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.     

The devil we know and the angel that did not fly: An examination of devil/angel shift in twitter fracking “debates” in NY 2008–2018

Recent work has applied the Narrative Policy Framework (NPF) to examine narrative strategies in policy debates on social media platforms. We contribute to the literature by applying the NPF to fracking policy debates in New York using well-established Natural Language Processing tools, including sentiment analysis. We combine this computational approach with a qualitative hand-coding of pro- and antifracking Twitter influentials. This approach allows us to consider a much larger corpus of tweets over a much longer time frame than has been done thus far. We adapt and test NPF propositions related to the use of the devil/angel shift strategies before and after a major state-wide policy change, that is, a state-wide moratorium on high volume hydraulic fracturing or fracking. Overall, we find evidence for the use of the devil shift narrative strategy by the pro-fracking coalition aimed at the Governor prior to the moratorium. After the moratorium, the relative percentage of Tweets containing devil shift sentiments decreases as the pro-fracking coalition generally downshifts in its use of angel shift language without a corresponding increase in devil shift language, whereas, conversely, the anti-fracking coalition generally downshifts in its use of devil shift language without a general increase in angel shift language. When we shifted our analysis to Tweets containing fracking and the Governor, we found a similar postban decrease in devil shift language among anti-fracking users. Our findings offer lessons for using computational tools in the NPF as an approach to expand analytic ability and for the operationalization of concepts such as narrative strategies and policy entrepreneurs.     

农地抵押风险及预防机制分析——基于“三位一体”综合农协视角

农地流转是三农现代化进程中的重要环节。目前国内农地流传中的抵押现象引人注目,此问题关键在于农地抵押的风险及预防机制。运营体系自成一体的综合农协内在组织能力具有化解农地抵押风险的功能。风险—中介—化解程式表明综合农协主要部门在相关风险对接上能较好进行匹配。本文以三位一体农协为出发点,总结出促进农地抵押实现的以供销社、合作社以及信用社为桥梁的预防机制。     

美国等西方国家对华“分化”策略的新变化及对策思考

基于政治制度和意识形态的冲突、地缘政治的竞争和战略的不信任,以美国为首的西方国家对华实施西化分化的战略图谋一刻也没有松懈。近年来,中国的快速发展迫使美国调整了对华实施分化战略的策略;同时,由于中国正处于社会转型、改革深化的关键时期,社会矛盾的增多、社会冲突的加剧为美西方的分化活动提供了诸多契机和借口。面对美国等西方国家的分化活动出现的新形式与新特点,为了维护国家的政治安全,中国不仅要在策略方面进行应对,还需要在战略层面提出适应国家整体发展的顶层设计,更为重要的是在软实力上构建一套让全世界都信服且能与西方相抗衡的价值体系。     

从“女人”到“人”——论莫言作品中的女性形象

从我奶奶到母亲再到姑姑,莫言文学作品中的女性大都行为泼辣、敢做敢当,从传统习俗来看,其行为不符合传统认知,甚至可以称得上叛逆。但是,她们内心却有各自对爱情、生活、事业的独特认识和坚守。但在其作品中,我奶奶终究还是一位符合男性审美和对女性美好期待的女子;母亲则凸显了其背后的象征意义,是一个承载着时代变迁仍旧不折不屈、仁爱宽厚的地母形象;姑姑身上的职业标签、人性的本真则超越了其性别身份,让莫言的创作实现了从写女人到写人的转变,这其中既包含了时代的价值观,也反映了莫言本人对人生、对生活认识的变化,亦是他创作日臻成熟的体现。     

论奥古斯丁《上帝之城》的教会历史观念

《上帝之城》第十五和十六卷围绕复活之子的观念,论述了希望求告上帝的名与教会论之间的关系,阐释了教会作为地上之城的羁旅的含义。本文指出奥古斯丁历史哲学视野下教会的福音性本质,即教会是流动着的爱的会幕。奥古斯丁又把这种福音性的爱进一步表达为公民的责任,告诫教会不仅要警惕他自身与世俗的权柄之间的关系,而且要警惕以在天的权柄即在上帝之名下拥有权柄介入世俗共同体的界限。奥古斯丁以他对教会的福音性理解诠释了为我们的上帝的历史性。     

“红玫瑰与白玫瑰”悖论--《人生》中高加林的心理欲望探析

路遥笔下的高加林作为“城乡交叉地带”的知识分子典型,至今仍散发着特殊的时代魅力。高加林身在农村、心在城市的存在特征使他成为一代农村知识青年的代表,他在爱情方面的遭遇也是当时的突出问题。通过对高加林的心理欲望以及与刘巧珍、黄亚萍的情感纠葛进行解读,可以发现高加林在刘巧珍和董亚萍之间遭遇的取舍难定、藕断丝连的“红玫瑰与白玫瑰”悖论。     

后女性主义与性别表演：“网红”及“网红经济”分析

2016年,“网红”成为传媒和经济领域都颇引人注目的一支力量。从女性主义的角度来说,在外形方面,高度同质化的“网红”迎合了男性的色情窥视,也强化了对女性的性别刻板印象。但是“网红”体现出来的巨大经济力量却又在一定程度上挑战了现有的性别秩序。而2016年最为引人注目的 papi 酱,虽然和其他“网红”有着相似的一面,但更以其自身的特质吸引了众多的女性粉丝,体现了网络文化异质多元的一面。