Promoting empowerment? The World Bank's Village Investment Project in Kyrgyzstan

This article examines the extent to which the World Bank's community-driven Village Investment Project empowered people to influence the choice of local investments (micro-projects) and to exact accountability from their leaders. It is based on qualitative interviews and group discussions in 16 rural communities. The research demonstrates that the project provided an effective mechanism for responsive infrastructure delivery to address local priority needs. However, it did not improve accountability either within or outside the micro-project boundaries. The project's bottom-up development model was not by itself sufficient to enable people to exercise power over local government officials and informal leaders in the absence of effective horizontal accountability institutions within the state.     

刑法教义学研究的中国主体性

刑法教义学既包括教义学方法,也包括教义学知识;教义学方法是无国界的,但教义学知识是对一国现行有效的法律所作的解释,因而是有国界的。德日刑法关于共同犯罪的规定表明,共犯的定罪与量刑均取决于正犯,因而决定了其共犯理论必须采取实质客观说以区分正犯与共犯;而中国刑法关于共同犯罪的规定表明,共同犯罪的定罪与量刑是截然可分的不同层次,因而在正犯与共犯的区分上采取形式客观说就足以解决问题。中国刑法和德日刑法对侵占罪规定的成立要件并不相同,"拒不退还"、"拒不交出"在中国的侵占罪中是一种客观处罚条件,是独立的行为要件,因而不能将其融入"非法占为已有"的含义之中。中国的刑法教义学研究必须清醒地认识到,要以中国刑法的规定为研究的逻辑起点并受其严格约束;要真正构建中国的刑法教义学,必须唤起研究者的主体意识。     

Silent citizenship among Asian Americans and Latinos: opting out or left out?

In his classic study, Who Governs?, Robert Dahl interpreted the patterns of political assimilation of ‘white ethnic’ immigrants and their children during the mid-twentieth century as a hopeful sign of the potential of democratic pluralism in the USA. While acknowledging that immigrant groups faced discrimination and structural barriers that might lead them to be silent, Dahl predicted that social mobility and assimilation would eventually erase these deficits in political participation among immigrants. Building from Dahl's analysis, we investigate the extent to which pluralism in the USA can and does work the same way for immigrants who are also racial minorities. We highlight factors that can lead these groups to become silent citizens, including lack of legal status, lower levels of political mobilization by institutions, and discrimination as structural impediments to minority participation. Our findings suggest that both resources as well as structural impediments structure the political behavior of Asian Americans and Latinos, determining whether they are vocal citizens or silent citizens.     

全面建设小康社会与弱势群体的政治参与问题

本文阐述了弱势群体政治参与的含义,探讨了在全面建设小康社会条件下发展和扩大弱势群体政治参与的途径和趋势。     

扩大有序政治参与推进社会主义政治文明建设

古往今来 ,政治文明由低到高 ,渐次更新 ,政治文明演进依赖于社会自身的力量。公民的政治参与构成政治文明建设的基础力量。在改革、发展的今天 ,政治参与的基础进一步扩大 ,参与渠道逐渐多样化和制度化 ,公民参与行为日趋活跃 ;同时 ,我国今天的政治参与还不成熟、不完备 ,必需以培育民主意识为先导、以政治体系制度创新为重点、以公民社会成长为契机 ,进一步扩大有序的政治参与 ,推进政治文明建设。     

Worker Democracy and Worker Productivity

A major source of oppression in industrial and post-industrial society is the restrictive and highly authoritarian nature of the workplace. One response is to democratize the workplace by increasing the participation of workers in making decisions and in choosing and evaluating managers as well as sharing in the ownership of the firm. These are not new ideas, and there are many examples of organizations pursuing various forms of democratic practices. However, a major objection is that such participation would compromise economic and other types of organizational productivity. This article examines the empirical support for that argument over a wide range of types of organizations in which workers participate in important decisions affecting their welfare. The overall results of this survey across many different forms of work organization suggest that the evidence supports the opposite conclusion, that worker participation increases productivity, particularly when workers share the benefits of higher productivity. The challenge is to ascertain ways of spreading these practices more widely.     

Strengthening Citizenship in Brazil's Democracy: Local Participatory Governance in Porto Alegre

In Latin America, and particularly Brazil, inequality and social exclusion continue to plague the quality of democracy despite two decades of transition and consolidation. Still, in Brazil, the Workers' Party has been remarkably successful over the past decade, explicitly addressing the problem of social exclusion and 'incomplete citizenship'. This paper provides an analysis of the case of Porto Alegre covering the four Workers' Party municipal administrations from 1989 to the present in order to assess the significance of social incorporation and citizenship for the quality of democracy in Brazil. The paper discusses some conceptual notions that are relevant for the question of democracy in Brazil, particularly the role of citizenship and civil society in 'deepening' democracy. Then the paper goes into the evolution and dynamics of Porto Alegre's system of 'participatory budgeting'. The paper's assessment of this experience with respect to its performance, depth and robustness shows that 'participatory budgeting' has had positive effects with respect to the provision of public goods services, the quality of governance, and citizens' participation in what is seen as a new 'public space' shared by the local state and grass roots organisations. The paper concludes by relating the case experience to the question of citizenship, civil society and democracy and by reflecting upon its wider implications for the current and future quality of democracy in Brazil.     

浅议政治文明主体建设

政治文明的主体是政治文明中具有能动性的重要因素,其积极、健康的发展很大程度上关系到政治文明的成败.因此,建设社会主义政治文明重要的是要唤起政治参与主体的政治热情.     

赋权与互动:一次成功的倡导活动——中英项目云南大龄女童论坛与女孩一起工作的案例研究

文章展示的是云南"中英大龄女童技能培训和能力建设合作伙伴项目"的论坛活动之一.论坛以15-18岁来自农村贫困和民族地区的大龄女童为主体,让她们有机会向高层决策者表达自己及其生存社区女孩的心声和需求,进而推动政府、媒体及全社会对这部分特殊女童的积极关注.文章写实性地描述了论坛的设计与思考,赋权女童的过程以及倡导的过程和结果.     

当前中国社会阶层分化对政治发展的推动作用

当前中国社会阶层的构成多元化特征为公民政治参与的扩大准备了重要条件,推动着我国的民主化和法制化进程,并且,中国社会阶层分化的总趋势是有利于政治稳定的。适应中国社会阶层分化的趋势,采取有效措施,方能推进中国政治的发展。