addressed for developing capacity for good governance. These frameworks are now beginning to be recognized as both governments and donor institutions attempt to take advantage of the current demand and opportunities for addressing governance deficits. In pursuing capacity development for good governance, developing countries must ensure that such initiatives are comprehensively designed to be simultaneously related to change and transformation at the individual, institutional, and societal levels and be owned and controlled locally.     

后危机时期的东盟国家经济

近年,东盟国家经济相继从衰退中复苏,逐渐摆脱国际金融危机的阴影。随着全球经济形势的动荡和增长趋缓,东盟国家的经济增长呈现出减缓的趋势。后危机时期,东盟国家积极调整宏观经济政策,加快经济转型和产业升级,推进区域经济一体化的进程。在新的国内外经济形势下,东盟国家经济发展将面临新的挑战。     

西方国家放宽经济制裁背景下的缅甸经济发展前景

西方国家对缅甸实施长期经济制裁,深刻影响了缅甸的经济发展。2011年3月,缅甸新政府执政以来,采取了一系列政治经济改革举措,得到国际社会普遍认可,也促使西方国家放宽对缅甸的经济制裁。在此背景下,缅甸未来经济发展潜力巨大,但也面临诸多问题和挑战。     

国外禁吸戒毒模式述评

世界各国的戒毒模式有较大的差异,戒毒模式的构建存在许多差异,核心原因是各国对待吸毒问题采取的价值取向一直处于争议状态。世界各国对禁吸戒毒的宣传教育工作高度重视,主要采取的措施包括：第一、健全组织机构,形成了不同资源共同参与的宣传教育网络体系;第二、不断加大禁吸戒毒资源投入;第三,以青少年和在校学生这个特殊人群为切人重点。国外主要戒毒模式包括医学治疗模式和社会学、心理学、医学角度的戒毒康复模式两种类型,其中有形态各异的特殊模式,这些将对构建我省禁吸戒毒模式有借鉴意义。     

Child Fatalities in Dammam: A Call for Child Fatality Reviews in Arab Countries

Identifying children's risk exposure is the first step toward mortality prevention. This retrospective study determined the causes of child fatalities in Dammam, Saudi Arabia. Death reports of children and adolescents from 1999 to 2015 (N = 157) were analyzed. Boys represented most cases (69%) and there were two age peaks (1–5 years and 16–18 years). Accidents (typically immersion) defined the main death circumstance (51%) followed by homicide (25%). Only 33% of cases underwent autopsy, and the most common cause of death was head injury (27%) followed by firearm injury. Only one immersion death underwent autopsy. This study revealed important data about the risk exposure of children in Dammam and emphasizes deficient investigative procedures. Child fatality reviews comprise systematic data collection by multidisciplinary teams to determine the true risks toward children in a community. Such teams do not exist in Arab countries; therefore, strategies should be implemented to initiate them.     

中国与东盟国家的民商事司法协助

随着中国与东盟各国关系的全面发展,各国的投资和贸易往来日益紧密,跨国的民商事案件将出现,由于各国的法律制度不同会引起不同国家的法律冲突,建立国与国之间的司法协助是解决法律冲突的重要途径。文章就中国与东盟各国的民商事司法协助的法律依据、范围、程序及方法实现进行探讨。     

Nordic Cultural Baselines: Accounting for Domestic Convergence and Foreign Policy Divergence

The five Nordic countries converged remarkably when developing domestic institutions, but they diverged significantly when developing foreign policies. Grid-group theory prescribes four contending cultures—hierarchy, egalitarianism, individualism, and fatalism—and offers a basis for understanding the structure of political coalitions and conflicts. Surveys from the five Nordic countries measuring cultural baselines are used to estimate the degree of convergence and divergence. The countries converge with reference to high agreement with egalitarianism, individualism, and hierarchy, and disagreement with fatalism. This concords with the historically strong regime of social democracy in this region. The five countries diverge with reference to their foreign policy in that they polarize along two dimensions. To the east, there is increasing fatalism associated with countries not being members of NATO; to the north, there is increasing egalitarianism associated with countries not being members of the European Union. Given the importance of popular support through referenda, an eventual accession of Norway and Iceland to the EU cannot happen unless egalitarianism diminishes among their publics.