Tertiary institutions and capacity building in Ghana: challenges and the way forward

The last two decades have seen tremendous growth in tertiary education in Ghana. The prevailing consensus is that universities play a crucial role in development by making it possible to generate human capital in key areas such as health, agriculture, and engineering, also contributing to the attainment self-sufficiency. Whilst contributing to capacity building, this paper argues that universities in Ghana have had to contend with a number of challenges: low female access to universities, especially in science and technology-related courses; inadequate funds; poor research activity; and large class sizes. Making research a priority, designating strategic planning teams with appropriate institutional and financial support, developing cooperation with private universities, expanding access through the use of external degree centres and distance learning, and deepening universities’ relevance to societal needs, are identified as central to the enhancement of capacity building in Ghana.     

“Bad enough governance”: state capacity and quality of institutions in post-Soviet autocracies

This article contributes to current discussions on state capacity, quality of institutions, and political regimes. Our analysis demonstrates that the J-curve argument (“good institutions” in autocracies as compared to hybrid and transitional regimes) may not be generic and is not well supported by empirical evidence from the sample of post-Soviet countries. An explanatory model of the “King of the Mountain” is instead provided. Its focus is on the monopoly of political rent as a precondition for extraction of economic rent. It demonstrates an inverse correlation between the quality of institutions and the extraction of political and economic rent, and explains why an autocrat may not have an incentive to improve institutions that may make his/her monopoly vulnerable, and rather would prefer to preserve a low quality of institutions and “bad enough governance.” An analysis of a variety of external and domestic factors that may endanger this monopoly is provided. Finally, the autocrat's alternative strategic choices are analyzed. It is argued that better payoffs for the autocrat – paradoxically – may result from partial reforms and improvement of the quality of institutions. However, for various reasons, this is not occurring in post-Soviet autocracies.     

“三治融合”视域下乡村治理能力提升的三维审视

不同于主要依托村民自治制度展开的传统村治形式,自治、法治、德治相结合的"三治融合"乡村治理方式具有更为丰富的构成要素与更为深刻的价值意蕴。乡村"三治融合"体现了基层民主力量、规范力量与柔性力量的融合,其实践过程即乡村自治能力、法治能力与德治能力的提升过程,其诉求指向涉及参与均衡、权威转化和乡贤培育。从乡村自治能力提升的维度观之,需要推进村民公共参与的均衡化;从乡村法治能力提升的维度观之,需要驱动精英权威向制度权威的转化;从乡村德治能力提升的维度观之,需要挖掘传统乡贤文化精髓并培育新乡贤群体。以上三个通道的打开,可以有效提升乡村治理能力,促进乡村治理现代化和乡村振兴愿景的实现。     

关于依法执政的理论思考

加强党的执政能力建设,是党领导中国人民经过长期历史实践后,面对执政基础、执政环境的变化对执政必然性进行的重新考量,体现了党对现代政党政治制度、执政党执政规律以及现代法治观念的深刻认识。依法执政的内涵是通过法律的执政、在法律范围内的执政、遵循法律程序的执政以及不违背宪法与法律的执政。     

新加坡法下仲裁协议的效力研究

仲裁协议的效力由其所适用的法律决定,不同国家或地区的法律在认定仲裁协议的法律效力时所采取的标准亦有所区别.从新加坡有关仲裁协议的成文法规范出发,结合新加坡法院就仲裁协议法律效力争议所作的判例,在研究新加坡法院对“病理性仲裁协议”效力认定时所采取的基本原则后,认为新加坡法律具有“亲仲裁”特性.这是新加坡在国际商事仲裁和国际海事仲裁领域取得令人瞩目发展成果的重要原因之一.     

公务员培训链模型与能力建设初探

本文以公务员培训过程和能力建设中出现的问题分析为"径",以构建公务员培训链的总模型、子模型为"纬",以为模型设计的运行机制——规划机制、激励机制、协调机制、保障机制、监控机制——为"面",为公务员培训和能力建设提出了对策。     

基层群众性自治组织法人制度三论

基层群众性自治组织法人虽在《民法典》中被定位为特别法人,但性质上应属公法人,一是其成立的主要依据是《宪法》《村民委员会组织法》《城市居民委员会组织法》;二是通过履行一系列管理职能以实现“服务于公益”这一职能目的;三是财产来源的公共性。其章程不同于营利法人和非营利法人,而实际法律化为《村民委员会组织法》《城市居民委员会组织法》,即为法律性章程,主要原因在于《村民委员会组织法》《城市居民委员会组织法》的规定已经涵盖了村(居)民委员会法人章程所需内容,实质上成了村(居)民委员会法人的章程;同时,法律性章程比一般私法人章程多了“强制力”这一执行力保障,能确保基层群众性自治组织功能的实现;而且,只有法律性章程才能解决基层群众性自治组织法人在自治过程中遇到的诸多问题,克服自治性章程的固有弊端。基层群众性自治组织法人的民事能力受其“职能”的限制,主要体现为财产支配和交换能力、侵权责任能力、劳动合同能力与监护人能力;不能以自己的名义为交易行为,也不宜被赋予破产能力,除依法代行村集体经济组织职能的村民委员会外,不能为他人提供担保。     

BUILDING ENFORCEMENT CAPACITY: EVIDENCE FROM THE MEXICAN CIVIL SERVICE REFORM

Building enforcement capacity, that is, attaining and sustaining control in order to implement changes, is crucial for the success of public management reforms. However, this aspect of public management reform does not receive much theoretical or empirical attention. This paper analyzes the process of building enforcement capacity for the case of the Mexican Professional Civil Service reform. Although this reform experienced several complications (e.g., limited support, resources, and credibility), important goals were attained and some control was achieved. We study how officials attained control over implementation through the adaptive management of combinations of different types of control strategies (regulatory, normative, and procedural). The case study, focused on the analysis of in‐depth interviews with the highest officials involved in the implementation of this reform, finds evidence for three combinations of strategies next to a general pattern characterized by a trade‐off between compliance and coordination. This trade‐off shows that the process of building enforcement capacity may affect the goals of the reform, deviating from lawmakers' original intentions Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Fiscal Capacity Equalisation in Tanzania

Fiscal equalisation aims at enabling decentralised governments to supply similar services at similar tax rates. In order to equalise fiscal disparities, differences in both fiscal capacities and in fiscal needs have to be measured. This paper focuses on the measurement of fiscal capacity in a developing country. The current intergovernmental transfer system in Tanzania does not take differences in fiscal capacity into account. As a result, local governments in rich areas are able to generate considerably more revenue per capita than those in poor areas. Public services in poor areas are hard to finance. We propose a way of measuring fiscal capacities of local governments in Tanzania using poverty data. We use this measure to derive an equalisation grant that would support local governments that have a low fiscal capacity.     

民法总则的使命及其应规范之内涵——以中国民法总则草案为探讨中心

所有现代欧陆民法法典,不论是法国民法典、德国民法典,抑或是继承两民法典之法典以及参考两民法典之法典,均设有民法总则之规定。中国最近有制定民法总则的计划,并已提出建议稿,但此前已经有了9个单行之民法法律规范,构建了松散型的民法典体例,而民法总则属于一体型民法典之构成部分,这就需要对以往民法法律规范重新整合。结合中国民法总则草案建议稿,对民法总则应加以规范之内容,以及法律原则、权利能力和行为能力、法人、民事客体、法律事实、民事责任等具体规范加以分析探讨,以期为制定科学合理的民法总则提供参考。