What work makes policy?

The mainstream policy literature identifies a number of activities as part of ‘policy-making’: ‘policy analysis’, ‘policy advice’, ‘decision-making’, and perhaps also ‘implementation’ and ‘evaluation’. Describing policy in these terms is compatible with the Western cultural account, and these terms tend to be applied to positions, organisational segments and official procedures. But policy practitioners tend to find that on the one hand, their experience of their work bears little resemblance to the assumptions in this policy-making model, and on the other, that policy outcomes seem to reflect much broader processes than the work of specialist functionaries. On closer examination, we find that our thinking about policy activity draws on several distinct and potentially conflicting perspectives, and that what is seen as ‘policy work’ depends on the conceptualisation of the policy process. Framing the question in this way helps to understand the apparent differences between mainstream (American) accounts of policy activity and policy practice in other political systems.     

Investments in Global Warming Mitigation: The Case of “Activities Implemented Jointly”

This paper examines bilateral cooperation between developed countries (home country) and developing countries (host country) to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to enhance carbon dioxide sinks. With the home-host country pair as the unit of analysis, our logistic regression model examines 158 Activities Implemented Jointly (AIJ) investment projects from 1993 until 2002 across 2541 country-pairs. Because the marginal costs of reducing emissions may be lower in developing countries, the AIJ projects served as a policy laboratory to assess whether such investments might be advantageous to both countries in the event future regimes allowed emission credits from such bilateral projects. Instead of investing in home countries where maximum pollution reductions (or carbon sequestration) might be possible, home countries invest in locations where they can conduct their policy experiments at low transaction costs. Prior trade and aid relationships were used as a proxy. Regarding energy projects, location decisions are driven by home countries’ desire to reduce air pollution that they receive from abroad. Geography – proximity of a host country to a home country – in interaction with host country's coal production, is a very important driver of location decision in AIJ energy sector projects. Location of sequestration projects is impacted by the host country's potential for avoiding deforestation as well as by previous aid and trade patterns between a home and a host country. Proximity is not important in this case.     

加强社会新阶层思想政治工作的政策选择

社会转型时期,我国社会新阶层在思想政治方面出现了许多新问题、新矛盾。我们必须正确认识这些问题,深入分析其原因,有针对性地提出相应的解决办法,做出切合实际的政策选择。     

公共政策过程中的公民参与

公民参与公共政策是实现公民政治权利的过程,公民参与在政策的制定、实施、评估、监督和控制各环节中都可实现。有关公民参与公共政策在质量、成本、秩序、条件等方面存在问题的看法是片面的。     

借鉴国外经验完善我国西部大开发的财税政策

西方发达国家在开发落后地区,实现区域经济协调发展的过程中,不但重视运用市场这只“看不见的手”进行调节,而且特别注意采取特殊的有利于缩小地区差距的区域发展财税政策,依靠市场和政府干预的办法加速对边远落后地区的开发,消除区域发展差异。作为借鉴,我国财税政策要适当调整,从而更好地贯彻西部大开发战略。     

财政支持社会主义新农村建设的基本思路和政策措施

资金投入是社会主义新农村建设的物质基础和基本保证。"调整国民收入分配结构和财政支出结构,扩大公共财政覆盖农村范围"是社会主义新农村建设的必然要求。"十一五"时期,财政支持社会主义新农村建设的主要政策措施是:建立健全财政支农资金稳定增长机制,逐步形成多元化的新农村建设资金来源;完善和加强各项支持农村经济建设的财税政策,全面发展农村生产力;大力促进农村社会事业发展,促进城乡经济社会协调发展;完善和创新政策机制,支持农村防灾减灾和林业生态建设;全方位推进农村反贫困,促进构建农村和谐社会;支持村庄整治和公共基础设施建设,引导农民自主建设美好家园;深化财政管理体制和农村综合改革,建立政府有效提供公共服务的长效机制;规范和强化支农资金管理,确保财政支农资金安全运行和有效使用。     

WTO农业协议与我国农业保护立法对策

文章拟从WTO农业协议的主要内容入手,着重从完善配套法规立法,健全农业发展战略性立法、健全农业经济结构调整立法三大方面阐述了WTO框架下我国农业立法的调整与改进,提出了我国农业保护的立法对策。     

中美建交前后美国售台武器及其政策的确立

卡特政府 1979- 1980年曾考虑向台湾出售一批先进武器 ,其决策过程与中美关系正常化的过程同时进行 ,影响了美方在建交谈判中在这一问题上的立场。卡特政府的决策过程为此后美国向台湾出售武器确立了模式 :售台武器是作为美国对华政策的一个重要工具而被使用的 ;其决策过程是一个官僚政治斗争过程 ,总统在这一过程中具有最大的和最终的发言权 ;国会具有很大的影响能力 ,但并不参与决策本身。     

反哺农业:代表最广大人民根本利益的重要政策选择

代表农民的利益 ,是代表最广大人民根本利益题中应有之意 ,也是代表广大人民根本利益的决定因素。我国长期以来实行的工业倾斜政策牺牲了农业的发展 ,随着工业的不断发展 ,应停止对农业的剥夺 ,进而实施向农业倾斜的反哺农业政策以促进农业发展。“反哺”要遵循适度、“造血”、效率、循序渐进和“绿箱”的原则。     

面对经济新形势的理性思考

“十五”第一年开局良好 ,扩大内需的战略方针仍需坚持。但扩张型财政政策和货币政策已经出现边际效应递减的势头和政策长期化的危险倾向 ,应当适时把政策的重点转向化解经济风险。