Participation,Dialogue, and Civic Engagement: Understanding the Role of Organized Civil Society in Promoting Active Citizenship in the European Union

Abstract

This article looks at current policies concerning the civic and political participation of youths, women, migrants, and minorities in the European Union. It highlights the ways in which active citizenship and civic engagement have become a political priority for European institutions. Representation of local policy actors at the supranational level and strategies for the inclusion of civil society provide a platform for evaluating the impact of Europeanization at the national and subnational level. The article focuses on key discourses and narratives associated with specific policy frames (e.g. European citizenship, European social policies, and the European public sphere (EPS)). Some of the key questions addressed by the article are: What are the strategies that are employed, both by the European institutions in Brussels and organized civil society (OCS), to enhance participation and reciprocal communication? What vision of governance do practices such as active engagement and civil dialogue represent? Drawing on current theories of governance, our article contributes to the debate about the EPS by evaluating the role of OCS in bridging the gap between European institutions and national polities. Equally, our focus on traditionally marginal groups provides a platform for assessing the institutionalization of the ‘European social dimension’.     

Making a difference: On the constraints of consensus building and the relevance of deliberation in stakeholder dialogues

This article illuminates the contribution of stakeholder dialogues to environmental policy making. It makes a distinction between stakeholder dialogues as consensus building and stakeholder dialogues as deliberation. Although consensus building seems to be the dominant approach in participatory environmental policy making, this article questions the merits of consensus building and it uses the experience of the Dutch stakeholder dialogue project Climate OptiOns for the Long term (COOL) to explore, in a deliberative design, the shortcomings of a consensus-building approach and how they are possibly dealt with. The article presents the results of two deliberative methods that have been used in the COOL project – the repertory grid analysis and the dialectical approach – to demonstrate how a deliberative design can help policy makers to critically assess arguments in favor of and against a broad range of policy options, and deal with stakeholder conflict in an early phase of the policy process.     

Trade Unions and Employment Relations in Italy during the Economic Crisis

Abstract

Many of the usual assumptions about the impact of the economic crisis on trade unions and employment relations only partially fit the Italian case. Trade unions during the crisis showed resilience both organisationally and as important actors in economic and political life. Also, the national industry level reaffirmed itself as the key level in industrial relations. Explanations of these unexpected outcomes have to do with some features of all three actors of Italian employment relations. Trade unions have become over time a relevant actor not just in the industrial relations arena but in several other spheres of Italian society and politics. As to employers, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) have tended to prefer national sectoral-level agreements and set rather low wage standards, while employers’ associations have shown an organisational interest in preserving centralised bargaining where they play a role. Finally, governments have been too weak and short-lived to follow a consistent strategy of unilateral decision-making.     

司法审查的第三条道路——弱司法审查的兴起、发展及其中国意义

如何处理议会与法院关系,进而很好地保护人权,对世界各国来说都是一个重要且棘手的问题。长期以来人们只能在威斯敏斯特的议会至上和美国式司法审查模式之间做出非此即彼的选择。然而,1980年代之后,一种允许法院通过司法审查积极保护人权,但同时又尊重民主所要求的人民自我统治的新的司法审查模式,即弱司法审查模式正在兴起。梳理此一模式的制度发展脉络和相关学术争论,客观评价此种司法审查模式对“议会／法院”关系的处理以及人权的保护所可能带来的影响,并在此基础之上反思此种模式对于中国可能的意义,毫无疑问,是十分重要的。     

政治与行政两分理论的跨文化对话

政治与行政二分法是西方国家行政学中一个有经久影响力和讨论价值的理论,被专家们认为是行政管理实践的核心要点。本文运用这一理论的基本原理来考察中国的国家管理实践,揭示其分析价值,沟通东西方管理思想的对话。笔者提出,如果理解正确、运用恰当,西方政治与行政两分的讨论可以为中国进一步的行政和公共政策改革提供十分有益的视角和思路,即：注重政治与行政的专业化分工、加强独立问责、以民主政治和精细化管理的精神改革中国的政治决策程序和提高政府机关的行政能力,综合提高现代国家治理能力。     

慈善组织信息披露机制研究——基于利益相关者理论的视角

慈善组织是利益相关者通过契约安排所构成的集合体,由于各利益相关者之间存在复杂的委托代理关系所产生的信息不对称现象以及信息本身具有外部性的特征,因此,应建立由各利益相关者参与的信息披露机制。     

公共对话式政策执行及其支持性维度分析

顺应当前的行政民主化浪潮,政策执行中引入对话协商,即公共对话式政策执行,代表了政策执行领域的一种对话性转向,具有重要的理论与现实意义。公共对话式政策执行的支持性维度包括:动机性维度——利益偏好,保障性维度——行动与信任合作,政治性维度——话语民主,情境性与能动性维度——社会建构。这些支持性维度与公共对话式政策执行之间存在着双向的促进作用,共同推动实现政策执行过程的合法性与有效性。公共对话式政策执行这一议题是一个初始性研究,存在诸多有待进一步思考与分析的问题,但公共对话本身所蕴含的巨大潜力,表明其将有着良好的发展前景。     

Theorizing identity: beyond the ‘us’ and ‘them’ dichotomy

ABSTRACT

Yuval-Davis discusses three interconnected questions relating to identity. She first examines whether and in what ways the notion of identity should be theorized, on the one hand, and empirically researched, on the other, focusing on the opposing views of Stuart Hall and Robin Williams. She then examines the contested question of what is identity, positioning it in relation to notions of belonging and the politics of belonging, and in relation to several influential schools of thought, especially those that construct identity as a mode of narrative, as a mode of performativity or as a dialogical practice. Her third interrelated question concerns the boundaries of identity and the relationship between self and non-self. She explores both social psychological and psychoanalytical approaches to that question, and deals with questions such as reflexivity, identifications and forced identities. The last part of the article explores several types of relationships between self and non-self, such as: ‘me’ and ‘us’; ‘me/us’ and ‘them’; ‘me’ and other ‘others’; ‘me’ and the transversal ‘us/them’. Yuval-Davis's basic argument here is that dichotomous notions of identity and difference, when theorizing boundaries of individual and collective identities, are more misleading than explanatory.     

Dealing with Diversity in the Construction of Indigenous Autonomy in the Sierra Norte of Oaxaca

Building autonomy in the Sierra Norte of Oaxaca has not depended on the development of Zapotec ethnic identities, isolation or rejection of the integration of outsiders into the communities. The communities of Ixtlán and Guelatao have developed strong local identities and strategies related to the appropriation of external legal categories, and the combination of these with their own customary practices to integrate newcomers into their social, political and economic organisation. Dialogue has been one of the main tools for building autonomy and achieve the integration of outsiders, while continuing the dynamic reproduction of their internal organisation and way of life.     

走向大众对话时代的艺术--当代审美文化理论视野中的艺术话题

当代艺术的大众化努力,标榜并正在不断实现着艺术与当代大众的广泛对话,其基本核心是艺术活动、艺术家、艺术作品与当代大众日常生活状态之间的相互趋近和认同,艺术、艺术家和大众由此获得了共同体验和表达对于当代生活/世界的情感与文化价值态度的新的可能性.这种艺术的大众化努力,在与大众对话进程中将成功地架设艺术自身与大众日常生活的文化通道,日渐改变艺术的传统职责,并在当代审美文化中实现现实生活方式向艺术活动、日常生活经验向艺术经验的"跨越".