State as resource,mediator and performer: understanding the local and global politics of gold mining in Kyrgyzstan

The inability of the state to maintain security and the rule of law for the purposes of foreign direct investment and industrial production is often taken as a sign of its weakness. However, such judgments say little about the actual functions of the state for global extraction industries and local political forces which demand their share of the pie. Whilst coercive state power may have decreased since Kyrgyzstan became independent, more important is the fact that the state itself has been transformed under the ruptures of, on the one hand, economic and political liberalization and, on the other, the effects of so-called ‘revolutions' of 2005 and 2010 which led to the wholesale restructuring of national structures of clientelism. Based on ethnographic research conducted in Talas province, documentary sources and interviews with gold mining companies and state officials, the paper investigates the state's shifting roles with respect to Kyrgyzstan's gold mining sector. Firstly, it explores the state as a source of rents for officials who grant and rescind licences in exchange for formal and informal payments from foreign investors, often via offshore vehicles. Secondly, it considers the role of the state as mediator between foreign investors and their access to sites. Finally, it identifies the state as performer of its status as sovereign power despite its inability to prevent uprisings and actually guarantee the promised access to its territory.     

Global Astana: nation branding as a legitimization tool for authoritarian regimes

This paper examines how, in post-Soviet Kazakhstan, both channels of elite and banal nationalism (such as sports and higher education) serve as instruments to promote the country. Through these channels, Kazakhstan is portrayed as an open, dynamic and successful country, an image which is in serious disjuncture with the authoritarian nature of the regime. Taking advantage of massive oil revenues, the government organized a significant OSCE general conference in 2010, while chairing the institution. In addition, it created the Astana professional cycling team, which rapidly became a world leader in the sport. Last but not least, Nazarbayev University, attracting prominent Western scholars, is now designed to make the country compete in the international arena of academic rankings. Domestic and international performances are thus treated as instruments to promote the legitimacy of the state at national and global levels. But this would not be possible without the help of individual actors who actively participate in this process. A close investigation shows that their social capital is based on global connections in various spheres (sports, finance and academia). This paper draws on evidence gathered through qualitative methods of enquiry (participant observation and semi-structured interviews). Finally, Astana is treated as a Latourian actor-network that has its own life and agency, thanks to the global association of various human actors and material objects.     

Imagery Metaphors Narration in The Book of Songs and Its Generation Mechanism

Imagery metaphors narration is the main operational method of Chinese literature, especially the pre-Qin literature, and the Book of Songs in this pioneering and exemplary significance. It started by describing the most national characteristics of speech mode, and with the aid of flowers, fruit, firewood, mulberries, fish, rain, the typical ‘YuXiang’ (imagery metaphors) to construct the text, will and emotion. And farming civilization created by the concept of harmony and on the basis of the formation of the Imagery thinking constitute the Book of Songs imagery metaphors narration mechanism of the narration.     

First‐Hand Experience and Second‐Hand Information: Changing Trust across Three Levels of Government

Little is known about how different sources of information drive citizen trust in government. To address that gap this article compares disaster evacuees to observers, noting how trust differs as attention to media coverage increases. First‐hand experience supplies information to update trust through biological and personal processes and performance assessments, while secondary sources provide information about other people's experiences, filtered through lenses that take an active role in crafting information. These two types of information have varying effects depending on the level of government being trusted. Using surveys administered a year after Hurricane Katrina, I find that Katrina evacuees have the highest trust in federal government, until they start paying attention to media coverage, and that attention to coverage has the most dramatic effect on these evacuees compared to all other groups. I also find that increasing attention to second‐hand information corresponds with higher trust in local officials, and that this effect decreases as the level of government increases. It appears media coverage creates a comparison in the mind of hurricane evacuees, causing them to update their performance assessments based on comparing their own experience to that which they observe, thereby updating their political trust.     

关于根本违约及其与大陆法系相关违约形态的比较研究和思考

根本违约是1980年《联合国国际货物销售合同公约》中正式确立的一种违约形式,通过分析其与英美法系违约形态的渊源,指出它有一个从依条款的重要性为标准到依后果的严重程度为标准的历史演变过程,并对其与大陆法系的相关违约形态的差异进行了辩证分析。     

绩效责任：责任行政的新取向

新公共管理运动首次将绩效概念与政府的责任概念结合起来,提出了绩效责任的理念,它的出现,拓展了责任行政的内涵,体现了责任行政的新取向。本文探讨了公共部门绩效责任的内涵和特征,指出绩效责任的构建是一个系统工程,它包括:政府的绩效评估机制和科学的公务员考核评价体系的建立、绩效责任制度建设、创建绩效管理文化和引入公民参与机制等。     

民营企业绩效考核存在的问题探究

绩效管理是人力资源管理的重要环节,而绩效考核更是其中关键的环节。本文对民营企业绩效考核中存在的问题进行分析,并提出针对性的建议。     

我国房地产企业战略规划及绩效评价研究

平衡计分卡是近年来在国外较为流行的一种全新的战略管理方法,它可以将战略转化成可度量的指标,并使整个机构得以了解。针对目前房地产企业经营和管理面临的困境,运用平衡计分卡理论构建房地产企业绩效评价的理论体系,即通过平衡计分卡框架集成新的战略规划流程,系统分析房地产企业绩效影响要素的指标结构,建立了包含41项评价指标的绩效评价体系,使房地产开发企业的战略目标与员工日常工作的考核相结合。     

完善吉林地方政府绩效评估模式的建议

政府绩效评估有助于建设法治政府、责任政府和服务型政府,但现行的政府绩效评估已经不能满足吉林地方经济发展的需要。因此,需要结合吉林地方政府绩效评估的现状和存在的问题重新阐释政府绩效评估的基本理念和功能。一方面,为吉林地方政府有效开展绩效评估工作提供理论上的依据;另一方面,为完善吉林地方政府绩效评估模式提出建议。     

Focus of attention and locus of control as moderators of fraternal justice effects

The influence of a colleague's performance outcomes on individual's own subsequent performance was investigated. Internal and external locus of control subjects were given information about another person's outcome which indicated two things about organizational standards: how easy or difficult they were to meet and how stringently they were applied. An attentional focus manipulation was employed to influence how subjects used this information. Half of the subjects received a group-focus manipulation and the other half a self-focus one. We proposed that perceived difficulty of standards and stringency of application would interact with attentional focus and subject locus of control to alter subject's own subsequent performances. This expectation was supported by the data. Theoretical and applied implications of this result are discussed.