How Values Shape Program Perceptions: The “Organic Ethos” and Producers’ Assessments of U.S. Organic Policy Impacts

Among the more recognizable programs related to natural and sustainable food is the United States Department of Agriculture’s National Organic Program. Although the robustness of the organic food market is difficult to contest, many debate the extent to which U.S. organic policy outcomes adequately serve consumers and the organic agriculture producers they rely on. This paper engages the debate from the perspective of certified organic producers. Drawing on the results of a nationwide survey of USDA‐certified producers, we first provide a snapshot of how producers assess the environmental, consumer, and market impacts of U.S. organic food policy. We then examine the extent to which organic producers’ policy impact perceptions are associated with their alignment with an “organic ethos”—understood as producers’ commitment to core organic principles and the organic movement. The paper highlights producers’ values as perceptual filters and cognitive mechanisms that help shape producers’ policy impacts perceptions, illustrating a contributing factor to the enduring nature of organic policy debates.     

Multiple Streams in Hawaii: How the Aloha State Adopted a 100% Renewable Portfolio Standard

Renewable portfolio standards (RPS) are an important policy tool for reducing carbon emissions and advancing the global shift toward renewable energy. As the U.S. federal government backs away from commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, subnational governments play an increasingly important role in mitigating climate change. In June 2015, Hawaii became the first state in the United States to adopt a 100% RPS. Through understanding the conditions that gave rise to Hawaii’s RPS, policy actors will be better informed as they navigate policy processes in other states and jurisdictions. This study uses Kingdon’s Multiple Streams Framework (MSF) to explore the policy process that led to Hawaii’s 100% RPS. Data were collected during the summer of 2016 via interviews with 25 key policy actors and informants in Hawaii. Expectations based on the MSF are confirmed, and the results suggest factors that might be included or explored in future studies of RPS adoption.     

Conservation in Context: Toward a Systems Framing of Decentralized Governance and Public Participation in Wildlife Management

Governance scholars have long championed the adaptive utility of decentralized management institutions, in part due to their ability to bring diverse stakeholders into decision‐making processes. However, research into the link between decentralization and participation often looks at policy design but bypasses important system feedbacks that shape sustained participation over time. To paint a more robust picture detailing how decentralization and participation are related, this paper uses a complex systems framework to explore interacting structural, operational, and cultural components of decentralized wildlife governance institutions in the United States and Botswana. Through this comparative analysis, I argue that the landscape of public participation in decentralized governance institutions appears to be significantly impacted by three factors: 1) how decentralization processes occurred, 2) where in the process of decision making participation is situated, and 3) perceptions of power distribution between groups with competing interests.     

Governing Unconventional Oil and Gas Extraction: The Case of Pennsylvania

Over the past decade, directional drilling and hydraulic fracturing enabled an unconventional oil and gas extraction (UOGE) boom in many regions of the United States, including parts of Pennsylvania. This revolution has created serious concerns about the capability of existing institutions to govern important societal outcomes associated with UOGE. We present a conceptual framework for assessing key societal outcomes influenced by UOGE governance. In applying this framework to Pennsylvania, we discern certain institutional strengths that have allowed the Commonwealth to reap appreciable short‐term economic growth from rich resource endowments. We also find, however, that several institutional weaknesses have allowed costs externalized to the environment, public health, and community integrity to offset some proportion of those economic benefits. Likewise, we find that governance of UOGE in Pennsylvania has contributed to a bifurcated sociopolitical landscape wherein adversarial coalitions dispute the legitimacy of the industry and its governance.     

Between regulatory field structuring and organizational roles: Intermediation in the field of sustainable urban development

Recent contributions in the domains of governance and regulation elucidate the importance of rule‐intermediation (RI), the role that organizations adopt to bridge actors with regulatory or “rulemaking” roles and those with target or “rule‐taking” roles. Intermediation not only enables the diffusion and translation of regulatory norms, but also allows for the representation of different actors in policymaking arenas. While prior studies have explored the roles that such RIs adopt to facilitate their intermediation functions, we have yet to consider how field‐level structuring processes influence (and are influenced by) the various and changing roles adopted by RI. In this study we focus on the mutually constitutive relations between field‐level change processes and the evolving roles of RIs by studying the rise of the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI)/Local Governments for Sustainability, an RI serving as a bridge for sustainable urban development policies between the United Nations and local authorities. Using ICLEI as an illustrative case, we theorize four different processes of regulatory field structuration: problematization, role specialization, marketization, and orchestrated decentralization. We discuss their implications for RI roles in the field and further theorize the changing dynamics of trickle‐up intermediation processes as an RI gains power and influence.     

变革期的政党制度化与国家治理体系变迁——改革开放时期中国共产党领导体制制度化分析

政治发展和民主转型是政党制度化研究的主流范式。两种范式及其研究路径都无视政党制度化在国家治理体系变迁中的意义。国家治理视角下的政党制度化研究,旨在寻求政党研究在比较政治学中的回归。变革期中国共产党的领导体制制度化过程表明:政党制度化是解释中国国家治理体系变迁动力、路径和走向的关键变量。中国共产党通过领导体制的法制化、组织和价值基础的双重理性化和政策治理网络的优化,实现了中国国家治理体系渐进性的变迁。     

合作司法:司法公信力的社会治理谱系——基于福柯权力谱系学的展开

司法公信力是司法的生命力所在,也是全面深化改革在司法领域中的着力点。构筑司法公信力需要从社会治理高度对司法运作机制以重新审视。合作司法是社会治理谱系下从管理向治理转变在司法中的体现。降低司法成本和实践司法公正是合作司法实践路径中的两个向度,统筹两者是合作司法之于司法公信力的意蕴所在。     

老子的行政哲学与新一轮政府治道变革——兼论克强经济学的政策逻辑

老子的哲学思想对当代中国政府治道变革具有重要的指导意义。笔者通过分析老子行政哲学与新一届政府改革新思维的内在联系,旨在揭示老子行政哲学从内在价值取向和外部行为选择两个层面与政府改革新思维的契合主线。内在的价值取向就是无欲—无私—无畏,进而在行为路径上展现为无为—为不恃—无不为。它隐含着政府治道变革的前提是政府自身无欲状态,政府改革必须进行无私的顶层设计,推进改革必须具有无畏的精神。落实到政府改革层面,必须在行为取向上以无为、为不恃、无不为为路径,实现有限政府、效能政府和人民满意的现代政府目标。要想取得改革的成功,需要借鉴老子行政哲学的昭示,强化政府改革的价值与行为逻辑的内在一致性。     

Reproductive Governance in Nordeste/Northeast (Juan Solanas, 2005, Argentina/France/Belgium/Spain)

Juan Solanas's 2005 film Nordeste/Northeast problematised maternity by presenting two female characters who conform to cultural or trans-cultural norms of the Global North and South and personify the narratives of transnational trade. As Lynn M. Morgan and Elizabeth F. S. Roberts argue, ‘reproductive governance’ is a useful analytical tool for understanding how political rationalities affect the reproductive lives of women in Latin America and globally. Reproductive governance can also be used as a lens to analyse how contradictions and ambivalences are built into the lived experience of abortion and adoption as the complexity of maternity.     

公司治理结构与财务管理目标

公司治理结构不同,财务管理目标也会有较大的差异。我国在借鉴国际经验的同时应结合本国国情,充分考虑转轨过程中的特定情况,建立适合我国经济发展现状和资本市场特点的公司治理模式,建立“以业务关联的企业法人交叉持股为核心,鼓励物质资本和人力资本的投资者共同持股,国家、其他企业法人、社会公众等参与持股,银行相机控制和机构投资者外部监督”的治理结构,与此相适应的财务管理目标应为相关利益最大化或公司价值最大化。