Beyond privatisation and cost savings: alternatives for local government reform

Unsatisfactory results from privatisation have caused local governments to seek alternative reforms. Inter-municipal cooperation, mixed public/private delivery and contract reversals are three alternatives that have gained traction in the last decade. These alternatives help local governments manage markets for public service delivery as a dynamic process. They maximise government/market complementarities and address a wider array of public goals beyond cost efficiency concerns. The alternative reforms show how local governments balance citizen, labour and community interests to ensure efficiency, coordination and stability in public service delivery.     

The Political Cost-Effectiveness of Private Vessel Protection: The Italian Case

Italy has traditionally been wary of private providers of security. Still, private military and security companies (PMSCs) have recently started to play an important role in protecting Italian merchant vessels, eventually replacing the military vessel protection detachment units (VPDs) provided by the Italian Navy. Drawing on neoclassical realism, the increasing involvement of PMSCs in protecting Italian merchant ships is presented as an attempt to reduce the political costs associated with the use of military personnel abroad, epitomised by the arrest of two Italian Navy fusiliers by Indian authorities in February 2012.     

Trading culture for development: assessing perceptions among rural agropastoral peoples in Tanzania

Development in rural parts of Africa is strongly desired by local people. Other views expressed by local people towards outside development initiatives vary considerably. Some perceptions are negative, as development recipients view development as a destructive agent of change in the local culture. Despite the negative effects associated with development, this study documented a unanimous desire among a stratified random sample of 418 respondents for more development interventions. Two villages in south-central Tanzania were selected based upon their adjacent proximity to Ruaha National Park. Findings suggest that a capability framework is useful for exploring local perceptions to outside development assistance.     

私法公法化视野中的消费者权利保护

消费者问题的发生以及消费者运动的开展使消费者与经营者之间交易的不平等性日渐凸显,消费者自身无力改变这种不平等性,向国家提出了权利保护的要求。消费者权利是从主体角度提出的权利概念,消费者具体人格的确立恰恰是近代民法向现代民法发展的动因之一。保护消费者权利的法律制度是民法发展变化的重要体现,这些制度在一定程度上反映了私法公法化的变迁。     

东北民营企业家劳动关系信念研究

劳动关系信念对劳动关系制度演化具有非常重要的影响。根据劳动关系学者的劳动关系系统框架和青木昌彦的制度演化一般模型,建立劳动关系制度演化的一般模型,通过分解劳动关系信念的测量指标,并利用这些指标和吉林大学"东北民营企业家发育成长问题横向跨学科实证研究"课题组2006年年底获得的东北地区民营企业家发育成长问题调查数据,对东北地区民营企业家的劳动关系信念进行测量。测量结果显示,作为雇主方的东北地区民营企业家,其劳动关系信念从总体上是倾向于合作共赢共享的。这一测量结果的政策含义是:执政党、政府和学术理论界,需要采取积极措施,向中国劳动关系制度系统中输入合作共赢共享的劳动关系信念系统、理论系统、法律和政策系统等,以巩固和强化雇主劳动关系信念系统中积极因素,以促进中国生成或巩固合作型劳动关系制度。     

Assessing the institutionalization of private sustainability governance in a changing coffee sector

The potential of transnational private governance initiatives to constitute effective alternatives to state‐led regulation of global value chains rests on their ability to scale up and become institutionalized in a given sector. This study examines whether such institutionalization has occurred in the coffee sector, the commodity with the most widespread adoption of certified products and over 30 years’ experience of private governance, and tests hypotheses on facilitating and inhibiting conditions. It finds that while norm generation around responsible supply chain management and the organizational institutionalization of standard‐setting bodies is well advanced, the practice of internalizing social and environmental externalities through the routinized production and purchase of higher priced certified goods continues to be questioned by industry actors. Indeed, conditions that favored normative and organizational institutionalization, such as high levels of industry concentration, product differentiation, and deliberative interaction, are shown to represent barriers to the practice‐oriented institutionalization of market‐driven regulatory governance.     

公共权力与私人资本的博弈:政商关系之历史与现实

社会现实告诉我们,公共权力与私有资本都必须受到制约。在人类历史上,政商关系先后经历了前资本主义社会权力神化、资本主义社会权力道德化和社会主义社会权力客观化三个阶段。其中,资本主义社会私有资本第一次真正实现了有效地制约公共权力,将其关进了私有资本的笼子里。我国现在处于社会主义初级阶段,应当依靠发展社会主义民主政治,在社会主义市场经济基础上,建立相配套的社会主义市场政治上层建筑来制约公共权力;在此基础上,必须用公共权力将私有资本关进科学制度的笼子里,不能放任私有资本从经济走向政治染指国家政权,要坚持国家公共权力对私有资本的驾驭。因此,推进政治体制改革以重塑强大的科学的公共权力优越和正确处理政商关系,是全面完善社会主义市场经济的相辅相成不可分割的两个重要方面,特别是保持一种强大的科学的公共权力优越是社会主义市场经济至关重要的支撑。     

当前我国民营企业融资困难的分析以及解决出路思考

在世界金融危机、国内经济形势相当严峻的局面下,融资困难已成为中小民营企业发展的严重问题。要切实解决民营企业融资难的问题,仅仅靠政府、银行和企业某一方面的努力都是难以奏效的,必须通过社会各方面的共同努力和特殊的政策支持,从而创造和形成良好的融资环境：要以地方政府为主导营造金融生态环境,构建完善的投融资体系;加大和增强金融机构对民营企业的信贷支持和金融服务力度;民营企业本身也要通过管理创新和制度创新,建立起规范的现代企业制度,不断降低企业经营中的主观风险。     

实施劳动合同法后劳资关系的新情况和新问题探索——以宁波民营企业为例

新的<劳动合同法>,旨在打破长期以来"资强劳弱"的格局,构建"和谐稳定的劳资关系".通过调查与统计资料显示,宁波民营企业劳资关系的发展在<劳动合同法>实施前后,出现许多新情况和新问题.为了更好地贯彻新法的立法精神与主旨,宁波应该从制度细则、第三方的积极参与和劳资双方互动三方面入手,推动劳资关系趋于和谐.     

个人信息保护机制的构建

个人信息的开示是一把双刃剑,既有利于信息交流和资源共享,也会造成对公民隐私权的侵害。构建一个合理的个人信息保护体系,需要从完善立法、规范公权等方面加以努力。