The Space Between: Demonization of Opponents and Policy Divergence

Prior research on policy conflicts indicates a tendency among policy actors to misperceive the influence of actors engaged in policy debates based on the degree of distance between their relative policy positions. This research develops a measure for assessing the degree and direction of the misperception effect. This measure is then utilized as a dependent variable to assess the relationship between theoretically relevant factors and the degree to which actors will exaggerate the influence of their opponents and allies. The research uses original survey data of policy actors engaged in the debate over hydraulic fracturing in New York. The results indicate misperceptions of relative influence are prevalent and most associated with the experience of a policy loss and holding relatively extreme policy beliefs. The findings provide new insight into factors that influence the demonization of political opponents. These insights are timely in the context of polarized debates over environmental and energy policy in the United States.     

“三种精神”引领职工文化自信

职工文化自信是文化自信的具体体现,打造健康文明、昂扬向上的职工文化,离不开工人阶级和广大劳动群众的伟大品格,离不开工匠精神、劳模精神和劳动精神。这三种精神,是新时代职工文化建设的旗帜,是新时代职工文化自信的引领。     

Quality Management in Public-Sector Organizations: Evidence from Six EU Countries

Although there is considerable evidence for the hypothesis that an efficient use of management techniques is the key to a good public service delivery, a lot of studies come to the conclusion that there is only partial, reluctant implementation or even a general lack of the use of such techniques by public managers. This paper examines the determinants for the use of quality management techniques in public sector organizations from six EU countries. It turns out that especially more organizational autonomy and result control appear to be of importance while, surprisingly, the combination of these variables leads to negative results.     

Urban Regeneration Policy from the Integrated Urban Development Model in the European Union: an Analytical Approach Based on the Study of Spanish Cities

For several years, local governments have been tackling new challenges related to the regeneration of their cities within the physical sphere, as well as in their economic and social aspects. This task is developed in accordance with what has been called the Integrated Urban Development Model, understanding the integrated nature of this approach not only in terms of the spheres of public policy involved, but also in relation to their management. In this paper, this management is analysed in terms of the development of mechanisms for New Local Governance and New Public Management (NPM). Using Spanish municipalities as a case study, this paper develops an analytical tool for the analysis of this model of urban intervention within the European context, paying close attention to the development of mechanisms for New Local Governance from a multilevel perspective, as well as the development of mechanisms for NPM.     

Financial Health in Australian Local Government: The Application of a Funding Assessment Model to Brisbane and Sydney City Councils

Local government financial viability measurement in an accrual budgeting environment poses complex challenges. Financial measures frequently generate conflicting results. A rating scale to assess financial management, constructed originally for South African municipalities (Dollery & Graves, 2009), represents a useful tool to analyze financial health trends. Applying a “Likert-like” scale to financial performance measures to assess “funding compliance”, the model in this article assists municipalities to avoid financial difficulties. To demonstrate the applicability of this model, we apply the model to the Brisbane City Council and the Sydney City Councils. Results show that the model represents a valuable aid to financial management decision-making.     

广东高职院校创新性技能人才培养模式研究

培养创新性技能人才,是时代发展和社会进步对高职教育提出的新要求。广东高职教育作为广东高等教育大众化的主体,伴随着珠三角地区的产业结构升级和调整,企业加大了创新性技能人才的需要。而当前高职创新性技能人才培养的不足,导致广东省高职创新性人才培养不能满足社会经济发展的需求。因此,要适应时代发展和社会进步的要求,广东高职院校需要构建创新性人才培养模式,增加创新课程开发,加强校企合作,改革教育考核模式来提高学生的创新能力。     

Stage model for female criminals: business school students’ perceptions of white-collar offenders

We know that half of the population in Norway is female, and we know that females represent 6% of the white-collar crime prison population. In the stage model overview, we derive percentages from the literature into the gender model to explain stepwise reduction from 50% to 6%. In our empirical research, we asked two groups of business school students to come up with their own estimates for the stages in the model for female criminals. While estimates from executive students resulted in 3% women in prison, bachelor students’ estimates resulted in 10% women in prison. The most obvious discrepancy between the research literature and our two survey groups is related to relative convictions. Based on the literature, we suggested that female defendants receive more serious convictions because they may perceive and feel more guilt for a crime, for example in terms of regret, shame and depression. Thus women may have a tendency to confess more easily. Both executive students and bachelor students disagree with this estimate of 140%, as they suggest 62% and 69% respectively. One reason for their suggestion of less serious convictions for female white-collar criminals – sometimes labelled pink-collar criminals – might be that family situation and other elements are taken into account before a verdict is passed on a woman. Another substantial discrepancy is related to detection risk. The literature suggests a low detection risk for women, but may be not as low as we estimated at 30%. Both executive and bachelor students believe that the gender difference in detection likelihood is not that formidable, as they suggest 75% and 65% respectively.     

劳模精神、劳动精神和工匠精神探析

党的十八大以来,在习近平总书记关于工人阶级和工会工作的系列重要讲话中,多次强调要坚 持弘扬劳模精神、劳动精神、工匠精神。认真领会劳模精神、劳动精神、工匠精神的科学内涵以及它们之间的 逻辑关系,对于实现中华民族伟大复兴的中国梦、增强文化自信和全面提升我国产业工人队伍整体素质有着重 大的理论价值和现实意义。劳模精神和劳动精神是整体和部分的关系,劳模精神和工匠精神是外力和内力的关系, 劳动精神和工匠精神是共性和个性的关系。总之,劳动精神,工匠精神,劳模精神存在逐步递进的逻辑。劳动 精神是成为人的精神,工匠精神是成为更加优秀的人的精神,劳模精神则是成为影响别人的人的精神。